26, following King Solomon made a
navy of ships in Ezeongiba, which is beside Eloth, on the shore
of the Red Sea in the land of Edom. And Hiram sent in the navy
his servants, shipmen that had knowledge of the sea, with the
servants of Solomon. And they came to Ophir and fetched
from thence gold, 420 talents, and brought it to King Solomon.
And King Solomon made a navy of ships. Now why at the end
of this chapter does the Holy Spirit record and draw our attention
to this navy of ships that Solomon made, which Hiram assisted in
by providing servants, shipmen that had knowledge of the sea.
and which were sent to go to Ophir to fetch from thence gold. Why is this recorded? Is it simply
to set forefront to us the fact that Solomon had a navy or the
fact that it is by ship that he brought up the gold from of Solomon, his riches, his glory,
his kingdom, his might, not just in having an army but having
a navy. Well of course all of this is
true and to a degree this is a record of that but it's far
more than that and there's far more meaning in this than that.
Here we see the fact that there are seas upon which this navy,
these ships sailed. There are ships that the king
sent forth upon the seas, that he sent them forth to bring gold
from Ophir into his kingdom, to bring it from Ophir across
the seas in his ships into the king's, the son's kingdom. All of this is a reminder of
those other recordings in the scriptures of ships by which
God delivered his people, by which he brought a people through,
through the seas, through the storms into his everlasting kingdom. in Genesis that Noah made for
the saving of his house. That ark that brought Noah and
his house, those eight people, safely through the storms, the
rain, the seas that rose up upon the earth. That great storm of
God's judgment against the wickedness of mankind. I'm reminded of that the land of the whole earth and
destroyed everything in its wake except for those who were safely
in that ark that God commanded Noah to build. A picture of Christ,
our ark, who brings his people through the judgment, the wrath
of God, the waters of God's judgment which funder down upon sinful
man. Those waters of judgment that
came down upon our sins through which Christ as the ark of his
people brought his people through the judgment upon the waters
into an everlasting and a heavenly kingdom. We think also of the child of God, who, because of
his own sin and rebellion, flew away from the presence of God,
taking a ship from Joppa, headed for Tarshish, to flee from the
presence of God. And a great storm came upon the
seas, a great storm came upon the waters, such that the men
upon that ship with Jonah thought they would perish. Jonah confessed
why he was there and they threw him out of the ship and he was
swallowed up by that whale for three days and spat out upon
dry land. He gave himself as it were that
those upon that ship would be delivered and in so doing he
again is a picture of Christ. Christ who delivers his and for three days suffered and
was buried in the depths of the earth buried as it were in this
whale as Jonah was and then came to life as he rose again on the
third day Jonah in the end cries out salvation is of the Lord
and his tale depicts that another example of a ship in a storm
and the salvation of God from the certainty of death that our
sins will bring. Oftentimes in the gospels we
read of Christ taking a ship, going on a ship with his disciples
across the lakes, travel from one side to another to preach
the gospel on the other side. And we're reminded, of course,
of that one time when he was in a ship with the disciples
and a great storm came upon the waters. And Christ was asleep
in the midst of the ship whilst his disciples thought they would
perish. And they came unto him and cried
unto him, Master, save us. And he rised and stilled the
storm and calmed the waters and rebuked their lack of faith because
with Christ in the ship they had nothing to fear nothing to
fear again we see another example of the storms that will come
upon us and the deliverance that Christ brings as he brings his
people through the storms Christ is there in the ship.
If he's bringing us across the waters, there is nothing to fear. Three examples of ships in the
scriptures, all examples of this Navy that Solomon built. Reminder
again of the ships that God brings through the waters of judgment
into his everlasting kingdom. Yes, these waters, these seas
that these ships are launched on, are pictures of the waters
of judgment of God against our sins. Mankind's sins have multiplied
from the day that man was created upon this earth. They have multiplied. They themselves have multiplied
like waters upon the sea. The multitudes of people and
the multitudes of sins that flow forth from them come forth as
seas, as rivers, as it were. They envelop the world. How many
are our iniquities, or how great they are, how much comes out
of our hearts, how many thoughts, how many actions, how many deeds
flow forth from us. not like rivers of life that
Christ brings to his people in the gospel but a multitude of
sin which we need to be cleansed from and God's response to this
sin is his wrath that burns from heaven against it a wrath that
comes down and swallows that man in his judgment a wrath that
was depicted when Noah sailed upon the waters that rose up
as God's reign of judgment, as his storms of judgment came down
from heaven against the wicked in Noah's day. This is a storm,
this is a judgment that will come upon each and every one.
We are either in Christ in the ark, who sailed through the seas
of judgment, through these waters of wrath at the cross on our
behalf, we're either in him, For one day we will face these
waters of judgment in death. In death. And we'll have no ship
to save us. No captain on board to lead us
by the right way. No anchor for our souls. No deliverer. No navy of ships brought forth
by the king to bring his gold from Ophir. as these are waters
of judgment that will swallow us up these waters are depicted
in numerous places in the scriptures how often God's people have been
brought safely through the waters we've seen it Because Noah found grace in the
eyes of the Lord, God looked upon Noah and his household with
grace, with mercy, and said, I will spare them. And he brought
them through the judgment, not because of any good he saw in
Noah, but because of the grace that Noah had in the eyes of
the Lord. God looked on him in mercy. Does he look upon you? in grace
and mercy well the waters of judgment came down that day those
days those 40 days and 40 nights until God eventually brought
Noah and his household out onto dry land in a new heaven as it
were and a new earth he brought them into newness he brought
them in picture in type and figure into the new heavens and the
new earth into his kingdom He brought them forth, as it were,
as gold. He brought the gold from one
side of the storm, from one side of the sea to the other. And
he brought that household, Noah and his house, into his kingdom
to dwell with him forevermore. He delivered him. He saved him
with an outstretched arm. We see this salvation, we see
this bringing of God's people through the storms, through the
seas, multiple times. Moses, as God brought the Hebrews,
his people, out of Egypt, out of their captivity, out of the
world, out of sin, he delivered them with a mighty arm and he
brought them out from Pharaoh's grip. Pharaoh, in the end, relented. Let my people go, the Lord said
by Moses unto Pharaoh. And in the end, Pharaoh said
go and they went. But they came to the Red Sea. waters in front of them through
which they could not pass. And the might and the fury of
Pharaoh came after them with his chariots and his soldiers,
pursuing them behind. There was nothing they could
do. They could not go forward into the waters and they had
certain death coming from behind them. Oh, how helpless they were
and how the Lord showed them and shows us in that picture
how helpless we are. How often we're brought into
situations and states where there's nothing we can do. We've gone
a certain way and now we're blocked. We can't go forwards and we can't
return. If the people then look back,
they saw an army coming to slay them. If they went forwards they'd
go and drown. There's nothing they could do.
And so often the Lord will bring his people there. He'll bring
you to see your sin. He'll bring you to see the waters
of your sin and the waters of God's judgment that are coming
against your sin. You know that ahead of you there's
death and you deserve it and there's nothing you can do to
escape it. And pursuing you there's death pursuing you there's an
accuser pharaoh here is like the king of this world he's like
satan the accuser he comes pursuing us to find out our fault and
to show it to us look what you've done look how guilty you are
so he comes pursuing us and here we have ahead of us waters that
prevent us we can't go there's nothing we save us. And Moses said unto
that people at the seashore, stand still and see the salvation
of the Lord. How we need to be told that,
stand still. We're forever striving, we're
forever thinking, we're forever talking, we're forever arguing,
we're forever trying to get ourselves out of trouble and the Lord will
bring us in and hedge us in until there's nothing we can do but
stand still and see his salvation. And as the people stood still
and Moses held up the rod, The Lord parted the waters before
them. He brought forth a way, a deliverance
through the waters of judgment. And that people walked through
the Red Sea, dry shot. And as they walked through, the
Egyptians came behind them. And the Egyptians tried to follow
them. And as the Hebrews passed out
from the waters the other side, God closed up those waters upon
their accusers, upon Pharaoh and his army. He not only brought
his people through the waters of judgment, but those waters
destroyed all their enemies. It destroyed the accuser of the
Brethren. It destroyed his power. It took
it all away. In that picture we see again
Christ's deliverance of his people through the waters of death,
the waters of judgment. Later on in Joshua 4, we read
a similar situation where the people with Joshua are brought
to the edge of Jordan. There the other side lies Canaan,
the promised land. And yet here before them lies
waters which they cannot pass through. Water is a picture of
death, a picture of judgment, a picture of that which separates
them from the kingdom. They cannot get into the kingdom,
they cannot enter the promised land except they pass through
the waters and how can they? Oh, how this reminds us we cannot
get to God. We cannot enter his kingdom.
We cannot pass into glory, into heaven. We cannot pass through
death in and of ourselves. We would drown. We would die. Our sins condemn us. Those waters
will swallow us up. There's nothing that we can do.
And yet, the Lord led that people through those rivers on dry ground. With Joshua ahead of them, with
the ark of the Lord in the midst, the waters were parted and the
people went through dryshod. Again, God reminds his people
that he will bring them through the waters. He is their ark. He is their deliverance. He is
their ship that will bring them through. There, that Ark of the
Covenant, overlaid in gold, was led through the waters. How God,
in picture, in type, brought his people in an ark, a golden
ark, through the waters of judgment into his kingdom. Later on, when
we read of the prophets Elijah and Elisha in 2nd Kings, we see
them too come to Jordan. And we see how both Elijah and
then Elisha that followed him pass through the waters. They
are reminders again, looking back at both Moses going through
the waters at the Red Sea and Joshua passing through the waters
at Jordan. Elijah the former prophet, Elisha
who follows him, Moses the prophet of the Lord, known for being
he by whom the Lord gave his law, and Joshua who followed
him. When the Lord's work was done,
when the Lord's condemnation had come down upon the people
and brought them in guilty, Joshua, Elisha, who follows him, pass
through the rivers on dry ground into eternity, as it were. All pictures of deliverance through
the waters of judgment. How often in the scriptures God
reminds us, reminds us of our sin, reminds us of the judgment
to come, reminds us of the rivers, the seas, the waters, and reminds us of the need to
be in the ark, Christ Jesus, in his ship, passing through
the waters. In Isaiah 25, we read, for thou
has been a strength to the poor, a strength to the needy in his
distress, a refuge from the storm, a shadow from the heat, when
the blast of the terrible ones is as a storm against the wall
how we need a refuge from the storm and there's no refuge and
there's no deliverer but Christ the ark of God of which Noah's
ark was a picture is he your refuge when you come and stand
before the sea is he the ship that's going to take you through
to the other side do you have an answer do you have a deliverer
you have a savior what a navy solomon made what
a navy he made and how that navy was sailed by shipmen that Heron
provided that had knowledge of the sea. Knowledge of the sea. In order
to safely bring these ships from over across the sea, there was
a need for skilled shipmen. who could bring the ship safely
through. Again, pointers unto Christ.
It's no good just having a ship. We need his ship. We need one
to sail that ship that knows the way, that knows the storms,
that can bring us safely through. These ships that we read of in
the scriptures in multiple places We will read of ships of Tarshish,
great ships, ships that brought gold from places like Ophir.
We read of Ophir in more than one place in the scriptures.
Here we read of it, we read of it elsewhere, we read of it in
Isaiah, we read of it in Job. It was known as a place to bring
gold. And multiple places we read of
the ships of Tarshish. Tarshish wasn't just a place. Tarshish that went across the great seas
are referred to as great ships of Tarshish. And in order to
bring a great company, a great people with much gold, God needs
a great ship. He needs great ships to bring
us. And the ships of Christ's Navy, the ships that he uses
to bring his people through the storms and the waters of death,
are great ships. But what makes them great is
not their size, but the one who brings the ship. the one who's
in the midst, the one who owns it, the one who sails it, the
one who brings the gold from Ophir. They brought gold from
Ophir. This is a picture of the king,
Solomon the king, bringing his gold into his kingdom. A picture of Christ himself, across the waters, through the
judgment, through death, into his kingdom. How often the people
of God are likened unto gold in the scriptures. Gold purified
in the fire, gold brought forth in the fires pure, is burnt off
how God sends the trials the storms our way to burn off the
dross and bring us forth as pure gold and how he'll bring his
people as gold in his ship through the storms across the waters
into his kingdom gold of Ophir pure gold fine gold Ophir was
known as a source of the finest gold And Solomon sought the finest
gold to use in the building of the temple and use in the building
of the house. He brought the finest gold into
his kingdom. Pure gold, refined gold, gold
refined in the fire. So Christ brings his people forth
and he makes them to be the finest. The finest, not because of any
good in themselves. But because he burns up the dross,
he takes it all away. And there's nothing to be seen
in his people but his righteousness, his life, his grace, his mercy,
his sanctification. He is their all in all. They
are fine gold in Christ. He is their purity. He's their
gold. He's what makes them pure and
golden and precious. And he brings them forth through
the waters. In Isaiah chapter 13, we read,
I will punish the world for their evil and the wicked for their
iniquity. And I will cause the arrogancy
of the proud to cease and will lay low the haughtiness of the
terrible. than fine gold. Even a man than
the golden wedge of Ophir. Therefore I will shake the heavens
and the earth shall remove out of her place in the wrath of
the Lord of hosts and in the day of his fierce anger. What did it take God to make
a man more precious than fine gold? even a man than the golden wedge
of Ophir. What did it take for God to bring
his people through the storms, across the waters as gold of
Ophir into his kingdom? What did it take? It took God
Almighty sending his own son into the darkness and the evil
of this world It took Christ being made a man, made a little
lower than the angels even for the suffering of death. It took
Christ living as a man amongst men, but as a perfect man amongst
sinners. It took him coming to his own
and being rejected by his own. It took him coming into this
world to you and I, and suffering the out, pouring of our rejection,
our scorn, our dismissal of Him. It took Christ walking amongst
us and coming unto those of us, like you and I, who did not want
Him, who hated Him, who despised Him. It took Him walking amongst
men, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, preaching His salvation,
preaching the message, Preaching the message of righteousness. Preaching the message which was
made known when Moses led the people forth over the Red Sea
on dry ground. Preaching the message made known
by Joshua as he led the people through Jordan. Preaching the
message that Elijah and Elisha preached of the glory of God
in salvation in Jesus Christ. Preaching the message of Jonah
salvation is of the Lord, that he must lie in the belly of the
earth for three days, cast out by all, judged by all. It took Christ walking amongst
sinners, being despised by the wise and the prudent, cast out
by the religious, It took Him walking amongst those who wanted
to stone Him to death, who wanted to destroy Him, who wanted to
catch Him in all His words. It took God sending His own Son
to the cross. It took Christ being wrongly
accused cast out and rejected by all, abandoned by all, abandoned
in that last hour even by his disciples, by those closest to
him. It took him being abandoned by
all men and accused with a false accusation that he made himself
equal with God. When he was equal with God, he
was God. Yes, the Jews contrived all manner
of accusations against him to put him to death. and they cried
out, crucify him, crucify him. We will not have this man to
reign over us. Just as you and I have cried
out in our own hearts, just as we've said of him in our unbelief
and apathy, we don't want him, we don't want his gospel, we
don't want his rule. We want to sit upon the throne
of our own lives, in our own kingdom, ruling our own destiny. And yet where has our way brought
us? There's a way that seems right unto a man, but it leads
unto destruction. We've cast him out, we despise
him, and yet all that that brings us to is the edge of a sea like
the Red Sea, is the edge of the River Jordan death. with pursuers
behind us ready to destroy us and certain death ahead of us.
Our way has not brought us under salvation, it's destroyed us. Our works have brought us in
guilty before God. Our attempts to save ourselves
have brought us in more sinful, more wicked, more proud, more
arrogant. than anything else. Our righteousnesses
are as filthy rags. We come in guilty before God. And in our guilty, arrogant,
proud way, we cast out Christ. We went our own way, which leads
to destruction, but we would not come under him. So we said,
crucify him, crucify him. And they took him. And they nailed
him to a tree. They hammered nails into his
hands and his feet. They set a title up above his
head. This is Jesus, the King of the
Jews. They lifted him up to die. The
men looked on and mocked and scoffed and derailed him. And
so did we in our hearts. But God in mercy facing death in the storms of
his wrath. And he took their sins, and he
laid them upon his son. And he made his own son to be
sin for them, that they should be made the righteousness of
God in him. their unbelief, he bore their
despising of him, he bore their pride, their arrogance, he bore
all their iniquity. And God poured out the storms
of his wrath upon him. They came down from heaven upon
his own son. He was plunged into the waters
of death for them. He was cast overboard as Jonah
was from the ship. He was swallowed up in the belly
of the earth. The storms rained down upon him
as they rained down upon that ark in which Noah was. He bore the wrath of God for
his people. He was cast out by all men. The
father looked upon him, bearing the sins of his people, made
sin as a sinner. He poured out his fury upon his
own son. His father forsook him. He was
alone in the darkness, in the depths, in the sea. He cries
out, out of the depths, he cried unto his God. And in that darkness,
In the seas of God's wrath, in the depths, under the fires of
God's wrath, his faith never wavered. He looked up and he
trusted and he believed and he knew that salvation is of the
Lord. He knew that he'd be brought
through the waters. He knew he'd go through dryshod
the other side. He knew that his people would
be in him, brought through and delivered in him. He knew everyone
for whom he suffered would be saved. And he bore every judgment
of God's holy law, every judgment of God's wrath and righteousness
against that people. He bore it to the end. He endured
eternity in hell for them, contracted to three hours upon the cross
in the darkness. He bore that. And at the end,
he cried out, it is finished. And he arose. On the third day,
victorious, and his people arose in him, and he led them forth
into glory as fine gold of Ophir. Fine gold. He made in himself
of them a man more precious than fine gold, even a man than the
golden wedge of Ophir. In Christ they are gold in God's
kingdom. He shook the heaven and the earth. They were removed out of their
place. The wrath of the Lord of hosts in the day of his fierce
anger that was poured out upon Christ. Christ God punished the
world for their evil, the wicked for their iniquity. He caused
the arrogance of the proud to cease and he laid low the haughtiness
of the terrible. But in his son, he made a man
more precious than fine gold. Were you in him? when he suffered
upon the cross. What a storm he sailed through
to bring his people to the other side as fine gold from Ophir
into his everlasting kingdom. He was their ark upon the waters. He led them across the sea into
everlasting glory. Oh, what a savior he is. What
a deliverer. But we, as we're brought to faith
to look upon him as our only hope, our only salvation, as
we pass through this world, we are like ships at sea. We pass
through stormy waters. We're tossed to and fro by all
sorts of evil, all sorts of trials, all sorts of temptations. We
have no strength in ourselves. We have no wisdom. We don't know
the way to sail. We can't keep the rudder of the
ship. We can't keep ourselves from
capsizing. We can't keep ourselves from
falling over. We're like ships at sea in the
midst of a storm. And we need a captain in our
ship that guides us. We need an anchor for our soul.
For if we're in Christ's ship, if he's our ship, if he's our
ark, if he's our captain, if he's our anchor, he will bring
us through every trial, every trouble, every storm, every gale,
every wind that comes upon us. He'll bring us through it all
and nothing will destroy us. In Hebrews 6 we read, that we
have a hope, which is as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast,
and which entereth into that within the veil, whither the
forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus, made in high priest
forever, after the order of Melchizedek. Is he your hope? Is he your anchor
in the midst of the storm? There's no hope in man. There's
no hope in our own wisdom. There's no hope to be found in
our own works and our own righteousness. They cannot save us. There's
no hope to be found by turning to the Lord to keep us. It will
condemn us. It will find us out guilty. It
will throw us overboard into the waters. It will be as Pharaoh
and his army pursuing us and accusing us. There's no hope
to be found by turning back to the law, by turning around and
trying to return to Egypt. That was only bondage there,
only captivity. There's no hope by staying where
we were, by staying in bondage, by staying in sin, by staying
in the world. There's no hope there. We must
go forwards. But you say, how can I go forward?
There's just water, there's a sea ahead of me. How can I get through
it? Well, not by the law, and not
by your works, and not by your free will, and not by your wisdom,
only by Christ. God will bring us to faith in
him alone. who is our hope and our anchor
in the midst of a storm. He's the one that's in the ship.
When the storm comes, he may seem like he's asleep, and we
may be full of dread and fear, but he knows where he's bringing
us, and all is well if he's there. God will bring us to the edge
of those waters, the Red Sea, and say unto our souls, stand
still, and see the salvation of the Lord. And when we're in
the sea, in the ship, and the storms come, and we know not
where to turn, he will come in his gospel, by his spirit, and
say, fear not, fear not, look unto me, and be ye saved. And Christ will surely bring
us through safely to the other side, because
he'll bring his people as fine gold from Ophir, safely through
the waters of judgment, in Christ his ark, into an everlasting
kingdom prepared for them. Oh, what a saviour he is. Salvation
is of the Lord. Oh, what a deliverer he is. Oh
what a ship he is, what a navy he has that he brings his people
through in his ships, in him, to the other side as pure gold.
What a king, what a son, what a saviour. God give us faith
in the midst of the storms, in the midst of our trials, to look
to no other one, not to self, not to man, not to wisdom, not
to the law, but unto Christ alone, who is the Saviour of sinners.
Amen.