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The highest moment of David's varied life and circumstances was born out of strife and judgment and dismay. The situation that we have read about this morning is on the background of the time when the king unwisely numbered Israel and brought punishment upon himself and the people over whom he ruled. Both of them were guilty of iniquity against Yahweh, and yet those circumstances provided the means for ultimate joy and glory as God turned their sorrow into rejoicing. And we have read this morning of the moment when David stood rejoicing on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite as he engaged in his activity of humility and sacrifice. And in the first of Chronicles chapter 22 and verse 1, a remarkable prophecy flows from his lips. Then David said, This is the house of Yahweh God, and this is the altar of the burnt offering for Israel. He looked about him and there was the threshing floor upon which an altar had been built that removed the iniquity from Israel. And he looked forward to the time in vision when the house of prayer should be built as an acknowledgement of sin and stand in the place of divine judgment. So in verses 26 and 27 of chapter 21, David built there an altar unto Yahweh and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings and called upon Yahweh, and he answered him from heaven by fire upon the altar of burnt offering. And Yahweh commanded the angel, and he put up his sword again in the sheaf thereof. And the judgment was stayed. David had always desired to honor his God in a memorial temple. It had been his heart's desire from many years before. He had expressed his desire to build that house in the second of Samuel chapter 7, which brought the divine response in an unconditional covenant that bore David onwards toward the kingdom for which we look. And although he was not permitted to build that house at that time, brethren and sisters, since he had been a man of war and had shed blood in combat, nevertheless God respected the intensity of David's heart. He recognized the emotion that he had for the divine honor. And it was in that remarkable chapter, the second of Samuel chapter 7, that David in verse 19 declared that God's promise that had been brought to him through Nathan was for a great while to come. He praised that this was yet a small thing in thy sight, O Lord Yahweh, but thou hast spoken also of thy servant's house for a great while to come, as he looked into the future to the time when the promise of God to him would come to pass. And though it was in the future, brethren and sisters, David immediately set about to make plans for that opportunity. He diligently engaged himself in concentrating upon the divine promise in preparation for the house that his son would build. It filled his life. It filled his heart. It filled his mind that there should be a place of honor for God in the midst of Israel. And when he composed Psalm 27 and at verse 4, in the times of great distress in his experience, David gives emotion and feeling to his desire. In Psalm 27 and at verse 4, in the time that he was secluded in the cave of Adalim, under the pressure of strife from Saul the king, surrounded by the walls of that cave in the desolate area of Judah, he expressed this prayer from his heart, that one thing have I desired of Yahweh, that I will seek after. One thing, brethren and sisters, one thing. As all the turmoil and strife of that moment swirled about him, engaging his attention as his men were around him in that camp, urging him to take vengeance against Saul, there was one thing that he desired and that he said I will seek after, that I might dwell in the house of Yahweh all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of Yahweh and to enjoy sweet communion in his temple. There was one thing in his life worth value. In fact, in verse 13 and 14, he said, I have fainted. He would have given up all hope of life unless he had believed to see the goodness of Yahweh in the land of the living. And turning to his companions, the men who had come out of the tribes of Israel to support him, he said to them, wait on Yahweh. Because he knew the moment hadn't arrived at that time, for God to exercise his hand and to restore his servant. But it would come, wait on Yahweh, be of good courage and he shall strengthen thine heart. Wait, he repeats for emphasis on Yahweh. And again in Psalm 132 and at verses 4 and 5, the same reflections concern him, as the great man now turns his attention to the need of his people. And his prayer in verse 1 is to remember David and all his afflictions, how he swear unto Yahweh and vowed unto the mighty God of Jacob. And in verse 4, I will not give sleep to mine eyes, nor slumber to mine eyelids, until I find a place for Yahweh and an habitation for the mighty God of Jacob. The service of the truth was the greatest thing in David's life. Whatever else occupied his attention from time to time, it was the principles of Yahweh and the strength of the mighty God of Jacob that concerned him, brethren and sisters. And in the busyness of his life, he found time to pray and time to strengthen himself in his heart's desire to see the temple for the glory and the delight of his God. And in that chapter that we have read together, in the first of Chronicles chapter 22 and at verses 2 onwards, he expresses his enthusiastic preparation for the temple. And though it was a long time off, he made preparation today, immediately, without neglect. And as he stood upon that place, that place where the altar of God was, that had turned away the sword of the angel in a moment of great distress for the nation, he immediately, verse 2, commanded to gather together these strangers that were in the land of Israel, and he set masons to hew wrought stones to build the house of God. Already he set his heart and his hands in harmony as he prepared a temple for his God, a temple he was not to see. It was a project he would never see completed. It was for a great time to come. It was for an indefinite future. And in all his activity, here David foreshadowed the program that his greatest son should yet accomplish in his two advents. When upon the place where the altar was set up and sin was destroyed, he would ultimately build the temple for which David prayed. There were strangers engaged in that work, verse 2. Gentiles were brought in under the benevolent activity of David. He called for strangers that were in the land of Israel part of the captives from his conquests of faith. As David had gone forth from place to place, upon the warfare of faith in the name of his God, there were captives that came from the Gentile lands that they might be involved also in the building of this temple. And they were able to bring their diversified skills to the work of David. Out of every language and tongue and people and nation, there they were in a cameo, as David overlooked and supervised the work. And as proselytes to the hope of Israel, in a way the whole world was called upon to respond to the building of a temple for the glory of God. And the masons were there. They brought their abilities to David's project. They hewed wrought stones to build the house of God. Those stones were prepared away from the site. They were cut to the right size in preparation for the temple that would later be built. There was to be careful pre-selection, careful choosing of the right stones for the right place, a checking of the stones, a hewing of the stones, a measuring of the stones, a storing of the stones, always required for the ultimate building that would eventuate. It's a work of faith. For today we as living stones, brethren and sisters, are being hewn away from the time when the temple will ultimately be built, when our Lord Jesus Christ will return in glory. And God is carefully measuring, selecting, chiseling away at the rough edges that we may have that it might ultimately fit into the place prepared for us in the mansions of our Father. That when our Lord Jesus Christ returns, He will observe in us those stones that are appropriate for His glory. And David set in motion the plans. He prepared iron in abundance for the nails of the doors of the gates and the joinings and brass in abundance without weight. The whole process typified the work of the greater David in the building of the spiritual temple of faith. The plans and the preparations were set in motion by the labor and activity of a divine warrior. And as our minds go down the years of history, we come to the moment when our Lord Jesus Christ was brought into the warfare of God. 1,900 years ago, we saw a man who conquered Goliath in his own flesh, a man who felt all the problems and difficulties of life as did David, so that he has a fellow feeling with us, a man who went forth and slaughtered the armies of pride, of ambition, and of wickedness, a man who selected from the Gentiles those who might participate with him in the preparation and the cutting of stones. And all this is done away from the site of the ultimate temple, the kingdom of our glorious gods that will be erected in the days to come. So the Apostle Peter in his first epistle in chapter 2, verses 5 to 8, pictures for us such a scene. Ye also as living stones are built up a spiritual house and holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God by the work and mission and labor and activity and preparation of Jesus Christ. Wherefore also it is contained in the scripture, Behold I lay in Zion a chief cornerstone, elect, glorious, precious, and he that believeth on him shall not be confounded unto you therefore which believe he is precious. And in verse 9 he says, For ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people, that you might be molded and governed and directed and prepared brethren and sisters to show forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into the marvelous light of his vision of faith. And that is why in chapter 22 of Chronicles and verse 11 David carefully protected the specifications for the temple. It was he who wrote them out. It was he who described the temple under inspiration of God. And he tells Solomon in verse 11, Now my son Yahweh be with thee and prosper thou and build the house of Yahweh thy God as he hath said of thee. He had written out, David had written out the terms of the construction for the benefit of his son. In verse 19 he says, Set your heart and your soul to seek Yahweh your God, arise therefore and build ye the sanctuary of Yahweh God to bring the ark of the covenant of Yahweh and the holy vessels of God into the house that is to be built to the name of Yahweh. It was to be an outstanding temple, a glorious temple, exceeding magnificent and yet not large. In verse 5 he says of that chapter, David said, Solomon my son is young and tender and the house that is to be built for Yahweh must be exceeding magnificent of fame and of glory throughout all countries. It was outstanding but not large. The temple of David was only 90 feet by 30 feet by 45 feet in size, the temple itself, but it was surrounded by large courts in which people might gather, designed to hold a large concourse, which was a symbol of the immortal kingdom of the age to come, a kingdom in which nations might gather together to worship the same God as David did in those days. And now the king calls his son before him, he calls Solomon to cooperate and to continue the work that he had begun. There is typified brethren and sisters in those two men, the two advents of our Lord Jesus Christ, which complete the saving work and the divine scheme of redemption. They stand together, kings together. There is David, the warrior king, the man who fought, the man who conquered the enemies, the man who defeated all opposition. As the Lord Jesus Christ came in the first advent of his ministry to overcome sin and to challenge iniquity and to defeat wickedness. There is Solomon, the young man, a man who was to introduce a reign of peace, to build a splendid temple of glory, to witness the gold and the silver and the wonderful picture of magnificent majesty. A picture of the day when our Lord Jesus Christ will return from heaven to establish upon this earth the glory of God and when the glory of our Father will cover the earth as the waters cover the sea. And these two men stood together, two kings, the only two kings of Judah who reigned conjointly as circumstances in David's own family forced him to bring Solomon to the throne before he passed into the article of death. You remember that the threat and challenge of Adonijah required the unusual practice of installing Solomon on the throne at the same time as his father. And in doing so, the wonderful plan of God was revealed in a picture. Those two men completed the type of the combined advent of the Lord Jesus Christ. Verse 5 says that Solomon at that time was very young. Solomon, my son, is young and tender. And Josephus suggests that he was but 14 years of age when he came to the throne of Israel. And like young Timothy, David says, he was a timid, retiring lad. He needed education. He needed encouragement. He needed wisdom, a wisdom that he later sought from God himself. Solomon was named before his birth. He was one of seven such men, each one of whom had a divine destiny set before them before they were born. There was Ishmael and Isaac and Solomon and Josiah and Cyrus and John Baptist and Jesus Christ. So this man was one of seven of outstanding purpose called to a great mission. And in announcing his birth, the angel also declared his calling. So in verse 9, behold, a son shall be born to thee who shall be a man of rest, as David recalls the incident in the past. And I will give him rest from all his enemies round about, for his name shall be Solomon. And I will give him peace and quietness. The Hebrew indicates that that declaration was given at the time of his birth. A son shall be born to thee. As Isaiah later picked up and said in Isaiah chapter 9 verse 6, when he spoke about the coming of our beloved Lord, he said that there should come a time when a son shall be born and his name shall be called the Wonderful, the Counselor, the Everlasting God, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, and the Prince of Peace. And therefore this chapter is additional to and later on than that of the second of Samuel 7. Solomon's was to be a peaceful reign of glory and happiness. It commenced about a thousand years before Jesus Christ and could have been, apart from sin and iniquity and envy and evil and wickedness, it could have been a thousand years millennial introduction to the coming of heaven's anointed king in due time, but for the failure of Solomon's son and the subsequent kings to maintain the glory of the temple that his father had designed. And so the proposed millennium of peace, brothers and sisters, turned back into the devastation of Eden when sin entered into the world and when God's righteousness was affronted. And that sad story was caused through the neglect of the ecclesia. They forgot the sound advice of David, their founder. They allowed the influence of the flesh to dominate and direct their lives. And it's a sad commentary on human nature of which we are part, that so many commence their walk of faith with high ideals and visions of temples and glory and thrones. They start with great plans and firm determination as they come forth from the waters of baptism, but sometimes decline quickly in a laodicean attitude of apathy and indifference. And their failure is not due to divine neglect. In verse 10, Solomon, David says, or the angel says to David, he shall build a house for my name and he shall be my son and I will be his father. There is all the wonderful privileges of divine benevolence here. As God says, I will be his father, he shall be my son, I will establish the throne of his kingdom over Israel forever. And the providence of God set Solomon firmly along his pathway to success as God has brought each one of us up from the waters of baptism by the power of his word, brethren and sisters, and has constituted us his sons and daughters of faith. And in Hebrews chapter 13 and at verse 5, God tells us that he would never leave us nor forsake us. He is our father, we are his children, we have the means to overcome by the plans which his son, our Lord Jesus Christ, has given us. And the Apostle Paul said as he was frustrated by his own inability to overcome, he said, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. And by faith, of which John speaks in the first book of John chapter 5 verse 4, when he says, this is that which overcometh the world, even the victory of our faith. And so in verse 11, David sought the divine blessing on behalf of his son. Now my son, Yahweh be with thee and prosper thou and build the house of Yahweh thy God as he has said of thee. There must be harmony, said David to Solomon, harmony between that man and his God. And he would prosper if he sought that harmony, as will we. So in Psalm 127, when the Psalmist speaks about the principle of building, he says in verse 1, except Yahweh build the house, they labor in vain to build it. Houses built without God, brethren and sisters, will never last, the storms and the winds and the sands of time. But based upon the rock, the firm rock of the foundation of truth, when Yahweh builds the house, they labor with prophets that build it. He says, except Yahweh keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain. It's vain for us to rise up early and to sit up late if God be not with us. And in the circumstances of our lives, we need more and more in these days to pour God into our life. To walk with him as did Enoch and Noah. To build with him as did Solomon. And to draw the experiences of his power into the circumstances of our lives. But we must be aware of the presence of the Father in all the activities to which we put our hand. Except he build the house with us, we labor in vain. We need to fulfill in our lives the divine purpose, as David told Solomon in verse 11, As God hath said of thee. There's only one person in this whole world that can destroy the work of faith to which we put our hands, and that's ourselves. For we know fully, brethren and sisters, that the angels of God surround those who love and fear Him and will protect them as they walk along the pathway of righteousness. We need therefore wisdom, and in verse 12, David prayed for wisdom. Only Yahweh give thee wisdom and understanding and give thee charge concerning Israel, that thou mayest keep the law of Yahweh thy God. The word understand means to separate, to distinguish, the ability to determine things. It is the application of wisdom in the skill of discernment, to know what should be done and when, how, and why. And we must realize that in our case, we must seek for wisdom, and such wisdom must be God-given. For the writer James in his first book, his first chapter, and at verse 5, tells us that when we have such a need as we have from day to day, verse 5, If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, and God gives liberally, and upbraideth not, and it shall be given him. That's the divine guarantee that we can overcome our own disabilities and build a suitable temple to God. But, says James, let him ask in faith nothing wavering, for he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea, driven with the wind and tossed. God give thee wisdom. That comes through prayer. He comes through a prayer which is based upon the reading, and study, and meditation, and thought of the word. As David previously stood in the cave of En Gedi, the cave of the Dolom, and thought about the future that he had for his life, and gave himself to meditation, from which many of our Psalms are drawn, we have a man of great skill and discernment. Such comes from, is the results of keeping the law of Yahweh, and faithfully maintaining the standards of the truth, upon which foundation only temples can be built. So in verse 13, there was an exhortation to faithfulness. Then thou shalt prosper, if thou takest heed, to fulfill the statutes and judgments which Yahweh charged Moses concerning Israel, at a time when there was a great warrior who would lead them into the promised land, Joshua by name. And Moses said to that man, be strong, and of a good courage, dread not, nor be dismayed. And that message was carried down to young Solomon. It's a blessing of God which is based upon actions of faith. It's true prosperity which is found in the arena of the truth. Blessings from God must come from an appreciation and understanding of the divine instructions, and our personal placing of confidence in the hands of God. And so Joshua and David stand together in the advice given to Solomon and to us, and provides us with a means to overcome all obstacles that may face us in our warfare of faith and our building of temples. Then in verse 14, he says to Solomon, you must give great diligence, for David's own example was given to his son. What wonderful words in this verse. What tremendous encouragement. In the days of my trouble, I prepared for the house of Yahweh, a hundred thousand talents of gold and a thousand thousand talents of silver, brass and iron without weight, timber and stones. In the days of my trouble. It was in the days of David's difficulty, brothers and sisters, that provided for his heart's desire. He didn't wait until he had time to spare and money to spend that he could go about God's work. It was in the days of his problems and difficulties when he was struggling with the opposition all about him, when adversaries and opponents were pressing heavily upon him. That's when he prepared. And in spite of all the treachery and the domestic problems and his personal failures, he never lost sight of one supreme object in his life and it was a house of God. And it was in the days of his trouble that he prepared for that. And from his conquest, he was able to set aside materials for that project. Our Lord Jesus Christ in a difficult parable tells us in Luke 16 verse 9, I say unto you, make to yourselves friends by using the mammon of unrighteousness, that when it fails, you may be received into everlasting habitation. Make friends out of the mammon of unrighteousness. Use the opportunities that we have in the days of our privilege to prepare for the house of the future in the days of our troubles, brothers and sisters. And never let us put aside the principles of the truth because we have difficulties to face. And look at the last words in that verse 14. David, out of the problems and difficulties, was prepared to work for the temple. But he says in the end of that verse that thou mayest act to it. Our Lord Jesus Christ, as you see portrayed before you on this table, our Lord has prepared the materials. Our Lord has placed the plans before us. The specifications are all here to those of us who wish to be associated with Solomon. In the temple of glory, when the Prince of Peace reigns, may well add thereto by our own commitment, as our Lord will complete the great temple by His own presence in the age to come. And verse 15 says that there are many others to assist in this building. Moreover, workmen are with thee in abundance, hewers and workers of stone and timber, and all manner of cunning men for every manner of work, skillful labour in cooperation of building the temple. It's provided to us. There's angels, there's prophets, there's pioneers, there's faithful brethren and sisters. They're working with us at this present moment, brethren and sisters. The cloud of witnesses of which Hebrews chapter 12 tells us, that surround us all the time, working for our salvation, helping us to build our stones, our companions in faith, in the ecclesias in which we find ourselves, will faithfully work with us in the development of the truth. Then in verses 16 to 19, you have David's final commitment to this work, for the gold, the silver, the brass, the iron, there is no number. Arise therefore, Solomon, he says, arise therefore and be doing, and Yahweh be with thee, and that's the voice of David to us, brethren and sisters, as we work and labour in preparation for the temple today. Arise and be doing. Are we slackening our hands, dragging our feet, sitting down here? There was no time for Solomon to delay the means were at hand, said David. Seek wisdom and now apply yourselves. God has provided us with every opportunity, with every circumstance, with every need, therefore set our hearts, as he says in verse 9, like his own. My heart's desire is that I might see that temple and rejoice in its rooms and enjoy the presence of the great King. Set your heart and your soul to seek Yahweh your God. Arise therefore and build ye the sanctuary and to bring the ark of the covenant of Yahweh and the holy vessels of God into the house that is to be built. Give our minds and strength to the work, where at the end of time, brethren and sisters, this vision takes us into the future, to the time when the sanctuary will be built, when the altar will be there, the ark will be established, the holy vessels set out. Holy vessels of all ages and generations, from faithful Abel to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, all set out before us. And the means by which that is built is portrayed on this table. We have here bread and wine. They represent the twofold work of our Lord Jesus Christ. The bread is broken. It represents the trials and difficulties of life. It teaches us of the need to conquer the flesh, to war the warfares of David against sin in all its forms. But there's wine here as well. Wine speaks of new life, of harmony, of joy, of success, of victory. It's the vision of glory. It's the peace of Solomon. We shall soon see the fulfillment of this chapter, when we're gathered with our great Lord in the sanctuary on Zion's hill. Then David will see the temple. Then he will see the temple in all its reality, and his joy will be full. And it won't only be a temple of bricks and mortar, although that will be there as well, but it will be a house of living stones, his seed of faith from all times. And we there with him. If we prepare today for the joy of tomorrow, if we arise and be doing, if we set our heart and our soul, brethren and sisters, David's voice comes down to us this morning to take up this project and in these days of our trouble to pursue our course faithfully and with dedication, and we shall never be dismayed.