I want to read the last three
verses of 2 Samuel 17. And it came to pass when David
was come to Mahanaim, that Shobai, the son of Nahash of Rabah, of
the children of Ammon, and Maker, the son of Ameliel of Lodabar,
and Barzil-lei, the Gileadite of Rogallam, brought beds and
basins and earthen vessels and wheat and barley and flour and
parched corn, and beans, and lentils, and parched pulse, and
honey, and butter, and sheep, and cheese of kind for David
and for the people that were with him to eat. For they said
the people is hungry, and weary, and thirsty in the wilderness."
Let's pray together. Lord, we come into your presence
in Christ's name, and we ask that you would be pleased to
meet with us and to speak in power to our hearts from your
word. Lord, drive away anything that
would distract us in hearing your gospel. May your gospel
be preached in the power of your spirit, and you be pleased to
give us hearing ears and receptive hearts. Glorify thyself, and
Lord, accept our thanksgiving. We're so thankful for the salvation
that's in your son. And Lord, we're so thankful that
all you require of us, you look to your son for. Lord, we confess
our sins and pray for forgiveness and cleansing for his sake. Now
meet with us. In Christ's name we pray, amen. Now someone may have looked at
that passage I just read and thought, what in the world are
you going to say about something like that? Well, that's a good
question. And I hope by the time this is
over you'll understand what is going to be said about that passage
of scripture. Now notice it says in verse 27,
and it came to pass when David was come to Now that place is first mentioned
in Genesis chapter 32 when Jacob wrestled with the angel. You
remember that, don't you? Jacob wrestling with the angel
saying, I will not let you go except you bless me. He had to
have the blessing of the Lord. That angel was the Lord Jesus
Christ. And you can be sure that David understood that when he
was in this place, he'd read that passage of scripture and
he knew of that. Now, his condition at this time,
now you'll remember this is before this battle. Look at the last
phrase of verse 29. The people is hungry and weary
and thirsty in the wilderness. Now that's the condition of David
and his men at this time. Hungry and thirsty and weary
in the wilderness. But remember, his victory at
this time had already been determined. Look in verse 14 of this chapter,
and this is when he had been fleeing from Absalom, and all
of Israel has joined with Absalom, and they're going to fight against
David. And Absalom, verse 14, and all the men of Israel said,
the counsel of Hushai the Archite is better than the counsel of
Ahithophel, for the Lord had appointed to defeat the good
counsel of Ahithophel to the intent that the Lord might bring
evil upon Absalom. Now, the Lord was in control
of all this and he had already determined that Absalom is going
to be defeated. Absalom is trying to take his
father's life, this wicked man, but the Lord has determined he
is going to be defeated. And David and his men are in
the wilderness, hungry, weary, and thirsty. And they're facing
an army that outnumbers them in a, can't even describe it,
hundreds of thousands of people. All of Israel had joined up with
Absalom. And they're in a position where
they cannot, humanly speaking, possibly win. Now, how are they
going to win a battle like this when they're hungry and thirsty
and weary in the wilderness against insurmountable odds. Now, you
know that question is really easy to answer. If God be for
us, who can be against us? I want you to think about that
statement. If God be for us, who can be
against us? Now, if God's against us, who
can be for us? But if God is for us, Who can
be against us? Now, in verse 27, three men are
mentioned that God raised up to help David with this understanding
that if God is for us, who can be against us? Let me show you
one scripture before we go on. Turn to 2 Kings 6. 2 Kings 6.
I love this passage of scripture. Beginning in verse 13, this is Elisha speaking to a
servant. These men were sending spies
to spy out Elisha. And he said, Go and spy where
he is, that I may send and fetch him. And it was told him, saying,
Behold, he is in Dothan. Therefore sent he thither horses
and chariots and a great host, and they came by night and compassed
the city about. And when the servant of the man
of God was risen early and gone forth, behold, and host compassed
the city, both with horses and chariots. And a servant said
unto him, speaking to Elisha, Alas, master, how shall we do? We've got a host against us.
And he answered, fear not, for they that be with us are more
than they that be with them. And Elisha prayed and said, Lord,
I pray thee, open his eyes that he may see. And the Lord opened
the eyes of the young man and he saw and behold, the mountain
was full of horses and chariots of fire. round about Elisha. You know it's always like that.
You may not see him, but it's always like that. Now
go back to our text. Verse 27, I'll try to pronounce
these names correctly. And it came to pass when David
was come to Mahanahan that shew by the son of Nahash of Rabbah. of the children of Ammon. Now,
his daddy, Nahash, was an enemy of Israel. But the Lord turned
this man into a friend of David. You can read about Nahash, he's
the one who wanted all the children of Israel to have their right
eyes put out. You remember that? In 1 Samuel chapter, or 2 Samuel,
I can't remember where it's at, but he wanted to have them all
lose their right eyes to show his domination over them, and
he hated Israel. But now his son is made to be
a friend of Israel because God can raise up help in whatever
way he wants to do. And then the second man we read
of, is Makar, the son of Amelior of Lodobar. Now that's where
Mephibosheth was, remember? Mephibosheth was staying in his
house when David sent and fetched him. And then we read of Barzillai,
the Gileadite of Rogallam. Now this was a very wealthy man,
look in 2 Samuel 19, 31 and 32. And Barzelei, the Gilead, came
down from Rogallim and went over to Jordan to the king to conduct
him over Jordan. Now Barzelei was a very aged
man, even four score years old, and he had provided the king
of sustenance. This is what they were talking, what we're talking
about right now. While he lay at Mahanaim, for he was a very
great man or a very wealthy man. And God raised him up for this
very purpose. So here David is and his men
in a hopeless, humanly speaking, situation in the wilderness,
tired, weary, hungry, and thirsty. And God raises up these three
men to prepare them for the battle. Now, let me remind you that the
Bible is the Word of God. That God the Holy Spirit wrote
this book. and everything is inspired and
has a purpose. There is a purpose for these
details given. Now look what they brought these
men while they were waiting for this big battle. They brought,
verse 28, they brought beds. That's an unusual thing, isn't
it? They brought beds and basins. and earthen vessels, and wheat,
and barley, and flour, and parched corn, and beans, and lentils,
and parched pulse, and honey, and butter, and sheep, and cheese
of kind for David and for the people that were with him to
eat. For they said the people is hungry, and weary, and thirsty
in the wilderness." Now these three men knew about David and
his men in this position, and they brought all of this fare. this food. Now, first, they brought
beds. Beds. Now, I don't know of anything
like this in the Bible where people were out in the wilderness
and people brought them beds. Well, what are beds for? Well,
they're to sleep on. They're to rest in. If they're
going to fight this battle, the first thing they're going to
have to have is rest. Rest. Sleep. So he giveth his
beloved sleep. Now, here's the point of these
beds. Rest. If I'm going to fight this battle
that he's getting ready to fight, the first thing I need to do
is to rest in Christ. Now, what do you do when you
rest? Nothing. You rest. They that have believed
do enter into a rest. For he that's entered into his
rest has ceased from his own works as God did from his after
creation. Now this thing of rest, what
a beautiful thing it is to know that everything, everything,
that God requires of me, I already have. And there's nothing for
me to do but rest. He's got all of Israel, hundreds
of thousands of people coming against him tomorrow. What's
he doing? He's in bed asleep, resting,
knowing he's accepted in the beloved. Now the first thing
they brought into the wilderness, and this is the most important
thing, the only way I can fight this battle is if I rest because
I see the battle's already won. You know, God had already determined
the victory, hadn't he? He determined to bring evil against
Absalom. And David simply rested in these
beds they brought. Now, like I said, that's an unusual
detail for God the Holy Spirit to bring to us, but it's beautiful.
The first thing they see is a bed. Now, look what comes next. Verse
28, they brought basins. Basins. Now, the first time This
word is used, basin, in the scripture, is where on the Passover, they
would kill the lamb, slit its throat, which is a representation
of the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. Blood would be
poured into a basin. This is the way the word is first
used, a basin. And then they would take the
hyssop branch and dip it in the blood in that basin and put it
over the door and the doorpost. Remember that? And God said,
when I see the blood, I will pass over you. Now, what is it
that enables somebody to rest like this? They're laying with
all this, these armies coming against them. It's a humanly
impossible situation. What is it that will make someone
rest? seeing the power of the blood
of the Lord Jesus Christ. When I see what His blood accomplished. His blood accomplished the complete
salvation of God's elect. When He said it is finished,
everybody He died for, their salvation was accomplished. Nothing
to do. Now that's where I rest. Question. How satisfied is God with the
blood of the Lord Jesus Christ? He's completely satisfied so
that he's not looking for anything else. You're accepted in the
beloved. And God is so satisfied with
the blood of Christ that he raised him from the dead. His body never
went through decay because when he died, God said, I can ask
no more. And that's true of everybody
he died for. I can ask no more. So what a, where is this rest? It's found in the blood of the
Lord Jesus Christ. I love that verse of scripture
in Romans chapter 3, 25, whom God has set forth to be a propitiation
through faith in his blood. Do you have faith in his blood?
Do you believe his blood is enough to make you clean before God
or you need nothing else? Oh, what a glorious thing, his
blood. Now look what's brought next.
Verse 28, they brought beds and basins and earthen vessels. Earthen vessels. Now the word
earthen is a verb. I don't know really why they
translated it earthen in this passage of scripture. I'm sure
there's a good reason for it. I just don't understand what
it is. This word is used 68 times in the scriptures. And this is
the only time it's translated earthen. It's the word that's
used in the creation account three times. The Lord God formed
man from the dust of the earth. The word means formed, made,
created, determined, fashioned, framed, purposed. That word earthen
is purposed, framed, formed. It's a verb. And what's a vessel? Well, a vessel is a cup, a plate,
a bowl. It's what you drink from. An earthen or a formed vessel
to drink from. Remember they were hungry and
thirsty. They needed something to drink with. They needed something
to put their food in. It's the utensils. Formed utensils. A formed cup. Now, what this
represents. Remember they're thirsty. How
are they going to drink? This formed vessel. It's a supernatural thing. It represents faith in the Lord
Jesus Christ. Now faith is Faith is the cup
that holds the water of grace. Now what do I mean by that? What,
can a cup quench your thirst? No. Hold the cup up, it doesn't
quench your thirst, it doesn't do anything for you. Faith itself
is not what does anything for us, it's Christ. Faith is the
cup that holds the water and it's God's provided formed cup. Faith, what is faith? Faith is
believing that who Christ is and what he did is all that's
needed to make you perfect. Faith is the cup that holds this
glorious grace of Christ. He gave them earthen vessels. Faith is God's formed vessel
to drink of Christ, to rely on Christ, to rest in Christ. Now, the Holy Spirit, as I said,
had a reason for giving us these details. Beds, basins, and formed
vessels. And then he speaks of food. Verse
28, wheat and barley and flour. What are those things used to
make? Bread. Bread. That's what you make bread
from. Who is the bread of life? Christ
himself is the bread of life. He said, I am the bread of life
in John 635. He that cometh to me shall never
hunger, and he that believeth on me shall never thirst. Christ, the bread of life, and
bread is taken in, isn't it? Bread is taken in, and it becomes
part of us. Christ in you, the hope of glory. Christ, the bread of life. Now, they need rest. They need to see that the blood
of Christ is all that's needed in their salvation. They need
the cup of faith to receive these blessings. And they need to take
in the bread. The Lord said, he that eateth
my flesh and drinketh my blood dwelleth in me. And that's not
literal cannibalism, you know that. That's finding Christ as
your necessary sustenance, your food, your bread. And look what
he says next. And parts corn and beans and
lentils and parts pulse. Now this is what Daniel and the
three Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego ate in Daniel chapter
1. Remember they said we don't want
to be defiled by eating the king of Babylon's food. Let us eat
Pulse and you're going to see we're going to be better off
than they are. And they ate this pulse. Now this shows that all
of this is of God's providing. It's not the food of the world.
It's the food of God's providing. This is the same stuff that Daniel
and the three men ate in Daniel chapter 1. And their flesh ended
up being fatter than the people who ate the king's dainties.
This is the provision of God. Verse 29, and honey. Honey, what's that represent?
That represents the sweetness of the gospel. The sweetness. Is it sweet to be saved by the
grace of Christ? Is it sweet, is it good to your
taste to have all your sins forgiven for Christ's sake? Is it sweet To have His righteousness. And to know you're accepted in
the Beloved. Oh, the sweetness of the Gospel. It's not just, well, yeah, I
agree with that. You know, I see the Bible did...
No. There's a sweetness in this. The sweetness of grace. The sweetness
of sovereign grace. The sweetness of knowing who
God is. The sweetness of knowing that although He's so holy and
righteous and just, I'm accepted in Christ. How sweet is that?
Oh, the honey of the gospel, the sweetness of the gospel.
And look at the next word used. Butter. Butter. What makes, makes stuff taste
good. Butter. Butter makes anything taste good.
Doesn't it? I mean, I love butter, butter. And it, oh, that's, it's
the grace of Christ that makes all the doctrines of the gospel
taste good. Butter. I mean, where would we
be without butter? I know Lynn would probably kill
herself if she didn't have butter. She loves butter so much. I mean,
we have it all over the house, melted and cold and butter. Butter. It tastes good, doesn't
it? And what's next? Sheep. What did you eat on the
Passover? The paschal lamb. The sheep. All of our necessary salvation
is found in that slain lamb that we eat by faith. The paschal
lamb. And this is what they needed
out in the wilderness. And then the next thing that
was mentioned was cheese. Cheese from cattle. Now, I hate
saying this, but I don't have any idea what the significance
of that is. I know it's there. I know it's there. There's something
significant about that, but I don't know what it is. I could make
up something. One of the things about the scripture,
we know what it means even if we don't know what it means,
don't we? We know it means the gospel whether we see it or not.
And I don't really know what the significance of that cheese
is, but it's something important, I'm sure. I wish I could tell
you, but I don't know. But the people is hungry and
weary and thirsty in the wilderness. And God raised these men up to
prepare them for the battle we're going to consider next week in
chapter 18, where Absalom is destroyed and they're facing
insurmountable odds. They're hungry, they're thirsty,
and they're weary. God raised these three men up
to provide this wonderful meal for them in the wilderness. And
they'll be ready for the battle that's going to take place the
next day.