Christ in the OT - Christ,..

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com. That's cornerstonerbc.com. Well, good evening, everyone, and welcome back to our Bible studies. Let's open up our Bible to the second letter of the Apostle Paul to his disciple Timothy in chapter three.

This evening, by God's grace, we are starting once again our Bible studies, this new term. And we are going to continue with a series that we were doing last year in 2019, which is the types of the Lord Jesus Christ that are found in the Old Testament. Now, by God's grace, we are going to continue with that series for the next four weeks. And we're going to conclude that series in four weeks. And after that, we're going to move to a different study.

And that study is going to be focused on the life of the Lord Jesus Christ. We're going to be picking up... five, seven particular topics or seven particular moments, detailed moments or aspects of the life of the Lord Jesus Christ. And we are going to be studying that over the course of seven weeks. So we have four more weeks, I think, right, with the types of the Lord Jesus Christ in the Old Testament.

And this evening, by God's grace, by going through, we're going to go to Second Timothy, chapter three, as I said, and we're going to be addressing The King Solomon as a type of the Lord Jesus Christ. The King Solomon as a type of the Lord Jesus Christ. And we have said, brothers and sisters, that a type of the Lord Jesus Christ in the Old Testament is either a person or an event or even a period of time that foreshadows the Messiah that was to come. The promised Messiah for the people of Israel was typified in the Old Testament And we have selected particular people or events or even periods of time that we think foreshadow the coming Messiah. And this evening, we are going to continue with the kings.

Our brother introduced us last year to the kings period, starting with Saul and also King David. And now we're going to address another king. This is King Saul. And we're going to be King Solomon, but we're going to be starting and giving an introduction in Second Timothy chapter three, but we're going to be focusing primarily in First Kings chapter one. Let me just give you this exhortation first and then we move to First Kings.

The passage that we've read many times that is found in chapter 3, verse 16 and 17, in which the Apostle Paul is going to give this exhortation, this instruction to Timothy. He says, all Scripture, 2 Timothy 3, verse 16, all Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction and for training in righteousness, that the men of God may be complete, equipped for every good work." Now, beloved brothers and sisters, that we may not get tired or that our soul might not be indifferent to this truth every time that we read it and every time that we meditate upon it. The Apostle Paul says that all the words of God, that all the sacred writings, that the words that God has given to us, the New Testament Church, are profitable for doctrine or for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God might be brought to a completion or a perfection, and that is unto good works. If we were going to put, brothers and sisters, this verse in other words, taken from the New Testament, we could say that God makes His people righteous by and through the power of His Word.

That is, that the Word of God is the means by which God makes His people, sons and daughters, righteous. And if we were going to define that term of righteous or who is a person that is righteous in the same words of the Apostle Paul, taken from Romans 8, verse 19, that those whom he predestined he foreknew, or those whom he foreknew he predestined better, to be conformed to the image of the Son, Jesus Christ. That's what our brother prayed in the beginning of the Bible study, that we may be conformed to the image of Jesus Christ. So, in other words, to be righteous or to grow in righteousness according to the Bible is to be made conformed to the image of the Lord Jesus Christ who came to this world 2,000 years ago. So, putting the structure of what the Apostle says here, it is that the means by which God works in us Christ's likeness, namely righteous, that he makes us righteous, is the Word of God.

The Word of God, what he speaks by inspiration, what he breathes into us by his Spirit, is the means by which God makes his people in the New Testament, the New Testament Church, He makes them Christ-like or He makes them righteous. This is very important that we have in our mind and in our heart. But now, brothers, the thing is that the context of the passage, when the Apostle Paul is writing these things, these verses 16 and 17, when he says, all Scripture, he's, of course, by the power of the Spirit and the providence of time, he's referring to all Scripture. But in that particular period of time, he was referring primarily and particularly to the Old Testament. Now think about this, I said before that the means by which God makes us more like the Christ who came 2,000 years ago, it is the Word of God.

For us who are on the other side of the first coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, we understand as all the Scriptures makes us like Christ. But the Apostle says that even the writings of the Old Testament, even before the Lord Jesus Christ came, were the means by which God is still make his people righteous. That is God-like. That it is that the promised Messiah of the Old Testament was always the goal of conformity of the life of the saints, even in the Old Testament. Always the Word of God was the means by which God made His people righteous, namely, be conformed to the image of the promised Messiah or the Messiah that came.

This speaks to us, brothers and sisters, of the importance of the sacred writings, especially in the first half of the book. That is, all Scripture that is breathed out or given by inspiration from God, from the mouth of God, and that at every single point of redemptive history the Word of God was sufficient so that the people of God at any point of history will receive that which they needed to be made righteous. Just as the New Testament church, just as the New Testament people of God were ruled and guided by the head, namely Christ. Also, the Old Testament people of God also had a head that it was not so much the Messiah that had come, but it was God himself. The people of God had always had a head, a ruling power, a ruling being that is guiding them as His people, namely God.

In the New Covenant, we said that Christ is the head of the church. That's the vocabulary that we use. But the Old Testament saints, they also had a ruler, and that was God Himself. God called the people of Israel His Son, His people. And this is very important, brothers and sisters, because the people of the Old Testament are not only a type or a shadow of the church, The Old Testament people of God, the Son of God, Israel, as we studied in Exodus, the Son of God, Israel, as the nation of Israel, was also a type of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Messiah, that was going to come.

So it's very important for us to understand how God in the Old Testament rule over his Old Testament people. We know that in the New Testament, Christ is the head of the church. In the Old Testament, God was the husband of his bride or was the king of the nation of Israel. And if I was going to simplify the way in which God in the Old Testament, brothers and sisters, ruled over his people, I would divide it, could be divided into more sections, but I would divide it into three sections in which God ruled over his Old Testament people. First, initially, God ruled over his people through prophets.

We could say that the nation of Israel was initially ruled by the head, God, through prophets. We could say that from Moses to Samuel, including judges there, that they were prophets. And God was the head to the Old Testament people through prophets. But then our brother introduced us last year to a second very important section of time of the history of Israel moving from prophets into kings. So God also ruled over his people in the Old Testament after the prophets through kings.

But this period of kings, as we will study it and we will see it, will come, let's say, to an end because of providential circumstances. And after this period of kings that will go from Saul to the point of the exile to Babylon, from that point onwards, God is going to continue ruling over the Old Testament people, but through the priests. From Ezra until the time of the Lord Jesus Christ, there will be the priestly system, the ones that were ruling on Israel or over Israel. And I don't know if you have seen it, but Israel as the son of God under the old covenant was ruled by prophets. by kings, and then by priests, and Israel as a nation, as the Son of God in the Old Covenant, was a type of Christ who was that prophet of God, who was the Word of God Himself.

who was the King of God, who was not like David, or King Solomon, or any other of the kings, but was God Himself ruling over the people, the church, or the new covenant church, and Christ was the High Priest. This is Christ now fulfilling all of the failures of the prophets, of the kings, and also of the priests. This is very important that we see the relationship of the Old Testament and the relationship of the New Testament and Christ as the fulfillment. This is the beauty of types. This is now very important, my beloved brothers and sisters, because we're dealing with a person that is located in one of those sections, namely the second one, Kings.

As I said, our brother introduced us already to this section of time in which the people of Israel were ruled by kings. And as you remember, something very important that our brother explained to us is that the King or the anointing of the King, King Saul, was the response to a request. You remember? He said that to us. that it was a request of the people of Israel that said to Samuel, give us a king.

But our brother also explained to us that even that request of the people had already been prophesied or given by the previous stage of ruling who were the prophets. Namely, Moses had already given to the people of Israel the way that kings will be appointed. So what I want us to do this evening is just to take King Solomon and then just to study to the best of our ability his election as a king. He's anointing as a king from a historical point of view, as it is given to us in the Bible. And then for us to understand the purpose of his kingship or the purpose of him being a king so that we can connect it to the person of Jesus Christ.

Both aspects, my beloved brothers and sisters, is very important. It's very important for you to understand the historical aspect of how King Solomon was elected as a king or anointed as a king. And the second thing is the purpose of his election as a king. I'm going to take you now to Deuteronomy chapter 17, which is a passage that our brother mentioned a couple of times when he was doing his studies, at least once. Deuteronomy chapter 17 is going to give us the principle of election of the kings of Israel.

If you go to Deuteronomy chapter 17, Here, in the previous stage, not in the kings, but in the prophets, the prophet like unto Jesus, or the prophet Moses, the prophet that was going to be the one that was prophesying of Jesus Christ, or Jesus being the prophet like unto Moses better, is given through the law a very important statement about the kings that were going to come. So then we have in Deuteronomy chapter 17, verse 14 and 15. Brother Jesus, would you please help us read those two verses? Deuteronomy 17, 14. When you come to the land that the Lord your God is giving you, and you possess it and dwell in it, and then say, I will set a king over me, like all the nations that are around me.

You may indeed set a king over you, whom the Lord your God will choose. One from among your brothers you shall set as king over you. You may not put a foreigner over you who is not your brother. Amen. Now, pay attention to this prophetic statement that our brother has just read.

It says, I will set a king over me like all the nations that are around me. These are the words that the people of Israel said, set a king over me like all the other nations around me. And then the Lord says in verse 15, you may indeed set a king over you whom the Lord your God will choose. Remember that the choosing of King David and even King Saul was something that God providentially brought to happen. Our brother explained that even in 1 Samuel 16 or 17, that when the Lord is explaining how He chose David, He said that He does not focus on the external appearance, those things that men see, but He actually focuses in the internal things, that is, namely, the heart, that it is God the One that chooses the king.

Now, brothers and sisters, this is very important because just as David was chosen by God to be king over the people of Israel, Solomon was also chosen by God, by the Lord, to be the person that was going to take over the kingdom after David. And then you will see why this is very important. Now let's go to 1 Kings chapter 1 in which we have the coming to an end of the kingship or the kingdom of David and we have the anointing of King Solomon. And in 1 Kings we have that story of King David who is about to die and we have the anointing of King Solomon. Now, just remember the principle that was given by Moses, that is God the one that chooses the king for the people of Israel.

It's not the people of Israel that they decide who the king is going to be, but rather is God the one that decides. So here we have that it is not the ways of men, but it is the ways of God when it comes to choosing the king. Now we're going to read here a long portion in chapter one, and I want you to pay careful attention to the narrative because this is going to tell us, this is going to explain to us of a controversy that took place Namely, when it comes to selecting who the replacement of David was going to be. So we're going to be reading chapter 1 from verse 1 to verse 40, which is a long reading, but pay attention to the narrative and to the details. Brother, I'm going to get you, if you can please help to read this whole portion.

1 Kings 1. Now King David was old and advanced in years, and although they covered him with clothes, he could not get warm. Therefore his servants said to him, Let a young woman be sought for my lord, the king, and let her wait on the king and be in his service. Let her lie in your arms that my lord, the king, may be warm. So they sought for a beautiful young woman throughout all the territory of Israel and found Abishag, their Shumanite, and brought her to the king.

The woman, the young woman, was very beautiful and she was of service to the king and attended him, but the king knew her not. Now 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. His father had never at any time displeased him by asking, why have you done thus? And so he was also a very handsome man and he was born next after Absalom.

He conferred with Joab, the son of Zeruah, and with Abithar, the priest. And they followed Adonijah and helped him. But Zadok, the priest, and Ben-Yaya, and Ben-Naya, the son of Jehoadah, and Nathan, the prophet, and Shemai, and Ray, and David's mighty men were not with Adonijah. Now, Adonijah sacrificed sheep, oxen, and fattened cattle by the serpent's stone, which is beside En-Rogel. And he invited all his brothers, the king's sons, and all the royal officials of Judah.

But he did not invite Nathan the prophet, or Benaiah, or the mighty men of Solomon his brother. Then Nathan said to Bathsheba, the mother of Solomon, Have you not heard that Adonijah, the son of Haggath, has been king, and David our Lord does not know it? Now therefore come, let me give you advice that you may save your own life and the life of your son Solomon. Go in at once to King David and say to him, Did you not, my lord, the king, swear to your servant, saying, Solomon, your son, shall reign after me, and he shall sit on my throne? Why then is Adonijah king?

Then while you are still speaking with the king, I will also come in after you and confirm your words. So Bathsheba went to the king in the chamber. Now the king was very old and Abishag, the Shurmite, was attending the king. Bathsheba bowed and paid homage to the king and the king said, What do you desire? She said to him, My lord, you swore to your servant by the Lord your God saying, Solomon your son shall reign after me and he shall sit on my throne and now behold Adonijah is king although you my lord the king do not know it he has sacrificed oxen fatted cattle and sheep in abundance and he has invited all the sons of Joab of the sorry and he's got all the sons of the king Abitha and the priest and Joab and the commander of the army but Solomon your servant He has not invited.

20. And now, my Lord the King, the eyes of all Israel are on you, to tell them who shall sit on the throne of my Lord the King after him. Otherwise it will come to pass, when my Lord the King sleeps with his fathers, that I and my son Solomon will be counted offenders. while she was still speaking the king Nathan the prophet came in and they told the king here is Nathan the prophet and when he came in before the king he bowed before the king with his face to the ground and Nathan said my lord the king have you said Adonijah shall reign after me and he shall sit on my throne for he has gone down this day and he has sacrificed oxen fatted cattle and sheep in abundance, and he has invited all the king's sons, the commanders of the army, and Abiathar, the priest. And behold, they are eating and drinking before him, and saying, Long live king Adinusha.

But me, your servant, and Zadok, the priest, and Benaiah, the son of Jehoiada, and your servant Solomon, he has not invited. Has this thing been brought about by my Lord the King and you have not told your servants who should sit on the throne of my Lord the King after him? Then King David answered, Call Bathsheba to me. So she came into the king's presence and stood before the king and the king swore saying, as the Lord lives, who has redeemed my soul out of every adversity, as I swore to you by the Lord, the God of Israel, saying, Solomon your son shall reign after me, and he shall sit on my throne, in my place, even so I do this day. Then Bathsheba bowed with her face to the ground and paid homage to the king and said, May my lord, King David, live forever.

King David said, Call to me Zadok the priest. Nathan the prophet, and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada. So they came before the king, and the king said to them, Take with you the servants of your lord, and have Solomon my son ride on my mule, and bring him down to Gihon. And let Zadok the priest, and Nathan the prophet there anoint him king over Israel. Then blow the trumpet and say, Long live King Solomon!

You shall then come up after him, and he shall come and sit on my throne, for he shall be king in my place. All I have appointed him to be ruler over Israel and over Judah. the son of Jehoiada, answered the king, Amen. May the Lord, the God of my Lord, the king, say so. And as the Lord has been with my Lord, the king, even so may he be with Solomon and make his throne greater than the throne of my Lord, King David.

So Zadok, the priest, Nathan, the prophet, and Benaiah, the son of Jehoiada, and the and the Pelethites went down and had Solomon ride on King David's mule and bring him to Kihon. There, Zadok the priest took the horn of oil from the tent and anointed Solomon Then they blew the trumpet, and all the people said, Long live King Solomon. And all the people went up after him, playing on pipes, and rejoicing with great joy, so that the earth was split by the noise. Amen. Thank you so much, brother.

Now, brothers and sisters, this is what is taking place here. We know that the conclusion of that reading is with the anointing of Solomon as king. However, as you could see there, there is a controversy, right? There is a disagreement. We have already said that the king of Israel is appointed and is ultimately chosen by God.

God is the one that chooses the king of Israel. But in the election of the person that is going to succeed or is going to go after the kingship of David, we see that there is a controversy. There is a problem. We know from the initial stage of the initial section of this passage here that David is old. He's old and he is weak and he's about to die to the point that they bring to him this woman that is going to look after him.

She's not a concubine, but she is going to look after him because he's sick. The other thing that we know is, from what we have just read, is that David has not made public or he has not announced who is the person that is going to replace him. Now, we know that those who were close to him, who had known of the promise that our brother explained to us in 2 Samuel chapter 7, that a son of David was going to be the successor and they knew that this was going to be Solomon the Sheba, his mom and all the people that were close to him. But it is clear that the people of Israel did not know to that extent that Solomon was the person that was going to replace him and David for some reason he had not made that announcement. Now, from that announcement a controversy arises because he's about to die, he's old, he's almost 70 years old and he's going to die and we need a king to replace him.

But then we have this person Adonijah. Adonijah who is a son of David and it seems that he is going to do something that it is inappropriate, that is almost illegal. But I want to point your eyes and your mind to the text, because if you have the ESV, you may have a heading on the section that it starts in verse five. I don't know if it's only my Bible that says Adonai, Adonai sets himself up as king. And that title, which does not belong to scripture, might be confusing for the interpretation of what is actually taking place.

Because Adonijah has not set himself up as the king. He has invited a congregation or a political, if you want, congregation of very important people that are close to him. And he has said words very clear in verse 5. It says, read verse 5. Now Adonijah, the son of Haggad, who was a wife of David, exalted himself, saying, i have become a king or i am the king i will be the king or i will be king now what he did was not correct because he should have consulted with david but it's not completely wrong what he did and let me explain why He was the fourth son of David.

All the previous three sons had died. And the people of Israel, the people of Israel expected that the person that would take the role as a king was either the firstborn or the second one or the third one if they died. The first one, the second one and the third one had died. And he was the next in line to, according to their understanding, to take the place of the king. So he did not act properly because he should have consulted with the king.

But the king, for some reason, had delayed the announcement to the people of Israel that it was Solomon who was going to be the king. So Adonai thought that he was going to be the king. I will be the king. And he acted in this foolish way. Why?

Because he did not consult with David. But all this ceremony or all of this congregation with all of these very important people was taking place in a very public place where many people in Israel would have seen. So he was not doing this in a hidden way. He was actually thinking that he was going to be the king. And actually the people of Israel expected that Adonijah was going to be the king.

Remember that the king, according to Moses, is not said by the people, but is said by God. Now, how do we know from the text that the people of Israel were expecting Adonijah to be the king? Well, in chapter 2, he is going to make that confession. If you go to chapter 2, He is going to come to Bathsheba, who is the mother of David. Now we know that the story ends up with Solomon as the king, right?

He ends up as Solomon as the king. And Adonijah is going to recognize the kingship of Solomon. But he's going to give us a very important piece of information in chapter two, in verse 13. Then Adonijah, the son of Haggith, came to Bathsheba, the mother of Solomon. Now, brothers and sisters, You know that David had different wives, right?

So all his sons, they have one father, but they have different mothers. So the divisions among sons were not so much for the father, because he was only one David, but it was because they had different mothers. So for Adonai to come to request this to Bathsheba was actually something very difficult. He had already accepted the kingship of Solomon. But pay attention to what he is going to say.

And she said, do you come peacefully? This is Bathsheba to Adonijah. He said, peacefully. Then he said, this is Adonijah, the one who was going to be the king. I have something to say to you.

She said, speak. He said, you know that the kingdom was mine and that all Israel fully expected me to reign. However, the kingdom has turned about and become my brothers, for it was his from the Lord." Now, brothers and sisters, according to the understanding of the ways of the people of Israel, This man was supposed to be the king. He was the next in the line.

He was the fourth one alive. The previous one, two of them were for sure dead and one of them more than likely he was dead. So he was the next one to take the kingship. He was to replace. Yet the Lord had chosen Solomon to be the one that was going to replace King David.

Now this is a very important historical fact in the anointing of King Solomon as the replacement of David. Because if God was the one that decided to choose the king in the case of David, remember that the prophet came and he saw all the brothers and all of these brothers came and all of them had a very good profile to be a king. But then God said, just choose David, the less likely to be a king. He was the choosing of God. It is a similar thing that happens with King Solomon.

This is going to take us to the purpose of God choosing Solomon as the king of Israel. and if I was going to ask you a question what thing comes into your mind first when you hear the name of King Solomon perhaps the word wisdom or that he was a wise man may come into your mind and even the book of Proverbs or Ecclesiastes or the son of Solomon will come to your mind because he was indeed A wise man. Wisdom was in him. And I want us to analyze and to study the passage in which he receives wisdom from God, because this is going to give us the purpose of his kingship. And this is going to connect to the person of Jesus Christ.

If you turn your page, you will see that now King Solomon has been anointed as the king. He has even had mercy on Adonijah initially, and he has given mercy to Adonijah. He has not killed. He's going to kill him later, but he has shown mercy to him. Now he has been anointed as the king.

He has been instituted as the king. And now he's going to have an encounter with God that you perhaps have read many times. But let's just study it carefully and let's see something very important of this concept of wisdom. The purpose for which God chose Solomon was to teach the people of Israel or to provide or to manifest wisdom and his wise ways to the people of the Old Covenant. We have this story of how that wisdom is given to Solomon, to King Solomon, and there are many things that we can learn from it.

So we are going to read in chapter number 3, from verse 1 to verse 15, paying attention to the narrative again, because there's a couple of elements that I want us to get from there practically, and also understand what wisdom is according to the Lord, and how that is connected to our Lord Jesus Christ. So, Brother Mikey, would you please help us reading those 15 verses in Chapter 3? Solomon made a marriage alliance with Pharaoh, king of Egypt. He took Pharaoh's daughter and brought her into the city of David until he had finished building his own house in the house of the Lord in the wall around Jerusalem. The people were sacrificing at the high places, however, because no house had yet been built for the name of the Lord.

Solomon loved the Lord, walking in the statutes of David his father, only he sacrificed and made offerings at the high places. And the king went to Gibeon to sacrifice there, for that was the great high place. Solomon used to offer 1,000 burnt offerings on that altar. At Gibeon, the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream by night, and God asked, ask what I shall give you. Ask what I shall give you.

And Solomon said, You have shown me great and steadfast love to your servant David, my father, because he walked before you in faithfulness, in righteousness, and in uprightness of heart toward you. And you have kept for him this great and steadfast love, and have given him a son to sit on his throne today. And now, O Lord, my God, you have made your servant king in place of David, my father, although I am a little child. I do not know how to go out and come in. Your servant is in the midst of your people whom you have chosen, a great people, too many to be numbered or counted for multitude.

Give your servant, therefore, an understanding mind to govern your people, that I may discern between good and evil, for who is able to govern this, your great people? It pleased the Lord that Solomon had asked this, and God said to him, Because ye have asked this, and have not asked for yourself long life, or riches, or the life of your enemies, but have asked for yourself understanding to discern what is right, behold, I now do according to your word. Behold, I give you a wise and discerning mind, so that none like you has been before you, and none like you shall arise after you. I give you also what you have not asked, both riches and honor, so that no other king shall compare with you all your days. And if you are walking in all my ways, keeping my statutes and my commandments, as your father David walked, then I will lengthen your days.

And Solomon awoke, and behold, it was a dream. Then he came to Jerusalem, and stood before the ark of the coven of the Lord, and offered up burnt offerings and peace offerings, and made Amen. This is the word of God. Now, brothers and sisters, he's having a dream, right? This is King Solomon.

He has gone and offered some sacrifices, and now he's having a dream or he's having a vision. And in that dream, in that vision, he has a conversation with God. God comes and approaches him in that dream. And he asked, God asked him an important question. Now, there's a couple of elements and concepts there in that chapter that could be explained very deeply, but we can read there that he married a woman from the Egypt area, from the Egypt land, right?

And also we hear the term there, high places. and through the kings we will hear that term of high places quite often and usually what comes into our mind when they are offering sacrifices in the high places, what comes to your mind when you hear high places for kings and they're offering sacrifices? that it is offering sacrifices to pagan gods, right? That they were not offering sacrifices according to the law of God. While that is truth, and this is how high places are going actually to take place, here we have a particular situation, because we are told that Solomon is offering the sacrifices at high places, yet the Lord seems to be pleased with the offerings that he's offering.

And this is because this concept of high places is going to evolve through the kings and potentially, Lord Willem, if we can explain during the temple, we might be able to address that or not. But you can see how they make a distinction about high places and the great high place in which Solomon is offering some sacrifices. Independently of that concept of high places, what we can conclude from the text is that the Lord was pleased to the point that he approached in a vision or in a dream Solomon. We are told something very important about the relationship of Solomon with the Lord in verse 3. It says Solomon loved the Lord.

And then the next statement is a definition of what love is. Solomon loved the Lord walking in the statues of David, his father. Now, this is very important, brothers and sisters, because when we go through the Kings, David, or the ways of David, or walking in the ways of David, it is equivalent to walking in the ways of God. And the king that is righteous in the many kings that there will be, that walk according to the ways of David, will be kings that are righteous. So, this love that King Solomon had for God in walking according to the ways of David was a loyal love.

That means that he had a good relationship with God at this point, to the point that his offering of these 1,000 sacrifices, 1,000 could mean that is a big number of sacrifices offered were accepted by the Lord in this great high place. But something very important is going to happen, that God is going to ask him a question. And the question is, what shall I give you? Brothers, as I was just going through this and studying this, I could not avoid putting myself in the place of Solomon or each one of you in this case, and that God may approach you and ask you, what shall I give you? What shall I give you?

Because the answer to that question speaks a lot of the condition of our hearts. That which we desire to answer that question, God approaches us and he asks us, what shall I give you? Whatever comes to our hearts, to our souls, speaks a lot of our situation and our position before the Lord. But the answer that Solomon is going to give, beloved brothers and sisters, We know what the petition is, right? He asked for wisdom.

But before he asked for wisdom and before we define what wisdom is, he actually approaches God in a very interesting way that teaches us a lot how to approach and how to pray. Pay attention how the answer of King Solomon, before he received wisdom, is given to God Almighty when he asked, what shall I give you? Verse six, it says, And Solomon said, he is going to now give thanksgiving for what God has done to his father and therefore to him. It says, verse six, And Solomon said, You have shown great and steadfast love to your servant David, my father, because he walked before you in faithfulness, in righteousness, and in a brightness of heart toward you. And you have kept for him this great and steadfast love, and have given him a son to sit on his throne this day.

He is being thankful. He's being filled with gratitude towards the Lord for what God has done in a manifestation of his love of grace to his father and therefore to him in preserving him and keeping him as the one, as the heir of the kingdom, right? Then in verse seven, he's going to shift his communication with the Lord. He has given thanks. Now he's going to make a confession.

He says in verse seven, and now, Oh Lord, my God, you have made your servant, that is himself, king in place of David, my father. Although I am but a little child, I do not know how to go out or come in, and your servant is in the midst of your people whom you have chosen, a great people, too many to be numbered or counted for a multitude. He's making a confession. His heart has exploded first with gratitude, with thankfulness of what God has done to his father and to him. But now he confesses and says, Lord, I cannot do this.

I'm unable to perform the task for which I have been anointed. And even he calls himself a little child, not so much pointing towards his age. He was very young, probably 19 or 20. But This is more speaking of his condition as someone who is not experiencing the things and the responsibilities that are coming ahead of him and the responsibilities and the inability that he knows and he perceives he attaches to the people of God. He says, your people are many.

This is the confession of the heart of Solomon. And then he comes into verse nine to give the request, give your servant therefore. and understanding mind, and pay attention to this, brothers and sisters, to govern your people, that I, through that wisdom, may discern between good and evil, for who is able to govern this your great people? He asked for wisdom and God then in response to that petition, he's going to give him riches and power and honor and everything that he did not ask as we have in the rest of the passage. But brothers, biblical wisdom is the ability to discern between good and evil.

Wisdom, when it comes to the ways of God, is to be able to discern between that which is righteous and that which is unrighteous. Wisdom, when it comes to Scripture, is not like the wisdom of the world, that is, as much data or information you have in your head, it is you're intelligent and you have knowledge, but wisdom According to the Bible, it is that you are able to discern, to divide, to separate between that which is evil and righteous, and that which is righteous of God. And not only that, brothers and sisters, but the consequences of that decision, because righteousness, it is not good deeds and good things that we do according to our understanding, but righteous things are defined by the Word of God. And unrighteousness is defined as every violation to that which God says that is righteous. So wisdom, when it comes to biblical terms, is the ability to discern between righteousness and unrighteousness.

Or in other words, is the ability to discern between that which is the will of God and that which is contrary to the will of God. Or in other words, it is the ability to discern the word of God from that which is not the word of God. of God. Why? Because the Word of God is profitable for teaching, for proof, for correction, and for instruction in righteousness.

That is biblical wisdom. But it's not only about choosing righteousness and unrighteousness. It's understanding the consequences of making that decision. Because in choosing righteousness, you please by faith and in Christ the Lord. But by choosing unrighteousness, you also choose and pick the consequences of unrighteousness.

And then in the mind of King Solomon, The fear of the Lord becomes the beginning of wisdom. Because if I understand that which is righteous and that which is unrighteousness and the consequences thereof, then fear and reverence towards the Lord will bring me always to choose His ways and His righteousness and to choose that which God calls good and right. This is biblical wisdom. This is the knowledge that took King Solomon to be the greatest of his day, to have wealth and power and honor and to be recognized by so many people. To the point that even in the next section of the chapter we see how that wisdom is applied when you remember the story of two prostitutes that are coming with one child that had died and the other one that was alive.

then Solomon in his wisdom knows how to discern the one who was not only a prostitute but also was a liar because he was able to discern the ways of the heart and the ways of the mind. And the two prostitutes will not be the only people that will approach King Solomon in looking for his wisdom and for his ability to discern. But also we are told of a very important woman in First Kings chapter 10. There's going to be a very important Gentile woman. the Queen of Sheba, or the Queen of South, who heard about the wisdom of Solomon, who heard about the fame and the reputation of Solomon.

And she decided from a very long distance to make the effort to come and to visit King Solomon. Brother, would you please help us read in that section in 1 Kings 10, from verse 1 to verse 5. Now when the Queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon concerning the name of the Lord, she came to test him with hard questions. She came to Jerusalem with a very great retinue with camels bearing spices and very much gold and precious stones. And when she came to Solomon, she told him all that was on her mind.

And Solomon answered all her questions. There was nothing hidden from the king that he could not explain to her. And when the queen of Sheba had seen all the wisdom of Solomon, the house that he had built, the food of his table, the seating of his officials, and the attendance of his servants, their clothing, his cupbearers, and his burnt offerings that he offered at the house of the Lord, There was no more breath in her. She was amazed with the wisdom of Solomon. This is a Gentile woman that is coming from very far away.

She is mighty and powerful on her own. She does not need anything. But she had heard of the wisdom of Solomon. She came to visit him, to ask him hard questions. There was nothing, it says, in the mind of this woman that was not answered, that was addressed by King Solomon.

There was nothing hidden, there was nothing that was left without an answer to the point that she was left without breath. She was amazed to the woman. amazed about the wisdom that she had heard and received. Now, brothers and sisters, this is not the only wise man who was approached with requests This is not the only wise man who was approached with questions and with tests, because the man that he was pointing to was also approached with requests and with tests and with questions about his wisdom. And the Lord Jesus Christ, that man, to whom he is pointing, Solomon, answered in a glorious way.

So go to Matthew chapter 10. Because there we have the passage of Scripture that tells us that Solomon, it is indeed a type of the Lord Jesus Christ. So Matthew chapter 12, sorry, Matthew chapter 12. From verse 38 to verse 42. Samuel, you want to go for that one?

Then some of the scribes and Pharisees answered him, saying, Teacher, we wish to see a sign from you. But he answered them, An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. The men of Nineveh will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it. For they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and behold, something greater than Jonah is here.

The queen of the south will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it. For she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and behold, something greater than Solomon is here. Oh brothers and sisters, she was amazed. at the wisdom of Solomon. She was utterly amazed with the words that were coming out of his mouth and the things that he was answering.

These people had seen the miracles that Jesus had performed. They had listened to the teachings of the wisest man that has walked this earth. They had seen everything that he did. healing the sick, resurrected to death, and doing all of these mighty things, yet they came to Him to request a sign. Namely, everything that they had heard, everything that they had seen, it was not enough.

for them to conclude that this person who is speaking and doing all of these things is the Messiah. You see, the Jews or the people of Israel knew that the Messiah was going to be wiser than King Solomon. And when the Lord said something greater him than Solomon, he was calling himself the Messiah that they were now rejecting. Brothers and sisters, here we have the inability of the wisdom of men to receive the wisdom of God. Because it's not a matter of that which abides in the head, but the wisdom of God is something that is given supernaturally from God.

And just as the heart of David and Solomon were taken over by the power of God to make them kings, Also, those who are to receive the wisdom of God are to be called and transformed by the power of the Spirit of God. This is the controversy between the wisdom of men, the ways of men, and the wisdom of God, which is what Apostle Paul says in 1 Corinthians. If you go there to 1 Corinthians, and we will finish there. Because in 1 Corinthians, the apostle will explain to us this controversy, this disagreement between the wisdom of men and the wisdom of God. And he will tell us what that wisdom is.

1 Corinthians 1. Verse 18. For the word of the cross is folly or foolishness to those who are perishing. But to us who are being saved, it is the power of God. For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.

Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? The ones that came to us, Jesus. Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?

For since in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom. It pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. Now pay attention to verse 22. For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom. But we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to the Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called both Jews and Greeks, Christ, the power of God and the wisdom of God.

For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men." Oh brothers, Christ was not only greater than Solomon, Christ was not only wiser than King Solomon. If Solomon was to rule the people of Israel, discerning between that which is good and that which is evil. If he was going to rule and to be king and to discern between that which was unrighteous and that which was unrighteous. King Jesus was not only the one who had the perfect ability to differentiate between unrighteousness and righteousness, but he himself was the wisdom of God and the righteousness of God for the people.

For as just the Apostle Paul says in Colossians chapter 2 verse 3, in Christ All the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden. It is in the person of Jesus Christ that the wisdom of God abides. He is the perfect one that is able to discern between unrighteousness and righteousness. The wisdom that comes from above is different to the wisdom of the flesh. The wisdom that is of God, brothers and sisters, is completely different to the wisdom of men.

Men, first of all, as we have just read, are unable to understand the wisdom of God unless either Jew or Greek, they are called by God and their eyes are open to the righteousness of God and Wisdom of God is vindicated by good works, Matthew chapter 11. Fruits of good works is that which comes from godly wisdom, James chapter 3. Different to the wisdom of the flesh, which is demonic and sensual, and that produces envy and divisions, which is the wisdom of men, but rather the wisdom of God. It is peaceable and it is good and brings unity among the brothers. James chapter 3 and James chapter 4.

The wisdom of God is the one that is treasured up in the heart of the saints, so that we can say that from the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks, because that which comes from our mouth, it should correspond to the wisdom of God, namely the righteousness of God. Brothers and sisters, the glorious thing about this is that Christ is not only the prophet, the king, and the high priest, but the glorious thing about this is that the wisdom that we have access to is not the wisdom of Solomon. The wisdom that we have access to is the wisdom of Christ, because in Revelation we are called priests. We are called the ones who speak on behalf of God. We are called the royal priesthood of God in the person of Jesus Christ.

So, brothers, being saved and being in Christ is to open our eyes, not to intellect and pieces of data, but rather to a wisdom that, as Paul says in chapter 2 here in 1 Corinthians, that has been hidden even from the ages before the foundation of the world, but has now been made manifest to those who by grace through faith are united in the person of Jesus Christ. And speaking of that wisdom are the things that no eye has seen, no ear has heard, have not come into the heart of men. Speaking of that wisdom, not of good things, but speaking of the knowledge of the person of Jesus Christ. And you know what the apostle Paul says in Ephesians chapter 3? that he has pleased God to manifest and to show the wisdom to the world through the church.

And then he says in chapter 1 that we are to have the spirit of wisdom growing in the knowledge of Him, Jesus Christ, who is the head of the church. The wisdom that comes from the lips of those who are walking in the ways of Christ is the wisdom that brings all their saints to be. trained, corrected, reproved, and taught in righteousness, that the saints may grow in conformity to Jesus Christ, and is the wisdom that it is death unto the one who rejects the gospel, and is judgment unto the one who rejects the gospel, but is also the means by which people can be saved, just as He has saved us. Amen?