Scripture Reading: 2 Sam. 11:1-27; 12:1-23
In this message I have the burden to speak a word concerning man's failure and God's punishment.
The books of Samuel unveil God's sovereignty and God's economy. God is sovereign; He is behind everything and everyone. He has the full capacity to carry out what He wants according to the desire of His heart and according to His eternal economy.
God desires to work Himself in Christ into His chosen people, making Himself and them one organic entity. This means that the processed and consummated Triune God is building Himself in Christ into the intrinsic being of His chosen people, in order to have a constitution that is both divine and human. Such an entity is called the kingdom of God, the organism of the Triune God, and the organic Body of Christ. Whereas God is building such an entity, many of those who are spiritually blind are endeavoring to build up for themselves a monarchy within the divine kingdom.
The books of Samuel also unveil man's failure. David, a man according to God's heart, failed in the matter of the lust of the flesh. David's defect was that he did not restrict his flesh. When he was crowned in Hebron at thirty years of age, he already had at least six wives (2 Sam. 3:2-5). Later, he abused his kingship by murdering Uriah and robbing him of his wife.
In His creation God ordained that man have one wife so that man may have godly children (Mal. 2:14-15). However, some men broke this principle. For instance, Gideon, one of the judges of Israel, had many wives (Judg. 8:30). Boaz, an important ancestor in the genealogy of Christ, was a good pattern because he controlled the lust of his flesh (Ruth 3). Samuel was also a good example. His mother consecrated him to God as a Nazarite, and he kept the vow of his mother throughout his life. David, on the contrary, even though he was a man according to God's heart, had a great failure in the matter of the lust of the flesh.
In addition to man's failure, the books of Samuel reveal God's punishment. God exercised a severe punishment upon David because his sin was very evil.
After David's failure many evils, including incest, murder, and rebellion, took place among his family. It seemed that, after David's failure, the behavior of his children changed. This change is seen particularly in the case of David's son Absalom. Absalom killed his brother Ammon because he had defiled Absalom's sister, and then he rebelled against his father David, even seeking to kill him. The source of this unprecedented evil was David's indulgence in the lust of the flesh.
The change that took place with David's children should teach us to fear God. We must learn the lesson to have a holy fear toward God and to tremble before Him. Whether our children will be good or bad is altogether up to God. What we are in the sight of God will affect our children. Furthermore, God's chastisement and His governmental dealing with those who love Him always affect their children.
In God's punishment, the first child born of the wife of Uriah died (2 Sam. 12:18). In God's sovereign mercy, another child was born of her. The name given to him by God was Jedidiah, which means "beloved of Jehovah" (v. 25). David gave him the name Solomon, which means "peaceful" (v. 24). This indicates that David expected to have a peaceful time. But from that time there was no peace in David's family or in the entire kingdom of Israel. Solomon's kingship had a wonderful beginning, but the same thing happened with him as with his father, and his end was pitiful. He had seven hundred wives and three hundred concubines (1 Kings 11:3). His pagan wives brought their idols with them and turned Solomon's heart away from God (vv. 4, 8).
Our God is merciful, but He is also just. God loved David, but because of his sin David lost his standing and position and eleven of the twelve tribes. Only the tribe of Judah remained with David (2 Sam. 20:1-2). After Solomon's reign the kingdom was divided, and eventually Judah and Israel were taken into captivity. The children of Israel lost their nation and the land of their fathers; they were scattered around the globe; and they were persecuted and killed. Today, although they have a narrow strip of land near the Mediterranean Sea, they have no peace with their neighbors.
If we trace the history of the church, we will see that what has happened during the past nineteen centuries matches the four matters found in the books of Samuel: God's sovereignty, God's economy, man's failure, and God's punishing judgment. In chapters two and three of Revelation, we see the church under God's judgment. This judgment will consummate in chapter seventeen, with the judgment of Babylon the Great. As we consider this matter of God's judgment, we need to be very conscious of what God is and of what our response should be.
The account of God's punishing judgment on David is written as a warning to us today (1 Cor. 10:11). We should read this account seriously in the presence of God. This account warns us that the indulgence of the flesh is a serious thing. David was tempted simply by a glance and then he failed to restrict himself.
In contacting the opposite sex, we in the Lord's recovery need to be sanctified and separated unto God. The evil concerning sex is very contagious. We must exercise our spirit to overcome our flesh and our old man. This must not be a mere teaching; it must be a practice in our daily life.
All the saints, especially the young ones, should search their hearts and make a strong resolution of heart (Judg. 5:15-16) never to go the way of the indulgence of the flesh. Our God is living, and Christ is real. With Christ as the life-giving Spirit, everything is real, but apart from Him everything is vanity of vanities. The Spirit is moving within us in a very gentle way. We need to say, "Lord Jesus, I love You, I need You, and I receive You." If we say this, He will be our Savior and our dynamic salvation. As the pneumatic Christ, He will save us, preserve us, and protect us from the contamination of this age, so that we may keep the glory that we have gained.
