2026.09.16 Midweek Meeting Livestream (live at 6:30p)

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Why We Need Christ As Priest [Children's Catechism 70—Theology Simply Explained]

Pastor walks his children through Children's Catechism question 70—especially explaining how we need a Priest Who can bring us near to God, and Who can atone for sin that is as big as God.

Q70. Why do you need Christ as a priest? Because I am guilty. (click here to DOWNLOAD mp3/pdf files of this lesson) Summary of the transcript of the audio: The lesson addresses the theological necessity of a priest by considering human guilt in light of divine holiness. It argues that, even in a state of perfect righteousness, humanity requires a mediator to approach the holy-holy-holy Creator, but the reality of sin further necessitates a priest who is also a Redeemer. Christ is presented as the ultimate mediator, Who offers atoning sacrifice, transforming the certain expectation of divine wrath into unassailable expectation of favor and blessing. The central message emphasizes that access to God is secured not by human merit, but by the consecrating work of Christ as the High Priest who bridges the gap between the sinner and the Holy.

2026.09.16 Hopewell @Home ▫ 1 Chronicles 22

Read 1 Chronicles 22

Questions from the Scripture text: What did David say about the threshing floor of Ornan (1 Chronicles 22:1)? Whom did he appoint to do what (1 Chronicles 22:2)? And what did he provide in 1 Chronicles 22:3? And in 1 Chronicles 22:4? What does he say about Solomon (1 Chronicles 22:5)? And what does he believe about the temple? Whom does he call in 1 Chronicles 22:6, and what does he charge him? What had been in his mind (1 Chronicles 22:7)? Why didn’t YHWH’s Word permit him (1 Chronicles 22:8)? How did Solomon get his name (1 Chronicles 22:9)? What would happen in his days? What would Solomon do (1 Chronicles 22:10)? And what will the Lord do for him? How does David bless him (1 Chronicles 22:11)? Unto what end? What does Solomon need (1 Chronicles 22:12)? In order to do what (1 Chronicles 22:12-13)? How much, of what, has David provided for building the temple (1 Chronicles 22:14, 1 Chronicles 22:16)? And whom has he provided (1 Chronicles 22:15)? Whom does David command in 1 Chronicles 22:17? To do what? What does David point out (1 Chronicles 22:18)? What ultimate instruction does he now give Solomon (1 Chronicles 22:19)? In order to do what?

What do we need for worship? 1 Chronicles 22 looks forward to the hearing of God’s Word, publicly read, in the holy assembly on the coming Lord’s Day. In these nineteen verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that what we most need is Christ. 

The Lord would give David a Son who would be the King of peace (1 Chronicles 22:9). Although this is Solomon by name, it is ultimately Christ by identity. Solomon did not reign forever, although he was adopted by God. But this adoption was through faith in Christ and union with Him. Ultimately, Christ is the King of peace and the King of righteousness (cf. Hebrews 7:2). 

David has taken great pains. What provision! One hundred thousand talents of gold, one million talents of silver, and bronze and iron beyond measure. But what Solomon needs even more are obedience to the Law (1 Chronicles 22:11-12), strength and courage (1 Chronicles 22:13), and to set his heart and soul to seek YHWH his God (1 Chronicles 22:19). 

YHWH is giving His people to draw near to Him, through Christ, for the glory of His Name (1 Chronicles 22:19). And He gives them what they need in order to worship Him. Yes, whatever is materially necessary. But, especially, obedience, strength and courage, and the setting of their hearts and souls to seek Him.

What material things do you need in order to worship? What spiritual things? How, ultimately, do you draw near to God?

Sample prayer:  Lord, forgive us for when we fail to marvel that You have given Your own Son to be our King of peace. And forgive us for when we focus more upon the material things that are needed for worship, than for the spiritual things. Provide for us the resources necessary to gather. And provide us with obedience, strength and courage, and hearts that seek You. Thank You that You have provided us with Christ Himself as our Temple, and Sanctuary, and Ark, by Whom we draw near to You. Forgive us for His sake, we ask in His Name, AMEN!

Suggested songs: ARP52B “From My Sins, O Hide Your Face” or TPH434 “A Debtor to Mercy Alone”

2026.09.15 Hopewell @Home ▫ Job 17

Read Job 17

Questions from the Scripture text: How does Job feel (Job 17:1)? What has brought him so low (Job 17:2)? What does he ask God to do instead (Job 17:3)? How does God’s providence relate to Job’s friends (Job 17:4)? What will happen to them (Job 17:5)? But what are they doing to him now (Job 17:6)? With what effect upon him (Job 17:7)? What will Job do, in light of their impending end (Job 17:8-9)? What does he now say to the friends (Job 17:10)? Why is he willing to suffer that at their hands—what hope does he have (Job 17:11-15)? What hope do his friends have (Job 17:16)? 

What does a righteous man do, when he feels sure he is about to die? Job 17 looks forward to the hearing of God’s Word, publicly read, in the holy assembly on the coming Lord’s Day. In these sixteen verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that the righteous use what time they have in this world to do good to others. 

Job is not just exhausted, but on the verge of being extinguished (Job 17:1). His friends are his greatest trial (Job 17:2), but he asks God to give him a better friend (Job 17:3). The Friend for Whom Job is asking is Jesus! He is the One Who strikes hands with us as our great Friend and representative with God.

As for Job, he hopes to use his remaining moments by being the friend that his own friends need. Under the providence of God (Job 17:4), the mockers of the lowly, and flatterers of the nobility, will come to nothing in the end (Job 17:5). These “friends” treat him badly (Job 17:6-7), and anyone truly upright would be astonished at them (Job 17:8) and persist in their righteousness (Job 17:9). This is a clue to you, dear reader, to be astonished at the friends and hold to the gospel and true righteousness. The Lord will make you stronger and stronger. 

Job urges repentance upon them (Job 17:10). He has nothing to gain by this; he is on the verge of dying (Job 17:11-14) and feels that he has no hope left in this world (Job 17:15). But this has reminded him that the friends soon will die too (Job 17:16). In all of this, Job’s concern reflects the character of God (cf. Job 42:7–9). We must learn to have a spiritual, soul-care for even those who are our greatest trial in life. There is nothing more Christ-like (cf. Luke 23:34).

What people are among your greatest trials in life? What spiritual danger are they in? How are you caring for them?

Sample prayer:  Lord, we know that we are short on time and shall soon be in the grave. Grant unto us to spend that time like Job did, loving even those who have been a trial to us, and caring for their souls. And grant unto us to spend it also worshiping You. You are our purpose in life and our hope in death. We deserve for You to have hidden our heart from understanding, but You have made us to know You in Christ. How great is Your goodness and compassion! And no less great are Your holiness and justice and power! So, receive the worship of which You are worthy, and help us in it, we ask through Christ, AMEN!

Suggested songs: ARP11 “My Trust Is in the Lord” or TPH433 “Amazing Grace!”

2026.09.14 Hopewell @Home ▫ Proverbs 27:23–27

Read Proverbs 27:23–27

Questions from the Scripture text: What should the son be diligent to do (Proverbs 27:23)? Why (Proverbs 27:24)? At what season (Proverbs 27:25) does what occur (Proverbs 27:26)? With what outcome (Proverbs 27:27)? 

What should we value more than wealth or power? Proverbs 27:23–27 looks forward to the opening portion of morning public worship on the coming Lord’s Day. In these six verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that we must learn from nature to value what God gives greater value.

Riches are used up (Proverbs 27:24a), but lambs and goats (Proverbs 27:26), and the grass that feeds them (Proverbs 27:25), are renewable resources. Men are constantly in danger of esteeming the assigned value of wealth above the inherent value of things that God created.

This is a metaphor for the son’s conduct as king. “A crown does not endure to all generations” (Proverbs 27:24). A king must care about more than the power and wealth he is able to attain in his own reign. He should care for his people, both now, and for generations to come. 

In our lives, we will be tempted to prioritize accumulating money or maintaining power. But we must prioritize the care of those whom the Lord has entrusted to us. Far more than grass or goats, His image-bearers have the true value.

We are the sheep of His pasture, and the flock of His hand. And He gives us His sheep to care for, too.

What are some situations in which you are tempted to value wealth or control too much? Whom has the Lord given to you to care for? What are some situations in which you are tempted to care for them too little?

Sample prayer:  Lord, thank You for caring us as the sheep of Your own hand. It is amazing to us that You have bestowed upon us the value of being image bearers. Forgive us, for how we have neglected Your image in others. Forgive us for valuing wealth and power above people. Give us to love them and care for them as those who bear Your image, we ask through Christ, AMEN!

Suggested songs: ARP100 “All Earth, With Joy” or TPH100B “All People That on Earth Do Dwell”

2026.09.13 Lord's Day Livestreams (live at 10:10a, 11:10a, and 3p)

To tune in for the Lord's Day streams, we recommend that you visit the livestream page.

2026.09.12 Hopewell @Home ▫ Ephesians 4:1–7

Read Ephesians 4:1–7

Questions from the Scripture text: What does the apostle call himself in Ephesians 4:1? What does he beseech them to do? According to what? By what three characteristics is such walking marked (Ephesians 4:2a)? What does such walking do (verse 2b)? What does such walking endeavor to keep (Ephesians 4:3a)? By what have they been bound (verse 3b)? What six things do Ephesians 4:4-5 tell us all believers have in common? Upon what final commonality does Ephesians 4:6 focus, and what does it say about Him? What was given to each believer (Ephesians 4:7a)? Who measured out gifts to each (verse 7b)?

Why must Christians keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace? Ephesians 4:1–7 prepares us for the morning sermon in public worship on the coming Lord’s Day. In these seven verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that Christians must keep peace with one another because Christ has actually made us to be at peace with one another. 

The apostle, who is the prisoner of the Lord, has been given a remarkable grace in his office and calling (Ephesians 4:1, Ephesians 4:7; cf. Ephesians 3:1–2, Ephesians 3:7-8). But he is not the only one with such an office and calling. To each of us grace is given, as Christ Himself—the chief cornerstone—has measured gifts out from Himself unto the rest of the building, the rest of the body, the rest of the nation, the rest of the family (Ephesians 4:7, cf. Ephesians 2:19–22). Whatever else a Christian does from 9–5 M–F (or whatever your ‘vocation’ is), these are secondary to the glorious calling of church member. 

There are various duties of church members that we hear about in several places in the next three chapters. But, whatever the matter or substance of our role in the body, we are all called to the same manner or character of walking: lowliness, gentleness, longsuffering, bearing with one another in love.

We notice that the sevenfold list of things in which we are “one” in Ephesians 4:4-6 are all realities that exist already, realities to which the apostle has already largely testified in this letter. This helps us to notice that Ephesians 4:3 isn’t telling us to make peace, but rather to keep it. God Himself has already made the peace. God has created the church as Christ’s body. God has given to each member His same Holy Spirit. God has given each member the same hope—adoption and inheritance as His eternally blessed sons. God is the same Lord over all. God has given the same faith in the same gospel. God has placed the same sign upon all. 

The unity of the church, then, is not something that we produce, but that exists in God Himself. The list crescendos until it climaxes on the “One God and Father of all, Who is above all, and through all, and in us all” (Ephesians 4:6, MT). 

So this unity exists, but it demands a response. It demands the response of each of us functioning as church members, which we will see later. But even before we see what we are to do as church members, the apostle presents us with the manner in which we are to do it.

Lowliness, considering others better than ourselves and generosity of spirit toward them. Gentleness, strength under control, not a flimsy tolerance of wrong ideas and practices, but yet a kindly and compassionate manner of interaction even while loving the Lord and the brethren in a holy intolerance of all that is against Him and them. Longsuffering/bearing with one another, having a long endurance and high “pain tolerance” in relationship with one another.

As we will see later in this book, a genuinely biblical “spiritual gift inventory” would look like: submitting to the teaching of the elders, shoring up our doctrine unto stability, expressing real love by building one another up in Bible truth, living for eternity, being a Christ-transformed wife / husband / parent / employee / boss whose conduct is heavenly light over against the satanic darkness of this age. 

Oh that even above any spiritual gift inventory—this calling with which we were called—we would each devote ourselves unto the “still more excellent way” of walking in the manner described here in Ephesians 4:2-3. When we don’t, we treat as worthless the glorious realities of Ephesians 4:4-5—and God Himself, Ephesians 4:6. God forbid!

With whom in the congregation do you need to most work on “keeping the unity of the Spirit”?

Sample prayer:  Lord, forgive us for when we have been unmindful of our calling. And forgive us for when we have not walked in lowliness, preferring others to ourselves. Forgive us for when we have not walked in gentleness, nor patience, nor borne with one another in love. Forgive us for when we have lost sight of the objective realities of the gospel, in which You have made peace for us. And grant us grace according to the measure of Christ’s gift, we ask in His Name, AMEN!

 Suggested songs: ARP197 “Christian Unity” or TPH409 “Blest Be the Tie That Binds”

2026.09.11 Hopewell @Home ▫ Jeremiah 1:1–3

Friday, September 11, 2026 ▫ Read Jeremiah 1:1–3

Questions from the Scripture text: Whose speech is this (v1)? Whose son is he? Of what group? From what place? What came to him (v2)? In the days of what king, in what year? And in the days of what other kings, until what year, and what event (v3)?

What are we to think of Jeremiah? Jeremiah 1:1–3 prepares us for the evening sermon on the coming Lord’s Day. In these three verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that God prepares His prophet, employs his mouth to speak His own words, and sustains him through a generation of difficult but fruitful service.

God’s perfectly suited servant. Jeremiah (v1) was a common name (as was Hilkiah, his father). The priests of Anathoth were just outside Jerusalem and Judah, in Benjamin. They were descended from Abiathar, whom Solomon banished (cf. 1Ki 2:26–27), for supporting his rival’s attempt at the throne (cf. 1Ki 1:5–19). Although Jeremiah was called from birth to be a prophet (cf. v4), and was from a family of priests, he would have some hard words for the priests (along with the prophets and kings of Israel; cf. 2:26, etc.). The Lord prepares our place and our calling long before we are born. He was perfectly situated to be the man whom God would use for this. And so are you, for however the Lord intends to use you and your life.

God’s mouthpiece to His people. Whose words are these? Well, they are literally the “speech” of Jeremiah (v1). The translation “words” is fine, but it is particularly those words as expressed that is in view; sometimes the word is even translated “action.” But, although they are spoken by Jeremiah, these words (plural) are the word (singular) of YHWH which came to him (v2). We recently saw an important description of how YHWH breathes out the Scripture in Hab 2:2. We have a similar one here. Although he employs the prophet’s faculties in such a manner that they can be called Jeremiah’s words (v1), He puts His own words in the prophet’s mouth (cf. v9) to such an extent that v2 can say that YHWH’s Word to His people came to Jeremiah. Daniel understood this, even as Jeremiah’s contemporary (cf. Dan 9:2), just like Paul quotes Luke (cf. 1Tim 5:8, Luk 10:7), or says that a prophet in his own day would recognize the inspiration of his own writing (cf. 1Cor 14:37).

God’s sustained servant. From the thirteenth year of Josiah (627 b.c., v2) to the third wave of the exile in the eleventh year of Zedekiah (587 b.c., v3) is about 40 years. And we know that Jeremiah continued to prophecy, after the bulk of his prophecy was fulfilled (cf. chs42–43, which are after the fall of Jerusalem). He had to combat superficial revivalism of the people during the reign of their godly king, Josiah (v2, cf. 3:10). He had to combat the outright hostility of Jehoiakim and Zedekiah (v3). And he had to combat the distress of the people over his message that Judah, Jerusalem, and the temple itself, would fall (v3).

For forty years, he preached that this would happen, gaining no converts except his first king, Josiah, and his scribe, Baruch. And, at the last, God fulfilled His Word, which He had put into Jeremiah’s mouth. Sometimes, the Lord calls us to service that has great moments of difficulty and pain. And often, the Lord calls one of His people to a service that, if he had known through what things grace would carry him to persevere, and over what things grace would carry him to overcome, he would scarcely believe it.

But the Lord sustained Jeremiah (as He will you, if you are in Christ) through the whole of the service appointed to him. The sermons and poems which explain and announce the coming judgment (ch1–25), are fulfilled in his own life, right up to and through the exile (ch26–45), which is a warning to humanity as a whole (ch. 46–52). What wonder and gratitude he must have felt, as he came to write this introduction to the book. What wonder and gratitude—and trusting expectation—we ought to feel as we read it, preach it, hear it, and meditate upon it.

What has the Lord called you to thus far? What difficulties are you going through right now? How are you treating the Scriptures as the very words of God? How are you treating His ministry to you as His very Word to you? Why can you be sure that the Lord will sustain you in your service to Him?

Sample prayer: Lord, thank You for the marvelous way that You sustained Jeremiah through a generation of ministry. And thank You for this book of Scripture by which You warn of sin, show the complete reliability of Your Word, and point us to Christ. Thank You for being the God who suited Jeremiah, spoke through Jeremiah, and sustained Jeremiah. Make us confident that You have perfectly suited us to be used by Yourself, and that You will sustain us until our work in this world is done—all by the grace of Christ, through Whom we ask it, AMEN! 

Suggested songs: ARP18A “I Love You, Lord” or TPH256 “God Moves in a Mysterious Way”

2026.09.10 Hopewell @Home ▫ Mark 10:1–16

Read Mark 10:1–16

Questions from the Scripture text: Where does Jesus go (Mark 10:1)? Who gathered to Him? What was He accustomed to do with them? What question do the Pharisees ask in Mark 10:2? With what question does Jesus answer in Mark 10:3? What is their answer (Mark 10:4)? What does Jesus say was the reason that Moses permitted this (Mark 10:5)? What does Jesus remind them that God did at the beginning of creation (Mark 10:6)? How had God created man? Of what else does Jesus remind them in Mark 10:7? How many does Jesus say become one flesh in Mark 10:8? Whom does Jesus say is the One who joins a man and his wife together (Mark 10:9)? Who ask Jesus about the same thing in Mark 10:10? What does Jesus say a man does, if he divorces his wife and then remarries (Mark 10:11, cf. Matthew 5:32)? What does Jesus say a woman does, if she does the same (Mark 10:12)? To whom do they then bring little children (Mark 10:13)? What do they want Jesus to do with the children? What do the disciples do to those who brought the children? When Jesus sees it, what does He think (Mark 10:14)? To whom does Jesus say that the kingdom belongs? And to whom are the children an example (Mark 10:15)? What does Jesus then do with the children (Mark 10:16)?

What does Jesus think of marriage and children? Mark 10:1–16 looks forward to the hearing of God’s Word, publicly read, in the holy assembly on the coming Lord’s Day. In these sixteen verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that Jesus views marriage as a covenant of God, and covenant children as subjects of the kingdom of God. 

In this passage, we read about two incidents in which the Lord Jesus affirms God’s valuing of marriage and children.

First, on the question of divorce, there are a couple interesting things about Christ’s answer.

There is a truth about the Mosaic civil code here (Mark 10:3-4)  that we could easily miss. God gave unto Israel laws that took into account the hardness of their hearts (Mark 10:5). If you look at the parallel in Matthew 5:32, you can see part of the “hardness of heart” Jesus is talking about. Divorce wouldn’t be necessary, but there are husbands and wives who commit adultery. 

Even more interesting is the theological foundation of Jesus’s teaching on divorce. He doesn’t take us to Genesis 2 first. Jesus takes us to the creation in Genesis 1. He takes us to God creating male and female in His own image (Mark 10:6). The implication is that marriage is about man being in the image of God, man being a covenanting creature of a covenanting Creator.

Only after establishing this first does Jesus take us to Genesis 2, where He twice repeats the math: 2 become 1 (Mark 10:8). This math wasn’t explicit in the text of Genesis 2, but it was obviously implied. Now, Jesus gives His authoritative explanation and application of the passage. Marriage is one man, and one woman, covenanted for life.

But there’s more! Who forms this covenant? Not just the man and the woman. The Lord is the One who joins them together (Mark 10:9). Marriage is the “covenant of our God” (cf. Proverbs 2:17). No wonder God hates divorce! The Scripture that tells us that also tells us one of God’s great purposes for marriage: to produce a godly seed, covenant children (cf. Malachi 2:14-16). 

Now, the Holy Spirit ties the two subjects together again in Mark 10. Look at how serious our Redeemer is about covenant children! He is greatly displeased (Mark 10:14) with the disciples for hindering the little children of these believing parents from coming to Him.

Our Lord doesn’t just love our children because they are ours. He loves our children because they are His. Jesus points out, in Mark 10:15, that children are often better examples of believers than adults. But this isn’t even His strongest statement about them.

In Mark 10:14, Jesus says “of such” is the kingdom. These little children are kingdom citizens in their own right. They have a right of access to the King! In the end, Jesus doesn’t just touch the children as was requested. He takes them up into His arms, and lays His hands upon them, and blesses them (Mark 10:16). How much our Lord loves marriage and children!

How does your daily and weekly schedule reflect Jesus’s priority upon marriage and children?

Sample prayer:  Lord, forgive us, for when we have had hard hearts, compounding one sin with another. It is dreadful that You would make peace for Israel by permitting a legal method of divorce. Forgive us, and cleanse us. Make us to treasure our own marriages and our own spouse. And strengthen us against the perversions of our generation against Your design of marriage as one man, and one woman, covenanted for life. Give us to love to give You Your own offspring, bringing to You, for Your own care, those of Your children whom You have entrusted to us. Forgive us for when we have hindered them, for this is greatly displeasing to You. Give us to treat them according to their rights as subjects to have access to their King. And make us to enter the kingdom like children as well. Thus, do with us not according to our sin, but according to Your grace, we ask through Christ, AMEN!

Suggested songs: ARP128 “How Blessed Are All Who Fear the Lord” or TPH548 “O Blest the House”

2026.09.09 Hopewell @Home ▫ 1 Chronicles 21

Read 1 Chronicles 21

Questions from the Scripture text: Who stood up against whom by doing what (1 Chronicles 21:1)? So, what does David tell Joab and the leaders of the people to do (1 Chronicles 21:2)? But how does Joab respond (1 Chronicles 21:3)? What does he say that David will end up doing if they do this? Who prevails (1 Chronicles 21:4)? What does Joab report (1 Chronicles 21:5)? What doesn’t he report, and why (1 Chronicles 21:6)? Who responds in what way (1 Chronicles 21:7)? And how does David respond to this—Whom does he ask for what (1 Chronicles 21:8)? To whom does YHWH speak (1 Chronicles 21:9)? What is Gad to tell David (1 Chronicles 21:10)? What do the three things turn out to be (1 Chronicles 21:11-12)? Which does David choose, and why (1 Chronicles 21:13)? What does YHWH do, with what effect (1 Chronicles 21:14)? How (1 Chronicles 21:15)? But why and how does it stop (verse 15)? Who see the stopped Angel (1 Chronicles 21:16)? How does David now pray (1 Chronicles 21:17)? Who has sinned? But what two things does he call the people? Who commands whom in 1 Chronicles 21:18? What does Gad tell David to do? How does David respond (1 Chronicles 21:19)? Who see the angel in 1 Chronicles 21:20? How do they respond? Whom does Ornan see in 1 Chronicles 21:21? How does he now respond to him? What does David ask in 1 Chronicles 21:22? And what does Ornan offer (1 Chronicles 21:23)? But upon what does David insist (1 Chronicles 21:24)? Why? How much does David give him (1 Chronicles 21:25)? Then what does David do (1 Chronicles 21:26, cf. 1 Chronicles 21:18)? How does YHWH answer? What does YHWH now command (1 Chronicles 21:27)? And what does the angel do? So what does David continue to do, where, why (1 Chronicles 21:28)? What/where doesn’t he (1 Chronicles 21:29)? Why not (1 Chronicles 21:29-30)?

What hope do we have, when we are suffering for sin? 1 Chronicles 21 looks forward to the hearing of God’s Word, publicly read, in the holy assembly on the coming Lord’s Day. In these thirty verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that the hope that we may have, when we are suffering for our sin, is that YHWH’s compassions are very great. 

Real agency of the devil. When we compare 1 Chronicles 21:1 to 2 Samuel 24:1, we find that it was in YHWH’s sovereign providence that Satan did this, on account of Israel’s sin. We deserve to be given over to the temptations of the devil. When we pray for otherwise, we pray for grace. When the Lord does otherwise, it is grace. So, let us not take lightly that there is an enemy of our souls, who hates us individually and the church corporately whose desire is that we would sin against God.

Real consequences of our sin. The overarching story of this passage is that indeed, YHWH’s compassions are very great (cf. 1 Chronicles 21:13) and that He was providing a place of worship more permanent and glorious than the tabernacle (1 Chronicles 21:25-29). And, in the context of Scripture as a whole, the point is that the Lord was bringing into the world a Prophet better than Gad, a Priesthood better than that of the tabernacle and temple, Mediation better than David’s, and a King better than David. But if we skip straight to these themes, we will miss that God’s grace, and God’s gracious work in the world, can never be an excuse for us for our sin. David’s sin had real consequences. David’s sin had severe consequences. 70,000 funerals in one day. How the land was filled with grief over David’s sin! Let us never misuse sovereign grace to treat sin as a small thing.

Real grace sovereign over all of it. We do not know what manner of striking is indicated in 1 Chronicles 21:7, but David evidently perceived it (verse 7). Grace gave him a soft heart to be genuinely contrite before God (1 Chronicles 21:8). Grace also sent him God’s Word in 1 Chronicles 21:9. Even before there were the three options, or the staying of the Angel’s sword, or the provision of worship that God accepted, grace was operating. When we have a soft heart to see our sin, that’s grace. When God’s Word comes and convicts us of sin but points us to God for mercy, that’s grace.

Grace makes David not only contrite about his own sin, but confident about God’s mercy. All three options are under the sovereign providence of God. The famine option seems to be rather directly done by God. But there is something about the Angel of YHWH that David perceives. He is a messenger not only of justice and vengeance, but of “compassions that are very great” (1 Chronicles 21:13). Now, this Angel is sent by YHWH, but also is YHWH Himself, into Whose hands David asks to fall. He is not only a messenger (for that is what “Angel” means), but He speaks by the prophet (1 Chronicles 21:18) just as God does. And David is exactly right; His compassions are great. YHWH relents of His own accord, and the Angel stands at the ready (1 Chronicles 21:15). The sacrifice is not in order to stop the plague, but a privilege that the Lord gives David in order to respond to the stopping of the plague. Grace gives David to see the Angel, with sword drawn (1 Chronicles 21:16). Grace prompts David to respond as Mediator for the very people who were suffering for his sin: “these sheep” … “Your people” (1 Chronicles 21:17). The sacrifice is an answer to that prayer (1 Chronicles 21:18). 

We also see the effect of grace upon Ornan. Grace makes him courageous before the power and justice of God, even as his sons dive for cover (1 Chronicles 21:20). Grace gives him humility before the Lord’s anointed (1 Chronicles 21:21). Grace gives him generosity to contribute sacrificially, abundantly, even completely (“I give all”) to the Lord’s worship (1 Chronicles 21:23). 

Finally, grace provides the temple ground. Here is the most expensive parcel of land in the Bible: six hundred, not of silver, but of gold (1 Chronicles 21:25). And here is a place where YHWH gives David to see that He receives the worship there (1 Chronicles 21:26-27), so that David is encouraged to offer God worship that God Himself has provided and approves of (1 Chronicles 21:28-30). 

Stepping back to see the bigger picture, we see that Christ is a Mediator Who has no sin of His own. Instead of suffering for His sin, His people are blessed for His righteousness. He is the Angel of YHWH, a holy and just Avenger, but Whose distinguishing characteristic is that His compassions are great. He is a King Who is perfectly obedient, a Prophet Who announces God’s grace to us, a Priest Who brings us near to God with acceptable worship. And He gave all for that worship. And it is accepted. Hallelujah.

How have you suffered for your sin? Who else has suffered for your sin? What do you deserve for the devil to do to you? How are you resisting him? Whom has the Lord sent to you to announce His grace? How has the Lord given to you to come near to Him for worship? 

Sample prayer:  Lord, forgive us. For, we have given in to Satan’s incitements to trust in Your good gifts to us, rather than trusting in You Yourself, Who gave them. We know that, like Israel, we deserve to be given over to his hand. And, like David, our sin has been costly for those whom You have placed under us. So we come to You, hoping in the fact that You have placed Christ over us. For the sake of His righteousness and sacrifice, forgive us. Show that Your compassions are very great in how You deal with us. We thank You for the worship that You have purchased for us, not at the cost of six hundred pieces of gold, but at the cost of Christ’s own precious blood. For His sake, forgive us, cleanse, us and receive us, we ask in His Name, AMEN!

Suggested songs: ARP52B “From My Sins, O Hide Your Face” or TPH434 “A Debtor to Mercy Alone”