2 Samuel 24:18-25

2 Samuel 24. I’ll start with verse 15 and read to the end of the chapter, but our focus is on verses 18 to 25. So the Lord sent a pestilence upon Israel from the morning, even to the time appointed, and there died of the people from Dan, even to Beersheba, 70,000 men. When the angel stretched out his hand upon Jerusalem to destroy it, the Lord repented him of the evil, said to the angel that destroyed the people, it’s enough, stay now thine hand. And the angel of the Lord was by the threshing place of Arana, the Jebusy. David spake unto the Lord when he saw the angel that smote the people and said, well, I have sinned and I have done wickedly. But these sheep, what have they done? Let thine hand, I pray thee be against me and against my father’s house. And Gad came that day to David, and said unto him, go up, rear an altar unto the Lord, in the threshing floor of Arana, the Jebusite. And David, according to the saying of Gad, went up, as the Lord commanded. And Arana looked and saw the king and his servants coming on toward him, him. And Arana went out and bowed himself before the Lord on his face upon the ground. And Arana said, wherefore is my Lord the king come to his servant? David said, to buy the threshing floor of thee, to build an altar under the Lord, that the plague may be stayed from the people. And Arana said unto David, let my Lord the king take and offer up what seemeth good unto him. him, behold, here be oxen for burnt sacrifice and threshing instruments and other instruments of the oxen for wood. All these things did Arana as a king, I give unto the king. And Arana said unto the king, the Lord thy God, accept thee. And the king said unto Arana, nay, but I will surely buy it of thee at a price. Neither were I offer burnt offerings. unto the Lord, my God, of that which doth cost me nothing. So the Lord bought the threshing floor and the oxen for 50 shekels of silver. David built there an altar under the Lord and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. So the Lord was entreated for the land, and the plague was stayed. God blessed to us His sacred and holy word this evening. The Paris edition of the New York Herald once published a letter of inquiry from a reader. The reader wanted to know the difference between centigrade and Fahrenheit thermometers. Well, through some carelessness on the editor’s part, it appeared again on the same page the very next day. So infuriated was the the paper’s owner, James Gordon Bennett, that he ordered it to be printed in every addition of the paper as long as he lived. He wished to punish his staff for their mistakes, they would never forget it. So it was published 6,700 times until Bennett’s death. There was no forgiveness. There was no remedy. There was nothing to appease the paper’s owner’s wrath. And so his staff had made a foolish error and it was kept before their eyes year after year. They would never forget it. David’s sin of numbering the people and checking into the military might that he could muster from his nation, as well as the sinfulness of the people that we read about in verse one of this chapter, their rebelliousness, they’re backing a king of not of God. choosing and so forth resulted in God’s judgment upon Israel. God is determined to punish sin. As we said in a previous study, God does not punish sin reluctantly. He does so deliberately and with purpose. Pestilence, we said, is one of the four common judgments that God meets out, according to Ezekiel. Pestilance, is in God’s arsenal along with the sword, wild beast, and famine. And so God’s death angel is busy striking down the Israelites. However, as we read through this section of scripture, we see verses 16 and 17, we see that God is willing to show mercy in the midst of judgment. God remembers his covenant promises. He accepts. David’s intercession on behalf of Israel. And our text teaches here the inseparable connection between sacrifice and forgiveness. And there are a number, I think, of good lessons that can be learned for the Christian today from this text of scripture. I’ll begin tonight by saying this, you cannot be reconciled to God without an atonement. for sin. You find God demands sacrifice. In verses 18 and 19, we read Gad the prophet telling David to rear an altar to the Lord. And in verse 25, he builds the altar and he offers the burnt offerings and peace offerings upon it. And then we read that the Lord was entreated for the land and the plague. Let’s state. Sacrifice and forgiveness are so interwoven in the biblical record that by now we certainly should be fully aware of this truth. The scripture says without the shedding of blood, there is no remission of sin. It’s always been true. This has been true since the fall of Adam at the very beginning and God providing the animal skins for covering, setting the pattern from the very beginning of scripture. God’s acceptance of sacrifice seals the reality of his forgiveness and healing mercy. Now, you’ll notice that the erecting of this altar was of God’s determination. It was of God’s design. It wasn’t David’s idea. God always takes the initiative when it comes to salvation. God is the provider of the right. remedy for man’s sin. And he tells you the way to be reconciled to him. No sooner had David sought the Lord before God’s answer comes and provides a solution to the judgment that is falling upon the people. Now, man needs to learn to seek God’s remedy when it comes to sin. And that remedy is always to be found in Scripture. We should not devise one of our own making, but rely upon what God has told us in His Word. And you see here David humbly complies with God’s command. There’s no questioning of what God said here, no debate about it. Verse 19, he immediately sets out to do exactly what God says. David’s offering is accepted in divine. forgiveness is provided. In First Chronicles, a parallel passage, chapter 21, verse 26, we read the Lord answered him from heaven by far upon the altar burnt offering. Such a response would indicate this sacrifice was received by God in heaven and accepted by the Lord. Note well David’s faith in God’s forgiveness, because not only does he offer the burnt sacrifices here, which had to do with sin, but we read also about peace offerings being offered, which indicates fellowship or communion with God. So he sees that the sin has been forgiven, that things have been reconciled with God. And so acceptance with God is portrayed by this. We read that the Lord was entreated for the land. The plague stops. The angel puts his sword back up in the sheath. And things come. Holt. In the days of the pioneers, when men saw a vast prairie fire approaching, what would they do? Not even the fastest horses could outrun the prairie fires. So what they did was they took a match and they burned the grass all around their homes. And they would take their stand in the burnout area. as the threatening prairie fire approached. As the whirl or the flames approached, they wouldn’t be afraid because they were in a safe area. Even as this ocean of fire surged around them, there was no fear or panic because the backfire had already burned the land up around them. And the land couldn’t be burnt twice. And so the fire would sweep around them and go on. So it is with God’s fiery wrath. Fire, burning up the sacrifices on this new altar, meant that God’s wrath was expended upon a substitute, and therefore the people of God are spared. The wrath of God comes, and it sweeps men and women into hellfire for all eternity. And there’s only one spot. that is safe. Nearly 2,000 years ago, God’s wrath was poured out on Mount Calvary upon the substitute, the Lamb of God, the Lord Jesus Christ. And my friends, only in Christ are we spared where God’s wrath has already fallen. And therefore, he is the substitute for us. He delivers us. He delivers us. from the wrath to come. He provides safety for us, not only in this life, but for all eternity. So you find God demands sacrifice. Notice something else here. You find the ground of Arana was the historic place of a previous sacrifice. Verse 18 talks about the threshing floor of Arana being chosen by the Lord for the erection of this altar. It was not to be a scene of judgment, but a place of mercy. A place of grace and forgiveness and peace. And where was this threshing floor located? Well, it was located on Mount Moriah. As 2nd Chronicles 3-1 indicates, this is where Solomon built the temple. This is where the temple was the place here was located for us right now at this particular time. Mariah was the very place you’ll recall in the book of Genesis where Jehovah appeared to Abraham as Jehovah Jira, the Lord will provide. And true to his covenant name, the Lord again appears. And this time he provides for David and the people of God. The Mount Moriah was the place of God’s sovereign grace. You’ll recall that this was the mountain to which Abraham went to sacrifice his son, Isaac, his only son. And when he went there, remember, he had the wood and he had the fire. His son, Isaac, want to know where’s the sacrifice? Not realizing it he was going to be the sacrifice at the time. But the Lord spared Abraham and stopped him and provided a substitute ram to die in Isaac’s place as you remember the story. And Abraham called the name of that place Jehovah Jira as it is said to this day, in the mountain of the Lord it shall be seen or it shall be provided. There is a hint here in the book of Genesis. There something else is coming in the future upon Mount Moriah. It harkens back. to the words of Abraham in Genesis 22.8. My son, God will provide for himself a lamb for a burnt offering. And so here’s the place where David now offers up the sacrifice and it will be the place where the temple is built. As we read in 1, 1st Chronicles 22.1, the Lord said, or David said, this is the house of the Lord God. And this is the altar of burnt offering for Israel. And now it was revealed to David where the chosen site would be. Now, I tell you all this, because Mount Moriah is also important to us. It is the mountain also upon which the Lord Jesus Christ would be sacrificed. And therefore, it will stand forever as a place of God’s provision and sovereign grace to his people. So you find the ground of Arana here was the historic place of a previous sacrifice and it pictures for us God’s provision not only to Abraham and his covenant mercy to him but also now to the people and eventually to all the people of God through Jesus Christ the third thought I have for you tonight is this you find Gentiles delivered from divine wrath on the basis of sacrifice. Arana the Jebusite we read about in verse 18, do we not? Now David here because he’s commanded by God and he has been repentant, he confidently draws near. Arana and others may have been hiding, but David here knows about sovereign grace and he boldly approaches. And Arana like like many would certainly be fearful. But he joins with David here when David reveals the remedy by which mercy and forgiveness could be found. And so he’s with David at this point. News of God’s provision has Arana standing confidently with David, expecting that there will be mercy, that there will be forgiveness. Now Arana was a Gentile. There’s a Jevianna. sight, he was among the cursed Canaanites as far as his background was concerned. But he enjoys the benefit of this sacrifice, this God-appointed altar that’s made, and this too has something that indicates I think an important point for us. Saul points to the fact that the Gentiles, as well the Jews will be included in God’s provision for sinners in the Lord Jesus Christ, the true Lamb of God who will be sacrificed years later. Behold the Lamb of God which takes away the sin of the Jews? No, which takes away the sin of the world. Rejoice, ye Gentiles, with his people, is the message that we read off. Isn’t this what John refers to in the book of Revelation, when you get to Revelation Chapter 5 and Chapter 7 and in chapter 14, you read about the Son of God in heaven, and he appears as a lamb which had been slain. And then you read about the 144,000 from the various tribes of Israel, and the tribes are listed in 12,000 from each tribe and so forth. And then you read about a group of people that can’t be numbered from every single nation and tribe and tongue and people. What is that all about? What is the message that we find? Why do they worship the Lord? Because the Lamb has washed their robes and made them white in his own blood. They’ve been cleansed. They’ve been forgiven. They’ve been accepted. Jews and Gentiles alike. as the people of God. And our text sort of gives us a little glimpse of this. Now, we ought to certainly be interested in an inclusion of Gentiles. When we look at ourselves and realize that we are among Gentiles, and here we have a hint here of the way God’s salvation would be provided. The fourth thought is this. You find Jesus Christ is the true sacrifice for his people. Now, friends, we can talk about the blood of bulls and goats all day long. But not one drop of that blood will ever take away sin. According to Scripture. Jesus Christ is the true sacrifice. These sacrifices were only a pitcher, if you would. Only a shadow of what was coming in the Lord Jesus Christ. It pointed forward to that. Christ is the substance with all these Offerings were just emblems and shadows. David knew this. He knew that animal blood could not atone for sin. Read Psalm 51. If there was a sacrifice I could bring for my adultery and my sin, I would bring it. But there is none I can bring for this. And yet he finds forgiveness with the Lord. Read Acts chapter 2, where David is called a prophet by Peter because he was looking full. forward to Christ’s great sacrifice and his resurrection from the dead. And you read in the Psalms about Christ’s resurrection like Psalm 16, Psalm 18 that we’ve studied. Do you appreciate what it means to have a God-directed, God-provided atonement in the Lord Jesus Christ? My friends, we should appreciate the fact that we have a man-directed, means of forgiveness. God is the one who provides an altar where his wrath falls. And as the writer of Hebrews puts it, we have an altar. It’s not one made of wood and stone, my friends. But we have an altar, and that is, of course, where Christ quenched for sinners God’s wrath. This is where we have to go to find forgiveness of our sins and mercy. You can never atone for your own sin. We can never devise a means by which our sins can be atoned for, but we can follow God’s procedure. We follow what God has told us, and we go to Christ for forgiveness of sin. And the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us of all sin. So you cannot be reconciled to God without an atonement for sin. and we see these various aspects about the atonement. The second thing I’d mentioned tonight is this. Your worship of God demands your very best. Are you willing to sacrifice all for the Lord’s cause? In verses 21 to 23, if the threshing floor was needed for a place of altar to stop the destroying plague, Arana is willing to give it. You’ll see what he says here. He says, when he ask what’s going on here, David says I’m going to come to buy the threshing floor and to build an altar and the plague could be stayed. In 22, we read, Arana, said unto David, let my Lord take and offer up what seemeth good unto him. Behold, here be oxen for burnt sacrifice and threshing instruments and other instruments of the oxen for wood. And all these things did Rana as a king give unto the king. He just said, just take it and use it. He freely gave it as a gift to David. Along with the oxen and the wood and so forth that was needed. He sees the importance and the value of this altar and how it will benefit all the people of God and it will include himself. So he willingly sacrifices all these things. It doesn’t matter what it costs. It doesn’t matter to him the value of these things. Atonement for sin is the key factor. My friends, grateful believers are willing to cast all their possessions as crowns at the feet of the Savior of the Lord Jesus Christ. Sadly, this type of spirit is sort of rare today. But doesn’t the scripture tell us we’re to seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness? It should be a top priority for us in this life. C.H. Spurgeon, the English preacher, was once invited by a wealthy man to come and preach at a certain country church. Spursion being famous and held in high esteem by many people would gather a large crowd of people in. The church was in debt and in order to save the church. They thought if we could have Spurgeon come in, we could get a lot of money coming in and that would pay off the debt and that would take care of the problem. Well, the wealthy man who requested the Spurgeon to come told Spurgeon he was free to use his country house, his townhouse, or his seaside house when he came to preach at this country church. Spurgeon wrote back to him and said, sell one of your houses and pay the debt yourself. aren’t you willing to, you know, what are you willing to sacrifice? You’ve got three houses, sell one of them, and pay the debt off. Are we willing to sacrifice for the Lord’s cause? Do you offer God your best? Verse 24. Now we see David’s response. And the king said unto Arana, nay, but I will surely buy it of thee at price. Neither will I offer burnt offerings unto the Lord, my God, of that which cost mean nothing, so David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for 50 shackles of silver. As this property was to be the site of the temple, he wants a clear deed on it, of course. But most importantly, David doesn’t wish to serve God if it doesn’t cost him anything at all. The carnal nature begrudges everything. It says that gifts given to Christ are a waste. A lot of people people perhaps would look at it as Judas does to what purpose is this waste when it came to Mary and the Spikner. But the man of faith is willing to offer his Isaac, if you would. What is the most dear and precious thing to him if it advances the kingdom of God? If it, if it’s for the Lord’s purpose. The Lord is not to be offered the dregs of our life. We need to be like David. We need to have this kind of spirit. Mary took her precious Spiknard and sacrificed it in anointing Christ for his burial. It cost her a lot. That was a very expensive spikenerd that she used. Did she care? No, it was for the Lord. It was for the Lord. The Lord is always worthy of the first fruits of our Lord. life and not the leftovers of our life. Thus the first day of the week belongs under the Lord. So that we begin the week with the idea that, yes, this day is the Lord’s. It may cost me something to honor and serve the Lord, but one day is to be set aside for him. The first tenth of your income is to be set aside on that day as an indication of God prospering you that you may advance the kingdom of God. It costs something. The first priorities of your time and your love are to be devoted to the Lord. It costs something, but we ought to be willing to pay it. Years ago, there was a story I read about a little girl. It was given $2 by her father. And he told her that she could buy anything she wanted with the $1. But the other dollar was supposed to be put. in church on Sunday for her offering. And so the little girl nodded in agreement and asked if she could go to the candy store. And with visions of all kinds of candy that she could buy, she’s skipping down the street. And she’s thinking in that day of penny candy. I hate to date myself, but that’s what it was when I was little. You could buy it for penny different candies. She happily skipping along. holding tightly to the $2 and she trips. She falls and the wind blows one of the dollars into the storm drain at the curb. She looks at the dollar in her hand. She turns and she looks at the storm drain. And then she said, oh my, there goes the Lord’s dollar. And sadly, I’m afraid that’s the way many professing Christians are. God gets second skimming. He gets the second amount. Me first, and then go up. We never think, well, maybe it was my dollar went down to drain. I should give this dollar to the Lord. That doesn’t seem to cross her mind. But that sort of carries the spirit of many people. So your worship of God demands your best here. And we see that in this text. Well, the owner of the New York Herald, the Paris edition, was infuriated by the carelessness of an editor that ran the same article twice. And so he punished the paper and the people that were on the paper. As long as he lived, they had to publish that letter from the reader day after day after day. Thankfully, God isn’t like that. He provides a remedy for sin. There is forgiveness by sacrifice. And, of course, the true sacrifice is Christ, our Savior. And when it comes to worshiping God and fellowship with the Lord here, let us not think of how we can skimp. Let us think of how that we can give out an abundance of joy in our heart and thankfulness to the Lord and serving his cause. Let us close with a word of prayer.