And second Chronicles chapter number three, beginning in verse number one, the Bible reads,
Then Solomon began to build the house of the Lord at Jerusalem in Mount Moriah, where
the Lord appeared unto David his father, in the place that David had prepared in
the threshing floor of Ornan the Jambi site, and he began to build in the second
day of the second month, in the fourth year of his reign.
So if you remember, in chapter two, Solomon was sort of preparing for this by getting
the workers together, all the strangers that were in the land, the foreigners that were
living in Israel, that were actually going to do the heavy lifting and actually build
the house of God.
And we talked about that last week, how that represents, of course, the church in
the New Testament, because in the Old Testament, the tabernacle was the house of God, then
the temple was the house of God.
Until now in the New Testament, the Bible says that thou mayest know how thou oughtest
to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar
and ground of the truth.
And when the Bible says the word church, we are not talking about a physical building.
A lot of people that are outside of Christianity, just people out in this world, when they
hear the word church, they often just think it's a facility, like they think it's
a building, like, oh, let's go look at this historic church or something.
You know, I typically, when I talk about it, we'll call that a church building, because
the church is literally the congregation or the assembly of believers themselves.
It's the people that make up the church.
So this building or any building is not the house of God in the New Testament, but
rather the assembly of believers, the church is the house of God, the pillar and ground
of the truth.
So when we're reading an Old Testament scripture about building the temple, there's
a lot of parallel that you can draw between the Old Testament house of God and the New
Testament house of God.
And let's face it, if this chapter were just talking about a building that was destroyed
a long time ago, then it wouldn't really have a lot of relevance to us today to
just read about this ancient building.
But what really gives it relevance is when we think about the symbolism of this building.
Number one, ultimately pointing us to the cross of Christ, his death, burial and resurrection,
as everything in the Old Testament is pointing us to Christ, but also giving us
an analogy of the local church, which is the new house of God in the New Testament.
So just as foreigners or strangers built the house of God, according to chapter two,
in the New Testament, the church is built by Gentiles, right?
The Jews, for the most part, rejected the Lord Jesus Christ and the gospel went to
the Gentiles.
The kingdom of God was taken from Israel, given to a nation, bringing forth the fruits
thereof, made up of all believers.
The Gentiles are the ones who end up actually building the house of God.
Because if you just look at the New Testament books, who are they made out to?
Romans, Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians.
Christ is ultimately building the church, but he's using people to do the work, to
do the heavy lifting, and the people that are doing it are Gentiles, okay?
In Chronicles, the people that are doing it are foreigners.
They're not Israelites, and that's a foreshadowing of that, okay?
So in chapter three, verse number one, it says, Solomon began to build the house of
the Lord at Jerusalem in Mount Moriah, where the Lord appeared unto David his father.
Now, what is the significance of Mount Moriah?
Well, this word, Moriah, is used to describe the place where Abraham offered up Isaac
his son upon the altar.
This is not a word that's used a lot in the Bible.
Other accounts of the temple being built don't describe it as Moriah, but here in
2 Chronicles, chapter three, verse one, we have this sort of unique mention that
this is Moriah, so that when we think about where Isaac is offered in Genesis, chapter
22, that's actually the place that's ultimately going to be the site of the
temple, okay, according to this scripture right here.
And so if you remember that God told Abraham to go offer up Isaac on one of the mountains
that I will show you, and so God had specifically picked out a certain mountain in the land
of Moriah, it said in Genesis 22.
Here it says that the temple's being built in Mount Moriah, the same spot.
And of course, Abraham offering up Isaac is one of the best pictures of the gospel
from the Old Testament, right, because you have the father and he's sacrificing
his son, right?
And what does the New Testament tell us?
That the father sent the son to be the savior of the world.
For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth
in him should not perish but have everlasting life, right?
He who spared not his own son, but delivered him up for us all.
How shall he not with him freely give us all things?
And so Abraham did not spare his son.
When Abraham was asked to sacrifice Isaac, he was willing to do it.
He brought him to Mount Moriah.
Of course, he lays the wood upon his back, symbolic of the cross being laid upon Christ's
back.
And when he goes to kill his son Isaac, the angel stops him at the last minute, there's
a substitution made, the ram that's caught in the thicket, and of course the ram also
represents Jesus, you know, substituting and dying for us.
The ram whose horns are caught in the thorns in the thicket, right, picturing Christ
wearing the crown of thorns.
So all throughout the Bible, you have so many pictures of Christ in the Old Testament,
everything's pointing us toward that.
So we have this super important story in Genesis 22 of Abraham offering up his son
Isaac and that is, of course, one of the most powerful, clearest pictures or foreshadowings
or prophecies about Christ's death for us and Christ's sacrifice for us.
And so it's very significant, of course, that that's where the temple is going to
be built, right?
Because Jesus said in the New Testament, upon this rock, I will build my church and
the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
So the church is built by the Lord Jesus Christ and so it makes sense that the Old
Testament house of God is in this very symbolic place and it's also, of course,
in Jerusalem, because it's at Jerusalem in Mount Moriah, because, of course, Christ
is also going to be crucified, where?
At Jerusalem, okay?
Now it says in verse number one here, then Solomon began to build the house of the Lord
at Jerusalem in Mount Moriah where the Lord appeared unto David his father in the place
that David had prepared in the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite.
So this place has another significance.
Not only is it the place where Abraham offered up Isaac, but go back if you went
to 1 Chronicles chapter number 21.
1 Chronicles chapter number 21, we have this story about David numbering the people, right?
It says in 1 Chronicles chapter 21 verse 1, and Satan stood up against Israel and
provoked David to number Israel.
And so he numbers the people, he commits the sin of numbering the people, and God
is going to punish him, and God ends up sending a three-day severe pestilence upon
the people, right?
The angel of the Lord is sent to destroy people with pestilence.
And of course, Daniel, or excuse me, David has to make an atonement for the sin that
had taken place, and he has to basically stay the hand of God's wrath.
And so the Bible says in verse number 18 of 1 Chronicles chapter 21, then the angel
of the Lord commanded Gad to say to David that David should go up and set up an altar
under the Lord in the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite.
And David went up at the saying of Gad, which he spake in the name of the Lord.
So this prophet Gad comes and says, you need to put up an altar in the threshing
floor of Ornan the Jebusite.
And of course, we know from 2 Chronicles, this is the location where Abraham offered
Isaac, this is the future location of the temple, it's a significant special location
that God chose.
And so he says, build an altar there, okay?
Now if you remember, there's already the main altar that is at the tabernacle, okay?
And the tabernacle, if you remember from two weeks ago, is at the high place of
Gibeon.
Tabernacle is a building that can be moved around.
It's a tent that moves around, but at this time, it's at a high place of Gibeon.
But God tells him, instead of going to Gibeon, he tells him instead to build an altar
in this threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite.
And so David went up and did that according to verse 19.
And then let's just for sake of time, jump down to verse number 25.
It says, so David gave to Ornan for the place 600 shekels of gold by weight.
So he buys the place from Ornan.
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.
So the significance of this place is that it's a place where God's wrath is stayed,
a burnt offering is offered, and now God is no longer angry.
God is no longer punishing.
And of course, this is exactly what the Gospel does for us, right?
Because if we believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, we are no longer under the wrath
of God, okay?
And if you, keep your finger here, go to Romans chapter 5.
Romans chapter 5 in the New Testament.
And so this place of offering burnt sacrifice is symbolic of, of course, Christ's sacrifice
that turns away the wrath of God.
It says in verse number 1 of Romans chapter 5, it says, therefore being justified by faith,
we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
So you know, before we are reconciled to God by Jesus Christ, there's enmity there
between us and God.
And so that we have peace because we believe and we're justified by faith.
Now we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Go to Ephesians chapter 2, and we'll see something similar in Ephesians chapter number
2.
While you're turning there, I'll read it for you.
But it says in verse number 1, and you had the quickened who were dead in trespasses
and sins, wherein in time past you walked according to the course of this world, according
to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children
of disobedience, among whom also we all had our conversation in time past and the lust
of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature
the children of wrath even as others.
So what the Bible is saying here is that before we were saved, we're on the wrong
team.
You know, we're not on God's team.
We're on the wrong team.
We're actually unwittingly fulfilling the will of this world and the God of this world
and the devil and the prince of the power of the air.
And we are by nature the children of wrath.
What is that wrath talking about?
It's talking about God's wrath on the unsaved, okay?
The Bible says, of course, in John chapter 3, right, he that believeth on the sun
has everlasting life.
But he that believeth not the sun shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth
on him.
And so before we're saved, God's wrath is abiding on us.
We have enmity with God, and we only have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ
when we're justified by faith, when we believe in Jesus, okay?
So doing those animal sacrifices, those burnt offerings, that pictures Christ's substitutionary
death for us that therefore appeases the wrath of God so that we are no longer subject
to that punishment of going to hell.
Now why would a person go to hell?
Because they've sinned.
The wages of sin is death, right?
All liars shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone which
is the second death.
Our sins merit us that punishment in hell, and then we are going to be in hell the
objects of God's wrath unless we believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
Once we believe on Christ, he has already taken care of that, and we have peace with
God through our Lord Jesus Christ because we're justified by faith.
And that's what this place represents.
That's why it's the same thing in Genesis chapter 22 where Isaac is going to be sacrificed.
That's the father sacrificing the son.
But then the substitution represents, of course, Christ's substitutionary atonement
for us.
He takes the punishment for us.
He died for us so that we don't have to.
And then when we get to 1 Chronicles chapter 21 in the exact same location, we have God's
wrath coming upon the city of Jerusalem, and then sacrifices are made to God in a
certain place, and God's wrath is appeased, and the city is saved.
And this is, again, a picture of salvation.
But you know, it's interesting that it has to be a certain place.
It's interesting how God says to Abraham, go to one of the mountains that I show you.
And then here it's, again, a specific place that says, hey, you need to go to the
threshing floor of Ornan and the Jebusite specifically and build an altar there.
And I believe that what God's trying to get at with that is that when we come to
Christ for salvation, we have to do it His way on His terms, okay?
It's according to His will, not according to our own plan.
And you see, this is why Cain's offering was not accepted, because Cain's trying to
come to God on his own terms and say, well, here's what I'm going to do.
I'm going to offer God of the fruits of the field.
I'm going to offer him produce and fruits and vegetables when he had asked for the blood
of the lamb.
And let me tell you something.
The only way to be saved is through faith in Jesus.
And a lot of people are trying to get there another way, right?
They're trying to get there by doing a lot of good deeds, cleaning up their life,
repenting of all their sins, turning over a new leaf, keeping the commandments.
Sometimes they'll Judaize and go through all kinds of rituals and religious practices.
The Catholics are down there confessing and doing communion, and they're going through
all of these rituals, they're lighting incense, they're getting ashes on their head.
But this is not what God has commanded when it comes to salvation.
Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.
For by grace are you saved through faith.
And of course, the Jews, the Bible says, they were ignorant of God's righteousness
and going about to establish their own righteousness instead of submitting themselves the righteousness
of God.
That's what a lot of people even that call themselves Christians are doing, going
about to establish their own righteousness by trusting in their works for salvation
when the Bible says it's not of works as any man should boast.
You go to heaven for free or you don't go at all.
You get saved for free or you don't get saved.
It's free.
It's a gift.
You can't earn it.
You can't pay for it.
You've got to trust Christ.
You've got to do it on his terms.
So God says, build this house where I say, offer the sacrifice where I say, Abel, bring
the offering that I want of the flock, not fruits and vegetables, because it's not
just a choice of however you want to find your way to heaven.
You know, Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, you know, whatever works for you, you know, all
these different religions, you know, they're all bringing us closer to God.
That's garbage, my friend.
There is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved.
And that is the name of Jesus of Nazareth.
And so that's the only way to be saved.
It's got to be on God's terms, okay?
And so he tells them to build it in a certain place.
And it says in verse 28, at that time, when David saw that the Lord had answered him in
the threshing floor of one in the Jebusite, then he sacrificed there for the tabernacle
of the Lord, which Moses made in the wilderness and the altar of the burnt offering were
at that season in the high place of Gibeon.
But David could not go before it to inquire of God, for he was afraid because of the
sword of the angel of the Lord.
So notice, he can't get to the normal location of the tabernacle, either because he sees
the angel, because the Bible does talk about David seeing the vision of an angel
with a drawn sword destroying Jerusalem, either because of that vision he's afraid
to go or maybe because of the literal pestilence there, you know, it's too quarantined
off for him to go there.
But for whatever reason, he is afraid to go there.
And so God actually has him do a sacrifice right there at Jerusalem.
And this is extremely significant because in the book of Deuteronomy, you remember
over and over again, the Bible talked about how someday there would be a place where
God would choose to put his name there, as opposed to the tabernacle moving around.
There would someday be a place chosen where the Lord would choose to put his name there.
And that place ends up being Jerusalem, and specifically Mount Moriah at the threshing
floor of Onan the Jebusite.
Because look at the next verse in chapter 22 verse 1, then David said, this is the
house of the Lord God, and this is the altar of the burnt offering for Israel.
So this is a transition, this is a change that's happening because you've got the
tabernacle, you've got the altar that's over at Gibeon, but now he's saying no,
you know, this is the place.
This is where the new house of God is going to be built and established.
And so David starts preparing.
It says in verse 2, David commanded to gather together the strangers that were in
the land of Israel, and he set masons to hew rot stones to build the house of God.
David prepared iron and abundance, and on and on.
He's preparing all the materials.
And then he says in verse number 6, then he called for Solomon his son and charged
him to build a house for the Lord God of Israel.
And David said to Solomon, my son, as for me, it was in my mind to build a house under
the name of the Lord my God.
But the word of the Lord came to me saying, thou has shed blood abundantly and has made
great wars.
Thou shalt not build a house under my name because thou has shed much blood upon the
earth in my sight.
Behold, a son shall be born to thee who shall be a man of rest, and I will give
him rest from all his enemies round about.
For his name shall be Solomon, which means peace, and I will give peace and quietness
unto Israel in his days.
He shall build a house for my name.
He shall be my son, and I will be his father, and I will establish the throne of
his kingdom over Israel forever.
Now, of course, we're talking about Solomon, but who are we really talking about, though?
We're really talking about Jesus.
Solomon pictures the Lord Jesus Christ.
Jesus is the son of David like Solomon is the son of David, okay?
Notice that it says that David can't build the house because he had shed too much blood.
David's not a bad guy.
David's a man after God's own heart, but he had been involved in a lot of violence
and warfare and fighting, so he's not going to be the picture that God's looking for
for building the house of God.
Stop and think about this.
Is God's house built by violence?
I don't know, let's ask the Roman Catholic Church, because stop and think about it.
God's house is established by a man of peace, not a warrior, okay?
Muhammad was a warrior.
Muhammad's out there fighting and killing people and leading troops into battle, establishing
Islam with violence.
But what about Christianity?
When do we see Jesus Christ in the Bible conquering or being violent?
I mean the one time that one of his disciples pulls out a sword and chops off the High Priest's
ear, or excuse me, the servant of the High Priest's ear, he puts the servant of
the High Priest's ear back on his body.
He heals that man's ear and says, put up thy sword again in its sheath.
Those that live by the sword will die by the sword.
Christianity is a peaceful religion.
Jesus Christ is a man of peace.
And if you think about it, the church was established, Christianity began, during a
time of peace for Israel.
It's not a time when Israel is fighting with their enemies and so forth.
It's a time of peace called the Pax Romana, right?
And so it was actually a time of peace in a large part of the world.
And so during Christ's ministry, he's not fighting, he's not doing sword fights,
his disciples are not fighting, and it was established through preaching and teaching
God's Word.
We don't wrestle against flesh and blood, okay?
But Roman Catholicism has been violent throughout history and actually used violence to force
people to convert to their so-called Christianity, which is actually paganism.
It's actually idolatry in the guise of Christianity, but they use violence to convert people.
God's house is not to be built with violence.
And that's why a violent person like David, not saying he's a horrible person, but he's
the wrong guy to found the temple because he's supposed to be picturing Christ founding
the church.
We need a peaceful man, Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace.
And so that's why David, shedding much blood, precluded him from being the one to build
the temple.
And notice how God talks about Solomon.
He says, he shall be my son and I will be his father.
Of course, that's literally true of Jesus.
Jesus is literally the son of God.
And I'll establish the throne of his kingdom over Israel forever because, of course, Christ's
kingdom will last forever.
I mean, think about it.
If you were, say, Jewish and you rejected the Lord Jesus Christ as a Messiah, then
how in the world would you even understand a verse like this that says, oh yeah, Solomon,
his throne is going to be established forever.
You know, David's throne is going to be established forever.
What happened, folks?
Because I don't see any son of David sitting on the throne of Israel.
I haven't seen one sitting on the throne of Israel for thousands of years.
But it's Christ who is the anointed one, right?
The Messiah.
What does it mean?
I mean, think about it.
Just the word Christ.
What does the word Christ even mean?
Christ means Messiah.
But what does Messiah mean?
Messiah means anointed, right?
And of course, you can tell this just even just with the King James Bible, just by comparing
scripture with scripture, you could look up the verse that says against the Lord and
against his anointed in Psalm chapter two.
And then you could look at that quote in Acts chapter four against the Lord and against
his Christ.
So notice how when it quotes anointed, it says Christ, because that's what Christ
means, anointed.
How is Christ anointed?
Well, Christ is anointed as King because he's the King, right?
Who gets anointed in the Bible?
Kings are anointed.
Remember, Saul was anointed.
David is anointed.
And then priests are also anointed, right?
Aaron and his sons are anointed as priests.
And then prophets are anointed.
Remember when Elisha gets anointed as a prophet to replace Elijah?
And so we see that Christ is anointed in three different ways.
He's anointed as prophet, priest, and king.
And so, uh, he is that Davidic King whose kingdom will last forever, right?
There will be a second coming of Christ.
He'll set up a literal kingdom on this earth and he will rule forever.
And so this is what's pictured here by Solomon.
Peace, quietness, building God's house is not a violent enterprise.
It's not about conquering a country and saying, okay, we're going to make Christianity the
official religion and forcing Christianity.
No.
It's about reaching hearts and minds through the preaching of the gospel.
Okay.
That's what it actually comes down to.
And so I gives a little background here in first Chronicles 21 and 22.
Let's go back to the passage that we're in in second Chronicles chapter number three,
where we are tonight and we'll reread those first couple of verses with that in mind.
It says in second Chronicles chapter three, then Solomon began to build the house of the Lord
at Jerusalem in Mount Moriah where the Lord appeared unto David, his father.
So in Mount Moriah ties us in with Genesis 22 where the Lord appeared unto David, his
father.
That's tying us in with first Chronicles 21 and 22 about the plague in the place
that David had prepared in the threshing floor of Ornan, the Jebusite.
And he began to build in the second day of the second month in the fourth year
of his reign.
Now, here's something kind of interesting about Solomon starting to build the house
in the fourth year of his reign.
You might almost think, you know, why didn't he just start building it immediately, right?
You know, he becomes king.
David had already been prepping for this.
They'd already been thinking about it.
David's telling Solomon, okay, you're going to build this house for God.
You know, why not start the first year?
It doesn't start until the fourth year.
There may be a symbolic reason for this because a lot of things in the Bible are symbolic
and they have significance.
And I was thinking about this and, you know, just thinking about Solomon as picturing
the Lord Jesus Christ.
If you think about it, Jesus Christ founds the New Testament church in the fourth year
of his ministry.
You know, I thought it was an interesting parallel because Solomon begins to build the house
of God in the fourth year of his reign and Jesus Christ, his ministry lasted for
approximately three and a half years.
And so that would mean that he is founding the church in the fourth year of his ministry.
Now, yes, when is the church founded?
You know, when, when, a lot of people will say that the church is founded at the
day of Pentecost, but I don't believe that because I think that Christ has to be
the founder of the church.
So I think it makes a lot more sense, biblically, that Christ founded the church while he's
on this earth, okay?
And not only that, but at the day of Pentecost, it just says that, you know, there were
3,000 people that are added to the church as if the church already exists.
Because you've already got this assembly of New Testament believers, 120 people there
in Acts chapter 1.
They're meeting together and they're praying and they're an assembly.
It's the New Testament.
So there's your New Testament church.
And then in chapter 2 of Acts with the day of Pentecost, that's where the church
is empowered.
That's where they're evangelizing.
That's where people are being added to the church.
But if you think about it, the New Testament church is founded by Christ.
He meets with his disciples.
He breathes on them and says, receive the Holy Ghost.
And he tells them, whatsoever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven.
Whatsoever you loose on earth will be loose in heaven.
So it's Christ that founds the church with his disciples.
And if you think about it that way, it's in the fourth year of his ministry.
And then the church, you know, is empowered and grows and evangelizes in Acts chapter
2.
But I would say that the church is founded by Christ with the disciples in the upper
room.
And they continue to meet in that upper room with the women and with the children
and everybody.
And they have 120 people all together in that early church.
So when you think about the timeline of Christ, you know, how do we know that Christ's
ministry is three and a half years, right?
Because sometimes you hear these things your whole life, and you might wonder, where
does that come from, that idea of Christ's ministry lasting for three and a half years?
Well, first of all, it seems like a significant number because three and a half years is
so significant with end time stuff.
When you're reading Revelation, you've got 42 months, 1260 days, three and a half years,
time, times, half a times.
So it's kind of a handy number.
But is it actually legitimate, is it actually accurate?
Well, one of the things we could look at is the Gospel of John records at least three
different Passovers happening.
So you'll hear some people try to say that Christ's ministry was only one year
or two years or something.
But it has to be at least long enough for three Passovers to happen because you've
got a Passover that's mentioned in John chapter 2, then you've got one that's mentioned
in John chapter 6, and you've got one mentioned in John chapter 11.
They're clearly different Passovers.
It doesn't mean that there's only three, but there's at least three Passovers
happening during Christ's ministry that get mentioned in the book of John alone.
But then also, there are historical reasons to think that Christ's ministry lasted
for three and a half years.
Because the Bible gives little historical clues about when things happened.
If you would flip over to, and I'm just going to do this quickly, but flip over to Luke
chapter 3.
I'm not going to go into great detail on this subject because Pastor Shelley and I,
we actually just did a live stream the other day where we did a real deep dive
on this for like two hours or something.
We talked about this because of the fact that last week people were celebrating this
so-called Good Friday holiday, which is a totally bogus holiday that doesn't make any sense.
And here's why it doesn't make any sense, because of the fact that Christ wasn't crucified
on a Friday.
And how do we know that?
Because Jesus said, as Jonah was three days and three nights in the whale's belly,
so shall the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.
So Jesus Christ was dead for three days and three nights.
So how in the world can you get three days and three nights from Friday to Sunday?
It doesn't work.
It's impossible.
Because you have Friday night and Saturday night.
That's two nights.
Where's your third night?
We can't do Thursday night, folks.
If he's getting crucified on Friday and dying on Friday afternoon, Thursday night's
off the table.
Sunday night's off the table.
Where are you going to get your third night?
You just can't.
You got two nights there, okay?
And really, you only have two days.
Because if he dies on Friday, you got Friday.
That's one day.
Saturday is the second day.
Where's your third day?
Because the Bible says that early in the morning on the first day of the week, before
it was light, he's already missing from the tomb.
He's already gone.
He's already written.
He doesn't even go there early before it's light and he's already risen.
So how can you count Sunday as a day of him being dead?
You can't.
So you literally end up with two days and two nights.
You're a day and a night short.
Folks, it's not that hard to fix this.
You just add a day and a night and you have Jesus crucified on Thursday and everything's
fixed.
Right?
Because now you've got an extra day and an extra night.
Thursday, Thursday night, Friday, Friday night, Saturday, Saturday night, everything's
fixed.
Okay?
So we, and again, we did a huge deep dive on this for like two and a half hours.
So if you're interested in it, then you should watch that Baptist Bias podcast that
Pastor Shelley and I did where we went over all the biblical data and everything.
And then we went over even astronomical data.
We looked at this and we didn't just trust numbers and dates that people are throwing
around in the internet.
We actually sit, we pulled up an astronomy simulator.
We actually did the math and figured it out ourselves and, and proved these things.
And we figured out, you know, when these things happen.
So look at Luke chapter three verse one.
It says, now in the 15th year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being
governor of Judea and Herod being Tetrarch of Galilee and his brother, Philip, Tetrarch
of Icheria and the region of Traconitis and Licinius, the Tetrarch of Abilene, Annas
and Caiaphas being the high priest, the word of God came unto John, the son of
Zechariah in the wilderness.
That's a lot of information, isn't it?
I mean, it's listing all these guys who are in charge of all these different things.
And really the big one is the 15th year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar.
Well, here's the thing, Tiberius Caesar is a pretty well-known guy.
You know, when it comes to the Roman Caesars, obviously we know a lot about them.
There are all kinds of inscriptions about them, all kinds of historical documentation.
So we have a lot of information about Tiberius Caesar.
So this really helps us to pinpoint when Christ's ministry began because it began in the
15th year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar.
Some people would erroneously start the clock at AD 14 because in AD 14, this is when
the previous Caesar died, Caesar Augustus died.
But if you dig a little deeper, you'll find out that Tiberius actually started to
reign with full powers in AD 12, two years earlier.
And so if you start with that, then the 15th year of Tiberius ends up being AD 26.
So AD 26 would be the 15th year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar.
Then you start looking at astronomy.
You can actually figure out what date did the Passover fall on a Thursday.
And the date that the Passover fell on a Thursday around the relevant time period
is AD 30.
So in AD 30, you have the Passover on a Thursday.
So that's perfect if you back up, you know, four years earlier to AD 26 for John
the Baptist to start his ministry.
And then ultimately a few months later for Jesus to start his ministry in AD 26,
which jives with, you know, because think about AD 12, if that's the first year of
the reign of Tiberius Caesar, you know, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, right?
Four, 25, 26, because you have to count inclusively.
26 AD, that gives a nice, perfect three and a half year ministry for Christ so that
he's crucified in 30.
Now, when was Christ born?
Well, again, we know that King Herod is the one that's in power when Christ is born.
And we know that King Herod wants to kill all the children from two years old and under
according to the time that he had diligently inquired of the wise men.
That means Jesus Christ is two years old and Herod is still reigning when Jesus
is two years old.
And of course, Herod died in, according to, you know, all the history books, all
the data that we have, he died in four BC, which would mean that Christ would have
to be born in six BC or earlier.
Okay.
So, sorry, the people who came up with the years, they didn't get it exactly right.
And, uh, you know, no one, no one believes anymore that Christ was born in 81,
you know, as it was supposed to be when they invented the calendar.
He was actually born in six BC.
It's kind of ironic to say, Hey, he was born six years before Christ, but he is Christ.
Okay.
But it's just that when they made the calendar, they didn't do it right.
Hey, I got bad news for you.
He also wasn't born on December 25th.
Okay.
But you know, those are, that's just a traditional date, you know, December 25th,
one AD, you know, obviously that's not exact.
If you actually dig into the history and study the Bible and look at all
these things, you'll find that the date that works and fits all the right dates
is in six BC.
Okay.
So if Christ is born in six BC and then he dies in 30 AD, right, then, uh, that
makes him, and I know you're, you're not going to like this math right away,
but I'm right.
It would make him 34 years old when he died.
Okay.
Almost 35 about to turn 35.
And the thing about that is, and the reason why you might go like what is
cause you have to understand there is no year zero.
So when you're doing this math, you have to go straight from one BC to one
AD.
There's no zero.
Okay.
And so if you, if you figured out, if you do the math, you'll find that
Christ was, uh, 34 years old when he was crucified.
According to that.
Now jump down.
You're in Luke three, jump down to, uh, verse number 22.
It says the Holy ghost descended in bodily shape, like a dove upon him.
And a voice came from heaven, which said, thou art my beloved son in the, I am
well pleased.
And Jesus himself began to be about 30 years of age.
So notice Jesus is about 30 years of age.
It doesn't say that he's exactly 30 years of age.
It says he's about 30.
And so based on what I just explained, Jesus would be 31 years old at this time,
which is about 30.
Now, some people have Christ being, uh, uh, crucified in AD 33.
Here are a couple of problems with that.
Problem number one is that the Passover is on a Friday and we don't believe it's
stupid.
Good Friday, because it contradicts the Bible when it says three days and three
nights, we don't believe in it also.
And there are tons of other reasons we don't believe in Good Friday.
We went into it in the two hour broadcast.
I'm going to spare you now all the biblical evidence for why it was
actually Thursday, not Friday, but just, you know, if you just want to make it
easy, just Matthew 12, 40 case closed, it's three days and three nights.
So that's problem number one, but here's another big problem with AD 33 is that it
makes Jesus a little bit too old because if Jesus 31 when he's, uh, uh, starting
his ministry, that's about 30, but if you're going to push everything up and
say, no, we're going to count from when Augustus died and then we're going
to push that up and then we're going to push everything forward.
Then you get Jesus being like 34.
That's not really about 30.
You know what I mean?
Like, like I'm, I'm 42.
You know, when I'm 45, I can't be like, Hey, I'm about 40.
You know, it's like, no buddy, you're 45.
Okay.
Whereas 31 is about 40.
Okay.
So it actually, or excuse me.
Yeah.
31 in this passage is about 30.
And, and by the way, I think it makes more sense when it says he's about 30 to
say that he's a little more than 30 than a little less than 30, because I think
part of the symbolism here is like the priests, you know, starting their
ministry when they're 30.
Right.
So it's, it would seem like 30 is kind of like a requisite age.
And so it would make sense for him to be a little bit past that benchmark
than to be a little bit shy of that benchmark.
And so, uh, it makes perfect sense.
All right.
I'm not going to belabor that.
Let's go back to second Chronicles three.
I just, I just don't want you to think I'm just up here making things up.
You know, so I'm just giving you a little bit of backing or a little bit of
proof for what I'm saying.
If you are skeptical or if you want to know the details, cause you're a big
nerd like me and pastor Shelley, then, uh, you know, we've got the broadcast
for you and you can, you can, uh, listen to that, watch that.
So all that to say this, uh, Solomon begins to build the house of God
in the fourth year of his reign.
I believe that that's a foreshadowing of the fact that Christ is going to
begin to build the new Testament church in the fourth year of his ministry.
On this earth.
Uh, all right.
Look at verse three.
Uh, and, and don't worry.
I'm not going to, it's, I'm not spending equal time on each verse.
Let me just be real honest with you.
Let me just level with you tonight.
Okay.
Second Chronicles are really exciting book.
Okay.
It's just the first several chapters we got to get through this kind
of like building the temple stuff.
It's not the most action packed part.
We're going to get to some really, I mean, it's going to
be all kinds of Kings and, and prophets and all it's, there's a lot
of fun stories in second, right?
This, this first part of second Chronicles is the dry part.
Okay.
So I hope you're not just thinking like, Oh man, second
Chronicles is going to be rough.
It's a little dry right now, but I'm telling you, it's it, hang in there folks.
It gets exciting.
All right.
So, uh, that's why I'm just trying to get as much mileage out of these first
few verses as I can, because of the fact that, you know, we're getting into
just descriptions of, of the building.
And I'm going to briefly touch on that.
It says in verse three, now these are the things where in Solomon was
instructed for the building of the house of God, the length by cubits
after the measure thereof was three score cubits and the breadth 20 cubits
and the porch that was in the front of the house, the length of it was
according to the breadth of the house, 20 cubits and the height was 120.
And he overlaid it within with pure gold and the greater house.
He sealed with fir tree, which he overlaid with fine gold and set there
on Palm trees and chains, and he garnished the house with precious
stones for beauty and the gold was gold of Parvaim.
And I believe that the symbolism here is talking about two different things.
Number one, the beauty of God's house, right?
Because it's all decked with gold, precious stones, Palm trees, gems,
and also the price.
I mean, this is expensive stuff.
And the idea here is that God's house, again, thinking about the New
Testament church, the New Testament church is valuable.
It's precious.
It's a precious gift that God has given to us.
And look, we should not have buildings in the New Testament that
are covered in gold and gems.
You know, we're not going to have some cathedral with stained glass
windows and all this magnificent artwork everywhere because of the
fact that the building is not the emphasis in the New Testament.
It's the people, it's the congregation.
It's not a building, but the building in the Old Testament
pictures the people in the New Testament, right?
So the Old Testament beautiful temple is referring to the beauty of the
New Testament congregation, the beauty of Christ's church, the value of Christ's church.
And by the way, Christ purchased the church with his blood.
And so that shows you that Christ's blood is more valuable than gold and
silver and precious stones.
And the Bible flat out tells us that in the epistle of first Peter, right?
And he tells us, you know, we were not redeemed with corruptible things,
but with incorruptible things by the precious blood of Christ, not by
gold and silver, but by Jesus' blood.
And so the gold and the precious gems are just a, an approximation of the
value of Christ's church, but Christ's church actually exceeds gold and
precious stones in value and in beauty.
And so I hope you appreciate the church.
The church is a beautiful thing.
Church is a beautiful institution.
And so many people today in 2024, they think that church doesn't matter anymore.
They think they don't need church.
They say, Oh, I just do church online.
That's not church.
You're not assembled with your, with your PC, you weirdo, right?
You assemble with people, you show up and you congregate and it's a beautiful thing.
It's a beautiful place.
And you know, I hope you don't take the church for granted because I bet you
there are people who live in places where they wish that they had a Bible
believing church to go to.
And meanwhile, you're just like, eh, go to church, eh, it's boring, eh, right?
Somebody else would love to go to church.
They're longing for a church in their area.
They're begging for us to start a church in these foreign countries where
they're in spiritually destitute places, right?
And sometimes when we grow up with something, we just take it for granted.
Oh, hum.
And by the way, you know, you should be thankful for our church in particular.
First of all, we should just be thankful for the institution of the church in
general, because if faithful word Baptist church stopped existing and you started
just going to some other Baptist church in the area, you know what, it would
still be a beautiful place and a beautiful thing, and it would still be
great that there would be churches you could go to that are preaching out
of a King James Bible that are right on salvation that are right on doctrine.
You know, there are other good churches that you could go to, but you know
what, I'm especially thankful for this exact church right here too.
And here's some things I'm thankful for about it.
You know, it's doctrinally sound.
There are, and they're just a lot of great people, a lot of great friends,
a lot of social opportunities, and look, there are churches out there
that are running 10, 15, 20, 25, and you know what?
God bless them.
And guess what?
Faith word used to be one of them.
I mean, when we started the first year of our church's existence, we average 10.
The second year we average 20.
So we've been there and you know what?
Being in a small church is sometimes a little difficult, right?
But thank God that we're in a big church.
I mean, it's nice that we have so many people and it's exciting, right?
And it doesn't, there's nothing wrong with small churches.
Of course.
Uh, we don't want them to stay small though, right?
They need to be reaching people and growing and, and, and, uh, you know,
eventually not being small is obviously it's God's will that we reach more people
and that we all, uh, can grow this thing and even establish new churches.
And so, you know, I'm thankful that it's doctrinally sound.
I'm thankful for all the wonderful people.
There are a lot of great friends here, a lot of great social opportunities.
You know, it's a people in this church that has a heart to work because look
at how many people are out knocking doors and soul winning every week, right?
Not just on the sidelines, on the bench.
No, man, this is a church where people get involved.
And not only that, it's a church where people know the Bible.
Like if you walk around and talk to people, you're going to realize, wow,
there are a lot of people in this church who know the Bible and virtually
anyone in this church can whip out a Bible and show you how to be saved.
That's pretty cool.
And so there's a lot to be thankful for.
The church is precious and the church is beautiful and that's why the temple is
overlaid with gold to picture that, to signify that you really think God is
really just that impressed with like gold as a material, not really.
Right.
You know, it's, it's a symbol.
It pictures something because humans obviously consider it so precious and so
valuable and so beautiful and so God's using it to picture the price and the
beauty of the new Testament church.
That's why everything's overlaid in gold.
Uh, let me just hit on a couple of other highlights.
Um, when it comes to the cherry BIMs and things, I'm going to talk about that when
in next week when we talk about chapter four, so I'm saving some of that for
chapter four cause it ties in with more of the building stuff, but I just want
to touch on one more thing.
It says in verse 14 and he made the veil of blue and purple and crimson and
fine linen and raw cherry BIMs there on.
Now the veil is that which separates the holy place from the most holy place,
right?
The inner sanctum of the temple is a place that's so holy that only the
high priest can go there once per year on the day of atonement and
that's where God's presence dwells above the cherry BIMs, uh, over the
mercy seed.
The arc of the covenant is there and that's the most holy place.
And so when we have the most holy place separated from the holy place by a
veil, okay, when Jesus Christ dies on the cross, that veil is going to be
torn in half.
And what that signifies is that Christ's death on the cross actually opens the
way for us into the most holy place.
No longer is God inaccessible to us where we'd have to go through this, uh,
mediator of a human being, a priest or a high priest.
No, there's one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.
And that mediator Christ Jesus actually is pictured by the veil.
That's why the Bible says that Christ has made a new and living way in the
book of Hebrews into the most holy place through the veil.
That is to say his flesh.
So the Bible says that Christ's flesh is the veil, right?
So the veil represents Christ's body.
And what did Jesus Christ say at the last supper?
This is my body, which is broken for you, right?
So Christ said his body is broken for you.
The veil is torn in half representing the breaking of the body of Jesus, which
opens the way, right?
Because the veil is a barrier when it's torn, it opens the way for us to
boldly enter to the throne of grace and you know, and find grace to help in
time of need.
And so that's what a picture.
So look at the colors.
The colors are perfect to represent the broken body of Christ.
Because what are these colors all have in common?
Blue, purple, and crimson.
What are these colors mean?
What are, what are, what does blue, purple, and crimson make you think of?
This is the beaten, bloody, bruised body of Jesus, right?
Because if you think about it, the Bible says the blueness of the
blueness of the wound cleanses the way evil.
So do stripes, the innermost parts of the belly.
So the Bible describes stripes as being blue.
Why?
Because of the fact that when you are beaten, even though the blood on
the outside of our body is red, right?
That would be the, the crimson idea here.
The blood that's under our skin in the form of bruising is blue and purple.
And the Bible even specifically uses the word blue to describe being beaten
with stripes, because when you're beaten with a whip, not only is there
the release of blood as the skin is torn open, but you also just have the
physical impact of that whip hitting the body.
And of course you're going to have bruising.
And so if you were to see, uh, the, the, the beaten body of Christ, you
would literally see these three colors.
You would see blue, purple, and scarlet, right?
The blood on the outside of his body would be the, the, the, the
crimson or the red, and then the blue and purple would be the
bruised up beaten body of Jesus.
And so this is a perfect picture of Christ's body, the veil.
See nothing in the Bible is incidental, coincidental, or accidental.
It's not just, Hey, you know, we decided to go with some cool colors.
You know, we're not, we're not going to do warm colors.
So we decided to go with, you know, this kind of blues and purples and,
you know, a deep red.
It's not just an interior decorating color scheme.
It represents blood and bruising, right?
Because everything about this temple with the blood sacrifices and the
burnt offerings and the blue and the purple and the scarlet is
all pointing us to the crucifixion of Christ, right?
His substitutionary atonement for us.
That's why it's done in a place of substitutionary atonement where
Abraham offered Isaac and ultimately Isaac was subbed out for the ram.
It's offered in a place of atonement where David atoned for the sin of
numbering the people and God's wrath was stayed.
And even the physical, uh, you know, architecture and interior design is
all pointing us toward the cross of Christ.
And so that's what it's all about.
And the gospel is about what Jesus did for you on the cross.
It's his death, his burial and resurrection.
You know what?
The gospel is not what you did for Jesus.
Isn't it funny when you ask people if they know for sure they're going to
heaven and then they tell you they're going to heaven because of what they
do for God or what they did for Jesus?
No, my friend, the gospel is not about you.
The gospel is about Christ.
It's what he did.
Our righteousness is or has filthy rags.
It's what Christ did.
We believe on Christ.
We're saved and we are assembled here together.
Congregated.
We are the church right here.
An assembly of born again baptized believers.
There are other churches.
That's why the Bible uses like 70 sometimes the word churches.
There's not one church.
There are churches all over the city, all over the state, all over the world.
Legitimate Bible believing churches.
We're one of them.
The church as an institution is a precious gift.
It's beautiful.
It's costly.
It's precious.
And just as the Old Testament temple, the Old Testament house of God is pointing people
to Jesus, the New Testament temple is also pointing people to Christ.
That's our job as a church.
Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer.
Father, we thank you so much for this chapter, Lord, and we pray that you'd bless
us as we study the book of second Chronicles, Lord, help us to grow in grace and in
the knowledge of our Lord and savior Jesus Christ.
And it's his name we pray.
Amen.