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2001
22nd April (am) - David - King at last!
2 SAMUEL 2, 5

Prince Charles has been a king in waiting quite a long time now. The media speculates from time to time, if Charles would ever make King of England, United Kingdom and Commonwealth. And yet if Prince Charles did become King, what sort of King would he be? What would be left of the Commonwealth? What place would the Royal Family have in British society? As we have been looking at the life of David through the pages of Scripture, we have discovered that David was a king in waiting for a long time. God had rejected Saul and had chosen David. David had been anointed by the prophet Samuel, and then waited until the appointed time when he would be crowned King of the Israelite people. That moment for us, comes today. For the king in waiting, becomes in two stages, the king upon the throne. We see a gradual emergence of David's kingship over the people of Israel, beginning with the Southern tribe of Judah, and then over the northern tribes, and so over the whole people of Israel. But as we also shall see, this was not a smooth transition to kingship, and so for our purposes, we have to ask ourselves, 'what is God teaching us here?'

In dealing with this chapter of David's life, we confine ourselves to reflecting on three broad themes in this passage: No scenes of stately majesty; No universal welcome; No promise unfulfilled. We discover in these chapters of David's life, eternal truths concerning the nature of the Kingdom of God.

NO SCENES OF STATELY MAJESTY If you are thinking to yourself, 'now where have I heard these words before?' you would be right to say, last Sunday. On Easter Sunday, the choir sang for us a piece called 'No scenes of stately majesty'. Such a title fits our purpose here.

As the fifthieth anniversary of the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II approaches, we will, I am sure, be seeing on TV, re-runs of the event. It was a lavish event, full of pomp and ceremony, protocol and etiquette being observed down to the last detail. Only the fact that the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth pre-dated colour television are we denied the full majesty and splendour of the events of that day, nearly fifty years ago.

What a contrast we are presented with in 2 Samuel 2, and at last, the Coronation of David, King over Israel, well not just yet. While the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth took place in the capital and most important city in the Commonwealth, London, in one of the finest cathedrals in the world, the Coronation of David, took place in a provincial back water, called Hebron. It was hardly an auspicious start to his kingly reign. He wasn't even made king over the whole of Israel. David was only made king over the tribe of Judah, the southern tribe, in the nation of Israel. Yet Hebron was a town rich with links to the past. Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebekah, Jacob and Leah were all buried in Hebron. God's choice, and it was God's choice, of Hebron, doesn't seem as crazy or as inauspicious as we may think.
And yet, we should pay attention to what Scripture teaches us about the way God works. Abraham was plucked from an out of the way place, chosen by God for greatness. The Israelites were not the outstanding civilization in the ancient world. David was the most unlikely of kings - a shepherd boy who did not have pure Israelite ancestory. Bethlehem was an unlikely place for a king to be born. A cross was an most unusual way for a king to announce his arrival.

At Hebron for the first time, God's chosen king visibly rules the earth, only over one tribe. It is a small beginning, but is the kingdom of God - concrete, visible, earthy. The kingdom of God has for the moment tucked itself away in the hills of Judah. Something which David's descendant said a thousand years later is somehow appropriate: The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed. At God's appointed time, his king has come to rule. We should never allow the unpromising beginnings of the kingdom, to blind us to the real presence of the kingdom. There were no scenes of stately majesty when Jesus was born in Bethlehem. There were no scenes of stately majesty when Jesus died on the cross. It should therefore not surprise us to discover that there were no scenes of stately majesty, when God's chosen king in the Old Testament, began to exercise his kingship. It is just God being God. And so at Easter, God has begun to usher in His eternal Kingdom. I wonder can we see it, or are we looking for something else entirely. Small beginnings, unlikely beginnings like David at Hebron, but ultimately, God's kingdom will be all consuming for nothing can stand in its path.

NO UNIVERSAL WELCOME Two 'boneheads' as Eugene Peterson calls them enter the scene; Anber and Joab. They become the central figures in the plot for a little while. They are important to the plot. They are the consummate reminder that God has chosen to work out his plan of salvation among imperfect people. Who are they, and what is God teaching us here?

Abner first: Immediately David becomes king, he extends the hand of friendship to the northern tribes, who were loyal to Saul and Saul's household. David invites the northern tribes to become part of a united kingdom. However, Abner son of Ner, captain of Saul's army, took Ish-Bosheth, Saul's son and made him king over the northern tribes. This was an act of rebellion against God, who had rejected Saul, and therefore Saul's house, and had chosen David as king over Israel. And so began a civil conflict in Israel. David's kingship begins with conflict. Abner fits the bill in the words of Psalm 2: The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers gather together against the Lord and against his Anointed One.

Abner is a warning to us. He clearly recognised that God had promised David the kingship. His armed resistance seems baffling. But says Dale Ralph Davis, for anyone who looks at humanity and history through the doctrine of original sin, it is not baffling at all. In other words it is possible to know the truth and at the same time to reject the truth. I have met people who know what it means to be a Christian, who see their need of Christ, yet reject Him at the same time.
Abner is [therefore] not far from any of us. We share an Abner-nature that harbors sin's stupidity, perversity, and twistedness. Let Abner preach to you. Let him tell you that it is possible to know the truth but not embrace the truth, to quote the truth but not submit to the truth, to hold the truth yet assault the truth. More could be said about Abner. I trust this is sufficient to warn us and challenge us. Abner recognised the true kingdom, but did not welcome it. This should not surprise us, because we see such a disposition in our time.

What about Joab? Well Joab, bonehead number two, was actually on David's side in this episode. In a previous battle, Abner had killed Joab's brother, Asahel. David and Abner sought a peace treaty, and after talks with David, David sent Abner away in peace. But Joab tricked Ander into returning and exacted revenge on him by killing him. David had won the alliegance of the northern tribes, now it seems that Joab has undermined all that David achieved. Joab settled a public battle with a private vendetta. Perhaps Joab also got rid of Abner out of fear that Abner would have a greater place in David's regime. Was Abner just trying to manoevere himself into David's regime?

The warning to us is that for some people, it is seen as fashionable to be part of God's kingdom, to ally themselves to the church, or even the Christian faith, if it enhances their own position. There is a claim to the moral high ground, yet all the while, they are only interested in their own advancement and not in the work of Almighty God. The disciples at the Last Supper argued as to who was going to be the greatest. Jesus' reply was whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoevr wants to be first must be slave of all. (Mark 10:43-44)

Abner and Joab come with warnings. They are not distant characters. They are not far removed from us. They warn us to take care. Acknowledging the truth about God and his kingdom is not the same thing as embracing that truth in our lives and letting it rule our lives. Likewise we must always take care in the roles we play in church live and kingdom living. Do I do what I do, to promote myself or to seek to glorify Jesus Christ? It is sad to say, that some will use Christianity and the church to promote themselves? In some quarters it is fashionable to be associated with the church.

God's kingdom under the care of David was not universally welcomed. Abner and Joab sought to use it for their own purposes, their own self-promotion. They come with a warning, a warning we do well to heed.

NO PROMISE UNFULFILLED

David's kingship is more than just succession from one king to the next. Promise is being fulfilled, the promises of God made to David. The conquering of Jerusalem, is not just David looking for a suitable capital city, although it proves very suitable, it is also promise being fulfilled, this time the promises of God to Abraham.

The promise to David. The nation is finally united under David, when the northen tribes come to him and accepted David's kingship over them. They base their willingness to accept David as king on three grounds: A flesh and blood relationship (v1b); his leadership qualities (v2a); God's promise to David (2b).

The last argument is surely the climactic one, and the crucial one. When the northern tribes cite God's promise to David, we are to highlight our text, as if to say, See there? See how God's promise to David has come to pass? See how it has weathered the venom of Saul, the follies of David, the rebellion of the north and the self-seeking of friends? See hoe God's promise has proved firm in the face of intense opposition, chapters and chapters of it since 1 Samuel 18? God's promises are certain no matter how much resistance they may meet.

The promise to Abraham. Let us go back to Genesis 15, for a moment. The Lord made a promise to Abram: To your descendants I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates - the land of the Kenites, Kenizzites, ... Hittites, ... Canaanites, ... and Jebusites. The inhabitants of Jerusalem were the Jebusites - promise being fulfilled. Eight hundred years or so, does erode the reliability of God's word. There is no expiry date on his promises. The promise to David teaches us that God's promises are certain in the face of intense opposition. The promise to Abraham, teaches us that God's promises are certain in spite of chronological distance, eight hundred years of it. God's promises are firm, so firm, that time cannot dissolve them, nor opposition sabotage them.
All of this should make a difference when we read our Bibles, three thousand years from the events in the life of David. We should read them with confidence and with realism.

We should read them with confidence that God in Jesus Christ has established his kingdom, his eternal kingdom. We may not see much evidence at times for it, but it is there, and like the mustard seed it will grow and in God's appointed time, we shall see his kingdom in all its splendour and glory. It will be an incomparable kingdom.

We should also read our Bible with realism. There will be opposition to God's kingdom and his anointed One. Seflish ambition will set itself up against God's kingdom, both from outside and seemingly within. Opposition to God's kingdom comes with a warning, a warning to self-examination. It is all too easy to fall into the trap of seeking self-glory rather than seeking Christ's glory.

We can also read again our Bible with confidence. God is a promise-keeping God. He kept his promise to Abraham, he kept his promise to David. He kept his promise to the whole of fallen humanity by sending his anointed One, his own Son, to be the redeemer.

Therefore we can say with confidence that God will keep his promise about the future. God will triumh, he will be vindicated and no amount of opposition will erode God's promise, or no amount of time will expire God's promise. God will return, Jesus will come as Judge. His kingdom in all its splendour and glory will be revealed, and every knee will bow to Jesus and every tongue will confess Jesus as Lord. The unshakeable kingdom of God is in our midst. I suppose the questions we need to ask ourselves are these: Will we have been found to be in opposition to God's kingdom? Will we have been found to be seeking glory for ourselves and therefore rejecting the way of Christ? Will we have been found to have acknowledged the truth, but failed to embrace it in our lives?

We can read the Bible with great confidence, because it is the revelation of God. Let us also be careful to read God's word realistically, because not to do so, would be to delude ourselves. No scenes of stately majesty, no universal welcome, no unfulfilled promise.

AMEN!