We have seen David taking the stronghold in Zion. We have seen David bringing up the ark. This morning, we want to see David’s wonderful preparation for the temple, the house of God.
But before we see that, we want to look especially at a particular experience that David had just prior to his preparing for the temple. This experience led him to the exact place where God intended His house to be built. We want to look at this first. It is a very important, significant experience in relation to the house of God.
Let us turn first to 1 Chronicles 21.
And Satan stood up against Israel, and moved David to number Israel.
And David said to Joab and to the princes of the people, Go, number Israel from Beer-sheba even to Dan; and bring me word, that I may know the sum of them.
—1 Chronicles 21:1-2
And God was displeased with this thing; therefore He smote Israel.
And David said unto God, I have sinned greatly, in that I have done this thing: but now, put away, I beseech Thee, the iniquity of Thy servant; for I have done very foolishly.
—1 Chronicles 21:7-8
And David said unto God, Is it not I that commanded the people to be numbered? Even I it is that have sinned and done very wickedly; but these sheep, what have they done? Let Thy hand, I pray Thee, O Lord my God, be against me, and against my father’s house; but not against Thy people, that they should be plagued.
Then the angel of the Lord commanded Gad to say to David, that David should go up, and rear an altar unto the Lord in the threshing-floor of Ornan the Jebusite.
—1 Chronicles 21:17-18
And David built there an altar unto the Lord, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings, and called upon the Lord; and He answered him from heaven by fire upon the altar of burnt offering.
—1 Chronicles 21:26
Then David said, This is the house of the Lord God, and this is the altar of burnt offering for Israel.
And David commanded to gather together the sojourners that were in the land of Israel; and he set masons to hew wrought stones to build the house of God.
And David prepared iron in abundance for the nails for the doors of the gates, and for the couplings; and brass in abundance without weight; and cedar trees without number: for the Sidonians and they of Tyre brought cedar trees in abundance to David.
And David said, Solomon my son is young and tender, and the house that is to be builded for the Lord must be exceeding magnificent, of fame and of glory throughout all countries: I will therefore make preparation for it. So David prepared abundantly before his death.
—1 Chronicles 22:1-5
Then Solomon began to build the house of the Lord at Jerusalem in Mount Moriah, where the Lord appeared unto David his father, which he made ready in the place that David had appointed, in the threshing-floor of Ornan the Jebusite.
—2 Chronicles 3:1
Our Father, we look to You this morning with much thanksgiving and praise for all Your grace and mercy to us, that we could be here today considering Your house—how great it is, how wonderful it is.
Father, prepare our hearts fully for Your Word, and prepare our hearts for Your house, that it may be prepared and built up and completed. We pray for this. Let Your house be built. We pray that You speak to every one of us this morning. Show us the preparation for Your house. Show us the greatness and the glory of Your house.
We pray that You give us a heart like David’s. In the name of our Lord Jesus. Amen.
Now, brothers and sisters, David was old at this point. He was an old man; he was full of days. He had had a wonderful life. God had used him greatly.
He had also faltered at times, failed, and sinned; and God had disciplined him and chastened him. He had gone through much affliction, much suffering, much experience, and much service for the Lord. He really had been serving the Lord according to God’s heart, to do His will.
But here, in his old age, it seems there was still something in him that God wanted to bring to light and deal with—some ground in him, it seems, that God’s enemy still had. For we read that Satan stood up against Israel, and he moved David, of all people, to number Israel.
David did this. You can read more about it in 1 Chronicles 21. David went ahead against all counsel. His will, his determination, was set. He wanted to number all Israel and see what a great nation he had, how many there were among God’s people who were under him as king.
He had something in him that we may call self-importance.
And we all have to realize, brothers and sisters, that self-importance has no place in God’s house. The only One who has importance in God’s house is our Lord Jesus Christ—not any of us.
But the enemy can come in so subtly with all of us, even as he did with David in his old age, and bring in some kind of sense of self-importance. May God be merciful to us all and keep us from this root, which is actually the character of God’s enemy.
David was determined to number them all, and he instructed Joab, his chief of forces, to go about the job from the south all the way up to the north.
Joab tried to advise David: “Don’t do it. Don’t do it.” Now, Joab was not a spiritual man at all. He did not really know the Lord. But even Joab, an unspiritual person, did his best to advise David not to do it.
He said, “May the Lord increase the number of His people a hundred times as many as they are now. And David, look, they are all serving you. They are all your servants. Why do you need to do this?” But David’s word prevailed, and Joab could do nothing but go out and start to number the people.
He numbered them, and he came eventually to the tribes of Levi and Benjamin. This business was so disgusting to Joab that he did not finish numbering them. He just left off the tribes of Levi and Benjamin.
Then we read that God was displeased with this thing. God was not happy at all, and He smote Israel. He smote Israel, and then David’s heart smote him. He confessed, “I have sinned greatly and done very foolishly.”
David was given a choice concerning what kind of judgment he would take, and he said, “Let me fall into the hands of the Lord.” There were three days of pestilence, and God began to smite. Because of David’s act of numbering, seventy thousand people of Israel were killed, destroyed by the angel.
David, you can imagine, was very sorrowful—very grief-stricken—because he was the cause of this. He and the elders of Israel came to the threshing-floor of Ornan the Jebusite, and they saw the angel of God standing there with His sword stretched out over Jerusalem.
David prayed to the Lord, and he said to God:
Is it not I that commanded the people to be numbered? Even I it is that have sinned and done wickedly; but these sheep, what have they done? Let Thy hand, I pray Thee, O Lord my God, be against me, and against my father’s house; but not against Thy people.
—1 Chronicles 21:17
David was the shepherd. He called all God’s people “these sheep.” “These sheep, what have they done?”
David had a big turn. He was concerned now, not for himself, but for God’s people. And, sisters, you know, it is always a big turn in our life when we begin to consider other people and when we are willing to suffer for others.
David said, “Let Thy hand be upon me, not them, and upon my father’s house. Let them go. They are Thy people. It is me. I am the problem. Lord, judge me.”
This is a very good attitude.
Let me read to you a verse in Isaiah which tells us the kind of spirit that is suitable for the house of God, the kind of spirit that we all need: Isaiah 57:15.
For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy: I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite.
—Isaiah 57:15
This is the kind of heart and spirit that we need for God’s house, right? God dwells—the high and holy One who inhabits eternity—He dwells with those who are contrite and humble in spirit.
And Isaiah 66:1-2:
Thus saith the Lord, Heaven is My throne, and the earth is My footstool: what manner of house will ye build unto Me? and what place shall be My rest?
For all these things hath My hand made, and so all these things came to be, saith the Lord: but to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and that trembleth at My word.
—Isaiah 66:1-2
I believe that David, by the Lord’s mercy, came to this kind of spirit and ended his days in this kind of spirit: a humble and contrite spirit.
Then the angel of the Lord commanded Gad to say to David that David should go up and rear an altar unto the Lord in the threshing-floor of Ornan the Jebusite.
Now listen to this, saints. David was commanded by the Lord to build an altar, to sacrifice to Him, in a special place—in the threshing-floor of Ornan the Jebusite.
David came to a threshing-floor. It is very significant. You know, a threshing-floor is a place where the chaff is separated from the wheat. All the worthless things are separated and blown away, and only the wheat—the precious things—are left.
This is what David had just come to. It is very significant. He came to the threshing-floor. Many times the Lord needs to bring you and me to the threshing-floor and separate anything worthless in our hearts.
Self-importance is especially worthless, right?
He came to the threshing-floor of Ornan the Jebusite. Listen: here is the Jebusite. This is Jerusalem. Remember, the Jebusites were the ones who controlled the city of Jerusalem until David conquered them and took the stronghold of Zion. But there was one left: Ornan the Jebusite.
God had mercy on him. He should have been killed in Joshua’s day. I mean, all the Jebusites should have been wiped out in Joshua’s day. But anyway, God had mercy on this one. Thank God. May He have mercy on all of us.
David went up there. He intended to build an altar. He told Ornan, “I need to build an altar. I would like to use this place to build an altar, to make some offerings to the Lord.”
He said, “I would like to buy it from you.”
Ornan said, “No, no, no, no. Look, here are the cattle; take them and use them for the offerings. Here are my threshing instruments; use them for the wood for the fire. I give you the place. I give it all to you.”
I like those words: “I give it all.”
And David said, “No, no. But I will buy it for the full price; for I will not take that which is thine for the Lord, nor offer a burnt offering without cost.”
So he paid him the full price—six hundred shekels of gold. He got the place, the offerings, and the wood for the fire. He made the offerings.
Then something very significant, very striking happened: fire came down from heaven and consumed the offering.
Now, brothers and sisters, in the Old Testament, I believe there are only four or five times that fire came down from heaven and consumed an offering, and this is one of them. I think the Lord was showing David something particular here by consuming this offering with fire.
At that time, when David saw that the Lord had answered him at the threshing-floor of Ornan the Jebusite, then he sacrificed there. It tells us that David would not go back to Gibeon, where the tabernacle was, to sacrifice there. He was afraid to go back there.
He was afraid of the sword of the Lord. I wondered why he was afraid to go back there. Of course, I think David had some sense in his spirit that that was not the right place to go.
But, my brothers, I think some of you have read—and I have heard of and also read—something that gave me help on this. This was C. H. Mackintosh. He said the reason David was afraid to go back there was that in the tabernacle there was provision made for many things, but there was no provision made in the tabernacle for the judgment of God.
This is what our brother said. I thought this was quite meaningful.
Anyway, David would not go back there. But here, by God’s instruction, he built the altar and made the sacrifice, and God came down there. It was another altar—not the altar that was in the tabernacle—but God told him to build a separate altar, and there God answered by fire.
So then David said:
This is the house of the Lord God, and this is the altar of burnt offering for Israel.
—1 Chronicles 22:1
David had a keen spirit, and he knew: this was now the place. He had found the place for God’s house to be built.
Then we read the verses in 1 Chronicles 22, where he immediately began to give orders for the stones to be cut and wrought and brought together, and for other provisions to be made—the nails, the brass, the cedar trees, and all these things to be brought together to build God’s house.
From this point on, brothers and sisters, things moved pretty fast. It seems like the last obstacle had been overcome, and now David was free to go on with all his might to prepare to build the house of the Lord.
He was free—not only free, but he knew the place. Before this time, he did not know the exact place. He knew it was somewhere in Zion, but now he knew the place.
It is interesting: this very place is Mount Moriah, where Abraham offered his son Isaac.
David was about to prepare for the building of this great house of God. It is clear from this experience of David that this house, brothers and sisters, has a new kind of standing, a new kind of order, compared with the tabernacle.
This house, we can say, has the standing of sovereign mercy and grace.
Man had failed. David had failed. Utterly, on man’s side, there is nothing but failure. But thank God for His sovereign mercy, right?
David offered the burnt offering and peace offering before God. Based on the offering—based on the offering of our Lord Jesus Christ—God can have a house raised up on the basis of His sovereign mercy and grace.
Brothers and sisters, that is the only standing we have to be God’s house, right? It is His mercy on us. It is His mercy. This is grace.
Ornan the Jebusite was a Gentile. Now, what did he have to do with the Lord? He was not under any of the covenants of the Lord with His people. He did not receive any of the promises of the Lord to His people. He was a Jebusite, a Gentile.
But you can see that his heart was so much for the Lord, saying, “I give it all.”
It was God’s sovereign mercy to this Jebusite that he was still alive and that he could be someone with God for His house. Well, it is His sovereign mercy for every one of us, brothers and sisters.
I think in this room this morning, we are mostly all Gentiles. I know there are one or two—maybe a few more—who are not.
Thank God, brothers and sisters, there is room in God’s house for Gentiles. Listen, the Jews are not enough to fill up God’s house. He wants to fill up His house with Gentiles. Is that not good news to us?
During this past age, these twenty centuries, God’s house has been filled mostly with Gentiles. Thank God, He is still open to receive Jews too, if they would like to come. That is fine. Both Jew and Gentile are one in Christ.
But I am so thankful that in God’s heart all the time, He had the Gentiles in His heart and wanted to make room for them in His house—all on the basis of His mercy.
Amen.
Now, I would like to say something that has been mentioned a couple of times already at this conference: how David had longed—not just to prepare for the house, but to build the house. He had the house so much in his heart.
Back years before, he had spoken to Nathan: “Look, I dwell in a house of cedar, and here is the ark in a tent.” He had it in his heart to build the house.
The Word tells us that the Lord said to him, “David, it is good that it was in your heart. But you are not the right one.” We have seen that already. “You are not the right one to do it. You have shed too much blood. You are a man of war. Your son will do it—Solomon. He will build My house. He is a man of rest.”
David was not allowed to do what he had dreamed of during all his life, what he hoped to do, what he aspired to do, what he longed to be able to do: to build the house of God. It was taken away from him.
Brothers and sisters, maybe we have had some longings for the Lord, things we longed to do, and God would not allow us to do them.
You know, many years ago, when I was a young man, I longed to go to India to serve the Lord, to preach the gospel in India. I dreamed of spending forty years in India. I thought, “That would be the rest of my life.” The Lord would not allow me to do that.
But I appreciate David’s heart here very much. Sometimes, when some job or some service is taken away from you and given to someone else, the natural reaction might be, “Okay, let him do it. Let us see what he can do.”
“Let us just see. Okay, Solomon, go ahead.”
No, no, no. David was not such a small person.
He felt, “All right, if I cannot do it, if someone else can do it, I will do my best with all my life to prepare for it, to help.” And he did.
We can see in these chapters—we cannot read them all—but from 1 Chronicles 22 all the way through chapter 29, almost to the end of chapter 29, there are eight chapters. All these chapters, brothers and sisters, speak about David’s preparation for the house.
Oh, what a great preparation. From these eight chapters, we can see how great is the house of God. I would ask you all to read these chapters. We do not have time, of course, to read them all here, but we will read parts of them.
We all need to get a deep impression of how great and how glorious is God’s house.
We will see David prepare many things for this house. Now, I would like to mention just a few aspects in which the temple differs from the tabernacle, and one aspect especially in which the temple is the same as the tabernacle.
I want to draw your attention to some outstanding characteristics that caused the temple to be much more glorious and wonderful than the tabernacle. I appreciate the tabernacle very much, and there is very much instruction and significance there for us today.
First, the temple was made to last. It was made in a solid way with these stones, big stones. It was made to be permanent, not temporary as the tabernacle was.
It was made to stand solidly in one place, not to be mobile and to travel through the wilderness as the tabernacle did. The tabernacle was especially made to be moved. The temple was not made to be moved. It was made solidly and permanently.
Moreover, the temple was much larger than the tabernacle. I will not spend the time to give you all the dimensions, but it was very much larger than the tabernacle.
When you come into the temple, you just feel the spaciousness, the largeness of this dwelling of God. God’s house is large. It is spacious. There is a lot of room in it.
Not only that, but the materials used to build up the temple were in great variety. They were not just acacia wood, gold, silver, brass, fine twined linen, and the coverings. There was much more variety and diversity in all the materials of the temple.
There was still gold. There was still silver. There was still brass and iron. Then there were stones, and there was also cedar—this time, not acacia wood, but cedar trees.
Then you have all kinds of stones. We will read this: all kinds of stones, precious stones, stones to be set, and marble stones in abundance. There was a great variety of materials prepared for God’s house.
David said the house that was to be built for the Lord must be exceeding magnificent, of fame and glory throughout all countries. So David prepared abundantly before his death.
Third, brothers and sisters, the temple, interestingly, is a dwelling not only for God, but also for man. This was not so with the tabernacle.
The tabernacle had a place for God, but it had no place for man to dwell—not even a seat to sit down on, especially no seat on top of the ark, right?
But in God’s house, this answers all of those prayers which you may have wondered how they could be answered. David said, “One thing have I asked of the Lord, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord.”
Now, here was not a Levite. How could he dwell in the house of the Lord? There was no place. When David was living, the house was not built yet. He had some kind of realization—there must have been some kind of revelation—that there would be room for him. There would be a dwelling for him.
He said, “I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.” You can find a number of verses—we read some of them last Wednesday night—which speak about dwelling in the Lord’s house.
Thank God, it is not only a place for our wonderful God; it is a place for us, where we can dwell together.
In 1 Kings 6, you can read the beginning of that chapter. It tells how around the three sides of the temple there were chambers built—three stories of chambers. You could go up from the bottom one to the top one. There were three stories of chambers all the way around the three sides of the temple that could be used.
Perhaps this is what the Lord had in mind in John 14 when He said, “In My Father’s house are many—not many mansions—but many abodes, or many dwelling places. If it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you.”
There are dwellings for man.
Brothers and sisters, one thing especially is just the same in the tabernacle and in the temple: that is the ark.
The ark had not increased in size. It was just the same small ark, which signifies Christ. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. He was great, He is greater, and He always will be great.
Out from that ark in the Holy of Holies in the temple, all the glory actually emanated from there. So the ark had no change in dimensions, for that is the same Christ. Thank God.
The temple, brothers and sisters, is the climax of all the types in the Old Testament. This is the climax.
In the temple, you can see so much signified to us. It is interesting to me that many Christian teachers over the past years have held many meetings to study the tabernacle.
I remember when I was a boy, among the Open Brethren—that was my background—I went to many meetings where they spoke about the tabernacle in detail. They made models of it, very nice models, and diagrams of the tabernacle. I could never forget that. We learned about the tabernacle.
I do not remember anyone ever having a conference on the temple, or having a diagram of the temple. Have you seen that? Why?
Anyway, I believe, brothers and sisters, the temple is the climax of all the types, showing us so much about God’s purpose and glory.
Now let us talk a little bit about David’s preparation. We need to read some more verses. We already read 1 Chronicles 22:5, which said, “David prepared abundantly before his death.” I like this word: he prepared abundantly before his death.
Now read 1 Chronicles 22:14:
Now, behold, in my affliction I have prepared for the house of the Lord a hundred thousand talents of gold, and a million talents of silver; and of brass and iron without weight, for it is in abundance; timber also and stone have I prepared.
—1 Chronicles 22:14
Consider, brothers and sisters, these amounts—these vast amounts of gold and silver—that David prepared for this house: one hundred thousand talents of gold for one house.
Do you know how much gold that is? A talent, I understand, weighed about one hundred pounds. Here are one hundred thousand talents. Now you multiply that by one hundred—do not do it right now.
That equals ten million pounds of gold, or five thousand tons of gold. Listen, this is astronomical, is it not?
At the price of gold in today’s market—which varies from about two hundred fifty to three hundred dollars an ounce—consider the value of this gold. Imagine, brothers and sisters, this is very significant.
When we come into God’s house, we are in the place of vast, infinite, divine riches. Oh, the unsearchable riches of Christ. Amen.
Sometimes I hope we can sense more and more in God’s house how rich our Christ is—how rich He is. We sense not something that the world is after, but something that our heart is after, our spirit is after: eternal riches, divine riches. How wonderful.
And then, not only the gold. If you figure out, by the way, how many U.S. dollars that gold is worth, please let me know. It must be many trillions, way beyond the U.S. budget, I am sure.
Then there was silver: one million talents of silver. This is one million talents of silver. I do not know what value silver is, but consider that added to it. Then brass and iron without weight, for it was in abundance—all these things.
Let us turn to 1 Chronicles 28. We will read verses 11 through 14.
Then David gave to Solomon his son the pattern of the porch of the temple, and of the houses thereof, and of the treasuries thereof, and of the upper rooms thereof, and of the inner chambers thereof, and of the place of the mercy-seat;
And the pattern of all that he had by the Spirit, for the courts of the house of the Lord, and for all the chambers round about, for the treasuries of the house of God, and for the treasuries of the dedicated things;
Also for the courses of the priests and the Levites, and for all the work of the service of the house of the Lord, and for all the vessels of service in the house of the Lord:
Of gold by weight for the vessels of gold, for all vessels of every kind of service; of silver for all the vessels of silver by weight, for all vessels of every kind of service.
—1 Chronicles 28:11-14
And verses 18 and 19:
And for the altar of incense refined gold by weight; and gold for the pattern of the chariot, even the cherubim, that spread out their wings, and covered the ark of the covenant of the Lord.
All this, said David, have I been made to understand in writing from the hand of the Lord, even all the works of this pattern.
—1 Chronicles 28:18-19
Here you hear of further preparation. There was not only the preparation of all the materials. Do not think David just took upon himself the job of preparing all these vast amounts of materials. No, more than that.
What else? He got the pattern for the whole place.
If you just get a pile of material and stack it up on your front yard, you need to have some design to put it together. You get the builder to come, and he wants to know, “Where is the blueprint? Where is the pattern?”
David got that by the Spirit. Here is a spiritual man now, and the Spirit communicated to him the pattern for this great house. He mentions all the things in the house for which he got the pattern: the porch, the treasuries, the upper rooms, the inner chambers, the place of the mercy-seat, and the courts.
He got the pattern for the courses of the priests and the Levites, for all the work of the service. He got the pattern for all these things.
The word pattern is mentioned three times in these verses we read. The pattern is important. Not only did he get it by the Spirit, but if you look at verse 19, he said he got the pattern in writing from the hand of the Lord, even all the works of this pattern.
The pattern was mentioned four times. Anyway, he got it by the Spirit and by the writing, and that is just what we have, right? The Spirit and the Word—the writing—for God’s house. Thank God.
We need the Spirit with the Word, and David had that.
Not only did David prepare materials, but he prepared the personnel for the house—all the personnel.
If you just have materials to build a house, what are you going to do without the personnel? You need the persons, the people, to serve in that house and to take care of the house, right?
In all these chapters, especially chapters 23, 24, 25, and 26, you can read how David prepared all the personnel in detail.
Brother Dana was sharing with us all the details. Some of us like details; some of us do not like details. I think David liked the details. Sorry, David.
But his heart was so large. David’s heart was so big. He cared for the preparation for the house in every channel, not only in the materials.
In the very first verse we read about David preparing the material, his concern was about the nails—not only the big precious things, but the little things to hold it all together, the nails and the couplings.
Thank God. David, I think—I do not know whether he lay awake at night; maybe that was why he did not sleep—did not give sleep or slumber to his eyelids. He was thinking of all the things that could be needed for this house: the material, and this for this, and that for that. How about that?
He was considering and thinking of all the things that had yet to be cared for. One big thing was all the personnel.
Back in chapters 22 and 23, you can read first how he got together with Zadok the priest, the high priest, and considered the service of the family of Aaron. They were the family who had to take care of all the holy things within the house.
David and Zadok cast lots and had them all divided into twenty-four courses to take care of the spiritual side, the holy things of the house.
Then he had all the Levites numbered from thirty years old and upward. Now, this was the right kind of numbering. This was for God, not for his self-importance.
He numbered all the Levites, and the total number of all the Levites was thirty-eight thousand, from thirty years old and upward.
He apportioned them: twenty-four thousand of them should oversee the work on the house; six thousand should be officers and judges over the whole thing; four thousand should be doorkeepers.
Imagine: four thousand ushers, or doorkeepers.
You know, let me just mention at this point: one big failure of the church of God in the past centuries has been a lack of doorkeepers.
We need doorkeepers to keep out the dogs and the cats and all the evil things that should not come into God’s house, right? But I am afraid the doorkeepers have not been around sometimes, and a lot of animals and bugs come in, and all kinds of things roost in God’s house.
You see, David took care of this. But I have not touched the last four thousand yet. The last four thousand were the singers and the praisers.
Four thousand. We have four of them standing up here. David had four thousand of them.
He also got into it with all these people. For all the singers, he had them divided into twenty-four courses—twenty-four courses. Many of them were very skillful in singing, and they could instruct others in singing, which they did.
There were twenty-four courses, and they were arranged so that all the time there would be some singing by the ark in God’s house.
Now, it is very interesting: in this whole earth, we have twenty-four time zones, right? Well, thank God, there should be among God’s people twenty-four courses of singers, so that in every time zone, you may count on it, at all times there will be praise going up to the Lord.
It is our turn now, brothers and sisters. It is our turn. Our course is on; it is serving right now. Praise the Lord.
But God—oh, our Lord—is so worthy. “Ten thousand thanks to Jesus,” we sang this morning. I like that song very much. In the last verse it says, “Ten thousand times ten thousand.” Do you know how much that is? That is a hundred million thanks to Jesus. A hundred million times we will praise Him. Amen.
Twenty-four courses. It tells who had this course, and number thirteen went to these ones; number fifteen went to these; number seventeen. I do not know what number you have here in Richmond. Of course, you have one, and we have to do our duty, right? When you are on, let the praises come out. Amen.
He also divided all the doorkeepers into their parts. Those on the west doors knew who they were; they had to take care of those gates. Those on the east knew who they were. When they were on duty, they had to serve faithfully. Those on the south and those on the north—all the four thousand doorkeepers were arranged.
This is all the personnel for God’s house, brothers and sisters.
I know the brothers and sisters, and I appreciate very much all that the brothers and sisters in Richmond have done to prepare for this conference. Thank God you have the doorkeepers and the singers and many others behind the scenes whom we do not know about.
There are twenty-four thousand overseeing—or twenty-four, anyway—and four thousand; who knows what else? But anyway, we all have to give our thanks to the brothers and sisters here in Richmond.
So many of us enjoy this wonderful conference, but it takes a lot of work. The house of God needs a lot of preparation.
David actually is a type of Christ here, who in His earthly pilgrimage on this earth prepared for God’s house. He gathered the materials. He was going around gathering materials for God’s house—His disciples, those women who served Him. He was bringing them together. They became so useful for His house. They were the right materials for God’s house.
He did a lot in His affliction.
David got the material. He got the personnel. He got the pattern.
We have to read some more verses. Look at 1 Chronicles 29, verses 1 through 5.
And David the king said unto all the assembly, Solomon my son, whom alone God hath chosen, is yet young and tender, and the work is great; for the palace is not for man, but for the Lord God.
Now I have prepared with all my might for the house of my God the gold for the things of gold, and the silver for the things of silver, and the brass for the things of brass, the iron for the things of iron, and wood for the things of wood; onyx stones, and stones to be set, stones for inlaid work, of divers colors, and all manner of precious stones, and marble stones in abundance.
Moreover also, because I have set my affection on the house of my God, seeing that I have a treasure of mine own of gold and silver, I give it unto the house of my God, over and above all that I have prepared for the holy house;
Even three thousand talents of gold, of the gold of Ophir, and seven thousand talents of refined silver, wherewith to overlay the walls of the houses:
Of gold for the things of gold, and of silver for the things of silver, and for all manner of work to be made by the hands of artificers. Who then offereth willingly to consecrate himself this day unto the Lord?
—1 Chronicles 29:1-5
Notice here, brothers and sisters, this house is called a palace. You know, a palace is not for a pauper. A palace is for dwelling, right?
David said, “I have prepared with all my might for the house of my God.” Listen to this: “I have prepared with all my might.”
Then he lists the gold, silver, brass, iron, wood, onyx stones, stones to be set, stones for inlaid work, divers colors, all manner of precious stones, and marble stones in abundance.
Look at verse 3:
Moreover also, because I have set my affection on the house of my God, seeing that I have a treasure of mine own of gold and silver, I give it unto the house of my God, over and above all that I have prepared for the holy house.
—1 Chronicles 29:3
This was his personal treasure. The hundred thousand talents of gold belonged to the kingdom. He had been storing that up from all his wars, from the spoils of battle, and he gave all of that.
But this was over and above all of that. It was his personal treasure that he gave: three thousand talents of gold, of the gold of Ophir. This was the best, highest-quality gold that there was. He gave it all. He said, “I want to give all of that.”
Then there were seven thousand talents of refined silver, wherewith to overlay the walls of the house—gold for the things of gold, silver for the things of silver, and so on.
“Who then offereth willingly to consecrate himself this day unto the Lord?”
I appreciate it. Consider David’s heart and his spirit in all these verses: how much he cared, with all his heart, with all his might, with all his strength, for God’s house.
I think it could be said of him that he loved the Lord with all his heart, with all his soul, with all his mind, and with all his strength.
We have seen that he prepared material, personnel, and pattern. Not only that: he prepared the songs. Are we going to say the hymns or the songs? He prepared that too.
We need that in the house of God. Thank God for all the songs and hymns we have been singing. David prepared that too. He wrote a lot of songs, a lot of hymns. He made the instruments to play them. Great David—he thought of everything.
David really had such a large heart to prepare all these things for God’s house.
Later on in chapter 29, he had such utterance of worship to God, which I consider probably the highest point in the whole Old Testament as far as worship and praise go. At the end of chapter 29, you can consider it. We want to read those verses.
I want to mention now, brothers and sisters, three words in these verses that begin with the letter A—three very precious words.
The first is affliction:
In my affliction I have prepared.
—1 Chronicles 22:14
That is very meaningful. David’s suffering was for the house of God, and our suffering is for the house of God.
By God’s mercy and grace, there could be something gained out of our suffering that would build up God’s house. “In my affliction I prepared.” Psalm 132 says, “Remember for David all his affliction.” It is a big word.
What do you think the second word is? It goes right along with affliction. It is in 1 Chronicles 29:3:
Moreover also, because I have set my affection on the house of my God.
—1 Chronicles 29:3
How about that? “I have set my affection on the house of my God.” He not only had affliction for the house, but he had set his affection on the house of God.
Brothers and sisters, affliction and affection go together for God’s house. If we do not have the affection, our affliction will not benefit God’s house that much.
Affliction and affection should be commensurate with each other. We need the affliction. We need the affection. How about our heart, our affection? Is it set on God’s house? I hope so.
The more we see the glory of His house, the more we will set our affection on it.
But there is one more word that begins with A. This word has been used a good number of times in chapters 22, 28, and 29. Could you guess the third word?
The third word is abundance. Abundance.
This word has been used a number of times. David prepared abundantly before his death. There was abundance of gold, abundance of silver, abundance of marble stones. I did not count how many times, but I noticed that the word abundance is used many times.
Brothers and sisters, out of our affliction and affection for God’s house, there will be abundance for God’s house. The more affliction, the more affection, the more abundance.
Now, we do not like the affliction. “Let us skip over that. Let us just start with affection.” No. No, no, it does not work that way. No, no, no.
We need the sufferings for God’s house. Otherwise, we never come to the threshing-floor. We never get the worthless things divided from the precious, right?
But then we need the affection to grow in us for God’s house.
I hope that out of all our lives there could be abundance for God’s house. That is my desire: there could be an abundant yield, harvest, for God’s house.
Consider David and his preparation for God’s house. What a wonderful picture of the last days of David. This is how he went out. Is that not glorious? Marvelous to go out like that, brother Ed. I would like to go out like that.
God really cares for our ending very much. It is good if we have a good beginning; thank God for that. But God is really concerned: how do you end?
David ended very well.
Recently, a brother in California drew my attention to something written by a Bible teacher, a teacher who had taught many high things, many spiritual things. Something he said was put in print about the end of David’s life. I made a copy of that, and I will just read it to you.
This is how this brother appreciated the end of David’s life:
David not only became old, but was also fading away. To fade away is different from being old, which is common. David’s life had a good beginning, like the bright sun rising, and his life with his career became like the sun shining at noon. However, his indulgence in lust spoiled his career and caused his bright life to fade like the sunset in the evening. In David’s old age, there was nothing bright, excellent, or splendid.
When I saw that, I felt, how wrong. Would you agree with that? I do not think that is right.
Nothing great, nothing excellent, nothing splendid? What? How can you say that and read these chapters? They are full of glory, excellence, brightness. That is how David ended his life.
Now I want to tell a story that some of you who are older can remember—I mean, like Lance and me. Les was not an American, so you may not remember; but I do not know, maybe Frank remembers.
Anyway, in World War II, I was a teenager during those years. I always remember one of the great American heroes in that war: General Douglas MacArthur. Remember, Frank?
Douglas MacArthur was fighting in the Philippines, and the Japanese came in and invaded the Philippines. He was chased into a little island in Manila Bay called Corregidor. There was the last remnant of his forces.
MacArthur had to flee at night by boat, and he got out. He was able to escape, but he made one great statement there. As he was leaving, he said, “I shall return.”
“I shall return.” And he did return. He returned, and he fought. He drove the Japanese out of the Philippines, and in August 1945 he accepted the surrender of the Japanese on the battleship Missouri.
He was a great American hero. He was the commander of all the U.S. forces in the Pacific.
Then he was so much appreciated. He was brought back to this country, and I think they had a big parade for him, as they do. There was a joint session of Congress for General Douglas MacArthur to address.
They gave him a standing ovation. They were so proud and happy of him. Douglas MacArthur gave a speech, and I never forgot one thing he said in that speech. I think Frank can remember, and others may remember.
This is what he said:
Old soldiers never die;
They just fade away.
Did you hear that?
Old soldiers never die. They just fade away.
Now, General MacArthur was an old soldier. He was. David was also an old soldier.
Old soldier—you can say that of David if you could say it of any man. Even more than Douglas MacArthur, David was an old soldier.
Douglas MacArthur said, “They never die.” What did he mean by that? Well, maybe he meant they go on in the memory of those who remember what they did. They last for some time.
Well, that would surely be true of David. We have surely remembered. It is all recorded what he did as an old soldier, so we have a very high sense and remembrance of him.
But I am afraid General Douglas MacArthur spoke truly of himself: he faded away. That is just what happened to him. Twenty years later, he died, was buried, and faded away.
Not so David. David did not fade away. Thank God.
He did not go out like this Bible teacher said, like the sun at sunset. No, no, no, no. David—consider it—went out in a glorious way. Amen.
At the end, David offered willingly. He poured out for the house of God. He poured out everything for God’s house.
God’s house is really a matter of sonship. Sonship.
It was built by Solomon, who was David’s son, signifying that the building up of God’s house is a matter of the sonship of God—growing up into sonship.
In Hebrews 3, we read that Christ is the Son over God’s house, right? It is a matter of sonship. If we do not have sons, we do not have the house.
Look at David and Solomon. Look at the picture we see of David in all these chapters. It is a picture of mature sonship. This is what a son of God looks like: a mature son.
David is really in the sonship, in the true sonship, pouring out for God’s house. This is a mature son. He is one who pours out for God’s interests, for God’s house.
Solomon, his son—it says twice here, David said, “Solomon my son is yet young and tender.” He was his son, all right, but he had not grown up yet. He was still young and tender.
By the time you get into the next book, 2 Chronicles, where Solomon is building the house, I believe you can say he was mature there.
But brothers and sisters, we are all potential sons, but probably most of us are still young and tender. We need to grow for God’s house—not that we can be spiritual only. We need to grow that God’s house may be built.
God’s house has a lot to do with our growth—everything to do with the sonship of God.
David did all he could while he was living to set Solomon on course to grow. He gave him many charges: to seek the Lord with all his heart, to pay attention to all the commandments of the Lord, to take care of them, to be strong and very courageous, not to fear, and to go forward for God’s house.
David did whatever he could to impart his example of sonship into Solomon’s heart. He did a very good job.
I hope that we could do this kind of thing with the new generation coming up. I thank God for all the children and young people right here in this conference. Pray for them all, that they will grow up into the sonship.
Then you have this marvelous praise. I think we are just going to stop without reading these few verses. First Chronicles 29:10.
Wherefore David blessed the Lord before all the assembly; and David said, Blessed be Thou, O Lord, the God of Israel our Father, for ever and ever.
Thine, O Lord, is the greatness, and the power, and the glory, and the victory, and the majesty: for all that is in the heavens and in the earth is Thine; Thine is the kingdom, O Lord, and Thou art exalted as head above all.
Both riches and honor come of Thee, and Thou rulest over all; and in Thy hand is power and might; and in Thy hand it is to make great, and to give strength unto all.
Now therefore, our God, we thank Thee, and praise Thy glorious name.
But who am I, and what is my people, that we should be able to offer so willingly after this sort? for all things come of Thee, and of Thine own have we given Thee.
—1 Chronicles 29:10-14
“Who am I?” This is the second time David says this: “Who am I?”
He had poured out willingly everything. He set an example, and after he did that, all the princes, captains, and rulers poured out willingly. Then all the people, it says, poured out willingly. The word willingly is used six or seven times there.
“For all things come of Thee, and of Thine own have we given Thee.” Father, You are the source of all this. It is our privilege to give it all back to You. Who are we that we have the privilege of doing that? Who am I?
He attributes everything to God. He makes God all in all. He is the Head, exalted above all. He gives everything back to Him. This is David’s heart and his sonship.
Verse 16:
O Lord our God, all this store that we have prepared to build Thee a house for Thy holy name cometh of Thy hand, and is all Thine own.
—1 Chronicles 29:16
And verse 18:
O Lord, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Israel, our fathers, keep this for ever in the imagination of the thoughts of the heart of Thy people, and prepare their heart unto Thee;
And give unto Solomon my son a perfect heart, to keep Thy commandments, Thy testimonies, and Thy statutes, and to do all these things, and to build the palace, for which I have made provision.
—1 Chronicles 29:18-19
Heart is mentioned five times in these verses here. Then David said to all the assembly, “Now bless the Lord your God.” All the assembly blessed the Lord, the God of their fathers, bowed their heads, and worshiped the Lord.
What a climax. I consider this the highest climax in the Old Testament, even higher than Solomon’s prayer of dedication for the temple.
Now, just one last word concerning the pattern, very briefly. Brothers and sisters, what is, broadly speaking, in New Testament terms, the pattern for the house?
Brother David mentioned that so many have sought to get into the letter of the Word and make a pattern, and do it all—the technique, the form, the methods, everything like that—and then you have a New Testament church. Absolutely not. It does not work at all. It never did. That is not God’s intention.
The pattern—listen—the pattern for God’s house is Christ in glory.
The glorified Christ is the pattern for God’s house. He is glorified, and He wants something on earth to match His glory.
The Bible tells us that we, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, even as from the Lord the Spirit. Amen.
So what shall we do, brothers and sisters? Let us behold His glory and be transformed into the same image.
I wrote a little something in my margin here. I cannot remember it so well, so let me just read it to you.
The glorified Christ is the pattern, and there should be something on earth that perfectly corresponds to the glorified Christ in heaven. This is the house of God, His footstool. He will have it. How great.
May the glorified Son of God be ever before us. May we have the spirit of such a One for the sake of the house.
May God give us a heart like David’s to prepare for His house. As His sons, as God’s sons, together with the Firstborn, let us be one with Him for the building up of God’s house.
Father, how we worship You and thank You for what You did in David, and through David, as a type and example to us.
Oh, how we pray this morning that You will do a deep work in all our hearts and cause us to be many grown-up sons to serve in Your house. How we pray that You finish Your work.
We thank You for David finishing the work that You gave him to do. We pray that You finish Your great work in us and build us together for Your habitation.
How we pray for this, that we may dwell with You in the house of the Lord forever. In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.