A merciful judgment - 1 Chronicles 21 - David Peterson

well uh when Andrew Sheed told me the readings for today I was really quite surprised to see that the first one was all about the plague and I thought oh my goodness preaching on the pandemic I don't really want to do that perhaps I should preach on Acts 20 that'll be a lot easier Paul's farewell speech to the Ephesian Elders I've been there done that written a commentary on it but actually as I looked at 1 Chronicles 21 I thought there's amazing things here this is very fascinating and I began to see quite quickly how it leads us to Christ and the gospel so I hope you find this reflection on one Chronicles 21 helpful and uh along the way we will make some comments obviously about the pandemic in relation to this passage so the first thing we notice when we look at one Chronicles 21 is that God's judgment is warranted the passage uh speaks about a specific Judgment of God on the people of Israel which was finally provoked by David's numbering of the people obviously the pandemic that we're experiencing is quite a general expression of God's wroth against sin not directed at any particular persons or nations but part of the Fallen World in which we live where we see uh many consequences of sin many expressions of the fact that we are in the world outside the Garden of Eden uh under the Judgment of God so we can't make a simplistic equation between uh the the pandemic and the plague in In this passage nevertheless there are points of of relevance that we need to consider Satan is said to have risen up against Israel and incited David to take up a census of the people uh 2 Samuel 24 which is the parallel passage says that God is the ultimate cause the anger of the Lord burned against Israel and he incited David against them so God was in some way acting in judgment against his people by allowing Satan to test David and David to make an improper judgment to go in the wrong direction and normally we think of a census as having some positive benefit for our society exposing social needs showing population growth and movement um helping to readjust electoral boundaries and so on but David census obviously has a sinister purpose and the Bible doesn't tell us exactly what it was uh perhaps he was preparing illegitimately for war or wanting to tax the people or just to satisfy his own kingly pride and arrogance counting the number of soldiers that he had the the reason for it doesn't matter because it's the theological um perspective on this that the Bible um brings before us so it's it's Satan rising up against Israel and inciting David to do evil and what David was doing was was totally improper it brought guilt upon Israel verse three uh but David is stubborn and refuses to take notice of uh the advice of his U his leaders joab even fiddles the numbers to try and lessen the sin because the King's Command was repulsive to him We're told in verse six and the narrator adds in verse 7 this command was also evil in the sight of God so he punished Israel so we have here a judgment that is warranted and later in verse 17 which I think is the is really the key verse in the whole passage David acknowledges this David said to God was it not I who ordered the fighting men to be countered I the Shepherd have sinned and done wrong these are my sheep these are but sheep what have they done Lord my God let your hand fall on me and my family but don't let this plague remain on your people so right up front even in verse 8 David acknowledges his failure he acknowledges the justice of God's judgment but the amazing thing about this passage is that most of it is about God's mercy verses 9 to6 we see Mercy in the midst of judgment God's Mercy is first revealed in the choice presented to David by Gad the prophet three years of famine three months of being Swept Away way before your enemies with their swords overtaking you or three days of the sword of the Lord days of plague in the land with the angel of the Lord ravaging every part of Israel that's in verse 12 what a choice three years 3 months or three days famine enemy attack or plague judgment was unavoidable but David recognized that it was best to fall directly into the hands of the Lord for he says in verse his Mercy is very great of course David knew that famine and even enemies were in the hands of God but he didn't want to fall directly into human hands moreover he trusted that the Swift Judgment of the plague was better than three years of famine the the plague spread quickly and killed many throughout the land verse 14 it even came to the Gates of Jerusalem where the Lord relented concerning the disaster and said to the angel who was destroying the people enough withdraw your hand verse 15 even so David and the elders clothed in sackle saw the need to fall on their faces and repent and as they did the angel of the Lord was standing between Heaven and Earth with a drawn sword in his hand extended over Jerusalem they were still under the threat of judgment although the plague was stopped for the moment so there are three features of this plague that have been highlighted in these Verses first of all it was explained and predicted by a prophet and we have no reliable Prophet to tell us why God has allowed this pandemic to hit our world at this moment so that makes a big difference uh they had a prophet to tell precisely why God was judging them but uh secondly we see that this plague was very limited in its cope and of course that's very different from what we are experiencing at the moment and it was a context in which to experience God's mercy God's mercy in the number of ways I've already Illustrated and we too have seen uh many expressions of God's mercy I believe uh we've seen communities and individuals working together to care for one another in in in ways that are not normal uh we've actually seen a rapid decline of the Pand mic where social distancing has been followed uh we've seen International efforts to find a vaccine uh and uh even reduction in carbon emissions all sorts of sort of byproducts of this time of lockdown so there have been signs of God's mercy and we we hear from churches about the number of people logging into their services and and contacts that people are having for the gospel uh in this time of stress it's certainly been a very unsettling time for many fear of sickness and death loneliness and depression unemployment and social disruption and we're not out of it yet uh but there have been these mercies that we need to acknowledge in the midst of judgment as Christians we should consider it an opportunity to examine ourselves individually and communally and talk to our churches about this uh even as David and the Elders of Israel did seeking to discern what sins this covid-19 crisis might have exposed in us things to do with our our values our hopes our expectations uh what matters most to us in life how do our lives conform to the will of our holy God this is time for reflection it's a time for considering both the Judgment of God and the mercy of God and of course as we experience God's mercy in the midst of judgment we're reminded of the need to Proclaim Christ through our our unbelieving culture uh and and that we can all see can be done uh even in in lockdown now the third thing that we find In this passage which is really fascinating is a place of atonement as I said before the pivotal verse in the chapter is verse 17 where David acknowledges his failure he he acknowledges that he's supposed to be the shepherd of Israel uh and he hasn't shephered the people as he should and and these are but sheep they need they need his wise shepherding his faithful shepherding so David recognizes the need for reconciliation with God for atonement and he offers himself and his family as as a punishment for the sin of Israel but of course that won't work God doesn't accept that and it wouldn't work it wouldn't achieve the goal but there's another problem and the problem is that there's no Temple there's no sacrificial system operating in the midst of Jerusalem and the reason for this is revealed in in the very last few chap verses of the chapter if you look at verse 29 it says the Tabernacle of the Lord which Moses had made in the wilderness and the altar of burnt offering were at that time on the high place at gibian but David could not go there before it to inquire of God because he was afraid of the sword of the Angel of the Lord so David had brought the ark up into the middle of the city but the Tabernacle and the sacrificial system was still at gibian there was no place of atonement in the midst of the city and the angel of the Lord was standing there with his sword lifted High ready to proceed with judgment so David saw the need for atonement and reconciliation with God and the solution was very close at hand the angel of the Lord ordered Gad to tell David to go and build an altar to the Lord on the threshing floor of Arona the jebusite verse 18 David obeyed the word of the Lord verse 19 he bought the the threshing floor for the full price the narat is very interested in that verses 20 to 2 and he built an altar to the Lord there burnt offerings and fellowship offerings accompanied his prayer to the Lord and the Lord answered him with fire from heaven on the altar of burnt offering and of course that fire from heaven was a sign that the uh the sacrifices had been accepted atonement had been made reconciliation achieved then the Lord spoke to the angel and he put his sword back into his sheep sheep verse 27 so this is a very um powerful statement isn't it about the fact that in the midst of judgment we need reconciliation with God we need atonement and of course we know that that has already been provided for us in the Lord Jesus he has experienced the Judgment of God for us and we know that whatever judgment we may have to experience in this life uh we can pass through that through the atoning work of the Lord Jesus into God's Eternal presence so this extraordinary event this act of Disobedience this act of Satan's enticement was actually the the the means by which the threshing floor was purchased on which Solomon would build the temple and in this amazing unfolding of God's Providence and God's mercy in the midst of judgment uh the place was achieved for meeting with God for being reconciled with God in the very midst of the people of God and you remember that the the next chapters of Chronicles right through to the end of one Chronicles deal with David's preparation for the temple and then we get into Solomon's actual building of it so it's such a a big feature as far as chronic the chronicler is concerned in the development of Israel's life and how amazing it is this that this was achieved out of this terrible judgment this terrible plague that was experienced so we can thank God for his gracious Providence for his Mercy to David and the amazing outworking of his purposes and plan for Israel uh we can thank him obviously for the Lord Jesus and his amazing work of atonement which continues to provide for us throughout the centuries that Jesus is the place to go to receive this our Heavenly Lord Jesus and we thank God that as people experience God's judgment they can not only experience the the mercies of everyday life that we are experiencing but also know that there is an atonement there is a there is a place of reconciliation and to fellowship with God is possible uh because of what God has done for us in the Lord Jesus let's pray together gracious father we praise you for showing Mercy in the midst of judgment supremely in the death of the Lord Jesus for our sins you have provided permanent reconciliation and peace with you in the midst of this pandemic which has brought death and despair to many Reveal Your Mercy in bringing many to faith in your son and bring an end to the destructive power of this virus give us compassion to care for others and boldness to speak your word as you give us opportunity we pray these things for the glory of our savior the Good Shepherd of your flock the Lord Jesus Christ amen