Now, as I said, we're going to
be studying the first few verses of 1 Samuel 21. But before we
go there, I want to direct your attention to two passages in
the New Testament. The first one is in 1 Peter 1. 1 Peter 1. And then we'll be going to the
book of James 1. So if you want to find those,
but while you're looking for those, 1 Peter 1 and James chapter
1, I want to read you a quote from the old writer, Arthur Pink. Pink wrote this, he said, there
are times when God's tender love for his people seems to be contradicted
by the sore testings or trials which he sends upon them. times
when his providences appear to clash with his promises. And
that's only an appearance now. And then it is that faith is
tested and so often fails. And then it is also that the
superabounding grace of God is evidenced by delivering the one
who has given way to unbelief. Now, what Pink was saying there
is that we have these times of trial in which we fail so often. in our character and in our conduct.
And it is only by the grace of God that we are brought through. It's only by the grace of God
that we understand anything about these times of trial. But we
know that they come, that we know that it's necessary for
each and every child of God at some time, in some way, to some
degree, because saving faith will be tested. And the reason
I read that and want you to go to these first two passages is
the fact I want you to see that back in 1 Samuel 21, David, King
David, or the man who will be king, at this time is under one
of those times of sore testing, as Pitt put it. A hard, hard
trial. But these trials must be. Now,
I've entitled the message David before the high priest. David
before the high priest because that's where David runs to he
runs to the tabernacle He runs to the high priest and we'll
get to that But let's read these two passages about trials so
that we can be reminded of God's purpose in our trials in verse
3 of 1st Peter chapter 1 Peter writes blessed be the God and
father of our Lord Jesus Christ which according to his abundant
mercy his much mercy and hath begotten us again unto a lively,
or literally, a living hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ
from the dead." That's our new birth, by the power of the Spirit,
the same power that raised Christ from the dead upon His finishing
His work. And here's what we've got, verse
4, "...to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled, and that fadeth
not away, reserved in heaven for you, or for us." all of God's
children, who are kept, and that's important. We're kept people. We don't keep ourselves, but
God keeps us. We lay hold of Him who has laid
hold of us, and He never lets go, and we're kept by the power
of God through faith, that is, trusting Christ unto salvation,
ready to be revealed in the last time. wherein you greatly rejoice,
though now for a season, if need be, you are in heaviness through
manifold," that is, various and many temptations, that is, testings. Now look at verse 7, "...that
the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold
that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found
unto praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ."
And that's the purpose, that God may be glorified and that
we may be strengthened. Now look back at James chapter
1. James opens this epistle as he
was inspired by the Spirit to speak of trials and tribulations. And somebody told me one time,
said, we talk a lot about trials. And the reason I do is because
we go through a lot of trials. But look here, he says, verse
1, James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ to the
twelve tribes which are scattered abroad, greeting, my brethren,
count it all joy when you fall into divers or various different
temptations, testings, knowing this, that the trying, the testing
of your faith worketh patience. Now that patience is endurance,
perseverance. And he says, but let patience
have her perfect work, her complete work, that you may be perfect
or complete and entire, wanting, lacking nothing. And if any of
you lack wisdom, and we do, don't we? If any of you lack wisdom,
that's like what John said in 1 John 2, if any man sin, That's
not meaning if you happen to sin. No, really the translation
doesn't say it the way that it should be said. You could put
it this way, because you sin or when you sin, and this is
the same thing here, when you lack wisdom, because you lack
wisdom, let him ask of God that giveth to all men liberally and
upbraideth not, and it shall be given him. That's the trials. Now, with that in mind, let's
go back to 1 Samuel, chapter 21. David's going through some
hard trials. We've talked about it, how he'd
gone through some great victories already in his life as a shepherd
boy out in the fields, where God, through him, killed a lion
and a bear, and then, obviously, the greatest victory of his life
up to that point, the killing and slaying of Goliath of Gath,
and which we know, as David himself testified of, was the Lord's
doing. There's no way in the flesh that
David could have defeated Goliath. That would have been an impossibility,
and yet he did by the power of God. Now, we're going to see
David tested over and over and over again, and I hope As we
go through these times of testing, as he's an outlaw, as you might
say, as he's an outcast fleeing from Saul, that you can identify
with him, because I know I sure can, and I know you can too.
But we're going to see David tested, as all of God's children
are. The Bible calls them sometimes
the chastisements of the Lord. That if we be without those chastisements,
we're not true children of God. In fact, he uses a harsh word.
He says we're bastards and not sons. Hebrews chapter 12. Illegitimate
children. Now, David going through these
trials, listen to this very carefully. We're going to see, we'll see
that David at times acts in wisdom by the grace of God. And at times
he acts foolishly as inspired by the flesh. And what that statement
sums up to me, the biography of every believer. Every believer. I know sometimes I go through
trials, and by God's grace I may use some wisdom in dealing with
people, dealing with myself, but it's only by God's grace
now. It's certainly not in the power
or the inspiration of the flesh. And then there are a lot of times
I act foolishly. I've told you before, and I mean
it, I never come out of a trial, whether I act foolishly or wisely,
feeling good about myself. But I always come through trials,
and I hope this is the lesson that we see in tonight's message. I always come through those trials.
seen my own impotence and weakness, and seen more and more of the
greatness and the glory and the power and the love and mercy
of God in Christ. And that's what growth in grace
is all about. We can make improvements to the
flesh in some way, but that's not growth in grace, and that's
certainly not any way getting closer to holiness. But my friend,
when we cling to Christ, when we see more of His glory and
grace and mercy, That's real growth. Now, all the times that
David went through these trials and all the times that we, as
redeemed children of God, regenerated children of God, go through our
trials, we will ultimately see the triumph of Christ in saving
us and preserving us and molding us till he brings us to glory.
That's what they're all about. And remember this, trials do
not create faith. But they do test and strengthen
our faith as they drive us more and more out of ourselves, away
from the world, away from the flesh, and more and more drive
us to cling to Christ. They're meant to strengthen and
teach us. They're meant to drive us to God in prayer. Somebody
said, well, the only time we pray is when we're in trouble.
I hope that's not true. But I will tell you, that is
a good time to pray. Don't let anybody make you feel
ashamed about that. That's a great time to pray. What does the Bible say? Come
boldly to the throne of grace to find mercy and help in time
of what? Need. Now granted, that's about
all the time for us. We're in need all the time. We're
just a needy bunch. That's what sinners saved by
grace are, aren't we? We're just a needy bunch. But
that's what they're meant for. And I hope we pray in the good
times too when we're on the mountain as well as in the valley. But
that's a good time to pray when we're going through trials. We
need Christ. We need Christ at all times. But now these trials
also are meant to drive us to the Word of God for guidance. How would we know where to go,
what to do, how to think, what direction to go except for God's
Word teaches? And I'll tell you, when a believer
really gets in trouble is when he ignores the Word of God through
these things. Drive us more to faith in Christ
and the assurances of His love and His care for us. Drive us
in strengthening our fellowship. We need each other during these
trials. We don't need Job's three friends in this time of trial. I don't need miserable comforters.
I've got one of them I carry around with me all the time.
I've got a miserable comforter with me all the time. And that's
me. I need encouragement. Sometimes
I need recovery. I don't need judgment. I don't
need condemnation. I've got that with me all the
time, my own conscience. And that's why I thank God that
He's greater than my conscience. He's greater than my heart. And
I believe what He says more than I do what my own heart says.
And when he says, who shall lay anything to the charge of God's
elect, it's God that justify, who can condemn us, it's Christ
that died, yea rather is risen again, who's seated at the right
hand of the Father, ever living to make intercession for us.
I believe that. I know you do too. It's given
to strengthen our fellowship. It's given as opportunities for
us to express our love and our care for one another. So here's
David. He's in exile. He's running from
Saul. A lot of commentators put him
down for that. I don't know. You know, they
say, well, he's not trusting God or whatever. I know there
are times we don't. There are times David didn't.
He had to be brought to godly sorrow over that sin. I'm not
going to judge him here, but I know this. I know this. Look
at verse 1 of chapter 21. It says, Then came David to Nob. Now, why do you want to go to
a place called Nob? Sounds like any place you'd want
to go. Nub. Well, I'll tell you what,
that's where the tabernacle of the Lord was at that time. We
can talk about how it got there, why it got there. Some commentators
talk about it shouldn't have been there. That doesn't matter.
He went where the house of the Lord was. And that's the first
point in this message. David fled to the house of the
Lord. And I'll tell you what, that's
the right place to go to. He says he went to Nub. He went
to a man named Ahimelech. Ahimelech, sometimes called Ahiah,
but same person, and he was the priest. The high priest is who
he really was. And Ahimelech was afraid at the
meeting of David, and said in him, Why art thou alone, and
no man with thee? This was about 12 miles, probably,
from Jerusalem, this particular place here that David went to.
And here he went up to the high priest, and the high priest was
afraid. Maybe it seems strange to Ahimelech for David to be
traveling alone. He asked that question, why are
you alone? David had a few men with him, but they were hidden
away from Ahimelech. But David, when he was asked
that, look at verse 2. He says, And David said unto
Ahimelech the priest, The king hath commanded me of business,
and hath said unto me, Let no man know anything of the business
whereabout I send thee, and what I have commanded thee, and I
have appointed my servants to such and such a place." Now,
David lied to Ahimelech. In that, he didn't act very wisely. In fleeing to the tabernacle,
he acted pretty wisely. But in lying, he didn't. But
let me give you just a point of illustration here. in reality,
was alone. And as a type of Christ, he had
to be alone. You see, our Savior came to this
earth, and he had his disciples, but in the work of redemption,
in the work of salvation, he was alone. At one time, he had
multitudes following him, like David did. Remember, they walked
through the streets in a parade saying, David, Saul has slain
his thousands, David his ten thousands. But here David is
an exile. Again, now he has a few men with
him. I don't know how many or who they all were. But essentially
he's alone to do the work. He lied about doing the king's
business. But our Lord didn't lie about
doing the king's business, did he? He told his mom and daddy,
he said, I must be about my father's business. And that business was
the redemption of his people, to save us from our sins. And
he did it alone. He walked the winepress alone.
So even in this time of trial, we can see David as a type of
Christ. Christ, who by himself went to
the cross, and by himself died for our sins, and by himself
was buried, and by himself was resurrected from the dead, and
who by himself is seated at the right hand of the Father, ever
living, to make intercession for us. For we have one Savior,
one Redeemer, and His name is Jesus Christ the Lord. He is
our Savior, and He is the only one. And this work that the Lord
did, like David's, was kept hidden to most, but it was revealed
to His disciples. But He was alone in His work
of redemption for us. You remember back in chapter
18, it was said several times, I believe four times altogether,
that David behaved himself wisely in all his ways, and the Lord
was with him. Now, we know that the only reason
David behaved himself wisely back then is because the Lord
was with him. It was by grace. Left on his
own, he'd be just like the rest of us, just fools. But David did by the grace of
God. But here, David did not behave himself wisely. He didn't
always do that. He acted wisely, as I said, in
running to the tabernacle, running to the house of God. You know,
that tabernacle itself was a type of Christ in every way. It was a type of the person of
Christ, the God-man, the Word made flesh dwelling among us,
every piece of furniture, every fabric. that was made of, every
piece of metal, it spoke of the glory of the person of Christ,
that he is the Messiah, that he is Emmanuel, God with us.
And that tabernacle, everything spoke of his redemptive work
for his people to put away our sins and his righteousness to
establish the ground of our justification before a holy God. And that high
priest that David stood before, he himself was a type of Christ,
our great high priest, who went into the holiest of all with
his own blood and sprinkled it upon the mercy seat, which again
is a type of Christ, our mercy seat, that word propitiation.
The Greek word is a derivative from the Hebrew word, which means
mercy seat. And so Christ is all of those
things for us, and that's when we're in trouble. Well, we're
going through trials. There's no wiser place to go
than he who is wisdom himself, the Lord Jesus Christ. Run to
the house of God like David. That's a wise thing to do. But
when he got there and Ahimelech went to him and said, why are
you alone? David acted foolishly. He lied. David was not a perfect
man in himself. David was no more than a sinner
saved by the grace of God, just like you and me. I was talking
to a young man a couple of weeks ago who gets our DVDs, and he's
been listening. He lives down in Mount Sterling,
and he said he was on a train trip, and he was talking to a
fellow about the gospel, about Christianity, about religion,
and the man told him, he said, don't let anybody ever call you
a sinner. He said, because you're a saint.
And at first the young man said, you know, at first it sounded
good to me, and then I told him, I said, well, you know what the
definition of a saint is? A sinner saved by the grace of
God. And he looked up and he said,
that's it. We are sinners. That's who a
saint is. He's one, he's a sinner who's
set apart. That's what sanctified means,
you see. He's a sinner who's been set
apart, chosen of God, justified in Christ, redeemed by the blood
of Christ, called and regenerated and called by the Holy Spirit,
kept by the power of God unto an inheritance incorruptible
that's reserved in heaven for us. And that's what David is.
He's a sinner saved by grace. But either way, now listen to
this now. Either way, whether David was
acting wisely by the grace of God, or whether or not he was
acting foolishly, as we all so often do, the Lord was still
with him. And we better get on our knees
every day and thank God for that. The Lord was still with him.
He was with him to guide him. He was with him to protect him.
How many times would David have been killed if God hadn't been
with him up to this point? He was with Him to forgive Him
continually for His blood continually forgives us of all our sins. And He was with Him to chastise
Him, chastise Him, correct Him. We all need correction. We're
children. We're children of God. That means we're totally dependent
upon our Heavenly Father for everything we need eternally
and spiritually. And He's provided it in Christ,
in whom all the fullness of the of the God that dwells bodily
and were complete in him." Now somebody said, well, he had some
good reasons for lying. He may have. First of all, he
wanted to protect himself. He was running from Saul. But,
you know, David understood that he was going to be king of Israel.
He wasn't made king of Israel yet. God didn't lie to him. And then he did it maybe to protect
Ahimelech and the priests by keeping them out of the conflict
between him and Saul. Every indication, as we read
on, brings us to understand that maybe Ahimelech and those priests,
there are about 85 priests here with him, that they didn't know
about the conflict between Saul and David. But if he wanted to
protect Ahimelech, it didn't work, because later on all 86
of them were killed, slaughtered by Saul. But you see, keep this
in mind. Keep this in mind. We have no
right, no way, of acceptance with God, but Christ, who is
our tabernacle, who is our sin offering, our sin bearer, our
lamb, our high priest. And that's where David went.
That's where David went. Well, here's the second thing.
Now, look here. David asked for the bread of the Lord. Here in
verse three, he was hungry. He says, now, therefore, what
is under thine hand? In other words, what have you
got on hand? That's literally what he's asking.
It would be like if you went into somebody's house and you
were hungry and you said, what have you got on hand for me to eat? And that's
what David's asking here. So he says, what have you got
on hand here? And he says, give me five loaves of bread in mine
hand, or what there is present, or whatever you can find. And
the priest answered David and said, there is no common bread
under mine hand. But there is hallowed bread,
sanctified bread, no common bread on hand, but holy bread, you
might say. Now, this bread that the priest
is referring to is the showbread in the holy place. You remember
the tabernacle? Now, you go into the tabernacle,
you've got the outer court, where you first come through the eastern
gates, you've got the altar of sacrifice, the brazen altar.
And as you go into the next section, that's the holy place that only
the priests could go in. And then inside that was the
holiest of all. The holy of holies, only the
high priests could go in one time a year with the blood. But
this showbread that he's talking about is the table of showbread.
There were 12 loaves. And of course, that showbread
symbolizes, it's a picture of Christ, our living bread. Now look over at John chapter
6 with me. Let's just look at some scripture
here. And what this shows is that as
the blood of Christ is our salvation, our redemption, that is at the
brazen altar, the priest going in with the blood, Christ, as
the bread of life, is our sustenance. He sustains us. We feed upon
Him. It's almost like this, you see. A lot of people have some form
of an idea that Christ sort of gets you started, and then you
finish up on your own. And Christ being the bread, symbolized
by the showbread, shows that's not so. He is our continual life. He's our life beginning, middle,
and end, or culmination. But look here in John chapter
6, look at verse 29. The Lord used this analogy when
he referred back to the manna that was given to the children
of Israel in the desert. And he says in verse 29, they
asked him what, in verse 28, he says, Then said they unto
him, What shall we do that we might work the works of God?
And Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God,
that ye believe on him whom he hath sent, And they said, therefore
unto him, what signs showest thou then that we may see and
believe thee? What dost thou work? And they
said, Our fathers did eat manna in the desert, as it is written,
he gave them bread from heaven to eat. Well, then Jesus said
unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Moses gave you not
that bread from heaven, but my Father giveth you the true bread
from heaven. For the bread of God is he which
cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world. Then
said they unto him, Lord evermore, give us this bread. And Jesus
said unto them, I am the bread of life. He that cometh to me
shall never hunger, and he that believeth on me shall never thirst. I am that bread of life. Look
down at verse 47. It says, Verily, verily, I say
unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life, I am
that bread of life. It goes back again, your fathers
did eat man in the wilderness and are dead. This is the bread
which cometh down from heaven that a man may eat thereof and
not die. He says, I am the living bread
which come down from heaven. If any man eat of this bread,
he shall live forever. And the bread that I will give
is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world. The
Jews therefore strove among themselves, saying, How can this man give
us his flesh to eat? Now, you see, they're still thinking
in earthly terms. A natural man cannot understand
and know the things of the Spirit of God. He can't rise above his
own situation, which is depravity, total depravity, sin. And that's
how they thought. It's how we thought before the
Spirit of God gave us life and knowledge and truth. And so in
verse 53, Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto
you, Except you eat the flesh of the Son of Man, and drink
his blood, you have no life in you. Whoso eateth my flesh, and
drinketh my blood, hath eternal life. And I will raise him up
at the last day." And you can read the rest of it because he
goes right back into it. But what he's saying here, this
is not literal, this is not cannibalism, this is faith. This is the hand
of faith which reaches out and partakes of Christ as our only
hope. That's what this showbread back
here in 1 Samuel 21 typified. And you remember, as the priest
entered the holy place, it was on a table on the right-hand
side called the Table of Showbread. It was opposite the golden lampstand,
which was a picture of Christ, the light of the world. And almost
500 years before David's time, this table was made. You remember,
it was commissioned by Moses. It was made of acacia wood on
the inside, and it was overlaid with gold. Now, what is that
picture? Our Lord's. Two natures. His
humanity, the wood. His deity, the gold. He's God
and man in one person. And the showbread itself was
made of fine, fine flour. Beaten, beaten, beaten. And that's
a great picture of our Savior going through the wrath of His
Father, the justice of God, and coming out in a way that's living
to feed His people. There were 12 cakes. One for
each tribe. of the nation Israel. And they
were on the table and they were sprinkled lightly with frankincense,
that sweet-smelling odor. It was replaced once a week,
this bread. Now, this is significant for
1 Samuel 21. Look back there. You see, this
bread was replaced once a week because it had to be always fresh
and new. In other words, there's no stale
bread. And as fresh and new as God's grace in Christ. to keep us, to keep our fellowship
fresh and new, our worship, our time before Him fresh, not old
and stale. It's kind of like this, when
you hear the gospel, you can hear it a thousand times, but
if it's your only hope of salvation to know Christ and Him crucified
and risen again, it's always fresh, it's always new to you
in that sense. And think about it, it's an old,
old story. Well, think about this, the priests
were to eat the old bread. And David asked for the old bread.
That's what he's asking for. Our Savior, who is our bread,
is as old as eternity. He has no beginning and no end.
He's the second person of the Trinity. Yet in time he was born
of a virgin and cut down in the prime of life. Our gospel is
as old as eternity. This is no new message. Yet each
time we hear it and feed upon it, it's new and it's fresh.
Look back here, he says, He says in verse 4, he says, there is
no common bread under mine hand. This common bread, though that
bread was hallowed, there was a commonality about it. And I
think about this, Christ, the bread of life. He said, I'm the
bread of life. He's hallowed and holy and separate from sinners,
but in a manner common in this sense. He had a human body and
soul, just like ours, yet without sin. He took into union with
his deity a sinless, perfect humanity and made after the seed
of Abraham in that sense. You know, the term showbread
literally means bread of faces. That's what it means. It's associated
with and to be eaten before the face of God. Some call it presence
bread. Because to eat God's bread in
God's house as a friend and a guest of the Lord and enjoy his favor
and peace and fellowship, his provision, his hospitality, is
to be in the presence of his glory. And eating the show bread
was a powerful way of saying, Lord, I trust you, I worship
you, I serve you, I love you, and I seek your face. I seek
your glory. I am in your presence by your
grace and mercy in Christ." The showbread demonstrates our dependence
on Christ, just as we depend on physical food for these bodies.
There is also a powerful way to say that just as bread is
necessary for survival, so fellowship with God is necessary for His
people. It is acted out, the words of
the Lord's Prayer, Give us this day our daily bread. You see,
not only is my salvation of the Lord, but my preservation is
of the Lord. And you know, that's what David
needs right now back here. He's fleeing from Saul. He's
on his own. He needs to be preserved. He can't preserve himself. But
here's what happens. Here's the third thing. Somebody
asked this, and I don't know. I don't want to try to read more
than what's in the scripture, but I've often wondered, why
did David ask for five loaves? You know, there's twelve there.
Why did he ask for five? Well, I know this. Five is the
number, the symbolic number of grace in the scripture. Four being the number of the
earth. Five is the number of grace.
Christ came to earth to save his people. I know when the Lord
fed the 5,000, he fed them with five loaves. So I don't know
if that has any significance, but it's something to think about,
isn't it? Five. Well, here's the third thing.
Now, David testifies of ceremonial purity. Look at verse four. Now, remember he said, there's
no common bread under mine hand, but there is hallowed bread.
That was bread that was set apart for a specific purpose. And he
said, if the young men have kept themselves at least from women,
well, David answered the priest, and he 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, in other words, they're ceremonially pure. That's what
that means. And he says, and the bread is
in a manner common, in a manner common, In other words, this
is the old bread that is to be replaced with the fresh bread
that the priests were to eat. And he says, Yea, though it were
sanctified this day in the vessel. Now he says they are kept pure
from women. And David speaks for the young
men in dealing with the high priest. What is the issue here?
He is talking about ceremonial cleanliness required under the
old covenant involved in eating the show bread. In other words,
those eating the bread were to be ceremonially clean according
to the standards that's laid out back in the book of Leviticus,
chapter 15. And they could not have had any relationships with
women during that time. Among other things, that chapter
also speaks of ceremonial cleanliness as it relates to marital relations.
But here's what he says, since David came out three days ago,
the young men that are with me are ceremonially pure. That's what he means. Consecrated.
Sanctified. They can eat what I eat. That's
what David's saying. Some commentators make an analogy
here of our Lord who was in the tomb three days and he came out
as the living bread, as the sustenance, so that now we can eat what he
eats. We can partake of eternal life. And I like that analogy. Christ came forth from the grave
having obtained eternal redemption for us. But now this ceremonial
purity, what does it signify? Well, I want you to turn to Romans
chapter 7. There's a spiritual significance here. To eat the showbread, look at
Romans chapter 7 and look at verse 4. Now, the church is always described
as the bride the wife of Christ, the body of Christ. And he says
in verse 4, look at it, Romans 7, wherefore, my brethren, you
also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ. Now that's
speaking of Christ's sacrifice on the cross to pay our sin debt,
to justify us before God by his blood and righteousness. It's
his redemptive work. That you should be married to
another. Even to him who is raised from
the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God." We're
married to Christ. He's our husband. And we are
to be pure and chaste virgins towards Him. Now, go to 2 Corinthians
chapter 11. And that's the symbolism here,
you see. That's the title that's being carried all the way through.
To eat this showbread. The showbread is for his bride. For his chaste virgins, what
he says, spiritually speaking, that's talking about spiritual
virginity as opposed to spiritual fornication. Spiritual loyalty
to our husband as opposed to spiritual adultery. And he said,
and Paul wrote this in 2 Corinthians chapter 3, I mean 11, I'm sorry, 2 Corinthians
chapter 11, verse 3. Turn there, I'm sorry. Remember
when false preachers come into the Corinthian church and try
to spiritually adulterate the people. Try to get them to go
after another Jesus by another spirit and another gospel. And
here's what he says in verse 3. He says, But I fear, lest
by any means as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety, so
your mind should be corrupted. from the simplicity that's in
Christ. Now, that was the problem. Well, what did he say before
then? Look at verse 2. Go back up to verse 2. For I
am jealous over you with godly jealousy, for I have espoused
you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin
to Christ. You see that? Loyalty to Christ. And then turn to one more. Turn
to Revelation 14. I want you to see this. In the
end time, Revelation 14, verse 1, in John's vision, he said,
And I looked, and lo, a Lamb stood on the Mount Zion. That's Christ and His Church.
And with Him, 144,000. I believe that's a symbolic number
showing the completeness of His Church. All whom He died for
shall be saved. having His Father's name written
in their foreheads. That's their mind. That's their
affections. That's their will. And I heard
a voice from heaven as the voice of many waters, as the voice
of a great thunder, and I heard the voice of harpers harping
with their harps, and they sung as it were a new song before
the throne and before the four beasts and the elders, and no
man could learn that song but the 144,000 which were redeemed
from the earth. You see, that's indicative of
the work of the Holy Spirit to teach us the gospel and plant
the word of God in our hearts. And listen, verse 4. These are
they which were not defiled with women, for they are virgins. These are they. Now, you know,
he's not talking about physical virginity here. If he is, then
they're none of the same. And he's saying here that these
are those who are spiritually pure by the blood of Christ and
espoused to him as their husband. And he says, these are they which
follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth. They follow the Lamb. These were redeemed from among
men, being the firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb. And in their
mouth was found no guile. He's not talking about them being
sinlessly perfect in themselves, for they are without fault before
the throne. That's what we are in Christ. That's what this symbolizes
back over here in 1 Samuel 21. That's what eating that showbread
is a testimony of, purified by the blood of Christ, clothed
in the wedding garment of His righteousness imputed. That's
what it's talking about. Over in the book of Mark, chapter
2, Our Lord quoted from this passage, or he used this incident,
when he was dealing with the Pharisees about the issue of
the Sabbath. In Mark chapter 2 and verse 23,
he says, And it came to pass that he went through the cornfields
on the Sabbath day, and his disciples began as they went to pluck the
ears of corn. The Pharisees said unto him,
Behold, why do they on the sabbath day that which is not lawful?"
They're picking corn on the sabbath. And he said unto them, Have you
never read what David did when he had need? That's the key there. He had need and wasn't hungry. He was hungry. He and they that
were with him. Now, he went into the house of
God in the days of Abiathar, the high priest. Now, Abiathar
was actually the son of Ahimelech. But what he's saying is, this
is no contradiction, Abiathar was a well-known, his time, he
became high priest when David was on the throne, and this is
known as the time of Abiathar. Ahimelech was actually the high
priest. He's not contradicting, but a lot of times that's the
way they spoke in the days of Abiathar. the high priest. It
doesn't say that Abiathar was actually the high priest at that
time, but it was in the days of that, during that time period.
And David, in that day, he did eat the shewbread, which is not
lawful to eat, but for the priest, and gave also to them which were
with him. And he said unto them, The Sabbath was made for man,
and not man for the Sabbath. Therefore the Son of Man is Lord
also of the Sabbath. What's going on here? Well, Christ, he approved of what Ahimelech
did, giving David that showbread. And he used Ahimelech's reasoning
as the same ground. And here's what the point is.
Talk about the Sabbath, the showbread, the tabernacle, or the whole
law. Man was not made for the law. But the law was made for
man. And just as the law of Sabbath
never prohibited acts of necessity and mercy, the law of the showbread
never said that only the priest could eat it in times of necessity
and mercy. Now, the priest were to eat it.
But you go back and look, it doesn't say now this is only
for the priest. Now, we know as to the truth
of salvation, That's pictured here in the showbread that only
those who have been made priests unto God in Christ can and will
eat the bread of life. That's faith in Christ. And that's
what it's picturing. But when man perverts the law
to make the law an end in and of itself and burden men with
it, men and women with it, then it's a tradition. But just like
Christ said, the man wasn't made for the Sabbath, but the Sabbath
was made for man. What is the Sabbath? It's rest. And it pictures
our Sabbath rest in Christ. What's the showbread for? It's
to picture God's people feeding upon the bread of life. Here's
David. He had need. He was hungry. So
he ate the showbread and it was okay. Well, verse 7 says that
there was a traitor among them. Certain man of the servants of
Saul was there that day detained before the Lord. His name was
Doeg and Edomite, the chiefest of the herdsmen that belonged
to Saul. Just like our Lord had a traitor among his disciples,
Judas, there was a traitor there and we'll pick up there next
time as we go through this. All right.