The Cripple at the Table

A disabled boy, a gracious king, and an amazing act of mercy—next, on Renewing Your Mind. In 2 Samuel, we read about the young grandson of King Saul. After years of war and chaos, this boy was the only descendant of Saul left alive.

It wasn't an exalted position. A new king had risen to the throne, and the boy's life was now in danger. Today on Renewing Your Mind, we will hear echoes of the gospel in this ancient story. As we continue our study of the life of David, we come to the place in that history where Saul the king is dead. What would we expect to happen next? We would obviously think that now without any further incident, David would simply ascend to the throne that was reserved for him by God that had been initiated by the anointing of David by the hand of Samuel.

That's not what happens. Yes, David does ascend to kingship over the tribe of Judah. That tribe, which remember from ancient times, was the tribe to whom kingship was promised. Back when the patriarch Jacob gave his blessing to his sons, he said that the scepter would not depart from Judah until Shiloh comes. It was the tribe of Judah that was given the promise of the kingdom. It was from the tribe of Judah that Jesus came to be the king of the kings. And so it's certainly fitting that the first tribe in the Old Testament that embraces and receives David as their king is the tribe of Judah.

But what about the rest? Ah, there was still a son of Saul that was left who had not been slain in battle. His name was Ish-boseth. Now I'm going to say his name probably more than once today, and I'm going to apologize in advance because no one can say that name too many times without lisping.

I certainly can't. But in any case, Ish-boseth was the surviving son of Saul who was anointed king of Israel. So again, David is passed over. And Abner, who was Saul's leading general, put his military support behind Ish-boseth. And what happens now is civil war breaks out in Israel, one of the darkest chapters in Jewish history, as this war doesn't just last a few days or a few months, but it endures for years.

And all kinds of intrigue and conflict ensues after this time. We read of how Abner killed the brother of the chief military commander of David, who was Joab, and then how Abner, who was so powerful in the royal court of Ish-boseth, had a falling out with the king over a woman, over sex, over a sexual scandal, and he became so upset that Abner left the service of Ish-boseth and came over and changed sides and tried to become part of the army of David. But Joab didn't trust him. And so then Joab was involved in the killing of Abner. And shortly thereafter, some of the Israelites gathered together and descended upon the place where Ish-boseth was sleeping, and in his sleep, they murdered him. And even then, David is upset at the treachery of his own men who would go and murder his opponent in his bed and in his sleep. But finally, after all of this intrigue and all of this war and all of this conflict, the nation is consolidated under the kingship of David. Now, it's at this point that something dramatic takes place, sort of almost as a concluding, unscientific postscript to this whole bloody story.

Now, before I tell you this dramatic moment, let me tell you another story leading up to it. Back in the days of the bloody and oppressive regime of Idi Amin, whose name has become synonymous with monsters in the 20th century, there was a Christian bishop in his nation who dared to speak out against Idi Amin's bloodthirsty policies. His name was Bishop Festo Cavengeri, one of the great Christians of our age.

And Festo Cavengeri was forced to flee from the pursuit and the wrath of Idi Amin, even as David had to flee from the wrath of Saul. And he made his way to America, and I had the privilege of hearing the very first sermon that Festo Cavengeri preached in the United States. In broken and halted English, he stood up before this large multitude of people, and he started to speak, but all that came out was stuttering. And he was embarrassed, and he said, "'Excuse me, me shake shake too much.'" He won our hearts, you know, he said, "'Me shake shake too much.'" He said, "'I must pray.'" And so he prayed right there in front of everybody and asked that God would deliver him from his nervousness to the world, God would deliver him from his nervousness and from his fear and give him peace.

And when he finished his prayer, he lifted up his head and he looked at the audience and he said, "'Me shake shake no more.'" And then he gave a sermon. He gave a sermon from the book of 2 Samuel that I have never forgotten, in which Festo Cavengeri captured a motif of sacred Scripture that has been precious to me, and it's that dramatic moment that I want to share with you today. If we move ahead in the text of 2 Samuel to the fourth chapter, beginning in verse 4, we read this brief account. Jonathan, Saul's son, had a son who was lame in his feet. He was five years old when the news about Saul and Jonathan came from Jezreel, and his nurse took him up and fled.

And it happened as he made haste to flee that he fell and became lame. His name was Mephibosheth. Now, I made it through Ishbosheth. I don't know if I'll make it through Mephibosheth.

That's another name that's a real tongue twister. But we get this little introduction, this brief biographical bit of data about the lame son of Jonathan, whom after Ishbosheth has been killed, becomes the last surviving person from the house of Saul and of Jonathan. Now, do you remember when Saul was pursuing David, and David had the opportunity to kill Saul, and when David told Saul that he could have killed him, and Saul repented of that and promised that he wouldn't do anything to him, and he said, David, I know that you're going to be the king, and I pray that you will preserve my household. And we recall that on that occasion, David took a vow. He swore an oath before Saul saying that he would protect Saul's house.

And now we find that there's only one person left to protect. And though he's mentioned just briefly in chapter 4, we don't read the story of this until chapter 9 of 2 Samuel, which chapter begins with this announcement. Now, David said, is there still anyone who is left of the house of Saul, that I may show him kindness for Jonathan's sake, not only to fulfill the vow he made to Jonathan's father Saul, but out of his love for Jonathan, he wants to find somebody from that house that he can honor, that he can respect to show his undying love for Jonathan. Now, as far as David knows, at this point there is no such person left alive. But we read in verse 2 that there was a servant of the house of Saul whose name was Ziba, and so when they called him to David, the king said to him, Are you Ziba?

And he said, At your service. And the king said, Is there not still someone of the house of Saul, on whom I may show the kindness of God? And Ziba said to the king, and believe me, this was risky business for Ziba, he said, There is still a son of Jonathan who is lame in his feet. And so the king said to him, Where is he?

And Ziba said to the king, He is in the house of Makir the son of Amiel in Lo-de-bar. And King David sent him, brought him out of the house of Makir the son of Amiel from Lo-de-bar. Now when Mephibosheth the son of Jonathan the son of Saul had come to David, he fell on his face and prostrated himself. And David said, Mephibosheth? And he answered, Here is your servant. So David said to him, Do not fear, for I will surely show you kindness for Jonathan your father's sake, and will restore to you all the land of Saul your grandfather, and you shall eat bread at my table continually. When Festo Cavengeri came to this country and preached on this text, he said, It is easy for us to look at this narrative in the Old Testament as one isolated example of the love of a man for another friend and his family, and of the good fortune of a disfigured, marred, crippled human being, being rescued from his poverty, rescued from his oppression, rescued from his pain, and brought into the king's house and allowed to sit at the king's table.

He said, But that story speaks of us in its fullest extension. Because the bishop then looked at the audience at the congregation assembled there and said, Which of you is not a cripple in the sight of God? Who among us is not crippled in our souls, lame in our hearts? Why has God ever stooped and condescended to save any of us? Well, the answer given in the New Testament is that we are saved not because we deserve it, not because we've merited, not because we've earned it, but the reason, the only reason I can find it all in the New Testament that God saves any of us is out of His love for His only begotten Son. Our salvation is in Christ, it is by Christ, and it is for Christ. In a very real sense, we as believers are the gifts of love that the Father bestows upon the Son. In Jesus' high priestly prayer in John 17, He thanks God for those whom the Father has given to Him and prays that no one will ever be able to snatch them out of His hand. Christ prays for the preservation of His sheep because they are the gift that the Father has given to Him. We tend to think of our salvation as a gift that God gives to us, and certainly it is.

And we overlook that our salvation is a gift not only that God gives to us, but it is supremely a gift that He gives to His Son, that Jesus might see the travail of His soul and be satisfied. We remember in the New Testament, when Jesus dies, He's not married. He has no children. And in Hebrew terms, the dirge and lament that follows that is taken from Isaiah 53, and who will declare His generation? He has been cut off from the land of the living. That mournful dirge from Isaiah 53 complains about the death of one who is left without any descendants, and it is applied finally and fully to Jesus, who dies childless.

Who will declare His generation? But that the Son might see the travail of His soul, it's a word borrowed from the pangs of birth, and be satisfied. God gives Him children. You see, David is concerned to move not out of any virtue he finds in Mephibosheth, not any particular love that he has for Mephibosheth, but he is moved out of his love for Jonathan. Is there anyone I can find in my kingdom that I can honor for the sake of Jonathan? Is this not typical of our own redemption that God honors Christ?

By giving Christ us, we who are crippled. But not only is he spared by David in the Old Testament in the sense of escaping the sword, but he is invited to come and live in the house in the house of David. And not only is he allowed to come and live in the palace as if he were under some kind of house arrest back in some obscure corner of the palace, but he is given access every day to the king's table. Do you realize what a privilege it is among royalty and the protocol that goes on within a monarchy to be allowed to dine at the king's table?

I've had people, I've never had this experience, but I know people who have been invited to the White House for dinner. And they come back, they're shaking. You know, they were so afraid they were going to fold their napkin in the wrong way.

They were so intimidated. They didn't know what to do with themselves because it was such an officious moment and such a glorious honor to be invited to the table of the President of the United States. Well, here's Mephibosheth, who's invited to the table of the King every day as an honored guest.

Now, when Festo Covendri told this story, he said two things. First of all, we have been given access to the very family of God by being members of His church, not just the visible church, but the invisible church. We have been brought into the house of God, the very house of our King.

Because of the Father's love for the Son, He has gone out into the highways and the byways. Not many wise, not many great people has He chosen, but He's taken us, those of us who are crippled and brought us into His house, brought us into His family, given us a title to His inheritance, made us heirs with Christ, joint heirs of God, and adopted us as His sons and as His daughters. But not only that, He brings us to His table.

I have to tell you something. Ever since I heard that sermon from Festo Covendri, I think about it again and again every time we celebrate the sacrament of the Lord's Supper. Because I can't get over that Christ would invite me to His table, to eat with Him, to drink with Him. There is something extremely intimate about the fellowship of table in a person's home. I know all kinds of people. I have all kinds of friends who've never been in my home.

I know all kinds of people. I have all kinds of friends who have been in my home, but never for a meal. There is something uniquely intimate and personal about breaking bread at somebody's table. It's one thing to go out for dinner together.

It's another thing to go to the house. And Jesus invites His people not simply into His house, but to His table where He is the host. He is the one who has made the provisions. He is the one who feeds us and who nurtures us with His own sustaining power. Mephibosheth in the household of the King, Christians in the household of Christ, cripples together, who in ourselves have no claim to sonship, no claim, no right to be at that table. Christ has said, come, my beloved. We should remember that when we come into the house of the Lord and to the table of our God, that it is because of the Father's great love for what the New Testament says is His beloved. Christ is the beloved of the Father. Christ is supremely the apple of the Father's eye. And it's because of the Father's great love for the Son that we are invited to this extraordinary privilege of fellowship in His presence. You're listening to Renewing Your Mind and a message by Dr. R.C. Sproul from his series on The Life of David.

I'm Lee Webb, and thank you for being with us today. I have to tell you that this story found in 2 Samuel chapter 9 resonated with me the first time I read it. As a husband and father and the head of my household, I thought about how I would have been able to read it. I would have been able to read it. I would have been able to read it.

I would have been able to read it. As a husband and father and the head of my household, I thought about how rewarding it must have been for David to extend that kindness and then to witness Mephibosheth's humility and gratitude. It has to be one of my favorite passages in the Old Testament.

And it was one of several motivating factors for me when my wife and I made the decision to adopt a 13-year-old girl to be our daughter, to bring her into our household. You know, it really points to what it's like to be in a relationship with God. You know, it really points to what it's like to be in a relationship with God. And I think that's what it's like to be in a relationship with God. And I think that's what it's like to be in a relationship with God.

We heard R.C. connect the gospel to this Old Testament story, and it's why I recommend our resource offer today. It's the special edition of Dr. Sproul's series, Dust to Glory. It's a 57-part study tour, and R.C.

points to the stream of grace that runs from Genesis to Revelation. And this special edition set provides an extra disc containing the study guide for the series. So request Dust to Glory with your gift of any amount to Ligetor Ministries.

You can do that online at renewingyourmind.org, or you can call us at 800-435-4343. Let me also remind you to take advantage of Ligetor Connect, our online learning community. It provides a way to link up with small groups around the world. With the study groups feature, you have a private online classroom where you can invite friends or family members to take any course in our library. It's a great way to connect with them and with us.

You can explore the courses and learn more when you go to connect.ligonier.org. Now with a Coram Deo thought for the day, here's R.C. again. I want us to think for a moment of how this Old Testament narrative instructs us who live in New Testament times. I've already referred to the analogy that exists as Bishop Festo Coventry pointed out. Between Mephibosheth in the Old Testament and we who are cripples in the New Testament, in that we are able to have access into the family of God and to the table of our Lord. But more than that, I want us to understand the kind of love and care and concern that this story exhibits about the character of God, that there is nothing in us that commends us to His love. It has become a cliché and filled with triteness that God loves everybody, as if somehow it's His duty to love us. Well, He does love us. But the thing that's astonishing is that there's no reason for Him to love us, because in and of ourselves we are not intrinsically worthy of that love.

We are not lovely. But it's on the basis of our connections that we are accepted in the presence of God, that God loves us in Christ Jesus. That in Christ Jesus appears on almost every page of the New Testament, but it talks about a spiritual union that God has brought to bear and brought to pass between Christians and their Lord and Savior. And as long as Christ is in you and you are in Christ, there is a place for you at the table of the King, and you will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.