The Instruments of God

9       2016-08-31     Audio

THE LIFE OF KING DAVID

With the rise of the prophetic office, so a new separation of powers is inaugurated. Whereas Gideon both received divine instructions and carried them out, now these two roles are distinguished.  While it is primarily the prophet who receives instruction, so it is primarily the king who carries it out.

The kingship established in Samuel instrumentally anticipates what God will ultimately establish.

The king will stand before the people and give direction according to the Lord.

Position and Authority – (a) a king to judge us, (b) to fight our battles for us, (c) to lead us.

  • 1 Samuel 8:5 - and said to him, “… Now appoint for us a king to judge us like all the nations.”
  • 1 Samuel 8:20 - that we also may be like all the nations, and that our king may judge us and go out before us and fight our battles.”

LESSON: God’s kingdom will come with God’s king!

Instrument:

Proverbs 21:1 - The king’s heart is a stream of water in the hand of the LORD; he turns it wherever he will.

Creation is the stage on which the drama of glory and grace is played. While man performs his part from his heart, God alone directs according to the script of His providence. But we must not fail to see that it is neither the act of a meaningless game nor a show for whimsical entertainment. Just because all other forms of theater are an act does not mean that their source is. Life is real—the God-ordained standard of all human existence and the source of all drama. Every other drama is but a reflection within a reflection.

DAVID

Servant, shepherd, commander, general, king, musician, psalmist

“The character and life of David are supremely fascinating, not only to holy souls, whose deepest thoughts have been expressed in his unrivaled psalms, but to all men: because of their humanness; their variety; their sharply contrasted experiences; their exhibition of traits of generosity and courage which always elicit admiration.” (Meyer).

“Sweet singer of the world; ancestor of Christ; founder of a dynasty of kings; a prophet, inspired and taught, as the Apostle Peter tells us, by the Holy Ghost; the type and precursor of him who, though his Son, was also his Lord; the man after God's own heart, who 'did that which was right in the eyes of the Lord, and turned not aside from anything that he commanded him all the days of his life, save only in the matter of Uriah the Hittite.' So long as time lasts DAVID must always enlist affection and command respect.” (Meyer).

Background

Let’s backup to the end of Ruth (4:17, 22).

Dwelt on the ancestral property of Boaz.

Boaz was very wealthy, yet based on “few” sheep in the wilderness and the less than meager provisions sent to Jesse’s sons, it appears that the conditions under which David was reared were more than modest.

8 sons, 2 daughters

“David says nothing of his father, but twice speaks of his mother as 'the handmaid of the Lord.' From her he derived his poetic gift, his sensitive nature, his deeply religious character. To the father he was the lad that kept the sheep, whom it was not worth while to summon to the religious feast; to his mother he was David the beloved, and probably she first heard the psalms which have charmed and soothed the world. He honored them both with dutiful care; and when it seemed possible that they might suffer serious hurt on account of their relationship to himself, amid the pelting storm of Saul's persecution, he removed them to the safe-keeping of the king of Moab, the land of his ancestress.” (Meyer).

“The White Bud of a Noble Life.—He had not the splendid physique of his brother Eliab, who so impressed the aged prophet. But he was strong and athletic. His feet were nimble as a gazelle's; he could leap a wall or outstrip a troop; a bow of steel could be easily broken by his young arms; and a stone sent from his sling would hit the mark with unerring precision. Too slight to wear a man's armor, and yet able to rend a lion or bear. His face glowing with health. The blue of his eyes and beauty of his fair complexion in strong contrast to the darker visages of his companions. The sensitiveness of the poet's soul, combined with daring, resource, and power to command. His dress, a coarse and simple tunic; his accoutrements, the wallet sling, the rod and staff.

His soul is reflected in the psalms that must be attributed to this period of his life, because so free from the pressure of sorrow and anxiety, and the strife of tongues. Among them are the Eighth, Nineteenth, Twenty-third, and Twenty-ninth. So full of wonder that Jehovah should care for man, and yet so sure that he was his Shepherd; so deeply stirred by the aspect of the heavens, and yet convinced that the words of God were equally divine; so afraid of secret faults and presumptuous sins; so anxious to join in the universal chorus of praise ascending from the orchestra of nature, but yet so certain that there were yearnings and faculties within his soul in which it could not participate, and which made him its high priest and chorister. To these we will come again—they are too radiant with a light that never shone on sea or shore for us to pass them so lightly by.

Ah, guileless, blessed boy! thou little knowest that thou shalt die amid the blare of trumpets announcing the accession to the throne of thy son, the splendid Solomon; still less thou dreamest that thy unsullied nature shall one day be befouled by so sad a stain! Yet thy God loves thee, and thou shalt teach us many a lesson as we turn again the pages of thy wonderful career—poet, minstrel, soldier, exile, king—and read them in the light that streams from the face of thy greatest Son, who was born of the seed of David according to the flesh, but was declared to be the Son of God by the resurrection of the dead.” (Meyer).

Christ is the Root of David

Revelation 5:5 - And one of the elders said to me, “Weep no more; behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered, so that he can open the scroll and its seven seals.”

Revelation 22:16 - “I, Jesus, have sent my angel to testify to you about these things for the churches. I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star.”

Isaiah 11:10 - In that day the root of Jesse, who shall stand as a signal for the peoples—of him shall the nations inquire, and his resting place shall be glorious.

Romans 15:12 - And again Isaiah says, “The root of Jesse will come, even he who arises to rule the Gentiles; in him will the Gentiles hope.”

“'God’s beginning of the kingdom of His church in the house of David, was, as it were, a new establishing of the kingdom of Christ: the beginning of it in a state of such visibility as it thenceforward continued in. It was as it were God’s planting the root, whence that branch of righteousness was afterwards to spring up, that was to be the everlasting King of His church” (Jonathan Edwards).

Psalm 89:19–21 - Of old you spoke in a vision to your godly one, and said: “I have granted help to one who is mighty; I have exalted one chosen from the people. [20] I have found David, my servant; with my holy oil I have anointed him, [21] so that my hand shall be established with him; my arm also shall strengthen him. …

Psalm 78:70 - He chose David his servant and took him from the sheepfolds;

David did not need the praises of men, nor popular favor in order to confidently serve as a leader appointed by God. Consider this principle also for yourself. God’s choice is what truly matters. Man’s choices are ever subject to the veto of Providence.

2 Samuel 2:4–6 - And the men of Judah came, and there they anointed David king over the house of Judah. When they told David, “It was the men of Jabesh-gilead who buried Saul,” [5] David sent messengers to the men of Jabesh-gilead and said to them, “May you be blessed by the LORD, because you showed this loyalty to Saul your lord and buried him. [6] Now may the LORD show steadfast love and faithfulness to you. And I will do good to you because you have done this thing.

(Abner)

2 Samuel 7:21 - Because of your promise, and according to your own heart, you have brought about all this greatness, to make your servant know it.

Acts 9:15 - But the Lord said to him, “Go, for he is a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel.

“Appointments are not solely due to human patronage, nor won by human industry; they are of God. He bringeth low and lifteth up. Saul might chafe and fret; but from amid the ruins of his waning power the authority of David emerged as a sun from a wreck of clouds, because God willed it. Fit yourself for God's service; be faithful. He will presently appoint thee; promotion comes neither from the east nor west, but from above.” (Meyer).

1 Samuel 16:1 - The LORD said to Samuel, “How long will you grieve over Saul, since I have rejected him from being king over Israel? Fill your horn with oil, and go. I will send you to Jesse the Bethlehemite, for I have provided for myself a king among his sons.”

  • Trust in God, faith in His character, promises, and testimonies, confidence in the invisible hand of His sovereign providence, should silence every anxiety, still every fear, and counterbalance sorrow with hope.
  • “God has provided against all contingencies. In some unlikely quarter, in a shepherd's hut or in an artisan's cottage, God has his prepared and appointed instrument. As yet the shaft is hidden in his quiver, in the shadow of his hand; but at the precise moment at which it will tell with the greatest effect, it will be produced and launched on the air.” (Meyer).

2 Samuel 3:36 - And all the people took notice of it, and it pleased them, as everything that the king did pleased all the people.

2 Samuel 5:1–5 - Then all the tribes of Israel came to David at Hebron and said, “Behold, we are your bone and flesh. [2] In times past, when Saul was king over us, it was you who led out and brought in Israel. And the LORD said to you, ‘You shall be shepherd of my people Israel, and you shall be prince over Israel.’ ” [3] So all the elders of Israel came to the king at Hebron, and King David made a covenant with them at Hebron before the LORD, and they anointed David king over Israel. [4] David was thirty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned forty years. [5] At Hebron he reigned over Judah seven years and six months, and at Jerusalem he reigned over all Israel and Judah thirty-three years.

2 Samuel 5:6 - And the king and his men went to Jerusalem against the Jebusites, the inhabitants of the land, who said to David, “You will not come in here, but the blind and the lame will ward you off”—thinking, “David cannot come in here.”

2 Samuel 5:7 - Nevertheless, David took the stronghold of Zion, that is, the city of David.

The very first endeavor of David’s reign was to establish a capital for the kingdom. This is significant.

  • Deuteronomy 12:5 - But you shall seek the place that the LORD your God will choose out of all your tribes to put his name and make his habitation there. There you shall go,
  • 1 Kings 11:36 - Yet to his son I will give one tribe, that David my servant may always have a lamp before me in Jerusalem, the city where I have chosen to put my name.
  • 2 Chronicles 6:6 - but I have chosen Jerusalem that my name may be there, and I have chosen David to be over my people Israel.’
  • 2 Chronicles 7:16 - For now I have chosen and consecrated this house that my name may be there forever. My eyes and my heart will be there for all time.

2 Samuel 5:10 - And David became greater and greater, for the LORD, the God of hosts, was with him.

2 Samuel 5:12 - And David knew that the LORD had established him king over Israel, and that he had exalted his kingdom for the sake of his people Israel.

Unlike Saul, David inquired of the Lord before going out to battle:

2 Samuel 5:17 - When the Philistines heard that David had been anointed king over Israel, all the Philistines went up to search for David. But David heard of it and went down to the stronghold.

2 Samuel 5:19 - And David inquired of the LORD, “Shall I go up against the Philistines? Will you give them into my hand?” And the LORD said to David, “Go up, for I will certainly give the Philistines into your hand.”

(after another request and battle)

2 Samuel 5:25 - And David did as the LORD commanded him, and struck down the Philistines from Geba to Gezer.

  • The Ark!
  • The Covenant with David!

Lessons

Division is Deadly

1 Corinthians 1:10 - I appeal to you, brothers, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same judgment.

1 Corinthians 3:3–4 - for you are still of the flesh. For while there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not of the flesh and behaving only in a human way? [4] For when one says, “I follow Paul,” and another, “I follow Apollos,” are you not being merely human?

Submission to God’s Choice

Romans 13:1–2 - Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. [2] Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment.

Established by God, not Might

Zechariah 4:6 - Then he said to me, “This is the word of the LORD to Zerubbabel: Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, says the LORD of hosts.

Foreshadowing Christ

“God wrought many lesser salvations and deliverances for His church and people before Christ came. Those salvations were all but so many images and forerunners of the great salvation Christ was to work out when He should come. The church during that space of time enjoyed the light of Divine revelation, or God’s Word. They had in a degree the light of the Gospel. But all those revelations were only so many forerunners and earnests of the great light which He should bring who came to be ‘the Light of the world.’ That whole space of time was, as it were, the time of night, wherein the church of God was not indeed wholly without light: but it was like the light of the moon and stars, that we have in the night; a dim light in comparison with the light of the sun. The church all that time was a minor” (Jonathan Edwards).

“comparatively few are aware of the marked advance that was made in the unfolding of God’s counsels of grace in the days of David. A wonderful flood of light was then shed from heaven on things which were yet to come, and many new privileges were then vouchsafed” (Pink, 1 Sa 16–17).

The Great Epitaph of David

Acts 13:36 - For David, after he had served the purpose of God in his own generation, fell asleep and was laid with his fathers and saw corruption.

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