Continue to look in 1 Kings 9
where we read from verse 10 the following. And it came to pass
at the end of 20 years when Solomon had built the two houses, the
house of the Lord and the king's house. Now Hiram the king of
Tyre had furnished Solomon with cedar trees and fir trees and
with gold according to all his desire. That then King Solomon
gave Hiram 20 cities in the land of Galilee. And Hiram came out
from Tyre to see the cities which Solomon had given him, and they
pleased him not. And he said, What cities are
these which thou hast given me, my brother? And he called them
the land of Cable unto this day. And Hiram sent to the king six
score talents of gold. Here we see between King Hiram
and Solomon part of the exchange which they made for the work
and the provisions provided. Hiram was greatly helpful to
his friend Solomon in helping Solomon build the temple and
the various houses in Jerusalem. He provided, as we read, the
cedar trees from Lebanon, the fir trees and much gold and many
other provisions which were used in the building of the temple.
And in response, Solomon agreed to give Hiram and his people
various things in return. And part of what Solomon gave
under Hiram were these 20 cities in the land of Galilee. and yet the cities that Solomon
gave unto Hiram we read displeased him Hiram came out from Tyre
to see the cities which Solomon had given him and they pleased
him not and he said what cities are these which thou hast given
me my brother and he called them the land of Cable and to this
day there was this exchange made
But it was not an exchange with which Hiram was greatly pleased. He thought the cities and the
land in Galilee that Solomon gave unto him were greatly lacking. Second rate, a poor return for what he felt
he had provided unto Solomon. There's a number of things that
we see in this exchange and Hiram's response. The very fact of an
exchange being made is a reminder of various similar exchanges
which we read of in the scriptures. and a pointer to another exchange,
a great exchange, which should come in years following. Solomon gave unto Hiram 20 cities
in the land of Galilee. We're reminded years previously
of how Jacob desired the daughter of Laban Rachel for a wife and
he labored for many years. For Laban and Laban mistreated
him and reneged on his promises. One day, Jacob comes on to Laban
and reminds him that he had worked for him for 20 years. Seven years twice over and six
years. Twenty years he'd laboured for
him. Finally, Laban gave him his daughter
to wife. He would hold her back for so
long. But an exchange was made. Another
exchange of which we read in the scriptures is of Joseph.
Betrayed by his brothers, who were jealous of their brother
Joseph. Jealous of his dreams, jealous
of the favour that his father bestowed upon him. Jealous of
the love that they saw set upon Joseph by Jacob. They desired
to get rid of Joseph. They desired to cast him out
from their presence. And they connived a plan. They
threw him into a pit. And then the Midianites came
by, traders. And they thought, we can sell
him for money. We can get rid of him. We'll
never see him again. They'll take him far away. And
we'll tell our father that he's dead. So for 20 pieces of silver,
they made an exchange, a dreadful exchange. They sold Joseph, their
brother, into slavery in Egypt for 20 pieces of silver. And what he received in return
as his brothers enriched themselves was bondage and slavery. in a far country, he was cast
out. And oh, the trials that he endured
for so long. But how in the end, what they
did and what they meant for evil, God used for good. He raised
up Joseph into a great height in Egypt. He set him at Pharaoh's
right hand. He gave him power over all the
land. And when famine came upon Egypt
and all the surrounding countries, and Canaan, and Joseph's brethren
were hungry or in famine were dying, And they came down to
Egypt and unto Joseph to seek food and they knew not who Joseph
was and they fell before him pleading for food. Ultimately
Joseph made himself known unto them. And ultimately Joseph forgave
his brethren for their treachery and rewarded them. with all the
riches of Egypt. He brought Jacob and his household
down into Egypt. He fed them, he clothed them,
he showed them mercy, he showed them love, he showed them grace. And that exchange which his brothers
had made long ago, he returned unto them riches beyond their
imagination, riches that they never deserved and they never
earned. They deserved condemnation. They deserved death for their
treachery to their brother. And yet he returned unto them
love. 20 pieces of silver. It's a picture
of an exchange, a substitution. And a picture, of course, in
Joseph of Christ who should come, come unto his brethren who had
rebelled against him, who had given him away as dead, come
unto sinners like you and I who had despised him, who as it were
had sold him off for silver, who'd cast him out. Those of
us that did not want him, he came into the darkness of this
world, the evil of this world, and he laid down his life for
sinners that deserved condemnation. He took their sins upon himself
and he made an exchange. He took their sins and he gave
unto a chosen people. righteousness of God he shed
his blood that sinners should live what an exchange but this
exchange we see here between Solomon and Hiram and the 20
cities in the land of Galilee that Solomon gave and the and
the exchange that was made between Jacob and Laban and the exchange
that was made. by Joseph's brothers. are all
pictures. Of that great exchange, which
should come. The land that was given unto These twenty cities pleased him not. Hiram came out from Tyre to see
the cities which Solomon had given him, and they pleased him
not. And he said, What cities are
these which thou hast given me, my brother? And he called them
the land of Cable unto this day. He saw nothing in them. Nothing
appealing about them. Nothing appealing about the land
or the cities in that land. He felt aggrieved at his side
of the bargain. There was nothing there. What
was Solomon giving him? How this can reflect our heart.
at the providence that comes our way so often in life there
are circumstances which come our way things that we are given
things that we receive and we're aggrieved with it we complain
we feel that God has dealt with us poorly why have I been given
this? why must I endure this? why have
I been given so little? and how we complain at our state
and how we complain at the circumstances but how the Lord will bring his
people to endure and to wait upon him and to see that in time
in time that which he gives them is for their good Hiram despised
these 20 cities in the land of Galilee. But what a land Galilee
proved to be, generations later. Hiram didn't know what he'd been
given. He could see nothing in it, but
what a place to be given. What would come many years later
out of the land of Galilee? What riches, what blessing, what
glory, what a place! To Hiram here it was nothing,
it was worthless. But in time, it would be a place
of great blessing. His heart, his response, mirrors
that of us in so many ways, in so many circumstances. We see
things that God gives us and we cannot understand. We see
nothing in it. We see but trouble. Why has thou brought this upon
me, Lord? And we don't see the end from
the beginning. Job had his riches taken away from him. Job had
his sons and daughters taken away from him. Job had his health
taken away from him. He was stripped of everything.
How bitter was his complaint. And yet what great good God brought
out of that great trial which he sent his child Job. How Job in the end would glorify
his God and thank his God for that which he was brought through.
How the latter end of Job was greater than that at the beginning.
How that circumstance that he looked upon and despised was
used for good. Much like the circumstances of
Joseph When he was sold into slavery in Egypt, he lost everything. But that which his brothers meant
for evil, God used for good. Yes, we may be brought into circumstances
or be given things that we can see nothing in, nothing but trouble. We can complain, but in time,
God brings it forth for good. Indeed, we see the same in Isaiah,
chapter 53, in man's response to Christ, the Son of God, when
he came. God sent his servant. He sent
his Son into this world. But what was man's response to
him? Mankind saw nothing in him. He came unto his own people,
the Jews, the Israelites, and they rejected him, they cast
him out. They did not receive him as the
Messiah that was promised unto them. They could see no good
in him, this was not what they expected. They imagined when
God had promised their Messiah that he would come in a certain
fashion and do certain things. At the time of the Israelites,
under Roman bondage, they imagined that when Messiah should come,
that he would deliver them from their earthly bondage to Rome. They viewed outward deliverance
as what they'd imagined. And when Christ came preaching
the gospel, they rejected it. And they rejected Him. They saw
no good in Him. Here I am, imagined he'd be given
a land and cities of a certain nature. And when he saw the land
of Galilee and the cities there, his heart sank. What cities are
these which thou hast given me, my brother? And so, too, mankind received
Christ with such a heart. Isaiah says, he shall grow up
before him as a tender plant and as a root out of a dry ground. He have no form nor comeliness. And when we shall see him, there
is no beauty that we should desire him. He is despised and rejected
of men. A man of sorrows and acquainted
with grief. And we hid as it were our faces
from him. He was despised and we esteemed
Him not. God sent unto men, He sent unto
the Jews, He sent into this world, He sent to us His beloved Son. He gave us the greatest gift
in His Son and when He came into our midst, we despised and rejected
Him. We hid our faces from Him. He
was despised and we esteemed Him not. He had no form nor comeliness. When we saw Him there was no
beauty that we should desire Him. We wanted a Saviour, a Messiah
of a certain nature and when Christ came we did not want Him. Galilee as a land was despised. It was second rate. It wasn't
where Jewry dwelt when Christ came. It wasn't Judea. It wasn't the favoured part of
the land. It was outside. It was the areas
Perhaps where the poorer people lived, the rougher people. It
was not the favoured part of the land. It was not where the
Jews sought to dwell. It was a nothing, a barrenness,
a desert. Oh, there were people there,
there were cities there, but it was not a place to be desired. It was like that in Hiram's day. It was like that when Christ
came. And yet having come unto his own, his own received him
not. Indeed the Jews sought to kill
him. They sought to put him to death.
So he went preaching the gospel, the gospel of the kingdom. in
Galilee. He went outside the camp. He went to that despised land
and a despised people. He went to those who were nothings
and preached salvation. unto them. John seven one tells
us after these things, Jesus walked in Galilee for he would
not walk in Jewry because the Jews sought to kill him. He went to find the lost sheep
of Israel, the nothings. Because as Paul writes, In 1
Corinthians, God have chosen the foolish things of the world
to confound the wise, and God have chosen the weak things of
the world to confound the things which are mighty and base things
of the world, and things which are despised have God chosen. Yea, and things which are not,
to bring to naught things that are, that no flesh should glory
in his presence. When we read of Christ and the
Gospels, how much we read of his time in Galilee. How he lived
in Galilee, how he dwelt in Galilee, how he went about preaching the
Gospel in Galilee. The Jews looked upon this region
as they looked perhaps upon the other nations outside of the
camp, despised. They looked upon those who were
not Jews as dogs, as heathen, as barbarians. And Christ came unto the lepers,
the sick, the blind, the deaf, the dumb, the weak, the cast
out. those who had a need he sought
in Galilee. Those who had a need. Where are you? In which land,
in which city, figuratively speaking, are you? Are you like those Jews in Judea,
wanting for nothing? full of your own self-importance,
sure of your own thinking, self-righteous. Have you got it all worked out? And when somebody comes pointing
you on to Christ, do you turn your face from him? Do you despise
him and reject him? Do you esteem him not? Do you
say I've got no need for him? Why do I need a saviour if I
don't need saving? Or are you like those that dwelt
in Galilee? Do you see your sin? Do you see
your poverty? Do you see your need? Are you
a leper that needs to be cleansed? Are you a blind man sat by the
wayside that cries out unto Jesus of Nazareth as he passes by? Jesus of Nazareth, thou son of
David, have mercy upon me. Are you like the death that come
out here? You need your ears touched to
hear his voice. Are you like a lame man that
sits and cannot move. Maybe you sit by the waters in which there may be healing,
but you cannot move to enter the water. Where are you? Are you in Galilee, a land despised
and forgotten? Has Christ come into Galilee? Has he come your way? Well in the scriptures we read
that that's exactly where he came. In John chapter 7 we read
that many of the people therefore, when they heard this saying,
said of a truth this is the prophet. Others said this is the Christ.
But some said, shall Christ come out of Galilee? Have not the scripture said that
Christ cometh of the seed of David and out of the town of
Bethlehem where David was? So there was a division among
the people because of him and some of them would have taken
him but no man laid hands on him. Then came the officers to
the chief priests and Pharisees, and they said unto them, Why
have ye not brought him? The officers answered, Never
man spake like this man. Then answered them the Pharisees,
Are ye also deceived? Have any of the rulers or of
the Pharisees believed on him? But this people who know if not
the law are cursed. Nicodemus saith unto them, he
that came to Jesus by night being one of them, doth our Lord judge
any man before it hear him and know what he doeth? They answered
and said unto him, art thou also of Galilee? Search and look,
for out of Galilee ariseth no prophet. And every man went unto
his own house. Now we see how the Jews despised
the very idea that Christ should be in Galilee. Of course, we
know that he did come to Bethlehem, that he was born in Bethlehem,
but there was no room for him in the inn there. And when he
came, Herod sought to put him to death. And Christ went and preached
in Galilee. He grew up in Nazareth, that
despised place in the midst of Galilee. That place where many
said, can any good come out of it? And Nathanael said unto him,
can there any good thing come out of Nazareth? Philip saith
unto him, Come and see. Come and see. We're just the same. We're just the same in our hearts
and in our response unto Christ. We say in our hearts, Out of
Galilee ariseth no prophet. We say in our hearts, can any
good come out of Nazareth? We hear of Christ, and we despise
and we reject him. But God sends his preacher, Philip,
and says, unto sinners like us, come and see. Can any good come
out of Nazareth? Come and see. Hiram received
these 20 cities in Galilee from the hand of Solomon and thought
he'd received the bad end of the bargain. He still addressed
Solomon as his brother, but how his heart sank at what he'd been
given. But how time proved him wrong. What a place he'd been given.
It is in this land, in Nazareth, in Galilee, that the Lord lived,
that he grew, that he preached, that he went about healing the
sick, the deaf, the blind, the lame. It is in this land that
he brought forth great blessing out of nothing. He brought forth
salvation. It's the very fact that there
was nothing there, nothing great, nothing that man would esteem
that led to such great blessing. Men go to those places that they
can see and grasp and hold off. They think that there will be
great things in riches, in the power and in the strength of
man. But God won't share his glory
with another. And it's where there was nothing
that God brought forth his son and brought forth glory and salvation. This is a picture of the hearts
of men in religion. We look upon our works, our will,
our decision, as having some merit. There's some great glory
in these things. Oh what a godly man that is.
Oh what a righteous man he is. Oh how God will favour him. Oh how we look to what we do.
Oh how we look to what we think and what we know. And we think
we have something with which God will be pleased. And oh how
we look upon others and despise them. What do they know? Have they ever sought out the
scriptures like I have? The Jews answered Nicodemus,
then answered and said unto him, Art thou also of Galilee? Search
and look, Nicodemus, for out of Galilee ariseth no prophet. Are you a fool? Have you not
read the scriptures? Do you not know what we know?
There's nothing there, Nicodemus. but how they exalted their own
understanding, their own wisdom their own heritage, their own
land all that they'd had, they had and all that they built up
and how we are in religion oh how God will be pleased with
me and my understanding and my knowledge and the way I live
and the way I've served him And how we despise those, the fishermen,
the working men, those that Christ called as his disciples, these
ignorant and foolish men, what do they know? How can they know
anything? How we despise that which is
nothing. And yet God have chosen the foolish things, the weak
things, the base things. He's chosen Galilee. He's chosen
this barren wilderness, this outcast land. He's chosen the
nothings because in a barren land He finds a barren people,
a hungry and a thirsty people under whom He can show mercy
and grace. A people who have nothing, but
who receive everything from his hand. Hiram thought he'd been
given nothing, but in truth he was given everything. God gave
him a land through which he would bring forth salvation through
Christ, through Jesus of Nazareth. The multitude said, this is Jesus,
the prophet of Nazareth of Galilee. How often in the New Testament
is Jesus referred to as Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus of Nazareth
of Galilee. This savior who comes from nowhere. from a nothing. In God's providence, he caused
Pilate, when the Jews took Christ and betrayed him, when they cried
out for him to be crucified, when Pilate bowed to their wishes,
he caused Pilate to take and write a title and put it on the
cross and the writing was Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the
Jews. Jesus of Nazareth, the King of
the Jews. Not only did the Jews object
to him putting that title above his head, as they rejected him
as their king, but how they'd have hated the fact that he was
described as Jesus of Nazareth. What a place. What a place to be mentioned.
Not Jesus of Jerusalem, not Jesus of Bethlehem, but Jesus of Nazareth. A nothing. A nothing. Pilate said, what I have written,
I have written. And Pilate took that superscription
and nailed it above Christ's head upon the cross, above the
King of the Jews. And Pilate had Christ nailed
to that cross and lifted up. And there, under that title,
Jesus of Nazareth, he suffered. There he died. There he was crucified. There his blood was shed. There
he bore the sins of a multitude of nothings, called out of Galilee. There he saved his people from
their sins. Under that superscription. And on the third day, on the
third day, he arose from the dead as he had promised. Matthew 26, but after I am risen
again, I will go before you into Galilee. Matthew 28, we read, and go quickly
and tell his disciples that he is risen from the dead. And behold,
he goeth before you into Galilee. There shall ye see him, lo, I
have told you. Go back to Galilee. There he
is. He came to this nothing of a
land. He came to where the lepers were,
where the blind were, the deaf were, the lame were, the dead
were. He came to save them from their
sins, He took their sins, He blotted their sins out, He rose
again in power, He rose again in victory, and to Galilee He
goes. Go, see Him. Then said Jesus
unto them, Be not afraid, go tell my brethren that they go
into Galilee, and there shall they see Me. Then the eleven disciples went
away into Galilee, into a mountain where Jesus had appointed them.
And when they saw him, they worshipped him. When they saw him, they
worshipped him. Where are you looking for salvation? Where are you looking? Where's
your heart set? Is your heart set upon riches? Is it set upon status or in power? Is it set upon those things that
this world glories in? Have you turned to religion?
Is it set upon that which men esteem in religion, in the churches,
in the position in the churches, in much understanding, in much
knowledge? Will you go off to this Bible
college and learn this and learn that? Will you seek position?
Are you like the Jews, full of your own understanding, full
of your own wisdom? If you are, you'll find nothing
there. And your heart will cast out
Christ. You'll see nothing in Him. You'll
despise Him. But should you be given a heart
to go into Galilee? Should you hear the message,
I will go before you into Galilee? Should you go like those disciples
into a mountain where Jesus had appointed them in Galilee? in that nothing of a place, outside
of the camp, outside of the world's religion, outside of all that
men esteem, should you go to where there's nothing, nothing but Christ, then you
will go with those disciples and see Him and worship Him. For there in the land of Galilee,
Christ came and there he found his people and there he delivers
them. Oh Hiram despised this gift from
the King. But oh if God comes unto us,
if the Son, the King, Solomon, the picture of Christ, if the
King should give us Galilee, and should meet with us there.
What a blessing he has given us. Oh what a message we see
in this whole tale. To wait upon the Lord. To go out from that which can
be seen. To go outside of that which is
esteemed of man. To wait by faith upon the Lord. Waiting where there's nothing.
waiting where nothing's going on, seeing the years passing
by and there seems to be no change, oh how barren things may seem,
oh how lifeless, oh how worthless, how pointless, where is God? Where is he? But in time, at
the appointed hour, when his people given faith to wait upon
him when they've waited and waited and waited then in time he appears
Christ was brought into the temple and there was Anna there was
Simeon aged having waited and here their Savior comes I have
seen the salvation of the Lord Anna waited for redemption in
Israel, and here he was. She waited a lifetime, and then
he came. God in time rewards the faith
of his people. They're given to wait. They're
given to wait on him in a nothing. like lepers cast outside, outside
in Galilee, there they are in their caves, they've got nothing,
there's nothing there, they're despised by all and they wait
and then the Lord comes. No matter how barren it might
be. Hannah waited upon the Lord, barren, mocked, ridiculed by
others. And then the Lord answered her
cries and gave her a son. Abraham and Sarah were promised
a son in old age. How long they had to wait. How
their faith was tested and in the end, Sarah conceived a child. And here Hiram was given this
land of Galilee. of the 20 cities and it seemed
so barren and it seemed so worthless and yet generations after Solomon,
after Hiram, Christ came and he brought life. Generations,
lifetimes later The faith of God's people was rewarded. Generations later, Christ came
in Galilee. These all died in faith, not
having received the promises but having seen them afar off
and were persuaded of them and embraced them and confessed that
they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. For they that say
such things declare plainly that they seek a country. And truly,
if they had been mindful of that country from whence they came
out, they might have had opportunity to have returned. But now they
desire a better country, that is in heavenly. Wherefore God
is not ashamed to be called their God, for he hath prepared for
them a city. And God describes the faithful
here in Hebrews 11. There's nothing and yet they
wait on him and how their faith is rewarded. How an exchange
is made on their behalf. They did nothing and God gives
them a reward beyond their imagination. Joseph was sold for 20 pieces
of silver. an exchange was made, he was
given up for dead but in the end he was raised up to a great
height in Egypt and he delivered his brothers and they were given
life Christ came into Galilee that very land which Solomon
gave to Hiram in exchange 20 cities that Hiram despised And
when Christ came, he made a greater exchange. He took our ingratitude. He took Hiram's ingratitude. He took his unbelief. He took
our unbelief. He took the unbelief of his people. He took their ingratitude. He
took their rebellion. He took their hatred. He took
their despising of him. He took their ridicule of him.
He took their mockery of him. He took all their sin, past,
present and future. And he bore it. And he was nailed
to a cross in their place. And he bore the judgment and
the wrath of God against all that sin, all that rebellion,
all that ingratitude, all that unbelief. He bore the wrath and
the judgment of God. He drank the cup of God's wrath
to its dregs. He was made sin in the place
of his people that they might be made the righteousness of
God in him. What an exchange was made upon
the cross. He bore all the sins of all his
people and he gave them life and righteousness and salvation
and a kingdom and an inheritance. He gave them his all. He was
betrayed like Joseph for 20 pieces of silver. He was betrayed for
silver. He was betrayed for nothing. He was cast out. He was thrown
as it were in a pit like Joseph was. But in exchange, he gave
his life that his people should live. He came to Nazareth. that despised city in Galilee. He came to the nothing of Galilee. He was despised and rejected
of all men. And there where there was nothing,
he brought forth great blessing. He brought in great riches for
all his own. He brought in exchange for His
people's sins the very righteousness of God. In exchange for our unbelief,
our hatred, our blindness, our deafness, our lameness, in exchange
for the deadness of our sins, He gave us eternal, everlasting
life in Him. we had nothing to give unto Christ,
we have nothing to give unto Christ, nothing but our sin,
nothing but unbelief, nothing but death, we are barren, we're
deaf, we're blind, we're dumb, we're dead, and yet he comes
unto sinners like us, cast out in a land of Galilee, lepers
and he comes and touches us and makes us whole. He touches our
ears and makes us hear. He touches our eyes and makes
us see. He touches our legs and makes
us to walk. He touches the dead and makes
them live. We gave him nothing. and he gives
us his all. He gave his people his all. He loved them and gave himself
for them. What is this that thou hast given
me, my brother? What is this? Oh, if God gives
you Galilee, if he gives you his son, in the midst of the Galilee in
which you dwell. If he gives you Christ, he's
given you all. What an exchange there is in
Christ. We've given him nothing but our
sin, nothing but unbelief, nothing but rebellion. And he gives unto
his people nothing but life, righteousness, salvation, all
the riches of God in His own dear Son. What grace, what mercy
there is in Christ our Saviour. Oh, that God would give us eyes
to see this. Oh, that He'd give us faith to
fall down upon our face before Him and see Jesus of Nazareth
the prophet of Nazareth of Galilee, who came into the nothing of
this world, who came to nothings like you and I, and came preaching
life. God give us to see him and to
know him. God give us faith that we may
know Jesus of Nazareth of Galilee. Amen.