1 Samuel 21, David is being pursued
by Saul, who wants to kill him. And the remainder of this book,
the rest of 1 Samuel, is of David in exile. And that's fitting,
since David is such a type of Christ. who was pursued by his
enemies all of his earthly days, from the cradle to the grave. So that's fitting, isn't it?
David is such a type, and Christ is even called the Son of David. Let's read verses 1 through 6
of 1 Samuel 21. Then came David to Nob. No, I'm not going to read it.
We don't have time. We'll look at each verse as we go. And our
Lord alluded to this story in the Gospels, and it's recorded
in three of four Gospels. This story is spoken of by our
Lord. Now turn to Mark chapter 2 with
me. Mark chapter 2. There are several
scriptures I want you to read for the sake of time. Mark chapter 2. Let's read these
verses. Verses 23 through 28. This is our Lord speaking of
that story. It came to pass, Mark 2, 23,
it came to pass that he, Christ, went through the cornfields on
the Sabbath day and his disciples began as they went to pluck the
ears of corn. And the Pharisees said unto him,
Behold, why do they on the Sabbath day that which is not lawful?
And he said unto them, Have you never read what David did when
he had need and was hungry. He and David were with him, how
he went into the house of God in the days of Abiathar, the
high priest, and did eat the shewbread, which is not lawful
to eat, but for the priests, and gave also, David gave it
to them which were with him. And Christ said unto them, The
Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. Therefore
the Son of Man is Lord also of the Sabbath." So that's the story
back in 1 Samuel 21. Go back there. The purpose, the
moral of this story of David eating the bread, the consecrated
bread, and his men is to show us that Jesus Christ is Lord. overall, doing as he will, because
he will, and hath made us kings and priests, the Lord's sons,
or the Lord's free men. Verse 1, now, David came to Nob,
to Himalek, the priest. Now, our Lord said it was a Biathar. Here it says, Himalek. Ahimelech
is the father of Abiathar, of whom our Lord mentioned. Abiathar
was later David's, or the priest, while David was king. Often in
scriptures, fathers and sons in the priesthood, now listen
carefully, this is not just a little note of information, but this
is all pertinent. Fathers and sons in
the priesthood were often mentioned together. in behalf of one another. As the father, so the son. They are mentioned as if they
were one and the same. You see why I brought that up.
A Himelech was killed. This Himelech here in this story
was slain by Saul. But his son escaped, a firefighter. So the father The first priest
died in order that the other might escape. Christ died, our
great high priest. But we have escaped, and we are
made priests unto God. Just a little footnote there.
You see why it wasn't a mix-up. It was there on purpose. Himelech
feared, was afraid at the meeting of David, verse 1. and said,
Why art thou alone, and no man with thee? The Himelech was afraid. He knew David. The Himelech knew
who David was. He knew that David was God's
King. And he was afraid. Proverbs,
Scriptures, many times tells us to fear God and fear the King. Proverbs 24, 21 says, My son,
fear thou the Lord, and the king. And the king. All who fear God know whom God
hath made king upon his holy hill of Zion. Don't they? And
this is the beginning of saving wisdom. To fear the Lord, the
Lord Jesus Christ. Well, Ahimelech asked David,
Why art thou alone, and no man with thee? Now, the tabernacle,
there was no temple yet, remember? But the tabernacle, the tent
itself, was set up in this place called Nob. Apparently Saul or
someone had it brought here to Nob and was set up in this town. David came boldly and freely
and walked right into that tabernacle. And that's where Himelech was
preparing to make whatever, the sacrifice or whatever. And David
came right into that tabernacle where the high priest was, but
David was alone. He came by himself. Some of you
are understanding this. He came by himself into the tabernacle
alone. And David said unto Himalek,
upon being asked why he was alone, David said in verse 2 to Himalek
the priest, the king hath commanded me a business. I'm here on business. And he said, let no man know
anything of the business where I send thee and what I've commanded
thee. I've appointed my servant to
such and such a place. The king hath commanded me a
business. Let no man know it. The Lord Jesus Christ came to
this earth sent by the Father on business. That's what he said,
didn't he? As a 12-year-old boy, he said,
I must be about my father's business. And that business was the work
of salvation, to save God's people. And he did it alone. He did it alone. None was with
him when he went to Calvary alone. And Christ, when he went into
the Holy of Holies itself with that precious blood that he shed
on Calvary's tree, he was alone. No man was with him. When he
had by himself, the scripture says, purged our sin, sat down
by himself. And this work, like David said
of his, was kept hidden. kept hidden from many, from most,
a mystery to most, but revealed unto his intimate disciples. You know that David's, the men
that were with him, he told them where he was going and what he
was going to do. He revealed it unto them. A work kept hidden,
and so it is. Christ's work, a mystery that
had been kept hidden from the foundation of the world, is now
made known unto his disciples. Now, David is hungry. Being hungered,
verse 3, he says unto the high priest, verse 3, Now therefore,
what is under thine hand? Give me five loaves of bread
in my hand, or what there is found. Give me five loaves, David
said. Sounds like a command to me,
doesn't it? I don't see David saying, Would you give me? Would
you please? Do you mind give, sound like
a command to me, to give me five loaves of bread. That's a command. Because a greater one is in this
temple now than Himalaya. Isn't it? A man much greater
than this earthly priest named Himalaya is standing in front
of him. God's King. God's King. And though he is not of the tribe
of Levi, he is of the tribe of Judah, greater than this Levitical priest,
God's king of the tribe of Judah. And you know I have wrongly said
before that no man really bore the office of prophet, priest,
and king, but you know David did in effect. David's Psalms
of prophecies, which he wrote, he was a prophet in that sense.
David was certainly a king, we know that. Later on we are going
to see that David took the ephod from Abiathar. Abiathar is the
high priest, the only one who could wear the ephod, and David
said, give it to me. I'm going to wear it. I'm going
to seek counsel from the Lord." And he wore that. David wore
what only the high priest could wear. The reason being is that
David is such a type of the Lord Jesus Christ, the son of David.
Though not a Levitical priest, he is in a sense a priest, was
he not, from the tribe of Judah. And this command of David for
bread, He says, give me bread. That sounds very familiar to
me, doesn't you? Very familiar. Our Lord, who
being wearied with His journey, Scripture says, sat thus on a
well one day and said to a woman who has come to draw water, give
me to drink. A command. I hear all the time. Men say the Lord asked her to
drink. No, he did not. No, he did not. Kings, the Creator doesn't ask
anything of his creatures. King of kings asks no favors
of his subject. Does it? God says in Isaiah 50,
if I were hungry, I wouldn't tell you. The world is mine and the fullness
thereof. And what does this say of all
the fundraising, money-making, yard sales, bake sales, religious
flea markets in the name of God? What does that say? That tells
me their God is not God. He's a beggar. He's just like
them. He's an idol just like them. He's a beggar like they
are. But our God now, our Rock, is not like their own. Our God
is not like their small g.o.d. Our God is God. Our God doesn't
ask men to do anything for Him. He gives commands. One of my
favorite passages in all of God's Word, Psalm 71, verse 3, says,
Thou hast given commandment to save me. God doesn't ask me if I'll let
Him be Lord. He says, I'm going to be your
Lord. Aren't you glad it's that way? Nor does God ask men through
His men. God does not ask men through
His men for anything. There are many stories. The story
of David in 2 Samuel 24, this man tried to offer David a threshing
floor. David was going to make a sacrifice,
and this man wanted to give it all to him, and David said, I'm
not going to give unto the Lord that which costs me nothing.
I'm going to buy it. I'm going to pay full price for
it. And it was Nehemiah, I believe
it was Nehemiah, who said we are not going to ask anything
from the king as we told him that the God would provide for
us. Our God is God. And we don't have to ask men
for anything. God does not ask men through
his men. God's men are not beggars. They
are not going to ask people for anything. They are not going
to go begging for an audience either. God's preacher is not
going to beg for an audience. and go through all manner of
trickery and cunning and craftiness to try to get people to come
hear what they don't want to come hear. No, no, no, no. The
Holy Spirit will bring them. God is sovereign. Nor does God ask anything of
men for His men, for them. But He will command ravens to
feed them if necessary. Now, did you notice how many
loaves that David asked? There I go. How many loaves David
commanded? How many? Why five? I'm going to feed my men. Give
me five loaves. Not mere coincidence, is it?
No mere coincidence. Our Lord fed his people with
five loaves. Now, in verse 4, the priest answered
David and said, There is no common bread under my hand. Now, stay
with me here. This is a real blessing. A real blessing. I know you've
seen this before. I have too. I was blessed more
this time than I was previously. I saw some new things. Verse
4, the priest answered David and said, There is no common
bread under my hand. But there is hallowed bread.
Holy bread, consecrated bread, if the young men have kept themselves
at least from women, it can be eaten if the young men are clean,
if they are sanctified, if they are consecrated. There is no
common bread here. This is holy bread, consecrated bread unto
the Lord. Common people cannot eat this
bread. This is holy bread, but if the young men are clean and
sanctified, they may. David answered the priest and
said unto him, Of a truth women have been kept from us about
these three days since I came out. And the vessels of the young
men are holy, and the bread is in a manner common, though it
were sanctified this day in the vessel." David answers on behalf
of the young men. They are not speaking here. They
are not even inside here. They are all outside. with the
high priest here. Here's a little footnote. How
many men do you suppose were with David at this time? It does
not say how many, does it? How many do you suppose? I made a guess. I think maybe
twelve. What do you think? I think it might be so. Twelve men, perhaps? Anyway,
David answers on behalf of the young men and says, of a truth,
the young men with me, those with me, are holy. Since I came
out three days ago, they're holy. Since I came out, let me say
it again so there will be more recognition. Since I came out
three days ago, these young men are consecrated, holy, separated,
sanctified. They're with me. They're holy.
They're not common, they themselves are hallowed. Give them, give
it to them. They can eat what I eat. Now, I'm a truth, this is God's
word, is it not? Revelation 14, look at this.
I was going to quote it to you, but I want you to turn and look
at it with your eyes. Revelation 14. It does no good
for me to just read these to you all the time. Look at it
with your own eyes. There's a direct connection between
your eye and your ear and your heart and your mind. I have a
truth. These scriptures testify of Christ. He said that. They are they which
testify of me. Wouldn't you have loved to have
heard that sermon when he preached to those disciples on the road
to Emmaus? when he truly opened the scriptures
up unto them. And they said, our hearts did
burn. I don't know how long he spoke,
but it wasn't long enough for them. And I believe he's going
to do just that in glory some day. Christ, this testifies of Christ
who we saw by himself purged our sins, went into the holy
place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. Three days
later, Christ came out and now we are declared holy, unblameable,
unreprovable in God's sight. Chaste virgins. Look at Revelation 14 verse 4. It says, These are they which
are not defiled with women, their virgins. These are they which
follow the Lamb, whithersoever he goeth. They were redeemed
from among men, the firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb." Our
Lord had in the beginning twelve hand-chosen disciples, or apostles. Eleven, twelve later, but after
that he had many men, didn't he? After he was made king, there
were many that resorted unto him. And so it is with the son
of David, the son of David. What does this mean, not defile
with women? Women, if you are one of these
disciples of the Lord, you are one of his chaste virgins, male
or female. In other words, you are being
kept by the power of God. You're being saved for your husband. to be presented to your husband.
You're being consecrated, dedicated, kept from this great whore called
modern religion. Kept from adulterating yourself,
kept from committing adultery against your God, but you are
devoted to, consecrated, in love with, you're married to another. And you're going to be presented
someday at that great marriage supper dressed in white. And
you're going to come down the aisle, and Christ... I know who
you were. I know who you were, Gomer. But
Christ is going to put you on His arm and say, here she is,
my virgin. I've been saving her for myself. and let the rest of the world
just wallow in religious fornication and spiritual adultery. But these
are my virgins, and they're my bride, and they're going to come
into my intimate chamber forever and be with me. You see why? They're called chaste virgin,
consecrated to Christ our husband. Well, this bread, and in verse
6 it says this bread was kept fresh daily. That's what that's
talking about. There was fresh bread. Remember
how the priest of old had to bake fresh bread. No leftovers. No, no, no. God's not going to
take any leftovers. And God didn't eat this bread
anyway. But the symbolism is that it's the first fruits, it's
the fresh offering, new every day, new every morning, a new
sacrifice, fresh bread, new candles, fresh water, and so forth. living,
fresh, fresh bread. And the bread, the priest said,
though it's hallowed, David said this, verse 6, David said, the
bread is in a manner common. I know it's holy bread, but in
a manner it's common. Give it to me. So the priest
gave him hallowed bread. There was no bread but the showbread.
taken before the Lord. You put in hot bread or fresh
bread every day. Are you still with me? What's this talking about? The
bread, though hallowed, is common. What is this bread? Oh, come on now, people. How
many times have I told you? When I ask you something, you've
got to have one word. What did Christ say? I am the
bread. of life. Hallowed, holy be his
name. Separate from sinners. Christ
is the believer. Take, eat, this is my body broken
for you. Christ is the bread. He's hallowed,
he's holy, he's separate from sinners, but in a manner common. Did you hear that? I wish somebody else would do
that for a change. This is why David danced in front of the
ark. This is holy bread. Christ is
the bread of life. Separate from sinners, yet in
a manner common. Friend of sinners. He took upon
him the likeness of sinful flesh. Didn't have it, sin, but the
likeness of sinful flesh. Not the nature of angels, but
the seed of Abraham. A man like us. And common people
heard him gladly. Oh, these holy, self-righteous,
pious people, they didn't hear Him. They didn't partake of this
bread of life. But the common people, those
who were with Him, those whom He revealed this to them, they
could partake freely of the bread of life. Those that hungered
and thirsted, who could take of it? Who could partake of this
holy bread? That's what the high priest would
say. Who gave you the authority to do this, David? I did. Upon whose authority do
you take this bread? The king gave me a commandment. How can the young men eat it
with you? How can they partake of it with you? Who gives them
this authority? I do." Okay. They may take it freely. That which only belongs unto
the Lord Himself, they may take it. Come boldly, eat, partake. It's holy, and so are they. But
in a manner that's common. My, my, my, my, my. If the Son
sets us free. See, that's what this is about.
If the Son sets us free. The Son of God is who this is.
Sets us free. We're free indeed. Take, eat, drink freely with
thanksgiving as unto the Lord. You're not under the law. I'm
your law from here on out. How can you do this? I wrote
it. You see, Jeanette, that's why
people say, why don't you keep the Sabbath day? Our Lord didn't
tell us to. He told us He is our Sabbath. He told us all things have become
new. Why don't you abstain? Why don't you wash often? We've
been washed. Save our feet. Why don't you
abstain? Why don't you dress this way?
Dress the Lord didn't tell us to. If he had, we would. Why don't you do this and do
that? The king didn't command that. But whatever he says unto
us, that's what we do. So that's the moral of this story.
David said, have you never read? To those self-righteous, pious,
holier-than-thou, Sabbath-keeping Fakes. Hypocrites. He says, have you never read? David just went right into the
Holy of Holies by himself. Gave commandment, give me that
bread that only belonged to the high priest himself. David? Yes,
David. And he gave it to the men that
were with him. And they could freely partake of what only priests
could do. But now look at this amazingly. Lo and behold, of those men,
there was a traitor. Isn't that amazing? Look at verse
7. A certain man of the servants
of Saul was there that day, detained before the Lord. The Lord had him there. And his
name was Doeg Edomite, the chiefest of the herdman, he belonged to
Saul. He didn't belong to David. He
belonged to Saul, David's enemy. But the Lord had him there. Why?
To betray David. Isn't that something? Judas was the son of perdition
from the beginning, wasn't he? Scripture says this, certain
men were ordained of God to this condemnation. Go egg this man
like Saul. who hired him was an evil man. Doeg. Evil man, doing what his
evil, reprobate heart and will wanted to do. Doeg did exactly
what he wanted to do, yet God had him there to do what he had
determined for to be done. God has his vessels of wrath
just like his vessels of mercy, doesn't He? It's the Lord. It's the Lord.