One Worker Preparing For Another
(No. 2261)
INTENDED FOR READING ON LORD'S-DAY, JUNE 19, 1892.
DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,
AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON THURSDAY EVENING, AUGUST
14, 1890.
"Now behold, in my trouble I have prepared for the House of the LORD an
hundred thousand talents of gold, and a thousand talents of silver; and
of brass andiron without weight: for it is in abundance: timber also
and stone ha ve I prepared; and you may add thereto." 1 Chronicles
22:14.
[This sermon is intended for reading on the first anniversary of the
beloved preacher's birthday since his death. While he was with us, he
always looked for special contributions for the Stockwell Orphanage at
this season. He did not seek birthday presents for himself, but he
desired that all friends who wished to show their love to him would do
so by helping to maintain his fatherless family of 500 children. We
trust that no one will allow this useful institution to suffer because
his voice can no longer plead for it, but that through this sermon each
reader will hear him saying, "Dear Friend, the Orphanage still needs
your loving and generous assistance. You have often helped it by your
gifts in the past and you may add hereto–or if you have not given to
it, others have–and you may add thereto." Contributions will be
gratefully received by the Treasurer, Spurgeon's Orphan Home, Stockwell
Orphanage, Chapman Road, London. Collecting-cards and boxes may be
obtained from the Secretary. The Annual Festival will be held on
Wednesday afternoon and evening, June 22n. All friends are invited to
be present. –Postscript at bottom offirst page of this sermon.]
THE building of the Temple is an admirable type of the building of the
Church of God. I am afraid that there are some present with us at this
time who have never helped to build the spiritual Temple for Christ.
They are not, themselves, living stones. They are no part of God's
spiritual house and they have never helped to bring their cedar, or
iron, or gold to the great Builder of the Church. In fact, there may be
some here who have rather helped to pull it down– some who have
delighted to throw away the stones–and who have tried to hide from the
Divine Builder the precious material which He intends to use in the
sacred edifice. Judge your own hearts and if you cannot say that you
are a living stone–if you have not helped to build up the Church of
Christ–may you be granted Divine Grace to repent of your sin and may
the Grace of God convert you! But if you are workers for the Lord. If
your hearts are right with God, I think that I shall be able to say
some things that will encourage you to work on, even if you should not,
for a time, see any immediate results from your work.
There were many who helped to build the Temple–David gathering the
materials; Solomon, the master mason, by whose name the Temple would
afterwards be called; the princes helping him in the great work;
strangers, foreigners and aliens who dwelt throughout Israel and
Judah–these all took their share and even the Tyrians and Zidonians
had a part in the work! Now we have here many ministers of God and
students, Davids and Solomons, but I pray that many who are strangers,
as yet, may be enlisted in this holy service by our great Lord and
King, and that some, who are farthest off from Christ–Tyrians and
Zidonians who have gone far away from God–may be enabled, by Divine
Grace, to contribute their share to this glorious work of building a
house for the living God, a house not made of gold, silver, stone and
timber, but a spiritual house for the indwelling of the Holy Spirit!
I. In considering our text, let us notice, first, that DAVID HAD
ZEALOUSLY DONE HIS PART although he might not build the Temple. There
are many servants of God whose names are little known, who,
nevertheless, are doing a work that is essential to the building up of
the Church of God. I have known many such who have never lived to
realize
any great success–their names have never been written upon any great
temples that have been built–but, nevertheless, they have worthily
done their part, even as David did.
You see, then, first, that David had gathered the materials. Many a man
collects people together and yet he has not the fashioning of them. He
is the founder of a Christian congregation, but he does not live to see
many conversions. He gets together the raw materials upon which another
shall work. He plows and he sows, but it needs another man to come and
water the seed and, perhaps, another to gather the harvest. Still, the
sower did his work and deserves to be remembered for what he did. David
did his part of the work, in getting together the materials for the
Temple.
Besides which, he fashioned some of the materials. He had the stone cut
from the quarry and many of them shaped to take their places,
by-and-by, in silence in the Temple, when it should be reared without
sound of hammer or axe. So there are teachers and preachers who help to
form the characters of their scholars and hearers by working away upon
their minds and hearts. They will never build up a great Church, but
they are knocking the rough edges off the stones. They are preparing
and fashioning them and, by-and-by, the builder will come and make good
use of them.
David had prepared the way for Solomon's Temple. It was by his fighting
that the time of peace came in which the Temple could be erected.
Though he is called a man of blood, yet it is necessary that the foes
of Israel should be overthrown. There could be no peace till her
adversaries had been crushed and David did that. You do not hear much
about the men who prepare the way for others. Somebody else comes along
and, apparently, does all the work–and his name is widely known and
honored! But God remembers the heralds, the pioneers, the men who
prepare the way, the men who, by casting out devils, routing grievous
errors and working necessary reforms, prepare the way for the triumphal
progress of the Gospel.
Moreover, David found the site for the Temple. He discovered it. He
purchased it and he handed it over to Solomon. We do not always
remember the men who prepare the sites for the Lord's Temples. Luther
is rightly remembered, but there were Reformers before Luther. There
were hundreds of men and women who were burned for Christ, or who
perished in prison, or who were put to cruel deaths for the Gospel.
Luther comes when the occasion has been made for him and when a site
has been cleared for him upon which to build the Temple of God. But God
remembers all those pre-Reformation heroes! It may be your lot, dear
Friend, to clear a site and to make the occasion for others–and you
may die before you see even a cornerstone of your work laid–but it
will be yours when it is finished and God will remember what you have
done!
Further, it was David who received the plans from God. The Lord wrote
upon his heart what He would have done. He told him even to the weight
of the candlesticks and lamps–everything that was to be arranged.
Solomon, wise as he was, did not plan the Temple. He had to borrow the
designs from his father who received them directly from God. Many a man
is far-seeing–he gets the plan of the Gospel into his heart, he sees a
way in which great things can be done–and yet he is scarcely permitted
to put his own hands to the work! Another will come, by-and-by, and
will carry out the plan that the first one received–but we must not
forget the first man who went into the secret place of the Most High
and learned in the place of thunder what God would have His people do!
David did one thing more before he died–he gave a solemn charge to
others. He charged Solomon, the princes and all the people to carry out
the work of building the Temple. I revere the man who, in his old age,
when there is weight in every syllable that he utters, concludes his
life by urging others to carry on the work of Christ! It is something
to gather about your last bed young men who have years of usefulness
before them and to lay upon their consciousness and their heart the
duty of preaching Christ Crucified–and winning the souls of men for
the Lord.
So you see that David had done his part toward the building of the
Temple. I should like to ask every Believer here, Have you done your
part? You are a child of God. God has loved you and chosen you. You
have been redeemed with precious blood. You know better than to think
of working in order to save yourself. You are saved–but have you
diligently done all that you can for your Lord and Master? It was well
said, in the Prayer Meeting before this service, that there are several
thousand members of this Church who could not preach–and there are
some who do preach of whom the same thing might be said, for it is poor
preaching, after all! And our Brother said in prayer, "Lord, help us
who cannot preach to pray for the man who does!" Have you, dear Friend,
who cannot preach, made a point of praying for the pastor of the Church
to which you belong? It is a great sin on the part of Church members if
they do not daily sustain their pastor by their prayers!
Then there is much else that you can do for Christ in your family, in
your business, and in the neighborhood where you live. Could you go to
bed tonight and close your eyes for the last time, feeling, "I have
finished the work which God gave me to do. I have done all that I could
for the winning of souls"? I am afraid that I address some who have a
talent wrapped in a napkin hidden away in the earth. My dear man, go
home and dig it up before it gets altogether covered with rust, to bear
witness against you! Take it up and put it out to heavenly interest,
that your Lord may have what He is entitled to receive. O Christian men
and women, there must be very much unused energy in the Church of God!
We have a great dynamo that is never used! Oh, that each one would do
his own part, even as David did his!
We shall soon be gone–our day lasts not very long. "The night comes
when no man can work." Shall it be said of you, or of me, that we
wasted our daylight and then, when the evening shadows came, we were
uneasy and unhappy and, though saved by Divine Grace, we died with sad
expressions of regret for wasted opportunities? It is not very long ago
that I sat by the bedside of one who was wealthy–I might say very
wealthy. I prayed with him. I had hoped to have found him rejoicing in
the Lord, for I knew that he was a child of God, but he was a child of
God with a little malformation about the fingers. He could never open
his hand as he ought to have done. As I sat by his side, he said, "Pray
God, with all your might that I may live three months, that I may have
the opportunity of using my wealth in the cause of Christ." He did not
live much more than three hours after he said that. Oh, that he had
woke up a little sooner to do for the Master's Church and cause what he
ought to have done! Then he would not have had that regret to trouble
him in his last hours. He knew the value of the precious blood and he
was resting in it–and I had great joy in knowing that all his hope and
all his trust were in his Lord–and he was saved–but it was with a
great deal of regret and trembling. I would spare any of you who have
wealth such trouble on your dying bed.
If there is a young man here who has the ability to preach the Gospel,
or to be doing something for Christ, but he is doing nothing, I am sure
that it will be a pain to him one of these days. When conscience is
thoroughly awakened and his heart is getting nearer to God than it has
been, he will bitterly regret that he did not avail himself of every
occasion to talk of Christ and seek to bring souls to Him. I should
like these practical thoughts to go round these galleries and through
this area, till some men and women shall say, "We have not done our
part, as David did. But, by God's Grace, we will do so and He shall
have all the praise."
That is my first head, then–David had zealously done his part.
II. But, secondly, there is a remarkable fact in the text, DAVID HAD
DONE HIS PART IN TROUBLE. Read it–
"Now, behold, in my trouble I have prepared for the House of the Lord
an hundred thousand talents of gold" and so on. In the margin of your
Bibles you will find the words, "in my poverty." It is strange that
David should talk about poverty when his gifts amounted to many
millions of pounds!
David thought little of what he had prepared. He calls it poverty, I
think, because it is the way of the saints to count anything that they
do for God to be very little. The most generous men in the world think
the least of what they give to God's cause. David, with his millions
that he gives, says, "In my poverty I have prepared for the House of
the Lord." As he looked at the gold and silver, he said to himself,
"What is all this to God?" And the brass and the iron that could not be
reckoned, it was so much and so costly–he thought it was all nothing
to Jehovah who fills Heaven and earth, whose grandeur and Glory are
altogether unspeakable! If you have done the most that you can for God,
you will sit down and weep that you cannot do 10 times as much! You
that do little for the Lord will be like a hen with one chick–you will
think a great deal of it. But if you have a great number of works and
you are doing much for Christ, you will wish that you could do a
hundred times as much. Your song will be–
"Oh, for a thousand tongues to sing My great Redeemer'spraise!"
Oh, to be multiplied a thousand-fold, that we might, anywhere and
everywhere, serve Jesus with heart, mind, soul and strength! So, David
here considers that what he did was very little.
Yet, it was proof of his sincerity–that he should be saving all this
wealth and preparing for the House of his God in the time of trouble,
was a proof of great sincerity. Some Christians need to have all
sunshiny weather and the birds must sing all day and all night to
please them. If they receive a rebuke or somebody seems a little cold
to them, they will do no more. I have seem many who called themselves
Christians, who were like a silly child at play, who says, when
something
offends him, "I won't play anymore." They run away at the first rough
word that they hear! But David, in the day of his trouble, when his
heart was ready to break, still went on with his great work of
providing for the House of God.
Some who have attended this House of Prayer have been absent, and when
we have enquired the reason, they have said that they had become so
poor that they did not like to come. Oh, dear Friends, we would like to
see you, however poor you are! Why, if you are in trouble, you should
come all the more, for where could you go to find comfort better than
to the House of God? Never, I pray you, stay away on account of
poverty! David said that he had prepared for the House of his God in
the time of his trouble–and that proved his sincerity. One said to me,
"Ever since I have been a Christian, everything has seemed to go wrong
with me." Suppose that everything should be taken away from you–
should you not be grateful that you have an eternal treasure in Heaven
and that these losses, which might have broken your heart if you had
not known the Savior, are now sent in heavenly discipline to you and
are working for your good? It shows that a man is right with God when
he can walk with Christ in the mire and in the slough! God does not
want you to wear silver slippers and to walk on a well-mown,
well-rolled grassy lawn all the way to Heaven.
David prepared for the House of the Lord in his trouble and I have no
doubt that it was a salve to his sorrow. To have something to do for
Jesus and to go right on with it is one of the best ways to get over a
bereavement, or any other mental depression! If you can pursue some
great objective, you will not feel that you are living for nothing. You
will not sit down in despair, for, whatever your trouble may be, you
will still have this to live for, "I want to help in building the
Church of God, and I will do my part in it whatever happens to me. Come
poverty or wealth, come sickness or health, come life or death–as long
as there is breath in my body–I will go on with the work that God has
given me to do." Do I speak to any who are in great trouble? If you are
a Christian, the best advice that I can give you is this–get to work
for Christ and you will forget your trouble. If you are not a
Christian, I advise you to trust the Savior at once, for He is the only
solace for spiritual sorrow.
Again, it was an incentive to service when David, in his trouble,
prepared for the House of the Lord. There were many things in trouble
that would tend to dampen his ardor and make him feel as if he could
not hold on any longer. But he said to himself, "I must go on with this
work for God. His Temple must be 'exceedingly magnificent,' and my son,
Solomon, must build it, so I must go on gathering the materials." So he
just roused himself afresh and went on with his work with new
earnestness whenever his trouble would otherwise have depressed him.
It must also have given an elevation to David's whole life. To have a
noble purpose and to pursue that purpose with all your might prevents
your being like "dumb driven cattle," lifts you out of the mist and fog
of the valley and sets your feet upon the hilltop where you can commune
with God. I would suggest to our younger friends that they should begin
their Christian life with a high purpose and that they should never
forget that purpose. And if trouble should come, they should say, "Let
it come; my face is set like a flint to do this work to which my Lord
has called me, and I will pursue it with all my might." It may seem as
if there were no spiritual help in such advice as this, but, believe
me, there is. If God shall give you Grace to go on with your lifework,
He will thereby give you Grace to overcome your life trouble.
You should be like your Master–ask not to have a smooth path and great
success. Remember what a life of sorrow He lived. He was grief's close
acquaintance. Yet although He saw but a small Church rising before His
bodily eyes, He knew that He was doing the work that God had given Him
to do and He went on with it through agony and bloody sweat, through
shame and spitting. He was not more in earnest when He rode in state
through the streets of Jerusalem than He was when he hung on the Cross
of Calvary! He was resolved to do His work and, in trouble, He did it,
and He amassed treasure beyond all conception for the building of His
Church. Riches of Grace and wonders of Glory He gathered together by
His suffering and His death. If you would be like your Lord, you must
be able to say with David, "Behold, in my trouble, I have prepared for
the House of the Lord." God give His troubled ones to enter into
fellowship with the Lord Jesus Christ in this respect!
III. I am glad that I have come to my third point, for my strength
well-near fails me. What I have to say here is this–DAVID'S WORK FITS
ON TO THE WORK OF ANOTHER. That should be a great joy to some of you
who do not see much coming of what you are doing. Your work is going to
fit on to somebody else's work!
This is the order of God's Providence in His Church. It does not happen
that He gives a whole piece of work to one man, but He seems to say to
him, "You go and do so much; then I will send somebody else to do the
rest." How this ought to cheer some of you–the thought that your work
may be no failure though, in itself, it may seem to be so–
because it fits on to the work of somebody else who is coming after you
and so it will be very far from a failure! You have sometimes seen a
man take a contract to put in the foundations of a house and to carry
it up to a certain height. He has done that. But he will not be the
builder of that house–that will be the work of the next contractor who
carries up the walls, puts on the roof, and so forth. Yes, but he who
did the foundation work did a great deal, and he is as much the builder
of the house as the man who carries up the walls! So, if you go to a
country town or village and you preach the Gospel to a few poor folk,
you may never have seemed very successful, but you have been preparing
the way for somebody else who is coming after you.
I am told that my venerable predecessor, Dr. Rippon, used to often, in
his pulpit, pray for somebody of whom he knew nothing–who would follow
him in the ministry of the Church and greatly increase it. He seemed to
have in his mind's eye some young man, who, in later years, would
greatly enlarge the number of the flock–and he often prayed for him.
He died and passed away to Heaven about the time that I was born. Older
members of the Church have told me that they have read the answer to
Dr. Rippon's prayers in the blessing that has been given to us these
many years. If you keep your eyes open, you will see the same thing
happen! You will notice how one shall do his work which shall be
necessary to some larger work that somebody else will do after him!
This is God's way, so that the second man, the Solomon coming after
David, may do his work all the better because of what his father has
done before him.
Solomon had not to spend years in collecting the materials for the
Temple–he might not have got through the building if he had that task.
His good old father had done all that for him–all that he had to do
was to spend the money that David had gathered, work up the gold,
silver, brass and iron, bring in the big stones and put them in their
places, and build the House for God! I daresay that Solomon often
thought gratefully of his father, David, and what he had done! And you
and I, if God blesses us, ought always to think with thanksgiving of
the Davids who went before us. If you have success in your class, my
Sisters, remember that there was an excellent Christian woman who had
the class before you. You come, young man, into the Sunday school, and
you think that you must be somebody very great because you have had
several conversions in your class. How about the Brother who had given
up the class through ill-health? You took his place–who knows which of
you will have the honor at the Last Great Day?
I was about to say, Who cares? For we do not live for honor, we live to
serve God! And if I can serve God best by digging out the cellar and
you can serve God best by finishing out that ornamental bay window, my
Brother, you go on with your bay window and I will go on with my
cellar, for what does it matter what we do so long as the house is
built and God is glorified? It is the way of God in Providence to set
one man to do part of a work which pieces on to that of another man!
But this is a terrible blow at self. Self says, "I like to begin
something on my own and I like to carry it out. I do not want any
interference from other people." A friend proposed, the other day, to
give you a little help in your service. You looked at him as if he had
been a thief! You do not need any help. You are quite up to the
mark–you are like a wagon and four horses–and a dog under the wagon
as well! There is nothing about you that is needed–you need no help
from anybody–you can do all things almost without the help of God! I
am very sorry for you if that is your opinion. If you ever get into
God's service, He may say to you, "You shall never begin anything, but
shall always come in as the second man." Or, "You shall never finish
anything. You shall always be getting ready for somebody else." It is
well to have an ambition not to build upon another man's foundation,
but do not carry that idea too far! If there is a good foundation laid
by another man and you can finish the structure, be thankful that he
has done his part and rejoice that you are permitted to carry on his
work. It is God's way of striking a blow at your personal pride by
allowing one man's work to fit on to another's.
I believe that it is good for the work to have a change of workers. I
am glad that David did not live any longer, for he could not have built
the Temple. David must die. He has had a good time of service. He has
gathered all the materials for the Temple. Solomon comes, with young
blood and youthful vigor, and carries on the work. Sometimes the best
thing that some of us old folks can do is to go home and go to
Heaven–and let some younger man come and do our work. I know that
there are a great many lamentations about the death of Dr. So-and-So,
and Mr. So-and- So, but why? Do you not think that, after all, God can
find as good men as those that He has already found? He made those good
men and He is not short of power–He can make others just as good as
they have been!
I was present at a funeral where I heard a prayer that rather shocked
me. Some Brother had said that God could raise up another minister
equal to the one that was in the coffin. But prayer was offered by
another man who said that this preacher had been eyes to his blindness,
feet to his lameness and I do not know what beside. And then he said,
"Your poor unworthy dust does not think that You ever can or will raise
up another man like him." So he had not an Omnipotent God! But you and
I have–and with an Omnipotent God, it is for the good of the work that
David should go to his rest and that Solomon should come in and carry
on the work!
Certainly, this creates unity in the Church of God. If we all had a
work of our own and were shut up to do it, we should not know one
another. But now I cannot do my work without your help, my dear
Friends, and, in some respects, you cannot do your work without my
help. We are members, one of another, and one helps the other. I hope
that I shall never have to do without you. God bless you for all your
efficient help! In many Christian works you will have to do without me,
one of these days, but that will not matter. There will be somebody who
will carry on the work of the Lord and, so long as the work goes on,
what does it matter who does it? God buries the workman, but Satan,
himself, cannot bury the work! The work is everlasting, though the
workmen die. We pass away, as star by star grows dim, but the Eternal
Light is never fading. God shall have the victory! His Son shall come
in His Glory! His Spirit shall be poured out among the people and
though it is neither this man, nor that, nor the other, God will find
the man to the world's end who will carry on His cause and give Him the
Glory!
This leaves a place for those who come after. One thing David said to
Solomon I like very much, "You may add thereto." I have quoted that,
sometimes. When the collection has been rather small, I have said to
each of our friends who were counting the money, "You may add thereto."
It is not at all a bad text for a collection sermon, but it may also be
used in many other ways!
Here are certain preachers of the Gospel. Cannot I put my hand on some
young man's shoulder and say to him, "You may add thereto. You have a
good voice–you have an active brain–begin to speak for God. There are
numbers of godly men in the Gospel ministry! If you are called of God,
you may add thereto." We have a good Sunday school, though some of you
have never seen it. We have a number of loving and earnest
teachers–"you may add thereto." Go and teach likewise–or engage in
some other work for which the Lord has qualified you.
I wonder whether there is an unconverted man here this evening, or an
unconverted woman whom God has ordained to bless, and to whom He will
speak tonight–some stranger whom He will bring in by His almighty
Grace, some servant of the devil who shall, tonight, be made a servant
of Christ? My Master has a large number of servants–"you may add
thereto." If you will yield yourself to Christ, you may come and help
God's people. We need recruits! We are always needing them. May God
lead some who have been on the side of sin and self to come out and
say, "Set my name down among God's people! By the Grace of God I am
going to be on Christ's side and help to build His Temple." Come along,
my Brother. Come along, my Sister. We are glad for your help! The work
is not yet all done–you are not too late to fight the Lord's battles,
nor to win the crown of the victors! The Lord has a large army of the
Soldiers of the Cross, but, "you may add thereto." God save you! Christ
bless you! The Spirit inspire you! May it be so with very many, for
Christ's sake! Amen.
EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON 1 CHRONICLES21:25-30; 22.
David was commanded to go to Ornan, or Araunah, the Jebusite, to raise
an altar unto the Lord on his threshing floor. There had been a
terrible plague in Jerusalem in consequence of David's great sin in
numbering the people. They were falling by the thousands by the sword
of the Angel of Vengeance. David went up to the threshing floor of
Ornan on Mount Moriah. Ornan was willing to give it to him, but he
determined to buy it. We read in the 25th verse–
Verses 25-28. So David gave to Ornan for the place six hundred shekels
of gold by weight. 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. And the LORD commanded the angel; and he put up his sword
again into the sheath thereof. At that time when David saw that the
LORD had answered him in the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite,
then he sacrificed there. There was the place for the Temple–where the
angel sheathed his sword! Christ Jesus, in His great Atonement, is the
Cornerstone of the Temple where Divine Justice sheathes its sword.
There let the House of God
be built! Every true Church of God is founded on the glorious doctrine
of the atoning Sacrifice. It was a threshing floor, too, and God has
built His Church on a threshing floor. Depend upon it, the flail will
always be going in every true Church to fetch out the wheat from the
chaff. We must have tribulation if we are in the Church of God. The
threshing floor will always be needed until we are taken up to the
heavenly garner above.
29, 30-22:1. For the tabernacle of the LORD, which Moses made in the
wilderness, and the altar of the burnt offering, were at the season in
the high places of Gibeon. But David could not go before it to enquire
of God; for he was afraid because of the sword of the Angel of the
LORD. Then David said, This is the House of the LORD God, and this is
the altar of the burnt offering for Israel. Now he knew where the
Temple was to be built and, of a certainty, he had discovered that
long-predestined site of which God had said, "Here will I dwell." This
was the very hill whereon Abraham offered up his son Isaac–a hill,
therefore, most sacred by Covenant to the living God! He delighted to
remember the believing obedience of His servant, Abraham, and there He
would have His Temple built.
2. And David commanded to gather together the strangers that were in
the land of Israel; and he set masons to hew worked stones to build the
House of God. Observe, here, a very gracious eye to us who are
Gentiles. The Temple was built on the threshing floor of a
Jebusite–Ornan was not of the seed of Israel–but one of the accursed
Jebusites! It was his land that must be bought for the Temple and now
David would employ the strangers who lived in the midst of Israel, but
were not of the chosen race, to quarry the stones for the House of God.
There was a place for Gentiles in the heart of God and they had a share
in the building of His Temple!
3, 4. And David prepared iron in abundance for the nails for the doors
of the gates, and for the joinings; and brass in abundance without
weight; also cedar trees in abundance: for the Zidonians and they of
Tyre brought much cedar wood to David. Here are the Gentiles,
again–the Zidonians and the men of Tyre–those who went down to the
sea in ships, who had no part nor lot with Israel. These were to bring
the cedar wood to David. What an opening of doors of hope there was for
poor castaway Gentiles in that fact!
5. And David said, Solomon my son is young and tender, and the House
that is to be built for the LORD must be exceedingly magnificent,
offame and of glory throughout all countries: I will therefore now make
preparation for it. This was beautiful and thoughtful on David's part.
It might be too great a strain upon the young man to collect the
materials for the Temple as well as to build it. Therefore David will
take his part and prepare the materials for the House of the Lord. If
we cannot do one thing, let us do another! But, somehow, let us help in
the building of the Church of God. The Church today seems but a poor
thing, but it is to be "exceedingly magnificent." The glory of the
world is to be the Church of God and the Glory of the Church of God is
the Christ of God! Let us do as much as we can to build a spiritual
house for our Lord's indwelling.
5-7. So David prepared abundantly before his death. Then he called for
Solomon his son, and charged him to build an house for the LORD God of
Israel. And David said to Solomon, My son, as for me, it was in my mind
to build an house unto the name of the LORD my God. And it was well
that it was in his mind. God often takes the will for the deed. If you
have a large-hearted purpose in your mind, cherish it and do your best
to carry it out. But if for some reason you should never be permitted
to carry out your own idea, it shall be equally acceptable to God, for
it was in your heart.
8. But the Word of the LORD came to me, saying, You have shed blood
abundantly, and have made great wars: you shall not build an house unto
My name, because you have shed much blood upon the earth in My sight.
In very much of that fighting David had been faultless, for he fought
the battles of the people of God. Still, there are some things that men
are called to do for which they are not to be condemned–but they
disqualify them for higher work. It was so in David's case. He had been
a soldier and he might help to build the Temple by collecting the
materials for it, but he must not build it.
9. Behold, a son shall be born to you, who shall be a man of rest.
God's Church is to be a place of rest. God's Temple was built by "a man
of rest."
9. And I will give him rest from all his enemies round about: for his
name shall be Solomon, and I will give peace and quietness unto Israel
in his days. Then the House of the Lord would be built and no stain of
blood would be upon it. The only blood therein should be that of holy
sacrifices, symbolical of the great Sacrifice of Christ.
10, 11. He shall build an house for My name; and he shall be My son,
and I will be his Father; and I will establish the throne of his
kingdom over Israel forever. Now, my son, the LORD be with you; and
prosper you, and build the House of the
LORD your God, as He has said of you. May such a blessing come upon
every young man here! May the Lord be with you, my sons! May the Lord
prosper you and may He make you a builder of His House in years to
come!
12. Only the LORD give you wisdom and understanding and give you charge
concerning Israel, that you may keep the Law of the LORD your God. How
much wisdom will be needed by the young Brothers present who hope to be
builders of the House of God? When the Lord says to you, "Ask what I
shall give you," ask for Divine wisdom, ask to be taught of Him, and
ask that you may have Grace to do His will in all things.
13. Then shall you prosper, if you take heed to fulfill the statutes
and judgments which the LORD charged Moses and concerning Israel: be
strong and of good courage; dread not, nor be dismayed. It is a great
thing for a Christian to keep his courage up–and especially for a
builder of the Church of God to be always brave–and with a stout heart
to do God's will, come what may.
14. Now, behold, in my trouble I have prepared for the House of the
LORD an hundred thousand talents of gold, and a thousand thousand
talents of silver; and of brass and iron without weight; for it is in
abundance: timber also and stone have I prepared; and you may add
thereto. We are unable to tell exactly the amount of precious metal
prepared by David. We have to take into account the value of gold and
silver in his day–it was probably not so great as it is now. We know
this much–it was an enormous sum which David had gathered for the
building of the House of God.
15. Moreover there are workmen with you in abundance. We must have the
workmen! They are more precious than the gold! They cannot be put down
at any sum of silver–"there are workmen with you in abundance."
15. Hewers and workers of stone and timber, and all manner of cunning
men for every manner of work. God will find for His Church enough men
and the right sort of men, as long as He has a Church to be built. But
He would have us pray Him to send forth laborers. We forget that prayer
and, therefore, we have to lament that there are so few faithful
servants of God. Cry to the Lord about the lack of laborers–He can
soon supply as many as are needed!
16. Of the gold, the silver, and the brass, and the iron, there is no
number. Arise therefore, and be doing, and the LORD be with you. A very
nice text for stirring up idle Church members who are well content with
being spiritually fed, but who are doing nothing for the Lord–"Arise
therefore, and be doing, and the LORD be with you!"
17. 18. David also commanded all the princes of Israel to help Solomon
his son, saying, Is not the LORD your God with you? What a good reason
for working! What an admirable reason for giving! What an excellent
reason for helping with the work! "Is not the LORD your God with you?"
18. And has He not given you rest on every side? If He gives you rest,
you are to take no rest, but to get to His work. He is the best workman
for God who enjoys perfect rest. It is always a pity to go out to
preach or teach unless you have perfect rest towards God. When your own
heart is quiet, and your spirit is still, then you can work for God
with good hope of success.
18. For He has given the inhabitants of the land into my hand; and the
land is subdued before the LORD, and before His people. The fighting is
over–now go ahead with your building!
19. Now set your heart and your soul to seek the LORD your God. Do not
go to build a House for God and think that is all that is required. You
need spiritual communion with God and you will not do even the common
work of sawing and planing and building aright unless you seek God and
are in fellowship with Him!
19. Arise therefore, and build you the sanctuary of the LORD God, to
bring the Ark of the Covenant of the LORD, and the holy vessels of God,
into the House that is to be built to the name of the LORD. May God
teach us some lessons by this reading! Amen.