It is a story of immense drama, pathos even. As the army marches out to battle against Absalom the son, David the father begs his commanders, deal gently for my sake with the young man Absalom. One of the commanders, Joab by name, doesn't listen to the father's entreaties. Instead, as the young man hangs suspended between heaven and earth, unwanted by heaven, unwanted by earth, Joab plunges three javelins into the young man Absalom's heart. He might just as well have plunged those javelins into David the father's heart. The young man Absalom becomes, oh Absalom, my son, my son, my son, my son, Absalom. And David, the father, becomes like Rachel, weeping for her children, refusing to be comforted. Any person with an ounce of compassion feels for David. What anguish filled his heart. What unspeakable grief. So what do you think of this whole scenario? Was Absalom's death a good thing or was it a bad thing? Do we applaud Joab for his sense of justice? Or do we affirm David for his tender love? There is really in this passage a tension, isn't there, between those two things? The justice displayed by Joab, the tender love displayed by David. How will it be resolved? Can it be resolved? It might seem obvious at first glance that we ought to side with Joab in his justice. After all, all that we've learned from Absalom, or about Absalom from the writer, shows us that Absalom was a scoundrel. He was a rebel, a rebel against the Lord's anointed. He thought nothing of rejecting the man whom God had chosen. He thought nothing of enthroning himself in the place of not only a king, but a king who was at the same time his father. If the promise of blessing is given to those who honor their father and mother, certainly the promise of cursing belongs to those who dishonor their father, and no one has ever dishonored their father like Absalom dishonored his. People like that deserve to die. God's justice requires it. Isn't that what He said in the Garden of Eden? In God's universe, there can be only one king. And anyone who does not submit to that one king deserves to die. And in God's Israel, there is no room for two kings. And the king whom God appointed was none other than David. David was the divinely anointed king. And what's more, one of the reasons why God anointed kings to rule on earth over his people was to execute justice. That was one of his callings. He was to rule God's people on God's behalf, ensuring that justice and righteousness rolled on like a river throughout the land. And that's why the book of Samuel, the second book, paints David in such a good light at the beginning of his reign. You remember how David, when he had opportunity to kill Saul, the Lord's anointed, he refused. And after Saul was dead and an Amalekite came to David bearing Saul's armband and his crown, claiming that he had killed King Saul, David immediately put the man to death. How dare you confess that you have killed the Lord's anointed? Go strike him down, David ordered. And he was right. Those who harass the Lord's anointed, who oppose those whom God has chosen, deserve to die. It is victory then when justice triumphs, when evildoers are destroyed. And so when Absalom is killed, You can understand, I trust, the elation of Ahimeaz, the son of Zadok, and why he wanted to run to tell David the good news. Let me run and carry news to the king that the Lord has delivered him from the hand of his enemies. He saw Absalom's death as victory for King David. And he is eager to take the news, knowing that for that kind of news, the reward will be great. Instinctively Ahimeas thinks justice and justice has been meted out in the death of Absalom. But of course, Joab's been around for a while and Joab knows David. And Joab knows David's tender heart for his son Absalom. And so he says to Ahimaaz, no, you shall not carry the news because the king's son is dead. He thought that if Ahimaaz carried this news of the death of Absalom, then David might do something drastic to Ahimaaz. And Ahimaaz was treasured by Joab. And so Joab says instead to a Cushite, assuming, I suppose, that Cushites are expendable, you go tell the king what you have seen. Well, Ahimaaz insists, come what may, I want to bring the good news to the king. Joab again restrains him in verse 22. Why will you run, my son, seeing that you will have no reward for the news? Come what may, Ahimaaz says, I will run. So finally, Joab relents and Ahimaaz goes. Not only does Ahimaaz run to David, but he outruns the Cushite. He has good news of the kingdom and he can't wait to announce it. And he arrives there at the city gate where David is seated, waiting anxiously for the news of the battle report. And we read that with joy, he announces what is, at least to him, good news. He says in verse 28, all is well. Blessed be the Lord, your God, who has delivered up the men who raised their hand against my Lord, the King. And then the King said, is it well with a young man, Absalom? And that certainly appears to have taken Ahimaaz back. Here I am telling good news of the victory over your enemies. And you're asking me about your son Absalom. Don't you realize that Absalom is the culprit, that he's the cause for all this trouble in the first place. And so he answers, well, he says, Well, when Joab sent the king's servant, your servant, I saw a great commotion, but I do not know what it was. He really didn't know what to say. How do you answer that? Having just told David that the victory was his, of course Absalom was dead. And why should David care if it is well with Absalom? My, the young man. Shouldn't David instead join with Ahimeaz in praising God now that the usurper is dead? It seems like Ahimeaz is shocked. Is David concerned only about his son? What about the kingdom? What about justice? What about the nation? So he stands aside and the Cushite enters. And the Cushite again announces good news for my Lord, the King, for the Lord has delivered you this day from the hand of all who rose up against you. And again, the King said to the Cushite, is it well with a young man Absalom? Well, the Cushite tactfully responds. May the enemies of my Lord, the King, And all who rise up against you for evil, be like that young man. He highlights justice. And he makes it clear that Absalom is dead. And we read that this sends the king quaking, deeply moved. He went up to the chamber over the gate and wept. And as he wept, he said, Oh my son, Absalom, my son, my son, Absalom. would I had died instead of you, Absalom, my son, my son." Well, chapter 19 begins with the report of the king's weeping and mourning. David is so consumed with grief at the death of his son Absalom that that day for the army turns out not to be a day of victory, but a day of mourning. There's no inspection of the troops. There's no speeches of thanks. There's no adulation for their bravery and devotion to Him in the face of so much treachery. The men who laid their lives on the line for Him, slink into the city because they feel guilty. They had defeated the usurper, but they're being accused of killing Absalom, the king's son. It seemed to matter little to the king that that king's son was at the same time the king's enemy who needed to be destroyed. We feel for those soldiers. They felt that they had wasted all their time. Not only do we feel for their soldiers, but we applaud Joab. for he comes into the room of the king and reprimands the king in verses 5-7. He's right of course. You have covered with shame the faces of all your servants. You have humiliated the men who have fought for you. And instead, Joab says to him, you love those who hate you. You love Absalom. And those who have given themselves for you, you hate them. You love those who hate you. You hate those who love you. Joab cuts to the chase at the end of verse 6. I can see today that if Absalom were alive and all of us were dead, then you would be pleased. So what do you think? You agree with Ahimeas, don't you? and the Cushite, and the soldiers, and Joab. Of course you do. David is being too sentimental. He's abdicating his duties as king, required to execute justice. He has laid that rule aside. He's just a syrupy, doting father with little concern for righteousness. little concern for the nation as a whole, little concern for anything except His Son, this wicked, wayward Son who has brought such havoc on God's people. We side with justice. Absalom must die, and the day of his death was a good day for the kingdom of God. Death of the rebel demands God's justice. And yet, Absalom was David's son. How can you rejoice over the death of your son? even your wayward, rebellious son, or should I say, especially your wayward, rebellious son. Doesn't there have to be tears and grief and anguish? Could there be anything but these things? Does justice somehow cancel love? Is justice so hard-nosed that it can't weep? That it doesn't feel? Yes, Joab is right. But is David wrong? Doesn't David's grief have something God-like about it? I'm thinking of what the prophet Hosea said in Hosea 11. You might be familiar with that passage. It is a deeply moving passage where the prophet Hosea is speaking about wayward Israel, wicked Israel, this Israel whom God had cared for from their youth. He says there in Hosea 11, Israel was a child. I loved them. I called Israel out of Egypt. But the more they were called, the more they went away. He says, yet it was I who taught Ephraim to walk. And just a lovely picture, I took him up by their arms. I taught them how to walk, but they did not know that I healed them. I led them with cords of kindness, with bands of love. And yet they've rebelled against me. They've rejected my love. I must punish them. I can't do anything else because my people are bent on turning away from me. And so God determines. They will face judgment. And then He says, but how can I give you up, O Ephraim? How can I hand you over, O Israel? How can I make you like Admah? How can I treat you like Saboim? My heart recoils within me. My compassion grows warm and tender. And he resolves, I will not execute my burning anger. I will not again destroy Ephraim. For I am God and not a man, the Holy One of Israel in your midst, and I will not come in wrath. There's this real tension. Justice demands Israel's judgment. But how can God love a people, I mean judge a people whom He loves so immensely? And we see this as well in King David's greater son, Jesus. You remember the Jews, how they treated the Lord Jesus, rejected Him, despised Him, scorned Him, ridiculed Him, wanted nothing to do with Him. And Jesus says, oh Jerusalem, Jerusalem, how often I would have gathered you under my wings as a hen gathers her chicks. But you would not. There's justice, but there's love as well. And so Joab might have one end of the stick, but David has the other end of the stick. And the story ends with this kind of tension. It doesn't seem like anyone's really happy. David is told that if he doesn't get out there and welcome the troops, then something worse is going to happen to him. And so the King arose, took a seat in the gate. The people were told, behold, the King is sitting in the gate. And the people came before the King. There's no real resolution. No one appears to be too happy about the situation. The king isn't, nor are the people. The king because he's grieving the loss of his son. The people because the king is grieving the loss of the son. Now we don't like that tension. Good stories really solve the tension, resolve things. We like things to be tidied up. We want David to see the error of his ways. We want him to acknowledge the righteousness of Absalom's death. We want David to be just. But we don't want cold justice. Do you? We want David to weep. We want justice. But we also want love. We don't want any mechanical justice, just justice for justice sake. We want resolution so that there can be both love and justice somehow without sacrificing either one. That's impossible here. And the reason it's impossible is because what David wished he could do, he could not do. What do I mean? Well he says in verse 33 of 18, Oh my son Absalom, my son, my son Absalom, would I had died instead of you? Oh Absalom, my son, my son. See there would have been the resolution. If David had died, for Absalom's misdeeds, so that Absalom's misdeeds could have been punished in David's death and yet Absalom still remain alive. If David could have died in the place of Absalom, love and justice could have been friends. You see, God created humanity as his son in his image. And they rebelled. And the sentence is death. And that's the right sentence. It's just. That was the promise. You eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and that day you shall surely die. The universe cannot exist with unanswered rebellion. And yet, God loves the world. Even the rebellious world which deserves judgment. doesn't diminish his love for the world. If you dare to do so, you could take Joab's words to David and attribute them to God in verse six. You love those who hate you. He does. So how can God be just and punish the soul that rebels Yet how can God love those who hate him and still maintain his integrity? How can righteousness and peace embrace as friends? Well, I'll tell you how that could happen. It's only in the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's where this tension finds resolution. God loved the world, the rebellious, wicked world. God loved them and He gave His only begotten Son for them. And justice deserves, demands their destruction. David laments, if only I had died instead of you, but what is impossible with man is possible with the God-man. And so though justice demands your destruction, Christ the God-man says, not, I wish I could have died instead of you, but Christ the God-man says, I have died instead of you, because your sins and your rebellion which deserve God's judgment, I have taken that upon myself. So that as Christ goes to the cross bearing the sins of His people, justice demands His death. That's why on the cross He cries out, My God, My God, why have you forsaken Me? Because that's all that God could do with His Son. Not because His Son was rebellious, but because His Son took responsibility for all the rebellion of His people. And God could only pour out the justice of His wrath against Jesus Christ. And when that justice which demands the death of the Lord Jesus is satisfied, then that same justice of God becomes a loving justice of God. And it demands that you who believe in Jesus Christ go free. You see that? God loves the world, gives His Son. Justice destroys the Son so that that justice can be a loving justice and receive sinners in fellowship again. It's in the cross that love and justice You might think it's loving justice for me. But was it loving justice for Christ? Or is it a hard-nosed mechanical justice? You, Jesus, have taken the sins of your people and therefore you must die. Was there any love in the Father when He poured out His wrath on His Son? It might be possible to think that God is loving to me, but isn't loving to Christ in that hour of dereliction on the cross. Some have even thrown Joab's words at God and said, if that is what happened on the cross, then you hate those who love you. Your Son, Jesus Christ, devoted Himself to you throughout His whole life, and this is how you treat Him. You hate your Son and pour your wrath on your Son. But don't think for a moment. Don't let it enter your mind that when the father in justice pours out his wrath on his son that he's heartless about it in any way. That it's cold calculated justice and that's it. Not at all. Because At the cross when the Lord Jesus was crying out, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? If you could hear, you might also have heard the Father say, my Son, my Son, when I see you on the cross, I have never loved you more than now. Remember what Jesus said, John 10 or John 15, The reason my father loves me is because I lay down my life. So that throughout the life of the Lord Jesus, remember how Luke tells us that when Jesus was young, he grew in favor with God and man. So that Jesus was more favored by God when he was 13 than when he was two. and 20 than when he was 13, because he grew in favor with God and man. And when the Father saw the Son, not just out of love for His people, but when the Father saw the Son out of love for the Father, lay down His life for sinners, it's as if He sang that hymn. My Jesus, I love you. If ever I loved you, my Jesus, it's now. It wasn't cold justice. It was justice that put Christ to death on the cross. But don't think it was cold justice. It was justice bathed and wrapped in love. Because even in the death of Jesus Christ, love and justice meet together. And in Jesus Christ, God can be loving to sinners like you and me. Not pretending that we're not sinners. Not overlooking our infelicities. Not because He loves us the way He wishes we were. No, He loves us the way that we are. And He can love us the way that we are and receive us into fellowship without in any way minimizing His integrity, without in any way lowering His standards. That is, as the Apostle Paul says so well in Romans 3, that God presented Christ as a propitiation for our sins so that God can be just, that is righteous, and at the same time justify the ungodly. It is in the cross of Christ. Because God allowed His Son to go to the cross, He can then deal gently with rebels like you and me who deserve nothing but the strict justice of a holy God. There is a children's chorus, some of you might know it. It goes like this, at the cross of Jesus, pardon is complete, truth and mercy mingle, love and justice meet. Indeed. We will never be able to plumb the depths of the mystery of our salvation. But isn't it a delightful thing this evening just to reflect together on the sheer wonder of the Gospel of Christ and to see the place, the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, where God's righteousness and His peace have embraced, where God's justice and His love have become friends. It really is a great thing to be a Christian, to know deeply what I deserve because of my rebellion against God and my first parents. and because of my ongoing sinfulness. To know that I have no plea before God in myself. To know what justice demands. To know that if God were to send me to hell, there could be no objection. There would be no but, but, or did you think about that? None. To know what justice demands. And then to know what love has brought. a loving justice through Jesus Christ, God's own Son. It is a blessing to be a Christian. I don't know all of you and I don't know where you are with the Lord. But let me assure you of this, that unless you are in Jesus Christ. It's justice you'll get. And the justice that sin against a holy and infinite God deserves is eternal separation from his love and favor. But if you are in Jesus Christ, Oh, the blessing of an eternity of marveling together with all the saints of the infinite justice and love of a gracious God. There's no life like it. I commend Christ to you. The place of God's grace where love and justice embrace. Let's pray together.