The Shepherd King

Okay, today we begin in our study of the Kingdom of God to begin to address the topic of the second

King of Israel. If you remember, as we've been working our way through 1 Samuel, the first King of Israel has turned out to be, how shall we say, a bit of a mess.

A bit of a mess. This is a fellow who, when he became king, he was tall, he was handsome, he was rich, and he had all of the qualities that we as sinful human beings love to see in our leadership.

We love to let the pretty people who are wealthy rule us. That's kind of how that works, does it not?

And this continues today. If you think about it, it really does continue today.

Now they don't have to rule over us politically, although from time to time we elect them into office.

But oftentimes the pretty people rule over us in our desire to be like them.

Now, I've always had this problem, and I'm not sure if this applies to all of you, but I've never been a runway model material.

So, you know, so thumbing through the latest edition of Gentleman's Quarterly, it's not going to help.

I'm just saying, it's just, it's not going to help. So that being the case, you know, it's fascinating though, but Vogue magazine,

Gentleman's Quarterly, Esquire, you know, all of these different fashion magazines that are designed to really basically strive after this attainment of good looks, of wealth, of influence, of affluence, that, you know, that somehow the sum worth of a human being is in the clothes they wear, the amount of money they have in their bank, the parties they can throw, the house that they own, the car that they drive, the watch that they wear.

Now, my watch should say geek, but that's a different story. And so, you know, this is how we operate.

And so the first king of Israel fits perfectly into this mold. He's got everything going for him, but the thing he doesn't have going for him in relation to the kingdom of God is what?

He doesn't really have faith. He doesn't trust, he doesn't obey the word of God.

When given explicit instructions by God, he goes a different direction altogether.

And then when he falls short and he's confronted with his shortcomings, he blames others for his sin.

And so God has rejected him. He has done things that are not for the king to do, sacrificing animals.

He did not dispense his duties against the Amalekites, did not dispense them at all.

And as a result of it, God has rejected him. So you kind of think of it this way. In scripture, there's the first Adam and then there's the second

Adam. First Adam is the one who plunged us into this mess. The second Adam is Christ, and he's the one who's got us out of it.

In the kingdom of stories of Israel, Saul is the first king and he is like the first Adam.

The second king to come along now is gonna be like Christ. So in his life, we're gonna see play out typological things that make a beeline direct, that's about Jesus kind of thing going on.

So we begin the story of David with these words. Yahweh said to Samuel, how long will you grieve over Saul since I have rejected him from being king over Israel?

Fill your horn with oil and go. I will send you to Jesse the

Bethlehemite, for I have provided for myself a king among his sons.

Wow, is that sentence packed. I will send you to Jesse the

Bethlehemite, I have provided for myself a king among his sons.

Now remember as we were working our way through the Old Testament in Genesis and Exodus, we were always noting up to what point had the scarlet thread of Christ's genealogy come to.

We noted that it came through Adam on into Noah, then to Abraham, to Isaac, to Jacob and their descendants.

And so up to this point, where's the scarlet thread of the Messiah come? David, he has no sons at this point.

The genealogy has come to this point and no further. And so within David, he is, within him is the unborn great, great, great, great, great grandson of his,

Jesus Christ. And as his lineage unfolds, it's gonna come to Jesus.

But he along the way then is a major pinnacle within scripture. You kind of think in scripture, you have these like real high points.

So you're gonna have a high point with Abraham. You're gonna have another high point with Moses in the

Exodus. And then this is a ginormous high point, the story of King David.

And you'll note that the Bible spends an inordinate amount of time in the details and life and ups and downs, persecutions and triumphs of David.

There are few people in scripture written about as much as David. And it's also important for us to remember,

David is a biblical author. Which book did he write? Much of the

Psalms, right? They're attributed to David. So just kind of keep all of that in mind.

So in the sentence here, I will send you to Jesse the Bethlehemite for I have provided for myself a king among his sons.

That almost reads like a double entendre when you got the whole story. Has God provided for himself a king among the sons of Jesse?

Oh, you betcha. Absolutely. But the real king that he's provided for himself from among the sons of Jesse is

Jesus Christ. So this is almost, like I said, a double entendre. God here, you can almost see that it's a little bit of a play on words.

And that's really kind of the gist of all of this. These stories ultimately are pointing us directly to Christ.

And so in bold relief, type and shadow, we have the story of Jesus.

It's amazing when you start to consider the implications of it. So I have provided for myself a king among his sons.

Now, a good way to think of it is this. Oftentimes, Christians have a difficulty putting together the Old and the

New Testament. And where Christians specialize is in the New Testament. They don't know what to do with the

Old. And so how do you kind of put the two books together? It's similar to when

I was growing up as a kid, we had the original Star Wars trilogy. I hope some of you have seen these movies so I don't look totally nerdy.

You knock it off. What was really weird, I remember when

I was a kid, I was in grade school, and Star Wars came out. And it was episode four,

A New Hope. And I saw it at Grauman's Chinese Theater. I mean, it was mind -blowing.

And so you get the story of Luke Skywalker and this rebellion against the evil empire and Darth Vader and all this kind of stuff.

And as the stories, as the movies progressed, you begin to realize, because they divulge this idea that there's a huge backstory that you don't know about that is clearly having a bearing on the stories that are playing out.

So it begins with episode four, goes to episode five, goes to episode six. They should have stopped there. It would have been just great.

But when my son was my age, when the first Star Wars movie came out, they came out with episode one of Star Wars and began to tell the backstory of Anakin Skywalker and Obi -Wan

Kenobi and the Old Republic and the Clone Wars and all this kind of stuff. I don't think they did such a hot job.

I'm not a big fan of the one, two, and three. Anyway, but the idea then is that when you know the full story together, you're able to really kind of appreciate all of the different nuances that appear in the first set.

So oftentimes when we look at Jesus, we as Christians focus in on New Testament.

You know, we start with John or we begin with one of the Gospels, Matthew, Mark, or Luke. And then we look at how the book of Acts and how the church progresses.

And then we get into the epistles. And then you throw in the book of Revelation, which everyone has a difficult time understanding what that book's about because it's so wild in its imagery that it produces, right?

There Jesus appears with a sword coming out of his mouth. And so you put this all together and you kind of got a weird picture of Jesus.

But if you want a fuller picture of Jesus, you have to go into the backstory. And the backstory requires you have a good, firm grasp on the story of David.

And it's critical for properly understanding the biblical doctrine of the kingdom. So you get where I'm going here?

So that being said, the story continues. I'll send you to Jesse, the Bethlehemite, for I provided for myself a king among his sons.

Samuel said, How can I go? If Saul hears it, he will kill me. That's a legitimate concern.

When somebody is reigning as king in a kingdom and somebody else is usurping and claiming to be king as well, that's called treason.

So Samuel's putting this all together. And what's really fun is that God himself comes up with the pretense to kind of give him, to protect him.

So the Lord said, Take a heifer with you and say, I have come to sacrifice to Yahweh.

And invite Jesse to the sacrifice, and I'll show you what you shall do. And you shall anoint for me him whom

I declare to you. Samuel did what Yahweh commanded and came to Bethlehem. The elders of the city came to meet him trembling and said,

Do you come peaceably? Huh, what town is that again? Bethlehem.

First time it's really making a big appearance in Scripture. Do you come peaceably?

He said, Peaceably I have come to sacrifice to Yahweh. Consecrate yourselves. Come with me to the sacrifice.

And he consecrated Jesse and his sons and invited them to the sacrifice. When they came, he looked on Eliab and thought,

Surely the Lord's anointed is before him. One of my favorite lines from the movie Airplane is,

Don't call me Shirley. Yeah, you're right. I picked the wrong day to stop sniffing glue and all that kind of weird stuff, right?

But yeah, in the movie Airplane, there's some kind of danger. And he says, Surely you,

Jess. No, I do not, Jess. And stop calling me Shirley. But anyway. So surely the Lord's anointed is before him.

But the Lord said to Samuel, Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him.

The Lord sees not as man sees. Man looks on the outward appearance.

But Yahweh looks on the heart.

And we're going to learn, as the story of David progresses, that David, unlike Saul, is a great man of faith.

That's what he is all about. He really has amazing trust in Yahweh.

So God looks on the heart. So Jesse called Abinadab, made him pass before Samuel, and he said,

Neither has Yahweh chosen this one. So then Jesse made Shammah pass by.

And he said, No, neither has Yahweh chosen this one. And Jesse made seven of his sons pass before Samuel.

And Samuel said to Jesse, Yahweh has not chosen these. And Samuel said to Jesse, Are all your sons here?

And he said, Well, there remains yet the youngest.

But behold, he is keeping the sheep. And Samuel said to Jesse, Send, get him.

For we will not sit down until he comes here. And he sent and brought him in.

Now he was ruddy, he had beautiful eyes, and he was handsome. And Yahweh said,

Arise, anoint him, for this is he. Then Samuel took the horn of oil, anointed him, and again, these are plays on the

Hebrew word, mashiach, the verb here, mashach, means to anoint.

Anointed him in the midst of his brothers. And the spirit of Yahweh rushed upon David from that day forward.

And Samuel rose up and went to Ramah. As we're looking at this text, this is the first appearance of really the shepherd king in Bethlehem.

And just what we've read is so prophetically significant as it relates to Christ. It's literally amazing when you consider the implications of it.

Let's start, though, by considering the story itself and how it's often misread today.

I've actually reviewed sermons on this text by seeker -driven, purpose -driven, vision -casting leaders.

And usually the way this sermon is preached on this text, it goes something like this. You see, just like David had a big dream destiny that God wanted him to fulfill.

And nobody even thought that he was going to be anything. He was going to amount to nothing.

Where was David when the feast had been called together? Where was

David? He wasn't even invited to the party. He was off tending the sheep, which is one of the lowliest of low jobs back in the ancient world.

Poor David. Nobody saw the potential within him. But God did.

God saw the potential within him because God looks in the heart. You see, God looked in his heart and goes, Oh! Potential.

And so you, too, you need to not be discouraged that other people don't see the potential that you have.

Don't worry. God sees it. Of course, when you hear a sermon like that, it's like, how do you know

I'm not like Eliab or Abinadab, one of the guys who got rejected? Because when

I look in my heart, it's like, how do you know I didn't end up like one of these guys who were cast aside?

They never preach on those guys. How many of Jesse's sons got rejected? No. Fail.

I mean, so how come they never got to experience their dream destiny purpose thingy? Yeah, it doesn't make any sense. So, and when you twist a biblical text like this, what you're doing is you're making it about yourself and you're making it about promises that God has not given.

A few weeks back, I gave a lesson on the fact that God has not called us to have a purpose, but he's called us in Christ to good works.

Big difference between the two. One who's focusing on fulfilling his purpose is really working on fulfilling himself.

It's very narcissistic. But the one who is excelling in good works, and they're done for the purpose of neighbor.

They're not done for the person doing them. They're done for the person who's in need. That's the idea. Does that make sense? So, that completely misses the point.

The Bible doesn't promise that you have some grand dream destiny thingy that God's going to have you fulfill. Far from it.

Instead, Scripture's very clear that we are created in Christ for good works, but this text is not about any of that.

This text is about Christ. This text is in type and shadow pointing us to Christ, and King David is a man of faith.

And it's important to note he's got a good bloodline at this point. It reads quite well.

In fact, we would be good here to review a few things in light of this passage as far as the cross references.

I want to start, though, with Isaiah 53, and I want to show you kind of an idea in Isaiah 53 that I think is fascinating when compared with this text.

Isaiah 53, which is the suffering servant song, one of them in the book of Isaiah, here's what it says.

Who has believed what he has heard from us? To whom has the arm of Yahweh been revealed?

He grew up before him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground, he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him.

He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows acquainted with grief. Isn't it fascinating?

That there is Eliab, and Samuel sees him, and says, surely the

Lord's anointed is before me. He's like, nope. And David is described as ruddy.

He's not beautiful. He's not a GQ model. He's handsome. He has beautiful eyes.

But that's kind of interesting, and the reason behind it is because of what

Isaiah says here talking about Jesus. Jesus, like David, is not a man who would end up with a shirtless

Photoshop shot on the cover of GQ. That's not what

Jesus is about. Jesus is literally kind of a plain, ordinary man, which gives me hope.

I'm just saying. So that's kind of one point, data point to consider in this. But let's take a look at Matthew chapter one.

Matthew chapter one. Let's review a few things here. Starting about half, we'll start with verse...

Let's go ahead and start with verse one and kind of work our way through because it goes pretty quick. This is the book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.

Isn't that interesting? Matthew's genealogy kind of focuses in on Jesus' lineage, and right from verse one is picking up on that he's a descendant of Abraham and a descendant of David.

Pinnacle stuff here. So Matthew continues. Abraham was the father of Isaac.

Isaac, the father of Jacob. Jacob, the father of Judah. We've heard all their stories.

Judah, the father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar. And I love

Matthew's genealogy. Watch the focus. That Judah is the father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar.

If you remember the story, it's one of the more wicked stories in Scripture. Zerah is conceived by an act of prostitution.

An act of prostitution between Judah and Tamar, and yet she's mentioned here in Scripture.

Isn't that interesting? And Perez, the father of Hezron. Hezron, the father of Ram. Ram, the father of Amminadab.

And Amminadab, the father of Nashon. Nashon, the father of Salmon. Salmon, the father of Boaz by Rahab.

So if you are familiar with the story of the children of Israel and their conquest of Canaan, first town to fall is what?

Jericho. Jericho. And we all know the story. The children of Israel basically circled the city once a day for seven days, and then they circled it again on the seventh day, blew the trumpets, the walls came crashing inwards.

The only people to survive were Rahab and her family, and what was hanging outside of her window at the time of the attack?

Scarlet thread. And what I love about the story is that it doesn't tell us the details, but we know what happens shortly after.

Shortly after the fall of Jericho, what happens to Rahab the prostitute? Doesn't the genealogy tell us?

She marries a fellow. Who's the fellow she married? Oh, don't be shy.

Shout it out. Salmon. So Salmon was what at the time he married

Rahab? Salmon was the guy who was the terminus up to that point of the line of Jesus.

So where's the Messiah at the fall of Jericho? The Messiah is with Salmon.

And what happens is after the fall of Jericho, the prostitute marries the

Messiah. You see it? Or we should say the ex -prostitute.

The forgiven prostitute marries the Messiah. You fill in the biblical data and you think, oh my goodness, that's an amazing story.

Amazing story. And when you put the details together, you realize that is in a sense a picture of Christ and his bride.

We were all sinners and idolaters, soiled with sin.

Idolatry in scripture and over again is likened to, well, prostitution.

Each of us were spiritual whores. And it's a terrible thing to say it like that, but you have to kind of say it that strong.

But what has Christ done? He has washed us with water and the Word. He has sanctified us, taken away our sin, and clothed us in His righteousness.

And so He has made us the bride of Christ together. And you can sit there and say it's similar to that.

Jesus choosing the bride of Christ to be His bride. The bride who was sinful and soiled and dirty and guilty, forgiven, made clean, clothed in a beautiful garment.

So same idea here. So Salmon, the father of who? Boaz. Boaz.

This is the story of Ruth and Boaz. So Boaz is the son of Rahab and Salmon. Boaz the father of Obed by Ruth.

Isn't this a wonderful genealogy? Because the women in there, which don't normally appear in Jewish genealogies, the women in there help tell us this amazing gospel story, right?

And so here's Ruth the Moabitess, a Gentile who's grafted into the line of the

Messiah, and she's named Obed the father of Jesse, Jesse the father of David the king.

Now tell me, that isn't amazing. It's absolutely amazing when you kind of consider it.

And so you'll note here that in the opening verses of the book of Matthew, we have

David mentioned in verse 1, David again mentioned in the genealogy in verse 6,

David was the father of Salmon, he's again mentioned again, and so you get the idea of what's going on here.

And then watch what happens with the birth of Jesus. Verse 18,

The birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way, when His mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child from the

Holy Spirit, and her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly.

Where did the two of them live? Nazareth. Any royal palaces there?

None. Small village, backwater part of Israel, maybe 50 families total lived on that hill in that village, maybe 50.

So where has the kingdom come to at this point? Joseph.

Joseph's the legal descendant of King David. And he's the humble carpenter of Nazareth.

But God remembers. God remembers. So her husband Joseph, being a just man, was unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly, but as he considered these things, behold, an angel of Yahweh the

Lord appeared to him in a dream saying, Joseph, watch what he says, Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take

Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. Notice how the angel calls him by his title.

Son of David. Isn't that amazing? There's nothing to look at at Joseph that says he's a king.

And yet the angel knows exactly who he is. She will bear a son, you shall call his name

Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins. All of this took place to fulfill what Yahweh the Lord had spoken by the prophet.

Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name

Emmanuel. Luke 2. We all know this one.

Some of us know this passage by heart from the King James. In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered.

This was the first registration when Quirinius was governor of Syria. And all went to be registered, each to his own town, and Joseph also went up from Galilee from the town of Nazareth to Judea to the city of David, which is called

Bethlehem, because he was of the house and the lineage of David.

You can't get your Bible unless you get David. Kind of get the idea here, right? And anybody who at the time, who's a

Jew, who's being told these things, they're expecting the Messiah to show up and for him to be a son of David.

So he went to Judea to the city of David, which is called

Bethlehem. Notice Bethlehem again, because he was of the house and lineage of David, to be registered with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child.

And while they were there, the time came for her to give birth. And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger because there was no place for them in the inn.

And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field keeping watch over their flock by night.

And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear.

So notice here, Bethlehem, shepherds, David, they're reunited, if you would, in this passage.

And that's kind of the whole point. So an angel of the

Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear. And the angel said to them, Fear not, for behold

I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a

Savior, who is Christ the Lord, and this will be a sign for you. You will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.

And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly hosts praising God and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom

He is pleased. Isn't that fascinating? So there's

David in 1 Samuel 16, tending the sheep. He wasn't even invited to the party, and yet he was the actual guest of honor.

And so he is anointed. He is now the Messiah. He's one of God's anointed. And we see in motif in the city of Bethlehem, now the city of David, these themes that just point us directly to Jesus.

This isn't about you fulfilling a dream destiny. This is about Christ fulfilling His mission to come and die for our sins, to call us back to God, to forgive us, renew us, and lead us, so that we may delight in His will and walk in His ways.

You see? This is what it's all about. I like the smile. You know where I'm getting that from, right?

Exactly. So coming back then, we take a look now.

So David is now the anointed but not yet consummated king of Israel.

Isn't that interesting? Or coronated. Anointed but not yet coronated king of Israel.

And those of you who know the story, how many times does David plot in his heart how to kill

Saul so that he could become king? Zero. Zero.

So the anointed but not yet coronated king, he submits himself to the reigning king, who is established by God.

And he takes on the form of a servant. You see it?

The anointed but not yet coronated king, we see in kind of type and shadow

Jesus' incarnation and how He humbles Himself. And He does nothing.

He doesn't raise a finger to make Himself king. Not one.

In fact, He's going to have a couple of very great opportunities to slit the throat of the reigning king, and He will have none of it.

Isn't that interesting? No, He doesn't go after His dream destiny. Yeah. Think about what faith this takes.

I mean, there He is, the anointed but not yet coronated king of Israel. And I want you to think about this.

So much of the laments that we see in the Psalms where David cries out,

How long, O Lord, will You forget me forever? How long will my enemy be exalted over me?

And he talks about how a band of people have surrounded him and their tongues are like swords to pierce my heart.

Or they have dug a pit that I should fall into, but they have fallen into it themselves. You think of all of the really raw emotion and the treachery and just the pain and agony that David goes through in this experience.

And the suffering he goes through. And that suffering ends up being penned in the Psalms and it ends up prefiguring

Christ. Himself. And there's some of it that is just straight up prophecy regarding Christ.

Let me give you an example. Coming back, let's take a look at Psalm 22. My God, my

God, why have You forsaken me? To the choir master according to the doe of the dawn, a psalm of David.

Why are you so far from saving me from the words of my groaning?

Oh my God, I cry by day but You do not answer and by night but I find no rest.

Yet, You are holy. Enthroned on the praises of Israel.

In You our fathers trusted. They trusted and You delivered them. To You they cried and were rescued.

And in You they trusted and they were not put to shame. But I'm a worm.

Not a man. I'm scorned by mankind. Despised by the people.

All who see me mock me. They make mouths at me and wag their heads. He trusts in the

Lord. Let Him deliver Him. Let Him rescue Him for He delights in Him.

Yet, You are He who took me from the womb. You made me trust You at my mother's breasts.

On You I was cast from birth. And from my mother's womb You have been my God. Be not far from me for trouble is near and there's none.

Tell me that isn't raw. And so we're going to see with David then this amazing motif which is then exemplified in the incarnation of Christ.

That though He is King He is servant and He is slave.

And He does nothing to exalt Himself but waits for God to exalt Him. And in the meantime

He is persecuted. He is hunted like a dog. He is made to wander in desert places.

He is made to live among His enemies. And His life is always, always, always in danger.

Isn't that amazing? Well, that's with David.

He's anointed and He's going to go back to being a shepherd. He's anointed but not coronated so He goes back to being a shepherd.

But Saul, he's now king. And you're going to note that Saul is going to protect his kingship in the way you've described.

And he wants his sons to reign after him. And they're living levitalocha, man.

They're set for life like you've talked about. So Jonathan is a fellow who literally is part of the right family and doing very well for himself in that sense.

So they can say that they're descended from King David. Oh, by the time of Joseph.

Is that what you're thinking too? Wealth can't be spread to that many. And then the other thing, there is no wealth to spread.

There's no kingdom. There's no kingdom at that point. And then the other thing is that although coming through a royal lineage you're going to have different branches.

The question is that which of them is the legal heir? When it comes to Joseph, God knows.

But here's the interesting thing. What we've learned from Joseph's genealogy in Matthew is that Joseph's genealogy comes through a fellow who

God said he would never allow one of his descendants to be on his throne. So Jesus is not the genetic descendant of Joseph.

Joseph is his legal father, which is kind of necessary because technically he's the one who has legal claim to the throne.

But Jesus is genetically related to Mary. And what's fascinating about that is that many believe it's her genealogy we see in Luke.

And so what's fascinating is that God fulfills his prophecy by not allowing one of the descendants of this,

I think it was a Jeroboam. Oh, I forget his name. It's like the last king of Israel before they're taken into captivity in Babylon.

And this fellow, God said none of his descendants will ever sit on the throne. But Mary's descendants, she has also a legal claim, if you would.

Jesus is genetically related to her. So what's funny is that Jesus has the legal claim to the throne without the direct genetic lineage to this other fellow.

And at the same time, God's able to fulfill what seems like an impossible prophecy to fulfill, which is kind of fascinating.

So there's kind of a break in it. So that little split in the genealogy between Luke and Matthew opens it up for Christ to actually have a legitimate claim to the throne and to be a direct descendant of David without God having to renege on his promise to never allow this fellow's descendants to sit on the throne.

It's kind of interesting. Okay. Jesus, when he is on the cross, he cries out,

Eloi, Eloi, Laba Sabachthani. My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Now this is a direct quote from Psalm 22.

No doubt about it. Now here's the fun part. Did Jesus cry it out?

Or did he sing it? Because this was the psalm he knew the tune to. It's kind of a fascinating thing.

Alright, now let's read a little bit more of the psalm. I want you to see how this then directly relates to Christ because you're going to see that there's more to this psalm that we've been looking at.

So you are, verse 9, You are he who took me from the womb. You made me to trust at my mother's breast. On you

I was cast from my birth. And from my mother's womb you have been my God. Be not far from me. Trouble is near me.

There is none to help. Many bulls encompass me. Strong bulls of Bashan surround me. They open wide their mouths at me like ravening and a roaring lion.

I am poured out like water. All my bones are out of joint. My heart is like wax. It is melt within my breast.

My strength is dried up like a potsherd. My tongue sticks to my jaws. You lay me in the dust of death.

For dogs encompass me. A company of evildoers encircles me. They have pierced my hands and my feet.

I can count all my bones. Isn't that beautiful? So you see here in Psalm 22 that this is a psalm that prophetically is fulfilled in the crucifixion of Christ.

Not just in his words, but also in the fact that his hands and feet were pierced.

And it even goes on to talk about how they divided my clothes and cast lots. It's an amazing psalm.

They divide my garments among them and for my clothing they cast lots. It's so amazing when you put it all together.

Yeah, right. And yet David often is writing these psalms out of the anguish of his own experiences.

And David is a man who is made to suffer. And so we're going to see then as the story progresses that we love the story of David and Goliath and we'll get to that next week.

But the story of David from this point forward is really going to be a story of an anointed, not yet coronated servant king who is eventually exalted by God to the office of king.

Which is, again, following Christ. He's anointed, not yet coronated servant who's persecuted and suffers like David.

So David's sufferings show and type and shadow what we're to experience. Psalm 22 picks up on some of the suffering that David experiences, and yet prophetically is pointing all to Christ.

So you don't get Jesus if you don't get David. And if you think you understand

David apart from Jesus, oh my goodness, you've only got like a third of the story. You see, the two have to be pushed together in motif.

Now, verse 14 of 1 Samuel 16 then reads, Now the spirit of Yahweh departed from Saul, and a harmful spirit from the

Lord tormented him. Tough verse. Tough verse for a lot of reasons.

Now, oftentimes people mistakenly believe that Christianity teaches dualism.

I don't know if you're familiar with the term dualism, but it kind of works this way. That within the cosmos of the spiritual realm there are arrayed kind of equal forces.

Equal forces of good versus evil. And they are pitched in cosmic battle, one trying to get above or claim some victory or advantage over the other.

And so they're kind of pitched in this constant tug of war. And for the most part, it's a stalemate, and sometimes it goes one way and the other times it goes another.

And we're kind of stuck in the middle of this cosmic conflict. It's not what Scripture teaches. And this statement, this verse, this passage, teaches us a concept that is rough to get our minds around.

And you kind of see it in the book of Job. In the book of Job, in the opening chapter, you have the angels appearing before God, and who also appears before God?

The devil himself. And the devil tells

God he's been wandering to and fro over all of the planet, you know, restlessly and whatever. And God says,

Hey, have you considered my servant Job? Oh, I hate that guy. You see him swinging his tail with his pitchfork.

I just can't stand that guy. And so he says the only reason why he loves you is because you protect him and you've made him wealthy.

If you take all of that away, he's going to curse your name. God says, how much do you want to bet?

You know, alright, game on. And then God says, you can bring harm to him, but you cannot do this, that, or the other thing.

And you sit there and go, whoa. You mean to tell me the devil can't do anything without God's permission?

Yeah. The way we Lutherans talk about it is this.

We always remind everybody that the devil is God's devil. And you sit there and go, well,

God doesn't tempt anyone. No, he does not. God never tempts anybody. And so the devil wants to be at this type of work.

And so the devil comes knocking on God's door and says, I'd really like to rough up Marilyn Matheson.

Can I please do that? And God says, no, not tomorrow. Come back in a week, we'll talk. Please, can

I make her life miserable? Okay, you can't. But you can only go this far and no farther.

It's a tough doctrine. But that's kind of how this plays out.

Is that somewhat like the devil trying to seek favor with God and get back in his good graces? I am going to say this.

I dare not, and I mean this, try to figure out how the devil thinks or operates. But that really goes with the verse that God does not give us more than we can handle because he knows.

He does not allow us to be tempted beyond what we can bear. Now we have to make sure. It's not that he doesn't allow us to have more than we can handle.

I'm pretty convinced that God puts us in all kinds of situations that are way above our head and there's no way we can get through them.

I'm absolutely convinced of that. Been there, done that. I've got the t -shirts. However, it does say in Scripture that we're not tempted beyond what?

And that Christ will always provide a rescue in the midst of our temptations. So we've got to be careful how we think about this.

So this is a tough doctrine. And I don't even know how to properly kind of flesh it out and I don't like thinking about this.

And the reason why is because ultimately when it comes down to if I'm being made to suffer and the devil is tempting me or the devil is harassing me, or the same with you, he hasn't been permitted to do...

he's not acting on his own recognizance. God has given him permission to do this.

Isn't that weird? So, wow.

How long, O Lord, will you forget me forever? How long will my enemy be exalted over me?

How long will he taunt me saying he trusted in the Lord, let him save him. Oftentimes, oftentimes, and there's biblical text that would back that up, that what we're dealing with oftentimes in these types of sufferings is the testing and the tempering of our faith and the further burning away of the dross of our sinful flesh and its desires.

And boy, does it stink. At the same time you read

Romans 8 -28 this morning. Yeah, right. And that was the assigned text. No one could point to me and say, you cherry -picked that.

Nope, it was assigned. Yeah. The fun thing about Hitchens is that you have to take away his ability to use

God's law against God. He's assuming a morality and he's assuming God's breaking that morality.

And it's like, whoa, whoa, whoa. Where'd you get your idea of good and bad from? Your idea of good and evil from? We need to take a look at your standard and you find out he totally ripped it off from Scripture or from the law of God written on his heart.

So take away his ability to use morals against God because you're using God's morals against God while denying that he exists.

Yeah, that's a silly game. You can't do that. Let's keep reading now. So, spirit of the

Lord, Yahweh, departed from Saul. Harmful spirit from Yahweh tormented him and Saul's servant said to him,

Behold, now a harmful spirit from God is tormenting you. Let our Lord now command your servants who are before you to seek out a man who is skillful in playing the liar and when the harmful spirit from God is upon you, he will play it and you will be well.

Now, think back to the Looney Tunes commercials. Not commercials, cartoons. Remember Looney Tunes?

Bugs Bunny cartoons some ginormous ape is out of control. And what does Bugs Bunny do?

He whips out of nowhere a violin and begins playing. And the out of control ape goes and Bugs Bunny says,

Ah, music, it tames the savage beast. This is where the idea comes from. But here's the interesting thing.

If you know your Bible, you're going to realize it's more than just music. And so you'll note, the anointed but not yet coronated king of Israel, he now is going to be taken into the service of the existing king and he doesn't really have the best job in the whole world, but he's literally working for a crazy guy, you know, which is always so fun.

So Saul said to the servants, Provide for me a man who can play well and bring him to me. One of the young men answered,

Behold, I've seen a son of Jesse, the Bethlehemite, who is skillful in playing, a man of valor, a man of war, prudent in speech, a man of good presence, and Yahweh is with him.

Pretty good resume. So then Saul sent messengers to Jesse and said, Send me David your son, who is with the sheep.

Yeah. So the anointed but not yet coronated king of Israel continues his job as shepherd.

But then he gets the knock on the door or the knock on the sheep gate and he's taken into the service of the king.

So Jesse took a donkey laden with bread and a skin of wine. Hmm. Bread and wine.

Hmm. They sure do show up a lot in Scripture, don't they? Hmm. So Jesse took a donkey with bread and wine and a young goat, sent them by David his son to Saul.

David came to Saul, entered his service, and Saul loved him greatly, and he became his armor bearer.

He's a servant in service of the king. He becomes an armor bearer.

And Saul sent to Jesse, saying, Let David remain in my service, for he has found favor in my sight.

And whenever the harmful spirit from God was upon Saul, David took the liar and he played it with his hand.

So Saul was refreshed and was well, and the harmful spirit departed from him. Now lest you think that it was just the music that did it, please consult the

Psalms. So what do you think David is doing when he's informed?

David, he triggered. He's crazy right now. We need your help. He grabs his liar, and he begins singing.

So what Saul got to hear while David played was the

Word of God being sung into existence. And it becomes the

Psalms. It's not the mere playing of the tune. It's the combination of the

Word of God inspired from the heart of David and sung in the presence of Saul that causes the evil spirit to recede away and to disappear, and for his mind to be restored.

It's great. It's marvelous when you think about it, right? What a fascinating story.