[0:00] for the church here, isn't it? That will grow and become more substantial in numbers and in terms of ministry. So let's just pray briefly for that and pray for ourselves as we come to his word now, as Barry hobbles back to his seat. Did well, brother. That was great.
[0:19] There's your wife. They couldn't get further apart, really, if they were trying. Lovely. That's great. Let's pray, shall we? Let's unite our hearts in prayer. Our loving Heavenly Father, Lord, we've just been singing, speak, O Lord, till your church is built. We thank you that we read in your word that Christ will indeed build his church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it.
[0:45] And we thank you, Father, that throughout the world, this gospel is indeed growing and flourishing. And even today, Lord, we're sure that many, perhaps thousands, have come into the kingdom of God, born again by your Spirit. We thank you, Father, for the way in which churches are growing in certain countries of the world, although others are still suffering. Father, we pray for those, Lord, who undergo persecution even this evening, Lord, who might be meeting in fear and anxious and worried, Lord, and perhaps their health is at risk, their family, their well-being.
[1:17] And Father, we do just pray that your hand will be upon them. We pray for recent acts of violence, Lord. I think it's Pakistan and other places, Lord, where the church has been targeted specifically.
[1:27] Lord, we pray not only against these things, but we pray for strength and stamina to be given to your people wherever they may be found. Father, we do just pray for the church here that, Lord, that you will continue to lead and to guide us as a church. And in all our thinking, Lord, as we seek to discover the mind of Christ as we chat together, we pray that the Holy Spirit, who testifies to our spirit and brings to us the things of Christ, vindicates him in our eyes.
[1:53] We pray, Lord, that we will hear his voice, saying, this is the way, walk ye in it. So, Father, lead us and guide us as we seek to develop the people here as well as the ministries here.
[2:05] So, Father, be with myself, Lord, as a pastor at this time, and also, Lord, for the elders as they steer and guide the church forward. Pray for our prayer meeting on Monday and on Wednesday. I thank you, Father, that the people of this church have a mind to pray, Lord, to set aside time to come away, Lord, from other things that they could be doing, good things, to do that which is better.
[2:26] Father, hear their prayers, Lord, when we meet with you on a Monday and on a Wednesday evening. Lord, we pray that you would answer these prayers at a time and in a way of your choosing. And, Father, I pray for the vacancy committee, Lord, who will meet on Friday. I ask your leading, for your guiding, for your resourcing, and for your wisdom to be given to them. Lord, direct their footsteps as well. So, Father, we do just commend all the decisions and all the plans that we think in these days. We commend them into your hands. And we come now, Lord, to your word.
[2:57] We thank you for that word to us this morning, reminding us, Lord, thrilling us our hearts again, that we have a great God and a great Savior and a great gospel, and that Jesus is indeed the Savior of the world. He is the good news for mankind. Lord, we are not shy at preaching him. We make much of him. And we pray, Father, that as this psalm would mention that as well, Lord, our everlasting King. We pray, Lord, that our hearts will thrill once again as we see your plan unfolding, Lord, in the gospel. So, Father, speak to us now, we pray, and we ask these things in Jesus' name. Amen.
[3:31] Amen. I have the word goals here. I must have been thinking of the World Cup when I put this down. Thanks for no spilling the beans this morning when we left. They ended up getting beat. I hope I've no ruined that for you. Sorry, you can shoot me. You can hang me high in the car park. That's unforgivable. Maybe you hadn't watched it yet. Anyway, Paul's gotten himself laughing. That was unfortunate. Goals. The object of the game was to score goals, and people have goals, whether it's sport or whatever that is. Maybe you have goals in life, things that you want to. They might just be short goals. It might be what you're going to do tonight, what you're going to do this week, Wednesday, Thursday, or maybe longer goals.
[4:17] You've got a big event or something coming up, and you're working towards that. We live by setting ourselves goals and targets. It's what gets us up out of bed in the morning, something that drives us to look forward to. This morning, this evening, we're not looking at goals, football goals. We're looking at a goal that David had, a desire, something that he was driven towards, not putting a ball between two posts, but he had a desire, one specific desire. Verse 5, he swore an oath. His oath was he wouldn't enter his house, go to his bed, allow sleep, until he found a place for the Lord, a dwelling for the Most High, or the Mighty One of Jacob. And then in the second half of this psalm that we've read, there is this oath that the Lord has a goal and a desire at this time that he wants to fulfill as well. And it's the same goal as David had, but heightened far more than what
[5:22] David expected. And that's what we're looking at this evening. Last week, you remember David's personal testimony, a time when he felt immature, but now he's—there was a time he was discontent, and now he's content. It was a time he felt like a teenager, but now he's like a weaned child once again. And that's a place of maturity that we'll all strive to reach between now and glory. But Psalm 132 is a very different psalm. It's so different from the other psalms. It contains a lot of teaching, and it's not so much based on experience, except the experience of one man. We don't have this testimony here. We may be able to relate to some of the other psalms about doubt and trust and persevering and sin in our life and so forth. But this is a psalm that is a historical thing.
[6:13] It's looking back to David and what he did. As I says, the psalm follows into two halves. David's oath, from verses 1 to 9 and then verse 11 onwards, is the Lord's oath, God's corresponding oath that relates to David's oath. And it's the longest, as I said, of each of these psalms.
[6:35] Psalm 132 celebrates the bringing of the Ark of the Covenant into Jerusalem. That's what David's desire was. He desired the Ark of the Covenant. And God's major desire is that he dwells with his people. That's really what he wants. He wants a blessing of God. It's not just a logistical thing he's interested in. He's not in the removal business. He desires the glory of God and the presence of God, and through the presence of God, the blessing on his people. I wonder if that was a goal. That's a goal that excites you. God's presence with us. I hope you don't come here just to hear me or to hear others preaching. But we come to seek the presence of God morning and evening.
[7:24] We come not just to receive as we sing and as we feel the warm fuzzies, but we come and we seek the presence of God. If the Lord wasn't with us by his Spirit, we would meet in vain. Our meetings would be, in many ways, a waste of time. We meet for the presence of the Lord, and we desire the presence of the Lord. We desire the blessing of the Lord on his people. And that's what this is. It's a major theme in this, the presence of the Lord symbolized by the Ark of the Covenant. And it's a major theme, because the Ark of the Covenant signals or signifies or symbolizes the presence of the Lord, the Lord with his people, where the Ark was. It was a place of blessing and reassurance and great comfort. It's a major theme of the Bible, God's presence with his people. The Garden of Eden, the man and the wife were heard. They heard the sound of the Lord as he walked in the garden in the cool of the day. That's a great picture of heaven, isn't it? The Lord just walking amongst Adam and Eve.
[8:30] And then in the wilderness, the Lord tabernacles with his people. We just did somebody staying with us as it was camping in France. Well, the Lord camped with them. He, wherever they went, he tabernacled with them, and in the presence of the Ark of the Covenant and so forth. And then, obviously, you look right through to Jesus. You'll call his name Jesus. He will save his people from their sins. You will call his name Emmanuel, which means God with us. We'll focus on this in the next few months as we lead up to Christmas. And then, believers in the church, you remember Jesus says, go and make disciples of all nations. And he says, and surely I am with you always to the very end of the age. As that promise was given to the twelve and to the three thousand and to beyond, so his presence is with us to the very end of the age. I don't know about you, but at half past six on a Sunday night, that should thrill us. Nothing should excite us more than the presence of the
[9:34] Lord. If I told you that Monday you're going to wake up and you're on your lonesome, apart from you and your wife or your husband or your kids, the Lord is not with you. That's a frightful thought. And it's good to stop and to think, what would happen? How would I feel if I didn't have what I have just now?
[9:52] The presence of the Lord. And ultimately, all of this leads to heaven, where Jesus prays, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am. And a loud voice in Revelation 21, look, God's dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. I love that.
[10:15] That's just a, look, the dwelling place, the dwelling place is now with his people. They will be his people. God will be himself, and he will be with them. It's quite exciting. God's desire, it's a major theme of the Bible. It's his ultimate purpose, you could say, everything pointing towards that.
[10:35] God with his people. It's in the heart of God to be with you and for you to be with him. And that should really thrill us. So, we're going to look at those two themes as we look at this this evening.
[10:49] David's oath, his desire for the presence of the Lord and how the Lord would ultimately fulfill that. So, let's, we have three things. Let's look, first of all, at David's oath. David's desire for the honor and for the presence of God to be with his people was so great, he made an oath. He swore, I will not sleep and allow myself no sleep until he finds a dwelling place. Look at verse 1. The psalm begins, it's written by somebody other than David. We don't know who wrote this, but it says, Lord, remember David and all his self-denial. When you make an oath, you're committed to this, it drives you. I've sworn I will do this. Even before I was a Christian, I knew the importance of making promises, and I never made a promise. When my mates were promising this, that, and the other, I'll promise I'll see you at the football match, I just never used the word. Even when I was a pagan, unconverted young man, I just went, no, I promise is a promise, and if I'm going to promise something, I will make sure it comes to pass. And because I knew I couldn't do it, I wasn't, I was fallible. I just never made the promise. But David is keen to do this, and we don't know what the self-denial actually refers to, but it's probably all these hardships, and he's fighting for Jerusalem to be the capital for the ark to come there. It's very much perhaps encompassed in this.
[12:20] He desired a dwelling place for the Lord, symbolized in the ark of the covenant, and that's what we read here when verse 6, we heard it in Ephrathah, we came upon in the fields of Jar, or Jair, we came upon it, it being the ark of the covenant. And the history of the ark, it's worth doing a wee study on the travels of the ark, because Harrison Ford chasing after the ark in Indiana Jones, for whatever reason, something to be desired. The ark was something to be desired. You didn't treat it lightly, and yet in the history of God's people, that's what they did, and it went missing for quite some time. Let me remind you, just as a whistle stop to her as we go through this. The ark, you remember, was the dimensions, and as you read in the book of Exodus, that symbolized God's presence and the wanderings when they come out of Egypt and so forth.
[13:23] During the 40-day stay there, Moses is given instructions how to build the ark. He's shown the pattern for the tabernacle, for the furnishings of the ark. It was made of acacia wood and covered in gold. Here's an image of, you'll see this, if you put ark of the covenant, and you get, they all look roughly like that. We don't know exactly what it looks like, but that's quite a good representation, the poles and the rings and the two cherubim and so forth. It was, it's not a massive thing. It wasn't the size of a wardrobe or anything. It's just over, just less than a meter and a half long, and less than a meter high, about 80 centimeters high and wide, and about 1.3 meters long. It's not, it's not massive.
[14:10] It was gilded entirely in gold, and the important part inside it were the laws, stone tablets, and above it, what do you call it, the thing in the covering, or the, the, the, between the cherubim? Here it is, the next one. You have the mercy seat, and the mercy seat is such an important part of the ark of the covenant. God is said to dwell between the wings of the cherubim, these two winged creatures. That is the most impressive thing about the ark of the covenant.
[14:43] It's where God dwells, where God, I like this wee image, where God and man meet. In Exodus 25, verse 22, we read, there, this is the Lord speaking, there above the cover, the covering, the lid, between the two cherubim that are over the ark of the covenant, I will meet with you and give you all my command, all the commandments for the Israelites. That is what David desired. He desired the ark of the covenant, the presence of the Lord, to be with his people and to have this brought back to Jerusalem. And the ark, as you know, was covered, was carried during the 40 years of wandering in the wilderness, and then later when they come across and into the promised land by Joshua, you remember they carry the ark of the covenant. As soon as the priests touch the water, the water parts, and the ark is carried across and so forth. And then during the battle of Jericho, the ark is carried around the city every day, and then on the last day, it's carried around seven times, and then there's a big shout, and you know, your Sunday school, you remember it, the walls come tumbling down. And then in one of the battles that they are defeated at Ai, and Joshua laments before the ark. We read this, and the people stand on each side of the ark.
[16:04] And then we hear about the ark in Bethel, where it was being cared for by the priest Phinehas, the grandson of Aaron. Then the ark is kept at Shiloh, another religious center during Samuel's apprenticeship, and it's cared for by Hophni and Phinehas, the two sons of Eli. And a few years later, Israel decide that they'll take the ark onto the battlefield to assist them against the Philistines, and they had recently been defeated in the battle of Eben-Ezer. And they again had a heavily defeat and the loss of 30,000 men, and the ark was captured by the Philistines. Hophni and Phinehas were killed, and you remember Eli, when he heard news of this, that the ark had been captured, he fell down dead. Such was the shock that the ark of the covenant was taken. And then, you remember, I think it was, let me see, his granddaughter, or daughter-in-law, sorry, gave birth to a son.
[17:09] You remember the name of the son, Ichabod. The glory of God has departed. It was such a shocking time, really, when you think of what the ark did and what it represented in the presence of the Lord, how the Lord used this that was designed by him. And then the Philistines, they took it back to, in various places in their country. At Ashdod, you remember, if you, I remember reading that story for the first time, placed in the temple of Dagon, and you woke up in the morning, and Dagon is flat down. And then they think, must have been the wind, we'll put him back up. And then this God bows before the Lord. Even now, as a grown man, it still thrills me, still excites. That's our God.
[17:56] Other gods, so-called gods, bow before the one true God. It's quite something. And then, Ashdod, the people were smitten with tumors and a plague of rodents. And then it moved to Gath and Ekron and so forth. And after seven months, the Philistines thought, this is too hot to handle.
[18:17] And they wanted to get rid of the ark. He wasn't their God. And they return it to the Philistines. They set it up in the field of Joshua, the Bethshemite. And they were offering sacrifices and burnt offerings. And out of curiosity, the men decide to have a wee peek inside, and they're struck down. And such is the holiness of God. And the Bethshemites send to Kirjath-Jerim.
[18:44] And that's where Psalm 132 now comes in. This is the point in its history, the ark's history. And at Kirjath-Jerim, the Bethshemites sent to this place to have the ark removed. It was taken to the house of Abinadab, whose son was Eliezer. And they were to keep it. And it remained at Kirjath-Jerim for 20 years. That's where the ark remained. During the life of Saul, it wasn't really sought for.
[19:19] It's held that it went missing and so forth. In 1 Chronicles 13, let us bring the ark of our God back to us, for we did not inquire of it during the reign of Saul.
[19:30] So, during Saul reigns, he couldn't have cared about the ark of covenant. And it was—the location had perhaps been forgotten. It was only through a lot of searching that David finds it. And he finds it in that place. And this reference to Jar is probably a shortened version of Kirjath-Jerim.
[19:50] And that's where it says, we heard it in Ephrathah. We came upon it in the fields of Jar. And this is what this is about. And this is about David's desire to bring this back. And he makes an oath.
[20:05] He makes an oath. He desires the ark of the covenant to go back. Unlike Saul, who didn't care, David did care. And he wanted a place for the Lord, a dwelling place. And his commitment was that.
[20:18] And Nathan thought it was a good idea to build a temple for the Lord, where the Lord would dwell. You remember, he comes to—and he says this. He says, here am I, living in a house of cedar, while the ark of God remains in a tent. I want to build this thing. And as you know, he wasn't allowed to build it. Solomon, he was a man of war. Solomon did this. But Nathan says to him, whatever you have in mind, go ahead and do it, for the Lord is with you. You've desired a good thing, the presence of the Lord, the ark of the covenant, to be with his people. And David made this vow.
[20:52] I don't know if making a vow is wise. I don't know if it was right that David made an oath in this way. We are told to let her yes be yes, and her no be no. I don't know if I told you, I had a member of one of my churches that whenever you just stood and you know you've got members to stand, I will, will you pray? Yeah, I will pray for this couple coming into membership. He would never say it. He just couldn't say it. He would never say, yeah, I'll support this guy in prayer. He wouldn't say anything he knew a hundred percent he would commit to. And we used to speak about this for hours. And I remember saying to him, how on earth did you, marriage in your marriage vows, do you take this woman? Oh, I don't know who can say. It was just, and he goes, well, I don't really know. It was just, is it right to make a vow? Can you fulfill these things? He obviously felt you never make a vow, never promise anything, because you can't fulfill. But it shows the heart of David. David, I will make it. I am so driven to do this. This is exactly what I want to do. And it was in his heart to build a temple. And verse 6 gives us the background to that, where they found the ark in the fields of Jar.
[22:02] And what's described after that is given to us in 2 Samuel 6 and 1 Chronicles 13. You know the passage, well, 13 to 16, those three chapters, where David then attempts to bring the ark back to Jerusalem. And he has come up with the idea, despite the fact that it's to be carried and there's rings there and the clues and the design, he decides to put it on a cart. Let's get this as quickly as we can. This is really efficient. We'll do this. It wasn't the way it had to be carried. You remember, they go off, they're singing, they're dancing, there's tambourines, and it seemed a good idea to them, but it wasn't God's desire. And the ark stumbles, somebody reaches out, and he's struck down to stop the ark. I remember as a young Christian reading that, thinking, wow, that was a bit severe.
[22:51] But the ark of the God is a holy thing. God is holy. David was angry. The whole party was spoiled. And for three months, the ark was taken into the house of Obed-Edom. But David soon realizes that while the ark is in the house of Obed-Edom, he is blessed. And he thinks, I'm going to give this another go. And he does it right this time. And the ark is finally brought into Jerusalem.
[23:20] It really is quite something. The desire of David to seek the presence of God and the blessing of God, to do things God's way. This should be our desire as well, not just to take it for granted that we're saved and the Lord will just meet up with us, but to desire his presence, his felt presence even at times. There's times we don't always know his felt presence, but to know that, that the Lord is with us, and just the joy that that can bring. And even as you go into another week, that you might know something of the felt presence of the Lord through the Holy Spirit. Now, you know, when Jesus was crucified, the temple curtain was torn in two from top to bottom. The Holy of Holies is now open. We who are sinners can now come into the presence of a holy God because of a one-for-all sacrifice. We don't need to find the ark of the covenant in Harrison Ford and desire it to come to West or Hales.
[24:17] We don't need to do that. We already have the Lord with us individually as we are sealed with his Holy Spirit. And when we come collectively together, God, the Lord is with his people.
[24:30] We already have free access into his presence at all times. We walk in his presence day by day. He walks with me. He talks with me a long life's narrow way. I think we sang that last week, wasn't it? It's a great truth. It's not just a kid's song. It's a great, great truth. Does that thrill you? Do you desire that? When you wake up on Monday morning, just praise the Lord for his presence. Praise the Lord for his presence. He's with us tonight. But praise him that he'll be with you every day. I often say, a bird doesn't fall apart from the will of my Father in heaven.
[25:05] So, everything that befalls you is under his gaze. And we should desire this above all else. We should be wary. We can quench the Spirit. We can grieve the Holy Spirit who seals us, affecting the felt presence of the Lord. But we seek to walk with him. But when, as I was thinking of this, I thought, how did the Lord evidently presence himself with his people in the New Testament? And I immediately went to the book of Acts. That's where you begin, isn't it? The early church. And it was the wee phrase, and the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved. But then there are things that you read before you read that verse. So, I thought, how did the Lord—we'd love the Lord to add one person, even if it was a week, never mind daily, but the Lord to add to our church those who are being saved. What brings that about? The felt blessing and presence of the Lord? Because I'm sure that's what we desire above all else. Well, you go to the verses previous to that. The early church devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching, to fellowship, to breaking of bread, and to prayer. These are things that move the heart of God. You want to thrill the heart of God. You want not to quench the Holy Spirit.
[26:21] Devote yourself to the things of God, to prayer with God's people, and the breaking of bread, to teaching, sit under His Word, hear His Word, thrill at God's Word. When God takes His Word, it's not me. I can't bless anybody. But if you get anything from the Word of God, that's the Holy Spirit saying, this is a verse just for you. Verse 42 of that chapter, they were filled with awe, did wonders and signs, and I won't go into the whole big debate as have the gifts ceased and so forth, but blessings that the Lord can blesses. All the believers were together. We were talking about standing together, not just for gospel ministry, but being together for just the mundane things. We're told they had everything in common, and if somebody had need, that need was met. They broke bread and met together, ate together, glad and sincere hearts, praising God, enjoying the favor of all the people. And that's when we read, and the Lord added to that number, added to that type of congregation, those who were being saved.
[27:26] So, here's a challenge, isn't it, in those early verses in Acts 2, that the Lord would, if we give ourselves to these things, the presence of the Lord perhaps grows in a more felt way. It's not, you get more of the presence of the Lord, but perhaps it becomes more evident and more real. We see signs of this, and Cairn was praising the Lord in an intercessory prayer for the good things that we see in the church at this time. But it involves self-sacrifice and commitment, and we need to give ourselves to these things. When we constituted ourselves as a church in Nidra before we had the building, once the membership was in place, everybody rallied around the doctrinal statement.
[28:12] We got Derek Prime to preach, and he preached on Hebrews, do not forsake the assembling of yourselves together, as is the manner of some, but encouraging each other as you see the day approaching.
[28:25] That is what, that's the clarion call for the church, for this church, for every church. Don't forsake the assembly. Every opportunity meet together. So, that was David's oath. He sought the presence of the Lord. He desired the presence of the Lord, the blessing of the Lord, his honor, his glory, and he sought this by bringing the Ark of the Covenant into Jerusalem, and a temple would be built for that.
[28:52] But let's look at his desire, because we read in these verses, once the Ark of the Covenant has been relocated to Jerusalem, there is this call of worship. In verse 7, it says here, Let us go to his dwelling place. Let us worship at his footstool, saying, Arise, come, Lord, and come to your resting place, you and the Ark of your might. Here is this desire for the Lord to be with his people to come. And verse 9 talks about the priest being clothed with righteousness, your people singing with joy, and so forth. This is a direct quotation. These words are taken from Solomon, in 2 Chronicles 6. Now rise, Lord God, come to your resting place, you and the Ark of your might. May your priests, Lord God, be clothed with salvation. May your faithful people rejoice in your goodness.
[29:48] Lord God, do not reject your anointed one. Remember the great love promised to your servant. So, here is the request of David, this call to worship, his desire, now that the oath has been fulfilled, that the Lord would come, and his presence. Come to your resting place. Your priests be clothed with righteousness. The quote from Chronicles is clothed with salvation. They desire the whole aspect of salvation. May your people, faithful people, sing for joy. I'm sure the musicians and the singers, when they're singing, they don't just want you to sing, they want you to sing for joy. There's a difference, isn't there? You can sing with misery. You can sing half-heartedly. You can sing indifferently.
[30:34] But to sing with joy. And this evening, I certainly, when we were singing those first two songs, I could see you getting into that and really singing and rejoicing. And then you have this, verse 10, this desire for the anointed one. I'm going through this fairly quickly because I'm looking at the clock, and there's so much in this. For the sake of your servant, do not reject your anointed one.
[30:57] And this was the promise that was made to David, you remember, that as long as their kings were faithful and so forth and they obeyed the law, they would not lack somebody to sit on the throne, a good king, the Lord's anointed, the Lord's king. And that is God's desire, that he cares for his people. And in the Old Testament, it was through earthly kings. Where they had a good king, they were blessed. Where they had an evil king, that they got into all sorts of trouble and eventually were taken into exile. And that's what's desired here, Lord. Give us a king that you promised David.
[31:37] Don't deny a good king to sit on the throne. And that is what they desire. And then you come to, thirdly, the Lord's oath. The Lord hears these things, that the oath that he made to David was bigger than David expected. He was—David's maybe thinking Solomon and his grandson and his grandson, and so it goes on, and perhaps thinking of that in many ways, although looking forward to what the Lord would do. The Lord makes an oath. And in the second half, from verse 11 through, it's basically a replica of the first half. The second half repeats the ideas in the first half, but it elevates them to a higher level. The Lord says, that is your oath. Now, I'm going to make an oath, and watch what I'm going to do.
[32:29] It's more than you expect or even imagine, David. And we read in verse 11, In 2 Samuel 7, we saw what that original oath was, that he would—when your days are over and you rest with your ancestors, I will raise up for your offspring to succeed you, your own flesh and blood, and I will establish his kingdom. That's what God mentioned to David way back in Samuel, the beginning of Old Testament history in many ways. Your house, your kingdom shall endure forever.
[33:10] Before me, your throne will be established forever. They desired it. David desired it. God has promised it would fulfill this. And this kingdom would be an everlasting kingdom. That's what's in the heart of God. More than David could have imagined. That the one who would sit on the throne would not just be another Solomon, or even just another David, who had the heart of David. It would be God, the Son. It would be his own Son who would sit on that throne. That is quite—it's so exciting.
[33:47] And if you look at the genealogy from Matthew that we read at Christmas all the time, and you read through this in Matthew 1.16, and Jacob, the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary, and Mary was the mother of Jesus, who is called the Messiah. That really is—this is the one who would sit on the throne. And all these descendants, descended from David by blood, he is the one who is a rightful claim to the throne of God, promised by God, centuries before, now made real for us in history, 2,000 years or so ago.
[34:23] Peter knew this. And on the day of Pentecost, we read this, fellow Israelites, I can tell you confidently that the patriarch David died, was buried, and his tomb is here to this day. But he was a prophet, and he knew that God had promised him on oath that he would place one of his descendants on his throne.
[34:42] And then Peter goes to great lengths to convince them that Jesus of Nazareth is the Messiah, the Son of God. And Jesus' throne would last forever. And tonight, he is seated at his father's right hand. He is king of kings and lord of lords. And as a result, there is this blessing. You're a good king in the Old Testament. You're blessed. You're protected. You're cared for. We looked to the prime minister to do this for us. And there it was the king, good king, equaled blessings. And that's what you have after this as well. You have these priests and people being blessed. I commend the study of that to you. It's five to seven. Time is really going. But God raises up his son, and he clothes—the prayer here was, clothe your priests with salvation. Everyone in the kingdom of God is clothed with righteousness, with salvation. Jesus says that without—unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and teachers of the law, you will not enter heaven. We are clothed in righteousness, not our righteousness, the righteousness of Christ. Take away the filthy garments. Clothe him with righteousness.
[36:08] And that's what the Lord says, verse 16, I will clothe her priests with salvation, and her faithful people shall ever sing for joy. If you're here singing faithfully with joy, that's a fulfillment of what God said in Psalm 132 and before. It's verse 17, I will make a horn grow for David, a lamp for my anointed one, clothe his enemies with shame. There are three things there, a horn, a lamp, a crown.
[36:35] We don't have time. A horn speaks of strength. This king will have strength, all power, all authority. A lamp speaks of light and truth. I am the way, the truth, and the life. And a crown obviously speaks of royalty. He is king of kings and lord of lords. And this, therefore, is a great psalm, a psalm where God is faithful to his plan. Can you imagine reading this and coming to verse 11 and saying, well, where is this going to be? Is it David fulfilled his oath? Has the Lord fulfilled his oath? If you're a Christian here, you know the Lord has fulfilled his oath. We have a great Savior, a great gospel, a great God. The presence of the Lord walks with you as he walks with me day by day. All of this is summed up in Revelation. I heard a loud voice in heaven saying, now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Messiah. Revelation 11, the seven angels sounded his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven. And they said, the kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Messiah, and he will reign forever and ever. That is indeed good news. That is quite something. So, let's stand and we'll sing our closing song. It's a song we've sung here a few times. You perhaps know it very well. There is a higher throne, a higher throne than David prayed for, prayed for, and even envisaged. But let's stand and we'll sing this song together.