[MUSIC PLAYING] The Bible from 30,000 Feet. Soaring through the scripture
from Genesis to Revelation. Would you agree that
people today are pretty burned out on politics? We're kind of fed
up with politics. I mean, we always are. I always am usually. There's sort of
a side of me that likes to just sort of
get interested in it, look at the news, flirt with
it, see what they're doing. And then I see
what they're doing, and I hear what they're
doing, and I go, [GROANS] "I don't want to have
anything to do with it." Then a few days
later, it's like, "I wonder what they're doing,"
and start looking again. But I just think people are
tired of the divisiveness, and we're sort of sick
of the rhetoric and all that that brings,
which brings me to a story about three
men who are friends, and they were arguing. They were having a
conversation, but it sort of turned into a
little disagreement. One was a surgeon, and then
the second was a politician, and the third was an engineer. And they were arguing
about whose profession among those three was the
oldest profession historically. And the surgeon says,
"Well, gentlemen, you know, the Bible says that
God formed woman by carving out a rib of man. That makes mine, the surgeon,
the oldest profession in the world." The engineer said, "Not so fast. Before that, we are told that
God created the earth out of chaos. Now, that's the job
of an engineer." And the politician was over
in the corner smiling wildly, and he said, "Ah, but
who made the chaos?" [LAUGHTER] If you remember back
in 1 Samuel chapter 8, there was a point in their
history that brought chaos. And that's in 1 Samuel 8. I'm going back a couple books. You don't have to turn there. But they wanted a king. The people begged for a
politician, a king, so that, in their words, "We can
be like other nations." That's what they wanted. They wanted to be
like everybody else. They wanted to be
like other nations. What they failed to
remember is that the secret of their greatness
was the fact that they were unlike other
nations, that they had a very unique relationship,
a covenant relationship with the living God. God wanted to be in charge. He would have loved it if
it was a theocratic kingdom. One day, there will
be on the earth. It'll be a while,
but it will come. And so they cried
out for a king. They got one. He wasn't very good. His name was Saul. Saul was a man
after his own heart, whereas the next guy, David,
was a man after God's own heart. Saul gets replaced by David. David is the gold standard
for rulers after that. He will always be compared
to every other king. Did he have the
same sort of heart? Not that David was perfect. He was far from it. In fact, we saw last time
how imperfect David was. A man after God's own
heart, yes, but a man who was a failure in
his family nonetheless. Now, from a worldly standpoint,
David was a success. He was peerless. Monetarily, he brought economic
prosperity to the nation. Militarily, he provided a
strong army for the people. He was handsome. He was courageous. He was a visionary. But he couldn't
control his family. And it brought pain to him,
it brought trouble to him. Now we have David 2, sort of. That is his son, Solomon,
gets to be the next king. So we have Saul followed
by David followed by Solomon, three kings that
form the rulership of a united monarchy. Keep that little phrase in mind
because it won't stay united. In this book, we see that it
goes from united to divided. Solomon sees outward growth. He also sees political strength. But he also sees chaos
on a spiritual level. All comes from David. David had problems
in his family. Solomon also has mega problems,
like David on steroids. You know how many wives
and concubines Solomon ends up with. Just these crazy
amounts like you saw in that little spoof video. Thousands of women. David had a divided marriage,
thus David had a divided heart, thus David left as a
legacy a divided nation. He was a divided individual. Now, speaking of dividing,
let's divide the book. There are 22 chapters. You can cut it in half,
and you have the outline. The first 11 chapters are
about the united kingdom. And I'm not speaking
about Great Britain. I'm speaking about the
united of the north and the south, the
12 tribes of Israel under solid, unified leadership. Chapters 1 through 11 are
about the united kingdom and the reign of Solomon. Then the next half,
chapters 12 to 22 is the divided kingdom, and
not the reign of Solomon, but the reign of several. Several kings come
north and south as it gets to be very confusing. We begin in chapter 1, verse 1. "Now, King David was old." I want you to mark
that because I'm going to tell you
how old in a minute, and you're going to
go, "Wait a minute." It just says "David was old." He's advanced in years. And they put covers on him,
but he could not get warm. Now, a lot of times, there are
old guys and gals in the Bible. They're like 100 years old,
and you go, "That's pretty old. 120, that's really old." David died at age 70,
yet it says he was old. All I can say is that
David lived a hard life, and the years took their toll on
David physically, spiritually, mentally. You know some of his
background, so it's not hard to imagine what he
was like at that age. He had lived a hard life,
his body was pretty shot, and at age 70, he
can't get warm. So in his weakened condition,
because this incredible leader, this successful leader is in a
weakened condition-- whenever somebody who's a leader
is weak, some others are looking for that
time of weakness to use it as an opportune time. David had a fourth son who
takes advantage of his weakness. His name is Adonijah. He takes advantage of
the weakened condition. And in verse 5,
we are told, "Then Adonijah, the son of Haggith,
exalted himself saying, I will be King. And he prepared for himself
chariots and horsemen and 50 men to run before him." This is David's fourth son. David's first son,
Amnon, first born son, was killed by Absalom. Absalom, David's son,
was killed by Joab, his commander in chief. His third son, Chileab,
died at a young age. So this is number four. His fourth son is
now the oldest. He decides apart from
the King's sanction to get a group of people,
claim that he is king, stage an anointing down
at a little spring outside of Jerusalem called En-rogel. Nathan the prophet
hears about it, comes to the palace,
tells Bathsheba. They both rush in
to David, and they say, "You wouldn't believe what
your fourth born son is doing. He has proclaimed himself king." Now, evidently, Solomon had
been promised the next kingship. David made a promise-- perhaps
to David, perhaps to Bathsheba, perhaps to both-- that Adonijah, but Solomon
would be the next king. So he is taken in haste, he is
taken down to the Gihon spring, they pour oil on him,
they say a prayer, and he is anointed
the King of Israel. That takes us to
the death of David, which is seen in chapter 2,
and his final instructions to his son, the next
king Solomon, third king in the united kingdom. Chapter 2 verse 1,
"Now, the days of David drew near that he should die. And he charged Solomon
his son saying, I go the way of all the earth. Be strong therefore, and
prove yourself a man." Now, stop right there. There are some
men when they hear that phrase "Show
that you're a man," it means something
different to them than what David means to Solomon. Some people hear that and
they puff their chest up. "I'll prove that I'm a man. I'll be tough and rough. I'll blow your house down, man. [LAUGHTER] I'll fight whoever comes at me. I'll prove that I'm a man." He says, "Prove you're a man,"
but now he qualifies him. You want to see
what a real man is? You want to see
true masculinity? Verse 2-- or verse 3. He says, "Prove yourself
a man," verse 2, verse 3, "and keep the
charge of the Lord. Keep the charge of the Lord
your God to walk in His ways, to keep His statutes, His
commandments, His judgments, His testimonies as it is
written in the law of Moses. As it is written
in the law of Moses that you may prosper in all that
you do and wherever you turn." Do you remember that Kings
we're told in the Torah-- so way back in the first
five books of Moses, God anticipated Israel
is going to have a King. So He said, "When you
have a king, make sure that he gets a copy of the
law, that he writes it himself, he copies it out and keeps it
so he can read what the law is." So David said, "Show you're
a man, prove yourself a man. Stay true to the covenant
that God has given." Verse 4, "that the Lord
may fulfill his word which He spoke concerning me
saying, if your sons take heed to their way to walk
before me in truth with all their heart and all
their soul," he said, "you shall not lack a man
on the throne of Israel." That's way back in
2 Samuel chapter 7. That's the covenant
God made with David. He says that to Solomon,
and then David dies. Verse 12, "Then Solomon sat on
the throne of his father David, and his kingdom was
firmly established." Now, this begins a new
reign of a new king. As I said, the third
in the line of kings that are unifying the
nation for a while. They are kings of
a united monarchy. It's the beginning
of a new reign. It sounds promising,
it sounds good. And David-- you know,
you listen and go, "Wow, that's good advice. That's godly advice." But then the text
reveals something else, something weird. Before David dies, he
conspires with his son Solomon to take care of
political business. And that is to assassinate
people who have hounded David that David didn't take care of. But David knew that
Solomon would find them such formidable enemies that
he in his novice condition would not be able
to handle them. So David gives instruction
for political housecleaning to strengthen his son's
hold on the kingdom. These were people
David could handle, but David knew these
probably weren't people Solomon could handle. So he gives instructions,
first of all, concerning Joab, who was
the commander of his army. But Joab had killed
David's nephew Amasa, and he also killed
Abner, the commander in chief of Saul's army. So David says, "Deal with him." And another guy by the name
Shimei is mentioned here. He was the guy who when Absalom
kicked David out of Jerusalem, Shimei was by the
side of the road on the Mount of Olives
cursing David, yelling at him. "You creep! Who were you? You're nothing. You're trash." And David did nothing because he
saw that as a judgment of God. And to his credit,
he just passed it on. Years later, he
remembers the guy, and he says, "Solomon, take care
of Shimei for me, would you?" [LAUGHTER] So there's some
political housecleaning. Chapter 3, verse 3 is a breath
of fresh air, given that. We are told in that chapter and
verse Solomon loved the Lord. Now, I don't know
exactly what that means, given all that I
know about Solomon and even what he's doing here. But it says Solomon
loved the Lord. How much he loved the Lord,
I don't know, you don't know. The Lord knew his heart. But it was revealed
that he loved the Lord. And twice in this section
of scripture of 1 Kings, God appears to Solomon and
speaks to him verbally. Chapter 3, verse 5, it's
a remarkable promise God gives to him. At Gibeon, the Lord appeared
to Solomon in a dream by night. And God said, "Ask
what shall I give you?" Now, how would you like
God to do that for you? [LAUGHTER] He appears to you and he
says, "Blank check, baby. You just won the lottery. You fill in the amount. Anything you want,
I'll give to you." I am just going to tell
you, I'm so glad God did not give me that choice. [LAUGHTER] That'd be way too
much for the Lord himself to make that
kind of a promise, "Ask anything you want. It's yours." Carte blanche. I think if the Lord did that to
me, I would turn it back on him and say, "Lord, You
know what I need better than I know what I need. You give me what You see fit." Like Solomon will even later
pray, "Don't make me poor, don't make me rich. Feed me with the food that's
enough for me lest I steal. But I don't want to
be too rich that I turn my heart from You," which
Solomon eventually will do. But that was his prayer
at that time nonetheless. Well, he's at a place called
Gibeon not far from Jerusalem. The Lord reveals
himself to Solomon. Solomon offers burnt
offerings to the Lord. A lot. In fact, 1,000 burnt offerings. This guy was into doing it big. Verse 7, "Now Lord,
my God," he prays, "Now, oh Lord my God, You have
made Your servant king instead of my father David. But I am a little child. I do not know how to
go out or to come in." That's a Hebrew
colloquialism for "I don't have my act together. I don't know how to
do this king stuff. I'm not experienced,
and I admit it. I lack what it takes." "And Your servant--"
continues in verse 8. "And Your servant is in
the midst of Your people whom You have chosen, a
great people, too numerous to be numbered or counted. Therefore, give to Your servant
an understanding heart." That's what he asked for. "This is what I want. This is what I
want on the check. To Solomon, an
understanding heart." An understanding heart. It literally means a hearing
heart, a listening heart. And it probably
refers to somebody who would listen
to the voice of God as well as listen to
the voice of the people and gauge what they
need most and fulfill that in this covenant. "Give me a hearing heart,
an understanding heart, to judge Your people that I may
discern between good and evil. For who is able to judge
this great people of Yours?" Solomon is feeling the
weight, the leadership weight of his dad's
kingdom upon his shoulders. And he realizes,
"Look, I need wisdom to know how to handle this
and to handle these people and make decisions." Years ago, there was a
slogan "Life is short. Play hard." That was the slogan. "Life is short. Play hard." Solomon's slogan
was "I'm in charge. Pray hard." That's how he started. "I'm in charge. Pray hard." And so he prays, and
he prays fervently, and he prays with humility. He prayed smart. Verse 10, "This
speech--" that is, what he spoke in prayer
to the Lord-- "pleased the Lord that Solomon
had asked this thing. Then God said to him, because
you have asked this thing and have not asked
long life for yourself, nor have you asked for
riches for yourself, nor have asked the
life of your enemies, but have asked for
yourself understanding to discern justice,
behold, I have done according to your words. See I have given you a wise
and understanding heart so that there has not been
anyone like you, before you, nor shall any like
you arise after you." He continues on in
verse 13, "But I'm going to give you what you
didn't ask for as well. You asked for the right thing. I'm going to do that. Good on you. But I'm also going to give
you what you didn't ask for, and that is both
riches and honor." Now, chapter 4, in verse 29,
it says, "And God gave Solomon wisdom and exceedingly
great understanding--" now watch this-- "and largeness of heart like
the sand on the seashore." In other words, God gave him a
vast breadth of understanding, an unusual amount of
understanding and wisdom. So Solomon ruled
with both his head and his heart,
largeness of heart. You know, if you just
rule with your head, if you've got all
brains but no heart-- the Bible says
knowledge puffs up. Love builds up. It edifies. A balanced person has
both brains and heart. Paul said, "If I have all
knowledge, but I have not love, I am nothing." I've always loved that phrase. It's not a theological
story, but The Grinch That Stole Christmas. I know it's not in the Bible. [LAUGHTER] But I like that little phrase
when it says, "And they say in Whoville that day that
the Grinch's small heart grew three sizes that day." I like the idea of somebody who
has a small heart, his heart growing larger as he begins
to love and care for people and have compassion on them. God answered his prayer
in a beautiful way. So Solomon begins by
building the temple to God, restructuring the city
of Jerusalem, building roadways and public buildings. And get this. Go down to verse
32 of chapter 4. It says, "He spoke
3,000 proverbs, and his songs were 1,005." Now get this. As an artist in the studio,
he was even more prolific than King David, his father. That's how creative he was. He becomes the author
of the book of Proverbs, the book of Ecclesiastes, the
book of the Song of Solomon, several books. Now chapters 5
through 10 explore Solomon's splendor as king. The building of the temple. You remember, David, his dad,
drew up plans for the temple. God wouldn't let him do it
because he was a man of blood, acquainted with the battlefield. God didn't want a man of
war building his temple. God didn't even
really want a temple. He said, "I'm happy in
a tent, but you're not building me a temple. I'll let your son
Solomon do that." So he does. Solomon establishes
a relationship with one of his dad's
buddies up in Lebanon, guy by the name of
Hiram, the king of Tyre. Lebanon is where the
cedars of Lebanon grew. There is a few groves of
them still in existence. But it was populated on
the mountains of Lebanon. So he took the cedars of
Lebanon and men from Lebanon as part of Solomon's
workforce to bring them down to the port of Israel, ship
them up to the temple area to be used in part of
the temple structure. So Solomon paid Hiram 130,000
bushels of wheat a year and 120 gallons of oil per year. How many workers? Well, look at
chapter 5, verse 13. "Then King Solomon
raised up a labor force out of all of Israel. And the labor force
was 30,000 men." 30,000 men. We're not done yet. "And he sent them to Lebanon,
10,000 a month in shifts." They were there one month in
Lebanon and two months at home. Adoniram was in charge
of the labor force. "Solomon had 70,000 who carried
burdens and 80,000 who quarried stone in the mountains." Not done yet. Verse 16, "besides
3,300 from the chiefs of Solomon's deputies who
supervised the people who labored in the work." So 183,300 men were
employed as the workforce by Solomon to build the
temple in Jerusalem. And what a great shift. You're on one month,
you get two months off. You work one month,
you get two months off. So that's the cycle. So it must've been hard work
if you need two months off to recuperate. So that's how he rolled. That's how he did it. Verse 17, "And the
King commanded them to quality large stones,
costly stones, and hewn stones to lay the foundation
of the temple." Now, let's remark on
the temple for a moment. The temple represents the very
pinnacle, the very zenith, the very top of Solomon's
reign and Solomon's glory. And the temple is considered
at the very heart of Judaism. Today, if you go
to Israel, there is a little mountain
Jerusalem that is called the Temple Mount. Traditionally, where the temple
stood, where they believe the temple stood. But there are sayings about
Jerusalem, about Israel, and about the temple in
the Jewish commentaries from the Old Testament times. For instance, in
a commentary that is known as the Midrash, the
Jewish Midrash, it says this. The land of Israel is at
the center of the world, Jerusalem is at the center
of the land of Israel, and the temple is at
the center of Jerusalem. That's a poetic way of saying
the navel of the earth, the center of the Earth,
the center of the world is the temple in Jerusalem. That's why it's awfully exciting
to be able to stand and look at and walk on the
Temple Mount and think of all that happened on that
mount throughout history. Well, something about the
temple, Solomon's temple. Solomon's temple
follows the direction of a previous building that
housed the Ark of the Covenant. What was it called? Anybody? Tabernacle. Tabernacle was not made out of
stone, it was made out of what? Cloth. Cloth and skins, right? It was a temporary,
portable structure. The temple follows
the dimensions of the tabernacle times two. So follow me here. There's an outer
court, but once you get to the tabernacle
proper, the tent proper, there's a tent in the
middle of this court. The tent that comprises
the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies, if you remember, was
15 feet wide and 45 feet deep divided into two. Holy Place, Holy of Holies. The temple is double that. It's 30 feet wide
and 90 feet deep. The only variation
is the height. The height of the
tabernacle was 15 feet. The height of the temple was
45 feet, so times 3 in height only. Other than that, it was
doubled from the tabernacle. So you have a building
that the temple-- 2,700 square feet. Not large. Later on, Herod's temple
during New Testament, a much larger, humongous. Solomon's temple
though was quite small. 2,000 or 2,700 square feet. However, it was quite expensive. It has been estimated
that if you add up the materials of hewn
limestone, cedar from Lebanon, gold, silver, that that
little 2,700 square foot structure is $11 million. $11 million. Now, some of your homes
are 2,700 square feet. Some of your homes
are bigger than that. But they're not
worth $11 million. So this is a structure
that has a price tag of $4,000 per square foot. Now, it took Solomon 7 and 1/2
years to build God's temple. But get this. You couldn't hear
the sound of a hammer or chisel at the temple site. Solomon gave
instructions to bring hewn stones ready to be placed
so that at the temple itself, you wouldn't hear the
construction noises of hammering and banging. Now, in the 1800s, there
was a couple archaeologists poking around a
place in Jerusalem known as the Damascus Gate. How many of you here
have been to Israel? Raise your hand. So there's a lot of you. That's great. So you remember
the Damascus Gate? Remember where that's at? Remember it's where all the-- like you're going to
Golgotha, Calvary, and there's just
lots of pilgrims. It's where the biggest
police force is around today. So the Damascus Gate. He was poking around there. And he found a tunnel that
emptied into this large cavern. And they believe they
found underneath that, Solomon's quarries, which
several of our groups have visited. Solomon's quarries where they
would take the limestone, cut it there, and then finish
it and bring it to the temple. So when you go in
there, you start seeing how they cut the stone. Want to know how
they cut the stone? They drilled holes
in limestone by hand. They drilled holes,
long deep holes. And then they put a
hole every few inches along a line, and then more
holes along another line, more holes along
a parallel line. And then they would put
wood in those holes, stuff it full of wood. Then they would pour water in
intervals in a certain sequence in the holes filled with wood. Now, what does would do
when water gets to it? It expands. So they could crack the stones
exactly how they wanted to, take the stone out, finish
it off with a hammer and chisel in that
little quarry, and then bring it
up to the Temple, and in just slide it into place. So next time you're
there, remind me, and I'll show you where that is. Well, the temple
is done by the time we get to chapter 7, verse 51. It says, "So all the work
that King Solomon had done for the house of
the Lord was finished. And Solomon brought
in the things which his father
David had dedicated. The silver, and the gold,
and the furnishings. And he put them
in the treasuries of the house of the Lord." And the next few
chapters, it talks about bringing the Ark
of the Covenant in. Talks about the
cloud of the Lord or the Shekinah glory of
God descending on the temple in that first day of worship. Solomon speaking to the
people, Solomon praying to God. Now, we're going to
skip all the details, but I want to bring
something else up since I mentioned the price
of the temple a moment ago. That's just the 2,700
square foot room. If you were to take
the temple courts along with that 2,700 square
foot temple room, add up also the silver,
the gold, the brass, the brass pillars that
were in the courts, the silk vestments of the
priests, the purple vestments that they wore, the
vestments of the singers, the wage for the singers,
the musical instruments for worship, all the materials
and the labor would cost-- the project today would cost--
and I checked in on a couple of different sources
who gave this estimate-- $140,381,000,000. An enormous price
tag for a building. When God said
before, "I don't even care about a fancy building. I'm happy in a tent. You guys want the
building," right? Fast forward to
the New Testament when Stephen stands
before a Jewish audience, and he says, "Let me just
remind you, gentlemen, that the Most High
does not dwell in temples made with hands." God doesn't dwell in places,
God dwells in people. It's about people more
than places, especially in the New Testament because
in the New Testament, you are the temple
of the Holy Spirit. Paul said, "You are
the building of God. You are God's workman." The emphasis shifts
from the Old Testament focus of tabernacle and
temple to the New Testament focus of people. Chapter 9, God appears
to Solomon a second time. And here the Lord says, "Hey,
Saul, I heard your prayer. It was good. It's awesome. I agree with it. When you dedicated the temple,
I was there, of course. I'm going to keep my
end of the bargain. I want you to keep my
statutes and my laws. And I want your sons
to do the same." Now, God appears to him and
tells them that, but also gives him a warning. Now, why is this significant? God has never given him
a warning until now. In verse 6, "But
if you or your sons at all turn from
following Me and do not keep My commandments
and My statutes, which I have set before you,
but go and serve other gods and worship them,
then I will cut off Israel from the land
which I have given them. And this house which
I have consecrated for My people for My name,
I will cast out of my sight. Israel will be a proverb and a
byword among all the people." God gives Solomon a warning the
second time He appears to him. Solomon is established,
Solomon grows in strength, he grows in riches, he
grows in kingdom, property. And that is when a person
is most vulnerable. A person needs to be warned
when they arise to the place where life is
good, life is easy. The winds are on our side. This is favorable. This is nice. We're prosperous. We finally arrived
at this plateau. That's when you
need to watch it. That's when you need to
be warned because you are most vulnerable. I want to just have you glance
at a phrase down in verse 10. It says, "Now, it happened
at the end of 20 years--" this is Solomon's midlife. And from what we know about
Solomon, he's going through-- or will go through a
midlife crisis of identity. He's going to write
a book, Ecclesiastes. "It's all vain. It's all vanity. I can't figure out the meaning
and the purpose of life." And he goes from that to
eventually forsaking the Lord. So he goes up to this incredible
pinnacle, and then life's good, it's stable. And after a period of time
after that midlife wind at his back moment is
the slide downward. Hence the warning from God. Now, just keep that
in mind by the time we get to chapter 11,
which we're soon to do. Chapter 10, to sort
of add to the flavor of Solomon's incredible
reign, people hear about him. Rulers hear about him. Solomon's diplomacy, he's
growing in that area, interacting with
other world leaders. And one of them from
down south in Arabia-- Sheba, to be exact-- a
queen, the Queen of Sheba hears about Solomon. Chapter 10, verse 1,
"When the Queen of Sheba heard the fame of
Solomon concerning the name of the Lord,
she came to test him with hard questions." The word means riddles,
puzzles, conundrums. Hey, figure this one out. Wow, that was pretty good. Now what about this? "So Solomon answered--" notice
this-- "all her questions. There was nothing so
difficult for the king that he could not
explain it to her." Solomon poured forth wisdom,
just dripped off of his lips. I'd love to have
a Solomon around. There's some questions I
wish I could ask Solomon. Don't you? Do you ever have these
questions about why is that? Why is it, for instance, that
if 7-Eleven is open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, why
are there locks on their doors? [LAUGHTER] Solomon maybe could answer
that question for me. I can't figure that one out. They're never closed. Why have a lock? Why do dogs hate it when
you blow in their face, but when you put
them in a car, they want to put their
head out the window? [LAUGHTER] Solomon, please,
give me some wisdom. This is one of life's riddles. So Solomon is growing,
and his fame is spreading. Verse 6, "Then she
said to the king, it was a true report which
I heard from my own land about your words
and your wisdom. However," she
continues, "I did not believe the words until I
came and saw with my own eyes. And indeed, the half
was not told me. Your wisdom and
prosperity exceed the fame of which I heard." So now at this point,
Solomon's kingdom is vast. It stretches from the
Mediterranean Sea on the west to the Euphrates
River on the east. His kingdom goes from Arabia
down south to Lebanon up north. An enormous piece of real
estate and the largest physical boundaries that
Israel in history ever enjoyed was under the reign
of David, but more so under the reign of Solomon. Jesus refers to Solomon and
refers to Solomon's glory. But interestingly,
Jesus refers to Solomon in a negative way saying,
"Even Solomon in all his glory is not arrayed like
one of these flowers." Even all of that physical
accomplishment of Solomon doesn't compare to a
simple flower made by God. So He speaks of Solomon,
but He speaks of him in a negative way. Solomon has a problem. Let's just bring that out now. You'll see it. It'll get worse. He has a management problem. He is a tax and
spend politician. He taxes the people immensely,
and he spends their money profusely. And he is oppressive. And he is so bad that the
people feel the weight, and they cry out, and
they're complaining. You won't hear about it
till we get to his son by the name of Rehoboam. Rehoboam makes Solomon even
look tame because he turns up the taxation. So before we get into that and
we see the divided kingdom, which we're just going to
touch for a few moments on, there's something that grabs
our attention, a number that is mentioned. That is Solomon's wage. And I'm drawing
your attention to it because it's the only time
it's mentioned-- this number-- outside of the very famous
passage that we all know of, the Book of
Revelation chapter 13. I want you to see in our
text chapter 10, verse 14. Still speaking of
Solomon's splendor. And that is his wage,
his annual wage. Chapter 10, verse
14, "The weight of gold that came
to Solomon yearly was 666 talents of gold." Now, if we did not have
revelation 13 and the number 666, we probably would
pay no attention. But the fact that this
is the only other use of that number in scripture-- it's mentioned twice
besides Revelation 13, and it's in conjunction with his
wage in two different sources. This is one of them is with
what Solomon got annually. Now, why is that noteworthy? Because Solomon was the one
responsible for plunging the nation into idolatry. His heart is divided
because of his wives. He starts worshipping
other gods. He starts building and
institutionalizing idolatry in mass for the southern
kingdom of Judah. So this king, the third
king, introduces idolatry into the nation. And I don't think
it's a stretch to say that if David is a type of
Christ, which he is and talked about in scripture,
that Solomon could be seen as a type of Antichrist. 666, the number of man, the
perfect man, the ideal man, the successful man, Solomon. Well, Solomon was told
to keep by his bedside a copy of the law, right? Which he copied. One of those passages in
the law, in the Torah, was Deuteronomy chapter
17, in which God said-- see if it can be any
clearer than this-- when a king comes and sits
on the throne of Israel, he is not to multiply
horses to himself. We have Solomon's stables
all over the land of Israel. Thousands upon thousands upon
thousands of horses he kept. So he's not to multiply
horses unto himself. He's not to multiply
wives to himself. Did Solomon break that one? [LAUGHTER] Like 1,000 times over. And he is not to greatly
multiply silver and gold to himself. He gets 666 talents a year. Every law God put in the books
for kings, Solomon broke. And he did so flagrantly. And it all goes back
to David's home life. You can't erase that,
you can't forget that. It all goes back to
David and the house that Solomon grew up in. Well, we come to
chapter 11, and here's what you need to know
about this chapter. It is the hinge, it's the door. The whole book is
like a door that hangs on the hinges of chapter 11. The first 11 chapters
last 40 years, the second 11 chapters
last 80 years. In the first 11 chapters, the
kingdom is united and strong, and the second 11 chapters, the
kingdom is divided and weak. In the first 11 chapters,
there is a single king, one man in the spotlight, Solomon. In the second or
last 11 chapters, there's a lot of kings,
several kings, and civil war. Chapter 11 is that hinge. Chapter 11 verse 1,
"But King Solomon loved many foreign
women, as well as the daughter of Pharaoh, women
of the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians, Hittites,
termites, all of them. [LAUGHTER] "From the nation of
whom the Lord had said to the children
of Israel, you shall not intermarry with
them, nor shall they with you. Surely, they will turn away
your hearts after their gods." Solomon clung to these in love. It's not that he just had them. His heart was moved by them. And it's good to love your
wife, but love 1,000 of them? Talk about a divided heart,
especially when those wives are worshipping false
gods, false goddesses, false religious system. And that begins to seep its way
into the marriage relationship, into the home. Verse 3 tells you that story. "And he had 700 wives,
princesses, and 300 concubines. And his wives turned
away his heart." And David becomes consumed,
consumed with himself. Here's what's odd. God used him to write scripture. He's the wisest
guy ever on earth. He takes enigmas and
puzzles and answers them. He writes the book
of Proverbs, which is a manual on raising children
and living with integrity. And he wrote it,
and it's scripture. But where he failed is to
follow what he said he believed, follow what he
actually wrote down. That's the irony of it. Dude, you wrote that stuff,
and you're living that way? Years ago in the
Associated Press, I read an interesting
story about a man named Luke Goodrich in San
Jose, California, who was taking his
trash to his backyard and just was burning
his trash at home. Against the law in
San Jose, California. But he did it, the
fire got out of hand. He started burning more than
the trash in the backyard, sort of burning the backyard. He was out toward the country. It burned 100 acres
of land, this fire did that Luke Goodrich started. 100 acres of land. Took 16 or 17 helicopters,
400 firefighters to put out this fire. That's a massive fire, right? Here's the ironic thing. Luke Goodrich was the captain
of the San Jose fire department. [LAUGHTER] Of all the people that live
in San Jose, California, there's one dude who should
not be guilty of that. And that is Luke Goodrich. In all of Israel,
there's one dude who should not be guilty of this. And that is King Solomon. And he is the guy doing it. He is the man. So chapter 12 through
22, the last 11 chapters is a cacophony of confusion. It's a divided kingdom. First 11, a united
kingdom, reign of Solomon, this half, a divided kingdom,
the reign of several. Chapter 12 tells you why. There are two men at
odds with each other, and the two men take two
parts of the kingdom. Man number one, Solomon's
son by the name of Rehoboam. Not related to guy number
two called Jeroboam. They're not related. Their last name isn't Boam. It's not the Boam boys. [LAUGHTER] Unrelated. One is son of Solomon. The other is son of Nebat. He happened to work
for Solomon, was on Solomon's staff for a while. While acting like his dad,
Rehoboam-- boy number one-- is driven by greed,
has a lust for power. He's now the King. Solomon is gone. He's in charge. So to establish his
reign, what does he do? What should he do? What's the first thing
he should have done? He should've prayed. That's what Solomon did. At least he started well. He prayed. He didn't talk to God, he
didn't seek God's wisdom. He does seek the advice of two
groups, the older group of guys who were Solomon's advisors. "What should I do?" They say, "I'll
take what you do. Ease up on the taxation. You're killing these people. Your dad made life miserable. Be nice to these people. Be compassionate. Give them back some
of their money. Don't tax them so much. Reduce the size of government." He asked boys his own
age "What should I do?" And they say, "Are you kidding? You're in charge. Get more money
than your dad did." So who do you think
he listened to? His buddies. Chapter 12, verse 14,
"And he spoke to them according to the advice
of the young men saying--" this is what he's
saying now to the people and to Jeroboam and
all the others who want the taxation to end. He says, "My father
made your yolk heavy. But I will add to your yoke. My father chastised
you with whips. I will chastise
you with scourges." "So the king did not
listen to the people, for the turn of events
was from the Lord that he might fulfill
his word which the Lord had spoken
by Ahija the Shilonite to Jeroboam the son of Nebat. Now, when all Israel saw
that the King did not listen to them, the people
answered the King saying, what share have we in David? We have no inheritance
in the son of Jesse. To your tents, O, Israel. Now see to your own
house, O, David. So Israel departed
to their tents, but Rehoboam reigned over
the children of Israel, who dwelt in the cities of Judah." Now the kingdom splits. The kingdom splits
north and south. So here's the key to
understanding this. The rest of 1 Kings and 2 Kings,
there are two different groups. One is called Israel, and that
refers to 10 northern tribes. The second is called Judah,
and though they are Israelites, they're not called Israel. Judah is the two
southern tribes, which is Judah and Benjamin. Just those two southern
tribes that house the temple. So now it's split north and
south, Israel and Judah, 10 against two. The kingdom is not
united anymore. Now it's split. Now you've got a separate
king in the north, separate king in the south,
and a lineage of those kings that the rest of 1 Kings
and 2 Kings tells you about. A split has occurred,
north and south. Now, Jeroboam,
head of the north, is smart enough to know that
the emotional center of all Jews is the temple in Jerusalem. Solomon built it. It's a part of the
worship system, goes back to the tabernacle. So what he does, ingeniously-- it's wrong, but he
was ingenious-- is he sets up a calf
and a temple of sorts in the center of
the nation, which is the southern part of the
northern kingdom, Samaria, and way, way up north in
a place called Dan, D-A-N. So he sets up two
worship centers, two temples for the people to
gravitate toward and worship so they don't have
to go down south. Now, the rest of the
book, chapter 13 to 22 shows parallel accounts,
confusing parallel accounts of northern kings
and southern kings. It is a chaotic
period because you're following two sets of kings. Both of those sets of
kings are evaluated. You want to know what
the criterion of how God evaluates them? He evaluates them number one, do
they worship the God of Israel alone, or do they worship
God and bring other gods and goddesses into it? That's criteria number one. Number two, do they get rid
of idolatry in the nation, or do they tolerate it? Don't do anything,
just let it go. And number three,
are they faithful to the covenant like David was? And that's why David
is this gold standard. Everybody will be
compared to David. He followed God like
David, his father. He didn't follow God like
David, who was loyal to God. So he's compared to David and
his loyalty to the covenant. The king's up north
that are mentioned-- I'm just going to mention them. There are eight of them
in the rest of this book. About 20 altogether,
but that'll be 2 Kings. So the eight kings mentioned
here are Jeroboam up north, Nadab, Baasha, Elah,
Zimri, Omri, Ahab, Ahaziah. Eight kings are listed. None of them, zero of them,
not a stinking one is good. All of them are bad. All of them are condemned. All of them lowered
the bar, bringing the nation of
Israel and the north further and further
into idolatry. All eight. Judah's kings mentioned
in the rest of the book are four of them. They are Rehoboam, Abijam, Asa,
and Jehoshaphat Four kings. Only two of the four
do what it says here. They did right in
the eyes of the Lord. And that is King
Asa in chapter 15 and King Jehoshaphat the very
last chapter of chapter 22. Now, one of the
worst kings of all is a northern king
by the name of Ahab. You've heard his name, yes? Ahab married a girl by the
name of-- anybody know? Jezebel. Wicked gal. Ahab and Jezebel,
the terrible twins. They introduce Baal worship-- Canaanite worship,
Babylonian worship into and institutionalize
it in Israel. So Ahab's a problem because
he's the worst of all of them up to this point. So God raises up a special
prophet for a special problem. I want to introduce you to him. Chapter 17, verse 1,
"And Elijah the Tishbite of the inhabitants of
Gilead said to Ahab, as the Lord God of Israel
lives before whom I stand, there shall not be dew or rain
these years except at my word." So this prophet, crazy looking
dude, like a John the Baptist, commands the rain to stop and a
famine, a drought and a famine spread over the land. Now, chapter 18, it says, "It
came to pass after many days that the word of the Lord came
to Elijah in the third year saying, go, present
yourself to Ahab, and I will send
rain on the earth." So chapter 17 now
through 22 shows this relationship of
conflict between the king Ahab and the prophet Elijah. So you have a man of the
flesh and a man of the spirit. You have a man of the world,
Ahab, and a man of God, Elijah. Let the games begin. Chapter 18, verse 17, "Then it
happened when Ahab saw Elijah that Ahah said to him, is that
you, O, troubler of Israel?" You see, this worldly
king saw God's prophet as a troublemaker,
as his enemy, when in reality, he himself, the king
Ahab, was his own worst enemy. And the cure was Elijah. "Is that you, O,
troubler of Israel?" I love his response. "And he answered, I have
not troubled Israel, but you and your father's house
have in that you have forsaken the commandments of the Lord
and followed the Baal's." Now, who is Baal? Baal was a fertility god. He sent rain, he caused
storms, he brought fertility to the land, he controlled
the forces of nature. 3 and 1/2 years of famine--
remember he stopped the rain? 3 and 1/2 years of famine
was an embarrassment to any worshipper of Baal
because Baal controlled that. And they're praying to
Baal and worshipping Baal and sacrificing to Baal
for 3 and 1/2 years, nothing comes of it. So Baal is not answering
their fertility prayers. There's a famine in the land. So it's a great embarrassment. And so Elijah says, "Let's have
a contest, a chance for you to vindicate your awesome God. So let's have a
battle of the gods. It's like (SINGING) my
God's better than your god. And so they have a contest. [LAUGHTER] Now, just a note about this. 1 Kings introduces this
role, but 1 and 2 Kings develop a very special
role now in ancient Israel, and that is the
role of a prophet. A prophet is somebody who
speaks on behalf of God and plays the role of
a covenant watch dog. A covenant watch dog. A prophet comes along and calls
people out on their idolatry and calls people
out on injustice, speaking for God to the
nation, in this case, to the leadership of the nation. So it's Elijah in
1 Kings, and it will be Elisha, the successor
of Elijah, in 2 Kings. If you'll go down to
verse 25 of chapter 18-- we loved to read this when
we stand on Mount Carmel where this took place
our first day of touring in the land of Israel. "Now Elijah said to
the prophets of Baal, choose one bull for yourself
and prepare it first, for you are many, and call
on the name of your God. But put no fire under it." Don't burn anything,
don't light it up. Just put the wood--
put everything ready for the sacrifice. "So they took the bull
which was given them, and they prepared it, and they
called on Baal from morning till noon--" three to
four hour prayer meeting-- "saying, oh, Baal, hear us. But there was no
voice, no one answered. And so they leaped about the
altar which they had made." Now they're getting all
charismatic and crazy and bouncing around, "Woo! Hallelujah." But nothing's happening. [LAUGHTER] Verse 27, "So it was at noon
that Elijah mocked them." I love Elijah. He's a man after my
own scheming heart. [LAUGHTER] So at noon, Elijah mocked
them and said, "Cry louder. Cry aloud, for he is a god. Either he is meditating,
or he is busy." Now, that's a very
polite translation. The New Living Translation
comes close to what the original really is, and that
is, "Either he is meditating, or he is relieving himself." [LAUGHTER] Now, that's a mockery. "Your god can't hear you because
he's probably on the toilet." [LAUGHTER] I'm not making that up. He's relieving himself. Or maybe he's on a journey. You know, you got
to really call out because he's walking
somewhere far away. Or perhaps he's sleeping,
and you got to wake him up. "So they cried aloud
and cut themselves as was their custom
with knives and lances until blood gushed out on them." "Stand aside,
boys," Elijah says. Walks up, utters two
verses, 63 words, fire falls from heaven,
consumes the sacrifice. All because they're praying to
somebody who does not exist. There is no Baal. There is no such god. False gods are not gods. They don't exist. You can talk to them all
day long, nothing happens. Elijah knew that. He talked to the right God. His prayer was
heartfelt, fervent. Contest is over. You think, "Great. Elijah is just so stoked. He's on cloud nine." Well, evidently,
he's burned out. It's taken an enormous toll on
him emotionally and physically. So chapter 19, Ahab dies. His wife Jezebel
threatens Elijah. You would think Elijah after
the prophets Baal thing, fire coming down from heaven,
he says, "Woman, you want to fight me, really? [LAUGHTER] I'll have fire down come down
from heaven and consume you if you'd like that." [LAUGHTER] But he doesn't do that. He runs away from her way
down in the Sinai desert. And he goes under a tree
and he goes, "God, kill me. Kill me." Really? One woman threatens
you and you run away? But you can call fire
down from heaven, boy! He's suicidal. He's seen victory, but he's
at the end of his rope. He's drained. So he goes, "Lord, it's enough. Take my life." Basically God says,
"Cheer up, boy. I got plenty where
you came from. You're not the
only true prophet. I've got a lot more
prophets like you. Get going." And He encourages
him, and He does. But I just want to quickly, as
I'm bringing this to a close, say that Elijah appears
in the New Testament. He shows up in
the New Testament. I believe twice. One I know about
because we are told that Jesus was transfigured
on a mountain in Galilee with two people. Who were they? Moses and Elijah. They were talking about
things related to the kingdom. Moses represented
the law, Elijah represented the prophets. And they're hanging out
with Jesus talking to Him. So Elijah shows up
talking to Jesus. And I believe-- my
personal opinion-- he shows up again with
Moses in Revelation chapter 11 as one of the two
witnesses in the last days. Because of the signs
that chapter 11 describes that those
two men produce, they sound so much
like Moses and Elijah. My opinion. Now, I want to close the book
by showing you a contrast really quickly between the Old
Testament and the New Testament. Solomon's prayer. Remember that? We mentioned that
back in chapter 8. This is what he says. Listen to what he says. Solomon is praying to God. Temple is built. He's
thinking of the future. And he says, "When anyone
sins against his neighbor and is forced to take
an oath and comes and takes an oath before
your altar in this temple, then hear in heaven and act
and judge your servants, condemning the wicked, and
bringing his way on his head, and justifying the righteous
by giving him according to his righteousness." That's the prayer of Solomon. "Lord, condemn the wicked,
and acquit or justify the righteous." Fast forward, fast
forward, fast forward. Jesus comes on the scene. It's a whole different way
of dealing with people. Now suddenly, instead of
God condemning the wicked and justifying the righteous,
we discover "there is none righteous, no, not one." The only people God has
left are wicked people. All of us are sinners. And we discover that God
justifies the wicked. Solomon says,
"Condemn the wicked. Justify the righteous." Come to the New Testament. Ain't nobody righteous. There's just a lot
of wicked people. But the gospel shows that God
acquits those who are wicked. Roman chapter 4,
verse 5, "But to him who does not work
but believes on Him who justifies the
ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness." So different, Old
Testament, New Testament. Jesus comes and
says, "You're wicked? I'll justify you. It'll be just as if you've never
sinned if you just trust me. Just believe in me. Just put your faith in me." So Solomon the politician. Politicians didn't
create the chaos. Satan did. Politicians helped a bit,
but Satan is the culprit. But Jesus came into the chaos
of the cosmos with the cross. And the cross made
it possible for God not just to justify
the righteous, because there are none, and
not to condemn the wicked, but to justify the wicked
because of their faith in Jesus. That's good news. Father, how thankful we are as
we consider the Old Testament, the old covenant,
the old standard, we compare it with the new. We are just so grateful that the
old is gone, the new has come. That Jesus, the only perfect
person who ever lived, came and took our punishment,
dying for our sins. And when we say,
"Lord, receive me, Lord forgive me,"
that you justify the wicked and the ungodly. And while we were still sinners,
Christ died for the ungodly. [MUSIC PLAYING] Thank you for the new. Thank you for the gospel. Thank you for the Savior. Lord, last week, we saw so many
people put their faith in Jesus at this Wednesday night service. Thank you for them. Strengthen them. Grow them up in the faith. Father, as we close
tonight, we're just wondering if
perhaps there aren't more that since their life
isn't what it ought to be, they've turned from you. Some know they have. Some have just sort of
slipped away over time. They're not following you. Their life isn't
pleasing to you. They know that. They're aware of it. They just don't want
to keep it that way. They want things to change. They wonder could it
ever really change? And as we peer at
the Old Testament, but we think of the New, the
answer is of course, there is. Jesus could do for you what you
could never do for yourself. "There is none
righteous, no, not one." No matter how good you might
think you are, or life you have lived according
to a church's standard, or a society's
standard, or a family's standard, we all fall
short of the glory of God. The only hope for any of us,
king or pauper, is the cross. And if you have not
committed yourself to Christ, now's the chance
and the time to do that as we close this service. Or if you've wandered
away, walked away from Him, you need to come back to Him. Our heads are bowed,
our eyes are closed. If you want to do that
tonight, right now, if you want to give
your life to Jesus, know that you're forgiven. Know what it's like
to be a child of God made just by an
act of your faith in what He has done for you, not
what you could ever do for Him. You just come as you are. You just come as you are,
admit that you need Him, and He will save you if
you allow Him to do that. If you want that, then I want
you to raise your hand up in the air. God bless you. Anybody else? Raise your hand up
so I can see it. I'll acknowledge you,
we'll pray for you as we close this service. I want to know who
I'm praying for. Raise your-- God
bless you in the back. Anybody else? Raise that hand up? Right where you're seated,
just say this to the Lord, those of you did that. "Lord, I give you my life. I know I'm a sinner. Forgive me. I trust Jesus. I turn from my sin. I turn to Jesus as Savior. I want to follow him as Lord. Help me. I believe Jesus came
and He died on a cross. I believe He rose from the dead. And I believe He did it for me. And I personally receive
him as Lord and Savior. In Jesus' name, amen." [MUSIC PLAYING] We hope you enjoyed this message
from Skip Keitzig of Calvary Church. For more resources,
visit calvarynm.church. Thank you for joining us for
this teaching from The Bible from 30,000 Feet.
