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[0:00] Let's come quietly to God in prayer. Lord, we thank you that we have a great saviour, a great heavenly friend, and we take this opportunity! in the quietness of our hearts to bring to you those things that we want to bring as prayers, those things that perhaps are burdens to us, troubles, impossibilities, worries. You've told us that we're to bring these things to our heavenly Father, bring these things to our heavenly friend.

[0:45] And this we do. We ask you to hear our prayers, and we ask that you will help us to hear you as you address us in your word. You have told us that your word is a living word which divides right inside us and speaks to us, and that we cannot live by bread alone but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.

[1:19] So please help us as we earnestly ask you as we come to listen to your word just now. We pray it in Jesus' name. Amen.

[1:32] Amen. Amen. Please, will you open your Bible at 1 Kings chapter 1. We're now going to look at this.

[1:45] It's part of our worship to do God the honour of listening to what he says, rather than trying to guess what he might be saying.

[2:00] This is him actually saying something in the Bible. And every time we come to do this, it seems to us perhaps, well, what is God going to say from this chapter?

[2:14] And again, we've asked that even though it might seem a baffling chapter, that God would nevertheless speak to us in a real and living way.

[2:27] Here's my introduction. This is the question, a question for us this morning. Who is the king? Who is on the throne?

[2:39] Who rules? Who decides, for me, the course of my life? Now, if you ask the BBC science programmes, they'd say, what a ridiculous question.

[2:56] It's all a product of evolution. And evolution just guides everything. It's impersonal. Evolution is very clever, but it's not a person.

[3:06] And so there is no king apart from that. Well, I don't think that's the right answer. If you ask across the world, you'll get different answers from different religions.

[3:17] So one religion might say Buddha rules in some way, or another religion might say Mohammed rules in some way. Or if you come to Europe, where we tend to be a post-Christian society, it might be in fact that money rules.

[3:39] If you listen to the selection of news on the BBC, you might be forgiven for thinking that most important thing in the world was the economy.

[3:52] Didn't somebody once say, it's the economy, stupid? I think somebody once said that, didn't they? That's the important thing. Actually, somebody sat on this platform right here and said those words.

[4:04] Fame. Power. These are the things, perhaps, that rule. Or more simply, what rules my life?

[4:14] Me. I rule my own life. I do what I want. Nobody tells me what to do. Now, a king is the person who rules and reigns, the person who has power, the person from whom we may seek support, because if your city was besieged by enemies, you would send a message to the king and say, come and get me out of this problem, and a good king would come and do that.

[4:42] He'd give support. The king is the place of glory. Actually, the king sets standards, because in the book of Judges, there was no king, and everybody did what was right in his own eyes, if you remember.

[4:57] The king is the person who brings rescue and salvation. So a king is a very important person. I'm asking the question, who is the king? And it's a big piece of theology.

[5:09] You might say, well, we had read to us very clearly, but we had read to us a bit of history with some names that were difficult to pronounce and somewhat irrelevant, but it isn't.

[5:23] This is big theology. You might say, in a sense, the point of the whole Bible is to establish, who is the king? And in Psalm 2, God looks out on the world in uproar, in its confusion, in its rebellion, and he says, I've got the answer to that.

[5:45] And it's a very simple answer, and it's a very powerful answer. I have my king. I have installed my king, it says in Psalm 2, on Zion, my holy hill.

[6:00] God has put a king in place. And of course, that's what this story is about. Who's the king? So, it'll take me some time to say it, but this morning, I just have one big question, and one big point.

[6:18] Who is the king? Okay, let's look at the story. So, King David, this is just filling in on the background.

[6:30] King David, who in verse 1 is old, but he was previously God's choice. He was the first proper king. He received God's promises, but now he's old.

[6:45] Previously to this, his eldest son Absalom had usurped the throne. To usurp means to grab something that isn't yours, and in particular, a position.

[6:57] So, Absalom had grabbed the throne, pushed David out of the way, and taken the throne himself. That's usurping. He had usurped the throne.

[7:07] He's now dead. The next oldest son, whose mother was Haggith, is Adonijah. It's about him. And as we look at who is the king, it's got seven, there are sort of seven scenes here, which we'll go through.

[7:25] And I've listed them there on the screen, but we'll go through them. So, number one, the weakness of the old king. There he is. When King David was old and well advanced in years, he could not keep warm even when they put covers over him.

[7:44] So his servants said to him, let us look for a young virgin to attend the king and take care of him. She can lie beside him so that our lord the king may keep warm.

[7:55] And they searched throughout Israel for a beautiful girl and found Abishag, a Shunammite, and brought her to the king. The king was very beautiful. She took care of the king and waited on him, but the king had no intimate relations with her.

[8:14] There's the king. This is the problem with kings, isn't it? They get old. And the story of the Bible is a forever kingdom, a kingdom that lasts forever and ever.

[8:26] You remember the bit in the Messiah? He shall reign. He shall reign. Forever and ever. Now that's a problem because if kings get old, what do you do? And we're told twice he was old.

[8:41] Just notice the way the man, the storyteller tells us. He was old. Do you notice this? And well advanced in years. So he's telling us twice. He really was old.

[8:53] And he was cold. He couldn't keep warm. He was old and he was cold. He was old squared and he was cold. So the solution for this before the days of hot water bottles, apparently, was to find a beautiful young lady, which I've drawn there, and she has to function as a hot water bottle.

[9:14] Now, that's an interesting one, isn't it? It says, but David had no intimate relations with her.

[9:24] You know that the Hebrew way of saying this and the Greek way of saying this is he did not know her. That's the way of saying had no sexual relations. He did not know her.

[9:35] To have sexual relations is to know somebody in a very deep way. And he didn't know her. And that's the first of a number of things that people don't know and that David doesn't know in this chapter.

[9:47] David did not know her. And so, this is part of the weakness because he's either not interested or he's unable. And this is a rather a telling way of saying how old and how past it he is.

[10:05] And this is the king. He's past it in all these senses. And this is the human condition, isn't it? If you look around, every single person here in this room is older than when you last saw them.

[10:22] Some notice it more than others. But it is the human condition. We live in a fallen world where in the end we die.

[10:33] It's one of the two things that's guaranteed, isn't it? Death and taxis. Now, why a taxi is guaranteed?

[10:44] Because I've run for a taxi and it's never turned up. The human condition is that of age and infirmity. And God alone is immortal, isn't he?

[10:57] To him alone belongs immortality. He's the source of life, eternal. eternal. So we've got a question here. How can an eternal kingdom function with kings that get old?

[11:11] Now, for everybody who is getting old and weary, here's a verse in the Bible. Even youths grow tired and weary, but those who wait upon the Lord will renew their strength and mount up with wings as eagles.

[11:25] They shall walk and not faint. They shall run and not be weary. That's the Bible solution to weariness whatever age you are, to look to the Lord, to put your trust in the Lord.

[11:37] He's the source of strength and renewal for whatever age. Well, that was where we begin with the weakness of the king. And it paints a picture of weakness.

[11:49] Let's see what happens next. So this is verse 5. Now, the next generation then, Adonijah, whose mother was Haggith, put himself forward. I think I've got a picture of, there he is, there's Adonijah.

[12:01] He's going to be in purple, just notice that. So his name, interestingly, Adonijah, means the Lord is my master or the Lord is master, which is a bit rich, actually, if you consider the way he actually behaves because anything other than that is true.

[12:19] Please notice the wording. Now, Adonijah, whose mother was Haggith, put himself forward. Literally, he exalted himself.

[12:32] And that rings alarm bells, doesn't it? Because, well, we'll see in a moment. And he's thinking, there he is thinking it quite slowly, I will be king. He put himself forward and said, I will be king.

[12:47] Who's king? Adonijah? Me, says Adonijah. I'm going to be king. Whose idea is that, Adonijah? My idea. How are you going to get there?

[12:58] I will exalt myself. Okay. So, he buys, he gets himself a chariot. I've drawn a limo instead. And he hires some good-looking muscular chaps to run ahead of him.

[13:12] Absalom did something rather similar, his elder brother who came to a sad and sticky end. So, there are the guys running ahead. Here comes the next king.

[13:24] Like that. And we're told in verse 6, his father had never interfered with him by asking, why do you behave as you do? Big mistake.

[13:37] Literally, his father had never pained him by asking, why do you behave as you do? it's a mistake in parenting to not challenge children in case you hurt them.

[13:56] Now, we don't want to hurt children, but sometimes there needs to be the pain of saying, you shouldn't do that. Why do you do that?

[14:09] You, that's wrong. And the child will find that painful and cry and kick. and scream of all ages. But, it says here, I think this is put as a criticism of David, he had never done that.

[14:28] He just let him go his own way. His father had never pained him by asking, why do you behave as you do? And we've said that he was handsome. The David family seemed to have quite a thing in good looks.

[14:42] good looks. Good looks is a gift from God. Good looks isn't everything, is it? He was very handsome, born next after Absalom.

[14:55] And just coming back to this, he exalted himself. There is a policy statement from God in the Bible. James 4 verse 6 quotes it.

[15:08] God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. Very well worth remembering.

[15:20] What sort of person does God oppose? Answer the proud. What sort of person does God give grace to? Answer the humble.

[15:32] And the great example of this is Jesus Christ himself who being at the top of everything didn't grab onto it, didn't hold onto it but humbled himself and became a servant.

[15:50] Became a man, took the very form of a servant, humbled himself to death on the cross and God said that's the sort of man I exalt.

[16:03] Do you remember? He humbled himself and it says therefore God exalted him to the highest place. You with me? Yeah. Okay.

[16:14] So there's Adonijah. Let's go a little bit further. So what it says in verse 7 was his words were with Joab son of Zeruiah and Abiath the priest.

[16:25] So they talked together. They conferred together. They made some plans and they were with him. But he excludes some other people. He excludes so there's Joab and Abiathar but these other people Zadok the priest, Benaiah son of Jehoiada, Nathan the prophet, Shimei and Ray and David's special guard did not join Adonijah.

[16:48] So these were left out. These are the people on the other side. And Adonijah is now about to stake his claim for the throne by having a big sort of inauguration party.

[17:07] So it says in verse 9 Adonijah then sacrificed sheep, cattle, fattened calves at the stone of Zoholeth near Enregel. So those are the three that weren't invited. There's a great celebration but they're not invited.

[17:21] There's the guys with the limo and there's the sacrifice. Some poor sheep. It hasn't been... Anyway. Sacrificed sheep, cattle and fattened calves and he invited all his brothers, the king's sons, all the men of Judah who were royal officials but he did not invite Nathan the prophet or Ben Aiah or the special guard or his brother Solomon.

[17:45] So there they're all sitting at the table. There's the flag flying and it's going to be a little bit like a presidential announcing they're going to stand for office and everybody is going to cheer and this is Adonijah making his plans, I will be king and here I am.

[18:05] And he has a great big party and invites the people who are on his side. Would you have received an invitation?

[18:19] Would you have gone? who do you think is the king? Who do you back to be king? Interesting question.

[18:31] Now then, meanwhile, back at the palace, verse 11, Nathan, the prophet, has a counter plan. And he speaks to Bathsheba and Bathsheba speaks to David and Nathan speaks to David and David speaks to Bathsheba and David speaks to all the others.

[18:50] so that's what's going to happen. So there's Bathsheba. And Nathan says to Bathsheba, Solomon's mother, have you not, there's Nathan saying it, have you not heard that Adonijah, son of Haggith, has become king and our lord David doesn't know it?

[19:06] That's the second not knowing. David's not knowing. Now then, let me advise you, let me advise you, how you can save your own life and the life of your son Solomon because choosing kings is a bit of a life and death issue and particularly in this situation where Solomon would be perceived as a rival and a threat.

[19:35] So if the wrong person is king, according to Nathan, it is a life and death issue. So he says, what you need to do is go into King David and say to him, my lord the king, which is a very respectful way of addressing somebody who is their husband, in fact, did you not swear to me, your servant, surely Solomon, your son, shall be king after me and will sit on my throne?

[20:07] Did you not swear? And this swearing and this oath, this very serious words, are absolutely the crucial thing in this chapter. Did you not swear?

[20:22] And so why has Adonijah become king? This is what Nathan says that Bathsheba should say, and he says, and what we'll do, we'll be a little bit shrewd about this, it's interesting biblical shrewdness.

[20:35] It's not deception, but it is shrewdness. In biblical wisdom, not everybody is entitled to all the truth all the time, so withholding things, you don't have to spill the beans on everything all the time, and this is not this, this is a timing thing, isn't it?

[20:54] While you're saying this, I will come and say the same thing, and David will be impressed, because two of us are both saying the same thing, one after another, I'll come too.

[21:06] So this is what happens, there's the king, whom I presume just stays in bed, I don't think he ever leaves his bed in this, as far as I can tell. So in verse 15, Bathsheba comes, there's Abishag, she's attending David, Bathsheba bows low, and kneels before the king, and the king says, what do you want?

[21:28] And then this is her opportunity, she says, actually she comes and goes, there's coming and going, it's not always flagged up when people leave the room, but she says, my lord, you swore to me your servant by the lord your god, Solomon shall become king after me, he will sit on my throne, but now Adonijah has become king, and you my lord, the king, do not know it, third time that David doesn't know something, and it's not only old, but he's ignorant, you see, and now Adonijah has become king, he has sacrificed great numbers of cattle, fattened calves and sheep, he has invited all the king's sons, Abiathar, the priest, Job, the commander of the army, but not Solomon, my lord, the king, the eyes of all Israel are on you, Israel's eyes, we're looking to you, we're looking to you for the decisive word on this, otherwise, as soon as my lord, the king, is laid to rest with his fathers, I and my son, Bathsheba and Solomon, will become sinners, will become criminals, now that seems a very strange situation for them to get into,

[22:36] Nathan has said as much, and Bathsheba is saying this, and David seems to get the point of this, the wrong person becomes king, then it's a lethal problem, and so she said what she's saying, and then suddenly the doorbell goes, and lo and behold, who is it, it's Nathan, the prophet, and they said, Nathan has come to see you, so I think Bathsheba must leave at this point, because she has to come back in later, and Nathan comes and it says in Hebrew that he bows with his nose to the ground, so presumably he's actually scraping the ground with his nose, bowing very, very low, what have you got to say Nathan, well, my lord, have you my lord the king declared that Anodijah will be king after you, that he will sit on your throne, today he has gone down and sacrificed, don't tell me, great numbers of cattle, fattened calves and sheep, yes, and he's invited all the king's sons, the commanders of the army,

[23:38] Abiathar the priest, right now they are eating and drinking with him, and what are they saying, they're saying, long live king Adonijah, did he leave anybody out, did he fail to call and invite some people, he did as a matter of fact, but me your servant and Zadok the priest and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada and your servant Solomon, he did not invite, is this something my lord the king has done without letting us know, so it's us who don't know, he says, it's another knowing thing, have you arranged this but you just haven't told us, you haven't let us know who will sit on the throat of my lord the king after him, and David says, call in Bathsheba, so presumably she must have gone out, so she's called back in again, and now we're going to get to the action here, she comes and stands before him and the king takes an oath, so the oath is the crucial thing, it's a very serious word, a very serious promise, and it's taken in the name of the lord, so very very serious,

[24:48] David is linking the lord himself with this promise and with this kingship, as surely as the lord lives, who has delivered me out of every trouble, I will surely carry out today what I swore to you by the lord, the god of Israel, Solomon, your son shall be king after me, and he will sit on my throne in my place, and Bathsheba bows low with her face to the ground and says, may my lord, king David live forever, which is a strange thing to say, because we know he's not going to live forever, but it's an expression of allegiance and goodwill, isn't it?

[25:31] So let's carry on with this, so king David says, call in Zadok the priest, Nathan the prophet, and Benaiah son of Jehoiada, and here they all come in together, and he says to them, take your lord's servants with you and set Solomon my own son on my mule, and take him down to Gihon, you might think about somebody who sits on a mule, there shall Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet anoint him king, so anoint him king over Israel, and blow the trumpet, and shout, long live King Solomon, and you are to go up with him, and he is to come, and he will sit on my throne, and reign in my place, I have appointed him ruler over Israel and Judah.

[26:23] and these guys have a reaction to that, I don't know what your reaction is, I don't know what you're thinking, oh Solomon, we nearly thought he was going to be minced meat, but now he's going to be king, I don't know whether you think that's a good idea, but they think it's a jolly good idea, so Ben and I, son of Jehoi answered the king, amen, great stuff, may the Lord, the God of my Lord, the king, so declare it, as the Lord was with my Lord, the king, so may he be with Solomon to make his throne even greater than the throne of my Lord, King David.

[27:04] There's a prospect of having a greater king than David, the son of David, who is greater than David. Does that ring any bells with you? You're thinking of somebody who is the son of David, who is greater than David, and if he's king, we're saying, amen, that's great.

[27:26] And all the people went up, and what does it say, all the people went up, playing the flutes and rejoicing greatly, so that the ground shook with the sound.

[27:37] What a fantastic thought that is. Everybody is, this is so great, and there must be, I don't know, marching, stamping, cheering, that the ground shakes with the sound.

[27:55] So, here we go, here we go, have I done that already? Have I done it? No, this is verse 30. So, I'm sorry, I've got ahead of myself, haven't I?

[28:06] Verse 30, so Zadok the priest, Nathan the prophet, Benaiah the son of Joida, the Kerethites and the Pelethites went and put Solomon on King David's Mule, there he is, they anoint him, they took the horn of oil from the sacred tent and anointed Solomon, and they sound the trumpet, there we are, long live King Solomon, and all the people went up after him playing the flutes, rejoicing greatly, so that the ground shook with the sound.

[28:35] So, there it is, terrific stuff. Maybe we know somebody who came to the throne after riding on a donkey, did anybody that we know come to the throne?

[28:47] Yes, Jesus did, didn't he? He came into Jerusalem and people shouted in acclamation of him as the king, Hosanna, Hosanna to the king of kings.

[28:58] Jesus. However, it was more complicated than this, isn't it? It did turn out to be more complicated because Solomon just goes straight to the throne, and, you know, Peter would have said to Jesus, that's what you should aim for, master, if I might advise you on this, go straight from the entry to Jerusalem, direct to the throne.

[29:23] But it was more complicated, wasn't it? Because what happened after Jesus triumphantly entered Jerusalem, he got crucified.

[29:35] So it was more complicated. And do you remember that Peter said, no, forget that bit, forget the complication, go straight to the throne. And Jesus said to him, get behind me, Satan, you have not understood how my kingdom works.

[29:54] It's very important that we do it my way. And it is more complicated than Solomon, but that was the way it had to be. Well, what's happening then?

[30:05] Well, we've got two scenes. We've got the scene in the city where everybody's rejoicing that Solomon is the king, and they're trumpets blowing and everything like that.

[30:19] And meanwhile, we've got the party with Joab and Abiathar and the chariot and the 50 men and the sacrifices and everybody sitting down at the tables. And they said, hang on, there's a bit of a noise coming.

[30:32] What's all that? And I deny to all the guests who are with him, verse 41, they were finishing their feast. They were just getting the coffee and dessert. And on hearing the voice of the trumpet, Joab said, what's going on?

[30:43] What's the meaning of all this noise in the city? And while he is speaking, somebody comes running up, and they say, what's the news?

[30:56] What's been happening? And this chap, Jonathan, son of Abiathar, the priest, he's a good man. He's, the word for worthy, it can mean wealth, it can mean multitude, multitude.

[31:14] So I think it's to do with being an asset. And they say of him, you're a worthy man, you're an asset to us. You must be bringing good news, you're a good chap, you'd only bring good news, wouldn't you?

[31:29] And this happens on other occasions too. The messenger is meant to be appropriate to the news. and the king has been crowned and everybody's cheering and you must be bringing good news.

[31:48] And do you know what he says? Did you notice his reply? He says, no, no, no, this isn't good news. Not good news.

[31:59] Don't know what you think, but he says, that's not good news. Solomon being king, that's not good news. Our Lord the king has made Solomon king and David has sent with him Zadok the priest, Nathan the prophet, Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, the Kerethite and the Pellicites.

[32:15] They put him on the king's mule and he just rehearses, repeats all the things. Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet have anointed him king and they've gone up cheering and the city resounds with it.

[32:32] That's the noise you hear. Moreover, Solomon has taken his seat on the royal throne and the royal officials have come to congratulate my lord the king and said, may your god make Solomon's name more famous than yours and his throne greater than yours.

[32:49] And the king bowed in worship on his bed and said, praise me to the lord the god of Israel who has allowed my eyes to see a successor on my throne today. And this is what's happening.

[33:00] There's someone on the throne, everybody's cheering, he's going to be greater than David, they're worshipping and praising the lord, and this is bad news. And it's such bad news that people suddenly realise they've got appointments elsewhere very quickly.

[33:22] After this, all Adonijah's guests rose in alarm and dispersed, and they're all busy trying to get onto Facebook to erase the bit where it said, I'm going to Adonijah's party, isn't he a great chap?

[33:35] Can you erase it? No, you can't erase it. In all the pictures, they've selfies me and Adonijah, like that. Dustbin, you know, erase that as quickly as possible.

[33:50] So, Adonijah himself, oh, hold on, I thought personally, the news that the son of David is king is good news. That's what good news is, isn't it?

[34:02] Isn't that the definition of good news? Christians have good news, they use the word gospel, but it means good news. What do you think the Christian good news is? Christian good news is that the king is the king.

[34:15] The king is on the throne. In the early days of Jesus' ministry, he went round preaching the good news of the kingdom, the king reigns.

[34:28] That's good news. Well, he doesn't think it's good news, he thinks it's bad news. I think it's good news. Don't you think it's good news? So, what happens now?

[34:41] Adonijah, in fear of Solomon, went and took hold of the horns of the altar. So, I'm not quite sure what an altar looks like, and I'm not quite sure what the horns of the altar look like, but it's in the place of sacrifice, and there was a provision that people who were on the run could go and take refuge there, literally grabbing hold of the corners of the altar, for safety.

[35:08] Now, some people did that and they were treated with, it was, they were safe and others were not safe, but in this case, Solomon's told, Adonijah is afraid of King Solomon, is clinging to the horns of the altar, and Adonijah says, I don't think I've got this in order, Adonijah says, let King Solomon swear, if we could have a swearing, if we could have an oath, a solemn promise today that he will not put his servant to death with the sword, I would be safe.

[35:45] It's interesting, the emphasis upon saying something so seriously and so purposefully that you can depend on it. That's the sort of kingdom God has, that's the sort of world we live in, that's the sort of race we belong to, that it works if people promise things and keep their promises, and that to make a promise and to break it is extremely destructive to the whole fabric of society, to the whole fabric of relationships.

[36:19] What can you do if people don't keep the word that they promised? So important promises, and here that everything hinges on swearing, making these solemn promises.

[36:38] And Adonijah says, well if, if, sorry, yeah, Adonijah says, if Solomon promises, then that will be okay, I'll be under his protection.

[36:49] And Solomon says, if he shows himself to be a worthy man, and it's the same word, this asset word, if, if he's going to fall in with my kingdom, do you know what I mean?

[37:06] If he's going to align himself with my kingdom, if he's going to go the way my kingdom goes, instead of going against my kingdom, if he's an asset, then that's right, he's under my protection, not a hair of his head will fall to the ground.

[37:24] That's an exaggeration, you understand? Hairs of your head do fall to the ground, don't they? But what it means is you'll be perfectly safe. But if evil is found in him, if he's going to go contrary to my kingdom, if he's going to betray me, then he will die.

[37:47] Then King Solomon sent men and they brought him down from the altar and Adonijah came and bowed down to King Solomon and Solomon says, you can go to your home.

[37:59] So if he's at the king's disposal, he has promised protection. He is the king protecting people. And interestingly, I think he would have been better instead of running off to the altar.

[38:14] If he'd run to the king, that would have been a better move because what he was actually doing was running away from the king, wasn't he? I'm so frightened of the king, I'll run to somewhere else.

[38:26] But the Bible says the place to run is not away from the king. Even if you feel threatened by him, even if you fear him, the way to run is not away from the king to something else, the way to run is to the king.

[38:45] And Psalm 2 says, blessed are all those who take refuge in him. That's the place to go for safety. So if you are feeling in this big wide world, where can I be safe?

[39:00] Where can I be safe from God's anger and God's cruel hand, as you might see it? Don't run away from Jesus, run to Jesus.

[39:15] If he's an asset in this sense, he'll be protected. If he submits to me, he will be in a safe house.

[39:27] Go to your home, you'll be safe. That's rather a lovely thing to say, isn't it? I'm worried. I live in a big, difficult world and there's forces against me and I feel for my life really.

[39:43] And Solomon says, if you are at peace with me, not a hair on your head will fall and you can go home and you'll be safe.

[39:59] That's a great thing to be, isn't it? To know that I can go home and be safe. If I can't feel safe at home, you know, it's a pretty miserable life, isn't it?

[40:11] You can go home and be safe, says the king. If you're going to fall in with me, blessed are those who take refuge in him.

[40:23] Well, we've come to the end of the narrative and who is the king was the question. And here is the son of David, it's Solomon.

[40:35] But God has a son of David. His answer for the whole world is the king. I have installed my king.

[40:46] In Psalm 110 it says, the Lord has sworn and will not change his mind in that connection. And the king that God has in mind is Jesus.

[40:56] He's enthroned as the son of David despite all the complications, including the human efforts, to stop him becoming king.

[41:08] Do you remember what the Jews said? We have no king but Caesar. What an awful thing to say.

[41:19] they said it.

[41:39] But despite every effort against him, God has enthroned Jesus Christ, sitting at the right hand of the majesty in heaven.

[41:54] He poured out the Holy Spirit and from his throne he will one day come to judge the living and the dead and to make all things new. And I think that's good news.

[42:06] Who's your king? In practice, whose rule and reign are you under?

[42:18] Whose power are you under? Who is the one that you run to for support in difficulty? Who is the glory of your state?

[42:29] Who's the head of state? Whose standards trickle down to you? Or is it a case of there was no king and everybody did what was right in their own eyes? Who is your great rescuer and great saviour?

[42:44] Whose side are you on? Well, what is it? The true king, Jesus? Or, and we hope not, some second rate, self-appointed usurper?

[43:00] I'm with Jesus on this one. Let's sing together number 902. Let's sing together number 902. Let's sing together. Thank you.