Destroyer Malakh YHWH [Wed. in Lent 3]

LISTEN TO THE AUDIO HERE

READINGS FROM HOLY SCRIPTURE:

• 1 Chronicles 21:1-30

• Hebrews 11:32-40

 

Grace to you and peace. (1 Thess 1)
 
Jesus speaks to you on this day from His book of 1 Chronicles heard, saying:
“And David built there an altar to the Lord and presented burnt offerings and peace offerings and called on the Lord, and the Lord answered him with fire from heaven upon the altar of burnt offering. Then the Lord commanded the angel, and he put his sword back into its sheath.”
 
Before tonight, we have discovered that the Malakh YHWH has been gentle and kind. With Gideon, He strengthened and encouraged him to believe and trust in the Lord. With Samson’s parents, He announced the wonderful and happy birth of a son. 
 
Tonight, however, the tables have been flipped and the whip of cords takes to the air. The Malakh YHWH becomes the Destroying Angel with a sword. We’re not going to talk about David’s sin of the census, suffice to say it was done in unbelief and at satan’s request, as verse 1 said. 
 
So we are dealing with unbelief tonight, not simple doubting as Gideon and Samson’s parents. And when sin shows it ugly, death-filled grin, it must be destroyed. There will be no sin at God’s side which is comforting if we are going to be spending eternity next to Him!
 
Our first reference to the Malakh YHWH comes at verse 12, of the Old Testament reading, where He is the last of three choices offered to King David as punishment for his transgression. This is the choice the king chooses, saying something so profound that you should put it on your list of verses to memorize.
 
He says in verse 13: “Let me fall into the hand of the Lord, for His mercy is very great, but do not let me fall into the hand of man.”
 
This is not the first time that God has shown His serious side. The most memorable example would be Moses and Pharaoh and the 10 plagues. Remember that the final plague was the death of all the first born not protected by the blood of the Lamb. But Who was it going through Egypt doing the destruction?
 
Exodus 12:12 says, “For I will pass through the land of Egypt that night, and I will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and on all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments: I am the Lord.”
 
And v.23: “For the Lord will pass through to strike the Egyptians, and when he sees the blood on the lintel and on the two doorposts, the Lord will pass over the door and will not allow the destroyer to enter your houses to strike you.”
 
And there is our Destroyer angel again. This time, He is directly linked to the Lord, to YHWH, as if they were one and the same.  And what He does is within the scope of the work of God, that His enemies are not people, but unbelief; sin, death, and the devil and that He wants the sinner to turn from his evil and live.
 
But the devil and his armies are not idle. They seek to devour those who remain steadfast in the faith (1 Pet 5:8). As we sang at the beginning of this evening, the hungry billows of sin and death are curling and rising around the Lord’s Ark. The fiery darts blot out the sun. Who will stand and fight?
 
The Malakh YHWH, the Destroyer, will stand. And even if He is cut down He will stand up again. By virtue of His resurrection, we as well, if we are cut down, we will be made alive. Whether we live or die, we live. 
 
And this is the Way. Suffering, then glory. Back to 1 Chronicles, the Malakh YHWH pauses the destruction in order to stand upon a threshing floor and wait. Wait for what? For an altar to be built and a sacrifice placed upon it. 
 
What is so special about this threshing floor that an offering here puts an end to the punishment? This threshing floor becomes the foundation of the Lord’s Temple to be built by Solomon, later on.
 
But the Temple of God is not built by human hands, because it is not built at all but revealed. Revealed to be the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ. Who cares for His people and king David so much, that He is unwilling to allow even a mite of sin and suffering into His Kingdom.
 
At this threshing floor, for the making of Bread, the leaven of heaven comes to earth to take all pestilence onto Himself, and in return offering the Bread of heaven. At this holy Altar, the Destroyer Malakh YHWH sheaths His sword, when He sees the Blood of Faith upon the faithful. 
 
At Eden, because of the Old Adam, the sword was unsheathed. At Golgotha, because of the new Adam, the sword that was whole is broken to pieces. Christ subjects Himself to the flail of the threshing floor, being scourged, and suffers all pestilence dying on the cross, in order to present sinful David with fruit from the Tree of life. 
 
But David did not see this fulfillment in his lifetime. As our Hebrews reading says, “And all these [men], though commended through their faith, did not receive what was promised, since God had provided something better for us, that apart from us they should not be made perfect.”
 
We and king David do not understand the seriousness of God until after the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. We and king David do not understand the level of purity required by the Father, before the crucifixion of His only begotten Son. 
 
We do not understand the actions of the Malakh YHWH until Jesus comes to overturn the tables on the cross and take the whip of cords upon His own back. The wrath of the destruction of the Malakh YHWH falls on Jesus and in that act, He is victorious over all His enemies.
 
David and Israel retain their sin and so are subject to temporal punishment. However, in Christ, David, Israel, and we are justified by grace, through faith, for Christ’s sake. And by His Body and Blood, we are stood at the threshing floor of the Lamb of God, slain to win the forgiveness of sins for the whole world.