I invite your attention to the
book of 1 Kings. 1 Kings chapter 22. 1 Kings chapter 22. I'll just
read a few verses starting in verse
26. And the king of Israel said,
take Micaiah, and carry him back unto Amon, the governor of the
city, and to Joash, the king's son. And say, thus saith the
king, put this fellow into prison, and feed him with bread of affliction,
and with water of affliction, until I come in peace. And Micaiah
said, If thou return at all in peace, then the Lord hath not
spoken by me. And he said, Hearken, O people,
every one of you. So the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat,
the king of Judah, went up to Ramoth Gilead. And the king of
Israel said unto Jehoshaphat, I will disguise myself and enter
into the battle. But put thou on thy robes, And
the king of Israel disguised himself and went into the battle." Some of us men were talking back
in the study a week or two ago about how many pictures there
are of Christ, how many types there are of Christ in the Scriptures. And He's there on almost every
page if we're just unable to see Him. And I believe we have
one such picture before us tonight when we read this last sentence
of verse 30. And the king of Israel disguised
himself and went into the battle. Disguise means to modify the
appearance of a person in order to prevent recognition. Let me read that one more time. To modify the appearance of a
person in order to prevent recognition. When our Lord came into this
world, He did not come as a majestic king, though He is. He was and
is the glorious King of this universe. Had he not laid aside
his glory and disguised himself in a robe of human flesh, no
man would have been able to look upon him. We know this to be
a fact because of what we read concerning the account of Saul
meeting Christ on his way to Damascus. Jimmy just read that,
but let me flip over there and just read a couple of verses
back to Acts 9. starting in verse 3, and it says,
As he yearned, he came near Damascus. And suddenly there shined round
about him a light from heaven. And he fell to the earth and
heard a voice saying, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? And
he said, Who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus,
whom thou persecutest. It is hard for thee to kick against
the pricks. And he trembling and astonished
said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? And the Lord said unto
him, Arise, and go into the city, and it shall be told thee what
thou must do. In Paul's retelling of this story
in front of King Agrippa, Paul said, At midday, O King, I saw
light in the way from heaven above the brightness of the sun,
shining round about me, and then procuring with me. Now there
is no man-made illumination that can outshine the sun. But the
One who created that sun certainly outshines it. Saul was blinded
for three days, as we read, if you can re-iterate, and was only
able to recover his sight when Ananias laid hands on him and
healed that blindness. In Hebrews 1.3, speaking of Christ,
it says, "...who, being the brightness of His glory, and the expressed
image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his
power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on
the right hand of the majesty on high. If, then, Christ is
the expressed image of God the Father, then he also dwells in
that light which no man can approach unto which is spoken of in 1
Timothy 6.15. Now, Peter, James, and John also
saw an example of the glory of the Son of God when He was transfigured
before them upon that high mountain part where it says, His face
did shine as the sun. And as we know, you can only
look at the sun for a short time before you're blinded. We read
in Exodus chapter 33. Turn there with me, Exodus 33. This is an account of God talking
to Moses. And starting in verse 17, and
it says, And the Lord said unto Moses, I will do this thing also
that thou hast spoken, for thou hast found grace in my sight,
and I know thee by name. And he, Moses, said, I beseech
thee, show me thy glory. And he said, I will make my goodness
pass before thee, And I will proclaim the name of the Lord
before thee, and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and
will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. And he said, Thou
canst not see my face, for there shall no man see me and live."
Now, in order for us to see the glorified Christ and the glorified
God, we have to die first. In all things considered, that's
a pretty good trade-off. But thank God we will one day
be able to look fully upon His glorious face, when we at last,
as our brother departs recently, depart this life and see Him
in all His radiant splendor. Christ spoke of this time in
His prayer to the Father in John 17. In verse 24, He said, Father,
I will that they also whom Thou hast given Me be with Me where
I am. that they may behold My glory
which Thou hast given Me. We shall never see the King in
all His glory until we see Him in heaven. That same glory which
He displayed when He one day will return to this earth. In Matthew 24.30 it says, And
then shall appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven. And
then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn and they shall
see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven with power
and great glory." There are similar statements in Mark 13, 26 and
in the book of Luke. In Psalm 24, 7-10, we read of
this King of Glory. It says, Lift up your heads,
O ye gates, and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors, and the
King of Glory shall come in. Who is this King of Glory? The
Lord, strong and mighty. The Lord, mighty in battle. Lift up your head, O ye gates,
even lift them up, ye everlasting doors, and the King of Glory
shall come in. Who is this King of Glory? The
Lord of hosts. He is the King of Glory. We see two things in these verses,
that our Lord Our Lord Jesus Christ is indeed the King of
Glory, and that this King of Glory is mighty in battle. And this ties back to what we
read a while ago in 1 Kings 22.30 about the King of Israel disguising
himself and entering into the battle. We're going to look at
that shortly. So our Lord did indeed disguise
Himself before He came to this earth to do battle with and to
ultimately destroy Satan and the forces of evil. He disguised
Himself first as a newborn infant. Now this is a condescension which
is way beyond our ability to comprehend. The very God of glory
by whom all things were created and by whom all things exist
and have their being, was reduced to being dependent on two human
beings, his mother and his father, for his very life and his sustenance. And he also disguised himself
in the manner of his birth, choosing to be born in a stable rather
than in a king's palace. But his glorious birth was revealed
to a chosen few. which is one of numerous examples
in scripture that we find of a sovereign God revealing things
to some and leaving others in darkness. It was revealed to
the wise man who came from the east and asked in Matthew 2.2,
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. They were
shown by divine revelation as we are shown all things by divine
revelation. that this was one who was worthy
of worship. And they were finally able to
find him, not as our silly little manger scenes depict, but a year
or two later in his home with his mother and father, Mary and
Joseph, which is described in Matthew 2.11. And further, his
birth was also revealed to some shepherds, lowly shepherds, who
the angel of the Lord appeared unto and told them of the birth
of Christ, in Luke chapter 2. And the shepherds, not the wise
men of the east, were actually the ones who found him in the
place of his birth in that manger. Another divine example of God's
choice of revealing to some and hiding from others. Now were
these shepherds smarter than the other shepherds in Israel?
By no means. They were simply the ones whom
God chose to reveal the birth of Christ. And our Lord continued
to disguise himself throughout his young life, living quietly
with his parents in Nazareth. Then at the age of 12, he pulled
back his disguise ever so slightly. Turn with me to Luke chapter
2. Luke chapter 2. We know the story of how he stayed
behind when his parents went to Jerusalem for the Passover.
But when they discovered him missing, they returned to Jerusalem
to look for him. But it took them three days to
locate him. Three days, no doubt, of anguish
and worry, wondering if they would ever see their son alive
again. But they finally did locate him,
and we read, beginning in verse 46, But they supposing to him, I'm
sorry, and it came to pass that after three days they found him
in the temple sitting in the midst of the doctors, both hearing
them and asking them questions. And all that heard him were astonished
at his understanding and his answers. And when they saw him,
they were amazed. And his mother said unto him,
son, Why hast thou thus dealt with us? Behold thy father, and
I have sought thee sorrowing.' And he said unto them, How is
it that ye sought me? Which ye not, that I must be
about my father's business? And they understood not the sayings
which he spake unto them. And he went down with them, and
came to Nazareth, and was subject unto them. But his mother kept
all these sayings in her heart. He was subject unto them, we're
told, because in perfectly keeping God's law, he must be subject
to his earthly parents, because the law clearly instructs us,
honor thy father and thy mother. And we read in Matthew 2.23 that
after this, he came and dwelt in a city called Nazareth, that
it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets. He shall
be called a Nazarene. Now, for the next 18 years, the
Scriptures are completely silent on anything that occurred in
our Lord's life. He continued wearing the disguise
of a common man of His time. But at age 30, He begins His
public ministry, which we read of in Matthew 4. Flip back over
to Matthew 4 with me. Matthew chapter 4, starting in
verse 12. Now when Jesus had heard that
John was cast into prison, he departed into Galilee. And leaving
Nazareth, he came and dwelt in Capernaum, which is upon the
sea coast in the borders of Zebulon and Nephthalim. that it might
be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaias the prophet saying,
the land of Zebulon and the land of Nephilim by way of the sea
beyond Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles, the people which sat
in darkness saw great light. And to them which sat in the
region in shadow of death, light is sprung up. And from that time,
Jesus began to preach and to say, repent for the kingdom of
heaven is at hand. A small hint is given us in these
verses concerning the Lord, where we read in verse 16, that the
people which sat in darkness saw a great light. He pulled
back his disguise ever so slightly, as he did numerous times throughout
his earthly ministry in those three years, doing miracles,
healing the sick, raising the dead, giving sight to the blind
who had been blind from birth, which had never happened in the
history of the world. But there was one occasion that
we know of that we're told in scriptures that he removed his
disguise when he was here on earth and revealed his full glory
to his three disciples on that Mount of Transfiguration, which
I already mentioned. And this disguise that our Lord
wore in his time on earth was one of a common Ordinary man. There was nothing about his physical
appearance that would give a hint of what dwelt in that flesh. Philippians 2 describes his disguise
beginning in verse 5. It tells us, Let this mind be
in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form
of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God. And now
we read of his disguise. But he made himself of no reputation,
and took on him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness
of men. And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself
and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
The exalted, benevolent, majestic king of the universe made himself
to look like a common everyday Jew of his time. No royal robe. No palace with servants. No,
rather, He became a servant, and at one time humbled Himself
to the lowest form of servants, washing the feet of His disciples. The perfect disguise. Now, going
back to our original text in 1 Kings, the second half of that
verse 30, we read, And the king of Israel disguised himself and
went into the battle. We've already looked at how our
Lord disguised Himself, but there came a point when He began to
be engaged in battle. The first instance which we read
of is in Luke chapter 4. Flip over a couple of books to
Luke chapter 4. This is the first battle that
we're told of the Lord fighting when He was here on this earth, beginning in verse 1. And Jesus, being full of the
Holy Ghost, returned from Jordan, and was led by the Spirit into
the wilderness, being forty days tempted of the devil. And in
those days did he eat nothing, and when they were ended, he
was afterward hungered. And the devil said unto him,
If thou be the Son of God, command this stone that it be made bread. And Jesus answered him, saying,
It is written that man shall not live by bread alone, but
by every word of God. And the devil, taking him up
into a high mountain, showed unto him all the kingdoms of
the world in a moment of time. And the devil said unto him,
All this power will I give thee, and the glory of them. For that
is delivered unto me, and to whomsoever I will give it. If
thou therefore wilt worship me, all shall be thine.' And Jesus
answered and said unto him, Get thee behind me, Satan, for it
is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only
shalt thou serve. And he brought him to Jerusalem,
and set him on a pinnacle of the temple, and said unto him,
If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down from hence, for
it is written, he shall give his angels charge over thee to
keep thee, and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest
at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone. And Jesus answering
said unto him, It is written, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord
thy God. And when the devil had ended
all this temptation, he departed from him for a season. Now here's the first battle after
Christ took on his disguise of human flesh that he has with
the prince of darkness. And being the coward that he
is, the devil waited until our Lord's body was weakened by forty
days of fasting to begin his temptation of him. First, knowing
that our Lord was famished with hunger, he tempted the Lord by
encouraging him to turn the stone to bread, which of course he
could have done with a word. But we find here in these Verses. How well Satan knows the Word
of God. You can bet he has every verse
memorized. So that he can use it to tempt
God's saints as he did the Savior. And he was unrelenting in his
battles against the Savior. Notice in verse 13 that it says,
He departed from him for a season. Just a moment. And he would continue
the battle with the Lord as long as he walked among men. many
times using those men to oppose the Lord in His work. He was
able to oppose Him, but He was not able to hinder the work which
our Lord came to perform, which was to do His Father's will.
And our Lord was in near constant battle with the Pharisees and
the other religious leaders of His time, those that knew the Scripture
supposedly inside and out, backward and forward, should have known
from their knowledge of the Scriptures that this was indeed the Promised
One, the Christ of God. But their eyes were blinded that
they could not see the truth of who He was. So thorough was
His disguise that the supposed wisest Bible scholars of that
time were not able to distinguish that this man was very God of
very God, even though He plainly told them He was the Son of God
and demonstrated that fact by the miracles that he performed.
Yet they could not see it. They were blinded to his glory
and his majesty. And our Lord continued to wear
his disguise even to his death. So thorough was his cloaking
that Pilate and the Jews who accused him could not see that
this man died as no other man had previously died who they
crucified. But there was one man who was
given that revelation by God. We read in Luke 23, 46 and 47,
it says, And when Jesus cried with a loud voice, he said, Father,
into thy hands I commend my spirit. And having said thus, he gave
up the ghost. Now, when the centurion saw what
was done, he glorified God, saying, certainly, this was a righteous
man. And with that, our Lord's battles
as a human being were finished. But there's a future battle coming.
Only this time, he will not come disguised, but will return in
his full glory. Turn with me to the book of Revelation.
There will be no disguise the next time our Lord returns to
this earth. Book of Revelation, first in
chapter 12. We'll start at verse 7. And there was war in heaven.
Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon
fought and his angels, and prevailed not. Neither was there a place
found anymore in heaven. And the great dragon was cast
out, that old serpent, called the devil, and Satan, which deceived
the whole world. He was cast out into the earth,
and his angels were cast out with him. And I heard a loud
voice saying in heaven, Now is salvation come, and strength,
and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ, For
the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them
before our God day and night. And they overcame Him by the
blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony, for
they loved not their lives unto death." Now flip over to chapter
20. This is a description of the
final battle that our Lord will engage in for His people. Chapter 20, starting in verse
7. And when the thousand years were
expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, and shall
go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters
of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle,
the number of whom is as of the sand of the sea. And they went
up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the
saints about, and the beloved city, and fire came down from
God out of heaven, and devoured them. And the devil that deceived
them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the
beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and
night forever." Now in closing, let's flip back to 1 Kings chapter
22. There's a couple other things
that I want to look at, a couple other pictures of our Savior. In verse 34, it tells us that
the king was shot with an arrow. It says, And a certain man drew
a bow at a venture, and smote the king of Israel between the
joints of the harness. Lamentations 3.12, speaking of
our Savior, he says, He has bent his bow, speaking of God the
Father, and set me as a mark for the arrow. In Job 6-4, we
read a description of how our Lord felt when He was forsaken
of the Father, as the Father poured out His wrath upon Him.
It says, For the arrows of the Almighty are within me. The poison whereof drinketh up
my spirit. The terrors of God do set themselves
in array against me. And David, in Psalm 38, again,
prophetically describes how our Savior's heart broke when He
was forsaken of the Father. It says, 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, that sin which
was made his. For mine iniquities, the iniquities
that were laid on him and became his, for mine iniquities are
gone over mine head, as in heavy burden they are too heavy for
me." And in verse 38 of 1 Kings 22, we read that after the king
of Israel died, it says, and one washed the chariot in the
pool of Samaria, and the dogs licked up his blood. Similarly,
In Psalm 22.16, this prophetic psalm, speaking of our Lord being
crucified, it says, For dogs have compassed me, the assembly
of the wicked have enclosed me, they pierced my hands and my
feet. And also in verse 38, we read,
And they washed his armor according unto the word of the Lord which
he spake. They removed any evidence of the death which the king had
died. The blood was removed from the armor which he wore into
battle, and so it was after our Lord died. They took his body,
cleaned it, and washed it before wrapping it in fine, clean linen.
And finally, one more comparison that I love. In verses 26 and
27 of 1 Kings 22, it says, And the king of Israel said, Take
Micaiah, and carry him back to Amon the governor of the city,
and to Joash the king's son, and say, Thus saith the king,
Put this fellow in the prison, and feed him with the bread of
affliction, and with the water of affliction, until I come in
peace." A perfect picture of what our
Lord does when He puts the awakened sinner in the prison house of
conviction and guilt over his sin. For a while, He leaves us
there feeding on affliction. Affliction is a state of pain,
suffering, distress, and grief. But I love the last five words
of that verse, until I come in peace. After the awakened sinner dwells
in this state of affliction for a season, our blessed Savior
comes to the prison, flings the door open, and speaks peace to
the heart crushed with the conviction of sin and grief. He speaks peace
to the sinner as he did to that raging sea when he said, Peace,
be still. You can now rest, weary sinner,
the battle is over. It is now as spoken of by Isaiah
in chapter 26, verse 3, Thou will keep him in perfect peace,
whose mind is stayed on Thee, because he trusteth and the redeemed
saint rest in peace, knowing that the King has won the battle
over sin and Satan, and we can one day look forward to eternal
rest because of the victory which our Savior, through His blood
poured out, has secured. The war, the battle that He entered
into, is over. Peace has been restored forever. Let's look to the Lord in prayer. Our merciful Father, we thank
You and praise You that there is no more battle to fight, that our Almighty Savior accomplished all that was necessary
to forever give us peace. There is no more battle. There
is no more war to be fought. As He spoke on the cross, it
is finished. We thank You, Father, for His
finished work, for the redemption that we have through His blood.
And Father, we look forward to that day when we shall see Him,
not disguised in human flesh, but in all his majestic glory,
and we'll be given hearts and voices to praise him as we ought. Father, enable us, while we're
here in this flesh, as much as is possible, to hold him in the
highest esteem, to never forget the price paid for our redemption.
Help His Father to ever glorify His name. We pray it in His name
and for His namesake. Amen. Lord willing, I'll be bringing
the message Sunday, and a week from tonight, Todd will be back
with us. So be in prayer for those services
if the Lord will speak through His Word. Lord bless you. You're
dismissed.