His Perfect Plan
Notes
Transcript
2 Samuel 24 (ESV)
Again the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he incited David against them, saying, “Go, number Israel and Judah.” So the king said to Joab, the commander of the army, who was with him, “Go through all the tribes of Israel, from Dan to Beersheba, and number the people, that I may know the number of the people.”
But Joab said to the king, “May the Lord your God add to the people a hundred times as many as they are, while the eyes of my lord the king still see it, but why does my lord the king delight in this thing?” But the king’s word prevailed against Joab and the commanders of the army. So Joab and the commanders of the army went out from the presence of the king to number the people of Israel …
And Joab gave the sum of the numbering of the people to the king: in Israel there were 800,000 valiant men who drew the sword, and the men of Judah were 500,000. But David’s heart struck him after he had numbered the people. And David said to the Lord, “I have sinned greatly in what I have done. But now, O Lord, please take away the iniquity of your servant, for I have done very foolishly.”
And when David arose in the morning, the word of the Lord came to the prophet Gad, David’s seer, saying, “Go and say to David, ‘Thus says the Lord, Three things I offer you. Choose one of them, that I may do it to you.’ ” So Gad came to David and told him, and said to him, “Shall three years of famine come to you in your land? Or will you flee three months before your foes while they pursue you? Or shall there be three days’ pestilence in your land? Now consider, and decide what answer I shall return to him who sent me.”
Then David said to Gad, “I am in great distress. Let us fall into the hand of the Lord, for his mercy is great; but let me not fall into the hand of man.” So the Lord sent a pestilence on Israel from the morning until the appointed time. And there died of the people from Dan to Beersheba 70,000 men.
And when the angel stretched out his hand toward Jerusalem to destroy it, the Lord relented from the calamity and said to the angel who was working destruction among the people, “It is enough; now stay your hand.” And the angel of the Lord was by the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.
Then David spoke to the Lord when he saw the angel who was striking the people, and said, “Behold, I have sinned, and I have done wickedly. But these sheep, what have they done? Please let your hand be against me and against my father’s house.” And Gad came that day to David and said to him, “Go up, raise an altar to the Lord on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.”
So David went up at Gad’s word, as the Lord commanded … So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver. And David built there an altar to the Lord and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. So the Lord responded to the plea for the land, and the plague was averted from Israel.
Finishing 2 Samuel - what a journey it has been
Focus on David - the man who loves God and who God loves, the man who believes God’s promises and trusts in the Savior He will provide, yet a man still inclined towards sin, but still a man who God uses for the good of His kingdom and His people in spite of his failures.
God has a plan for David.
And we are no different. We are like David in both our love for God and our weakness. In our trust in God and our failures. And we are like Him in that God has a plan for us.
And we will see that very plan moved forward in our passage today. We are considering the final chapter of 2 Samuel, and we don’t end with more tales of victory for David. We don’t end with a recap of all the good he has done. We don’t end with him clearly pointing us forward to the coming King that would save God’s people and reign forever.
Instead, we see David fail once again, and in a big way. And we see, once again, God use that to point him and us forward to the true King - Jesus Christ.
The writer of the book ends on this note to remind us one final time that even for someone like King David - a hero of the faith, such a historically important champion of the kingdom - that even when it comes to him, none of it was of him. Nothing accomplished for the good of God’s people was because of what David did, but because of what God did.
And that’s like us, too.
So the writer wants to make sure we see clearly who David is - and is not - so that we can see clearly who Christ is. So the book ends with a great promise and a look forward to the Person and work of Christ.
And this is why - much to the chagrin of some of you - I chose to preach through this set of Old Testament books. I wanted us all to see how the Old Testament Scriptures are ours and how they are a unified whole with the New Testament.
At the very outset of the series in 1 Samuel, I opened by pointing out how the Old Testament books are ours - they are Christian books. I pointed out how may of those that we meet in the pages of the Old Testament are our brothers and sisters in Christ.
I pointed out how the plan that unfolds in the pages of the Old Testament and the books of Samuel is the same plan of God that is unfolding today that we have a part in.
And I pointed out how it is the same Holy Spirit pointing us to Christ in the Old Testament as in the New. The same voice of God tells the story, and the same Christ is the star of the story.
I hope we have seen that. If not, we’ll have to just continue to the books of Kings next...
Just kidding.
But what we have in our passage today makes all of these things clear to us. So for a final time, we open the book of Samuel to see our story unfold.
And we don’t begin with a neat little wrap-up of the book, like the final scene of a Hallmark movie where everything you already knew was going to happen plays out exactly as it should. Instead, we start with this:
2 Samuel 24:1 (ESV)
Again the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel
The writer of the book likes to use the word “again.” He uses it a lot. We’ve seen him describe Saul trying to kill David again. Or David calling on the Lord again. Or their being war between Israel and their enemies again. We have seen a lot of repetition in the history recorded in these books.
Here, history repeats itself in that the anger of YHWH is kindled against Israel again.
But here’s the thing - this is the first time in either book of Samuel that we are told YHWH is angry with Israel.
So how is He angry “again?”
I mean, we see God angry with Israel quite a bit in the Old Testament. We see it starting in the book of Exodus, pretty much right after God saves them from Egypt. We see it in Numbers. We see it in Deuteronomy.
We see it in Joshua even as Israel takes the Land. We see it in the book of Judges - again and again.
But then in 1 Samuel we don’t read of YHWH being angry with His people. Even when they demand a king, we aren’t told God was angry. Samuel was, but we aren’t told God was. We don’t read of any anger against Israel in 2 Samuel until here in the last chapter.
So why are we told that YHWH’s anger is kindled against Israel again?
Because that is an important part of what the author is telling us here. After all of it. The Exodus. The giving of the Law. The taking of the Land. The end of the era of the judges. The changing of the guard in the priesthood. The choosing of the king that the people wanted and then the choosing of the king that God wanted.
After all the Saul vs. David stuff. After victories, and after defeats. After great earthly prosperity. After the making of the covenant with David. Through the sin and repentance of the people and of David on multiple occasions. After attempted coups and strife from within, and even after the regaining of all that was lost.
After all of it, the author wants to make sure we know: nothing has really changed.
Because all of these… situations. All of these things that happened in the physical kingdom and to people no matter how important they are in the world - none of it changes anything. Their success in the world. Their failures. What they did. None of it changed anything.
The only thing that could change any of it - and specifically, what could change the anger and just punishment at the hands of God - well… is God. It requires God to do something. It requires Him to do something in the history of redemption.
In fact, it requires Him to actually step into history and do what David or Israel or we cannot do.
It requires Him becoming a physical part of the story. It requires Him doing something about the righteous anger of God. It requires Him overcoming the failures and the sinful patterns of His people - whether then or now.
It’s the only way anything changes. It’s the only way we change. It’s the only way our hearts and dispositions towards God change. It’s the only way our standing under the righteous wrath of God changes.
God has to do it.
So the author starts with this anger of YHWH being kindled “again.” Because at this point, at the end of the story of the books of Samuel, God has not yet done what needs doing.
But thankfully that is only the beginning of the chapter. God is going to do what anyone else cannot do, and make a way.
And how will He do it? He will do it through the course of actual history. Most importantly by stepping down into history, as I said. But that isn’t the end of it. God works through all of history to bring about His plan of salvation.
Tuesday night discussion: Our religion is the one where God’s plan is played out in history - God reveals Himself, plays out our way to Him in verifiable, objectively true history - (no secret revelation!)
And God - Who works this all out in space and time - He in His sovereignty ordains not only all the ends but all the means. He has a perfect plan and He chooses how it works out.
And that’s where we come in. If you don’t believe that God has chosen the means of achieving His purposes, then why do you think we’re here? Here this morning to worship Him and hear Him speak, but also here at all. Why doesn’t God save us and then just bring us to heaven?
Because He isn’t done working out His plan. He isn’t done with this world yet. So He isn’t done with us - His chosen means of working out His will in this world.
And He works out that will not just using our service to Him (He does, and that’s so important) or using us in those moments when we are kind and humble. He uses everything. Everything. The good, the bad, and the ugly.
The older I get - and I’m not quite as old as you probably think I am - and the more mature I get - and I’m probably not quite as mature as you think I am - and the more my faith grows - and don’t make the mistake of thinking pastors have some kind of unwavering, super-faith, that’s not how it works - but as God has made these incremental changes in me for the better, I realize more and more that asking “why?” in any situation is really the wrong question to ask.
Because we know why. God is using it to carry out His perfect plan. No matter what “it” is.
And that’s what we see here. How God uses everything for His perfect ends:
Again the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he incited David against them, saying, “Go, number Israel and Judah.”
So, because God is angry with Israel, He is going to punish them. And in order to do that, He uses David. He incites him to take a census. God did this. So God is using David and his actions as a means to an end. To carry out His plan for His people. He somehow enticed David and induced him to take this action. Here, it would seem that He just outright told him.
Well, the verb here is an infinitive and can be translated that God incited David against Israel “to say.”
But there’s more to it than that. Because when we read of this event in the book of 1 Chronicles, it begins this way:
Then Satan stood against Israel and incited David to number Israel.
God incited David. But Satan incited David. So is there a contradiction here?
Absolutely not.
Because, as I said, God uses all things. He ordains every end and every means. And - not for the only time in the Bible - God uses even the adversary to achieve His ends.
So all things considered: David did it. Satan did it. But it was God working out His plan in history using His chosen means.
The mystery of God’s sovereignty – even over Satan and over the sin of man – may be difficult if not impossible to understand. But there is no doubt that the Bible teaches it.
So now David is incited by God through Satan to take this census. So I want us to ask two questions here.
First, why did David do this? Yes, I know God incited him and Satan incited him, but David was still the chosen means. He still did this in space and time. HE still made a choice.
So did Satan play off David’s pride? Was David proud of “his” accomplishments and Israel’s prosperity and so he wanted to take stock of all the good he had done?
Maybe. This again isn’t much different from us. Because we all at times do this very thing. We like to count.
Sometimes, we look at our possessions and we think they are the proof of our success. That they are a measure of what we have accomplished. So we count our money or the assets in our portfolio or we look at our salary our or home value and think to ourselves “look what I’ve been able to do.”
That’s pride. Pride confuses success with having, and having with receiving.
I have known pastors that take a count of the people in service every Sunday or a count of the hands raised during the invitation and believe that is a gauge of their success. I have also known pastors who count the money in the offering and do the same.
That’s pride. That is confusing worldly results with true success.
But this isn’t all we count, is it?
Sometimes, we like to count how many people agree with us, thinking that the numbers determine what’s right and what’s wrong. We can do it with our theology. We can do it with our political views. We can do it with any and every opinion we have.
That’s pride. That’s looking to vindicate ourselves.
Sometimes, we like to count other’s mistakes. We sometimes keep a record of wrongs - at least, what we think is wrong. Usually, we do it to justify our wrongs as either not as wrong, or as necessary because we were wronged. We were wronged more than we wronged.
That’s pride. That’s looking to justify ourselves.
So let’s not shake our heads at David here if this is a matter of pride. We can understand it.
But maybe it isn’t pride. Maybe - just maybe - David did this with good intentions. Maybe David realized the end of his life was coming, and he wanted to know how many soldiers Israel had because there was more territory to take for God. I mean, the full area of the land God promised Abraham hadn’t been reached yet. Maybe David thought he was doing this for God.
Kind of like how he thought he’d build a Temple for God.
And how often do we do the same? How often can we fool ourselves or can the powers of darkness fool us into doing something “good” for God without really thinking about whether its for us to do? Or whether God wants it done this way, right now. How often do we act with good intentions without seeking God first?
And after all, it might be easy to justify this as coming from a good place. I mean, God commanded censuses before. Go read the book of Numbers.
But regardless of the thought behind it, or the intentions, what David did was sinful. That’s clear from the passage.
Joab knew it was wrong:
But Joab said to the king, “May the Lord your God add to the people a hundred times as many as they are, while the eyes of my lord the king still see it, but why does my lord the king delight in this thing?”
David eventually realized it was wrong:
But David’s heart struck him after he had numbered the people. And David said to the Lord, “I have sinned greatly in what I have done. But now, O Lord, please take away the iniquity of your servant, for I have done very foolishly.”
And in the parallel account in 1 Chronicles, we read that God counted it as sin:
But God was displeased with this thing, and he struck Israel.
So that brings me to my second question. We know that it doesn’t matter why David did what he did, because we know it was sinful.
But why did God do it? Just to punish Israel?
And I know, I just said that asking “why” is the wrong question to ask. And that’s the point. Because we can ask why God does anything or allows anything in particular, and the answer is always the same: God is using it to carry out His perfect plan. No matter what “it” is.
So there is more here than just the sin of David or the sin of Israel that angered God. There is more than just God wanting to punish sin in this chapter.
Yes, God uses wordly circumstances to chastise even His own people. The Bible doesn’t hide from this fact. But even that is a means used for a greater end.
Because God did this not just to punish Israel, but to lead them and David to repentance, and to point them to their need for Christ.
This is the same reason He chastises us when we sin like a loving Father should. There is a greater plan God has beyond the momentary correction.
And even that momentary correction is a means to achieving His purposes.
So don’t ask “why was God angry with Israel?”
Don’t ask “why did God chastise them?
Don’t ask “why did God allow Satan to incite David to do this” or “why did God allow David to sin at all?”
Don’t ask why.
Praise God that He is good and uses all things to carry out His perfect plan.
And His plan is to save to the uttermost those that believe. His plan is to call to Himself whoever will believe that they should not perish but have everlasting life.
Because there is judgment coming. Because sin has to be answered for.
Remember, sin always has consequences.
Like it did for David and for Israel.
And when David arose in the morning, the word of the Lord came to the prophet Gad, David’s seer, saying, “Go and say to David, ‘Thus says the Lord, Three things I offer you. Choose one of them, that I may do it to you.’ ” So Gad came to David and told him, and said to him, “Shall three years of famine come to you in your land? Or will you flee three months before your foes while they pursue you? Or shall there be three days’ pestilence in your land? Now consider, and decide what answer I shall return to him who sent me.”
As I said, sin always has consequences. For God’s people, our sin often results in the chastisement of God. That is what God is doing here with David. He is chastising him for His sin through circumstances in this world.
And there are circumstances in this world that the Bible tells us repeatedly are pointers to the fact that there are consequences for sin - whether chastisement or judgment.
Notice that the three choices God gives David here are: famine, war, or pestilence. These are used often in the Old Testament as pictures of general judgment for sin, and as examples of how sin has affected the world.
The prophets use these. They are used by Jesus in the Olivet Discourse to talk about the time between His comings.
These three are used in the book of Revelation the same way. If you were part of that study, we saw the reality of these three represented by three of the horsemen from the scroll the Lamb opens. If you weren’t and you want to know more about that, I have a book recommendation.
Here, what God is doing is punishing Israel for sin but using it as a picture of what sin has done to the world. In the same way, David’s repentance that we saw in verse 10 and his worship of God we will see in a minute, and God’s subsequent relenting from judgment are a picture of God’s salvation of His people who repent in faith.
This is a fitting end to the book. We have followed the story of David, the Christ-figure – prophet, priest, and king – and his sufferings in this world, his humility, and his trust in God to judge justly. We have also seen the sinner who through God’s sovereign choice – and his own repentance and faith – found salvation in God in spite of his sin.
And we have seen Israel, the sinful nation to which God has shown His favor, but whose sin has tried God’s patience so many times.
All of this is meant to point us one place. To One Person. This all shows us our great need for Christ and His salvation.
Whether you are a child of God, or you have never placed your faith in Him, your greatest need is Christ.
Whether you are flying high and living out your faith like never before or you are struggling with doubt - whether you are stuck in sin or you are living victorious over the power of sin - whether you are a brand new Christian, a backsliding Christian, or a strong mature Christian - your greatest need is Christ.
That was David’s need. That was Israel’s need.
But there’s more here. Because while this is a picture of what sin has done to the world and an example of temporal judgment, this is also a picture of the final judgment. I want to jump over to 1 Chronicles again to see this judgment. The prophet comes to David and offers the three options:
either three years of famine, or three months of devastation by your foes while the sword of your enemies overtakes you, or else three days of the sword of the Lord, pestilence on the land, with the angel of the Lord destroying throughout all the territory of Israel.’ Now decide what answer I shall return to him who sent me.”
Note that here, we see that this pestilence is called the sword of YHWH. And the pestilence is said to be the Angel of YHWH destroying throughout all the territory of Israel.
And, of course, the Angel of YHWH in the Old Testament is none other than the pre-incarnate Christ. It is the Son of God - the visible YHWH figure of the Old Testament.
He is Who will carry out the judgment if David chooses option number three.
And there are two important takeaways from this.
First, realize that judgment is coming. Christ will return as King with all of His holy ones and He will judge with the sword of His mouth all who have refused to repent and believe.
And we - brothers and sisters in Christ - we will be among those holy ones coming to judge. We will be spared this judgment.
And why? Because Christ took that judgment for us at the cross. He willingly went to death and willingly took the wrath of God in our place that we might be among that “whoever” that believes and has everlasting life.
That means - and this is kind of mind blowing - Jesus took the judgment in our place, and it is the judgment He Himself will carry out. Jesus died in our place to save us from His judgment.
Think about that. This isn’t “oh there is someone I love and someone else is angry at them so I will take the punishment of that person.” This isn’t that a judge has justly condemned us but Jesus serves the sentence for us.
No. Jesus is the Judge!
This is “I am justly angry with this person and their sin, and they deserve my judgment, yet I will stand in their place and take the just judgment I am going to mete out on those I am angry with.”
Look, it is one thing to be merciful. It is one thing to relent of judgment. That is loving enough.
But it is quite another thing - an infinitely greater kind of mercy - to take the judgment someone genuinely deserves when You’re the Judge.
That is unfathomable love.
And that is love that is only found in Jesus Christ.
And second, I want us to notice that it is precisely this mercy that makes David choose option number three:
Then David said to Gad, “I am in great distress. Let us fall into the hand of the Lord, for his mercy is great; but let me not fall into the hand of man.”
And I have struggled with this passage. I have wondered why David would choose this option. Why did he choose a pestilence on the nation rather than fleeing from before his enemies.
I even had a discussion with some of you last week about this to help me think it through. And it never dawned on me why David chose this until this week. Because it almost seems selfish at first, doesn’t it. Punish the nation and not me personally.
And I thought, well, maybe because of David’s history with Saul and then Absalom and all the running from his enemies he did for years he just couldn’t bear to do it again.
But that’s not it at all. David knew judgment was coming at the hand of God, and David knew his only choice was to throw himself on God’s mercy.
My friends, if you have not placed your faith in Christ, I beg you to follow David’s example.
You need to throw yourself on the mercy of God!
Because judgment is coming. Sin always has consequences.
But God is infinitely merciful to those who look to Christ.
Because there is only one way to be saved from the just judgment of God.
Repent and throw yourself on God’s mercy.
And David lifted his eyes and saw the angel of the Lord standing between earth and heaven, and in his hand a drawn sword stretched out over Jerusalem. Then David and the elders, clothed in sackcloth, fell upon their faces.
Repent and throw yourself on God’s mercy, and He will grant it:
And when the angel stretched out his hand toward Jerusalem to destroy it, the Lord relented from the calamity and said to the angel who was working destruction among the people, “It is enough; now stay your hand.” And the angel of the Lord was by the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.
The Angel of the Lord had His sword drawn. He had it raised over the people He was justly angry with.
And because they were the people of God, and because they repented and threw themselves upon His mercy, the Angel of YHWH - Christ - was merciful.
In other words, God made a way.
And this is exactly where the book ends - pointing David forward to the way - to the way the truth and the life Who is Christ.
Note that the Angel of YHWH relents, and is now by this threshing floor of this Araunah (Ornah) the Jebusite.
There is so much going on here, all pointing us to Christ. There are details I don’t want us to miss because it fills me with absolute awe when the Bible shows us how it is one, unified story of redemption for God’s people.
Right after this, David is told by God to go to this threshing floor and make a sacrifice to God. And we are told that this is the floor of a Jebusite man. Does anyone remember where we have seen the Jebusites before?
Thy were the inhabitants of the portion of the land that included the city of Jerusalem. We only hear about them one other time in the books of Samuel, back in 2 Samuel 5, when, right after he takes the throne of all Israel, David takes Jerusalem to be his capital city.
So this threshing floor is in the area of Jerusalem as it was at the time. Very close, actually.
The Angel of YHWH was literally right there, right outside of Jerusalem, with His sword drawn.
And David comes to this threshing floor, and he builds an altar, and he sacrifices to God. But before he does that, he actually buys the threshing floor and the surrounding land. David will not offer to God something that doesn’t cost him something.
And this is how the book of 2 Samuel ends:
And David built there an altar to the Lord and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. So the Lord responded to the plea for the land, and the plague was averted from Israel.
Through a sacrifice, God shows mercy, and removes the judgment.
But that isn’t where the parallel account in 1 Chronicles ends.
In fact the very next chapter begins with this. David is still there at the threshing floor he purchased, and:
Then David said, “Here shall be the house of the Lord God and here the altar of burnt offering for Israel.”
And then for 8 chapters, we read of David’s preparation for the Temple to be built. I know Chronicles can be tedious for some, but you miss a lot of the story if you don’t read it. David was the one who did all the footwork for the Temple to be built. For there to be a permanent place where sacrifices to God could be made.
And it is the very place that Christ relented when David threw Himself upon His mercy.
And, of course, we know that the Temple points us forward to Christ and His sacrifice. But there’s more to the story that that.
Because when Solomon becomes king and carries out his father’s wishes by building the Temple, we read this:
Then Solomon began to build the house of the Lord in Jerusalem on Mount Moriah, where the Lord had appeared to David his father, at the place that David had appointed, on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite.
So the land David bought becomes part of Jerusalem, and the Temple is built there, and we read that the land David bought that becomes the Temple Mount was called Mount Moriah.
There is only one other place in all of Scripture that we read of this mountain. Way back in Genesis 22. God called Abraham and promised him a seed that would come after him that would bless the world - just like God promised David a seed that would come after him.
And then, God keeps His promise to Abraham, and if you know the story, a son is born to Abraham, and then God says this:
He said, “Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.”
So Abraham is to go to a mountain in Moriah, and sacrifice the child of promise.
And Abraham goes:
And Isaac said to his father Abraham, “My father!” And he said, “Here I am, my son.” He said, “Behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?” Abraham said, “God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.” So they went both of them together.
And Abraham, there on Mount Moriah, raises his blade over the child of promise, and is ready to carry out God’s command:
But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” He said, “Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.”
The Angel of YHWH relents at Mount Moriah and the promise continues for His chosen people.
So Abraham called the name of that place, “The Lord will provide”; as it is said to this day, “On the mount of the Lord it shall be provided.”
And it was. For David and God’s people, the very Christ that told Abraham not to strike his son, at the very spot He told him - this same Christ stood on that very spot with His blade raised, ready to strike, and He relented because of His great mercy.
And there, on the very spot named YHWH yireh - the Lord will provide - by Abraham, where God provided a way for the promise to stand through the sacrifice of a lamb...
And on the very spot where God provided mercy to David and all of His people through repentance and sacrifice...
On that very spot, God provided a place for sacrifices to be made.
On that very spot was built the Temple that points us to the Just Judge Who is also the sacrificial Lamb.
On that very spot stood Jesus of Nazareth - the Christ - Son of God in the flesh - and promised that if the true Temple were to be destroyed, He would rebuild it in three days.
And it was. And He did. Because He became the true sacrifice, that He might be just and the justifier of those who believe.
God worked His perfect plan through Abraham, through Isaac, through all of the circumstances of this life they endured - through David and through Israel and all the circumstances of this life that they endured...
Through Jesus of Nazareth, and all of the circumstances of His life, and His death, and His glorious resurrection, God worked out His perfect plan.
And every bit of history - every circumstance - everything that happens - God has used and still uses to carry out His perfect plan.
Through the circumstances of this life and through us - God is still carrying out His perfect plan.
And thank God for that. Praise Him that He is sovereign over the ends and the means.
And praise Him that He has chosen us - His Church - to be the means of achieving His ends and telling the world of His great mercy.
So to do that, we need to remember what we have seen today in this passage.
Remember, what God did, and what God still does in and through us - it changes things. God did it. He fulfilled His promise and it changed everything. It changed us. It changed the world.
God did it, and we have been changed. And He wants to use us to change the world even more.
And as we do that, God uses all things to point us to Christ - our greatest need no matter who we are.
God uses the highs and lows, successes and failures, the mountaintops and the valleys, the gain and the loss, great faith and faith the size of a mustard seed - God uses it all to carry out His plan.
God uses us!
Brothers and sisters, the plan of God that included Abraham and Isaac and David and Israel - that is the plan He is still working out through His chosen means.
That’s you. That’s me.
What we read today is our story - and our story isn’t over.
And we now take leave - at least for now - of our brother David. The one who points us forward to the One Who was to come, and now has. The one whose life pointed him forward to the promise of God that has now been fulfilled.
God has done it.
And that perfect plan will be complete when we meet the Lord in the air and His final judgment is meted out and we are with Him forever to praise Him and worship Him.
God will do it.
And until then, that perfect plan is being carried out through those that look to Christ and live for Him.
God is still doing it.
So if you have not placed your faith in Christ, or if you have but are stuck in a pattern of sin, or if you are walking the walk that you talk but want to see God’s glory spread far and wide - throw yourself on the mercy of God by looking to Christ.
Because He alone is where God’s plan becomes perfect.
He alone is where we become - and continue to be - part of God’s story.