A Biblical History Lesson by Brother Duke Hansen

         Good morning. This morning we are going to reading from several different places in scripture today. We are going to look at one specific place that is visited and revisited in the Bible. We will go first to the book of Genesis chapter 22. We will start reading at verse 1. This chapter should be very familiar to many of you. It is the story of Abraham and his son Isaac. 

       And it came to pass after these things, that God did tempt Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham: and he said, Behold, here I am.

        2 And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of.

        3 And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and saddled his ass, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son, and clave the wood for the burnt offering, and rose up, and went unto the place of which God had told him.

        4 Then on the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes, and saw the place afar off.

        5 And Abraham said unto his young men, Abide ye here with the ass; and I and the lad will go yonder and worship, and come again to you.

        6 And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering, and laid it upon Isaac his son; and he took the fire in his hand, and a knife; and they went both of them together.

        7 And Isaac spake unto Abraham his father, and said, My father: and he said, Here am I, my son. And he said, Behold the fire and the wood: but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?

        8 And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering: so they went both of them together.

        9 And they came to the place which God had told him of; and Abraham built an altar there, and laid the wood in order, and bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar upon the wood.

        10 And Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son.

        11 And the angel of the Lord called unto him out of heaven, and said, Abraham, Abraham: and he said, Here am I.

        12 And he said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me.

        13 And Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold behind him a ram caught in a thicket by his horns: and Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt offering in the stead of his son.

        14 And Abraham called the name of that place Jehovahjireh: as it is said to this day, In the mount of the Lord it shall be seen.

        The word says in the mount of the Lord it shall be seen. Let's continue to verse 15 shall we?

        15 And the angel of the Lord called unto Abraham out of heaven the second time,

        16 And said, By myself have I sworn, saith the Lord, for because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son:

        There is a similarity in this scripture and the time of Jesus' death by crucifixion at verse 4. "Then on the third day". The angel had stayed Abraham's hand. Where Abraham and Issac were was on Mount Moriah. It is a significant and important place in history as well as biblical history. With this established, let's go to the book of 2 Samuel and the 24th chapter. We will start reading at verse 10.

        10 And David's heart smote him after that he had numbered the people. And David said unto the Lord, I have sinned greatly in that I have done: and now, I beseech thee, O Lord, take away the iniquity of thy servant, for I have done very foolishly.

        11 For when David was up in the morning, the word of the Lord came unto the prophet Gad, David's seer, saying,

        12 Go and say unto David, Thus saith the Lord, I offer thee three things; choose thee one of them, that I may do it unto thee.

        Now God had instructed David not to conduct a census of all the people in Israel. David had disobeyed the word and after his heart was immediately struck with repentance. The prophet Gad is told by God there were three options of punishment for David's iniquity.

        13 So Gad came to David, and told him, and said unto him, Shall seven years of famine come unto thee in thy land? or wilt thou flee three months before thine enemies, while they pursue thee? or that there be three days' pestilence in the land? now advise, and see what answer I shall return to him that sent me.

        14 And David said unto Gad, I am in a great strait: let us fall now into the hand of the Lord; for his mercies are great: and let me not fall into the hand of man.

        15 So the Lord sent a pestilence upon Israel from the morning to the time appointed: and there died of the people from Dan even to Beersheba seventy thousand men.

        If you can take anything out of this lesson this morning I hope it's this point. Every decision you make in life, there are consequences for by the hand of God. The number of 70,000 is one of significance in scripture. Moving on to the next verse.

        16 And when the angel stretched out his hand upon Jerusalem to destroy it, the Lord repented him of the evil, and said to the angel that destroyed the people, It is enough: stay now thine hand. And the angel of the Lord was by the threshing place of Araunah the Jebusite.

        17 And David spake unto the Lord when he saw the angel that smote the people, and said, Lo, I have sinned, and I have done wickedly: but these sheep, what have they done? let thine hand, I pray thee, be against me, and against my father's house.

        18 And Gad that day came to David, and said unto him, Go up, rear an altar unto the Lord in the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.

        19 And David, according to the saying of Gad, went up as the Lord commanded.

        20 And Araunah looked, and saw the king and his servants coming on toward him: and Araunah went out, and bowed himself before the king on his face upon the ground.

        21 And Araunah said, Wherefore is my lord the king come to thy servant? And David said, To buy the threshing floor of thee, to build an altar unto the Lord, that the plague may be stayed from the people.

        You affect everyone everyone around you most certainly your house. David was torn and conflicted by this massive loss of life, seeking the punishment to be turned to his house. David had the foresight and maturity to buy the threshing floor to build an altar for sacrifice. David bought the plot. Now continuing to verse 22.

        22 And Araunah said unto David, Let my lord the king take and offer up what seemeth good unto him: behold, here be oxen for burnt sacrifice, and threshing instruments and other instruments of the oxen for wood.

        23 All these things did Araunah, as a king, give unto the king. And Araunah said unto the king, The Lord thy God accept thee.

        24 And the king said unto Araunah, Nay; but I will surely buy it of thee at a price: neither will I offer burnt offerings unto the Lord my God of that which doth cost me nothing. So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver.

        25 And David built there an altar unto the Lord, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. So the Lord was intreated for the land, and the plague was stayed from Israel.

        So, in tracing the history from the time of Abraham and Issac in Genesis 22 to 1000 years later, King David bought the threshing floor in this very same spot to put up an altar to sacrifice of God. That is not coincidental! That is God's hand at work. We will look briefly at 2 Chronicles chapter 3 and the first verse.

        Then Solomon began to build the house of the Lord at Jerusalem in mount Moriah, where the Lord appeared unto David his father, in the place that David had prepared in the threshing floor of Oran the Jebusite.

        So Solomon with his wisdom began to build a proper place of worship after his father's death. David was not allowed by God to build the temple for his hands had shed too much blood. You can look that up in 1 Chronicles chapter 22 verse 8. God wanted a man of peace to lead the construction and Solomon led the nation during a peaceful time. 

        Now Solomon's temple stood for over 400 years until King Nebuchadnezzar's armies destroyed it and had taken the Israelites into captivity. As prophesied by Ezekiel and Jeremiah, those who were captured returned from Babylon and rebuilt the temple at the same spot. Around the first century, King Herod made a significant addition to the structure. It was then known as Herod's temple to the people. It takes us reading to the book of John chapter 2 and starting at verse 12.

        12 After this he went down to Capernaum, he, and his mother, and his brethren, and his disciples: and they continued there not many days.

        13 And the Jews' passover was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.

        14 And found in the temple those that sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the changers of money sitting:

        15 And when he had made a scourge of small cords, he drove them all out of the temple, and the sheep, and the oxen; and poured out the changers money, and overthrew the tables;

        16 And said unto them that sold doves, Take these things hence; make not my Fathers house an house of merchandise.

        17 And his disciples remembered that it was written, The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up.

        18 Then answered the Jews and said unto him, What sign shewest thou unto us, seeing that thou doest these things?

        19 Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.

        Now, remember that this temple, Herod's temple, is still on the exact same spot that Solomon built the first temple which was on the exact same spot that David built an altar on the threshing floor he purchased. There at Mount Moriah. If you look at images you see it is more of a range than one singular mountain. It was there that Golgotha was located and where Jesus would be crucified. Mount Moriah is still the site for God's future plans in these end times. Scripture indicates a third temple will be built there and people are watching for it. Are they preparing for what happens after?

        Perspective, history, understanding of the scripture are all so important to build your knowledge. In Romans chapter 12 and verse 11, Paul wrote for you and I to present our bodies as a living sacrifice. Just as Abraham had presented his own flesh in the form of his only son Isaac. If you don't pass the tests which God presents to you, you don't receive the results. Abraham passed the test and King David did not.

        It is amazing to see the historical points in scripture that illustrate the significance of Mount Moriah. On a place where one generation passed a test a separate generation down the line repented of an iniquity. If you are in a colored transition from sin to righteousness, you need to recognize that there are battles in the spirit. David understood what it was to truly repent. You can read songs he wrote in Psalms like Psalm 51 or scripture during his reign for context. Solomon was raised in a house of prayer. Jesus made a scourge of small cords and cleaned out the temple during passover. If you and I are temples for the Holy Spirit, how clean is our temple? Who is in charge of the cleaning and maintenance of that temple? 

        Mount Moriah shows us that God has value in things and in places we are often quick to dismiss. You yourself have history. Some of that history you don't know yet. Look at yourself as that mountain, the temple of God. We should be on watch and careful of what is coming out and going in. It is your duty to present your body as a living sacrifice. It isn't a convenience. This morning I ask you which version of the temple are you? Solomon's? Herod's? If you can't do it for yourself, you have self problems. When you stop looking on the outside, convicting and pointing out the faults of those around you, and start looking in at yourself, that's when God can really begin work on your character. Can you stay the hand of God like David? Or does Jesus need to fashion a whip to clean your temple out?

        If we don't uphold the word or carry the scriptures we are just playing around. It's merely a facet of our life or even a job. We start out blaming everyone around us for what we are experiencing. My parting word is that you influence everyone around you.