2 Samuel 14

Well, good evening.

Turn with me in your Bible to 2 Samuel chapter 14.

2 Samuel 14 · chapter mention

If you're looking in one of the pew Bibles, it's page 264.

2 Samuel chapter 14.

2 Samuel 14 · chapter mention

As you're turning there, I wonder whether you've ever been in the middle of a messy family conflict.

Where people have said and done things that have hurt and offended and alienated each other.

Where relationships have broken down.

Some people don't even talk to each other anymore.

Or maybe you have a friend who's been in the middle of a messy conflict.

And you even just try to understand what caused the conflict in the first place.

And the story starts five years ago.

And then it's a whole mess.

Like a big twisted knot.

And there doesn't seem to be any clear way forward.

Or you're trying to figure out how do we move forward in a healthy and productive way.

Well, what we have at the beginning of this chapter is we're in the middle of a messy family conflict in King David's family.

We have a guilty child, Absalom, who has been estranged.

Actually living in exile.

Away from his grieving father, David, for three years now.

Now the background to the situation is chapter 13.

Isaiah 13 · chapter mention

Which we read last week.

It's an ugly story.

A disturbing story.

David's oldest son, Amnon, sexually violated his half-sister, Tamar.

And then he didn't want anything to do with her.

And so Tamar fled to her brother Absalom's house.

Absalom was furious.

And two years later, Absalom conspired to murder Amnon.

Absalom then fled the country.

Back in Jerusalem, their father David wept.

Chapter 13, verse 37 says,

David mourned for his son, for Amnon who had died, day after day.

And Absalom fled and went to Geshur, that was outside in a different country.

He was there for three years.

Now verse 39 says,

The spirit of the king longed to go out to Absalom because he was comforted about Amnon since he was dead.

Chapter 14, verse 1 says,

Now Joab, the son of Zeruiah, David's friend and army commander, knew that the king's heart went out to Absalom.

Now these, the last verse of chapter 13 and the first verse of chapter 14 tell us something about David's attitude toward Absalom.

But these verses are actually, for a few reasons, they're quite difficult to translate.

There's actually three different ways that you could translate these verses.

And one way is the way it's translated right here,

which implies that David had a positive attitude toward Absalom.

Okay, basically David had mourned for his son who was killed.

He had been angry that Absalom killed him.

But, you know, three years had passed and David was sort of ready to move on.

And now he was missing his son, who he hadn't seen for three years.

And he longed to see Absalom again.

There are two problems, though, with this translation.

It's a possible translation.

But the two problems are, the verb that's translated, go out to, in verse 39,

he longed to go out to Absalom.

That word usually means to march out against someone.

It doesn't usually mean just to go visit someone.

It's used for an army marching out against someone most of the time.

Second, if David was feeling strongly positive toward Absalom,

what we see later in this chapter doesn't completely make sense.

So there are two other ways these verses could be translated.

One is that David is sort of neutral toward Absalom.

The spirit of the king, this is actually in the text,

the note at the bottom of the page,

the spirit of the king ceased to go out against Absalom

because he was comforted about Amnon.

Now, basically that means David was angry with Absalom

because he killed his brother.

But then he sort of got over his anger

and he didn't want to go out and attack him anymore.

But he started, he just started thinking about him.

And we don't really know what he was thinking,

but he was thinking about him.

And chapter 14, verse 1 would say the king's mind was on Absalom.

The third way to translate these verses

is that David is actually negative toward Absalom.

So it could be translated,

the spirit of the king determined to go out against Absalom.

His mind was against Absalom.

Now, these are complicated verses.

You can be a Hebrew scholar.

There's about five different words

that could be translated one way or the other.

That's why you come up with these three possible interpretations.

In the bigger context,

I think either the neutral or the negative interpretation

makes a little bit more sense.

But however you interpret these verses,

David is thinking about Absalom.

There's something that he's thinking about his son

who he hasn't seen for three years,

who's far away in another country

because he's ran away after he murdered his brother.

Absalom actually called all his brothers to a family party.

He went to King David and he said,

I want to throw a big party

and I want to invite all my brothers.

And David was like,

I don't know about this.

I know there's some bad blood between you and your brother Amnon.

And Absalom said,

oh, no, no, no, at least Amnon.

And David said,

well, all right, invite all of them.

Hopefully they'll all keep each other in check.

And Absalom had him struck down

in the middle of a family party.

This is a mess.

Now, what we see in this chapter

is there are three people

who have a plan,

three men with a plan

to do something about this mess.

To deal with David, the grieving father,

and Absalom, the guilty son,

who are estranged from each other.

And Joab, who's the potential intermediary.

So each of them have a way

that they're responding to this situation.

We're going to look at each of their responses.

First Joab,

then David,

then Absalom.

And there's a proverb.

Proverbs 19, 21 says,

many are the plans in the mind of a man,

but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand.

And so tonight,

what I really want us to look at is

man's plans and God's purposes

in this chapter

in the middle of a messy time in David's life.

So first, let's read 14, 1 through 20.

This is the first plan.

Joab's plan.

And we'll see what's on Joab's mind.

Now, Joab, the son of Zeruiah,

knew that the king's heart went out to Absalom

or was on, his mind was on Absalom.

And Joab sent to Tekoa

and brought from there a wise woman

and said to her,

pretend to be a mourner.

Put on mourning garments.

Don't anoint yourself with oil,

but behave like a woman

who has been mourning many days for the dead.

Go to the king and speak this way to him.

So Joab put the words in her mouth.

When the woman of Tekoa came to the king,

she fell on her face to the ground

and paid homage and said,

save me, O king.

And the king said to her,

what is your trouble?

She answered, alas, I am a widow.

My husband is dead

and your servant had two sons

and they quarreled with one another in the field.

There was no one to separate them

and one struck the other and killed him.

And now the whole clan has risen against your servant

and they say, give up the man who struck his brother

that we may put him to death

for the life of his brother whom he killed.

And so they would destroy the air also.

Thus they would quench my coal that is left

and leave to my husband,

neither name nor remnant on the face of the earth.

Then the king said to the woman,

go to your house

and I will give orders concerning you.

And the woman of Tekoa said to the king,

on me be the guilt, my lord, the king,

and on my father's house,

let the king and his throne be guiltless.

The king said, if anyone says anything to you,

bring him to me and he shall never touch you again.

Then she said, please let the king invoke the Lord,

your God, that the avenger of blood kill no more

and my son be not destroyed.

He said, as the Lord lives,

not one hair of your son shall fall to the ground.

Then the woman said, please let your servant speak a word

to my lord, the king.

He said, speak.

And the woman said,

why then have you planned such a thing

against the people of God?

For in giving this decision,

the king convicts himself

in as much as the king does not bring

his banished one home again.

We must all die.

We are like water spilled on the ground,

which cannot be gathered up again,

but God will not take away life

and he devises means

so that the banished one will not remain an outcast.

Now I have come to say this to my lord, the king,

because the people have made me afraid

and your servant thought,

I will speak to the king.

It may be that the king will perform

the request of his servant

for the king will hear

and deliver his servant

from the hand of the man

who would destroy me and my son together

from the heritage of God.

And your servant thought,

the word of my lord,

the king will set me at rest

for my lord,

the king is like the angel of God

to discern good and evil.

The Lord, your God be with you.

Then the king answered the woman,

do not hide from me anything I ask you.

And the woman said,

let my lord, the king speak.

The king said,

is the hand of Joab with you in all this?

The woman answered and said,

as surely as you live,

my lord, the king,

one cannot turn to the right hand

or to the left

from anything that my lord,

the king has said.

It was your servant, Joab,

who commanded me.

It was he who put all these words

in the mouth of your servant

in order to change the course of things.

Your servant, Joab, did this.

But my lord has wisdom

like the wisdom of the angel of God

to know all things that are on the earth.

So the first man with a plan is Joab.

Joab was the commander of David's army.

He was a clever man

with a clever plan

and who enlisted a clever woman

to be his ally.

Now you might ask,

what's motivating Joab?

It's not completely clear,

but Joab knew that David was getting old.

And Joab, most likely,

Joab was thinking ahead.

Joab's thinking,

okay, Amnon was David's firstborn.

Amnon's dead.

Absalom is now next in line.

Absalom was actually number three,

but we don't hear anything

about son number two.

For whatever reason,

son number two is also out of the picture.

So Absalom is now

the likely heir to the throne

because he's not the firstborn,

but the thirdborn, the closest.

And so Joab is thinking,

but wait a minute,

Absalom is living in another country.

David's getting old.

This has been the case for three years.

If David dies,

the heir to the throne

is in another country.

We're in for a civil war.

Civil war is not a good thing.

We have to do something about this.

It's also possible

that Joab favored Absalom

over some of David's other sons.

David hadn't punished Amnon

for his crime against Tamar.

And so Absalom stepped up

and did the dirty work.

And from what we know of Joab,

that kind of strong, hard-edged,

rough, decisive leader

might have appealed to him.

Now, whatever the reason,

Joab didn't like the status quo.

Joab wanted things to change.

That's what verse 20 says.

In order to change the course of things,

Joab hatched this plan.

Now, notice what this woman does

when she comes to David.

David, she presents herself to him

and she portrays herself

as being in the exact same situation as David.

I'm a parent.

I have two sons.

One of them killed the other.

And now some people want to kill the other son

and that would leave me all alone with no heir.

She says that.

Verse 7.

They would destroy the heir also

and our whole family would be wiped out.

So she portrays herself in a very similar situation

as David himself is in.

Now, it's interesting.

At first, David says,

okay, I'll think about it.

I'll let you know.

And she's not satisfied with that answer.

She says, oh, but oh, king, please.

Three times she presses the king for an answer.

She's extremely bold for a woman

who David doesn't even seem to know already

who comes for an audience before the king.

She's very bold.

And she finally gets David to swear an oath.

As the Lord lives,

not one hair of your son will fall to the ground.

And then she gets to her point.

Verse 13.

Why then have you planned such a thing

against the people of God?

For in giving this decision,

the king convicts himself

in as much as the king does not bring

his banished one home again.

Now, she doesn't name Absalom by name,

but it's very clear who she's talking about.

Absalom's been away for three years

and David is doing nothing to bring him home.

And it almost seems like the prophet Nathan, right?

In chapter 12, the prophet Nathan came to David

after David had sinned with Bathsheba

and had Bathsheba's husband killed.

And the prophet Nathan comes to David

and tells him a story

about a poor oppressed person

that arouses David's compassion

and righteous indignation,

but then implicates David in the process.

Nathan says to David, you are that man.

You are just like that rich man

who stole the poor man's one sheep

when he had plenty for himself.

So it seems like she's doing that, right?

She's telling another story

that draws David in and convicts him.

And David's convinced.

Verse 21.

Then the king said to Joab,

behold, now I grant this,

go bring back the young man Absalom.

So it seems like Joab's plan works,

but not quite.

You see, there's a problem

with the woman's story

that Joab put in her mouth.

In the woman's story,

she says there were two sons.

They went out in the field.

They got in a fight

and one of them killed the other.

In other words,

they weren't planning to,

they weren't planning to kill,

no one was planning to murder his brother.

They just got into a fight

and it happened.

It's manslaughter,

not premeditated murder.

And the law in Israel,

God's law in the Old Testament,

distinguished clearly between

manslaughter,

not premeditated killing,

and premeditated murder.

And premeditated murder

deserves a death penalty.

Manslaughter did not.

And there was a way to protect

the offender.

But in David's situation,

Absalom and Amnon were not in the field

getting in a fight.

Absalom threw a party,

deceived his brother into coming

and thinking that he was safe,

and then ordered his servants

to strike him down

in the middle of the party.

It was premeditated murder.

You see that there's not actually

a good parallel between the story

that the woman tells

and what actually happened

with Absalom.

Now you might say,

well, Absalom was killing someone

who deserved to die, right?

Amnon had committed

this horrible crime,

rape,

of his half-sister.

Now according to the law,

Amnon should have been exiled,

cut off from the Lord's people.

David had failed.

David had failed to execute justice.

And so you might say,

well, Absalom was taking matters

into his own hands,

trying to accomplish justice

when the legal system failed.

But you know,

remember earlier in 1 Samuel,

when David was on the run from Saul,

and Saul had done a lot of things.

Saul had tried to kill David many times.

David could have defended

killing the king and said,

it was in self-defense.

Saul had broken God's law.

Saul deserved to die.

But David said,

no, that's not my place.

That's God's responsibility

to judge Saul,

not mine.

So David didn't do that.

David didn't take matters

into his own hands.

Absalom did.

And Absalom went one step farther.

He didn't just get Amnon

thrown out of the country.

He struck him down.

Premeditated murder.

You see,

the problem with Joab's plan

is that Joab doesn't reckon

with the wrong

that Absalom did.

It's a complicated story.

There's lots of details here,

but this is the problem

with Joab's story.

He doesn't face

the depth of the wrong

that Absalom did.

He wants to twist David's arm

to bring Absalom back home,

but he doesn't actually

go to the king and say,

what should the king do

with his son

who murdered his brother

in cold blood?

That's a hard question,

but he completely

avoids that question.

But it's a necessary question

for David to deal with.

Now,

so this is the first plan.

Now, if you're,

maybe you,

Lord willing,

you will never be

in this same kind of situation

as Joab was, right?

But maybe you're

in Joab's position, right?

Joab is trying to reconcile

a guilty son

and a grieving father.

He's trying to be a mediator

in the midst of an ugly,

messy conflict.

And maybe you haven't,

maybe you,

now or later in the future,

maybe you will have

an opportunity

to help some people

who are in the midst

of a messy conflict.

And maybe you really want

to see these people

be at peace with each other

and be reconciled

like Joab wanted.

But sometimes you might

be tempted

to twist their arm

or just say,

can you just forget the past

and just come together again

and go on into the future?

And you know,

sometimes,

you know,

sometimes people make a mountain

out of a molehill.

And you know what?

They just need to leave

the molehill behind

and forget about it,

forgive and forget

and go into the future.

But sometimes there is

a mountain of sin

and guilt

and wrongdoing

that needs to be faced

before a relationship

can truly be reconciled

and go on into the future.

So that's why Joab's plan fails.

Because it doesn't address

the reality

and the depth

of Absalom's sin.

And so what we see

with Joab's plan

is that the reality

and depth of sin

needs to be dealt with

in order for true

reconciliation to happen.

Okay.

Going on.

Let's read

starting at verse 22.

So David says,

bring Absalom back.

And Joab fell on his face

to the ground

and paid homage

and blessed the king.

Joab said,

today your servant knows

I have found favor

in your sight,

my lord the king,

and that the king

has granted the request

of his servant.

So Joab arose

and went to Geshur

and brought Absalom

to Jerusalem.

Now here's where we see

that Joab's plan

doesn't actually work.

Verse 24.

And the king said,

let him dwell apart

in his own house.

He is not to come

into my presence.

So Absalom lived apart

in his own house

and did not come

into the king's presence.

You see,

this is why

in verse 1

David wasn't only

feeling positive

toward Absalom

because Absalom

comes back to Jerusalem

and David says,

okay, he can be in Jerusalem

but I don't want

to see his face.

And for two whole years

they live in the same city

and David refuses

to see his son's face.

David's strategy

is avoidance.

Now the problem

with David's strategy

is pretty obvious.

You bring your son

back from exile.

He's living

in the same city

with you.

You refuse

to talk to him.

If Joab's concern

was there might

be a civil war

if the heir

is out of town,

well, if the heir

isn't talking

to his father,

that's not really

much better.

The problem

with David's plan,

David neither

treats Absalom

as a murderer

who deserves

to be punished

nor

as an innocent

person

whose actions

were justified

in the absence

of

rightfully

executed justice

by the proper

authorities.

So David

doesn't confront

or rebuke

or punish Absalom.

Neither

does he

justify

or pronounce

Absalom righteous

nor does he

forgive him

or restore him

or reconcile

with him.

He does none

of these things.

He just

avoids him

and says,

I don't want

to talk with him.

I don't want

to see him.

I don't want

to deal with this.

Okay,

you've twisted

my arm.

I'll bring him

home.

I can't quite

argue with your

story.

But his heart

hasn't changed.

And the reality

is David

needs to do

one or the

other.

Either Absalom

is innocent

and David

should say

Absalom

was innocent.

I don't

think that's

right.

But that's

right.

David needs

to either

say Absalom

was innocent

and what he

did was okay

and he should

be restored.

Or he needs

to say Absalom

was guilty

and Absalom

needs to be

punished.

And then

figure out

how to

punish him.

But David

doesn't want

to do

either.

But Absalom

is not

neither

innocent

nor guilty.

He's one

or the

other.

And David

as his

father

needs to

deal with

that.

You know

in the very

beginning of

the Bible

there's a

story about

two brothers.

One who

kills the

other.

Cain

who kills

Abel.

And what

we see in

that story

is we see

the Lord

goes to

Cain.

And the

Lord goes

to Cain

very much

like he

went to

Adam in

the garden.

And the

Lord goes

to Cain

and says

where is

Abel

your brother?

Cain

says I

don't know

am I

my brother's

keeper?

And God

says to

Cain

what have

you

done?

And Cain

doesn't

repent.

So Cain

lives the

rest of

his life

in exile.

Cain

lives the

rest of

his life

as a

fugitive

and wanderer

on the

earth

outside

of God's

kingdom.

But you

see that's

how God

dealt with

Cain.

God went

to Cain

the guilty

party and

God said

what have

you done?

David

didn't do

that to

Absalom.

He didn't

say Absalom

what have

you done?

He just

ignores him

out of his

own indecision

and cowardice.

Now again

maybe

maybe you

might

find yourself

in David's

situation

someday.

Lord willing

it will

never be

the same

circumstances.

Maybe you're

a grieving

parent

distressed

over some

wrong that

your child

has committed.

And you know

you either need

to say to

your child

what you

did was

right

even though

other people

are saying

it was

wrong

or you

need to

say what

you did

was wrong

and this

is the

consequence.

But avoiding

just refusing

to do any

of those

refusing to

take a

stand or

just giving

a child

the cold

shoulder

and refusing

to talk

with them

won't make

any progress.

The same

thing if

you're a

Christian

and if

you've been

offended

by a

brother or

sister in

Christ.

Say there's

somebody else

in the

church

somebody else

who's a

Christian

and they've

done something

wrong to

you.

You have

two choices.

You either

need to

overlook the

wrong and

forgive

and continue

to relate to

that person

as a

brother or

sister in

Christ.

And Proverbs

says often

that's a wise

course of

action.

Proverbs 19

11 says

good sense

makes one

slow to

anger and

it is a

person's

glory to

overlook an

offense.

So that's

one option

is overlook

and forgive

and continue

in fellowship

with that

person.

The second

option is

maybe the

offense is

serious enough

that you

shouldn't

just

overlook

it.

And in

that case

you should

find a

way to

confront

the other

person.

And there's

Bible verses

that talk about

how to do

that.

That you

first attempt

to do it

privately

and if you

need help

you bring

one or two

others along.

It's a good

opportunity to

seek out some

wisdom from

a pastor or

a mature

Christian.

Right?

if you need

someone to

come with

you.

Right?

Sometimes

offenses are

serious enough

that they

should not

be overlooked

and in

that case

we need

to lovingly

confront

and rebuke

and then

be willing

to extend

forgiveness

when someone

recognizes

they're wrong.

But sometimes

what we do

as believers

is we do

neither.

We don't

really overlook

and forgive

and we don't

confront.

We just

avoid the

other person.

And say

I don't

want to

talk to

them.

I don't

want to

deal with

them.

I don't

want to

confront

them

because

that's

too

messy.

But I

can't

overlook

it and

I'm going

to hold

a grudge

in my

heart.

And we

stay in

this middle

place like

David.

That's a

bad place

to be.

And the

Bible says

go one way

or the

other.

Overlook

and forgive

or confront

and gently

lovingly

rebuke

and then

listen and

be willing

to extend

forgiveness

by the

grace of

God.

God.

All right.

So that's

the second

plan.

David's

plan that

also fails.

Let's read

the rest of

the chapter.

We'll see

Absalom's

plan.

We've seen

Joab's

plan,

David's

plan.

Now we

see

Absalom's

plan.

Verse 25.

Now in

all Israel

there was

no one so

much to

be praised

for his

handsome

appearance

as

Absalom.

From the

sole of

his foot

to the

crown of

his head

there was

no

blemish

in him.

And when

he cut

the hair

of his

head,

for at

the end

of every

year he

used to

cut it,

when it

was heavy

on him

he cut

it,

he weighed

the hair

of his

head,

200

shekels

by the

king's

weight.

There were

born to

Absalom

three sons

and one

daughter

whose name

was Tamar.

She was

a beautiful

woman.

So Absalom

lived two

full years

in Jerusalem

without coming

into the

king's

presence.

Then Absalom

sent for

Joab

to send

him to

the king

but Joab

would not

come to

him.

And he

sent a

second time

but Joab

would not

come.

Then he

said to

his

servants

see Joab's

field is

next to

mine,

he's got

barley

there,

go and

set it

on fire.

So Absalom's

servants

set the

field on

fire.

Then Joab

arose and

went to

Absalom at

his house

and said

to him

why have

your

servants

set my

field on

fire?

Absalom

answered Joab

behold I

sent word

to you

come here

that I

may send

you to

the king

and ask

why have

I come

from

Geshur?

It would

be better

for me

to be

there

still.

Now

therefore

let me

go into

the presence

of the

king

and if

there

is

guilt

in

me

let him

put

me

to

death.

Then

Joab

went to

the king

and told

him

and he

summoned

Absalom

so he

came

to

the king

and bowed

himself

Well verse

25-27

it's a

little

interlude

it basically

shows us

that Absalom

was big

on outward

image

and little

on inner

substance

it talks

about

he was

extremely

handsome

he had

amazing

hair

a long

haired

dude

he had

a growing

family

that's all

it says

it says

nothing about

his moral

or spiritual

character

and the

implication

is

there's

not much

good

to say

about

that

now

verse

29-33

we see

Absalom's

plan

Absalom's

plan

is

force

the

issue

understandably

Absalom's

fed up

with how

David's

treating

him

you know

you called

me back

from exile

and then

you don't

even want

to talk

to me

what's

going

on

so he

calls

Joab

Joab

doesn't

answer

his phone

calls

so he

lights

Joab's

field

on fire

and then

Joab

hooks up

the phone

right away

Absalom

says

let's do

this one

way or

the other

let me

go into

the presence

of the

king

and either

I'm guilty

or I'm

not

but then

we see

the result

in verse

33

Absalom

comes

into

the

king

and

he

bows

down

like

a

servant

in the

king's

household

and the

king

kisses

Absalom

and that's

it

nothing

else

happens

if you

read the

next

chapter

read the

next chapter

what Absalom

does is he

goes out and

conspires to

become king

himself

I mean

isn't it

odd

when Absalom

and David

first see each

other after

five years

there's no

weeping

after

pressuring

David to

allow him

to organize

his family

party and

then killing

his brother

in the middle

of it

there's no

sorrow

no repentance

on Absalom's

part

no confession

of sin

after not

speaking to

his son

for five

years

David has

no words

of wisdom

no words

of correction

after five

years of

non-communication

there's no

talking about

what the

future of

their relationship

might look

like

no words

of blessing

no words

of hope

no words

of pain

no words

of rebuke

you see

what this

was

was a

fake

reconciliation

reconciliation

that doesn't

last

it doesn't

even last

into the

next

paragraph

now contrast

this scene

with

two examples

in the Bible

of real

reconciliation

between people

who had really

hurt and

offended each

other

so first

think of

Joseph

and his

brothers

Joseph's

brothers

had sold

him into

slavery

they almost

killed him

at the last

moment they

thought better

of that

but they

left him

for dead

they sold

him into

slavery

and sent

him into

exile

sent him

to a

foreign

country

where they

hoped to

never see

him again

that's a

pretty

I mean

you know

this wasn't

just

somebody

called me

a bad

name

on the

playground

Joseph

had been

sold into

slavery

right

his

brothers

come

before

him

what

does

their

reconciliation

look like

what does

their

meeting

look like

well first

his

brothers

expressed

regret

over their

past

actions

and resolve

to chart

a different

course going

forward

they express

repentance

and Joseph

showers them

with assurance

of his love

with generous

hospitality

throws a big

party and has

a big meal

with them

and he speaks

words of

confidence in

God's providential

purposes as you

meant this for

evil but God

meant it for

good

and so

and they

embraced

they spoke

they wept

the brothers

repented and

Joseph forgave

and then they

celebrated

together

that's real

reconciliation

or Jacob

and Esau

Jacob had

stolen Esau's

blessing

deceived

his father

to steal

from his

brother

and they

hadn't seen

each other

in years

and finally

they're coming

to meet each

other

and Jacob

sees

Esau

coming

and he

sends

gifts

and messengers

ahead to

Esau

to express

his good

will

and he

bows to

the ground

seven times

and then Esau

runs to him

and embraced

him and fell

on his neck

and kissed

him and they

wept and Jacob

said I've seen

your face

it's like seeing

the face of

God

because you

have accepted

me

you see

that's what

real

reconciliation

real repentance

real forgiveness

and real joy

looks like

between people

who've really

hurt each

other in the

past

that doesn't

happen here

the plans of

these three men

all fell

short

but you

see the

Lord has

a purpose

there's a

very interesting

verse

in the middle

of the woman's

speech

in verse

14

and she

says we

must all

die

we are like

water spilled

on the

ground

which cannot

be gathered

up again

but God

will not

but God

does not

wish to

take away

life

he devises

means

so that the

banished one

will not

remain an

outcast

you see the

Bible is a

story of

God

devising

means

so that the

banished one

may not

remain an

outcast

the Bible

is a story

of God

finding a

way to

resolve

the mother

of all

conflicts

in the

beginning of

the Bible

we were

banished

from the

garden

of Eden

from the

place of

God's

presence

and his

provision

because

we put

ourselves

in the

center of

the universe

instead of

God

we disobeyed

him

and we

were sent

out of the

garden

banished

and there

was a

flaming sword

at the

gate

flashing back

and forth

guarding the

way to the

tree of

life

we are

all guilty

children

and God

is rightly

grieved

and justly

indignant

because of

our sin

and all

the plans

of man

will never

succeed

to bring a

true reconciliation

between

humanity

and God

but the

message of

the Bible

is God

has made

a way

God

has devised

a means

that we

might be

truly

reconciled

to him

not just

sending

a prophet

or a

wise person

but coming

to earth

himself

pursuing

us with

his undeserved

kindness

in order to

bring us

to repentance

taking the

guilt of

our sin

upon himself

so that we

might receive

forgiveness

and justification

you see

God's

answer

is the

cross

you see

in the

cross

we see

the reality

and depth

of our

sin

what

Joab

and Absalom

didn't face

we see

how terrible

our sin

is that

the son

of God

had to

die

as a

sacrifice

in our

place

to take

our

punishment

and bear

our

guilt

but we

also see

that that

price

has been

paid

and the

book of

Hebrews

says

there's a

new

and living

way

open for

us to

enter

freely

into the

presence

of God

and be

welcomed

and be

delighted

in

and be

received

and reconciled

forever

we're

going to

celebrate

the

Lord's

supper

tonight

and that's

what

this is a

picture of

what the

Lord Jesus

Christ did

to reconcile

us to

God

that when

we take

the bread

and drink

the cup

we remember

Jesus Christ's

body was

broken

and his

blood

was spilled

in his

death on

the cross

so that

our sins

might be

paid for

so if we

repent

and believe

in Jesus

turn to

him

we can be

washed clean

and we can

be welcomed

into his

presence as

his beloved

children

with no

reserve

so let's

pray as we

prepare to

come to the

Lord's table

Lord we

thank you

that where

all the

plans of

men and

women

have

failed

that you

sent your

son into

this world

to reconcile

us to

yourself

to pay the

price for

our sin

the price

that we

could never

pay

and to

make a way

for us to

come into

your presence

forgiven

and free

your beloved

sons and

daughters

Lord

as we

prepare to

eat this

bread and

drink this

cup

to remember

you

may you

feed us

by your

holy spirit

and strengthen

us to be

agents of your

reconciliation and

messengers of

that reconciliation

in this world

in Christ's name

we pray

amen

merciful

🎵

to be

one

faithful