David

Today on Renewing Your Mind... Dr. Charles R.C. Sproul takes us to the Old Testament to tell us about a central figure in Israel's history. He had moments of incredible success, but also moments of crippling defeat. We have a lot to learn as we continue Dr. Sproul's series, Great Men and Women of the Bible. As we continue our study of great men and women to live by, the person that I'd like to look at today is a very unusual figure in the Old Testament. I was thinking about the title of Herbert Marcuse's philosophical work that had such an impact on the revolutionary spirit of the sixties and early seventies in this country, a book entitled One Dimensional Man. And out of that work and others like it, there has been this awareness in our culture that we've become so highly specialized that it seems like from a career development perspective and a personal development perspective that we tend to be molded into such specialization that we become one-dimensional personalities. And it's always a breath of fresh air when we find someone who is multi-talented or multi-faceted that reveals and manifests the riches of personality that's really present in every human being, I believe.

And we call the ideal of a person who is multi-gifted or multi-talented, what do we use, what term do we use to describe such a person? We call them a Renaissance man, right? And so we have this idea of a Renaissance man. Well, there's a Renaissance man who lived 2,500 years before the Renaissance.

So what I want to talk today is about a man who was a pre-Renaissance Renaissance man, the quintessential Renaissance man, who lived roughly 1,000 B.C. and began his career basically as what we would call a bandit chief. He was an outlaw, renegade warrior who got a bunch of warriors behind him and he would more or less hire himself out in his band of men like Robin Hood because he was in disfavor to the ruler of the land.

And so as a bandit and as a fugitive, he got about 400 guys behind him and was involved in almost like Quantrill's Raiders and Jesse James Marauders, fighting, lining up with whatever cause that would accept him. Now this same man, who was a successful bandit chief, almost like a Fidel Castro hit and run tactics of the gorilla from the mountains, he was also noted in Israel's history for being considered basically the most important and perhaps the most gifted musician in Israel's history. And not only was he noted for being a musician, but later on in his career he was known for being a lawyer, outstanding expert in ancient jurisprudence. And not only did he distinguish himself as a lawyer, but he also became the poet laureate of Israel and clearly known for being the best poet in the history of the Jewish people. Not only that, but he had a public reputation for being a national champion because he defeated in one-to-one combat the heavyweight champion of the world. And so he became a champion in one-to-one personal combat in his land. He also gained some fame for being a murderer and for being an adulterer.

In addition to this, he is celebrated in Jewish history as the greatest statesman in the history of Israel. And he became a king. And as we know in the history of kingship in Israel, that reading the history of Israelite kings is like reading a rogue's gallery report. But there were so many kings, and later in the northern kingdom and in the southern kingdom, that it's hard to keep track of their names. But sometimes in Old Testament, among Old Testament Jewish people, they would refer simply to the king. Long after this man was dead, they would just say, the king, and everybody knew who was being mentioned. It was this particular king.

Because what this man did was that he brought into being what was called the Golden Age of Israel. Do we need any more hints as to this? I'll give you one more. I'll give you two more.

He was also a shepherd. Why didn't I say that in the first place? Because I wanted to make it a little bit obscure at the beginning.

I didn't want to give it away right now. And probably the greatest epitaph that can go next to this man's name is the accolade given to him by sacred Scripture that he was a man after God's own heart. I said I was going to say a couple more things.

I'll say one more. He was the Martin Luther of the Old Testament. I just read from a historian this morning rushing up, and this particular historian says that David, King David, is regarded as the greatest political and military genius in the history of Judaism. Now we gave great words of praise to the military exploits of Joshua when we looked at him, but I mentioned that Joshua was the Stonewall Jackson of the Old Testament. If I were to take somebody from American history, I would say that David was the Douglas MacArthur of the Old Testament.

But that is a poor comparison because in virtually everything in which MacArthur excelled, David's exploits were greater. Israel, that tiny little nation, became a major world power. David extended the boundaries of Israel from Dan to Beersheba and built an empire that was the largest empire that the Jews ever possessed up till that point and since. Here is a man of authentic human greatness, and in addition to the multifaceted gifts and talents that he had humanly speaking, he was also anointed by God the Holy Spirit. But at this time you have a serious schism in terms of loyalties in the land between the tribes of the north and the tribes of the south, and David finally becomes anointed king over everybody. Now he's got some decisions to make.

Where am I going to establish my headquarters? And he still had two problems politically. He had the disunity and the tension between the north and the south among the Jewish people, and in addition to that he still has the insecurity of his own kingdom because of the constant threat of what group of people particularly? Who killed Saul? The Philistines. So you have the constant threat of the Philistines from the seacoast plus the hostilities of the Moabites and the Ammonites and the Stalactites, and all these other ones that are endangering this nascent monarchy.

Well, first David comes in and annihilates the Philistines, conquers the Moabites and the Ammonites and all of these people, and he wins great military victories. So now he introduces the Pox Israelia. If you look at the history of Israel, you know, we've heard of the Pox Romana. If you look at the history of Israel as a nation, that the Jewish nation existed for hundreds of years in the Old Testament, you know, and then up till 70 A.D. and now it's back in existence.

I forget the exact number, but it's like the Pox Israelia total has been like about 30 years in all that time that the nation hasn't been at war. But David brought a stable peace, at least for a while, and then of course he had to go through the ignominy of a civil war led by his own son. But in any case, the political genius that I'm thinking of here has to do with how to unify all these tribes that have their own heritage and their own loyalties. And there was not only an inter-tribal loyalty and identity, but there was also this geographical distinction between North and South. Those of you who live in the North, I don't think are at all acutely aware of how strong that sensation still exists in the South.

But in any case, you had this tremendous regional sense of identity going on among the Jewish people. So David becomes king over both the North and the South. Now if he establishes his headquarters in the North, what happens? The Southerners are mad. If he establishes his headquarters in the South, then what?

The Northerners are alienated. So what he does is in the meantime, he also has an area that's unconquered, still Canaanite, and what he does is he goes in here and claims a city that was called the City of Bread that was held by the Jebusites. And David conquers it and declares that the new political central headquarters of the nation. And it's called by now the City of Peace, Jerusalem. And so it is David who establishes Jerusalem as the political center of the nation. Well, what would be the crucial centers for Israelite loyalty before Jerusalem?

Does anybody know? Shechem was one. Bethel was another. Why were Shechem and Bethel so vitally important to the people? The center of worship, because they would have central sanctuaries where the people would come for their feasts and for the offering of sacrifices. And so they had religious centers that became the rallying point to the people. So the first thing David does after he establishes headquarters in Jerusalem, what does he do?

He brings the ark of the covenant into the city and makes Jerusalem the new central sanctuary as well as the political capital of the nation. It was a stroke of genius if one were to expect to bring about any kind of unity. And it's really, even though we say that when we talk about the monarchy beginning, we say the first king of Israel was Saul and David was the second king of Israel. But in fact, the first one to achieve a real united monarchy was David.

But we see a shadow over the career of David. David, who I said was a lawyer, a man who meditated in the law day and night. And he understood that as king, he did not rule autonomously, that he did not rule independently, but he was a visagerent, that is he was a vice king.

He was simply the earthly representative of the theocracy of the reign of God over the nation. But the story of David, with all of its greatness and with all of the exploits, makes a turn, as you know, that sort of resembles a Shakespearean tragedy when he became obsessed with this woman who was so beautiful and so attractive that he, in a sense, I don't want to say that he went nuts because I don't want to excuse his behavior by insanity. He wasn't insane.

He was perfectly sane. He knew what he was doing, but he got so preoccupied, he had to have that woman. And so he commits adultery with Bathsheba, which is a serious enough offense, but he complicates his crime by using the authority that is invested in him as an administer of justice. He abuses the power that God has given to him by strategically having Uriah the Hittite, remember David's the king, he's also the commander in chief of the armies, he assigns, he gets involved with the transfer of troop movements and makes sure that Bathsheba's husband gets strategically situated in the front lines where his life expectancy is about seven minutes.

So David doesn't directly murder Uriah, but David enters into a conspiracy to expose Uriah to a high degree of probability of being killed, and that's exactly what happens. He is killed, and now David can come and take Bathsheba for his own. And then there is that poignant story of God sending the prophet Nathan to David and Nathan tells a parable about this huge sheep rancher that has all these sheep, and there's this one little guy next door, has one tiny little sheep, and that's all he has, but he loves that sheep. He'll die for that sheep. He takes care of that sheep. And then the big, rich, powerful shepherd comes over in the middle of the night and steals that sheep. And what's David's response? Not in my kingdom.

I'm not going to put up with that. Anybody does that, you know, off with their head. They're going to get the wrath of the king. That's radical injustice, you know, David is ranting and raving.

He also scarred the kingdom to find out where this corrupt, oppressive, tyrannical, rich shepherd is. And Nathan says, David, thou art the man. And now we find David becoming the Martin Luther of the Old Testament. David now, who's not a theologian, simply in his head, but now the theology that he sings and writes poetically becomes a matter of his personal passion as he sees instantly the overwhelming reality of his guilt. And I think that one of the richest contributions that David has ever given to the church is the psalm that he penned when he came to himself and understood who he was and who God is. Of course, I'm thinking of Psalm 51. Listen to parts of it briefly.

It says for the choir director, a psalm of David, when Nathan the prophet came to him after he had gone into Bathsheba, be gracious to me, O God, according to thy loving kindness, according to the greatness of thy compassion, blot out my transgressions, wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, cleanse me from my sin, for I know my transgressions and my sin is ever before me. Do you hear the moral anguish of the man? Please don't deal with me according to your justice, but deal with me according to your grace and please blot out my transgressions. I can't stand to look at them. I can't stand to be reminded of them.

They're driving me crazy. Here's a man whose guilt is consuming him and all of his power, all of his talent, all of his wealth cannot silence the accusation of his conscience upon him. Then he makes an extraordinary statement in this. He says, against thee and thee only have I sinned and done what is evil in thy sight.

Now that's just not true from one perspective. David sinned against Bathsheba. He sinned against Uriah. David sinned against his own generals by ordering their complicity. David sinned against his own family.

And as the supreme publica prosona, the representative of God to the people of Israel, he sinned against every person in that nation by violating the holy law of God as their king. But David, I think under the Spirit here, is speaking in sanctified hyperbole. He is saying, yes, I recognize all of that I've done, but ultimately the sin, the real transgression, the weight of this, oh God, is against you because I am your anointed king. David is the Christos of the Old Testament.

It's not by accident that Jesus comes from the line of David, out of the root of Jesse, the new lion of Judah, the reconstruction of the Messianic king that was personified in the Old Testament in David. He's representing God to the people. He says, God, what have I done against you? And you only have I sinned and done this evil in thy sight.

Now here are the words where I say he's like Luther. Here is the man who understands justification by faith alone. And I think the clearest statement of it for the human soul, anybody that wants to be redeemed in the sight of God has to master this statement.

Probably the most important thing that David ever wrote in his life is this next verse. So that thou art justified when thou dost speak and blameless when thou dost judge. That's a man who understands his sin and he does not in any way minimize it, rationalize it, try to transfer it to somebody else, and he doesn't sort of slip in a negotiation agreement with God saying, look God, I know I sinned, but it wasn't all that bad. It's God, you are justified when you speak.

You're clear when you judge. If you deal with me according to justice, I'm finished. Elsewhere the same king said, O Lord, if thou dost mark iniquities, who will stand? If you look at me on the basis of my track record, God, and I present to your throne the head of Goliath, the borders from Dan to Beersheba, the magnificence of the central sanctuary, all of my poet, noble laureates, the great compositions of my music, I know that justice demands that you reject it all and that I perish. He understood that the only way he could stand before God was by grace and by grace alone. And as Martin Luther discovered that in the tower at Wittenberg and said, when I understood the concept that my justification is by faith alone, the doors of paradise swung open and I walked through. So the doors of paradise were open for David and God forgave him and God cleansed him and God befriended him because the great God of the universe looked down at his son, the king, and he was on his face in godly remorse and contrition for his sin. And God said, he's a man after my own heart. David's life is an example of the incredible highs and lows we experience in this life. Things of success and joy, but also failure and disappointment, and many times that's brought about by our own sin.

What's the solution? There's only one, and we're thankful that Dr. R.C. Sproul pointed us to it today, justification through Jesus Christ. We're glad you've joined us today for Renewing Your Mind. Each Saturday we're making our way through Dr. Sproul's series, Great Men and Women of the Bible.

And as we heard today, the stories we read about in the Old Testament have direct connections to New Testament truths. If you'd like to understand more of the complete story of Scripture, let me recommend our resource offer today. When you contact us with a donation of any amount, we will send you Dr. Sproul's series, Dust to Glory. In 57 messages, he surveys every book of the Bible and explains how they fit with the rest of Scripture and will include an additional disc that contains the study guides for each message. So request Dust to Glory when you go to renewingyourmind.org.

You can also call us with your gift at 800-435-4343. Well the prophets were God's messengers to the people, explaining what God wanted them to do. Many times these prophets were given the ability to work miraculous signs and wonders. This week on Renewing Your Mind, Dr. Sproul will explore the life and ministry of Elijah, and we hope you'll make plans to be with us. Amen. Amen.