May 4th, 2025: David's Sacrifice | 1 Chronicles 21:14-30

We get it backwards! We are always looking inward for the answers, and finding none. Despite our best efforts, what we need we cannot supply. We stumble in the darkness of our own ignorance, and all the while, the Son of God shines brightly if we’ll just open our eyes. Jesus’ name is the truth! He is the way! He is the life! While we stumble around making much of ourselves in our own eyes, the God of Heaven waits for us to look up and to receive the blessings and the wisdom that He will generously share with those who walk in a relationship with Him through His Son.  

 And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, When thou takest the sum of the children of Israel after their number, then shall they give every man a ransom for his soul unto the Lord, when thou numberest them; that there be no plague among them, when thou numberest them. This they shall give, every one that passeth among them that are numbered, half a shekel after the shekel of the sanctuary: (a shekel is twenty gerahs:) an half shekel shall be the offering of the Lord. Every one that passeth among them that are numbered, from twenty years old and above, shall give an offering unto the Lord. The rich shall not give more, and the poor shall not give less than half a shekel, when they give an offering unto the Lord, to make an atonement for your souls. And thou shalt take the atonement money of the children of Israel, and shalt appoint it for the service of the tabernacle of the congregation; that it may be a memorial unto the children of Israel before the Lord, to make an atonement for your souls. (Exodus 30:11-16).

A commandment was given by God to Moses that each male, over the age of twenty, was to give annually a shekel as a “ransom for his soul." This is the way that a census was taken and the way that the inheritance of the promised land was divided. The amount given was not large, but it was equal for every man, regardless of his wealth. This was about their dependence on God, not about their individual ability. God gave Moses specific details about the way the money should be collected and the purpose for which it was to be taken.  

The meaning behind it was to be a yearly reminder that they belonged to God and were benefiting from His provision and protection. In His loving kindness, He had delivered them out of the hands of their oppressors in Egypt. He had given them water from the rock, Manna from the sky, the promised land in front of them, and the word of God to guide them. He had committed to them; to go with them and to bless them. He asked only that they acknowledge the covenant between them. It was all about respect and gratitude to God and about recognizing that all the good things that they enjoyed were given by Him.  He was their source, and they were His people.  

Fast forward 480 years to the reign of King David. The land has long been conquered, and generations learned of God’s faithfulness during their rebellious years under the Judges.  They’ve enjoyed years of peace since David replaced King Saul as King, and he and his mighty men defeated their enemies through the blessing of God.  

But then King David, a man after God’s own heart, the giant slayer, the shepherd, and the Psalmist of Israel, made a terrible mistake. In a moment of pride and foolishness, he decided to count “his people.”  He turned the commandment given to Moses to recognize God as their source into a self-centered tribute to his greatness as the King. And God was not pleased.

 14. So the Lord sent pestilence upon Israel: and there fell of Israel seventy thousand men.

David turned an acknowledgement of dependence on God into an acknowledgement of his own power and success. It is a very common sin among us. Have you ever been guilty of turning God’s blessings into a reason to boast? Have you ever judged by a standard you fail to keep and without considering the grace you have received? The bible says, “there is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.” (Proverbs 14:12).

When God confronted David’s error, He gave him a choice of punishments. He had violated the law of God and had taken for himself what belonged to God alone. The choices were terrible, and the punishments were severe. David’s response was to acknowledge that He did not have the wisdom required to choose. He humbled himself, falling on the mercies of a Holy God.  

God sent judgment for sin in the form of pestilence. The numbers that King David had taken so much pride in would be cut down by a disease. People, in life and in death, belonged to God, not David. David could not save them, David could not keep them, David could serve as king, but He was not their source of blessing.

15 And God sent an angel unto Jerusalem to destroy it: and as he was destroying, the Lord beheld, and he repented him of the evil, and said to the angel that destroyed, It is enough, stay now thine hand. And the angel of the Lord stood by the threshingfloor of Ornan the Jebusite.

16 And David lifted up his eyes, and saw the angel of the Lord stand between the earth and the heaven, having a drawn sword in his hand stretched out over Jerusalem. Then David and the elders of Israel, who were clothed in sackcloth, fell upon their faces.

We pray because God answers prayers. Prayers change outcomes. While God is sovereign and all-knowing, He has also given free will to mankind. While He knows their choices and their hearts, He also responds to their repentance and obedience. God changed the story.  Judgment was deserved, but Grace was given. The angel sent from God to destroy the people with pestilence stopped over a very special piece of ground.  This would be the spot where David built an altar to worship God, this would be the spot where King Solomon would build the temple. 

It was the place where the blood of the lamb would be offered in the Holy of Holies. It was the spot that would symbolize the shedding of the blood of Jesus on the cross that would be presented in Heaven to redeem all who believe. Judgment stopped where the blood was applied. They fell upon their faces, and God heard their prayers.

You and I deserve the judgment of God; we have violated His word, we have taken for ourselves, in pride, the praise that God alone should receive.  Sin brings death. But the judgment of God stops at the bloodline. Instead of wrath, I’ve received forgiveness. Instead of pestilence, by “his stripes we are healed.” Instead of shame and separation, the blood of Christ has reconciled us to the Father. God is Holy, and no one can stand in His presence without the righteousness of Christ that comes through His blood. Give God all the praise, the glory, and the honor, because the Lamb of God is worthy!

17 And David said unto God, Is it not I that commanded the people to be numbered? even I it is that have sinned and done evil indeed; but as for these sheep, what have they done? let thine hand, I pray thee, O Lord my God, be on me, and on my father's house; but not on thy people, that they should be plagued.

18 Then the angel of the Lord commanded Gad to say to David, that David should go up, and set up an altar unto the Lord in the threshingfloor of Ornan the Jebusite.

David confessed his sin, and God sent the man of God to tell him what to do. Build an altar.  Create a place to go back to the basics.  If you sin, repent.  If you have taken what doesn’t belong to you, give it all back to God.  It’s His desire to bless you, it is your privilege to show Him a grateful heart.

19 And David went up at the saying of Gad, which he spake in the name of the Lord.

20 And Ornan turned back, and saw the angel; and his four sons with him hid themselves. Now Ornan was threshing wheat.

21 And as David came to Ornan, Ornan looked and saw David, and went out of the threshingfloor, and bowed himself to David with his face to the ground.

22 Then David said to Ornan, Grant me the place of this threshingfloor, that I may build an altar therein unto the Lord: thou shalt grant it me for the full price: that the plague may be stayed from the people.

Ornan is innocent in all of this. He is threshing wheat. He doesn’t even know how King David’s sin will affect him, but then he looks up to see the angel. He hides himself and his sons, but there is nowhere to hide. King David and Ornan are both at the mercy of God. Just like Exodus said, a shekel is required.  David says, sell me this place so that we can build an altar to ask for God to stop this plague.

23 And Ornan said unto David, Take it to thee, and let my lord the king do that which is good in his eyes: lo, I give thee the oxen also for burnt offerings, and the threshing instruments for wood, and the wheat for the meat offering; I give it all.

24 And king David said to Ornan, Nay; but I will verily buy it for the full price: for I will not take that which is thine for the Lord, nor offer burnt offerings without cost.

25 So David gave to Ornan for the place six hundred shekels of gold by weight.

Seeing the danger, Ornan donates the ground, but that won't work. David says that it isn’t right to give to God what costs him nothing. This return to reverence for God, this confession of dependence, required that David surrender his treasure to God. He paid a high price, willingly, when he realized that he had sinned against God. He realized that there was hope in trusting God’s word.  

26 And David built there an altar unto the Lord, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings, and called upon the Lord; and he answered him from heaven by fire upon the altar of burnt offering.

27 And the Lord commanded the angel; and he put up his sword again into the sheath thereof.

28 At that time when David saw that the Lord had answered him in the threshingfloor of Ornan the Jebusite, then he sacrificed there.

David built the altar, David brought the sacrifices, but God provided the fire. The cleansing Holy fire of the Holy Spirit.  The sword was sheathed, the pestilence was stopped, the wrath of God was satisfied.  

Let us never forget that He is Lord of all. He deserves all the honor we can give. Stop looking inward for satisfaction, identity, and meaning. Turn your eyes upward and you’ll find what you’ve been looking for.  

29 For the tabernacle of the Lord, which Moses made in the wilderness, and the altar of the burnt offering, were at that season in the high place at Gibeon.

30 But David could not go before it to enquire of God: for he was afraid because of the sword of the angel of the Lord.

King David had been afraid to go to the altar because he knew that he’d sinned. Obedience won out over fear, on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite. When we recognize that our need is greater than our fear, greater than the embarrassment of asking for God’s help, greater than anything we can provide for ourselves, God is ready to save us.  

What is it that you are counting on today? What do you feel you have earned that will keep you and protect you in the future? Don’t make David’s mistake. If you have been blessed, those blessings are the direct result of God’s goodness in your life. His word is eternal, and He means what He says. God hears our prayers, and He honors the blood of His Son. You can rely on the safety that the blood applied to your heart provides. 

Thank you for studying with us! God Bless!