Well, let me ask that you turn with me to 2 Samuel chapter 5 this evening. I have it listed that we're going to look at verses 1 through 16, but I've extended that through the end of the chapter. So we're going to look at chapter 5 and verses 1 through 25. But before I read that text and say a couple of opening comments, even before that, let me pray. Our gracious God, we are thankful. We are thankful, people, because of who you are. And Lord, you are great. You are a tremendous and wonderful God. The Bible gives us many of your attributes. speaks to us about those attributes that are not ours as creatures. You are sovereign and immutable and omniscient and omnipresent, all of those things, and you are wonderful. But it also talks about those attributes that you share with us, things like holiness and love and mercy, and we delight in those as well. But Father, as we pause before you this evening, one of the great things that we contemplate almost on a daily basis is the fact that we can call you our Father. And we know how good you are to us and we know how you long to be good to us. And so Father, as we come tonight, we expect good things from you because you've promised to give us good things when we ask. And what we ask for this evening is more of Christ. We long to grow in his likeness. We long to be like him. We want to be righteous like him. And so, Lord, we look to the law, not as a way of salvation, but as a way of emulation. Father, we are thankful for the goodness and the abundance of the grace of Christ, and for how that has molded and shaped us. Father, as we come tonight, we take a look at an Old Testament figure, an important one, one who casts a long shadow toward the New Testament. And Lord, we pray that even in looking at that shadow, we will see Christ. So Father, bless us tonight and continue to work in us what is pleasing in your sight. And do so to your great glory, for we ask it in Jesus' name. Amen. Scripture tells us a great deal in a small space. sometimes find it interesting when you turn to a text like the one that we looked at today in Kings, we see an entire chapter, many verses given to a story about a prophet who goes to the north and preaches and proclaims to the altar and has a showdown with the king and then is on his way home. It's a compact story, it's a one event in the life of this prophet and it's given a lot of space But then you turn to another portion of scripture where a lot is given in a little portion of space, and that's what we find in our text tonight. We find a good many things stuffed into the bag of a few verses. For instance, there's a coronation here. And not just a coronation, there's a, well, let's get a new capital as well while we're at it. And so there's a seizing of a new capital here. And not only that, there's a fight with the old enemies of Israel. All of those things are here in just a few verses. And the thing that you have to ask when you look at a text like this is, well, why? Why are there so many things tucked into these few verses? And I think the answer, the variety of answers could be given, but one of the answers that we might give is to say something like this. Well, of course these events are important and we need to learn about them, but these verses are important not so that we can learn the details of each event. But these are important so that we can see through them to something else. And I think that something else is the Lord Jesus Christ. I think that this text is inviting us to see through these events and especially the character of David so that we can stretch forward and see something of David's greater son. I think that's in part what this text is about. Of course it's about historical events and historical details. but it's given to us in such a way that I think we are to look forward through these things and see David's greater son. So with that by way of introduction, let me have you turn with me to 2 Samuel chapter five, and then I want us to read all 25 verses. So this is the word of the living God, the infallible and inerrant word of the living God. Hear it. Then all the tribes of Israel came to David at Hebron and said, behold, We are your bone and 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 shepherd of my people Israel, and you shall be 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 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. And the king and his men went to Jerusalem against the Jebusites, the inhabitants of the land, who said to David, you will not come in here, but the blind and the lame will ward you off, thinking David cannot come in here. Nevertheless, David took the stronghold of Zion, that is, the city of David, and David said on that day, whoever would strike the Jebusites, let him get up the water shaft to attack the lame and the blind, who are hated by David's soul. Therefore it is said, The blind and the lame shall not come into the house. And David lived in the stronghold and called it the city of David. And David built the city all around from Milo inward. And David became greater and greater, for the Lord, the God of hosts, was with him. In Hiram, king of Tyre sent messengers to David, and cedar trees also carpenters and masons who built David a house. 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 David took more concubines and wives from Jerusalem after he came from Hebron. And more sons and daughters were born to David. And there are the names of those who were born to him in Jerusalem, Shammuah, Shobab, Nathan, Solomon, Ibar, Elishua, Nepheg, Jephia, Elishma, Eliad, and Eliphelit. When the Philistines heard that David had been anointed king over Israel, all the Philistines went up to search for David. But David heard of it and went down to the stronghold. Now the Philistines had come and spread out in the valley of Rephaim, and David inquired of the Lord, shall I go up against the Philistines? Will you give them into my hand? And the Lord said to David, go up, for I will certainly give the Philistines into your hand. And David came to Baal-parazim, and David defeated them there. And he said, the Lord has broken through my enemies before me like a breaking flood, therefore the name of that place is called Baal-parazim. And the Philistines left their idols there, and David and his men carried them away. And the Philistines came up yet again, and spread out in the valley of Rephim. And when David inquired of the Lord, he said, you shall not go up, go around to the rear and come up against them opposite the balsam trees. And when you hear the sound of marching in the tops of the balsam trees, then rouse yourself, for then the Lord has gone out before you to strike down the army of the Philistines. And David did as the Lord commanded him and struck down the Philistines from Geba to Gezer. Well, let's pause for just a minute, and shall we pray briefly? Father, thanks so much for this text about David. And Lord, we pray that you will bless us as we look at it tonight. And we pray that you'll feed our souls, not upon the fleshly David, but upon the eternal David, your son, the Lord Jesus Christ. We pray in his name. Amen. Well, if we're going to see Christ in the text tonight, one of the things that we need to do is we need to see David. If we're gonna see Christ through David, we need to look at David. So what I want us to do is I want us to look at David, and I want us to look at the events in David's life, and I want us to then see through them to the Lord Jesus Christ. I actually have four points tonight that I'd like to work with as we go through the text. And the first is this. I want us to think about the reasons for Israel's reunion. The reasons for Israel's reunion. And after thinking about those, I'd like us to think about the reasons for David's rise. The reasons for David's rise. His rise to power, of course. And then thirdly, I'd like us to think about reasons for David's growing reputation. reasons for David's growing reputation. So far we have reasons for Israel's reunion, reasons for David's rise, reasons for David's growing reputation, and finally I'd like to look at reasons for David's reward, reasons for David's reward. So let's first of all look at reasons for Israel's reunion. There are three given in this text. There are three reasons given. And they're all given by the people of Israel as they come down to Hebron in order to make David king. And in part, we need to understand that this is not just making a man king. This is mending a land, mending a divided kingdom. And so what they're doing is they're bringing reunification. And so this is Israel's reunion. And here are the reasons for it. And they center around David. First of all, notice that they say, you are bone and flesh. You are our bone and flesh. In other words, isn't this interesting? After years of fighting, they recognize that David is one of them. This is a brother. And they recognize that, and they say, you are our bone and our flesh. We are you, David, and you are us. Now, I think we could let that go and just say, well, of course he is. He's an Israelite. That just stands to reason. I think there's something stronger here than this that even captures David's imagination. Because if you think ahead to chapter 19, where David has been thrust out of Jerusalem because Absalom had been sitting at the city gates capturing the hearts of the people as they went into the city, and David ends up having to leave the city in a rush. And then what happens? David, after some turmoil, the loss of his son, comes back to Jerusalem. And what does he say to the people as he returns? He says the same thing to them. You are bone and flesh. You are my bone and flesh. He uses the same kind of phraseology when he returns. And so actually, this captures the imagination of David, and he brings it forward many years later when he returns. But I want you to know something. I want you to know that this phrase certainly was given to the inspired writer, not simply so that David could pick it up later in chapter 19 and utter it to his own brethren. But this phrase, bone and flesh, is taken up by the inspired author, the Holy Spirit, and placed into the author's mind who wrote Luke. Now I want you to hear this. This is in, sorry, Hebrews. I want you to listen to Hebrews and chapter two and listen to verse 14. This is what it says. Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery. In Galatians, he is born of a woman. He is, in Romans, in the likeness of sinful flesh. What we find is the New Testament authors are simply saying to us that this greater son of David is in our flesh and in our bones. That's first. Second, there's a military reason. They come to David and they say, it was you who led us. It was you who brought us in, it was you who brought us out. They recognize David's military prowess. Now, I've already mentioned that in Hebrews chapter two, but one of the things that you see is in 1 John chapter three, we see something about the Lord Jesus and the reason why he came. It says this, the reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil. And so the military prowess recognized in David ought to also be recognized in us. In other words, the Lord Jesus Christ came to destroy the works of the devil. I'm gonna pick this up in just a little bit because I want us to think about this a little bit more from another angle. But I want us to think very carefully about that just a couple of minutes a little bit later because this is something that actually encourages our heart. But then there's a third reason that they give. And that third reason is the Lord promised. The Lord promised that you would be shepherd of Israel. Now, one can certainly look at this cynically and say, well, if you knew that, why did you hold out so long? I mean, why didn't you come right from the beginning? But we can answer that question, can't we? Because we're all sinful human beings. We're sinful flesh, and sometimes we hold onto the wrong things. And sometimes we stay divided for the wrong reasons. And of course, that was just as true for Israel as it can be for us. But here is the beautiful, The beautiful imagery is this. The beautiful imagery is that you are our shepherd. The Lord promised that you would be our shepherd. And you know, the beautiful thing about that is when you stretch forward to the New Testament and you see in John chapter 10, Jesus says what? He says, I am the good shepherd of the sheep. And you know, that imagery can be filled out with Psalm 23 or Isaiah 40, verse 11, where it talks about God being our shepherd and gathering us up in his arms. And you know, when you think about the confidence they had in David, when you think about, as we were reminded this morning, what a great King Josiah was, and he was a great king, pales in comparison to the Lord Jesus Christ, but I want you to think about what it must be like to think about, to have, rather, a leader who you trust and you can trust them to lead you and guide you in the paths of righteousness. I want you to think about that for a minute because there is not a person on earth that we can trust to lead us in that way. But we can trust the Lord God to lead us through his son in that way. And David is a picture of that. And we're gonna see that he's a broken picture of that, a sinful picture of that. But he is a picture of that. And what I want you to capture is that it's David who brings unification to a broken nation, to the North and the South in this case. But I want you to think again to the New Testament. And what does it say in Ephesians chapter two? But the Lord Jesus Christ brought the two into one. brought the Jews and the Gentiles into one body, his own body, brought unification of two peoples. And so we see just wonderful pictures of what Jesus will do in this brief few verses. Well, there's a second reason I'd like to look at. I'd like to look at reasons for David's rise. Verse 10 says that David grew greater and greater. Now, the obvious question is, and maybe the answer is obvious, but why? Well, the answer is because the Lord was with him. The Lord was with him. The Lord was with David. That's what it says in the text. Now, here's the perplexing thing. The perplexing thing is that in the midst of all of this, we get this story about going and grabbing Jerusalem, getting a new capital. Now, this is, I think, strategic for David to do. Why? Because he's king of Hebron and he's king of the tribe of Judah, but he's gotta have a place that's a little more north and it's a little more accommodating. He's gotta be strategic about being king over both the north and the south, and so he selects Jerusalem. But one of the things that I think we can't miss is the fact that David selects Jerusalem because Jerusalem is an important place in the life of the patriarchs. I want you to think about this statement. It comes to us from 2 Chronicles chapter three and verse one, and it says this. This is when Solomon is building the temple of the Lord. Listen to what it says. Then Solomon began to build the house of the Lord in Jerusalem on Mount Moriah. Now where is Mount Moriah? Well, Mount Moriah is in the Old Testament where Abraham was told, take your son, your only son, take Isaac, and take him to a place I will tell you about, and there I want you to sacrifice him. And you remember, he took him to Mount Moriah. And you remember there, he bound his son, he prepared him as a sacrifice, he raised the knife over his head, ready to plunge it, and God said, Abraham, Abraham, and Abraham said, here I am. And he stayed his hand, and remember, the Lord provided by giving him the ram and the thicket. And that became the sacrifice. And this Mount Moriah is in Jerusalem. where the temple is built. And David understood the long history, he understood what happened there, he understood that God provided on that mount. And so he didn't just say, you know what, this is a strategic thing, I'm gonna go, Jebusites have a city, I'm gonna go grab that one, I think it's good. No, what he did was he went there because he understood his history. He understood his lineage. He understood who he was and who they were all from, their father Abraham. But there is a kind of an interesting thing about this story. I mean you have this story and of course the story tells us that this is not only Jerusalem but Zion, the city of David, But three times it mentions the lame and the blind. Three times. And it actually says that David hated the lame and the blind. And you gotta come away from that asking yourself, what? And you can maybe talk about that in terms of, well, when we think about a sacrifice, it wasn't to be lame, it wasn't to have a blemish on it, it was to be perfect, and so on. You can talk about that. But it says, David hated the lame and the blind. And so you have to ask yourself, well, that David really hate the lame and the blind, and I think there's a little easier answer to it than just saying David hated the lame and the blind. I want you to think with me about this. I want you to think that in just a couple of short chapters, what we're gonna find is we're gonna find that David says, hey, is there anybody left from Jonathan's house, the house of Saul, that I can show kindness to? And somebody says, yeah, there is, there's a guy by the name of Mephibosheth, but he's lame in his feet. And David says, well, bring him. And what does he do? He adopts him as his son and sits him at his table. That doesn't seem like somebody who hates the lame and the blind. So how do we understand this text? Well, again, I think there's an easier way to understand it. I want you to just listen to the flow of the story, right? Verse six, we'll start there. And the king and his men went to Jerusalem against the Jebusites, the inhabitants of the land, who said to David, you will not come in here, but the blind and the lame will ward you off, thinking David cannot come in here. In other words, the lame and the blind could ward you off. David is so weak that the lame and the blind could ward you off. Verse seven. Nevertheless, David took the stronghold of Zion, that is, the city of David, and David said on that day, whoever would strike the Jebusites, let him get up the water shaft to attack the lame and the blind. In other words, he calls, I think this is the simple explanation of it, he calls the Jebusites the lame and the blind. In other words, if you would conquer the Jebusites, then Make your way up that water shaft and chase the lame and the blind, the Jebusites, the people of the city. And I think that that's why it says that his soul hated the lame and the blind. He was calling the Jebusites the lame and the blind. And therefore it is said, the blind and the lame shall not come into this house. Now, people take that and they say, well, that became a saying in Israel. Well, maybe. But maybe it was understood in those days to mean that the lame and the blind were the heathen, the Jebusites. That the heathen will not come into this house, that's the idea. I think that's a way of understanding the text. that doesn't place hatred for the lame and the blind on David when especially he's going to take a lame man into his own house as son in just a few short chapters. Well, the reason for David's rise is that the Lord was with him. But what about reasons for David's growing reputation? Now this is fascinating. It starts in verse 11. In verse 11 we read that Hiram of Tyre, it's in the north, it's just a few miles away from the border of Israel. Hiram of Tyre supplies materials and masons so that David can have a house built. I want you to think about that. That's not one of the 12 tribes of Israel saying, hey, let's send some trees and some masons so we can help David and we can build. This is a pagan. This is a Gentile saying, hey, we'll send some help your way to build a house for you and also some materials. Why? Because the Lord was with David. But I want you to catch something that's added in this section that's different from the description of David's rise. Yes, the Lord was with him, but listen to what the text says was the purpose of all this. David's kingship was for the purpose of his people. Look at what it says. It says, 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. Jerusalem was given to David, David's rise to power and David's growing reputation were for the people of Israel. Let me put it this way, very simply, David's rise to power was for the good of the church. It's for the good of the people of God. Now I want you to think about the Lord Jesus Christ. Do you remember what it says in Ephesians 1, 22? This is a fantastic verse, especially when you hold it in tension with what we just read. Listen to this. I'll start reading in verse 21. Far above all rule and authority and power and dominion and above every name that is named, not only in this age but in the one to come, and he, that is the Father, put all things under his, that is Christ's, feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all. I want you to, I want you to, I want you to just grab for a minute that imagery. Because it takes us back to the military prowess of David. Here is the Lord Jesus Christ who came to destroy the works of the devil, and every enemy is now his footstool. Every enemy. Everything that is named in this age and in the age to come has been placed under his feet. All things are his footstool. And it says that is a gift to the church. You realize what that means. If we understand what that means, if we really take that to heart, that means that we don't have anything to fear from anything that is named in this age or in the age to come. That does not mean that every providence will be easy. It won't be. But I'll tell you what it does mean. It means that every providence has a purpose. Every providence has a purpose. Every providence has a purpose for the glorification of the son who has everything under his feet. I want to tell you something. This is exactly what we find told to the people who are in exile in 1 Peter. I want you to grab this just for a minute. In 1 Peter, these are people who have been exiled by the emperor. Now, in chapter 2 and verse 13, he tells them, be subject for the Lord's sake to every human institution, whether to the emperor as supreme or to the governor as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good. And anyone in exile can say, wait a minute. We have been exiled by the emperor, and he's punishing the good and rewarding the evil. Now, I'll tell you what Peter says. Peter says at the end of that long section where he says, be subject, be subject, be subject, he says this. And this is great. through the resurrection of Christ, who has gone into, Christ has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God with angels, authorities, and powers, having been subjected to him. In other words, Peter doesn't say, I know, I know, I'm really sorry about all this, I don't have this worked out in my theology. No, at the end of this long section, he says, now I've got news for you. Not a good providence for you, I understand that. God will have to explain that to you, but I can't explain this. Even these authorities, even that emperor is under the subjection of the Lord Jesus Christ. That has got to fill us with boldness and confidence because we understand that everything the church experiences is for the exaltation of the Son. And God's purpose for us will not fail because it is for his son. And then finally, I want us to look at the fourth reason, the reasons for David's reward. When the Philistines heard David had been made king over the northern region, they came for David. David was obviously down at Hebron, so he goes back up to the stronghold. I think this is fascinating. You know, this is a fairly new stronghold. This is Jerusalem. This is not someplace that he's used to. I mean, it would be far easier for him to stay in Hebron where he's comfortable, but he doesn't. He goes up to the stronghold. He goes up to Jerusalem. And what does he do? And this is fantastic. Twice he inquires of the Lord. And I'll tell you what we're supposed to see in that. We're supposed to see that just as Here he takes the kingdom. We're supposed to see back in chapter 2, when he's in chapter 2 and he's made king over Hebron, what does he do? He inquires twice of the Lord there. Now he inquires twice about the same thing, two different questions. but he inquires twice. And so when we get to the end, when he actually becomes king over the North and the South, he inquires of the Lord again and he inquires twice. And we're supposed to understand that his seven and a half years between being king of Hebron and being king of the North and the South, those are bounded by inquiries of the Lord. In other words, wouldn't it be great if your life could be summed up from beginning to end as saying he or she was a person of prayer? They inquired of the Lord. their best years were given to prayer. They weren't perfect, but I'll tell you what, they were people of prayer. You know, I don't know about you, but one of the things I want said about me is he was faithful. Don't you want that said about you? If you could have only one thing said about your life, wouldn't it be he was faithful, she was faithful? And that includes faithful to inquire of the Lord. And that could be said of David. But there were other things that David did. In this text, the Lord tells him to do something. In verse 25, David obeys it. And as a result, and this is delicious, isn't it? He captures their idols. I mean, you know what I mean? After the Philistines grabbed the ark and took it back and put it in Dagon's temple, you know, that whole messy affair, it's gotta feel so good to just gather up the trinkets. You know what I mean? and then destroy them. And again, that's got to be a picture of 1 John 3, 8, the Lord came to destroy the works of the devil. Here's what I want to leave you with. If David is a great shepherd of Israel, good shepherd of Israel, and his renown just grows greater and greater, how can we not have confidence in David's greater son and all that he'll do for his people and all that he's doing for us? How can we not? If those people back then could have that kind of confidence in David, why, how in the world can we not have confidence in Jesus? May it be so, because no purpose of his will fail. Father in heaven, thank you for the day and for the time you've given to us, for the blessing of life in Christ. Lord, thank you for the word that you've given to us about David and how it casts us forward in our thinking to the Lord Jesus Christ. May our minds ever go forward to Him and think about Him and love Him more. And we pray these things in His name. Amen. Well, let's take up the latter half