David the King

I think this is our fifth message in this series.

We started off with David's relationship with God and how unique and special that was.

and then David's life and relationship with King Saul.

And we went on to Goliath in the battle against evil in Goliath.

And then Jonathan was last week.

And so this week, kind of moving chronologically,

today we're talking about David the king.

David the king.

And I hope this has been a beneficial series to you.

I love historical narrative and stories.

So this is always fun for me, the privilege to preach on stuff like this.

But as a whole, though, like when you're trying to cover a lot of different chapters,

you're trying to choose out selections of the book to actually go over.

And that is kind of hard and daunting sometimes.

And so I hope that the sections that I pick are beneficial because we're covering a lot of ground.

That's what we do when we do series versus a first by verse exposition of a book.

But by way of just introduction, last week we ended with the death of King Saul and his son Jonathan by the hand of the Philistines.

And after this happened, the tribe of Judah, David's tribe, I guess you could say seceded and sort of anointed David as their king.

That's in chapter 2 in 2 Samuel.

We'll be in 2 Samuel today.

And after all, David was the one that the prophet and judge Samuel anointed.

So they made him the king.

However, as history would have it, the house of Israel had a surviving son of Saul, Ish-bosheth.

And he was made king over the rest of the nation, Israel.

They made him the king.

He made the bid for to be the king.

So what happens is a nasty civil war breaks out between the surviving son of Saul, the house of Saul, versus the house of David.

And you see some nasty battles through here.

The Battle of Gibbon where Joab and Abner meet.

And it's a nasty battle resulting in David and his men being victorious in Joab.

You see the appearance of Joab here.

And so what happens later is there's friction between Ish-bosheth and Abner, his commander.

And after that, Abner goes to David and he says, hey, let's just resolve all this peacefully.

I think that God has made you the king.

Let's resolve all things peacefully.

But it caused a problem.

And Joab does not share that hope.

He actually seeks revenge on Abner for the killing of his brother.

So Joab has Abner brought to him.

This is the commander of the two armies, David's army and Ish-bosheth's army.

And Joab actually kills him.

This is in chapter 3, verse 22 through 39.

But the writer goes way out of his way, probably Samuel that wrote this,

goes out of his way to make sure that we understand that David was innocent of this blood.

And he actually harshly rebukes Joab for such treatment.

Shortly after Abner's death, though, Ish-bosheth seems to give up hope that he will ever be king.

And two of his remaining captains sinfully scheme to assassinate the deposed king, the remaining son of Saul.

So they actually cut off his head, take it to David, hoping that David will be pleased, hoping that David will give them a reward.

Very much to the contrary, David is not happy with their move.

He's not amused at all by this treacherous gesture.

And instead of giving a reward, he is furious that one of Saul's sons has been so mistreated by his own men.

And in such a dishonorable, despicable way, no one of royalty deserves to be treated this way, this treacherous act.

And so he has the two killers executed and their hands and feet cut off.

So, bad idea.

So that was the civil war.

So after this, we see that the nation comes together and they anoint David as the king.

So this will be our first text today.

If you look over at 2 Samuel, chapter 5, we'll look at verses 1 through 5.

2 Samuel 5 · chapter mention

But this gets us to point 1.

We have, I think, four points today.

But point 1 in our story is the king is anointed over a united Israel.

The king is anointed over a united Israel.

Chapter 5, verse 1, it says,

Then all the tribes of Israel came to David at Hebron and said,

Behold, we are your bone and your flesh.

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 a shepherd of my people Israel, and you shall be a prince over Israel.

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.

David was 30 years old when he began to reign.

And he reigned for 40 years.

At Hebron, he reigned over Judah seven years and six months.

And at Jerusalem, he reigned over all Israel and Judah 33 years.

So that's one of our key texts we'll look at.

But we see here the anointed king, the fulfillment of God's promise.

Israel and Judah come together, and they make David their undoubted king.

With no candidate left from the house of Saul, David is actually able to bring them under his own rule.

They unite under the anointed hero, David, as their king.

So sadly, on many occasions, the Israelites would shed blood of fellow Israelites.

But again, the writer of 2 Samuel goes out of his way to say that David was innocent in all these things.

And God actually says in Psalm 89, verse 20,

Psalms 89:20

David says,

I have found David my servant.

With my holy oil I have anointed him,

so that my hand shall be established with him.

My arm also shall strengthen him.

It's just a reminder here by this psalm

that why did David love God so much,

and why was David anointed king?

Because God loved David so much out of his grace.

He chose to make him the king out of his grace.

David loved him because he first loved David.

So he brings all the tribes together and unites them.

There's this picture in 1 Chronicles, chapter 12,

1 Chronicles 12 · chapter mention

where you can see a bigger picture of this if you'd like to read more.

But it mentions that all the men of war from each tribe came at this coronation,

at this anointing.

It says in 1 Chronicles 12, 38,

all these men of war, a raid and battle order,

came to Hebron with a whole heart to make David king over all Israel.

Likewise, all the rest of Israel were of a single mind to make David the king.

And so this is a huge deal,

uniting all the tribes of Israel,

all the sons of Jacob together.

And so, furthermore,

right after this,

we see that David makes an unprecedented move.

He chooses to make Jerusalem the capital,

I guess you could say,

of the nation,

the center of the political and spiritual life of the nation.

This had never happened before.

They've been sort of a loose confederation of tribes.

So, in a desire to further bring them together as one nation,

he sets his eye on the Jebusite city of Jerusalem.

And that's who's occupying it,

but no problem.

David and some of his elite soldiers climb up the watershed,

which I understand is still there today.

You can see this,

where he and his men climbed in and got into the city.

And they took the city.

They conquered the Jebusites.

It actually says in chapter 5,

just a selection for you,

verse 9,

David lived in the stronghold

and called it the city of David.

And David became greater and greater,

for the Lord,

the God of hosts,

was with him.

Verse 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.

And so he made Jerusalem the capital.

He renamed it the city of David.

It served as the capital for a united Israel.

He builds his palace there.

He has kingship over them.

And this is a big deal,

because Jerusalem was sort of on the boundary

between the tribal land of Judah and Benjamin.

It better suited symbolically and geographically

to actually be the capital,

as opposed to Hebron,

which is in the middle of Judah.

So sort of as a uniting thing,

he puts it right on the boundary of these two powerful tribes.

And so going on from there,

we see in this same chapter,

next chapter, sorry,

that David longs to bring the ark of God

to Jerusalem, his new city.

And so we see that instead of transporting the ark

in accordance with the Levitical law,

which said that only priests could carry the ark

and carry it on poles,

for some reason they grabbed a cart

and tried to pull it and bring it into the city on a cart.

And as we know, that's just a bad idea.

It sort of leans over and

Uzziah, wishing to steady it,

reaches out and touches it.

And the Lord kills him on the spot

for touching the ark.

So that may cause us to recoil today.

But it's a reminder of God's burning holiness,

His purity,

that He cannot tolerate sin.

No one can approach His holy presence.

This is what the ark was,

symbolic of God's presence.

And we can't handle it in a pragmatic way.

So we see here that pragmatism kills

when it comes to God's truth.

They thought this would just be an easy way

to move the ark.

And it didn't turn out that's what God desired.

And so when this happens,

at this death of this man

who tried to touch the ark,

David says David is greatly afraid.

And that he senses unworthiness

to bring the ark to Jerusalem.

So it temporarily remains that Obed-Edom,

who was a worshiper of God,

to stay with him for three months.

But then later,

David came to retrieve it again.

And this time,

he did it in accordance with the Levitical law.

The priest carried it on the poles.

And he was able to bring it into Jerusalem

and David's city

with great praise, worship, celebration,

prayer, music.

That was like the order of the day.

It was a big deal.

So as the ark of God entered David's city,

you see him dancing before the Lord

with all his might in the linen ephod.

And did not amuse his wife.

She thought it was sort of undignified

and attacked him.

And sort of he came back with like,

hey, I'll become even more undignified

for the sake of the Lord,

if that's what it is.

And so that dancing expresses

this part of jubilant worship before God.

We haven't created a dancing area

in our room yet.

Maybe we'll go downstairs.

I don't know what to do.

But in Scripture,

it's a clear way to portray

jubilant worship before God.

And so later, though,

if you look at chapter 6,

verses 17 and 18,

we see something very, very interesting.

David portrays himself

as a priest-like king,

making burnt offerings

and fellowship offerings to God.

And like a priest,

he blesses the people.

He hands out the cakes to them,

the date cakes and raisin cakes.

And such actions of David

kind of harken back

to Melchizedek in Genesis,

another important priestly king

who reigned in Salem,

which, ironically enough,

is where he's at now,

Jerusalem.

So he portrays this priest-like king

in his actions, David does.

So he unites

under all Israel.

He brings it all together.

And that's point number one.

Point number two,

we see after this,

in chapter 8,

that David conquests

all the evil nations

that are around him.

So point number two,

the king vanquishes his enemies.

The king vanquishes his enemies.

I'm just reading some selections now,

but we're going to camp out

on two particular passages soon.

The king vanquishes his enemies.

This is all in chapter 8.

But just some selections.

It said that David defeated

the Philistines

and subdued them.

He defeated Moab.

David defeated

the king of Zobah.

He also restored his power

over the river Euphrates.

David struck down

22,000 men

of the Syrians.

And the Lord gave victory

to David

wherever he went.

In verse 13,

David made a name for himself.

He put garrisons in Edom.

Throughout Edom,

he put garrisons.

And they became David's servants.

And then it ends with this.

It says,

And the Lord gave victory to David

wherever he went.

So this is a big deal.

This section outlines

the fact that David

expanded the kingdom

in all directions.

North,

south,

east,

and west.

And as his military might

grew with each passing day,

he defeated all

of Israel's major enemies.

He defeated them

and subdued them.

Including the Philistines

which had murdered

and killed Saul

and Jonathan.

And the other ones

made peaceful alliances

with him,

paid tribute to him,

and kind of backed down.

David wrote Psalm 108

as a celebration

of his victories

against the pagan enemies.

These military victories

granted David

it was a broadcast

to all the nations

around them

of God's covenant love.

That's what these victories did.

It showed that there was

a God in Israel

to the Philistines,

the Moabites,

and the Edomites.

In Psalm 108 verse 13

Psalms 108:13

David wrote,

With God we shall do valiantly.

It is he

who will tread down

our foes.

So huge.

This is significant.

Here's why.

If you look at a map

of David's established kingdom,

it very closely resembles

the land that David,

or excuse me,

that God had granted Abraham.

So we read in Genesis 15,

18,

On that day,

the Lord made a covenant

with Abram,

saying,

To your offspring

I will give this land

from the river of Egypt

to the great river,

the river Euphrates.

And so,

in fulfillment of this,

with God's great enabling,

David was able

to drive out

the pagan enemies,

the blood-drinking,

child-sacrificing,

idol-worshippers.

And he restored the land

that was promised

to Abraham.

The kingdom,

I think,

expanded from nearly

6,000 square miles

to 60,000 square miles.

This is not just

David winning battles.

This is God

keeping his word

and showing

that he is faithful

and true.

David was just

his instrument

to uphold

his covenant love.

So,

huge deal.

The king vanquishes

his enemies.

Alright,

and nextly,

we're going to get

into a text

and kind of camp out

for a minute,

but thirdly,

the king's covenant

with God.

the king's covenant

with God.

Alright,

we see this

in chapter 7.

Alright,

but here,

we see what is referred

to as one of the

most important

covenants

in the scripture.

Like,

if you want to know

God's word

and understand

what God is doing

in redemptive history,

you must understand

what is called,

referred to as

the Davidic covenant.

Even though

the word covenant

doesn't appear in this,

it is a covenant.

In Psalm 89,

3 and 4,

God said,

I made a covenant

with my chosen one.

I have sworn

to David,

my servant.

I will establish

your offspring forever

and build your throne

for all generations.

And so,

this is a

messianic promise.

It's a key passage

in the history

of salvation.

And David receives

this promise

from God.

When he does that,

it sums up

all the covenantal

promises

that God had made

beforehand,

focusing them in

on David

and his descendants.

So,

it's like,

hey,

all these things

that have happened

before,

now look at this.

He's zooming in

on David

and his descendants.

And so,

what ends up happening

in chapter 7,

in verse 1 and 3,

is that you see

that after David

brings the ark

to Jerusalem,

he begins

to genuinely

feel bad

about something.

He's like,

I live

in a nice house,

but the ark

of God,

the very symbol

of his holy presence,

is just sitting

in a measly tent.

You see where

he's going with this?

Like,

I live in a nice place.

The ark,

as awesome as it is,

as great as it is,

is just in a tent.

So,

an idea came to him

to build

a permanent structure,

a permanent dwelling

for the ark

and all the sacred furniture.

So,

upon first hearing

this plan,

the first time

he heard it,

the prophet Nathan

approves,

and he basically says,

go and do this

all in your mind.

That's fine.

Like,

go for it,

for the Lord

is clearly with you.

Go for it.

But then,

later that day,

God

speaks out,

to the prophet Nathan,

and he's basically saying,

no,

not my plan.

I've appointed David

to be the king.

He is a man of war.

His heart is on the battlefield

subduing enemies.

I haven't made David

to be an architect

or a builder.

He is not

to build me

a temple.

And,

we learn later on

in 1 Chronicles

22,

8,

that David says,

the Lord said

he cannot

build this temple

because

you have shed

much blood

and have waged

great wars.

You shall not

build a house

to my name,

God says,

because you have shed

so much blood

before me

on the earth.

And so,

God says no.

So,

we see here

that,

like,

don't kind of

get ahead

of God.

Right?

They got ahead

of their skis

a little bit there.

They were assuming

that it would be okay

if David did this.

Then God

said no.

This is not his role.

This is not

what he's doing.

But,

quickly,

it's sort of this idea

that if you ever had

a really good desire,

a holy desire

to do something

for God

and his glory,

only to have him

deny you that desire,

and then on the other hand,

actually see that

exact same thing

you were thinking about

fulfilled in somebody else.

Carried out by

another person.

How do you respond

to God

in such times?

However,

within this refusal,

God offers

a great affirmation

and great blessing

to David.

So,

instead of David

building God

a house,

God,

in his grace,

promises to build

David a house.

It's amazing.

And,

we see

God speaking

through the prophet

Nathan.

He says to David,

look at verse 11

in chapter 7,

maybe a little

halfway through 11.

Alright?

This is what it says.

Moreover,

the Lord declares

to you

that the Lord

will make you

a house.

When your days

are fulfilled

and you lie down

with your fathers,

I will raise up

your offspring

after you

who shall come

from your body

and I will

establish

his kingdom.

He shall build

a house

for my name

and I will

establish the throne

of his kingdom

forever.

I will be

to him

a father

and he

shall be

a son,

to me a son.

When he commits

iniquity,

I will discipline

him with the rod

of men,

with the stripes

of the sons

of men.

But,

my steadfast love

will not

depart from him

as I took it

from Saul

whom I put

away before you.

and your house

and your kingdom

shall be made

sure forever

before me.

Your throne

shall be

established

forever.

We have to

get this

in our heads.

Alright?

This is what

it's referred to

as the Davidic

Covenant.

So,

by his grace

and his initiative,

God tells David

that he will

establish his line

forever.

His dynasty

will rule

eternally

with an eternal

throne.

That he will

raise up a son

from David's

line

who will have

an eternal

kingdom.

And that

that person

would build

the Lord's

house.

And the Lord

fulfills this

typologically

through David's

son Solomon,

right?

Who reigns

over Israel

and builds

a temple.

But,

however,

that promise

is not

ultimately

fulfilled by

Solomon

for a lot

of reasons.

One,

Solomon did not

reign eternally.

He was not

sinless

and he

died.

So,

clearly,

this is

pointing forward

to our

Lord Jesus,

the true

son of

David,

mentioned in

Matthew 1,

Matthew 1:1

verse 1.

This is

pointing forward,

prefiguring.

Jesus will

build God's

true spiritual

temple,

as it says

in 1 Peter

1 Peter 2:5

chapter 2,

verse 5.

But next,

God promises

in verse 14,

if you just

keep your eye

on the text,

he says,

I will be

a father

to him,

a father

to that

Davidic

king,

and he

will be,

as to God,

a son.

Right?

That's what it

says.

I will be

to him

a father,

and he

shall be

to me

a son.

So,

as Israel's

representative,

the descendants

of David

are to live

in covenant

relationship

with God.

God,

the Lord

reassures

David that

his throne

will be

his forever.

And at

this time,

in this text,

he also

promises,

at the same

time,

to discipline

the Davidic

king when

he sins,

correcting him

as a father

would correct

a son.

We know

that to be

the case.

You read

the history

of the kings

of Israel

and David's

descendants.

When they

sin,

God disciplined

them with

a rod of iron,

with the nations

that were around

them.

And so,

that's

interesting,

right,

that God

disciplined

all these

other kings.

And once again,

we see a near

and far

fulfillment.

God did

discipline

Solomon as

the king

for his

sin and

rebellion.

But Jesus,

however,

is punished

not for

his own

sin,

but for

the sins

of others,

including

David,

and including

all the other

Davidic kings,

all his

descendants.

So,

as the

Messiah,

Jesus

inherits

David's

role as

a representative

of God's

people.

He is the

true son

of God.

He is

the one

who rules

on the

throne of

David for

all time.

Just to

read you this

quickly,

remember,

early in

the gospel

of Luke,

Gabriel

appears

to Mary,

and he

says to

her,

make the

connections,

behold,

behold,

you will

conceive in

your womb

and bear

a son,

and you

shall call

his name

Jesus.

Here it

is,

he will

be great

and will

be called

the son

of the

most high,

and the

Lord God

will give

him the

throne of

his father

David,

and he

will reign

over the

house of

Jacob

forever.

In his

kingdom,

there will

be no

end.

So we

see this

wonderful

connection

in the

earlier,

before Jesus

was ever

born,

hey,

yeah,

he's the

fulfillment,

he's the

one,

he's the

promised

king.

It says

before any

shadow of

the doubt

that the

Bible teaches

that this

promise is

pointing forward

to king

Jesus.

So as

the son

of David

and the

Lord of

David,

Jesus now

reigns in

heaven.

1 Corinthians

15,

25,

over the

true

spiritual

house of

Israel.

So after

this promise

is made,

after God

says to

him,

I'm going

to establish

your line

forever,

and from

you will

come one

who will

rule on

the throne

for all

time.

David,

in the next

few verses,

offers this

great prayer

of gratitude

to God

flowing from

his heart.

David uses

the phrase,

O Lord

God,

eight times

in this

text.

expressing

his deep

love,

reverence,

intimacy

with God.

Then he

prays,

this is

instruction

for mankind

in verse

19.

That means

basically that

all people

can learn

about God's

covenant

faithfulness

by looking

at God's

relationship

with David.

And it

could be

translated,

is this

your custom

with mankind?

basically saying

you don't

usually do

this kind

of thing

with humans

is what

David is

saying.

This is

abnormal

and I

recognize it

because this

is grace.

And he

says there

is no one

like you

and there

is no

God

besides you

in verse

22.

So I

hope that

are you

allowing

God

to teach

you

during these

times

through his

gracious

dealings

with David?

Has he

given you

eyes to

see his

covenant

love and

blessing

in your

life

through

the eternal

king?

And that

leads us

to

our last

point

and that

is

Christ

the perfect

eternal

king.

Christ

the perfect

eternal

king.

We're going

to look

into the

Psalms

to explore

this part

of it.

But as

we know

David the

king is

only a

prefigure

a foreshadowing

of our

great king

of kings.

So in our

story today

there is a

king behind

the king.

Today

kings are

mostly

marginalized

meaningless

especially to

Americans

some of our

earlier

American

revolution

flags

say things

like we

serve no

sovereign

here.

But there

remains in

kingship an

enduring

significance

that's

inescapable

to us.

Something that's

burned deeply

into our

souls that's

telling us

that the

world will

only prosper

and have

peace when

the perfect

king comes

to reign.

Where no

good and

righteous king

reigns,

evil

reigns.

This is

why it's

so important

for us

to introduce

to our

kids the

writings of

Tolkien,

the writings

of C.S.

Lewis,

The Hobbit,

Lord of the

Rings.

Get them

into that

because there's

such kingly

imagery that

weren't this

foreign to

us.

Peter

Kreef wrote,

which I've

read this a

long time

ago, you

might not

remember,

but though

we do not

have kings

in America

or want

them, our

unconscious

mind both

has them

and wants

them.

We all

know what

a true

king is,

a real

king, an

ideal king.

He is not

a mere

politician or

soldier.

Something in

us longs to

give him our

loyalty and

fealty and

service and

obedience.

He is lost

but longed

for and will

someday return

like Arthur.

So we

have democracy

but we

really need

a king.

We just

haven't found

anybody in

this world

or in

history that's

actually worthy

to wear that

kind of

throne.

But there's

a reason for

the old

myths, the

old tales of

kings.

The reason we

adore them and

create them is

because there is

a memory trace

in the human

race, in you

and me of a

great king,

the ancient

king,

who did

rule with

such power

and wisdom

and compassion

and justice

and whose

glory shined

like the

sun.

So looking

at a few

things here,

just some

connections to

David and

we're going

to wrap

it up and

you go

ahead and

turn in

your Bible

to Psalm

110.

Christ

unites all

the people

of God.

This is

David,

united Judah

and Israel

under one

single rule

fulfilling God's

promise.

there was

later division

that reappeared

after Solomon

and Rehoboam

and his

successors.

Strife broke

out again in

the nation.

So that points

forward for the

need for true

unity among God's

people.

So just as David

brought together

the nation,

God accomplishes

a greater lasting

unity of his

people under his

true anointed

king.

Christ brings

together all

peoples from

all nations,

all tribes,

all tongues

under a single

everlasting kingdom.

We know that

it says in

Galatians 3,

there's neither

Jew nor

Greek,

slave or free,

male or

female.

You are all

one in

Christ Jesus.

And if you

are Christ,

then you are

Abraham's

offspring,

heirs according

to the promise.

So all the

chaos and

division that

you see in

the world,

and even chaos

and division in

the church,

does that vex

you?

Does it bother

you?

Does it encourage

you to know

that God will

bring perfect

unity through

the reigning

of the true

king?

So God unites

his people under

Christ.

Also, Christ

brings us near

to God.

As we read,

we saw the

death of a

man who

tried to

reach out

and touch

the ark,

violating the

holiness of

God's presence.

God's holiness

destroys sinners.

It destroys

people like

you and I.

He is too

pure to look

upon my

sin and

your sin.

We cannot

approach him

unauthorized.

Yet, we

know there

is God's

presence alone

that gives

us life and

gives us

blessing.

So what do

we do?

There's a

problem.

We need

God's presence,

but we can't

enter.

This

tension is

resolved only

when the

way to

approach God

is opened

through Christ

and his

work of

purification on

our behalf.

We all know

the text in

Hebrews 10,

19 through

22, you can

write that

down.

It talks about

how we can

enter the

holy places

by the blood

of Christ,

the way that

he has opened

for us to

go into

God's presence,

making us

clean by

his blood.

That's

Hebrews 10,

19 through

22.

So if you're

frightened by

your own

sin, as I

am, you're

afraid that

your own

sin would

destroy you,

that you

would be

utterly consumed

by the

holiness and

righteousness of

God's presence,

as it

encourages you

that you can

draw near in

Jesus and

through Jesus

alone into

his presence,

bringing you

life and

blessing.

Christ also

subdues his

enemies.

As we read,

David is the

model warrior

king that

subdues all

the enemies

of God,

bringing justice,

prefiguring the

work of

Christ the

king.

You can just

write this down

for the sake

of time.

Verse

Corinthians

15, 24

through 26,

it talks about

how Christ

will come,

he will destroy

every rule and

every authority

and power.

And his

reign will

end when he

puts his

enemies underneath

his feet.

And this

brings us to

this psalm,

Psalm 110.

It's just

seven verses.

But listen,

this whole

thing could be

a sermon by

itself.

Psalm 110

is one of the

most overlooked,

underrated

psalms in the

entire scripture.

It is quoted

no less than

27 times

by the New

Testament writers.

And men like

John MacArthur,

John Piper,

they all say

this is a huge

psalm and the

story of

redemption.

And everything

I just referred

to, Christ

uniting the

people, Christ

bringing us near

to God, Christ

subduing his

enemies,

bringing us all

together, is all

mentioned in this

psalm.

right?

That he

establishes his

everlasting city

in the same

way that David

established the

city.

So let's look at

Psalm 110

briefly.

It says,

this is David

writing, he

says,

the Lord says

to my Lord,

sit at my

right hand

until I make

your enemies

your footstool.

The Lord sends

forth from Zion

your mighty

scepter.

Rule in the

midst of your

enemies.

Your people

will offer

themselves freely

on the day of

your power in

holy garments

from the

womb of the

morning.

The dew of

your youth

will be yours.

The Lord has

sworn and will

not change his

mind.

You are a

priest forever

after the

order of

Melchizedek.

The Lord is

at your right

hand.

He will

shatter kings

on the day

of his wrath.

He will

execute judgment

among the

nations,

filling them

with corpses.

He will

shatter chiefs

over the

wide world.

He will

drink from

the brook

by the way.

Therefore,

he will lift

up his

head.

So very

quickly,

let's walk

through this.

We know

that David

is not

talking about

himself,

ultimately.

He was

never exalted

to God's

right hand,

and he

actually died.

He saw

corruption.

So,

who is this

talking about?

It's pointing

forward a

prophecy of

the messianic

king,

Jesus,

to come.

Let's just

look at

verse 1.

The Lord

says to

my Lord,

that's the

sacred name

of God,

Yahweh,

with another

Hebrew word.

It says,

Yahweh said

to my

Adonai,

or God

himself said

to my

sovereign

one,

sit at

my right

hand.

So this

is a

conversation

between the

Godhead,

between the

Father and

the Son,

namely between

God himself

and the

one he

will appoint,

which is

actually David's

Lord.

So you

could be

paraphrased

as Yahweh

said to

David's

Adonai.

sit at

my

right

hand.

The

right

hand is

a place

of power,

authority,

and exaltation,

and honor.

Also,

the right

hand is

a place

of

subordination,

the Son

underneath

the Father's

authority.

So this

is a

conversation

between the

Father and

the Son.

Yet,

even the

Son is

subordinate,

God has

granted him

the seat

of cosmic

authority.

We see

that in

Hebrews

Hebrews 1:3

chapter 1

verse 3.

It says,

after making

purifications

for sin,

he sat

down at

the right

hand of

the majesty

on high.

You see

in the

next part,

next verse,

until you

make your

enemies

your footstool.

An ancient

figure of

speech denoting

how a

hostile,

resistant

enemy is

finally brought

low,

finally

conquered,

and humbled,

forced to

surrender.

He submits

to the

conqueror.

That's what

we see

here.

In verse

2,

it says

that our

Lord Jesus

sends forth

from Zion

his mighty

scepter.

Rule in

the midst

of your

enemies.

Christ

will come

back,

not as a

baby meek

and mild,

but as a

conquering

king who

will crush

and destroy

all who

have resisted

him and

rejected his

peace terms.

In verse

5 and 6,

when we see

that the

Messiah returns,

he will

shatter kings

on the day

of his

wrath and

chiefs over

the wide

earth.

So all

those who

oppose God,

who oppose

his Messiah,

all the

kings and

nations of

the world

who reject

Christ,

he will

shatter

them.

They will

be brought

to judgment.

He will

judge all

enemies,

both visible

and invisible.

But yet,

we see the

contrast in

verse 3.

It says that

many on the

earth who

love Christ,

belong to

Christ,

who are

born again,

who love

the gospel,

they will

offer themselves

freely on

the day of

his power.

When the

church,

the bride of

Christ that

he bought

with his

own blood,

freely

offered

themselves

in

joy,

inexpressible,

because they

have been

made clean

and pure

by the

blood of

that

Messiah.

Verse 4,

The Lord

has sworn

and will

not change

his mind.

You are

a priest

forever

after the

order of

Melchizedek.

Our God

remains

unchanging.

He is

committed

to this

saving

purpose.

Nothing

is going

to change

that.

Nothing

can stop

him from

bringing

about his

redemptive

purpose in

sending this

true king.

king.

Yet,

we also

see that

we won't

only have

a king,

we will

have a

kingly

priest,

an eternal

priest,

representing

us before

God and

giving us

access to

his holy

presence,

drawing us

near to

God's

presence.

And finally,

in verse

7,

you see

that Christ,

check out

verse 7,

Christ will

drink from

the brook

by the way,

and therefore

he will

lift up

his head.

So this

is an

ancient

image of