Abraham was prepared to sacrifice
his beloved son, Isaac on Mount Moriah, just as God instructed him
to. Now today I want to show you something interesting about Mount
Moriah.
Several hundred years later David
was king of Israel. And towards the end of his reign, he sinned
against the Lord and asked that a census be done throughout Israel.
He asked for the census in order to determine his military
strength. In other words, he ignored the fact that God was with
them and wanted to determine how strong Israel was in their own
strength. God was displeased with that and He punished Israel for
it. But He in His loving mercy gave them a choice in their
punishment. Either He will send three years of famine, or three
months of destruction by their enemies, or three days of severe
plague caused by the angel of the Lord throughout the land of
Israel. David chose three days of severe plague:
"...let me fall into the hands
of the Lord, for His mercy is very great." 1 Chronicles
21:13
And that is what happened and
70 000 people died as a result. Then just as God sent the
angel to destroy Jerusalem, God ordered him to stop. At that moment
the angel was standing by the threshing floor of Araunah the
Jebusite. Then the angel of the Lord instructed David to build an
altar to the Lord at that threshing floor. David immediately
reacted, bought the threshing floor, built an altar and offered
burnt offerings and peace offerings on it.
"And when David prayed, the
Lord answered him by sending fire from heaven to burn up the
offering on the altar. Then the Lord spoke to the angel, who put
the sword back into its sheath." 1 Chronicles 21:26, 27
From then on David offered his
sacrifices to the Lord there at Araunah's threshing floor and he
declared that the Temple of the Lord should be built there. Why am
I telling you this? Because the Temple was built by Solomon on that
very sight. And in 2 Chronicles 3:1 we learn the following:
"So Solomon built the Temple of
the Lord in Jerusalem on Mount Moriah, where the Lord had appeared
to Solomon's father, King David. The Temple was built on the
threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite, the site that David had
selected."
The Temple of the Lord was thus
built on the threshing floor of Araunah and it so happens to be on
Mount Moriah, the very same spot where Abraham almost sacrificed
Isaac. Isn't that interesting? In both instances (Abraham and
David) offerings were made which was acceptable to God. Their
hearts were right towards God and they honoured Him with their
actions. Abraham was prepared to offer his hope for having future
generations, he was prepared to offer his plans for the future, he
was prepared to offer the love of his life and he placed Isaac in
God's hands. David on the other hand was sorry for what he did in
ordering the census, and he asked God's forgiveness. He gave honour
to God and placed Him above all once again in the nation of
Israel.
Today we are the Temple of God and
therefore when we approach God today we can be reminded of the
example of these two great men of God and make an offering in our
hearts too. We need to offer our future to Him; all our future
plans should be placed in His hands. We need to offer of our time,
we need to set aside all our ambitions and plans and give honour
and glory to God Almighty. We should offer our family to Him as He
knows best. We should offer our future to Him and place our lives
in His hands. We need to have an eternal Temple perspective as we
approach Him, our Holy God. We shouldn't place our hope on our own
strength and capabilities, but rather trust Him to do the
impossible through us.
Father thank you that we can now be
Your Temple here on earth. Father, today we come and offer all our
ambitions and plans before Your throne. You and You alone know
best. You are strong when we are weak. Please take over our
weaknesses and work in us with Your strength. You know best and we
love You. In Jesus Name. Amen