In Matthew's Gospel, chapter
2, we read at the birth of Jesus Christ, of the coming of the
wise men from the east who sought him. We read there, Now when
Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, in the days of Herod the
king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem,
saying, Where is he that is born king of the Jews? for we have
seen his star in the east and I'll come to worship him. Where is he that is born king
of the Jews? Now this Jesus born king of the
Jews in Bethlehem, the city of David, was pictured in type and
figure by the two kings of whom we read in 1 Kings chapter 5. both David and his son Solomon. In the early verses of chapter
5 we read, And Hiram, king of Tyre, sent his servants unto
Solomon. For he had heard that they had
anointed him king in the room of his father. For Hiram was
ever a lover of David. And Solomon sent to Hiram, saying,
There knowest thou that David my father could not build an
house unto the name of the Lord his God for the wars which were
about him on every side, until the Lord put them under the soles
of his feet. But now the Lord my God hath
given me rest on every side, so that there is neither adversary
nor evil occurrent. And behold, I purposed to build
an house unto the name of the Lord my God, as the Lord spake
unto David my father, saying, Thy son, whom I will set upon
thy throne in thy room, he shall build an house unto my name. Now therefore command thou that
they hew me cedar trees out of Lebanon, and my servants shall
be with thy servants. And unto thee will I give higher
for thy servants according to all that thou shalt appoint.
For thou knowest that there is not among us any that can skill
to hew timber like unto the Sidonians. Solomon sent to Haram saying,
Thou knowest how that David my father could not build a house
unto the name of the Lord his God for the wars which were about
him on every side. until the Lord put them under
the soles of his feet. Yes, both David and Solomon typified
Christ the King who should come, the King of the Jews. But as
we see here in this chapter, they typify him in different
aspects. Solomon followed his father David. And David's reign is one in which
he knew much of warfare, much of battle, much trouble. His enemies pursued him throughout
all his years. Even before becoming king, as
a young man, his first encounter with his enemies was when he
was brought to the men of Israel who faced
that mighty warrior Goliath. And David, taking five stones
in a sling, went to encounter this great giant, this great
enemy of the people of God, and by the grace of God slew him
with but one stone. But throughout his life, appointed
to be king of Israel by Samuel the prophet, he knew the hatred
and the opposition of his predecessor Saul. Saul pursued him throughout
the land, seeking his life. David became a fugitive, living
in caves, going from here to there. always pursued, always
hated, death being but a moment away from him. Though he had
been declared that he should be king, what he knew was those
who would put him to death. Then when Saul died and David
came to the throne, His lifetime as king is depicted by one in
which he knew warfare throughout his years. The other nations
sought to destroy him and his people. There was constant warfare,
constant battles until the day that his reign came to a close.
And then Solomon is brought the throne and Solomon's reign as
we see here mentioned by Solomon himself was very different from
his father's. His reign was won over a peaceful
kingdom. The enemies of Israel were subdued. Solomon knew rest and as such
Solomon was enabled by God to build that house of God, build
that temple for the worship of God that David longed to build,
but which David can never build because of the wars which were
about him on every side. In this we see both David and
Solomon depicting Christ's work. as the king of the Jews, the
king of kings in different aspects. In David, we see the warfare
into which Christ came. We see how Christ came unto his
own. He came as a man born a Jew. He came unto his own and they
sought to put him to death from the moment he was born. These
wise men seeking he who was born King of the Jews came unto King
Herod and when King Herod heard of the birth of Jesus, he sought
to destroy him. He put out a declaration to kill
all the firstborn children in the land at that time in order
that this one born King of the Jews should be slain and taken
out of the way. And because God moved Joseph
in a dream to go and take his wife and their newborn son down
into Egypt. Christ was spared. But from the
moment he was born, mankind sought to destroy him. And as he ministered
as a man in Jerusalem and in Judea, the scribes, the Pharisees,
those who should have been looking for His coming as Messiah, those
who should have received this great prophet of whom they read
in the Scriptures, those who they should have received as
the lawgiver of their law, as the king of their nation, as
their saviour, those who should have been looking for His coming
and received Him at His coming, simply sought to destroy Him. They treated him as a blasphemer.
They said he claimed to be the son of God, as though he was
not. They hated his doctrine, they
hated his teaching, which they felt took power and authority
away from them. He came preaching the gospel
and that gospel set them at nought, as it sets us at nought. He came
preaching the truth and the truth found them out. He came declaring
that all men are sinners. And when we hear that we are
sinners, we're troubled, we're full of enmity, we reject such
a message, we resist it. He came declaring that God is
sovereign, that God is over all, that salvation is of the Lord.
And when man hears this, he hates it. For we will save ourselves
and we will go our own way and make our own decisions. So this
man who was born King of the Jews knew warfare and trouble
all his days. But David's life and the wars
which were about him on every side depict more than simply
the opposition that Christ as a man received from sinful men. The wars about him on every side
point us most of all to the cross and that great battle which Christ
endured when he was plunged under the wrath of God because of the
sins of his people which were laid upon him. Oh what a great
work, what a great battle, what a warfare Christ went into. What a warfare when his enemies
were made to be his footstool. Thou knowest how that David my
father could not build a house unto the name of the Lord his
God for the wars which were about him on every side until the Lord
put them under the soles of his feet. But Solomon and his reign depicts
that which came thereafter. But now the Lord my God hath
given me rest on every side, so that there is neither adversary
nor evil occurrent. And behold, I purpose to build
an house unto the name of the Lord my God, as the Lord spake
unto David my father, saying, thy son, whom I will set upon
thy throne in thy room, he shall build an house unto my name. Solomon too is a picture of Christ,
but in this sense very much a picture of a Christ who has accomplished
the work of salvation, whose warfare is over, who has returned
victorious from battle. That Christ, that King who was
laid dead in the grave, having suffered upon the cross, who
rose from the dead victorious and ascended into glory and sat
down upon the right hand of the Father entering into rest. sitting down in his temple, glorified
with his people, entered into his house, that temple of which
Christ spake, that destroy this temple, and in three days I shall
build it again. For he spake not of the temple
built with hands, but of his own body. Yes, those Jews, those
enemies of Christ, all those who sought to put him to death,
Jew and Gentile, all those who slew him, you and
I included, with our apathy and our opposition and our hatred
of the gospel and of God's Son, though that temple of his body
was destroyed, though he died, though he was laid in the grave
in three days, He built it again. He rose victorious. The temple was built and he entered
into rest. This is that temple of which
Solomon's temple that he built and of which we read in chapter
5 and the subsequent chapters. That great temple that was built
in Jerusalem during that restful reign of Solomon is a picture
of that temple of Christ which was built when he rose from the
dead victorious and sat down in glory having finished the
work of salvation. Oh what is pictured by the reign
of both David and of Solomon and what a contrast we see. The
warfare accomplished and finished in David's reign. the rest into
which Christ as pictured by King Solomon entered, entering into
this temple of which Solomon's temple was a picture. But before
Solomon could build this temple, before there was rest in Jerusalem,
what David encountered was wars which were about him on every
side. David my father could not build
a house unto the name of the Lord his God for the wars which
were about him on every side. And not only could he not build
a house for the wars which were about him on every side, but
spiritually speaking you and I cannot enter into rest, we
cannot enter into an eternal temple the house of God whilst
there are wars about us every side. David knew this in experience
but it's an experience which we all know if the Lord shows
us. All we know in this world because
of our sin And the enemies which are about us on every side, inside
and outside, is warfare. There's an enmity within, an
enmity which wars against God, which wars against the peace
of God, which wars against righteousness, which wars against life. There's
an enemy which seeks to put to death all the time. Sin will
slay us each and every day. You will not enter rest, it says,
for I will put you to death. And how every day our evil hearts,
when we close our ears to the gospel, when we close our ears
to Jesus Christ, when we have no time for that king who was
born in Bethlehem, when we despise Him, when we
go our own way, when we go seeking the pleasures and the riches
of this world, when we go further in our own ambitions, when we
fill our time up with our own occupations and have no time
for God and have no time for His Son and have no time for
His Gospel, when we pursue these things, how that evil within
us Rages against God. How there is enmity there. What
a warfare there is within and without. And there can be no
house built whilst there are wars on every side. David knew
this in a physical way. But through the things he experienced
he learned inwardly what was real in his own heart. He learnt that which God can
show you and I of the spiritual warfare that's around us and
within us. There's no peace. There's no
peace, there's no rest to be found whilst there is this war
raging within and without. And yet that's what we seek.
That's what man seeks continuously. He lives seeking happiness, seeking
pleasure, seeking amusement and distraction, seeking riches,
seeking peace, seeking rest. And for all his efforts, he never
finds it. But this life is brief, it's
fleeting, it's gone in a moment. And no matter how much you may
gain, and no matter how much you may accomplish, it's all
for nothing. And you will find that even that
which you accomplish is gone in a moment. Yesterday's pleasures
are but a memory. Yesterday's rest is but gone. And today there's new trouble
and new problems. And every day is a warfare. If
we're honest about it, it's a warfare, it's a trial. And the days come
and the days go and we grow old. And then we face the last enemy,
death. And we have nothing, no arms with which we can destroy
it. It comes upon us and destroys us. It takes us, rightly, because
the wages of sin are death. And as sinners who have multiplied
sin throughout each and every day, the wages will be paid. Yes, there are wars on every
side. Christ knew war on every side.
From the day he was born to the day he was crucified, he knew
warfare. the opposition he faced from
the Pharisees, the scribes, the religious men of his day, the
opposition he faced from sinners who rejected him, the opposition
he faces from you and I, warfare. But none were like the war he
faced. when he was nailed to that tree.
When wicked men took him and nailed him to that cross and
took that man born in Bethlehem of whom multitudes will sing
and speak this season. We each took him and nailed him
to that tree. And when he was taken and nailed
and lifted up, what a battle he entered into, what torments
he endured, what depths he was plunged into, what agonies, what
tumult. God made him to be sin that his
people might be made the righteousness of God in him. God laid upon
him the iniquity of us all. God made him to be a curse. God
slew his own son as he stood in the place of his people. There were wars on every side. And David in his experience knew
of this. He knew of the warfare in his
own life. but he was taught of how this
pictured his Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. He saw through
these things to his Saviour, crucified for him. In Psalm 38
we read, O Lord, rebuke me not in thy wrath, neither chasten
me in thy hot displeasure, for thine arrows stick fast in me,
and thy hand presseth me sore. There is no soundness in my flesh
because of thine anger. Neither is there any rest in
my bones because of my sin. For mine iniquities are gone
over mine head. As an heavy burden they are too
heavy for me. My wounds stink and are corrupt
because of my foolishness. I am troubled. I am bowed down
greatly. I go mourning all the day long.
For my loins are filled with loathsome disease, and there
is no soundness in my flesh. I am feeble and sore broken.
I have roared by reason of the disquietness of my heart. Lord,
all my desire is before Thee, and my groaning is not hid from
Thee. My heart panteth, my strength
faileth me. As for the light of mine eyes,
it also is gone from me. My lovers and my friends stand
aloof from my saw, and my kinsmen stand afar off. They also that
seek after my life lay snares for me, and they that seek my
hurt speak mischievous things and imagine deceits all the day
long. But I as a deaf man heard not,
and I was as a dumb man that openeth not his mouth. Thus I
was as a man that here if not, and in whose mouth are no reproofs. Oh how David speaks of Christ
here. Cast out by all, hated by all,
crucified by all. But in the midst of this suffering,
Christ trusted and rested in his God. For in Thee, O Lord,
do I hope. Thou wilt hear, O Lord my God. For I said, Hear me, lest otherwise
they should rejoice over me, where my foot slip if they magnify
themselves against me. For I am ready to halt, and my
sorrow is continually before me. For I will declare mine iniquity. I will be sorry for my sin. But
mine enemies are lively and they are strong. And they that hate
me wrongfully are multiplied. They also that render evil for
good are mine adversaries. Because I follow the thing that
good is. Forsake me not, O Lord. O my
God, be not far from me. Make haste to help me, O Lord,
my salvation. Oh, what a cry from the Lord
and Saviour as he suffered upon the cross. Make haste to help
me, O Lord, my salvation. Likewise in Psalm 40, David writes,
I waited patiently for the Lord and He inclined unto me and heard
my cry. He brought me up also out of
an horrible pit, out of the miry clay and set my feet upon a rock
and established my goings. And I've put a new song in my
mouth, even praise unto our God. Many shall see it and fear and
shall trust in the Lord. Blessed is that man that maketh
the Lord his trust, and respecteth not the proud, nor such as turn
aside to lies. Many, O Lord, my God, are thy
wonderful works which thou hast done, and thy thoughts which
are to us would. They cannot be reckoned up in
order unto thee. If I would declare and speak
of them, they are more than can be numbered. Sacrifice and offering
thou didst not desire. Mine ears hast thou opened. Burnt offering and sin offering
hast thou not required. Then said I, Lo, I come. In the volume of the book it
is written of me I delight to do thy will, O my God. Yea, thy
law is within mine heart. I have preached righteousness
in the great congregation. Lo, I have not refrained my lips,
O Lord, thou knowest. I have not hid thy righteousness
within mine heart. I have declared thy faithfulness
and thy salvation. I have not concealed thy lovingkindness
and thy truth from the great congregation. Withhold not thou
thy tender mercies from me, O Lord. Let thy lovingkindness and thy
truth continually preserve me. For innumerable evils have compassed
me about. Mine iniquities have taken hold
upon me. so that I am not able to look
up. They are more than the hairs of mine head, therefore my heart
faileth me. Oh, what depths Christ was plunged
into. He had declared the righteousness
of God. He had preached the gospel in
the great congregation. He had done his father's will
throughout all the days of his life and wicked men took him
and despised him and set him at naught. And on the cross God
took his son as a sacrifice for sin and laid upon him the sins
of his people. And he who knew no sin was made
sin such that he cries out. For innumerable evils have compassed
me about. Mine iniquities have taken hold
upon me, so that I am not able to look up. They are more than
the hairs of mine head, therefore my heart faileth me. Be pleased, O Lord, to deliver
me. O Lord, make haste to help me. Let them be ashamed and confounded
together that seek after my soul to destroy it. Let them be driven
backward and put to shame that wish me evil. Let them be desolate
for a reward of their shame that say unto me, Aha! Aha! Let all
those that seek Thee rejoice and be glad in Thee. Let such
as love Thy salvation say continually, The Lord be magnified, but I
am poor and needy. Yet the Lord thinketh upon me.
Thou art my helper, my deliverer. Make no tarrying, O my God. Innumerable evils have compassed
me about. Christ knew wars on every side
in a manner that no man can contemplate. the fury of the wrath of God
that was poured down upon him, as he bore innumerable evils,
as he bore the iniquity of his people, the hatred, the unbelief,
the rejection, the despising, the vileness, the depravity,
as he bore that iniquity. Oh, the warfare on every side
without and within, such that he cries out, as prophesied
by David in Psalm 22, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken
me? Why art thou so far from helping
me and from the words of my roaring? O my God, I cry in the daytime,
but thou hearest not. and in the night season and I'm
not silent but thou art holy O thou that inhabitest the praises
of Israel our fathers trusted in thee they trusted and thou
didst deliver them they cried unto thee and were delivered
and trusted in thee and were not confounded but I am a worm
and no man a reproach of man and despise of the people O they
that see me laugh me to scorn, they shoot out the hip, they
shake the head, saying he trusted on the Lord that he should deliver
him. Let him deliver him, seeing he delighted in him. But thou
art he that took me out of the womb. Thou didst make me hope
when I was upon my mother's breast. I was cast upon thee from the
womb. Thou art my God for my mother's belly. Be not far from
me, for trouble is near. For there is none to help. Many
bulls have compassed me. Strong balls of bastion have
set me around. They gaped upon me with their
mouths as a ravening and a roaring lion. I am poured out like water
and all my bones are out of joint. My heart is like wax, it is melted
in the midst of my bowels. My strength is dried up like
a potsherd and my tongue cleaveth to my jaws and now has brought
me into the dust of death. For dogs have compassed me, the
assembly of the wicked have enclosed me, they pierce my hands and
my feet. I may tell all my bones, they
look and stare upon me, they part my garments among them and
cast lots upon my vesture. But be not thou far from me,
O Lord, O my strength, haste thee to help me. deliver myself
from the sword my darling from the power of the dog save me
from the lion's mouth for thou has heard me from the horns of
the unicorns oh what depths this king endured in order to bring
his people into the rest of eternal salvation my god my god Why hast
thou forsaken me? Yet this warfare, these battles, this place where Christ suffered
is exactly why he came. This is exactly why he came into
the world. This is why that child was born
at Bethlehem. This is why one was born at Bethlehem
that is born King of the Jews. This is why he came to head to
this cross. To be beset by wars on every
side. To finish the work of salvation. To accomplish the salvation,
the redemption, the ransom of his people, to deliver the captives,
to set them free. He came for sinners like you
and I who were bound fast by their sin, who were ensnared
by their unbelief, who were trapped by the darkness and depravity
of sin within that forces us to condemn him. that traps us
in unbelief. We cannot believe if we want
to believe. We're ensnared by our own foolishness. We may hear a thousand times
and nothing ever enters into the heart. We're in a jail. We're in captivity. We're in
darkness. We're in a dark place where no
light enters in. Yet he who is light came into
the darkness of this world to set the captives free, to shine
the light into the darkness, to open the prison cell and fling
the door wide that we may go free. He came to go to the cross. to take the sins of His people,
that which condemns them, that which keeps them in the grave,
to take their sins upon Himself, to take those innumerable evils
and compass them around Himself that they should not bear them,
that they should be delivered of them, to take their iniquities
and call them His. to bear their sins and have them
on Him and call them His sins, to be cursed that they should
not be cursed. He came to go to the cross to
die that sinners like you and I should live. He came to finish
the work, to conquer all His enemies, to destroy our enemies, to accomplish the warfare He came and He destroyed all
His enemies. Believe are all your enemies.
Sin, death, hell, Satan, the adversary, the enemies without
and the enemies within, He accomplished the work. He finished salvation. comfort
you comfort you my people Isaiah cries out comfort you comfort
you my people say if you're god speak you comfortably to Jerusalem
and cry unto her that her warfare is accomplished that her iniquity
is pardoned for she have received of the lord's hand double for
all her sins He came to take his people's
sins and take it away. He came to bring in righteousness
where there was only iniquity. He came to bring in life where
there was only death. He came to shine a light where
there was only darkness. He came to die that sinners should
live and having borne the iniquity, having been encompassed by innumerable
evils, having cried out to his God, my God, my God, why hast
thou forsaken me? Having endured the darkness at
the end, when the price was paid, when every penny was paid, when
the redemption price was paid, when the ransom was settled,
when every last sin had been blotted out. He cried out in
victory, it is finished. And he gave up the ghost, and
they laid him in the grave. And on the third day, he arose
victorious. He mounted as a conquering warrior,
his horse, and returned from battle in blood soaked clothes,
leading his people into rest, into a temple that lasts forever,
into an everlasting kingdom, arrayed in fine linen with not
one blemish, the righteousness of God in Jesus Christ. How his
faith was rewarded. In the darkness on the cross
He looked unto His Father, He trusted and waited, He endured
knowing, knowing that the salvation of
His people would be accomplished. Knowing that His enemies should
be put under the soles of His feet. Knowing that the Son should
sit down on the right hand of the Father in rest. in victory with his people knowing
that salvation would be accomplished. It is finished. Finished. Don't know is how that David,
my father, could not build a house unto the name of the Lord his
God for the wars which were about him on every side until the Lord
put them under the soles of his feet. Well, the Lord put them
under the soles of Jesus' feet. His King, David's Saviour, David's
Lord and Saviour for whom he looked. David's warfare came
to an end. Christ's warfare came to an end, never to be repeated. The Lord said, unto my Lord,
sit thou at my right hand until i make thine enemies thy footstool. David wrote in psalm 110. David
looked throughout time down through the corridors of time to the
coming of his savior and he saw that king who would come in his
place born of his lineage, that promised king and savior. He
saw how he would destroy all his enemies, how the warfare
would be accomplished, how the wars which were about him on
every side would be brought to an end, how he would rise victorious
and sit down. And David wrote, the Lord said
unto my Lord, sit thou at my right hand until I make thine
enemies thy footstool. And surely the Lord has. In the
beginning of Hebrews, we read, but to which of the angels said
he at any time, sit on my right hand until I make thine enemies
thy footstool. And in Hebrews 10, verse 12,
we read this. There is coming that day when
this will be true. In every respect it was true
when Christ cried out it is finished. But there is time that continues
where the enemies of God rage against him until time is no
more. And on that day all shall be
at his feet and all shall be his footstool. In Hebrews 10
we read, This man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins
forever, sat down on the right hand of God, from henceforth
expecting till his enemies be made his footstool. For by one
offering he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified. Where are you with respect to
this king? Are you among those like King
Hiram who loved David? Are you among those whom God
has given a heart to love this king, to come willingly and bow
down before him? Are you among those like the
wise men who were given wisdom of God to seek him out? and to follow the star, to find
where he is, to seek him out. Has God given you a desire to
read his scriptures, to hear his gospel, to seek out this
King? When Jesus was born in Bethlehem
of Judea, in the days of Herod the King, behold, there came
wise men from the east to Jerusalem, saying, Where is he that is born
King of the Jews? For we have seen his star in
the east, and are come to worship him. Have you been given the
wisdom to come and to worship this king? Or are you yet among
his enemies? And will the day come when you
will become but his footstool? Is our apathy for Christ or our
hatred of Christ such that we are but his footstool. David was a picture of this king
of kings. In his battles, in his warfare,
in his death at the cross, Solomon pictured the rest into which
he entered and the temple of his body, of whom all his people are apart. This king of whom David and Solomon
are but pictures was heralded at his birth by the coming of
the wise men who sought he who was born the king of the Jews.
He was heralded at his death when Pilate made an inscription
which was nailed over his head And there was set up over his
head his accusation written, this is Jesus, the King of the
Jews. All the world has heard that
Christ was crucified. And an inscription written in
three tongues that all men may read and know and hear was above
his head saying, this is Jesus. the king of the Jews, this is
Joshua, this is God's saviour sent to men, the king of the
Jews, this is your king. Have you sought him as your king
and saviour? Or will you one day bow when you can do nothing else?
Will you be but his footstool? The day is fast coming when we
shall all bow to the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. God has highly exalted him. He was born and the wise men
sought the King. He was crucified and men nailed
above him an accusation, this is Jesus the King of the Jews.
But having died and risen again, and risen and sat down on the
right hand of the Father God highly exalted him gave him a
name which is above every name that at the name of Jesus every
knee should bow of things in heaven and things in earth and
things under the earth and that every tongue should confess that
Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. Is that your confession? Has
God made Him known? Has He made His grace, His mercy
and His love towards sinners like you and I known? For this
King, this Lord came into this dark and evil world and we took
Him and we crucified Him and God laid upon Him the sins of
His people and condemned Him and He died. in order that sinners
like you and I should live, in order that we should not remain
in the darkness, in order that we should not remain in captivity,
in order that our blindness should be taken away and as blind men
we should see, in order that our deafness should be turned
into hearing, in order that our unbelieving heart should believe. Has he given you faith? to see the one who is seated
on high this day, who hath on his vesture and on his fire name
written, King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Has God given you grace
and faith to see the one who endured wars on every side, in
order that He should bring His people into everlasting rest. Where are you headed? Are you
headed for wars on every side? Or do you know this Saviour,
this King? Are you one of His house? Do you know His rest? Can you
cry out, My Lord and My God and My Saviour? Can you cry out that
he is your King and your Lord? Have you sought the one who was
born the King of the Jews? Amen.