away yesterday morning, so everybody
remember him and their family. He told me that he thinks the
visitation will be at 11 o'clock on Tuesday in Ashland. He doesn't know where yet. And
then the funeral will be at 1 on Tuesday. But if I find anything
more, I'll let you know. Turn to 1 Kings chapter 4. Verse 1, So King Solomon was king over
all Israel. And then in the next 18 verses
you have the names of his cabinet members. And picking up in verse
20, we're not going to skip over those, we're going to look at
them, but look at this description of Israel and Judah during King
Solomon's reign. Verse 20, Judah and Israel were
many as the sand which is by the sea in multitude, eating
and drinking and making merry. What a description of the nation
of Israel at this time. They were very happy. They had
all they could possibly want. Eating and drinking and making
merry. Let's go on reading. And Solomon
reigned over all the kingdoms from the river unto the land
of the Philistines and unto the border of Egypt. They brought
presents and served Solomon all the days of his life. And Solomon's
provision for one day was thirty measures of fine flour and threescore
measures of meal. 10 fat oxen and 20 oxen out of
the pastures, and a hundred sheep beside harts and roebucks and
fallow deer and fatted owl. For he had dominion over all
the region on this side of the river, from Tifsa even to Aza,
over all the kings on this side of the river, and he had peace
on all sides round about him." Now, think of the turmoil going
on right now. Terrorism, racism, all the problems
we have in our society. In this society, everybody had
all they wanted, and there was peace on every side, and everybody
was happy. Let's go on reading. Verse 25,
and Judah and Israel dwelt safely, every man under his vine and
under his fig tree, from Dan even to Beersheba, all the days
of Solomon. And this is how happy this place
was. Verse 26, and Solomon had 40,000 stalls of horses for his
chariots and 12,000 horsemen. And those officers provided vittles
for King Solomon. And for all that came into King
Solomon's table, every man in his month, they lacked nothing. Now that's the description of
the kingdom under Solomon. Let's pray. Lord, we come into your presence
in Christ's name. Lord, we wouldn't. Dare or desire
to come any other way than through him. And Lord, how thankful we
are that we can come into your presence. Through him. We ask
that we might be enabled to hear your gospel. We ask that we might
be enabled to worship you in spirit and truth. Lord, we confess
our sins. We pray for forgiveness and cleansing
for Christ's sake. And Lord, accept our thanksgiving.
We're so amazed at the greatness of your grace toward us. May
we be found in Christ. May Christ be glorified. May
we be enabled to sit at his feet and hear his word. In his name
we pray, Amen. What a description. of a peaceful
kingdom. I don't know that there's ever
been a kingdom that enjoyed such peace as this. How they enjoyed
their life under King Solomon. There was no lack. Eating and
drinking and making merry. Very happy. Just a condition
of peacefulness. Every man had, there was peace
on every side. They didn't have the turmoil
that we're dealing with today. I don't know that there's ever
been a kingdom like the one we described under Solomon. Now, in this passage of scripture
there, you can divide it into two different places in these
first 19 verses where the names of the men in Solomon's cabinet
are given. And we're going to look at the
meaning of each name, and we're going to find out something about
why Solomon's kingdom was so peaceful and so joyful and so
content. And really, we're going to learn
something about the kingdom of the one who's greater than Solomon,
the Lord Jesus Christ. This is given for this purpose.
Oh, what peace there is in his kingdom. Solomon's name means
peaceful. peaceful. And we're going to
learn why this kingdom had such great peace by looking at the
names of these men given. Now, the first six verses are
the names of his cabinet, and verses 7 through 19 gives the
names of the men who provided the food for his kingdom. And
we're going to look at both of those. Verse 2. And these were the princes which
he had. The first one's name is Azariah. Azariah. And what that means
is Jehovah has helped. I couldn't help but think of
the Syro-Phoenician woman when she came to the Lord after the
Lord said, I'm not sent but to the lost sheep of the house of
Israel. And she said, Lord, help me. Help me. I wonder if you and I can pray
that prayer right now. Lord, help me. If you don't help
me, I won't be helped. I need your grace. Lord, help
me. And this is the foundation of
this kingdom. Lord, help me. If you don't help
me, I won't be helped. I need your help. I think of
that passage of scripture in Hebrews chapter 13, verses five
and six, where it says, let your conversation Be without covetousness
and be content with such things as you have. Now, all of us ought
to be content materially. I realize that we all got more
than we deserve, but that's not what he's talking about. What
do you have? You have every spiritual blessing
in Christ Jesus. You have all of God's salvation. You have perfect righteousness.
You have acceptance in the beloved. We could just go on and on and
on with all you have in Christ Jesus. Let your conversation
be without covetousness and be content with such things as you
have for he has said, I'll never leave thee nor forsake thee.
So we may boldly say, the Lord is my helper. The Lord is my
helper. I shall not fear what man shall
do unto me. What help, what divine aid in
this kingdom. And I'm saying right now, Lord,
help me to preach. Lord, help me to teach. Lord,
help me to believe. Lord, help me to repent. Lord,
help me to come to Christ. Lord, help me to love you. Help
me. I mean, that's the continual
cry of this kingdom, the divine aid of the great helper, the
Lord Jesus Christ. Now, the next name mentioned
in verse two is Zadok. Zadok. That name means righteous. And this is one of the key words
of the kingdom of heaven. Righteous. God is righteous. He's utterly, perfectly righteous. His salvation is a righteous
salvation. The kingdom of God is given to
manifest His righteousness. I think of what Paul said, I'm
not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it's the power of
God unto salvation, for therein in the gospel is the righteousness
of God revealed. Now here's the, he's righteous.
He's altogether righteous. There's no sin in him. There's
no evil in him. But he has made a way for him
to remain perfectly righteous and save me, a sinful, evil,
wicked individual who deserves to be in hell where his righteousness
actually demands my salvation. It's called justification. Every
believer really is righteous before God. It's not as if we
were righteous. We are righteous in Christ Jesus,
the Lord, and the very righteousness of God demands the salvation
of every believer. Let's turn with me for just a
moment to Romans chapter five. Hold your finger there. Romans chapter five. You know, this grace for sinners
has to be called righteous grace. Let me show you this. Romans
chapter 5 verse 20. Moreover, the law entered that
the offense might abound. But where sin abounded, where
it overflowed, grace did much more abound that as sin hath
reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness. It's righteous grace. It honors
the righteousness of God unto eternal life by Jesus Christ,
our Lord. Now back to our text in verse
three, Eli Horath, verse three, Eli
Horath. Now that means the God of harvest
time. This is where our food comes
from. What do we need to survive? We need to eat. The God of harvest
time. Now, what did the Lord say? Except
you eat the flesh of the son of man and drink his blood. You have no life in you. Now
you and I both know that that's not talking about cannibalism.
That's not talking about literally eating his flesh and drinking
his blood. It's talking about finding all
your substance, all your sustenance, all your food, all your, what
you have to have is found in Christ crucified. That's the
only thing that gives me comfort and knowing I'm accepted. And
this is the only thing that edifies me is who Christ is. what he
accomplished, where he is now. Christ crucified, eating, feeding
off, finding his flesh and blood as our only substance. Now in
this kingdom, this peaceful kingdom, everybody there eats the same
thing. They feed off Christ and him
crucified. Verse three, once again, the
next member of Solomon's cabinet is Ahiah. And his name means
the brother of Jehovah. The brother of Jehovah. Jehovah has a brother? Yes, he
does. Think of that passage of scripture
in Hebrews chapter two, where the writer to the Hebrews says,
both he that sanctifies and they who are sanctified are all of
one. for the witch cause, he's not
ashamed to call them brethren." I'm looking at Jehovah's, Jehovah
the Son's brethren. Every believer is a brother,
sister of the Lord Jesus Christ. Yes, Jehovah does have brethren.
He says, in the midst of the church while I sing praise to
thy name unto my brethren. I think of where the Lord, after
his resurrection, said to the disciples, I go to my God and
your God, to my father and your father. What a brotherhood there
is. Jehovah has brethren. In verse three, the sons of Shishah. Shishah is the next word. In
verse 3, Shisha, and his name means Jehovah contends. Jehovah contends. Now you think
about what Jude said, we're called upon to earnestly contend for
the faith, the faith once delivered. I love the way he says once delivered.
There's not going to be any additions to it. Nothing can be taken from
it. It's the faith once delivered. We have it at the record of it
in the scriptures. And we're called upon to earnestly contend
for the faith, to not let anything go to the faith, the faith of
God's elect, the acknowledging of the truth, which is after
godliness. Now, who is it that truly contends? He may use us to contend for
the faith, but he's the one who contends for his own faith. And
I'm so thankful for that, aren't you? It's not up to me and you
to protect the truth. He's going to protect the truth.
He's going to use me and you to do it, but it's him doing
it. He's going to keep the faith pure. The faith once delivered. The next name is Jehoshaphat. Look in verse three, Jehoshaphat. The Son of Elud the Recorder,
Jehoshaphat, and Jehoshaphat means Jehovah has judged. Jehovah has judged. Doesn't mean
Jehovah will judge, it means Jehovah has judged. Now what
that's a reference to, once again, is the cross of the Lord Jesus
Christ. And this is the kingdom of peace, this peaceful kingdom,
is all because Jehovah has judged. My sins, My sins on Calvary's tree were
judged, condemned, and put away to where they are no more. And
now every believer stands righteous before God. That's where this
peace comes from. I don't have peace because of anything in
me. I've got a lot of peace because
I'm such a good... No, my peace is this. He is our peace. Jehovah
has judged. Every believer, unbeliever was
condemned. Satan was judged. Everything
was accomplished by what the Lord did on the cross. And that's
where the peace of this kingdom comes from. Jehoshaphat, Jehovah
has judged. Justice and judgment are the
habitation of thy throne. I look at the next name in verse three, the son of Ahilod, the
recorder. A Hylude means child's brother,
a child's brother. I love what the Lord said, one
is your master, even Christ, call no man father. And that
doesn't mean don't call your father, father, your dad, dad.
That's talking about like they call the Pope, the holy father,
as if there's some kind of spiritual significance in him and he produces,
no, call no man father. One is your master, even Christ,
and ye are all brethren. And I think of the brotherhood
that is in believers, where truly grace is thicker than blood. And there is a brotherhood that's
more real than any human relationship in this thing of the gospel.
A child's brother, there's a true brotherhood. The kingdom of God
is a brotherhood. Now look in verse four of our
text. And Benaiah is the next man mentioned
in this cabinet of Solomon, Benaiah. And Benaiah means Jehovah has
built. Jehovah has built. Except the
Lord build the house. They labor in vain that had built
it. I think of what the Lord said
to Peter, thou art Peter and upon this rock, this confession
of me, thou art the Christ, the son of the living God. Upon this
rock, I will build my church. And the gates of hell shall not
prevail against it. Now there's a lot of building
going on, religions building big buildings and monuments and
all kinds of religion go on, but God's not in it. That which
man has built is utterly vain, but oh, the building that he
builds. Every believer is built upon
the foundation, laid upon the foundation, and it's the Lord
doing the building. He said, upon this rock will
I build my church. That which men build, what is
it? Vanity and evil. All the religious
stuff that men do, that men are trying to build up, garbage. But oh, what he builds, it's
forever. Benaiah. Jehovah has built. The son of Jehoiada. That means Jehovah knows. Now this peaceful kingdom we're
talking about where everybody is complete and everybody's happy
and everybody has enough peace on every side is all founded
in Jehovah knows. You know, the Lord knows everything. He's never surprised. He's never taken him back. He knows everything because he
has determined everything. And everything that happens is
nothing less than his will being done. His omniscience, his knowledge
of all things. You know, I find a lot of comfort
in this. We could talk all morning about
the stuff we don't know, and we don't understand, but he knows.
He knows. He knows why he's doing everything
he's doing, and I don't need to know, because he does. And
he is perfect, he is holy, he is all-powerful, he is sovereign.
He knows. And our salvation is dependent
upon his knowledge. By his knowledge shall my righteous
servant justify many, for he shall bear their iniquities. Whom he did foreknow, he also
did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his son. Now,
his foreknowledge is his forelove. I love this scripture in 2 Timothy
2.19, the foundation of the Lord stands sure, having this seal,
the Lord knoweth. them that are His. Now this is
what I'm depending on. His knowledge of me. Not my knowledge of Him. I love
it when Paul said in Galatians 4 and 9, now that you've known
God or rather are known of God. Think of this believer. God knows
you. And that means a whole lot more
than He knows who you are. That means He loves you. that
you've always been known by him, that you've always had personality
before him. Think of that crowd, he said,
depart from me, ye that work iniquity. I never knew you, but
that's not going to be said to every believer. He knows every
believer. And you know, he knows our frame
too. He knoweth our frame. He remembereth that we are dust. He knows, Jehovah knows, and
this is the peace of this kingdom, his knowledge. And then we read
in verse four of Zadok again, and so we've already seen his
name means righteous. I think it's glorious that that's
put in there twice. The righteousness of Christ,
righteous, we've already seen that, but let's go on next. Zadok
and Abiathar were the priests. Abiathar means my father is great. What a name, my father is great. And I think of the greatness
of my father. My father is the God and father of our Lord Jesus
Christ, and he's my father. He's every believer's father.
How do we address him? Our father. who art in heaven,
hallowed, holy is thy name, our Father. And think of the greatness
of our Father. Think of the greatness of his sovereignty. He controls
everything and everybody, and I love saying this, I say it
pretty often. He's even controlling the thoughts that are going on
through your mind right now. They're free, they're uncoerced,
and He completely controls them. He controls everybody and everything.
The king's heart is in the hand of the Lord. As the rivers of
water, He turneth it withersoever He will. And He controls everybody
and everything. Don't, I bow in, In adoration
of the greatness of my father, you think of the greatness of
his holiness, his otherness, his separateness. He's nobody's
like him. You think of the greatness of
his independence, he has no needs. You think of the greatness of
his power, whatever he wills, he has the power to come to pass. The greatness of our Father,
the greatness of His immutability, He never changes. Change and
decay in all around I see, O thou that changest not, abide with
me. Oh, the greatness of our Father.
We could spend all morning talking about that, can't we? But this
is what this peaceful kingdom is made up of, the greatness
of God. Ascribe ye greatness to our God. His work is perfect, Moses said. Whatever he does is perfect,
Abiathar. And then in verse five, we have
Azariah again, and we've already seen that. Jehovah has helped.
Jehovah has helped. So Lord, help me. What a prayer. Lord, Help me. Jehovah, help me. That ought
to be on our tongue constantly with regard to everything. I
don't care what it's about. Well, that's too insignificant
to ask for his help on. No, it's not. No, it's not. With regard to everything in
our lives. I don't care what it is. Lord,
help me. Help me. He delights to help
his children. What a name Jehovah has helped. And I love these next two. I
love them all. But look at the sons of Nathan
were over the officers and Zabod, the son of Nathan, the principal
offer and the king's friend. Now these two names, Nathan means
giver. Giver. What a giver God is. This is where the piece of this
kingdom comes from. The great giver. God so loved the world
that he gave his only begotten son. He that spared not his own
son, but delivered him up for us all. How shall he not with
him also freely, freely give us all things. This name is giver and Zadab's
name is given. given. I love the way those two
things are put together. He's the giver, and when he gives,
something's given. His gifts are not offered. They're given. And if you haven't
received them, it's because he never gave them. He doesn't just
put out a gift And it's up to your acceptance or rejection
as to whether or not you have it. If he gives his gift, it
is given. What a name, the giver and given. Look in verse six, and a high
shower was over the household. A high shower means my brother
sang. In the midst of the church will
I sing praises to thee. Now, what this is talking about
is the joy of this kingdom. You know, you sing when you're
happy, don't you? You sing when you're sad, sad songs, but you sing
when you're happy. And this is talking about the
joy of this kingdom. My brother, the Lord Jesus Christ,
sings. He will joy over you with singing. The scripture says, and I think
of that scripture, the kingdom of God is not meat and drink.
It's not rules and regulations. It's righteousness and peace
and joy in the Holy ghost. What singing there is in this
kingdom. When we sing these hymns of praise,
may the Lord enable us to sing them from our heart, the joy
of this kingdom. And then in verse six, the next
name we sing or we read is Adoniram. And Adoniram's name means my
Lord is exalted. What this is about is about the
glory of Jesus Christ, the son of God. My Lord is exalted. Now, in a kingdom where there's
peace, it's always a place where he gets all the glory. And if
he's not getting all the glory, there's not gonna be peace there.
You're gonna be looking to yourself and you're not gonna have any
peace. But where he gets all the glory and salvation, when we know he
is our salvation, we're not looking anywhere else. There's going
to be peace. That's the peace of this glorious
kingdom. And then the last names mentioned
is Abda in verse six. Abda was over the tribute and
Abu means a servant of Jehovah. And this is this peaceful kingdom. He is the servant. He's the true
servant. The infinite son of God is the
servant of Jehovah. Behold my servant, whom I uphold,
God said. Mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth. He is the true servant. He said
the Son of Man came not to be ministered to, but to minister,
and to give his life a ransom for many, and every believer
is his servant. Now, you're somebody's servant. I'm somebody's servant. Everybody
is somebody's servant. I'm either the servant of Jehovah
or the servant of the devil, but I'm somebody's servant. And
in this kingdom, everybody is his servant. And so we see where
the peace of this kingdom comes from. The no lack because of
the members of this cabinet, which represent the kingdom of
the Lord Jesus Christ and the peace that is there. We'll look
at the next list of names next week, Lord willing.