“All the suffering, all the pain, all the agony, all the discomfort, all of the torment—everything He’d been through and He’s still alert; mentally alert, His mind clicking off the Scripture verses, His head physically erect," says Jordan. “And now He dies as no one else ever did. He dismissed His spirit--‘gave up the ghost.’ That’s a wonderful scene. He doesn’t die as a helpless victim.
“If you remember back when they convicted Jack Kevorkian of
killing that fellow, the guy’s mouth was all just flopped opened and the
prosecutor argued, ‘He didn’t even care enough about the dignity of the man he
just murdered to close his mouth but just left him lying there in
terrible-looking condition.’
“But Christ didn’t die that way. He didn’t die as just a
helpless, hapless victim. He died with a majestic bearing of one who was in
control. In control to the end, dying purposefully for you and me.”
*****
In II Samuel, David brings back to Israel the Ark of the
Covenant from among the Philistines and gets convicted about building a house
for God, but God says to him, in essence, “What you want to build me a house
for? I didn’t ask you to do that.”
Jordan explains, “God’s point is, ‘What makes you think I
need a house to dwell in? If I needed a house I’d have told you. I’m content to
live in a tabernacle.’
“Now, you need to think for a moment what a tabernacle is.
When God gave Moses the instructions to build the tabernacle in the wilderness,
what was the tabernacle made out of? Animal skins. The tabernacle is a tent.
It’s literally a tent made out of skin in which the glory of God’s going to
dwell.
“It’s not a house made out of brick, or mortar, or stone
that never was alive. It’s a tent made out of skin. Now, that issue, is why God
tells David, ‘That’s where I’ve chosen to dwell. You want to build me a
permanent house but I didn’t ask for that.’
“It’s not that the Lord didn’t appreciate David’s sentiment.
David’s wanting to do something for the Lord; you know he feels kind of bad
that he lives in a house and God’s out there in a tent and, you know, it’s,
‘I’ve got this nice place and you’ve blessed me with all this stuff; I want to
move you up—bring you on up to the East Side and let you finally get a piece of
the pie too.’
“The problem is it’s an uninformed sentiment. It isn’t getting the idea so God
says to David, ‘You can’t do it, but I tell you what I’m gonna do. I’m going to
build me a tent of skin. I’m going to build me a tabernacle out of YOUR skin, YOUR
flesh, David, and I’m going to dwell in your flesh.’
“Whoa! Wow! Now it’s in the heart and essence of the Davidic
Covenant that God tells David, ‘The mechanism whereby I’m going make Israel a
great nation; the mechanism whereby I come and dwell in Israel and be there God
and make them my people—make them a great nation and have me dwelling in their
midst—is I come and live, not in a house of stone, mortar, or animal skins; I’m
going to come and live in your skin, David, and it’s going to be the Tabernacle
of David. The seed of David.’
“Now, ultimately that’s going to be whom? The Lord Jesus
Christ made of the seed of David and that’s why you find in the New Testament,
Paul said a number of times that Jesus is of the seed of David. He’s of David’s
flesh.
“Of course, it’s the Messiah, this seed of David, who’s
going to bring in all the blessings of the Abrahamic Covenant. Everything the
Abrahamic Covenant accomplishes, He’s the one who’s going do it and He’s going
to do it in David’s flesh.
“That’s why God says in II Samuel 7: 12-13, ‘And when thy
days be fulfilled, and thou shalt sleep with thy fathers, I will set up thy
seed after thee, which shall proceed out of thy bowels, and I will establish
his kingdom. He shall build an house for my name, and I will stablish the
throne of his kingdom for ever.’ ”
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