The last words of David

… We could read in the second book of Samuel chapter 23 and we commence at verse 1. Now these be the last words of David. David the son of Jesse said, and the man who was raised up on high, the anointed of the God of Jacob, the sweet psalmist of Israel, the spirit of the Lord speak by me and his word was in my tongue. The God of Israel said, the rock of Israel speak to me. He that ruleth over men or mankind must be just, ruling in the fear of God. And he shall be as the light of the morning when the sun rises. A morning without crowds as the tender grass springing out of the earth by the clear shining after rain. Although my house be not so with God, yet he hath made with me a neverlasting covenant ordered in all things insure. For this is all my salvation and all my desire, though we make it not to grow. But the sons of Balaam shall be all of them as thorns thrust away because they cannot be taken with hands. But the man that shall touch them must be fenced with iron and the staff of a spear, and they shall be utterly burned with fire in the same place. These be the names of the mighty man whom David had, the Tachmanite, that sat on the seat chief among the captains, the same as Adion, the Esnite. He lifted up his spear against the adhundrate, whom he sued at one time. And after him was Eliezer the son of Dodo, and he hath hosed out one of the three mighty men with David. When they defied the Philistines, they were gathered together to battle, and the men of Israel were gone away. He arose and smote the Philistines until his hand was weary, and his hand craved unto the sword. And the Lord wrought a great victory that day, and the people returned after him only to spoil. And after him was Shammah the son of Haggai, the Haraites, and the Philistines were gathered together into a troop where was a piece of ground full of lentils, and the people fled from the Philistines. And he stood in the midst of the ground and defended it, and slew the Philistines. And the Lord wrought a great victory. And three of the mighty chiefs went down and came to David in the harvest time unto the cave of Adalim. And the troop of the Philistines pitched in the valley of Raphaim. And David was then in on hold, and the garrison of the Philistines was then in Bethlehem. And David longed and said, O that one would give me drink of the water of the well of Bethlehem, which is by the gate. And three mighty men broke through the host of the Philistines, and drew water out of the well of Bethlehem, which was by the gate, and took it and brought it to David. Nevertheless he would not drink thereof, but poured it out unto the Lord. And he said, Be it far from me, O Lord, that I should do this. Is not this the blood of the man that went in jeopardy of their lives? Therefore he would not drink it, lest he did these mighty men these things. And then we have Abishai and quite a host after this. I thought of just passing on a little word tonight in connection with what we have been reading. We have first of all the last words of David. We know it doesn't mean just these last closing words in life, but it's more of a public way in relation to Israel. And so we have the last words of David. And of course the last words of David must lead on to one, it's past David himself, and it must lead on to the Messiah, to the Lord Jesus Christ. As the 72nd Psalm, it mentions that in the close of that Psalm that takes up the kingdom, it says the words of David, the son of Jesse, are ended. So we have the last words of David and how important they are. And he speaks of himself in this way, and he says, David the son of Jesse said. He starts at the very first, and he starts at the very lowest place, so to speak. Sometimes when we start at the height, we have to come down. But we find about David, he starts at the very lowest place, and he speaks of himself as David, the son of Jesse. So that if we would learn of him who said, I am meek and lowly in heart, we shall be marked by the same spirit and shall never forget really what we were and our lowly origin. Because after all, the Lord and his own sovereign grace has taken us up, otherwise we would have wandered on with the world and would have missed everything that's in the way of true blessing, both now and eternal. So he mentions himself in this way as the son of Jesse. And then we find also, and the man that was raised up on high, not only was there the lowliness first, but then there's the exaltation. And this is a principle you always find in scripture. The lowly path first, and then it leads to the place of exaltation. He that humbles himself shall be exalted. We find this exemplified so fully and perfectly in him who came here, the one who humbled himself, man truly, utterly, who despised and rejected him, but he humbled himself, became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross, he humbled himself. But then God is, he has entered in, and there's the exaltation, wherefore God also has highly exalted him, not only exalted him, but highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name. The Father gives him that name, still the same name, the name of Jesus, that personal name, the name that he had at his birth, the name that he had as he passed through this world. Remember, that's the name that fit over his cross, where they put his acquisition. And they had no name. They could say, this is Jesus, the King of the Jews. They put his crime, what he had done, over his head. This is what they have to put over the Son of God. This is Jesus, the King of the Jews. But it wouldn't be altered. No, no, it couldn't be altered. Pilate said, what I have written, I have written. It was true concerning that blessed person, and it never could be altered. Job speaks of words, he says that they're written in a book, that they were put in the rock with the iron pen, with lead in the rock forever. It means that something never needs to be retraced. Something never needs to be drawn back. And so those are the words that were put upon the cross. This is Jesus, the King of the Jews. God has exalted that blessed person to his own right hand. Stephen saw him as such. He says, I see Jesus standing at the right hand of God. Saul of Tarsus saw him as such. The Lord Jesus spoke to him as the one who once was here that spies Nazarene. He says, I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom thou has persecuted. You think by the book of Revelation that the Lord that's presented in a judicial way as a son of man, what a relief at the end of that book. He says, I, Jesus, have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things in the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, the bright and the morning star. So here's the one that has been raised up on high. Probably not only exaltation, but he was raised up out of the nation of Israel. God made choice of him and he was raised up like Moses. Remember Moses? Of course, in a very distinct way with Moses, that a prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you. He was raised up out of the nation of Israel and unto you first. God having raised up his servant, Jesus sent him to bless you. He's been raised out from among the dead. But first of all, he's raised up in the midst of that nation. It says he shall be like a concerning of a root out of a dry ground. That's what Israel was. When the Lord came here, he was a root out of a dry ground and there was no form nor comeliness. I think the word there means lordliness. It mentions about Israel in the book of Ezekiel that he had put his lordliness upon them, so to speak. He had given them that dignified place. And so it says about Christ that when we shall see him, there's no beauty that we should desire him. When he came forth, when Jesus came forth, they cried against him. They didn't see the beauty. They didn't see that which would shine forth from his holy blessed person. But those whose eyes have been anointed, those who have received the spirit of God, they see something of the beauty, something of the grandeur, of the worth of the excellency and the esteem that's worthy of that blessed person, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. So he was the one who was raised up on high. And then the anointed of the God of Jacob, the anointed one. David probably was anointed three times. Sometimes we'll hear it say twice, but it was three times. He was anointed by Samuel. And then when he became king over Judah, he was anointed again. But the anointing was in relation to the first anointing by Samuel. Probably in that sense you could look upon it as one. The second anointing had to do with the first. But then he was anointed over all Israel. So you could either look at it as twice or three times, whatever way it was. But anyhow, he was the anointed of the God of Jacob. And how we find that Samuel made the sons of Jesse pass before him, one after one, one after the other. And then there is the one that was God's choice. He just wasn't there. So he has to be brought in. And so they send for him, and David is brought in. And again, he was bloody enough a fair countenance. So he's setting forth to us something that passes David all together, tells us of the beauty and the grandeur of the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. And then the anointed of the God of Jacob. You remember how he was anointed at the bank of the Jordan? He was selected, as it were, set apart in relation to the will of God. And John, that day, he cried, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. The Lamb in Egypt, it was selected upon the tenth day of the month. And then it was kept up to the fourteenth day of the month, which would illustrate to us the pathway of Jesus here in this world, in his ministry from the bank of the Jordan until he went to the cross, the tenth to the fourteenth day. And then it was the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world. So he was the anointed one, the one in whom God could look down into this world and find his own infinite pleasure. Something never known before, the Spirit of God had come and been, and for some specific work, had rested upon him, had rather come upon him, crowed itself upon him for the time being. But there came the moment when the Spirit of God could rest, rest. It's wonderful that, something never known before, that God's own pleasure could be found in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. When the Spirit was given at Pentecost, it was like proven tongues of fire, and it sat upon each one, each of them. And there was the blowing, the sound of a mighty wind. But you never find that at the bank of the Jordan. God could find his rest, and the moment had been reached. The Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him. And think of how God's own pleasure could rest upon the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the heavens were opened to him. I think Mark gives it that the heavens were rent for him, as God's own speaking forth of his pleasure and the acknowledgement of his beloved son. And then you remember the veil was rent. The veil was rent from the top to the bottom, and while it would set forth the setting aside of the old order of things, yet we know that Christ has, through his death, opened the way into the very presence of God. The veil and the epistle to the Hebrews remains on rent, and so it brings before us that the one who has taken up manhood by probably being connected with the tabernacle, because the veil and the tabernacle, it wasn't rent. And so it typified the one who not only had gone to death, but who had taken up manhood and was going to attain it throughout the countless ages of a long eternity. Then he's anointed of the God of Jacob. As regards David, I suppose the God of Jacob would tell us of the very pure material that David was in himself. But there was not only the God of Jacob, but the sweet psalmist of Israel. You have the two here, you have Jacob, and then you have Israel. So that Jacob would tell us what David was in himself, but then Israel would tell us of that which had been wrought by God himself, where there's a new name. It's like you get the two mentioned in the night that we find Jacob at the brook when he was returning back home into the land of Palestine. And it mentions there that he was asked his name. He says, what is thy name? And he said, Jacob. He had to own it in the presence of God. When he was in the presence of his father years before this, he says, art thou my very son Esau? And he went on to be Esau. But in the presence of God, it was a different story altogether. He had to own what he was in the presence of God. And so he was asked his name, and he said Jacob. And so he gets the new name that night. And so the Lord blessed him there. So not only do we get that which belongs to man as in the flesh, so to speak, as the old order of man, but we get a new order comes into light in the name Israel. In fact, that night that Jacob had to do with God, it left its mark upon him right to the end of his days. He hunted upon his thigh. He had to do with God that night. And so it says, if we're in the presence of God, it will show its mark with us in some way or other. It will leave that distinctive mark that we have been in the very presence of God. So it says here on the sweet psalmist of Israel, this rises to the higher point that he starts at the lowest. It goes on step by step until it reaches the highest as the sweet psalmist of Israel, as the one who would praise God. You see, God brought him through all this in order that he might have that which is for himself. And so that's what God would have us to learn ourselves and then to learn something of himself. And it's in his presence we learn it. And in his presence, if we give him that which is due to his name and holy worship given. And then he says, the spirit of the Lord speak by me and his word was on my tongue. He would speak of these things, but they were spoken in such a way that it's the spirit of God who would speak to him. And he says, the spirit of the Lord speak by me and his word was on my tongue. We get so many scriptures that really set before us something like what verbal inspiration is of the holy scriptures time and again. Remember, there was a man's hand that wrote upon the plaster of the wall, but the writing was the writing of God. And we find that when there was the taking of Jericho in the time of Joshua, how that Joshua told of the future and the curse that would be connected with Jericho. And then when it comes to the days of Ahab, it mentions the word of the Lord, which was spoken by Joshua, the son of Nun, showing you that man speak the word, but was communicated by God. So we get this time and time again in the scriptures. The spirit of the Lord speak by me and his word was on my tongue. That's something that's most essential, even taking it up in a practical way, that we seek to have the guidance of the Holy Spirit of God. We're just speaking today about the verse that speaks, if any man speak, let him speak as the oracle of God. It doesn't say one man, it doesn't say every man, but it says any man. But that man must be the one that has the word of God. So it's most essential and should cause great exercise of heart in relation to divine things, to know something of the guidance of the spirit of God. The psalmist says the spirit of the Lord speak by me. When the spirit of the Lord speaks, it takes us beyond David, takes us beyond ourselves, takes it outside our surroundings and all that pertains to us in daily life and takes us to Christ, brings our hearts out to him. And so if we're out of touch with God, the spirit of God will engage you with yourself. That's very true. It's one sign that you're really converted. If you get out of touch with God, you're the most miserable person in this world. There's nothing more miserable, far more miserable than the people that's in the world, is a person who's out of touch with God. And the spirit of God would have you occupied with yourself, you see, if there's not those true conditions, until you get right again. And you know how you get right? When you were at school, when you were going over the sums, if you made a mistake, you had to get back to the figure where you went wrong. I was working at some books here lately, and I was preparing them for an auditor. And you know, I spent nights and I said to myself, after all this work at this, I could believe in the Bible, working at all this, and I found that there was one figure knocked the whole thing out. And it knocked it out so much that it wouldn't have been, it wouldn't have done at all. But you see, you have to get back to where you went wrong. Just like Abraham, he got back to where he had his tent at the beginning. You get back to that point, and the spirit of God will engage us with ourselves in that way until we're right. And when we are right and seeking to go on to the Lord, then the spirit of God will occupy us with the person of Christ, something altogether. It'll be something in the morning, it'll be something at midday, it'll be something in the evening, it'll be something to lie down with at night. It'll be a continual thing for us to be occupied with the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's something that we need to have, you can be at meetings, you can break bread, you can do a whole lot of things. But if your heart isn't right, well, there's really no response. You see, we take up these things individually. And if we take them up individually, then if we're right individually, we'll be right collectively. That's just by the way. Well then, the spirit of God strikes the chord. If David is the sweet psalmist of Israel, the spirit of God strikes the chord. And who is it that comes forth? None less than the Christ of God. It's the Messiah that's in you. And so he says, the God of Israel said, the rock of Israel speak to me. And here's the word, he that ruleth over men, over mankind, I think it really should read, must be just ruling in the fear of God. So that the kingdom is going to be marked by righteousness. The kingdom of God is the first thing in it is righteousness. Remember, it was righteousness before peace. And so the first thing that's going to mark us as pertaining to the kingdom is righteousness. It says about Ananias, about Elizabeth and Zechariah, it says they were both righteous walking in the fear of the Lord. And so that's the first thing that they will mark us will be uprightness. So that's what's going to calculate the kingdom. We see that brought forth before us in the 72nd Psalm, and also a king shall reign in righteousness, and a man shall be hiding from the wind. Probably referring to the time of the great tribulation and all that will take place after the rapture of the saints. Well, it says ruling in the fear of God. Well, Solomon did rule in the fear of God for a time, and then there's detrention came in. And look at all these different kings. There's all these detrention comes in, and deterioration marks it. But there's one thing about Christ, the Christ of God, there's no deterioration. That which we are brought into now, and that which we are brought into the real enjoyment of, and the real divine side, there is no deterioration. Now, it's well to keep that before us, because if we work from our side, we have no real joy. If I try to approach things from my side, although there is a sense in which that has to be, but we touch the things from the divine side, and it works out from there. You see, there's the burnt offering, just illustrates that it comes first. But then in our approach to these things, we start with the sin offering. That's true. But then once we get an apprehension of these things, we start from God's side. And this really is how things are worked out. You never can work them out from your own side, always work them out from the divine side. And everything will be right. Every order of our lives will be right. The psalm speaks and it says, Whoso offers praise glorifies me. You see, we're working the divine side. And to him that orders this conversation, all right, we're working out now. I was shown the salvation of God. You could quote as many scriptures that would set this forth. And then verse 4 says, He shall be as the light of the morning, so that when the morning comes, he's going to bring the morning with him. He's going to be not only the morning, but the light of the morning. And he shall be as the light of the morning. And the Lord's going to bring the morning with him. We find in Revelation that the Lord speaks of himself as the root and the offspring of David, as David in his manhood. And then he says, The bright and the morning star. The bright, the brilliant, pure, clear, no deterioration. There's not a speck of, there's not a spot there. The bright has that thought of clear, pure, bright. And then he says the morning star. The morning star is a star that heralds a new day. It tells us what's coming. And so the Lord is the morning star. I understand the evening star is also the morning star. So the Lord was the evening star, so to speak, when he was here. That star sits in Calvary's cross. But he'll be the morning star. The day is coming when he's going to, in the midst of all the darkness, do you ever see it darker than today? It's getting darker, still darker. And surely we are reminded that the coming of the Lord must be very near. Events in the world seem to point to this, the destruction and all that takes place in every heart. And that which so characterizes the times, I'm sure is going to be that which is going to help forward the revived Roman Empire when it comes, as you see what's spreading in the world today. But the Lord's going to bring in the morning. Before the morning comes, he'll be the bright and the morning star. And then there's a response to that. There's a response, the Spirit and the Bride say come, and let him that's a thirst come. And then it mentions, and at whose to ever will, let him that fears say come, and let him that's a thirst come, and whose to ever will, let him take of the water of life-breathing. So there is that response to the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. Well, he's going to be the morning star, but then that's in a private way. But when he brings in as the light of the morning, it's going to be in a public way when the Lord shall come. When he comes, there's only a certain number are going to see him when he comes in relation to his own. When he comes as a son of man, every eye shall see him. There's not one going to miss him, but everyone is going to see him. When the Lord hung upon the cross, I believe, it's the last time they saw him, the last time. And the last king that Israel crowned was Jesus, and they've never crowned a king since then. And they'll never crown another king until they own him when he comes up in the day of the kingdom. And so we find that the Lord himself is the one who's going to come in a public way. And when that comes, every eye shall see him. The last time, as I have said, they saw him was when he was upon a cross. You remember it says he was seen of witnesses chosen before of God, even with those who did eat and drink with him after he rose from the dead. As the Lord moved here amongst his own after he rose from the dead, it's so wonderful that there wasn't one unregenerate person set an eye upon him, not one. He moved in a circle amongst his own until he led them out as far as to Bethany. And then as he saved up, and in the act of going up, he lifted up his hands and blessed them. So when he comes as a son of man, he's going to come, and every eye shall see him. And they also which pierced him, but it doesn't just mean the people who, the soldier who pierced him when he hung as a dead Christ upon the cross, but it's that kind of people, that kind of people who reject and despise him. Look how many in this world despise and reject Christ. We have met them and when he came into contact with them, they were opposed to the gospel. They were opposed to the Christ of God. And this is the cross, they also which pierced him. And it's going to be a time of great sorrow in the world. But then when the Lord comes for his own, it's going to be a time of great rejoicing, just the opposite to it. A time that will be private, and then as the son of man of the public, and when he comes for his own, it's going to be a time of real rejoicing. With regards to the world and every, all the tribes in the earth shall weep because of him, just the opposite. But as judgment always precedes blessing, so it shall be in the time of the kingdom, the sorrow that is going to prevail in this world, and then the Lord's going to come in, in the way of blessing. And he shall be as the light of the morning, when the sun arises, even a morning without crowds. The sun arising, you remember, it was connected with Judah's sun rising. You find that the tribe of Judah was to pitch on the east end, at the east side of the tabernacle, as they circled around the furious tribes around the tabernacle. Judah was on the east, and so it says he shall be as the light of the morning when the sun arises. And the rising of the sun, it tells us of the new day. In the book of Leviticus, we find that there was the ashes were put on the east side of the altar, so that when the first rays of the morning sun would strike the side of the altar, it would strike the east side, and would tell of an accepted sacrifice. So, on the resurrection morning, the rays of the sun hit as it were, lit up an empty tomb, telling us that the Lord Jesus is the risen one from among the dead. And in the last chapter of the book of gospel by Mark, it speaks in a very distinctive way about this, and it says, now when Jesus was risen early, the first day of the first morning of the week, that he rose early, that none of the other gospels give it that way. In the 50th of Isaiah, it speaks of Jehovah's servant, and it says, he wakeneth morning by morning, he wakeneth mine ear to hear as they learned. So, he was the one who rose early. The first chapter of Mark speaks of him rising up a great while before day. He went out into a mountain and prayed. And the resurrection morning, with no exception, he rose early. That first morning he was early. It was as though he came to the sepulchre. And what did they come for? They came to see a dead Christ. They came to see a filled tomb. What was otherwise, even though they were there before dark, before light had come, they came when it was still dark, but Jesus was risen and had left the tomb. So, it says here, when the sun rises, and so the kingdom will be like that, when the sun rises, a morning without tribes, that'll be a wonderful time. There'll be nothing on the horizon to tell of any evil that's to come. The whole horizon will be lit up with the glory of Christ. As it says, that the earth should be filled with the knowledge of the Lord, filled with it, as the waters cover the sea. You know how the waters cover the sea. They come up and come up, and they come up to the very edge, they cover the whole thing. And so, in a very special way, that's going to be. And it says here, as a morning without tribes, the knowledge of the Lord is going to spread far and wide, and all the peoples of the earth should be blessed. A morning without tribes. But then, not only so, but there's going to be blessing. There's going to be fruitfulness. There's going to be reviving. There's going to be refreshing in the kingdom. And it says here, as a tender grass springing out of the earth, where the trees are shining after rain, there's going to be freshness in the kingdom. The 45th Psalm, instead of fathers, there's going to be children, who thou mayest make princes in all the earth. Telling us of the freshness, of the youthfulness that is going to mark the kingdom. And the 110th Psalm speaks of it also, that it says, thou hast the Jew of thy youth. I think I could read the young men of thy youth. That which is marked by strength, and that which never decays. Well then, David passes on to something else now. And he speaks of himself. He says, I know my house, be not so with God, yet he hath made with me a everlasting covenant. You find about David, in the second book of Samuel, that the first part of it, up to chapter 10, it's marked by strength, and it's marked by blessing. Everything goes well. But then from chapter 11, right on to chapter 20, you find that he's under discipline. That the hand of God is upon him. But here he speaks, he says, I know my house, be not so with God. David had to go that way. And it's something that we should be continually exercised, as the 12th chapter of Hebrews would bring before us. So that we seek to go on a path that would be for the Lord's pleasure, and would be apart from discipline. Then he says, yet he hath made, he touches the other side now, apart from his house. He touches, if it's his house that is here, he touches on the house that God's going to build him. Something altogether different. And he says, yet he hath made with me a never-lasting covenant, ordered in all things insure. For this is all my salvation, and all my desire, though he make it not to go. So David's house, if it was that which was marked with failure, and that which he could be looked back with deep sorrow upon, there was the everlasting covenant that God had made with him. Remember David? He sat at his house, and he had gathered wonderful material for the building of the house of God. In fact, in one way, he sat before the Lord himself. He gave the building of the house, he gave abundantly. And then he gave out of his poverty, and then he gave out of his might, and then he gave out of his affliction. It was those four ways that David gave to the house of God, and he sits forth before us, the person of Christ, the one who has given abundantly, all what the Lord has given through his going into death, and what flows from it. Riches flowing out of poverty, and joy flowing out of blessing, and everything that is going to mark true blessing forevermore. It all flows from Christ, and he's going into death. And so we find that David, he speaks of his own house, but then the Lord speaks of the house that he's going to build him. So David, when he's speaking of his own house, and the supply that he had prepared for it, it says he sat in his house. But when it comes to the prayer that he makes in relation to what God was going to do for him, it wasn't a matter of the house, he sat in the presence of God, a different place altogether. And so when he sat in the presence of God, God spoke of his house for a long time to come. It wasn't David building a house, but it was Solomon in his glory, and he would build the house. And so we find it's on the line of blessing. So he says, yet he made with me a never-lasting covenant. God said that he had established it for him. And of course, we know that goes beyond Solomon, goes beyond all the kings, and it's founded in Christ himself. It's established and it's made sure, made sure in the one who died and the one who rose again, the sure mercies of David. The sure mercies of David, they may be applied different ways, but in the 13th chapter of Acts, they're put in connection with Christ risen and concerning that he raised him from among the dead. Now no more to return to corruption. He said in this way, I will give you the sure mercies of David. So there's that on David's side that speaks of deterioration. There's that on the divine side where these things never can enter. And then he goes on, he says, this is all my salvation and all my desire, all my desire, though he make it not to go. Beyond the mere discipline that he had passed through, beyond his circumstances, David stretched out after the thing that really mattered. And he says, it's all my salvation and all my desire. I'm sure each one of us here tonight, as we look back over our Christian pathway, beyond everything else, beyond all that may have been a checkered career, our longing and our stretching out is after the person of Christ. In the second chapter of Philippians, Christ has looked at us here in the world. In the third chapter, he's looked at us in the glory. We press toward the mark. Of course, there's something we do before we press. We find the apostle strips himself of everything else. And apathetic, he doesn't need anything that's going to encompass him, anything that's going to hinder him in the race. And so he strips himself in the first part of the chapter. And then he says, I press on toward the mark to where Christ is, of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Then he goes on now and he speaks of the enemies. The time's really finished. He speaks of the enemies that would be in relation to the kingdom. And these are to be purged out in verses 6 and 7. The enemies are mentioned. And so we find that Solomon, he purged the kingdom. When Solomon came to the throne, he purged one after another. There was a Donajah, there was Joab, and there was Shemiah, and probably a fourth one. And he purged the kingdom of all those that offend and that do iniquity. So the Lord would do that when he comes in his glory. You find that in the book of Genesis that Joseph sets forth the glory. And the Lord says about Joseph, it says about Joseph, you remember, he said to his brother, he says, don't come down to see my face except Benjamin be with you. Benjamin speaks of power. So the Lord is not going to come down, so to speak, until he comes down in glory and power. He says, then shall you see the son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power. That's Benjamin. And with great glory, that's Joseph. They both go combined. So he says, you will not see my face until you bring Benjamin down. So Israel will not see their true Messiah until he comes down in power and great glory. Now, just a little word and finishing. I didn't mean to go so long into that. We find that after the bringing in of the Messiah, there's David's mighty men, and they're in relation to the kingdom. They're brought in here in Samuel in a historic way. Whereas if you look at the 11th chapter, I think it is of 1 Chronicles, they come in to us at the commencement of David's reign. It's after the time of his patience, being chased like a partridge upon the mountains. After the time of his rejection, the time of his patience, and that's the time of the Lord now. Now is the time of his patience, but the time is, the time's coming when he's going to come into his glory. So that there's the patience in Chronicles, and then we find David coming and there's a mighty man with him. Samuel passes that forth in a historic way, whereas in Chronicles it sets it forth in a typical way, and I think that's the main explanation for it. But we find one or two here. There's a, someone I had thought of, but we find Shema, verse 11, that the Horegate and the Philistines were gathered together into a troop, where was a piece of ground full of lentils, and the people fled from before the Philistines. And he stood in the midst of the throat, and he defended it, and threw the Philistines, and the Lord wrought a great victory. It's remarkable at this time that it's at the very same place, if you look at the 11th chapter of 1st Chronicles, you'll find it was at Ephesus Delman, and that was the place where David threw the Philistines, and this is the very place where this man stood in the clutch of lentils, and he defended it. He stood and he withstood, like the six chapters of Ephesians, who were to stand and withstand in the evil day, and having done all to stand, and he stood. Someone has said, why stand there, a few patch of lentils, your life's worth far more than that. But he stood, and he defended it, and he stood in the very place where David himself had been the victor. So the Lord, he's the one, he's the overcomer, and in the very place where he has been despised and rejected, so to speak, and has become the overcomer, there we can become overcomers too. He says, he that overcometh shall sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and I'm sat down with my Father in his throne. In the latter part of this chapter, it's worth reading. You read about those who have a place with David in the kingdom. You know, on the divine side, we have the Father's house. We get there through Christ and his infinite merits, no other way. But in relation to the kingdom, it's a matter of faithfulness. It's a matter of how we are here will determine our place in the kingdom. And so you find that David's mighty men are brought in now after the time of the kingdom. And so we find this man, he defended the patch of lentils, and he smote the Philistines. The Philistines, you know, were an enemy in the land. They were those who came up out of Egypt, but they didn't cross the Jordan. They didn't go into the land that way. They went in by a near way, and they took it as in the line of profession. So it is in Christendom today. We have those who come into things outwardly, but they haven't come by the way of Jordan. They haven't come by the death of Christ, and they haven't entered the land that way. And so that's why the Philistines are in the land. You find the Moabites, the Ammonites, the Syrians, and all these are outside the land. But the Philistines occupy a strip of the land that really belongs to Israel. And so we read, we wrestle not against flesh and blood, against principalities and powers, against wicked spirits in the heavenly places. If we hold the inheritance in Christ in a practical way, it has to be maintained. And so that is set before us, surely, in connection with the overcoming of the Philistines. Now just a word, and then I'm finished. We find that David, he had been at the Adullam, and while he was there, he longed that one would give him to drink of the water of the well that is by Bethlehem. And as he broke through the host of the Philistines, and they got to the well, and they brought David to drink. David had known something in the past. He knew where the well was. He'd been there probably time and time again. But now he longed for a drink of the well, which is by the gate. Probably some of us would need to know something of that tonight, need to know something getting back to the well, and to drink deep of the fountain, get back into the nearness of the Lord's presence. And so we find that when they brought the water to David, he treated it as blood. And we know blood wasn't to be drunk. And so he poured it out upon the ground, as the lives of these men, they laid down their lives in connection with David. So this is something that is open to each one of us. He laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. In that third chapter of the first epistle of John, we find that there's a life taken. Those were not to be his cane. He was off the wicked one and threw his brother. And then there's a life given. He laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. These men would set before us an example of such, of laying down our life in relation to the Lord and to his interests. And then last of all, you have a life sustained. Immediately it says, laying down our lives for the brethren. It says that one sees his brother as need, and shut up his bowels of compassion. How dwell the love of God in him. So these three men breaking through the ranks of the Philistines, bringing the water to David, and treating it as good as the lives of these men. And it's set before us, laying down our life. How often the death of Christ has a practical aspect to it, time and time again. We get this. And that in the epistle of John is one of them. We ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. Cain himself, who wouldn't offer a sacrifice, he took a life. So those who despise Christ in that aspect, they reject him. And then we find that the Lord laid down his life for us, a life laid down, and then a life sustained. May the Lord just bless his word for his names. …