The problem of God’s anger (2 Samuel 24:1-19)

‘God is good and angry.’

How does that statement make you feel?  I have to admit that I am often uncomfortable about God being angry.  That is because my experience of anger is not very good.  I get angry because I am selfish.  I get angry when people undermine my pride.  I am not very loving when I am angry.  I do and say things in anger that I later regret.

Perhaps you associate anger with an impatient parent, a harsh teacher or an unkind boss.  You could never see anything good in their anger.  If anger is wrong, then how can God be both good and angry?  But anger is not necessarily wrong.  It is our selfishness, impatience and pride that makes our anger sinful.

If God was not angry, he would not be very loving or good.  The opposite of a God who does not get angry is a God who does not care.  Could God be loving if he looked at the hurt that we do each other and not be moved?  Could God be holy if he saw the evil that we do and not react?

God is angry because of human sin.  But that presents us with a problem.  Because Jesus says that we are evil.  What can be done about God’s anger towards us?

God is angry at sin (1-4)

One of my favourite verses in the Bible is when Abraham declares, ‘I know that the judge of the world will do what is right.’  It is so important to be confident that our God always does what is good.  In this passage we are told that God is angry at the people’s sin, although we are not told what they had done.  We have to trust God that this anger is justified.

In his anger he incited David against the people.  Is that fair?  Given that David later feels responsible for what he has done, it would seem that this incitement involves David doing something he wanted to do.  His actions reflect his heart.

But what is wrong with taking a census?  In the book of Numbers, a census was seen as a good thing.  David’s census seems to reveal where his confidence lay.  It was a census of fighting men.  In fact, in this census he seems to be enlisting fighting men.  In the Psalms David wrote, ‘Some trust in chariots and others in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord’ (Psalm 20:7).  Now his confidence seems to be in the size of army he can put together.

David should no better.  Before he faced Goliath, he acknowledged that the God who had rescued him from the paw of the lion would rescue him from this Philistine.  Last week we saw, when faced with Absalom’s treacherous army, that more of the enemy died in the forest than by the sword.  The battle belongs to the Lord.  It is not his army that will build the kingdom, but his God.

What are the army and chariots that you place your confidence in?  Maybe our security lies in our savings.  Then it will be very difficult when God prompts you to be spontaneously generous.

But there is freedom here!  You don’t need an army or chariots.  You only need God to be a part of his kingdom work.  Be yourself for God.  You might have a dodgy past, but God can use you.  You may not be very good at explaining your faith, but God can use your stumbling efforts.  You may not have gallons of energy for loving people, but God can use your quite witness.  One of the clearest evidences that we care for God’s kingdom and are depending on his strength is that we pray.  A sense of inadequacy is a great motivation to pray.     

David realises that he has done wrong (5-15)

When Joab reports the number of fighting men to David, David was conscience-stricken.  ‘I have sinned greatly in what I have done.  Now, O Lord, I beg you, take away the guilt of your servant.  I have done a very foolish thing’ (10).

David is in a much better place spiritually than he was after his adultery with Bathsheba.  There he tried to cover his tracks and hide his sin.  For a year David had acted as if nothing was wrong.  Now he immediately realises that he has done wrong.  He doesn’t try to justify his actions.  He repents.

As we grow in faith, we will be quick to repent.  When someone points out that we have been in the wrong we will not react by saying ‘who are you to judge me?’ but we will say, ‘I am even worse than you realise.’  Spiritual maturity means that we are ready to say sorry.  We are to say sorry often, but godly sorrow over sin moves steadily to celebration that our gracious God is so willing to forgive proud people like us.

The prophet Gad comes to David with a horrible choice: shall there be three years of famine, three months of fleeing from your enemies or three days of plague.  David doesn’t choose plague because it is the shortest punishment but because he has confidence in the character of God.  ‘I am in deep distress.  Let us fall into the hands of the Lord, for his mercy is great; but do not let us fall into the hands of men’ (14).  God’s mercy is what we need in the face of God’s holy anger against our sin.    Interestingly, he no longer is looking to his military might to defend the nation against their enemies.

God graciously provides a substitute to turn away his anger (15-19)

In his mercy, God stops the plague before the three days is finished.  Don’t think that God is some sort of unfeeling moral monster.  ‘I take no pleasure in the death of anyone,’ declares the Lord.  Repent and live!’ (Ezekiel 18:32).  When God judges he grieves.  ‘When the angel stretched out his hand to destroy Jerusalem, the Lord was grieved because of the calamity and said to the angel who was afflicting the people, ‘Enough!  Withdraw your hand.’  The angel of the Lord was then at the threshing-floor of Araunah the Jebusite (16).  Later a sacrifice would be offered at that place.  That sacrifice was credited with turning away God’s anger.  Second Chronicles (3:1) will tell us that the threshing floor of Araunah was later to become the site on which the temple was built.  The whole sacrificial system of the Old Testament teaches us that the death of a substitute is needed to deal with our sin.  The death of all those animals could not deal with our sin but pointed ahead to the one called the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

This idea of substitution is again seen in David’s words.  When David saw the angel who was striking down the people he said, ‘I am the one who has sinned and done wrong.  These people are but sheep.  What have they done?  Let your hand fall on me and my family’ (17).  He was wrong to assume that the people had done no wrong.  The people had incited the Lord to holy anger.  But notice that David is a shepherd who is willing to lay down his life for his sheep.  His heart points forward to Jesus, the Son of David, who is the good shepherd who lays down for his sheep (John 10:11,15).

Conclusion

I told Ronan that nothing could stop me from loving him.  He said, ‘what about when you are angry with me?’  I am a very imperfect parent, but I might be a less perfect parent if my children’s behaviour didn’t move my emotions.  I would simply be an indifferent parent.  God is a father who disciplines those he loves.

But there is a type of anger that God never feels towards those who are in Christ.  It is the anger of a judge.  Think of what happened in this passage.  God was angry at the people’s sin, a substitute died, and his anger was turned away.  Now when God looks at those who are in Christ, he always has the substitute in his sight.  

Back to this morning’s passage.  Can you see that it pictures what we sing in the hymn ‘In Christ Alone’?  ‘Till on that cross as Jesus died, the wrath of God was satisfied.’  And now there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus!

Jesus is the king in whom mercy and justice meet (2 Samuel 18)

Which do you care about more, mercy or justice?  You might think that mercy is the answer I am looking for, but actually justice really matters.  When someone commits a crime and the courts give an overly lenient sentence, we should be angry.  Cliona Saidear, Executive Director of the Rape Crisis Network, says that lenient sentences can have a real impact on survivors.

However, I also think of David Wilkerson, the author of ‘The Cross and the Switchblade.’  David was watching a young man who was on trial for a terrible crime, and yet his heart went out to him.  He was filled with love for the criminal.  Mercy brought David to New York to work with street gangs.

In some countries, politicians on the right want to be tough on crime, and politicians on the left want prison to only be about rehabilitation (and not about punishment).  The left accuses the right of lacking mercy and the right accuses the left of being soft on crime.

But supposing you didn’t have to choose between mercy and justice.  What if Christianity doesn’t fit easily into the right or left of the political spectrum but is a challenge to the worst instincts of both.  What if we follow a king who works for justice now (and promises a day of ultimate justice), yet this king is also the most merciful person who has ever walked the face of this earth.

This morning’s passage is a story of mercy and justice failing to meet, Joab wants justice and David wants mercy for Absalom, and yet it points ahead to the king who can show mercy without sacrificing justice.

The Backstory

Everything seemed to be going well for David, until he saw Bathsheba bathing on her roof.  Rather than turning his eyes away, he gazed and lusted.  His lust led to adultery and murder.  While God brought him to repentance, his failure led to awful consequences.  Through the prophet Nathan, God said to David, ‘I will rise up evil out of your own house.’  David’s son Amnon rapes his half-sister Tamar.  David ignores justice and does nothing.  So, Absalom takes matters into his own hands and murders Amnon.  Again, David does not see that justice is done.  However, there is now tension between David and Absalom.  Absalom turns the hearts of the people against David and sets himself up as king.  David has to leave Jerusalem and flee from Absalom.  Now David is about to take his kingdom back.

The kingdom centres on the king

David wants to go with the army.  But the men say, ‘You shall not go out.  For if we flee, they will not care about us.  But you are worth ten thousand of us.  Therefore, it is better that you send us help from the city’ (3).

The people realised that the king is the centre of the kingdom.  As Christians we are followers of a different king, Jesus.  Is King Jesus the centre of our little outpost of his kingdom?  It can be so easy for us to want to get our way in our local church.  I once heard someone say that ‘this is a Willis church’, because the Willis family dominated it.  But no family, pastor, elders, or long-term members are to be the core of who we are.  We are to submit and be guided by the word that points to King Jesus, to show the world how great King Jesus is, and to love one another in a way that brings King Jesus pleasure.

Later in this chapter, the commander, Joab, tells a certain man that he would have been glad to give him ten pieces of silver and a belt to have struck Absalom dead.  But the certain man replies, ‘Even if I felt in my hand the weight of a thousand pieces of silver, I would not reach out my hand against the king’s son, for in our hearing the king commanded you and Abishai and Ittai, “For my sake protect the young Absalom”’ (12).  This certain man will not disobey the king.  He doesn’t regret that his obedience may have cost him.  Those of us who love King Jesus should show our love through obedience.  As the apostle John writes, ‘This is love for God: to obey his commands.  And his commands are not burdensome (1 John 5:3).

The king is full of love

David’s love for his son Absalom is very touching.  Absalom is a traitor who deserves to die.  But David pleads with his three commanders, ‘Deal gently for my sake with the young man Absalom’ (5).  When he hears of Absalom’s death, he is heartbroken.  ‘And the king was deeply moved and went up to the chamber over the gate and wept. “O my son Absalom, my son, my son Absalom!  Would I have died instead of you, O Absalom, my son, my son!”’ (33).

Over the wicked city of Jerusalem, Jesus contemplates the judgement that is coming its way and weeps.  ‘O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it!  How often I would have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!  (Matthew 23:37).  On the last day, if you end up facing the Son of David as your judge rather than your Saviour, it will not be because of any lack of mercy on his part, but because you spurned his grace. 

The kingdom is secured by God

Before we see how this passage points us to the kingdom that can unite mercy and justice, I want us to see one other thing about David’s kingdom: it was God who secured his kingdom!

You might remember all the way back to the story of David and Goliath.  David was keen for people to see that it was not his skill with the sling that gave him victory.  He said, ‘The Lord, who delivered me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine’ (1 Samuel 17:37).  It is a principle that we see in the Old Testament that ‘the battle belongs to the Lord’ (1 Samuel 17:47).  It is seen in this morning reading in the fact that, ‘The battle spread over the face of all the country, and the forest devoured more people that da than the sword’ (8).  There were more accidents in the undergrowth than men killed by the sword.  When Absalom is caught it is the result of one of these accidents.  This is not a battle that the people could take great credit for, ‘the battle belonged to the Lord.’

We are called to speak about Jesus, but it will not be our words that will bring our friends to faith; it is Jesus who opens the hearts of women and men that they will believe (Acts 16:14).  As a church, we are privileged to pray love and act in away that draws people’s attention to Jesus, but it is not us who build the church.  Jesus says, ‘I will build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it’ (Matthew 16:18).  There are many things that can be learned at church-growth conferences, but I witnessed a couple who were used to grow a church through the simple God-dependent tools of prayer, love and confidence to teach the Bible.

Conclusion:  There is a kingdom where mercy and justice meet
There are things called defeater beliefs.   These are beliefs that people hold that stop them believing the gospel.  One defeater belief is: ‘how can a loving God send people to hell?’  But why not ask people this: who would you have in heaven and who would you have in hell?  Maybe they will reply, ‘I would have good people in heaven and evil people in hell?’  You can then tell them that Jesus is more loving and just than they are.

Jesus care more about justice in the fact that he not only judges our actions but also our motives.  He sees that all have rebelled against his kingdom and all deserve to be excluded from it.  Hell will see that perfect justice is served.

Jesus is also more merciful than they are.  They would invite those they consider good people, but Jesus calls those who he knows are evil.  There will be people in heaven that no one else would have thought of inviting.

But how can Jesus invite wicked people into his kingdom?  At infinite cost to himself.  Many people might be like David, who was willing to give his life for his son.  ‘O my son Absalom, my son, my son Absalom, would I have died instead of you, O Absalom, my son my son!’  Yet while we were still sinners Christ died for us.  He died for us in order that he could be justice and the one who justifies those who place their faith in him.  In him justice and mercy meet!

The rape of Tamar (2 Samuel 13)

If God treats us not as our sins deserve but according to his loving-kindness, then why does David’s baby die after his adultery and murder?  If there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, then why does God punish David for his sin?  If God does not hold our sin against us, then why does he allow us experience sin’s dreadful consequences?  I think that the answer is found in the fact that God is a good God who treats his people as dearly loved sons and daughters.

It is the devil who tells us that our sins will have no consequences.  God warns us of the consequences to stop us from sinning.  When we are brought to faith in Christ, God no longer is our judge but our father.  There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, but as a loving father, he disciplines his children.  A loving father may be angry with his children, but not in a way that threatens his love.  He disciplines us for our good, that we might share in his holiness (Hebrews 12:10).

When Adam and Eve sinned, one consequence was disharmony among their children: Cain murdered his brother Abel.  Here one of the consequences of David’s adultery and murder is similar disharmony among his children.  This morning’s passage contains rape and murder.

Sexual sin involves treating people as things

Like many people, Amnon developed a sexual attraction to someone who was off limits.  Tamar was his half-sister.  The Law of Mosses forbade marriage between half-siblings.  Like his father, David, Amnon did not control his lust.  He raped Tamar.  Then having violated her, he treats her like dirt.  Verse seventeen, literally reads, ‘put this out of my presence and bolt the door after her.’

Christians should be clear in their condemnation of sexual violence.  ‘No’ means ‘no’.  Whatever the circumstances, nothing justifies sex without consent.  If you feel sexually, physically or emotionally threatened by your spouse you should tell someone and find somewhere safer to live.

After Amnon had raped Tamar his feelings towards her changed.  He began to hate her.  There have been many times where a young man has said to a young woman, ‘if you love me you will sleep with me.’  He may have even given the impression that he intended to marry her at some future date.  Yet when he has had has satisfied his lust, he has lost interest and left the woman with regrets.  There is no better way to prove your love than by waiting for marriage.

How parents act influences the way that our children behave

One of the tragic things about this story is that Amnon has acted like his father did.  David had also refused to control his lusts.  There is an element here of ‘like father like son’.  

Parenting is a terrible responsibility.  Don’t be surprised if your child struggles with anger if you don’t control your temper.  Don’t be shocked if they think Christians are hypocrites if you are a different person at home than in church.  If you treat the opposite sex without respect, then you can expect that your sons and daughters to do likewise.

The Son of David will not ignore justice

The picture of Tamar’s grief is one of abject misery.  ‘Tamar put ashes on her head and tore the long rob she wore.  And she laid her hand on her head and went away, crying aloud as she went’ (19).

When David is told that Amnon has raped Tamar, what does he do?  David did nothing!  Amnon was his eldest son, and so David overlooked the offence.  He has lost all moral courage.  While David ignores justice, Absalom takes justice into his own hands and murders his brother.  What does David do when he hears of Amnon’s death?  He grieves.  But again, he takes no action.  He is not acting as the king of justice.

Both David and Absalom acted wrongly.  It is wrong to ignore justice, and it is God’s place, not ours, to avenge.  Part of God’s justice is to use the courts of the land (Romans 13:4).  So, if you have committed a sexual crime, we will talk to you about God’s amazing forgiveness, but we must also report you to the Gardaí.

David may have ignored justice, but the Son of David does not.  The Croatian theologian, Miroslav Volf, writes: ‘One could object that it is not worthy of God to wield the sword.  Is God not love, long-suffering and all-powerful love? … if God were not angry at injustice and deception and did not make the final end to violence God would not be worthy of our worship.’  It takes the tranquillity of a quiet suburban home to believe that it would be good for God not to judge.  Talk of a non-judging God to the victims of rape and violence and they will tell you he must not care about them.

Even if the courts give an overly lenient sentence, there will be a day of justice.  Jimmy Savile did not get away with it.  The Lord Jesus will be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ (2 Thess. 1: 7).  The book of Revelation pictures God’s New Heaven and New Earth, but the sexually immoral are locked outside to experience to second death (Revelation 21:8).

Jesus offers hope to sexual sinners like us

The term translated ‘sexually immoral’ refers to all sex outside of the marriage.  Jesus equates sexual lust with adultery.  So what hope is there for sexual sinners like us?  You see, like Amnon we have had lustful thoughts about people who were off limits.  I have not met any man who could tell me that he has never thought lustfully about someone he was not married to.  I used to think that lust was more of a male problem than a female problem until I saw the sales figures for Fifty Shades of Grey.

To sexual-sinners like us, God says: ‘do you not know that the unrighteous not inherit the kingdom of God?  Do not be deceived, neither the sexually immoral … nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality … will inherit the kingdom of God.  And that is what some of you were.  But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God’ (2 Corinthians 6:9-12).

Unlike David, Jesus will not turn a blind-eye to sexual sin.  If you think that what you do in the bedroom or look at on the screen does not matter to God, you are deceived.  While all genuine Christians struggle with sexual temptation and hate it that they fall and fail, the person I worry about is the person who is willing to happily live with such sin.  There is no evidence that such a person is actually a child of God.  Yet there is hope for sexual sinners, like us and like David.  We can sing, ‘Blessed is the person whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered.  Blessed is the one whose sin the Lord does not count against him … (Psalm 32:1-2).  On the cross Jesus bore the wrath for all of our sexual sin.

Conclusion

At the beginning of this sermon I mentioned that the story of David echoes the story of Adam and Eve.  Although there is a lot in this passage about sexual sin, the main theme of this passage is the faithfulness of our promise-keeping God.  In both the Genesis story and the story of David, there is a fall into serious sin.  In both stories one of the consequences is murder in the next generation.  But both stories contain a promise of God.  God promised Eve a son who would crush the serpents head and David a son who would build the temple and reign for ever.

After Cain murders Abel we are left wondering who the serpent-crushing son will be?  After Absalom murders Amnon we are left wondering who will be the son who will build the temple and reign for ever?  It looks like sin is going to destroy God’s promise.  But our gracious God will not let sin get in the way of bringing his plans to fruition.  To Adam and Eve, God shows his commitment to his promise by giving Seth.  To David, God gives Solomon.  But neither Seth or Solomon are God’s full answer to his promise, the serpent-crusher and forever king is Jesus.  All God’s promises are ‘yes’ in Jesus!

Because all God’s promises are yes in Jesus, we can be sure that God will do all that he has promised.  Therefore, we know that there will be a day when the Son of David will ensure that perfect justice is done, and we know that at this time of his grace when all sinners can come to have their condemnation lifted and be accepted as sons of the most high.  

If you think that sexual sin does not matter to God, then you don’t know God.  If you have given up the struggle against sexual temptation, then your probably don’t know God.  If you no longer grieve when you fail with lustful thoughts, then you might not know God.  But knowing God also tells me that he is willing to forgive the sexual sinner, that when we fall, he is willing to pick us up; that when we are tempted, he will provide a way of escape; and that his Spirit within makes it impossible to be content with sin.

The God who restores (2 Samuel 11-12)

When I was in sixth year, I got to go on a rugby trip to Scotland.  On the bus someone explained that there was an award for the person who made the biggest fool of themselves on tour.  I remember thinking, ‘I will be the last person on this team to get that award.’  After all I wasn’t as wild as a lot of the others.  I was wrong.  I was to learn that I could not handle drink and spent a lot of weekend totally drunk.  I did things and said things that drunk teenagers do and made myself look like the idiot I was.  On the away home it felt so shameful to be told that I was the person on tour who had made the biggest fool of themselves.

I have done worse things in life.  But I tell you of that one because it a real lesson in the arrogance of thinking that it could never happen to me.  The Bible teaches us that we are to be careful when we think that we are strong lest we fall (1 Corinthians 10:12).

The steps into darkness

Up until this point in the story of King David, David has come across as a remarkable man.  We are told that he was a man after God’s own heart.  In our last look at his life we saw that he was capable of extreme kindness.  But now, all of a sudden, his world comes crashing apart because of his sin.  I can’t imagine he ever thought it could happen to him.  If a great man like David can fall then we need to be on our guard.

In the spring, at the time when kings go off to war, David sent Joab out with the king’s men and the whole Israelite army (1a).  The Ammonites had refused to make peace and so there was battle.  But David was not leading his men.  David’s descent into darkness started with him doing nothing.  He was neglecting his duty.  Lounge around long enough and you will get yourself into trouble.  It is when you are at home doing nothing that you are most likely to look up porn or other compromising images.  It’s when you have nothing better to talk about that you are going to start assassinating someone’s character.  Bored minds are ripe for temptation.

I don’t know if David was using the raised height of his house to look voyeuristically over the city.  I certainly don’t think that Bathsheba was out to grab his attention as she had her bath on the roof.  David seems to have stumbled across temptation.  But rather than turning his eyes away he stared.  He stared and he wanted.  His sin was not that he saw Bathsheba but that he continued looking.  Sometimes people say to me that there is nothing wrong with looking at the menu as long as you do not order.  Jesus says that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart (Matt. 5:28).

Then he betrayed his spouse.  He invites Bathsheba over (although given that he is the king she has little choice) and he sleeps with her.  But this wasn’t just an act of physical adultery, this was spiritual adultery.  Later David would write, ‘against you [Lord], you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight’ (Psalm 51:4a).  Whenever we live for things that compete against our love for God, whenever we approve of what he condemns, whenever we do what he has forbidden, and whenever we seek our ultimate happiness in anything but him then it is ultimately God that we are betraying.

What would have happened if David had repented after his adultery?  The consequences could have been awful.  There was a death sentence for adultery, although it was not always enforced.  He might have been in all sorts of trouble.  But one thing that is certain is that God would have forgiven him.  David knew that a contrite heart you, God, will not despise (Psalm 51:17b).  But rather than acknowledge his sin, he engaged in a cover-up.  It was a cover-up that would lead to the death of Bathsheba’s husband Uriah.

The journey into the light

For a year David thought that he had got away with it.  As he denied his guilt, his spiritual life must have been a mess.  In fact, in Psalm 32 David say that at this time he was miserable.  In his mercy God made David miserable, because God loves his people too much to allow us to live spiritually dead lives.  God always wants to restore to us the joy of our salvation.

God then sends the prophet Nathan to the miserable David.  With a clever tale Nathan exposes David’s guilt.  In one of the most dramatic moments in the Bible Nathan points a finger at David and says, ‘You’re the man.’

Nathan speaks God’s word and it exposes David’s sin.  It was an act of mercy of the God who is calling David to come home.  What are you going to do if someone points to God’s word and shows you that you are wrong?  Are you going to act like most of our society and shout, ‘who are you to judge me?’  Do we have the courage to challenge those who are ignoring God’s word?  If we have to challenge someone with God’s word, then may God enable us to do so with love and tact and after a lot of prayer.  Are we looking to God’s word to see where we need to repent?

The most encouraging words in this whole sorry affair come with the reassurance of Nathan: ‘The Lord has taken away your sin.  You are not going to die’ (12:13).  Our God is a forgiving God.  The Lord ‘will not always accuse, nor will his anger burn forever; he does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities.  For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us’ (Psalm 103:9-12).  In order to live freely as Christians, we must hear these words of assurance.  Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus’ (Romans 8:1).  

Life may not be exactly like it was before we fell, but God will not give up on us.  Moses murdered but God still used him to lead his people out of slavery.  Peter denied even knowing Jesus, but Jesus used him to build his church.  This story shows that after David was restored, he leads the army in victory in battle (12:29-30).  The most amazing thing is that God had promised to make a name for David and do a great thing through his family line, and at no point did God consider going back on that promise.  Please don’t think that God has given up on you.  He has works prepared for each of his children to do.  Whatever may lie in your past, your best days as a Christian can be before you.

Conclusion

The thing I find hardest about this story is the death of David’s son.  If God does not repay us according to our iniquities, then why does the child have to die?  I actually think the answer to this question points us to Jesus, who is called the Son of David.  You see, God’s forgiveness doesn’t mean that justice is ignored.  David knew that the person who sinned deserved to die.  But the child dies instead of David.  It is a principle that we see right through the Old Testament—the death of a substitute in the place of the sinner.  But is that fair on the child?  Remember that in God’s grace the child is raised to life.  David says, ‘I will go to him, but he will not return to me’ (12:23b).  David knows that he will meet that child again.  

Forgiveness comes freely to us, but it comes at a great cost.  We have the assurance that God will not turn away a broken and contrite heart.  Indeed, it is the promise of his restoration that brings about genuine repentance (Romans 2:4).  But another son of David died for our guilt.  A substitute died that we could be restored.  Indeed, as you watch David’s grief over his perishing son, think of the heavenly Father grieving as the Son of David suffers as our substitute on the cross.  Then remember that this Son of David was raised from the dead and now we are to rejoice.  We are to delight in the God who has brought us out of the darkness of our wickedness into his wonderful light.  

The kindness of Christ (2 Samuel 9)

We are looking at the life of David, but we are doing so to learn about Jesus.  David was Jesus’ ancestor, in fact Jesus is called the Son of David.  David lived a thousand years before Jesus was born in Bethlehem.  He was anointed as king over God’s people.  The word messiah or christ means anointed one.  So, when David acts like he should we are given a picture of what the Christ, Jesus, is like.  But when David acts wickedly, as we will see in a couple of chapters, we realise that we need a better christ than David.  We need Jesus Christ.

In this chapter we see David acting with extra-ordinary kindness.  His actions point ahead to the Son of David.  Jesus was a man of unique kindness.  In fact, the good news we call the gospel is rooted in God’s kindness.  As the Apostle Paul wrote to Titus, ‘But when the kindness and love of God our Saviour appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy’ (Titus 3:4-5a).

David’s kindness reflects God’s heart

It was during a peaceful time in King David’s reign when he started to look back on his past.  He remembers promises he made to King Saul (1 Samuel 20:42) and his son Jonathan (1 Samuel 24:21-22).  Saul was the previous king.  Jonathan, Saul’s son, had been David’s best friend.  Saul and Jonathan are both dead.  David had promised not to destroy Saul’s descendants and that there would remain a bond of kindness between Jonathan’s people and his own.  This was unusual because in that culture when a dynasty changes the new king might have wiped out the whole family of the old king, in case one of the old king’s family made a claim for the throne.  Any descendants of Saul might have expected David to treat them as an enemy.  In light of the promises David had made to Saul and Jonathan, he asks, ‘Is there anyone left in the house of Saul, that I may show kindness for Jonathan’s sake?’

The word translated ‘kindness’ is a very significant Old Testament word.  Khesed describes extraordinary acts of love meeting an extreme need, that are above and beyond what might be expected.  Khesed arises from affection and goodness.  Khesed is often used in the Old Testament of God and is translated in our Bible with words like ‘steadfast love.’

‘Is there anyone still left in the house of Saul to whom I can show khesed for Jonathan’s sake?’ (1).  David longs to show kindness. His kindness is a reflection the kindness he has experienced from God.  ‘Is there on one still alive from the household of Saul that I might show God’s khesed? (3).  Could the same be said of us?  Are we kind people?  Having experienced the kindness of God, does that same kindness flow out of us?    

David wants to act in a manner that reflects the heart of the God he loves.  In one of the Psalms, David explains that, ‘The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and steadfast in love … he does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities.  For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his khesed towards those who fear him … as a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion to those who fear him’ (Psalm 103:8-13).

God’s kindness moves from fear to faith

Ziba, who had been a servant in Saul’s household, tells David about a son of Jonathan who is crippled in both feet.

Now there is backstory here.  In the panic that had followed the death of Saul and Jonathan—as they fought the Philistines—a tragedy befell one of Jonathan’s children.  ‘Jonathan, the son of Saul, has a son who was crippled in both feet.  He was five years old when the news about Saul and Jonathan came from Jezreel, and his nurse took him and fled, and as she fled in her haste, he fell and became lame.  And his name was Mephibosheth’ (4:4).  The nurse was running, presumably because she feared that a new king would want to kill the family of the old king.

Now, Mephibosheth is an adult with a family of his own.  He is not looking for King David.  In fact, he has kept his existence hidden from the king.  It is the king who is seeking him, in order to bless him.  I am reminded of words from Isaiah where God declares that, ‘I revealed myself to those who did not ask for me, I was found by those who did not seek me’ (65:1a).  God is the hound of heaven who seeks to pour his love on people who are running away from him.

The last thing Mephibosheth wants is a knock on the door saying, ‘the king wants to see you.’  He has plenty of reasons to think that king David will have him killed.  He can’t fight and he can’t run.  It must have been terrifying to be taken to David.  His grandfather, Saul, had spent years trying to kill David.  What can he expect from David?  When he arrives before David he falls at David’s feet and cries out, ‘Behold, I am your servant’ (6).

Imagine the relief as David replies, ‘Do not fear, for I will show khesed for the sake of your father Jonathan, and I will restore to you all the land of Saul your father, and you will eat at my table always’ (8).  As he lay there on the ground, Mephibosheth may have expected a sword to fall on his head.  Instead he hears words of amazing kindness.  He is moved from a place of fear to a place of favour.

The one who is called ‘Son of David’, King Jesus, says to those who draw close to him, ‘Do not fear!’  He wants us to understand his, ‘perfect love casts out fear because fear has to do with punishment’ (1 John 4:18).  Those who have fallen on their face in submission before the Son of David have nothing to be frightened of.  Jesus has taken the punishment for our guilt upon the cross and we are no longer condemned.

Conclusion

Let’s wrap up by reminding ourselves of how this story points to the good news we call the gospel.

Firstly, this story reminds us of our inability.  You see, to be crippled in that culture rendered you helpless.  Now days there are plenty of jobs that someone like Mephibosheth could do.  However, in that basic agricultural society a man like Miphiboseth was helpless.  He came helplessly to the king.  Similarly, we are brought before the Son of David helpless.  We can not purchase his kindness.  Even our righteous deeds are stained with selfish motives and are compared to worthless filthy rags (Isaiah 64:6).  We live in a world where everyone is trying to justify themselves.  When you tell them about what God considers to be right and wrong, they cry, ‘stop judging me.’  But we draw near to God by acknowledging that we are spiritual and moral ruins.  Stop trying to earn God’s acceptance but rejoice in his khesed.

Secondly, this story reminds us that we have been shown kindness for the sake of another.  David wanted to show kindness for the sake of his best friend Jonathan.  Similarly, God shows kindness to us for the sake of his son, Jesus.  It is out of love for his Son, the Son who has taken the punishment for our guilt, that the Father delights to lavish his love on us.

Finally, God delights in those he has restored.  ‘Mephibosheth ate at David’s table, like one of the king’s sons’ (11c).  Eating together was significant in the ancient world.  Jesus showed his acceptance of broken people by eating with them.  The early Christians did a lot of eating together.  It is good to eat together.  We will eat at the king’s table not just ‘like’ sons but actually as sons.  ‘God sent forth his Son, to redeem us, that we might receive adoption as sons’ (Galatians 4:5).

Mephibosheth was amazed by David’s khesed.  He had nothing to offer David.  He was the grandson of a man who hated David with all his might.  Now he asks, ‘What is your servant, that you should show regard for a dead dog such as I?’ (8).  Jesus has shown us infinitely more kindness than David did to Miphiboseth.  So we sing ‘Amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me.’

The source of eudemonic happiness (2 Samuel 7)

My friend Brenda was on the television being interviewed about happiness.  There she explained the difference between hedonic happiness and eudemonic happiness.  She said that hedonic happiness is found in instant gratification whereas eudemonic happiness is found in having a life filled with purpose.  Hedonic happiness is found through partying and pleasure and having a good time.  Eudemonic happiness is found in living for something or someone bigger than yourself and by having meaningful relationships with people.  Hedonic happiness does not last very long and eudemonic happiness is what we should be striving for.

As I watched this clip of Brenda talking it occurred to me that Christianity has so much eudemonic happiness to offer.  It invites us to be a part of a story that stretches from infinity past to infinity future.  It offers us an intimate relationship with the God of the universe and his people.  We can live for something bigger than ourselves.  God even uses our lives, words and prayers in the extending his kingdom.

God often redirects our lives in ways we never expected

King David is now settled in his capital, Jerusalem.  He has brought the Ark to the city.  He has built his palace.  The Lord had given him rest from all his surrounding enemies.  He is very conscious that God has been good to him.

As he contemplates his situation, he seems to have a very good idea.  ‘I am living in a house made of cedar, and the Ark of the Lord is in a tent.  I should build a house for God.’  When he shares this idea with the prophet Nathan, Nathan also thinks this is a good idea.  But then God informs Nathan that this is not actually his plan.  Sometimes even the best plans, made with the best motives, are not actually what God will have us do.  God may redirect our plans in ways that we have never imagined.  Many people have been sure that God was calling them to one area of service, only to have the door closed in front of their face.  God had something else in mind!

God always does more for us than we ever expected

God often redirects our plans and always does for us more than we can imagine.  God is about to inform David about the purpose he has him.  

When does the story of David begin?  The story of David’s life did not begin when we are introduced to the shepherd-boy whose dad thought that he could never be a candidate for king.  David’s story goes back to the book of Genesis, to Jacob blessing his sons and prophesying that from the tribe of Judah would come a king (49:10).  In fact, David’s story goes back before that to before the foundation of the world, when God planned, the establishment of his kingdom.  We do not play David’s unique role in the Bible’s story line, nevertheless God choose us before the foundation time (Ephesians1:4).  He has prepared works in advance for us to do (Ephesians 2:10).  God’s story involves us, and so our story is eternal.

When does the story of David end?  You could read of the death of David in 1 Kings (1 Kings 2:10).  But the story of David continued.  Remember the words of angel Gabriel to Mary, ‘You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you will call him Jesus.  He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High.  The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David …’ (Luke 1:31-33).  Think of Jesus entering Jerusalem and the people crying out, ‘Blessed in the coming kingdom of our Father David’ (Mark 11:10).  The life of David pointed forward to his descendant, Jesus.  Indeed, in the very last book in our Bibles the cosmic Christ declares, ‘I am the Root and the Offspring of David, and the bright morning star’ (Revelation 22:16).  While we may not be an ancestor of Jesus, we are destined to rule with him for all eternity.  God’s story involves us, so our story is eternal.

Clearly David’s life, and ours, is a part of a greater story.  What eudemonic happiness David must have experienced as he contemplated that God was going to use him as part of his eternal plans.  He lived for a cause bigger than his little self.  David saw the future through a glass darkly.  We have been given an even bigger view than he.  We have seen more of the story unfold.

David wanted to build a house for God, but God says that he will build house (a dynasty) for David.  Our God is so different from the gods of the ancient near east.  The kings of the ancient near east built temples in payment for the blessing of their gods.  God has blessed this shepherd-boy, David, but he does not need David to build a temple in payment.  God wants nothing in return but the opportunity to pour out more blessing.  God does not want us to even try and pay him back! 

God is not only exceedingly gracious to David, he is spectacularly kind to all of his beloved!  ‘No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him’ (1 Corinthians 2:9).  

God brings us blessing through the Son of David

Old Testament prophecies often work at a number of levels.  You see the mountain on the horizon but when you reach the peak you see that there is a bigger mountain on another horizon.  Some of the prophecy in this passage points ahead to David’s son, Solomon, and the kings in that line, but more of it points to the Son of David, Jesus.  ‘I will be his father, and he shall be my son’ (19) is especially true of Jesus (and these words are echoed at Jesus’ baptism and transfiguration).  Solomon will be the son who builds the temple, but Jesus refers to his body of God’s temple.  Jesus’ body is a temple that will destroyed and raised up in three days (John 2:19).  It is through Jesus that God’s manifest presence is experienced.  Solomon will be given a throne, but it is only Jesus’ throne that will be established for ever.  

The mention of the son doing wrong and being punished seems to fit Solomon but not Jesus.  However, I think it does point to Jesus, for Jesus takes our sin upon himself.  In a very real sense God does ‘punish him with a rod wielded by men, with floggings inflicted by human hands’ (14).

Indeed, it is through this Son of David, whose eternal kingdom is established as he is punished for our sins, that we enter into God’s big plan.  He is the one who enables us to become beloved of God.  He is the king who makes us his co-heirs.  How exciting it is that he chooses failed people like us to be his ambassadors?  How amazing that the Son of David uses our prayers, our words and our lives in building his church?

Our hearts rejoice as we thank God for his kindness

My friend Brenda did her PhD on gratitude.  That’s why she can speak so well on the subject of real happiness.  For a thankful heart is great medicine for the soul.  On that television program, Brenda said that we should cultivate happiness in the day to day of our lives.  David delights in the fact that he is a part of God’s big story, and then furthers his delight by opening his mouth with a prayer of gratitude.  

David is amazed by grace.  ‘Who am I?’  Like David, we brought nothing to the table.  God has reached down and rescued us from a life of emptiness.  His love adopted us when we were spiritual orphans.  He pursued us when we were spiritual rebels.  He has forgiven us, cleansed us, made us holy and treats us as his beloved children.  Though we let him down every day, he continues to delight over us.  ‘Who am I?’

As well as gratitude there is praise.  ‘There is none like you, and there is no God beside you.’  There is only one God who rules, only one story that really matters, and only one cause worth every fibre of our being.    

Conclusion—Do you want real pleasure?

Recently I was talking to two young men who once seemed to walk close to God but who are now living very far from him.  I asked each of them, ‘is it not true that you were happiest when you were walking with God?’  They both said they were.  I then explained that people often choose to walk at a distance from God because they think that he is the enemy of our pleasure.  But this is a lie.  It is only Jesus who can offer us life in all its fulness.  They actually agreed with me!

But it is not only the backslider who fails to enjoy the pleasures of God.  I often feel convicted about the fact that I am so foolish.  We will have gone a whole day without even thinking about God, but rather than approach his throne of grace to find refreshment in our hour of need, we go vegetate in front of the television.  Such behaviour doesn’t revive us or strengthen us or bring us real happiness.  We listen to Jesus command to forgive as we have been forgiven, but we nurse old bitterness, even though bitterness is an acid that destroys its own container.  We hear God’s challenges, but we retreat to safety.  We demand that some special person complete us, but only Jesus can.  Without Jesus we get to the top of the ladder and yet don’t feel fulfilled.  We seek all the world has to offer, but the world leaves us empty.  We settle for comfort rather than adventure.  We are so slow to surrender our petty ambitions, but God wants us to be a part of a bigger story!

These promises remind us that our lives can be incorporated into a story that has its origins in eternity past and travels into eternity future.  We are being invited to live for something bigger than ourselves.

As Brenda spoke about living for something or someone greater than ourselves her eyes lifted to heaven.  I think it was the subtlest piece of evangelism I have ever seen (actually Brenda talked about her faith but the editor cut it from the program).  You see she knows that he is the source of true happiness!  The Son of David died that we could truly live.  The Son of David lives, and we can live with him.  The Son of David is building his church and has given each of us a role to play.  He is the source of true eudemonic happiness! 

2 Samuel 6: 'How can the presence of God come to me?'

A famous Irish abbot was being interviewed on the Saturday Night Show with Brendan O’Connor.  Brendan asked the abbot, ‘do you think that there is a heaven … and will we be going there if we are good people?’  The abbot replied, ‘… the only question we will be asked when we get to the other side is, “did you love?”  “How much did you love?”  And that is the examination, and that is all there is to it.’  Brendan seemed to be happy with that answer!

Both Brendan and the abbot thought that they knew the way into the presence of God.  ‘Just love’.  The problem is that ‘just love’ is not the gospel.  ‘Just love’ does not bring us into the presence of God after our life, and it does not bring the presence of God to us in this life.

We must listen to God’s word to find our how to know God’s presence

The Ark of God was a gold-covered wooden box that contained the Ten Commandments, a golden jar holding manna from the wilderness and Aaron’s, staff.  Attached to the top of this box were gold statues of two heavenly beings, called cherubim.  The significance of the Ark was that God sat enthroned on the cherubim (2).  In other words, it was here that God made his presence manifest among the people.

For seventy years the ark has been in Baale-judah (earlier called Kireath-jearim).  Now King David wants to bring the Ark to his capital.  He wants God’s presence to be at the centre of his kingdom.  That seems like a good idea.  But David and his people ignored the instructions that God had given for moving the Ark.

God had instructed that the Ark was not to be touched, it was to be covered with layers of covering and it was only to be carried by Levitical priests using special poles.  However, there is no mention here of covering the Ark, it is then put on a cart (it was the Philistines who transported the Ark by cart earlier in the story) and the two men leading the way were not Levitical priests. 

Despite the fact that they were ignoring God’s clear instructions, the people sing and dance in the assumption that all is well between themselves and God.  A society of people doing things their own way and assuming that God is simply delighted.  Sound familiar?  We proudly sing, ‘I did it my way’, and assume that God is pleased.

When the oxen stumbled, and it looked like the Ark was going to hit the ground, Uzzah put out his hand to catch it.  Did he think that some dirt getting on the Ark was worth breaking one of God’s clear instructions for?  The people learned a painful lesson about the holiness of God that day!

Now don’t read this passage and think that God is more interested in rituals than the state of people’s hearts.  The fact that David and his people completely ignored God’s instructions does reveal something about their hearts.  They weren’t taking Him seriously.  They weren’t listening to what He had said.  You can’t ignore God’s Word and yet think that you know how to please Him.

God could have displayed his holy anger at any time in this story.  He could have acted when they failed to cover the Ark or when they placed it on the cart.  He acted when He did for a reason.  What happened is so striking and notable.  He wants all the gathered people to see this judgement.  He does so because He is love.  He displays His holiness and justice in order to call us to repentance.

This is something I need to remember.  You see I recently realised that I have been trying to share the gospel with my friends in a way that would not offend them.  But the gospel is offensive.  God reveals his holiness to call us to repent.  He declares people lost so that they might be found.  He says that people are condemned that they might no his forgiveness.  We should want to speak with tact, but it is not loving to avoid all that offends.    

We need to see God’s kindness so that we want to approach his presence

God draws us to repentance by revealing our sin, but he also draws us to repentance by showing us his kindness.  Don’t read this passage and forget that God is gracious.  What happens next in the story reveals God’s extra-ordinary gentleness.

The people don’t know what to do with the Ark, so they leave it with house of Obed-edom.  (I wonder what Obed-edom thought of having the Ark left with him!)  Obed-edom is a Gittite, which means that he was a Philistine.  The Ark was left with his household for three months, during which time the Lord blessed them.  God even uses His people’s disobedience to bless the people of the nations.  God exposes our sin and reveals His kindness, and that is supposed to lead to repentance.  When David hears of the blessing of Oden-edom’s household, he sends for the Ark, but this time David does not presume upon God.

We need the death of a substitute to be enabled to approach his presence

Now the people take God seriously.  There is no mention of a cart.  We read of those bearing the Ark, which we can assume were Levitical priests.  There is also the shocking fact that every six steps David had an ox and a fattened calf sacrificed.  

Why all those sacrifices?  Well, David had asked, ‘how can the Ark of God come to me’ (9)?  The answer is that the Ark can only come to him through the death of a substitute.  We can only come close to the presence of God through the shedding of blood.  David is seeing the gospel through a glass darkly.  Rather than the repeated sacrifices of this story, the once and for all death of our substitute, Jesus Christ, enables the presence of God to come to us.  The death of a substitute is needed for God’s presence to come to us. 

For becoming a Christian is like having the Ark of God come to us.  Jesus explains that, ‘if anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home in him’ (John 14:23).  Now we need not fear the presence of the Lord of Hosts, but we are invited to draw near to the throne of grace with confidence (Hebrews 4:16).  The cross brings God’s presence to us and prepares us to enjoy His presence for ever.  

Conclusion:  The presence of God reminds us that there is only one king in town

How does David respond to the presence of God?  He takes off his robes.  I think he realises that before God his royal robes aren’t important.  For David there is really only one king in town.  But his wife Michal doesn’t share his humility.  She is identified as Saul’s daughter, and shows her father’s lack of spiritual discernment.  Her words drip with sarcasm.  ‘How the king of Israel honoured himself today, uncovering himself today before the eyes of his servants’ (20).  She misunderstands David’s actions and thinks that he must keep on being somebody.  Pride keeps us from enjoying the presence of God.

I wrote to Brendan O’Connor after the abbot told him that all he needed was love.  I said that such advice is not good news but bad news.  The abbot presumed he knew the way to God, but he clearly hadn’t consulted the Bible for his answer. ‘Just love’ is not good news when God’s standard is to love him with all of our hearts and our neighbour as ourselves.  I go for hours without even thinking about God and my family will be able to tell you how imperfect my love is.  

In order to experience God’s presence, now and forever. we need to look to God’s word, we need to see that he is holy, and we are not, we need to allow his kindness draw us to repentance and we need to shed our robes of self-righteousness and put on Christ’s robes of blood brought righteousness.