Tearing It Down And Building It Up.

Too often, when we start to build something or do something in God’s work, we try and second guess God and tell Him what it is that He really needs. Even though we all know that God doesn’t work that way. We still try to take the initiative and get things done. This was evident many times in the bible. But one occasion that I was recently studying brought the message home to me a bit more strongly.

I shared in a previous blog about how The Judge Samson, and the Prophet Samuel both lived at approximately the same time period – give or take a couple of years. While Samuel was with the armies of Israel in the Valley of Elah, Samson was 30 miles to the South West fraternising with the Philistines. Samson was imprisoned and made blind, and Samuel was busy grieving over King Saul being rejected by God…..

1st Samuel ch15v35 And Samuel did not see Saul again until the day of his death, but Samuel grieved over Saul. And the LORD regretted that he had made Saul king over Israel.

But God told Samuel not to grieve, but to get up and go to visit with Jesse the Bethlehemite. For God had chosen a new king for Israel….

1st Samuel ch16v10 And Jesse made seven of his sons pass before Samuel. And Samuel said to Jesse, “The LORD has not chosen these.” v11 Then Samuel said to Jesse, “Are all your sons here?” And he said, “There remains yet the youngest, but behold, he is keeping the sheep.” And Samuel said to Jesse, “Send and get him, for we will not sit down till he comes here.”

Meanwhile around that time 30 miles to the south west Samson was being taunted in the philistine prison. And although we don’t know of the exact dates of the events, various scholars have shown that they were all within a few years of each other. And while Samson was tearing down the philistine headquarters in Gaza City Samuel was anointing a young shepherd called David to be the next King of Israel.

While God was using Samson to tear down Gaza, He was also using Samuel to build up David’s house. The death of Samson was to bring about the end of the “Times Of The Judges” and Samuel’s anointing of David  was to usher in the “Times Of The Messianic Kings of Israel”.

The stories and the records of Samuel and David can be read further on through the books of 1st and 2nd Samuel but I want to jump forward to an event in David’s life when he tried to build something without considering God’s wishes.

In 2nd Samuel chapter 7, after winning many battles, God granted David a time of peace and rest. And we read of a time when King David decided to build a house, or dwelling place for God. Up until this point God’s dwelling place, The Ark of The Covenant, had been kept inside a sacred tent – The Holy Of Holies. But David was talking to his confidant and advisor, the Prophet Nathan and decided to build a new dwelling place for God…

2nd Samuel ch7v1 Now when the king lived in his house and the LORD had given him rest from all his surrounding enemies, v2 the king said to Nathan the prophet, “See now, I dwell in a house of cedar, but the ark of God dwells in a tent.”

And so, Nathan and David decided that they get together and build a house for the Ark of God to dwell in. But that night Nathan had a dream…..

2nd Samuel ch7v4 But that same night the word of the LORD came to Nathan, v5 “Go and tell my servant David, ‘Thus says the LORD: Would you build me a house to dwell in? v6 I have not lived in a house since the day I brought up the people of Israel from Egypt to this day, but I have been moving about in a tent for my dwelling. v7 In all places where I have moved with all the people of Israel, did I speak a word with any of the judges of Israel, whom I commanded to shepherd my people Israel, saying, “Why have you not built me a house of cedar?”’

In the dream Nathan was told to pass the message on to David that God’s house was not to be built yet, and that it would be built, not by David, but by his son Solomon….

2nd Samuel ch7v12 When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. v13 He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.

But what no one realised at the time is that when God talked about building a house He was not referring to a physical building. He used the word “house” in the context of building a dynasty. The House of David was to be a messianic dynasty that God would use fulfill His plans of a spiritual Israel and a spiritual Church.

This is what Jesus meant when He said about destroying the temple…

John ch2v19 Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” v20 The Jews then said, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will you raise it up in three days?” v21 But he was speaking about the temple of his body.

Jesus was talking about the Messianic Dynasty that had extended back to King David and far beyond to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. For….

John ch4v24 God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”

Any work that we decide to do for God must have the ultimate result of bringing us closer to God ourselves. Anyone who teaches a Sunday school class, preaches a sermon, or writes music or essays for God must first come before God themselves and get to know what needs to be said and taught. Many a godly minister has openly confessed to his congregation, “Before I preach a sermon to you I must first preach it to myself”.

For everything that we do must ultimately be to praise God and ultimately glorify Him. The first question in the Westminster Shorter Catechism is this…

        Q. What is the chief end of man?
        A. Man’s chief end is to glorify God and enjoy Him for ever.

And that’s it, plain and simple. Nothing more. Nothing less.

But sometimes God will have been trying to talk to us politely for a very, very long time. But we wouldn’t or couldn’t listen. So he had to use another method. He had to break us in order to make us.

Samson had to be broken. David had to be broken. But Jesus chose to be broken. That’s why we celebrate His death with our communion services….

1st Corinthians ch11v23 ……The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, v24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, "This is my body, which is broken for you; do this in remembrance of me."

We today, are the product of a long lineage of Messianic existence. And although we are not physically descended from Abraham, Isaac, Moses and David, we are part of the spirit that has governed them all. And God will want to break away our old sinful ways, habits and desires so that we can be closer to Him. For - again -

John ch4v24 God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”

So let us take the time to acknowledge our spiritual heritage and get closer to God in whatever way we can.

Spirit of the Living God,
Fall afresh on me,
Spirit of the Living God,
Fall afresh on me.
Break me, melt me, mould me, fill me.
Spirit of the Living God,
Fall afresh on me.

Daniel Iverson (1926)

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