We read the fallout from Adonijah's
rebellion against his father David and usurping the throne
and the promise of the throne to his brother Solomon. Adonijah
is denied the throne, runs to the altar and lays hold of the
altar. And at first Solomon is merciful unto him. But when Adonijah
then by deceit and cunning seeks the bride who was given to David
in his old age to comfort him, when he seeks her as his bride,
Solomon sees through his intentions that this is a way of claiming
hold upon the throne and the kingdom again. And Adonijah's
continual deceit and selfishness and cunning brings about his
end. Abiapha the priest also is cast
out who connives with Adonijah and Joab also runs to the altar
in desperation and says, I will die here. And ultimately he did. And in verse 33, we read this,
Their blood shall therefore return upon the head of Joab, and upon
the head of his seed forever. But upon David, and upon his
seed, and upon his house, and upon his throne, shall there
be peace forever from the Lord. Their blood shall therefore return
upon the head of Joab, and upon the head of his seed forever.
But upon David, and upon his seed and upon his house and upon
his throne shall there be peace forever from the Lord. Now there is in this verse both
a pronouncement of judgment upon Joab and his house and his seed
forever and a pronouncement of blessing of peace forever from
the Lord upon David "'his seed, his house, and his throne.'"
What a contrast there is in this one verse. And what a tremendous
blessing there is to know that the Lord has pronounced peace
forever upon David, his seed, his house, and his throne. Peace
forever. Oh, that we might know something
of this peace. Oh, to have the blessing made,
a promise made from the Lord unto us, unto our souls of peace
forever. We live in a world in which there
is anything but peace. Generation after generation,
there has never been a time upon the face of this earth when there
has not been warfare in this country since the second world
war we're thankful for what we could consider peace in the land
but it's only an unisolated and a temporary peace war not long after another world
war before it, and not long after many other wars through the ages
and the generations. And today there are wars aplenty
throughout this world. But apart from the wars of the
out breaking of physical war upon this earth, which destroys
the peace, there is no peace in this world, in reality, anywhere. There is contention and fighting
and warfare in the heart of man between one and another and ultimately
between man and God. There is no peace. People's hearts
are not at peace. They run around seeking happiness,
seeking pleasure. grasping hold of what they can
get, but they are restless. For this world gives no pleasure
that's lasted. It can give no happiness that
endures. People have to work hard for
money, but it soon goes. People seek after this pleasure
and that pleasure, but it's transient, it's passing. They are powerless
against the troubles and the trials which come upon them.
There's nothing they can do in the face of disease or trouble
that comes from outside or enemies that rise up against them. So
many, if you knocked on every door and asked every person up
and down the land, you would find tales of plenty that demonstrates
There is no peace in the land and no peace in the heart of
man. Every day passes in which there
is anger and malice and grievances and impatience and frustration. There's no peace. And yet here
we read a promise from the Lord and to David his seed, his house,
and his throne of peace forever, a true and a lasting peace, an
eternal peace, a peace unlike any that man can contrive. This is not a promise of physical
peace in this world. This is a spiritual promise made
unto David and his seed. of an eternal peace in a heavenly
kingdom. David throughout his lifetime
knew what it was to have enemies seek to destroy him. David in
his household with Absalom and Adonijah here knew what it was
to have his sons rise up against him. There was no peace in David's
house in this world. There was no peace truly in his
kingdom. There were times when God blessed
David and Solomon. There were times when God granted
relative peace in the kingdom, but it was not forever. There
were times when they'd have known peace in the family. but it was not forever. There
were times when David knew peace upon the throne, but it was not
forever. And yet here, God makes a promise
which is sure and which is true that there shall be peace forever
from the Lord. Peace unto David in an eternal
inheritance. Peace unto David through his
seed, not Solomon, but Christ, his saviour unto whom he looked. Peace for David in Christ's house
and upon Christ's throne, an eternal kingdom, an eternal house,
a church which Christ bought at a price which is established
forever, peace forever. Do you know something of this
peace? Has God shown you who David's seed is? Has he shown
you his house and welcomed you in? Has he shown you Christ upon
his throne, ruling his kingdom in peace forever? Or is your experience more like
Joab's? That you've gone through life
with your own decisions, your own wisdom, walking your own
way. And ultimately, peace was not
the reward. Adonijah, Abiaphar, and Joab
sought their own ends. They sought the kingdom. They
sought the throne. They sought power and they sought
glory by their own means. They would not wait upon the
Lord. They did not seek the Lord. They
did not wait for the Lord's promise to come about. Adonijah saw his
father David aging and frail. He saw himself as the elder brother
to Solomon. And he felt that he deserved,
he by right, by age, deserved the throne. He did not seek the
will of the Lord. And what came upon him, Abiefer,
Joab, was ultimately calamitous. He fled to the altar and clung
to the altar. When he saw what was coming upon
him, when he knew the consequence of being found out, he knew he'd
die. He knew the treachery of what
he did. He knew the depth of his sin. The alarm was sounded in his
heart. He knew what he'd done. And in
desperation, he goes to the altar. But it was too late. Joab too. Joab knew what he'd done. He knew there was no escape. He knew he'd gone too far. He
knew the treason that he'd committed. And he runs to the altar. He
fled into the tabernacle of the Lord and caught hold on the horns
of the altar. And it was told King Solomon
that Joab was fled unto the tabernacle of the Lord. And behold, he is
by the altar. And he sends Benaiah unto him
to bring him from the altar. And Joab says, that he would
rather die there. Joab knew he'd gone too far,
but it was too late. It was too late then to run to
the altar. It was too late to plead for
God's mercy. He knew the truth. He knew the
king. He knew the promises of God.
He knew what God had promised regarding Solomon. He could have
waited. He'd heard, but he'd refused
to believe. He heard, but he refused to listen. And now when it's too late, he
runs to the altar. But that place that proved to
be a blessing unto many proved to be his condemnation. Yes, what a contrast we see in
this verse. the judgment upon Joab and his
house, and the blessing of peace upon David and his house, between
those who take hold of the throne and the kingdom, and the things
of God by their own means and their own wisdom, and ultimately
the judgment that comes down upon them, and those whom God
chooses by his grace whom he blesses and places in his house
and grants peace forever. Adonijah, as a man, was no better
than Solomon. But Solomon found grace in the
eyes of the Lord. And Adonijah went his own way. Both David and Solomon were sinners. They fell greatly many times,
yet they knew the blessing and the peace of God in Jesus Christ. God gave David and God gave his
son Solomon faith. Faith to look beyond what they
could see in this world. Faith to look beyond their circumstances. Faith to look beyond natural
reason. of God in him. Faith to look
beyond all the trouble around them, all the trouble in the
kingdom, all the trouble in their house, and to look unto Christ
and believe. Faith to wait upon the Lord. God gave them faith. But Adonijah,
Abiathar, and Joab, for all their religion, For all their claims
knew not God. Both Adonijah and Joab knew where
the tabernacle was. They knew where the altar was.
They knew where mercy was to be found. They never believed,
and they never waited upon God. You and I may hear the gospel,
We may know of Christ. We may know of his cross. We
may know of the mercy seat. We may know from when salvation
comes. We may know that Christ gave
his life for sinners. But should we live our life going
our own way and seeking our own glory, and then only turn when
death stares us in the face. We will find that it's too late.
Where did Adonijah, Abiapha, Joab go wrong? They turned from
the Lord. What they sought after, they
sought by their own wisdom, their own might, their own strength,
their own works. their own self-righteousness. They probably felt that what
they did was the right thing to do. Adonijah was Solomon's
elder. This was the right thing to do,
he felt, because he walked by sight and not by faith. They never waited upon the Lord.
They didn't look under him alone. For they didn't believe. They
walked by sight, not by faith. And what is not of faith, we
read, is sin. And they paid the price for their
sin. We may know the gospel. We may
know of Christ. We may know where the altar is.
when judgment stares us in the face, when we see the end of
our life before us, should sickness come our way, should tragedy
stare us in the face, should there come a time when we know
that our days are few upon this earth, we may suddenly turn unto
God, we may suddenly begin to cry out, we may suddenly plead
our own self-righteousness, we may cry out, Lord, Lord, but
if we have no faith, we're like Joab clinging to the horns of
the altar and facing but judgment. He's walked not by faith, just
like Israel of old. They had the tabernacle, they
had the altar, they had the priesthood, They had the scriptures, they
had the testimony, they knew, yet they never loved the Lord. But Israel, which followed after
the law of righteousness, have not attained to the law of righteousness. Wherefore, because they sought
it not by faith, but as it were by the works of the law. For
they stumbled at that stumbling stone. As it is written, behold,
I lay in Zion a stumbling stone and rock of offense, and whosoever
believeth on him shall not be ashamed. They never saw in the
altar a picture of Christ. They never saw in the priesthood
the priesthood of Christ himself. They never saw in the sacrifices
that it was one sacrifice that they needed, that they needed
the Lamb of God that God should send. They looked unto the form
rather than what that form pointed unto. They looked unto the law
rather than the lawgiver. They looked unto their obedience.
rather than Christ and his faithfulness. They sought righteousness by
their own works, not by faith. No matter how religious they
might be, no matter how religious you might be, no matter how religious
Joab was, or Abiaphar, or Adonijah, When they knew their folly, they
went to the altar and laid hold upon it. But it was too late. And there will come a day when,
if we know this gospel, if we know of Christ and his salvation,
but have always turned aside and said, I don't care. One day
when I'm older, I'll go my own way. There may come a day when
the years of our lives are taken away. When we grow old and when
death faces us and our days have passed, but it's too late. There were those we read of in
Matthew's gospel. who on the last day came unto
the Lord crying, Lord, Lord, we've done this in thy name and
that in thy name. We've been ever so faithful. He says unto them, depart from
me ye workers of iniquity. I never knew you. What we know of the gospel will
count for nothing unless God makes it known unto us in our
hearts. What we know of Christ in the head is of nothing worth
if the Spirit of God doesn't make him known unto us in our
hearts. We may hear, but never hear. We may see, but never see. Is this you? Religious or otherwise, is this
you? Are you living by your own wisdom,
your own might, your own intellect, your own Understanding. Are you full of unbelief? Never
looking unto God. Never seeking his will. Never
waiting upon him. Always going along in your own
strength, according to your own wisdom, without faith. I know that God would spare us
from the fate of Joab and Adonijah. Oh may he bring us to see what
we are before him as David saw that we are sinners and that
we have sinned against God and God only. And that our only plea is the
mercy and the grace and the blessing of God. For if God brings us
there as he brought Solomon, as he brought David, He'll bring
us to the latter part of this verse. And He'll speak unto us
by His Spirit in comfort. No more will we hear the judgment. No more will we hear the pronouncement
of death that our sins have deserved. No more will we cling vainly
to the altar, pleading our own works. No more will there be
a cry of, Lord, Lord, I've done this and I've done that upon
our lips. But our cry will be, Lord, I've
sinned against thee and thee only. Have mercy upon me. Have mercy upon me, Lord. Wash me from my iniquity. No
more will there be pride in our heart, but contrition. No more will we stand up in our
own strength and our own wisdom. but we will be broken. We will speak as David spake
when the Lord broke him and showed him what he was. Have mercy upon
me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness, according unto the multitude
of thy tender mercies. Blot out my transgressions. Wash me freely from mine iniquity,
cleanse me from my sin, for I acknowledge my transgressions, and my sin
is ever before me. Against thee, the only, have
I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight, that thou mightest
be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest.
Behold, I was shapen in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive
me. how desirous truth in the inward
parts. And in the hidden part thou shalt
make me to know wisdom. Purge me with hyssop and I shall
be clean. Wash me and I shall be whiter
than snow. Make me to hear joy and gladness,
that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice. Hide thy face from my sins and
blot out all mine iniquities, creating me a clean heart, O
God, and renew a right spirit within me. Oh, what a place to
be brought. That's where God brought David.
That was the cry of his heart when he came to know that he
was the sinner. Just as much a sinner as Adonijah
became. Just as much a sinner as Joab
was. But a sinner that God taught. A sinner that came to know that
he was a sinner. A broken sinner. He had a broken heart and a contrite
spirit. Has God shown you what you are
before him? As he showed David. We need a
clean heart. We need a new spirit. We need
the mercy and the grace of God. And we need God to come unto
us as he came unto Solomon and the house of David here and pronounced
peace forever upon David, his seed, his house, his throne. What a promise. What a promise
is made here unto Solomon, not just Solomon, but David also. And not just David, but his seed. Jesus Christ, his house, his
throne, his kingdom, all those in Christ. This blessing came
upon David and his house because David was found in Christ and
Solomon was found in Christ because Christ made himself known unto
them and made his grace and his mercy to them though they were
sinners. You made it known that I will
wash you from your sin. I will cleanse you. I will be
merciful to you. I will be gracious and long-suffering
unto you. Oh, what a thing to hear because
we've all been there. We've all done what Joab did. We've all done what Adonijah
did. We've all done what David and
Solomon did. We've all betrayed the Lord.
We've all sought our own glory. We've all put others to death
in our hearts. We've all committed adultery
against the Lord. We've all sought our own way.
We've all been covetous. We've all been blind. God showed
David, he showed Solomon what they were. And he said unto them,
Nevertheless, there shall be peace forever from the Lord upon
your house, your seat, and your throne. Peace forever. Peace forever because King David
was a picture of Christ. God's peace is made through his
son. There is only peace that can
be made through his son. It can only come through Christ
because we're all sinners by nature. There's no peace where
there's sin. There's no peace where there's
enmity still against God. There's no peace where sin remains.
It must be taken away. And David could not wash himself. David could not cleanse himself.
David could not blot out his own sins. He was guilty before
a holy God. And whilst that sin remained,
there was no peace. So too with Solomon. So too with
you and I. We cannot blot out our own iniquity. We cannot undo what we have done. We cannot change what we are. But it's not just what we've
done, it's what we are. We have hearts that are evil
continually. Every thought and imagination
of the heart of man is but evil continually. Every day we think
and do and act and say that which is evil. And there's nothing
we can do to change ourselves. The leopard cannot change its
spots. We cannot change ourselves. We need one who is righteous. who can take away our sin, who
can blot it out, who can pay the price for sin. Our sin must
be paid for. It must be condemned. If it's
to be blotted out, it must be taken away. It must be judged. Death is the judgment. Death
is the penalty. We must die. Well, how can we
live? How can there be peace forever? if our sins have brought our
death. Only if one comes and takes our sins in our place.
Only if one dies that death that we should die in our place. Only if one who is righteous
stands in our place and this one is Christ, David's seed. We read in Romans that Christ
was promised as the seed of David and the son of God. He's the
seed of whom God speaks here. He's the one who brought peace
upon David's household. He's the one who delivered his
house. He's the one who came to sit
upon the throne of the kingdom. He's the savior. As God led you
to see the one that came to deliver sinners from their sins. Has
he led you to the king of whom David and Solomon were but pictures? Has he brought you into his house
in which there is peace forever? This throne, the kingdom, the
rule of the king upon the throne, his reign is everlasting. This
peace is forever because Christ is forever. He is without beginning
and without end. He is eternal. He is the Alpha
and the Omega. He is the everlasting Son of
God. He lived and was before he entered
this world. But in the fullness of time,
he was made flesh. He came. He came for David. He came for Solomon. And he came
for every sinner like them. whom God opens the eyes and leads
them to the altar to see the blood of Jesus Christ
shed in their place. It's at this altar where Christ
died, where he shed his blood, where he pronounced his Righteousness and peace kissed
each other, the same altar, the same place of judgment. It's
the same place that brought peace forever upon David, Solomon,
their house, their seed, Christ and his people, and brought judgment
down upon Christ in their place, and down upon Joab. and Adonijah,
and every wicked sinner that knows not God outside of Christ. What a place this altar is. What a place the cross is. When
Christ was about to approach his death, when he announced
that his hour had come, he said, now is the judgment of this world.
At the cross, the whole world was judged. At the cross, we
either know judgment upon our own sins because of our unbelief
and rejection of Christ, or we see in Christ our Savior, our
sins washed away in his blood. For David and Solomon, the altar
pointed them unto Christ. and his mercy seat, and his blood
and his salvation, and that peace which was everlasting. For Joab,
the altar, was the place of his condemnation. What do you see
in the cross of Jesus Christ? When Christ is preached unto
you, when the gospel is preached, when the cross is made known,
when you hear of Christ and him crucified, What is it to you? What is he to you? Is this your
judgment, your condemnation? Because you look upon him and
he's nothing to you. You despise him, you reject him,
you say, crucify him, crucify him. You walk on by, you have
no time for him. Is that altar a place upon which
your heart condemns you? Is it nothing to you or you that
pass by? Christ says from this altar,
whose sorrow is like unto my sorrow? Who was forsaken like
I'm forsaken? You just pass by. When you hear
of him, when you hear the cross, When you hear of Christ upon
the cross crucified for sinners, is he nothing to you? If he is,
that place, that cross, that altar, will be your judgment. But if you are brought, like
David was, to look upon the Savior and to see upon that cross one
dying in your stead, If you're brought to see his blood being
shed for you, then this place is your salvation. This savior
is your all. This judgment that God poured
out upon him is what delivers you. In the Psalms, David wrote,
justice and judgment are the habitation of thy throne. Mercy
and truth shall go before thy face. Psalm 85, mercy and truth
are met together. Righteousness and peace have
kissed each other. Upon the cross, God's judgment
against sin was made known. His wrath against sin was demonstrated
to all the world. The only way he could save his
people from their sins was to judge his own son, was to give
his own son as a ransom in their place. Salvation comes at a price. God's righteousness and justice
were upheld. But in so doing, it's a picture
to all the world that this is what must come upon sin. and
it either came upon Christ in our place or it will come upon
us. Oh, how hard our hearts are that
we can hear of Him, that we can see Him, that we can know of
the wrath of God that came down upon Christ at that cross and
just walk by, and just walk by. How hard our hearts are by nature
that we can hear and it's nothing to us. Oh may we not grow old and in
a dying hour come to that altar and attempt to cling hold of
its horns when we've never believed. When all we are doing is fleeing
from death and condemnation that we've brought upon ourself. not
like those wicked who perished in the flood as the rains came
down, run to the ark and try to climb on board and cry out,
Noah, save us. When we derided and mocked and
sneered at Noah all our lifetime, when we called him a madman,
a fool, when we said of those that believe the gospel, you're
a fool, you believe myths, you believe a nonsense. When all
our lives we've ridiculed and rejected and said it's nonsense. Where is God? If there's a God,
why doesn't he come and save me? And there we are when death
stares us in the face and we come to the altar or we come
to the ark and we try to climb on board and we cry out, Lord,
Lord, I've done this and I've done that. I deserve to be saved. when it's too late. It's too
late. And yet that ark was mankind's
only hope. And that altar, and that cross
upon which Christ died, is the only place from whence peace
will flow. From whence does this peace that
God promised unto David and his house forever flow. from the
very place where judgment and mercy met. When mercy and truth
met together, when righteousness and peace kissed each other,
that placed the cross. When Christ hung and bore his
people's sins and was made sin in their place that they might
be made the righteousness of God in him. When he died, God
made mercy, made peace. forever known unto his people. We see in this verse the meeting
of judgment and mercy in one place. God says that the blood
shall therefore return upon the head of Joab and upon the head
of his seed forever. Judgment shall come down upon
the wicked, but upon David and upon his seed, upon his house,
upon his throne, there shall be peace forever from the Lord. In the same verse, and at the
same place, the cross, there's both judgment and mercy. Where
are you looking? Where are you looking? Joab died
upon the altar. He knew, he knew in his head,
but he never believed. For him, it was a place of judgment,
a place of condemnation. He knew of the cross, but he
rejected Christ. And Christ's death upon that
cross proved to be his judgment. He hated him. He wanted salvation,
but he hated the Saviour. He wanted to be spared from condemnation
and from death, but he would not love God's Son. No one wants to die. But by nature, we hate the Saviour
who brings life. Everyone wants peace, but they
want it on their terms, not his. And yet the same place that proved
to be Joab's condemnation is the very place in which Christ
died, from whence peace flows like a river in his blood. There shall be peace forever
from the Lord. There's only one source of peace
in this world in time and eternity. It is from the Lord. It does
not come from man. It does not come from our own
wisdom, our own reason, our own works. It will not come from
something that we do or say or think. It comes from God. And God has sent it. under his
servant David, under his seed, Jesus Christ, upon his house
and upon his throne. And he sent it. It came with
a price. This peace came because God gave
his son as a sacrifice for sin. Upon that altar, Upon that cross,
God sent peace under his house, his throne, his king, his son,
by giving his son as a ransom for sin. By giving his son, by
slaying him under righteousness under wrath, by judging his people's
sins in him, he judged Davidson. He didn't spare it. He didn't
turn a blind eye to it. He judged it. A price was paid,
but it's Christ that paid the price. He judged Solomon's sin,
but it was Christ that paid the price for Solomon. Did he judge
your sin? Did he pay the price for your
sin upon that cross? Christ offered himself once for
sin. He cried out, it is finished.
It's finished. The sacrifice has been offered
up. The judgment has been drunk up
to the dregs. Salvation has been wrought. It
is finished. There is now peace forever from
the Lord. But was it finished for you?
Was it finished for you? Has God in his spirit come unto
you? And in his gospel said unto you,
in your heart, that unto David and upon his seed, upon his house
of which you are a member, upon his throne, upon you, there shall
be peace forever from the Lord. As he said it to you, until God
comes and speaks unto us in person, and shows us, like David, that
we are the sinner, that we have sinned against him, but that
he has laid that sin upon his son, upon the altar, and paid
the price. Until he says that unto us, we're
in the darkness. But when he comes and speaks
unto us in his gospel and makes this known, then we hear and
we know, we know that there shall be peace forever from the Lord. Peace forever from the Lord because
his Son died for us.