God's Justice: Covenants, Consequences, and Christ's Sacrifice

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God expects us to keep our promises. That sounds elementary, doesn't it? But oh, we need to hear it in our own day. You know, we've come to the place where, in a lot of arenas in our life, we don't even expect people to keep their promises. You listen to the politician make the campaign promise; you don't even expect them to keep it. [00:07:08]

We can also say that time does not diminish our obligation to our promises. This promise was 400 years old, yet God still required it from Saul and the nation of Israel. Some of us have a way of thinking that somehow promises that we make are sort of freshness dated, you know, like the milk you get in the dairy case. [00:08:48]

God's correction may come a long time after the offense. Don't you find it interesting that this famine that came because of the slaughter of the Gibeonites came some 40 years after Saul performed this? I think it's fascinating, but it's a principle. It doesn't necessarily mean that God will bring the correction immediately after the offense. [00:09:31]

Good intentions do not excuse bad actions. We might say based on verse 2 that Saul had a good intention; he was zealous for the people of Israel. Maybe he said, "Israel for the Israelites," and we've got to drive out all the Canaanites, and here's the Gibeonites. They're descendants of ancient Canaanite tribes. [00:11:09]

The Gibeonites said to him, "We will have no silver or gold from Saul or from his house, nor shall you kill any man in Israel for us." Now David heard that, he goes, "Man, this is great." They're not using this as an extortion plot. They're not filing a class action suit against Israel and the government of Israel. [00:13:12]

David says, "What you guys have a good heart in this, just tell me what you want." So look at verse five. So they answered the king, "As for the man who consumed us and plotted against us that we should be destroyed from remaining in any of the territories of Israel, let seven men of his descendants be delivered to us." [00:14:49]

David delivered these seven men up. They hanged them. Pretty picturesque, hung them all at the same time. It's like you can see seven nooses dropping all at the same time, men sadly, tragically twisting on the ropes, and seven lives extinguished. By the way, the method of execution was important. [00:19:12]

They deliberately put these, well, supposedly innocent men in the place of being accursed so that the curse that was upon Israel in the famine would come upon these men and that these supposedly innocent men, seven, the number of fullness, the number of completeness, that they would fulfill the bearing of the curse on behalf of Israel. [00:19:52]

Rizpah, the daughter of Ahia, took sackcloth and spread it for herself on the rock from the beginning of harvest until the late rains poured on them from heaven. She did not allow the birds of the air to rest on them by day nor the beasts of the field by night. David was told what Rizpah had done. [00:20:12]

Doesn't this show us how seriously God takes covenant, how seriously God takes oaths? Now, if God expects man to keep oaths and covenants that seriously, how do you think God regards the covenant he makes with us? Oh, he will never fail the covenant he has made with you, never ever. [00:28:48]

You have a group of seven men, the number of fullness, the number of perfection, perfect man, if you will, seemingly innocent, judged by hanging in public exposure, the innocent in the place of the guilty so that God's hand of judgment would be lessened from his people and that blessing would rain down upon from heaven. [00:31:08]

God's perfect man, the sinless Son of God, the innocent, punished in the place of the guilty. Who is the innocent? Jesus. Who is the guilty? Me. You also. The innocent punished in place of the guilty, publicly hanged, publicly exposed so that the curse of God would rest on him instead of us. [00:31:48]

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