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Put your house in order

By on April 11th, 2011

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The beginning of Solomon’s reign was far more illustrious than its end.  As with David his father, his downfall was a matter of the heart.  He should have been a man after the LORD’s heart.  And as christ he should surely have demonstrated faithful love for his bride,

“But king Solomon loved many strange women”  (1 Kings 11:1)

No, not Lady Gaga.  These were women…

“…of the nations concerning which the LORD said unto the children of Israel, Ye shall not go in to them, neither shall they come in unto you: for surely they will turn away your heart after their gods: Solomon clave unto these in love.  And he had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines: and his wives turned away his heart.”  (1 Kings 11:2-3)

Just imagine it.  A thousand mothers-in-law.  The end was nigh!

After Solomon died, the kingdom was split.  The northern kingdom (10 of the 12 tribes) was known as “Israel” and was ruled by Jeroboam.  After him came 19 more kings – all of them adjudged “evil” in the books of 1 and 2 Kings.  The northern kingdom was then “carried away” into exile by the invading Assyrians.

The southern kingdom (the tribes of Judah and Benjamin) was known as “Judah” and was ruled by Rehoboam.  After him came 19 kings also.  They did slightly better than their northern cousins but still, only 8 of them were adjudged “good”.  And eventually they too were “carried away” into exile by the invading Babylonians.

Our phrase for today comes around 200 years after Solomon’s reign.  Hezekiah was the King of Judah 13 generations after Solomon.  He began to reign aged 25, but just four years later, this happens:

In those days was Hezekiah sick unto death. And the prophet Isaiah the son of Amoz came to him, and said unto him, Thus saith the LORD, Set thine house in order; for thou shalt die, and not live.  (2 Kings 20:1)

Hezekiah pleads with the LORD and receives an answer from the prophet:

I will heal thee: on the third day thou shalt go up unto the house of the LORD.  (2 Kings 20:5)

Every phrase here is dripping with resurrection importance.  But it’s only as we read on to the next chapter that we realize it wasn’t just Hezekiah that was saved from death.  Hezekiah was granted 15 extra years of life , but when he finally died his son, Mannaseh, was just 12.  Suddenly the reader realizes that, when he fell ill, Hezekiah was childless.  If he had died, the seed of David would have died with him.

And so the LORD raises up the seed of David on the third day.  For the sake of the LORD’s house He is merciful and spares Hezekiah.  But it’s only for 15 years.

Soon enough Hezekiah certainly “shalt die”!  And his house will have to be “put in order” again.  As will his childrens’ after him.  As we consider this line of kings, we might think that it’s these men who reign.  But a moment’s thought tells us no – it’s death that reigns.  Even Jesus, the Seed of David, will go down to death.  But His death is the death-killing Death.  And His resurrection is the life-giving Life.

Therefore with Jesus, it’s not so much a case of “thou shalt die and not live.”  It’s more a case of “thou shalt die and then live.”  And for all those who come to Jesus that becomes our pattern.  Dying then living.

Therefore we, like Hezekiah, should be ready for death.  We will go the way of all the earth.  But we won’t “put our house in order” with fear or fatalism, but in faith.  We will entrust ourselves to the Risen King who says: “Because I live, ye shall also live.”  (John 14:19)

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The Queen of Sheba

By on April 11th, 2011

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We love to tell jokes about stupid politicians.  Try this one on for size:

The President’s aide briefs him about international affairs: “‘Yesterday, 3 Brazilian soldiers were killed.”

“Please no!  How terrible!” exclaims the President, aghast.  His staff are amazed at such emotion.  He continues: “Tell me again, how many is a brazillion?”

You might say that there are brazillions of such jokes.  We are ever-ready to think the worst of our leaders’ intellect.  Why?  Is there some IQ test to screen out politicians of above average intelligence?  No.  We feel disappointed by our “idiot politicians” because we crave Someone with the wisdom of Solomon.

Here is how Solomon’s rule was described:

And God gave Solomon wisdom and understanding exceeding much, and largeness of heart, even as the sand that is on the sea shore.  And Solomon’s wisdom excelled the wisdom of all the children of the east country, and all the wisdom of Egypt. For he was wiser than all men; than Ethan the Ezrahite, and Heman, and Chalcol, and Darda, the sons of Mahol: and his fame was in all nations round about.  And he spake three thousand proverbs: and his songs were a thousand and five.  And he spake of trees, from the cedar tree that is in Lebanon even unto the hyssop that springeth out of the wall: he spake also of beasts, and of fowl, and of creeping things, and of fishes.  And there came of all people to hear the wisdom of Solomon, from all kings of the earth, which had heard of his wisdom.  (1 Kings 4:29-34)

A wise ruler!  Such a phenomenon attracts the notice of the whole world.  And the most famous admirer of Solomon’s wisdom was the Queen of Sheba.

And when the queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon concerning the name of the LORD, she came to prove him with hard questions.  And she came to Jerusalem with a very great train, with camels that bare spices, and very much gold, and precious stones: and when she was come to Solomon, she communed with him of all that was in her heart.  And Solomon told her all her questions: there was not any thing hid from the king, which he told her not.  And when the queen of Sheba had seen all Solomon’s wisdom, and the house that he had built,  And the meat of his table, and the sitting of his servants, and the attendance of his ministers, and their apparel, and his cupbearers, and his ascent by which he went up unto the house of the LORD; there was no more spirit in her.  And she said to the king, It was a true report that I heard in mine own land of thy acts and of thy wisdom.  Howbeit I believed not the words, until I came, and mine eyes had seen it: and, behold, the half was not told me: thy wisdom and prosperity exceedeth the fame which I heard.   Happy are thy men, happy are these thy servants, which stand continually before thee, and that hear thy wisdom.  Blessed be the LORD thy God, which delighted in thee, to set thee on the throne of Israel: because the LORD loved Israel for ever, therefore made he thee king, to do judgment and justice.  (1 Kings 10:1-9)

Have you ever had someone answer your questions – really answer them.  Not just brush them under the carpet or bedazzle you with jargon or side-track you with answers to every question you didn’t ask.  Have you ever had your inquisitive itches truly and satisfyingly scratched?

And then, have you looked around at their household and seen a peace and an integrity to their lives?  The Queen of Sheba experienced this on a palatial scale.

But you and I can experience it on a cosmic scale.  There is a peace, a prosperity, a happiness and a wisdom to the rule of King Jesus that will take our breath away.

The queen of the south… came from the uttermost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and, behold, a greater than Solomon is here.  (Matthew 12:42)

We can have what the Queen of Sheba had.  Only better.  And without all the camel trains.  When Jesus said “Come to me and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28) – He was talking about an intellectual rest as much as anything.  The context of this offer to rest in Jesus is the invitation to know in Jesus (Matthew 11:27).  Jesus reveals the mind of God by His Spirit of Wisdom.  And when we come to Him like little children to learn from Him, we find tremendous satisfaction and joy.

So don’t despise your leaders.  But don’t expect from them “the wisdom of Solomon” either.  There is a Ruler with supreme wisdom.  And whether you’re a queen or a commoner you can seek your answers and your happiness in Him.

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The Wisdom of Solomon

By on April 10th, 2011

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“Cor,” they might say in some regional accent or other, “It would take the wisdom of Solomon to sort that lot out!”

Solomon was the son of David and as such there must have been high hopes for him.  It was prophesied that the seed of David would build the house of God and sit on an eternal throne (2 Samuel 7:12-16).

Well Solomon ends up building the physical temple – replacing the old tabernacle.   This temple was the house of God, so to speak.  And the name Solomon means “Peace.”

Was Solomon the Son of David, the eternal King, the Prince of Peace, the Messiah?

No.  And his later years would make that abundantly clear.  But in the early years he pointed beautifully to the reign of Christ.  And the feature of his rule that especially foretells Jesus’ reign is his wisdom.

It all came about in 1 Kings 3 when Solomon asked the LORD for it.

Give therefore thy servant an understanding heart to judge thy people, that I may discern between good and bad: for who is able to judge this thy so great a people? And the speech pleased the LORD, that Solomon had asked this thing.  And God said unto him, Because thou hast asked this thing, and hast not asked for thyself long life; neither hast asked riches for thyself, nor hast asked the life of thine enemies; but hast asked for thyself understanding to discern judgment; Behold, I have done according to thy words: lo, I have given thee a wise and an understanding heart; so that there was none like thee before thee, neither after thee shall any arise like unto thee. And I have also given thee that which thou hast not asked, both riches, and honour: so that there shall not be any among the kings like unto thee all thy days.  (1 Kings 3:9-13)

As with Samson’s strength, the bible makes clear that Solomon’s wisdom is not a natural endowment.  This is a gift from the LORD.  God’s King would reign in the power of God’s Gift.  We’re being told that the Son rules in the power of the Spirit.  And the Spirit of Wisdom equips this christ to rule justly.

In the same chapter there is a famous example given of Solomon’s wisdom (1 Kings 3:16-28).  Two prostitutes come to him.  Each had a son.  One of the sons has just died.  Solomon is faced with two competing claims.  The first woman currently has the dead child but says that the living child is hers.  She claims that the other woman swapped the children in the night. The second woman denies it.

Who is telling the truth?  To whom does the living child belong?

Well Solomon, full of the Wisdom of God, asks for a sword to be brought:

Divide the living child in two, and give half to the one, and half to the other.  (v25)

The first prostitute is aghast and says:

O my lord, give her the living child, and in no wise slay it. But the other said, Let it be neither mine nor thine, but divide it.

And so Solomon discerns the true mother.  His wisdom has been proved.

It’s a wisdom that is able to judge between two women bearing two offspring.  This might remind us of the most ancient gospel promise: Genesis 3:15.  There will be “enmity” between the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent.  There will be righteous offspring  and wicked offspring.  One offspring unto life and the other unto death.

And in Solomon’s court there appeared a miniature version of this global truth.  One woman bears a living offspring, the other a dead offspring.  How can we tell who is who?  Here’s how: Judge their response to the living one!  If they would be happy to see the living offspring die, then they are the liar and they have borne fruit unto death.  If they love and cherish the living offspring, they show themselves to truly belong to him – and he to them.

Solomon makes that most fundamental judgement call – the discernment between those who cling to the living offspring, and those who wish him dead.  This was a single example of his wise rule.  But it gives a snapshot of a far greater judgement scene.

There will be a day when Christ, the true Son of David, will judge the whole earth.  Who could be equal to such a task?  He will surely need incredible discernment to judge justly.  But on that day we will praise His Wisdom as “one greater than Solomon.”  We can have confidence that the world’s judgement is in good hands.  He is wiser than wise Solomon.

But though He is far greater than Solomon, his criteria for judgement will be basically the same.  Those who love Him – the true Offspring, the living and life-giving One – they will be given Him.  Those who do not love Him will not receive Him.  They will be left in their deadness and fruitlessness.  This is what will divide the whole world.  And uniquely, Jesus has the wisdom to discern it in every man, woman and child.

Because of Solomon’s little judgement day, his kingdom resounded with tales of his wisdom.  But when we see the rightness of Christ’s cosmic judgement, both earth and heaven will combine to praise forever the Wisdom of Jesus.

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The way of all the earth

By on April 9th, 2011

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Call it entropy, call it decay, call it “the ravages of time” or “sands through the hour glass” – “the way of all the earth” is not upward!

We are perishing.  That’s the bible word – repeated over a hundred times in the King James Bible.  Like milk on a hot day.  Like the rubber on my windscreen wipers.  Like an old piece of fruit.  Keep the clock ticking on this world and it will run down.  Keep the clock ticking on me and I too will perish.  It’s the way of all the earth, and it’s inescapable.

David is on his death-bed when he utters these famous words to his son Solomon, “I go the way of all the earth” (1 Kings 2:2).

In one sense this should not surprise us.  Everyone dies.  But in another, it’s very surprising.  Because here is the messiah dying!  And here he is telling Solomon, the new king, that even messiahs die!

From the beginning of his reign in Jerusalem, David was told about this mixture of death and eternal glory:

When thy days be fulfilled, and thou shalt sleep with thy fathers, I will set up thy seed after thee, which shall proceed out of thy bowels, and I will establish his kingdom…  And thine house and thy kingdom shall be established for ever before thee: thy throne shall be established for ever.  (2 Samuel 7:12-16)

David will die, but his seed will live and establish his throne forever.

And so David knows three things:  everything dies, even messiahs die but nonetheless there is an everlasting kingdom.  If we can’t quite put those three truths together, it’s because we’ve taken our eyes off David’s Seed.

Jesus, the Offspring of David, came as the promised Messiah, the eternal King.  But, true to “the way of all the earth”, even He dies.  However, listen to what He says just before His death:

Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.  (John 12:24)

Jesus, the Seed of David, describes His death as a fruitful one.  He would be a Seed that dies, is buried and sprouts up new.  His death would bring life – abundant life.

In Jesus it all converges.  He takes to Himself the way of all the earth and He puts it to death on the cross.  Jesus does not avoid the way of all the earth.  He treads that path Himself, taking His creation through death to glory.  As the true Messiah and Author of life, His death is the one life-giving death.  Risen again to sit on His eternal throne He offers us all life beyond the grave.

Right now, all the earth goes the way of death.  Not even Christ was excepted!  But there are two ways to die.  We can die apart from Him and perish eternally.  Or we can die in Him and rise to new life.

And soon Christ will return to apply His resurrection life to all creation.  On that day there will be a stunning reversal to “the way of all the earth.”

when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory.  O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?  (1 Corinthians 15:54-55)

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David and Bathsheba

By on April 7th, 2011

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“Your faith was strong, but you needed proof,
You saw her bathing on the roof
Her beauty and the moonlight over-threw you.”
(Leonard Cohen, Hallelujah)

David was famously a man after the LORD’s heart.  He was the second King, succeeding where Israel’s first King, Saul, had failed.  He was messiah – christ – an anointed king.  And he reigned over a united Israel, bringing peace and extending blessing and grace.  Maybe this was it.  Maybe David was the true and eternal Christ.  Maybe he was the Promised Seed come to set the world to rights.

But then comes 2 Samuel 11:

“At the time when kings go forth to battle… David tarried still at Jerusalem.  And it came to pass in an eveningtide, that David arose from off his bed, and walked upon the roof of the king’s house: and from the roof he saw a woman washing herself; and the woman was very beautiful to look upon.”  (v1-3)

What’s the first tell-tale sign that this messiah is not the Messiah?  His heart.  His heart wanders from his true bride.  He desires to have another.  No, David is not the eternal Christ.  Jesus’ heart burns fiercely and uniquely for His bride, the church.

But David’s looking turns to lusting and all in a hurry we read that this woman, Bathsheba, is brought to David.  We are never told whether she is willing.  And it’s certainly very doubtful whether she would have felt the liberty to object to the king.

After everything we’ve read of David, this comes as an enormous shock.  But it gets worse.

Bathsheba falls pregnant and David, eager to cover up the adultery, brings back her husband from war hoping he’ll sleep with her.  But Uriah proves such a loyal soldier to David that he refuses to go to his wife while his men are at war.   Night after night,

Uriah slept at the door of the king’s house with all the servants of his lord, and went not down to his house. (v9)

Uriah said unto David, The ark, and Israel, and Judah, abide in tents; and my lord Joab, and the servants of my lord, are encamped in the open fields; shall I then go into mine house, to eat and to drink, and to lie with my wife? as thou livest, and as thy soul liveth, I will not do this thing. (v11)

The righteousness of Uriah not only contrasts with David’s wickedness, but it provokes more of it.  With David unable to cover his tracks he turns to murder.  David writes in a letter to his commander in chief, saying,

Set ye Uriah in the forefront of the hottest battle, and retire ye from him, that he may be smitten, and die.  (v15)

It’s adultery (at the very least) and murder.  It’s appalling.  And it proves that David is a mere man, just like us.  In fact a wicked man, just like us.  Because we need to be honest with ourselves.  We too are guilty of David’s sins if Jesus’ definition is ours.  He said:

whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.  (Matthew 5:28)

And

whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment.  (Matthew 5:22)

We are adulterers and murderers at heart.  And this is how our whole sinful nature operates.  We desire things we shouldn’t.  We go after them no matter the cost.  And if anyone stands in our way, we kill.  We are lusters and loathers and guilty before God as surely as David was.

What is our hope?

Well Nathan, the prophet, confronts David imaginatively to convict him of his sin (2 Samuel 12).  And this produces one of the most famous prayers in all the bible, Psalm 51.

One of the interesting things about David’s prayer is that he unites absolute confidence in God’s forgiveness with complete honesty about the horrors of his sin.

He begins the prayer assured of the “mercy”, “lovingkindness” and “tender mercies” of God.  And he continues, not by minimizing his transgressions but even says this:

I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.  (v5)

David confesses that the person he was when committing adultery and murder, is the person he’s always been.

This is so surprising.  We usually minimize our confidence in God’s mercy and minimize our acknowledgement of wrongdoing.  David maximizes both.  Because his confidence is somewhere else.

In verse 7 he says

Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean:

Hyssop was a spindly plant which doubled as a paintbrush at Passover.  It was used to daub the blood of the lamb on the door-posts so that judgement could pass over.  David seems to think God has hyssop.  Does that mean God has a Lamb?  Does that mean there is blood that can cleanse even David’s sins away?

Yes indeed.  And it’s the only way to put together both the grandeur of God’s grace and the depths of our depravity.

We all lust, covet and steal.  And when we can’t have our way we hate, hurt and kill.  But

the blood of Jesus Christ, God’s Son, cleanseth us from all sin.  (1 John 1:7)

David was not the Christ.  His heart was wayward and his life followed.  But Jesus – His Lord and Lamb and future Descendant – has a redeeming love that’s bigger still.  The final word is not David’s – or your – adultery and killing.  The final word is Christ’s faithfulness and death.  Through it, even the gravest sins can be put right.

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David and Goliath

By on April 6th, 2011

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Any time a little guy takes on a big corporation it’s called ‘a David and Goliath story.’ Any time a 2nd division football club beats a Premiere League team it’s called ‘Giant Killing.’

Everyone thinks they know what David and Goliath is about. It’s about the underdog gritting their teeth and pulling off a surprising victory. It’s an inspirational tale for anyone up against the odds that if they toughen up and never lose faith, well the bigger they come, the harder they fall, right?

That’s certainly how the VAST majority of sermons on this subject go. A quick internet search of the sermon titles offered for this passage yielded the following summaries:

  • 7 Principles for facing Goliaths in your spiritual life
  • How to face a giant
  • Handling the giant fears
  • The secret to slaying giants
  • Principles of victory
  • The faith that conquers
  • Kill the giant or be killed
  • Frozen by fear
  • Success in our spiritual battles
  • Pebble power

Such an approach assumes that we ought to put ourselves in David’s shoes. We’re meant to be inspired by David’s courage and to imitate his path to success. It’s the bible as motivational pep-talk. It’s the kind of Christian encouragement that says: “Do it like David” or “Do it for David”.

But this approach is a complete misunderstanding of the story, of the bible and of the gospel itself.  It turns Christianity on its head. Because if there’s one thing we’ll learn about this story it is not “Do it for David”. This story screams to us “David did it for you!”

The whole point of the story is that there are only two fighters – everyone else is a spectator.

The Philistine’s champion was called Goliath.  Dressed in scale armour he would have looked very serpentine.  He is the head of the house of the wicked.  And he is over 9 foot tall.  Not natural!  A supernatural enemy who taunts the people of God day and night (v16).  He pictures for us the devil who, Revelation 12 tells us, accuses us day and night.

And he stood and cried unto the armies of Israel, and said unto them, Why are ye come out to set your battle in array? am not I a Philistine, and ye servants to Saul? choose you a man for you, and let him come down to me. If he be able to fight with me, and to kill me, then will we be your servants: but if I prevail against him, and kill him, then shall ye be our servants, and serve us. And the Philistine said, I defy the armies of Israel this day; give me a man, that we may fight together.  (1 Samuel 17:8-10)

Notice the kind of warfare Goliath is setting up for us.  The battle is not determined by the rank and file of Israel. The battle is determined by these two champions who will fight on behalf of their armies. There’s absolutely nothing that the soldiers can do to affect the outcome of this battle. It would not help the champions in the slightest if, behind them, there were an army of motivated go-getters.  It would not hinder them in the slightest if their compatriots were a despondent mass of no-hopers.   The Israelite army could have its own cheerleading squad, shouting the the most inspiring chants known to man. Or they could be asleep.   It doesn’t matter.   The outcome of this battle has nothing to do with Israel’s strength, or nerve, or willingness or faithfulness.   All that matters is the victory of their champion.  If their champion wins, the whole nation wins.

Which is just as well because the Israelite soldiers were completely unwilling, absolutely despondent and totally faithless.

Here is how the chapter continues:

When Saul and all Israel heard those words of the Philistine, they were dismayed, and greatly afraid.  (v11)

Saul the King was meant to lead Israel in victory.  He actually leads them in cowardice.  He is a rejected King who cannot deliver his people.

Never mind, the second King, David, will win where the first King fails.  He will be their champion and win the battle for them.

This whole chapter screams – You didn’t do it for David, you wouldn’t do it for David and you couldn’t do it for David. But David did it for you.

And David, as we’ve seen, is a messiah (a christ) who was anointed King in the previous chapter.  He pictures for us Jesus, our Messiah, our Christ, our Champion.

He steps into the breach as God’s choice. And he faces down our mortal enemy.  In utter weakness (bearing just a slingshot against a heavily armed giant!) but in total dependence on the LORD, he wins the battle.  The ultimate Giant-killing!

And what then happens to the troops?  These troops that were cowering from the enemy are now transformed.  They look and see their champion who conquered in their name.  And what do they do?

the men of Israel and of Judah arose, and shouted, and pursued the Philistines  (v52)

They look, they shout, they advance.  All on the back of David’s victory.

So then friends, if we’re not shouting for joy or advancing along in the Christian life, I wonder why that might be?  Well imagine a joyless, despondent Israelite on the day that David beat Goliath.  What would be the problem?

Well surely the soldier just hasn’t seen the victory.  Or they don’t understand their connection to David.  But if they know their connection and they see His triumph you won’t have to tell them to feel joyful.  You won’t have to tell them to advance.  Seeing will be believing and believing will move them.

If we’re not shouting or advancing in the Christian life, there’s one thing we need to do.   Look!  Look to our Champion, Jesus who conquered Satan on that cross.  In apparent weakness He won the victory and He did it for us.

Don’t grit your teeth and advance anyway.   Don’t look to your own strength.  Don’t “do it like Jesus” or even “Do it for Jesus.”  No.  Look again at Jesus and realize He has done it and He’s done it for you.  Look at Christ.

Your champion has won the battle.   And He won it for you when you were weak, faithless, sinful and cowering in fear.  Without a calorie of effort on your part our Champion has won the day.

Now shout.  Now advance.  And to Him be the glory!

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A man after his own heart

By on April 5th, 2011

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“You’re a man after my own heart” says one country music fan to another.

“You’re a woman after my own heart” says the man to his new girlfriend as she serves him his favourite dessert.

These are common ways that we use the phrase today.  But they are subtly different from each other.  In the first sense “a man after my own heart” means a man whose heart is set on what my heart is set on.  It means that you like what I like.  In the second sense, being “after my heart” means you are aiming to please me.  It means you want to tap into what I like and give me my heart’s desire.

Well the biblical phrase, a man after God’s own heart, has both these senses.  It’s talking about a man who is like God and who wants to please Him.

The phrase comes in 1 Samuel chapter 13 where we see the failure of Israel’s first King – Saul.  He trespasses a forbidden boundary (offering a sacrifice which only the priests can do) and is deposed.  Samuel tells him:

thy kingdom shall not continue: the LORD hath sought him a man after his own heart, and the LORD hath commanded him to be captain over his people, because thou hast not kept that which the LORD commanded thee.  (1 Samuel 13:14)

Just as Adam, the world’s first King did what was forbidden, so did Saul, Israel’s first king.  Just as Adam trespassed and was deposed, so is Saul.  And just as Adam was told about Another who would undo what he had done, so is Saul.

Here Samuel predicts a second King to answer the folly of the first.  And this King would be a man after the LORD’s own heart.

In chapter 16 Samuel is sent to David’s family to anoint this new King.  But initially Samuel thinks it must be the firstborn of the brothers – Eliab:

he looked on Eliab, and said, Surely the LORD’S anointed is before him.  But the LORD said unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for the LORD seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart.   (1 Samuel 16:6-7

Finally Samuel comes to David – the youngest – and he is anointed.  He has a heart that is after the LORD’s heart.  God and His King are to have a heart-to-heart relationship –  an intense bond of love and intimacy.

In this way David pictures for us the true Messiah – the One who is eternally in the bosom of the Father (John 1:18).  And David, this little christ, will picture for us the Person and work of the true Christ.  He will be the second King who puts right what the first has done wrong.

Tomorrow we will see how he does that by crushing the adversaries of God’s people.  But for now let’s meditate on the heart of the King.  David’s heart is a picture of Christ’s.

Think now about Christ – the One who is “after God’s heart” in both the senses we began with:

He both wants what God wants and He does what God wants.

He’s both the Revelation of the Father’s desires.  And He’s the Fulfiller of those desires.

As the God–Man He shows us what the Father is like.  As the God-Man He performs what the Father likes.

He’s like God in every way and He delights God in every way – the true Man after His own heart.

Our hearts are very fickle.  Our desires are incredibly wayward.  But look to Christ.  He offers to God the true sacrifice, the true obedience and the true worship on our behalf. And so too does He offer the true heart to God.  If God was waiting for me to fulfil His heart’s desires He’d wait in vain.  Thankfully, Christ has done it for me.

The Father is already well-pleased with His Son.

Behold my Servant, whom I uphold; mine Elect, in whom my soul delighteth. (Isaiah 42:1)

This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.  (Matthew 3:17)

And Christ has taken flesh to fully satisfy His Father in our place:

“Lo, I come to do thy will, O God.”  (Hebrews 10:9)

Now when we come to Christ we come in on a loving union that is unbreakable.

God hath made us accepted in the Beloved  (Ephesians 1:6)

In Christ we are welcomed into His own eternal heart-to-heart!

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God Save the King

By on April 5th, 2011

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This blog highlights the impact of the King James Bible on English.  Yet this phrase shows that many times the influence went the other way.  It was the culture that shaped the translation of this verse.

It comes in 1 Samuel after the people had asked for a king (1 Samuel 8:5-9).  There had been centuries of judges, but Israel craved a king “like all the other nations”.  What follows is a familiar pattern in the bible:  The LORD hands the people over to their foolish desires and then redeems the situation.  That’s what happens here.  Samuel anoints Saul…

“And all the people shouted, and said, God save the king.”  (1 Samuel 10:24)

Except that they didn’t really.  They said “Let the king live.”  Or, better, “Long live the king.”  But “God” is not there in the Hebrew.  It’s an example of the translators eschewing a “word for word” literalism.  Here it’s more a case of “meaning for meaning.”  A contemporary phrase is used that would have been used in an equivalent situation in bible times.

The phrase was already used in the Coverdale Bible of 1535,  Cranmer’s Great Bible of 1540,  Matthew’s Bible of 1549, the Bishop’s Bible of 1568 and the Geneva Bible of 1599.  It goes back at least to the reign of Henry the Eighth as a cry of loyalty.  And the navy used it as a watchword, to which the response was “Long to reign over us.”

Of course, from that came the song “God save our lord, the King” (1604), which is now the English national anthem.

And so it’s very understandable that the King James translators would keep the tradition going.

But in the end God would not save but depose this unfaithful king.  Saul would come to represent an Adam-figure.  He is the first king, but he fails.  It would take a second king to come and fight Saul’s battles for him and to succeed where Saul had failed.  As we’ll see tomorrow, this second king was David – picturing for us Jesus Christ.

But this is the way the LORD will redeem the situation.  The kings will find their purpose as throne-warmers and witnesses to Christ.  It’s King Jesus who will fulfil everything that Saul was meant to be.  He will be the long-living King – the eternal King.

But when He finally came in the flesh, there weren’t great cries of “Long live the King!”  There wasn’t much of a groundswell of support.  There weren’t many shouts of acclamation.  In fact, as He died on the cross, it was the very opposite.  The people cried out,

He saved others; himself he cannot save. If he be the King of Israel, let him now come down from the cross, and we will believe him.  He trusted in God; let him deliver him now, if he will have him: for he said, I am the Son of God.  (Matthew 27:42-43)

It’s almost an anti-coronation!  The crown is set on Him, but it’s a crown of thorns.  The title is bestowed on Him: “King of the Jews”, but it’s in jest.  And the to everyone present it seems like God is refusing to save the King.  And they don’t mind shouting it out.  These people are witnessing the death of the King, and, shamefully, they seem happy with that.

Yet the whole story of Easter could be given the title, “The King is dead.  Long live the King.”  You see the Father does indeed save His Anointed King – raising Him from the grave to be Lord over all.

And humanity has a choice.   We can join the shouts of the Friday crowd – revelling in the apparent truth that God has not saved His King – living a life without Christ as King.  Or we can join the shouts of the Sunday crowd – rejoicing that God has saved His King and appointed Him as Universal Ruler.

Allow Handel to persuade you of the latter course.  You might even like to sing your own Amen!

Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet anointed Solomon King
And all the people rejoiced, and said
God save the King
Long Live the King
May the King Live Forever!
Amen!  Amen!  Alleluia!  Amen!

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Messiah

By on April 4th, 2011

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Here’s two quick questions for a Monday morning: What’s the meaning of life?  And what’s the message of the bible?

You might think that those are impossibly difficult questions.  Surely they can’t be answered with any final clarity or certainty.  Not in a blog post anyway.

Well I think they can be answered, not just in a single blog post.  I think they can be answered in a single word.  A single Person even.

And I’m not the only one.  Listen to these answers given by the Talmud.  The Talmud is a collection of the ancient oral traditions of the rabbis.  The teachings were written down from the 2nd century AD.  But the original sources would have been much, much earlier.  And it goes without saying – these are not New Testament influenced opinions but are based purely on the Hebrew Scriptures:

“The world was created only for the Messiah.” (Sanhedrin 98b)

“All prophets prophesied only for the days of the Messiah”  (Sanhedrin 99a)

According to these rabbis – the world exists for the Messiah alone.  And the Scriptures testify to the Messiah alone.

So then, the greatest question of life is this: Who is the Messiah!?

Well the Authorized Version uses the word “Messiah” only twice – both occasions in Daniel chapter 9.  But (as with the vast majority of English translations) it’s the Greek translation of the word “Messiah” that predominates.  “Christ” (an anglicized version of Christos) appears 555 times.  But both “Christ” (Greek) and “Messiah” (Hebrew) have the same meaning: “Anointed One.”

The Messiah (or Christ) is the Anointed One.  And He is the Meaning of the world and the Centre of Scripture.

Let’s get a little flavour of that from the book of 1 Samuel.

After rom-com Ruth, we hit 1 Samuel which begins with the story of childless Hannah.  As she prays for a son, she demonstrates the heart of true Israelite faith:

The adversaries of the LORD shall be broken to pieces; out of heaven shall he thunder upon them: the LORD shall judge the ends of the earth; and he shall give strength unto his king, and exalt the horn of his anointed.  (1 Samuel 2:10)

Israel had no earthly King at this stage.  But Hannah knew that the LORD has another King.  A true, anointed King.  And through this King the LORD would judge the earth with justice.

Later in that same chapter a man of God prophesies about the Messiah again.  And he testifies to the priestliness of the Anointed One.  Speaking God’s word he says,

I will raise me up a faithful priest, that shall do according to that which is in mine heart and in my mind: and I will build him a sure house; and [it] shall walk before mine anointed for ever.  (1 Samuel 2:35)

I have a slight disagreement with the KJV here – it would make most sense to say that the “house” walks before the Anointed, rather than the Priest.  It seems clear to me that the Anointed is the Priest.

So the true Anointed is both King and Priest.  He is the One through Whom the LORD will rule and bless.

But why anointed?  What does that mean?

Well 1 Samuel 16 gives us a good picture of it.  It’s the choosing of David as King.  And when he is chosen:

Samuel took the horn of oil, and anointed him in the midst of his brethren: and the Spirit of the LORD came upon David from that day forward.  (1 Samuel 16:13)

We would “crown” our kings.  In the bible they “anointed” them.  In fact they “anointed” kings and priests, and occasionally prophets also.  To anoint is to pour oil on their heads.  Why?  Because oil is a sign of the Spirit.  And as David is anointed, the Spirit literally rushes upon David and equips him for his royal tasks.

So what does this tell us about the Anointed One.

Well the Messiah is not anointed by men, but by God Himself.  And before the world began.  Not with oil – a symbol.  He is anointed with the Spirit Himself.  Before there was a universe God has been anointing God with God!  The Father is pouring His Spirit onto and into His Son.

Why?

So that He can be our righteous King, ruling the nations, protecting His people, executing justice.

So that He can be our faithful Priest, mercifully mediating our life with God.

So that He can be God’s truthful Prophet, bringing us the mind and heart of God.

To see the Messiah is to see the life of the Holy Spirit embodied.  Or, put it another way, to see the Holy Spirit we look to the Anointed One in action.  He is the One filled beyond measure with the Spirit of God.

From the overflow of His life has come a whole universe.

To the overflow of His grace does the whole bible witness.

And when Christ is at the centre, both the world and the Word start to make sense:

The Samaritan woman saith unto Jesus, I know that Messias cometh, which is called Christ: when he is come, he will tell us all things.  Jesus saith unto her, I that speak unto thee am he.  (John 4:25-26)

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Thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God

By on April 3rd, 2011

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After the brutality of Judges, Ruth is often seen as a nice little love story.  A rom com to take our minds off all the raping and genocide!

But if we think like that perhaps we need to rehabilitate our view of romantic comedy.  The story of Scripture is most certainly a romance – the tale of Christ winning a bride.  And it is definitely a comedy – there is a eucatastrophe in which all things end well.  And so Ruth tells us the story of the bible in miniature.

Ruth is from Moab but is married and then widowed by an Israelite.  Her mother-in-law, Naomi, seeks to return to Israel alone.  But Ruth insists,

“Whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God.” (Ruth 1:16)

Wasn’t it Martin Luther who said “The heart of religion lies in its personal pronouns”?  Well Ruth owns the God of Israel as her God.

But it’s costly for her to trust the LORD.  In Israel she will have to rely on the kindness of strangers, rather than her own people.

Thankfully she meets Boaz.  And he seems to embody everything written in the Jewish law about care for foreigners and widows (Deuteronomy 24:19-21).  In fact those laws themselves are meant to embody the LORD’s care for foreigners and widows (Deuteronomy 10:17-19).  Boaz is like the LORD.  And just as Ruth finds shelter under the wings of the LORD (2:12), so she finds shelter under the wings of Boaz (3:9).

He is a near relative of her deceased husband – a “kinsman”.  He’s a wealthy man and in a position to redeem Ruth – that is, to marry her and “raise up the name of the dead.”  In other words he will continue the family name for his dead relative.  Boaz is a kinsman redeemer, an embodiment of the good law and able to, in a sense, raise up the dead.  He is extremely Christ-like!

And when he agrees to marry Ruth, this foreign woman is raised up to dizzying heights.  She is brought in to the covenant people.  More than that, the book ends by reminding us that Ruth is brought right into the Messianic line.  She becomes the great grandmother of King David.  (Ruth 4:18-22)

From widow and foreigner – a stranger to the covenants of promise – Ruth is adopted into the chosen people, given life from the dead (so to speak) and made royalty.  It all happens through marrying her kinsman-redeemer.

In just this way, any of us can join the chosen people.  No matter where we have come from or what we have done, we are offered a marriage union to Christ.  When we call out to Him as “my God”, He in turn calls us “my people.”  And all that is ours – our sins and shame – goes to Him.  And all that is His – His righteousness and royalty – comes to us.

This is the great love story.  And it brings the ultimate ‘happily ever after’.  So maybe romantic comedy’s not so lame after all!