We have, in our journey through
the book of Acts, been looking at the work of the Lord Jesus
Christ, the glorious work of the Lord Jesus Christ, gathering
His church together, gathering His people to Himself. And I
read those verses from Ezekiel because I wanted us to ponder
in this first part of our service this morning this whole business
of the tabernacle of David in Acts 15, 16. It's interesting
that the one great, great, great, great, great, great, great, probably
20 or 30 of them and maybe more, grandson of King David was the
one who got up to speak about King David. James was the half-brother,
as it were, of the Lord Jesus Christ. But both James' parents,
both Joseph and Mary, were descendants of David. And so James, it's
quite appropriate that James talks about this tabernacle. He says, after this I will return,
to all the prophets said, Acts 15, 16, after this I will return
and build again the tabernacle of David which is fallen down. I will build again the ruins
thereof and I will set it up. So I thought it might be instructive
for us just to spend a little bit of time looking at the beginning
of this tabernacle. It's always good when you're
studying the scriptures to go back and look at the first mention
of things. It's called the law of first
mention, not that we need laws, we just go and look. But you
look and find the first mention of things in the scriptures is
incredibly significant, foundations are laid. They are never changed,
those foundations, as we study the rest of the scriptures. All
they are is enhanced and given more illumination as time and
the eternal covenant unfolds. So this is the gathering of the
Gentiles together. It is the setting up of the tabernacle
of David. David's tabernacle is a tabernacle
established. The tabernacle, of course, is
a dwelling place, and the tabernacle of God is the dwelling place
where God meets with men. The real tabernacle of God is
the Lord Jesus Christ himself. He became flesh, says John, and
dwelt among us. That word dwelt is the word tabernacle. It's a place where God meets
with his people. It's a place that is separated
from the rest of the world. The tabernacle had curtains around
it. You met with God. You met with God on the basis
of a personal encounter with him, separated from the rest
of the world. And David, of course, is so typical
of this separation of the world and this gathering of the people
of God together, because David was a shepherd boy, as you know.
In fact, when Samuel came there to look at that family, because
he was told there's a king in this family, there's an anointed
one of God in this family, and all of these strapping, young,
handsome men walked by. And the Lord kept saying, Samuel,
he's not there, he's not that one, he's not that one. He wasn't
even brought to the meeting by his father, Jesse. Where was
he? 2 Samuel, verse 8. Thus saith the Lord of hosts,
I took you from the sheep coat, from following the sheep, to
be the ruler over my people Israel. We're looking at the establishment
of David's tabernacle, the tabernacle that had fallen down. But earlier on in that same chapter,
David has a word from God. David has a desire, as the king
of Israel, he has a great desire to build a house for God. And
Nathan goes to him, presumptuously, and Nathan says, well go ahead
David, you do as you like. Do all, verse three, do all that's
in thine heart, for the Lord is with thee. And it came to
pass that night that the word of the Lord came to Nathan, saying,
Go tell my servant David. Thus saith the Lord, Shalt thou
build me a house for me to dwell in? And the Lord goes on to talk
about the fact that he's walked, verse seven, with all the children
of Israel, and he has not had a house. Verse 8, Now therefore shalt
thou say unto my servant David, Thus saith the Lord of hosts,
I took you, I took you from the sheep coat, from following the
sheep, to be the ruler over my people Israel. And I was with
thee whithersoever thou wentest, and have cut off all thine enemies
out of thy sight, and have made thee a great name, like unto
the name of the great men that are in the earth. Moreover, I
will appoint a place for my people Israel, and will plant them that
they may dwell in a place of their own, and move no more,
neither shall the children of wickedness afflict them any more
as before time. The time that I commanded judges
to be over my people of Israel and have caused thee to rest
from all thine enemies, also the Lord tells thee that he will
make thee a house. This is a tabernacle of David.
God's going to make a tabernacle for David. And when thy days
be fulfilled, thou shalt sleep with thy fathers, and I will
set up thy seed after thee, which shall proceed out of thy bowels,
and I will establish his kingdom. In the flesh it's speaking about
Solomon, in reality it's speaking about the one who is truly the
Prince of Peace, the Lord Jesus Christ. He shall build a house
for my name and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.
I will be his father and he shall be my son. If he commit iniquity,
I will chasten him with the rod of men and with the stripes of
the children of men. But my mercy shall not depart
away from him, as I took from Saul, whom I put away before
thee. And thine house and thy kingdom
shall be established forever before thee. Thy throne shall
be established forever. According to all these words
and according to this vision, so did Nathan speak unto David. These are the words from God
to David. And then I love this next section,
it's just delightful. Then went King David in and sat
before the Lord and said, Who am I? Who am I? O Lord, And what is my house that thou
hast brought me hither to? And this was yet a small thing
in thy sight, O Lord God, but thou hast spoken also of thy
servant's house for a great while to come. And is this the manner
of men, O Lord God? And what can David say? More
unto thee, for thou, Lord God, knowest thy servant. For thy
word's sake, and according to thine own heart, thou hast done
all these great things. to make thy servant to know them. That's the greatest blessing,
isn't it, that we can have, is that God would come and be our
teacher, and he would make his children, he would make his servants
to know the character of God, the promises of God, the covenant
of God, the grace and the mercy and the love and the power and
the sovereignty of God, to know God in his character. Look what
he goes on to say in verse 22, He goes on He goes on to speak in the next
verses about the way the Lord God revealed himself, and what
nation in earth is like thy people, even like Israel, whom God went
to redeem for a people to himself, and to make him a name and to
do for you great and terrible, things great and terrible, for
thy land before thy people which thou redeemest to thee from Egypt,
from the nations and their gods. For thou hast confirmed to thyself
thy people Israel to be a people unto thee forever, and thou,
Lord, art become their God. And I love David's petition. He speaks of the greatness of
God. He speaks of the greatness of God in the acts of God in
redeeming and taking people out of this world. This is the building
of David's tabernacle, remember. This is the work of the Lord
Jesus Christ that Acts is giving us witness to. But now he makes
this petition. It's glorious. And now, O Lord
God, The word which thou hast spoken concerning thy servant,
and concerning his house, establish it forever, and do
as thou hast said. That's the great cry of God's
people in prayer, isn't it? God, be faithful to your promises
to me. Do as you've said. I just love
it. Do as you have said. It's all a child of God can wish
for, isn't it? That God would just do as he
said. He will do as he said. He's promised to do as he said.
But it's a good prayer to pray, isn't it? No point praying for
things that aren't going to happen. It's much better to be praying
for things you know are going to happen. And then you might
be caused to look around. Because prayer doesn't change
God, but prayer changes us. You might be caused to look around.
with new eyes and see his glory." Because that's what David is
praying about, isn't it? He says, do as you have said
and let thy name be magnified forever. The building of the
temple of David, the rebuilding of this fallen down temple is
all about, this tabernacle of David, is all about the magnification
of the name of God, isn't it? The name of our Lord God. Let
thy name be magnified forever. saying, The LORD of hosts is
the God over Israel, and let the house of thy servant David
be established before thee. You've made a promise that you're
going to establish it. Let it happen. Do as thou hast
said. For thou, O LORD of hosts, God
of Israel, hast revealed to thy servant, saying, I will build
thee a house, therefore hath thy servant found in his heart
to pray this prayer to thee. You see the basis of David's
petition. The basis of David's petition
is the revelation of God to him. The revelation of God in a word
of promise to him. And now, verse 28, and now, O
Lord God, thou art that God, and thy words be true, and thou
hast promised this goodness unto thy servant. Therefore now, let
it please thee to bless the house of thy servant, that it may continue
before thee forever. For thou, because you, O Lord
God, hast spoken it. You've said a word, and it must
come to pass. And with thy blessing, let the
house of thy servant be blessed forever. Magnify your name, fulfill
your promises, reveal yourself as you really are, and your people
will find themselves at rest and at peace in that. This is
the tabernacle of David that's been built. And what's fascinating
in chapter 8 is if you know something of the geography, and I don't
want to read chapter 8, but if you know something of the geography
of Israel, it is a description. And after this, it came to pass.
After this, the word of God came to pass. The eternal covenant
of God's promises came to pass. Then David smote the Philistines.
And in the rest of chapter 8, you will find that he goes around
all north, south, east, and west of Israel, and he subjugates
all of those enemies of Israel, and they come and bring tribute
to him. So his boundaries are extended
right out to the river Euphrates. David and his son Solomon had
the kingdom that God had promised. All the land that God had promised
was given to them. But I wanted to look. I wanted
to look. It's all very well for us to
look at David's house. I wanted to look at what it is
to be a member, just briefly, in the tabernacle. This is the
tabernacle of David that's fallen down, but what was it like to
be a member in the tabernacle? What it was like to be a member
in the tabernacle in the early days, to be in the presence of
our king, is exactly the same as it is now. There are some
beautifully instructive things. I'd like us to look in chapter
9, the very next chapter. So we have David receiving the
promises from God. We have David, David being that
triumphant ruler over all the enemies of Israel, just like
the Lord Jesus Christ is that triumphant ruler over all of
our enemies. And then, out of all of those
people, the Lord God gathers a people to himself. And these
are the members of this house. It's just the most glorious picture
is, of course, the story of Mephibosheth. And David said, verse 1 of chapter
9, is there yet any that is left of the house of Saul? that I
may show kindness to him for Jonathan's sake." For those of
you who delight in the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, this
chapter is absolutely full of gospel, full of gospel promises. You see, David is wanting, for
Jonathan's sake, to bless someone that he has no idea about. Obviously not our Lord Jesus
Christ, he knew all of them. But the issue is that Mephibosheth
is going to get a blessing because of a covenant made between David
and Jonathan. A covenant made between David
and Jonathan before Meshuvah was born. A covenant made between
David and Jonathan, a covenant of love. Mephibosheth knew nothing about
whatsoever. The presence of David for Mephibosheth
was the most dangerous place in all of Israel for him. Defeated by another despotic
king, the most dangerous person to be in that place is the child
of that previous king. Because every one of those living
children is a threat to your kingdom. So Mephibosheth lived
all of these years after Saul was defeated and David had reigned.
Mephibosheth had every reason to think that he, like so much
of the house of Saul, was destined for the sword. But But, in the
very last place that Mephibosheth would ever want to be, is in
the presence of David. He's drawn there. Let's read
on. And there was of the house of
Saul a servant whose name was Ziba. And when they had called
him unto David, the king said unto him, Art thou Ziba? And
he said, Thy servant is he. And the king said, Is there not
yet any of the house of Saul that I may show the kindness
of God unto him? This is kindness based on a covenant,
but it's kindness based on God's kindness to his people in that
covenant. And Ziba said unto the king, Jonathan hath yet a son which
is lame on his feet. You're a right member of the
story that in the desperate rush to escape the ravages of the
palace, the maid took Mephibosheth as a baby and dropped him and
obviously injured both his feet and they were never put back
together again properly. And the king said unto him, where
is he? And Ziba said unto the king,
behold, he is in the house of Machir, the son of Amiel in Lodabah. Lodabah means no pasture. Mephibosheth is a cripple in
a wilderness. Does that resonate with any of
you, children of God? Cripples in a wilderness. He's
in the house of Mechiah. Then, verse five, then King David
sent and fetched him out of the house. See, David didn't go and
send an invitation to Mephibosheth to come into his house. When
our great King David goes to gather his people out of the
wilderness of Lodabar, the cripples, the cripples who are unable to
walk, unable to work, unable to defend themselves, unable
to care for themselves, when he goes to gather those cripples,
when he goes to rebuild this tabernacle of David again, our
Lord Jesus Christ, he just goes out and fetches them. He didn't
offer an invitation, did he? Then King David sent and fetched
him out of the house of Mekhiah the son of Ammiel from Lodabar. A servant is sent to fetch him.
A word from the king to a servant of the king. You go and fetch
him. That's preaching the gospel, brothers and sisters, isn't it?
God will gather them in. This tabernacle will be built
again. Rest assured of it. And now when for Mephibosheth,
the son of Jonathan, the son of Saul, was come to David, he
fell on his face. and did reverence. The first
meeting of someone fetched, the first meeting with the King,
the first meeting with the risen King, the Lord Jesus Christ,
is always a humbling experience. And God's children will never
forget it. He fell on his face and did reverence. And David said, Mephibosheth,
And he answered, behold thy servant. He's a king, when
you meet him, he's a king. When you meet him, you're in
his hands. When you meet him, he rules over
all things. And David said these words, these
are the words of the gospel, aren't they? Fear not, for I
will surely show thee kindness for Jonathan thy father's sake,
and will restore thee all the land of Saul thy father, and
thou shalt eat bread at my table continually. And he bowed himself. See, when
you meet the king and he's been gracious to you, you meet yourself
in a way that you've never met yourself. And he bowed himself
and said, what is thy servant? What is thy servant? This is
a response to grace, brothers and sisters, isn't it? What is
thy servant that thou should look upon such a dead dog as
I am? It's a glorious meeting, isn't
it? It's a glorious gathering. Then the king called to Ziba
the Saul's servant and said unto him, I have given unto thy master's
son all that pertain to Saul and all his house. Thou therefore
and thy sons and thy servants shall till the land for him.
He won't have to work anymore. The servants will do the work
now. And thou shalt bring in the fruits, that thy master's
son may have food to eat. thy master's son shall eat bread
always at my table." Now, Ziba had fifteen sons and twenty servants.
Then said Ziba unto the king, According to all that my lord
the king hath commanded his servant, so shall thy servant do. As for Mephibosheth, said the
king, he shall eat at my table as one of the king's sons. brought into the presence, he
began as an enemy, a crippled enemy, in a wilderness, a place
of no pasture. You might think of Psalm 23,
and he makes his people to lie down in green pastures. The green
pastures are the word of God. In that wilderness place, he
had no promise from God, Mephibosheth, none whatsoever. He knew nothing
of the covenant with David. He knew nothing of the promises
of God. He knew nothing of the delights
that were laid out before him as a king. He shall eat at my table, verse
11, as one of the king's sons. And Mephibosheth had a young
son, his name was Micah. And all that dwelt in the house
of Ziba were servants unto Mephibosheth. So Mephibosheth dwelt in Jerusalem. He did eat continually at the
king's table and was lame on both feet. He eats continually
at the king's table, but he never, he never grows beyond being a
cripple, a needy cripple, a dependent cripple. He's made a king's son,
and he's brought into that place where he's treated in the most
glorious manner. Such is the gospel, brothers
and sisters, isn't it? There's so much gospel, I pray
that you might go home and read that story again, and in your
meditations upon it, you might think, well, dear, oh, dear,
we missed all of these things. But it's a glorious picture,
isn't it? Of this fallen tabernacle of David. And how the real King David,
the great King David, is gonna gather his people to himself. Have you been made aware of your
dependence? The problem with religion, isn't
it? The problem with us in our Adam flesh and the problem with
the religion that's created by the Adam flesh of man. is that
it's continually giving peace to people who have no peace. It's continually telling them
that they can do something for themselves. But the glorious
gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ is that it's all been done. And
it's all been done in the hands of a great king who gathers his
people to himself. It's all been done in such a
way that all of the pride of Mephibosheth's flesh is stripped
from him, and yet In that state, in that humble state, he eats
at the king's table. In that humble state, still a
cripple, he's called the son of a king. He's under the protection
of the king all the time. I love what Ruth is claimed to
have done. When she came, when she came, to Boaz. That Ruth is a picture of the
church, isn't it? In Ruth, it says, to Ruth, the
Lord Boaz said to her, The Lord recompense thy work and give
you a full reward, and a full reward be given thee of the Lord
God of Israel, under whose wings thou art come to trust. Ruth chapter 2 verse 12. Under
whose wings thou art come to trust. Where are the wings that
you come to trust? Under whose wings? The wings
are those wings of the angel who look down on the covenant
of God, the ark of the covenant, that blood. We come, brothers
and sisters, Like Ruth the Moabitess, we come from a place of wilderness
in the word of God, and we are fetched by an invisible hand.
We are fetched by a sovereign hand, and we are brought to the
king's table and fed on the king's fare, the promises of God in
the word of God, the promises that are all yea and amen in
our glorious Lord Jesus. May the Lord bless. His word
to our hearts.