Spiritual Work

Many of the parables that Jesus used to teach his disciples were focused on work or labor of some sort. Jesus used the example of wise and foolish builders to teach his disciples the importance of using their minds in a skillful manner (Matthew 7:24-27). In the parable of the sower, Jesus emphasized the importance of being open to the influence of the Holy Spirit (Matthew 13:3-8, 18-23). Jesus used the example of the unmerciful servant to teach his disciples about forgiveness (Matthew 18:23-34) and laborers in a vineyard about the goodness of God (Matthew 20:1-16). The emphasis that Jesus placed on work and productivity indicate that the spiritual realm has some of the same characteristics as the material world that we live in. Jesus told his followers:

“My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work. Do you not say, ‘There are yet four months, then comes the harvest’? Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see that the fields are white for harvest. Already the one who reaps is receiving wages and gathering fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together. For here the saying holds true, ‘One sows and another reaps.’ I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor. Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor.” (John 4:34-38)

The Greek word that is translated work, ergon (erˊ-gon) means to “toil (as an effort or occupation)” (G2041). The Greek word kopiao (kop-ee-ahˊ-o), which is translated labor, means “to feel fatigue; by implication to work hard” (G2872). Jesus told his disciples, “I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor. Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor” (John 4:38). The others that Jesus was referring to in this statement is not clear, but he may have been talking about the work of the Holy Spirit. Jesus’ final instruction to his disciples had to do with their dependence upon the Holy Spirit to accomplish the mission that he gave them before he ascended to heaven (Matthew 28:16-20). Jesus said, “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth” (Acts 1:8).

The Apostle Paul elaborated on Jesus teaching about spiritual work in his first letter to the Corinthians. Paul said:

What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, as the Lord assigned to each. I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. He who plants and he who waters are one, and each will receive his wages according to his labor. For we are God’s fellow workers. You are God’s field, God’s building. (1 Corinthians 3:5-9)

Paul referred to the Corinthian believers as both God’s field and God’s building, linking Jesus’ parables to his work of preaching the gospel. Paul said that “each will receive his wages according to his labor” (1 Corinthians 3:8). Jesus talked about wages in his parable about laborers in the vineyard (Matthew 20:8). In this parable, Jesus said the laborers were hired at different times of the day, but they all received the same wages. When the ones who were hired first grumbled about it, Jesus said, “Now when those hired first came, they thought they would receive more, but each of them also received a denarius. And on receiving it they grumbled at the master of the house, saying, ‘These last worked only one hour, and you have made them equal with us who have borne the burden of the day, and the scorching heat.’ But he replied to one of them, ‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong. Did you not agree with me for a denarius? Take what belongs to you and go, I choose to give to this last worker as I give to you. Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or do you begrudge my generosity?’ So the last will be first, and the first last” (Matthew 20:10-16).

The idea that God treats all of his spiritual workers the same and rewards them equally was acknowledged by Paul (1 Corinthians 3:7), but Paul also indicated that the result or output of our work is what really matters. Paul said, “Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw—each one’s work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. If anyone’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only through fire” (1 Corinthians 3:12-17). Paul clarified which Day he was referring to when he said, “Therefore do not pronounce judgment before the time, before the Lord comes, who will bring to light the things now hidden in darkness and will disclose the purposes of the heart. Then each one will receive his commendation from God” (1 Corinthians 4:5). The purposes of the heart are the decisions believers make that identify them as being either for or against Christ (G1012). Paul pointed out that the purposes of the heart would be disclosed and implied that it had something to do with the evidence of one’s spiritual intake. The Greek word phaneroo (fan-er-oˊ-o) means “to render apparent” (G5319). The English Standard Version of the Bible uses the word phagos (fagˊ-os), which means “a glutton” (G5314), instead of phaneroo in 1 Corinthians 4:5, and translates it as discloses. This seems to suggest that Paul was talking about a believer’s spiritual weight being the output or perhaps the gauge of how successful his spiritual work was.

The Old Testament of the Bible links weight with God’s glory. The Hebrew word kabowd (kaw-bodeˊ) is properly translated as weight, but as a masculine singular noun, its meaning is “honour, glory, majesty, wealth” (H3519). Kabowd is derived from the word kabad (kaw-bad), which means “to be heavy…The hands of both humans and God were described metaphorically as heavy, that is, powerful” (H3513). The effectiveness of one’s spiritual work may be gauged in terms of weight in the Bible because of the fact that wealth was associated with gold and silver which is measured in weight. A talent was about 75 pounds or 34 kilograms. When the Temple of God was constructed, many of the temple furnishings were made from gold and silver. It says in Exodus 25:39 that the golden lampstand was made “out of a talent of pure gold.” In today’s prices, the golden lampstand itself would be worth about 2.3 million dollars. Paul said of his work in the ministry, “Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw—each one’s work will become manifest” (1 Corinthians 3:12). The Greek word that is translated builds on, epoikodomeo (ep-oy-kod-om-ehˊ) is only used figuratively. To build upon is “spoken of the Christian faith and Christian life, both the whole church and its individual members as built upon the only foundation, Christ, and implying the constant internal development of the kingdom of God and the visible church, like a holy temple progressively and increasingly built up from the foundation (1 Corinthians 3:10, 12, 14; Ephesians 2:20; Colossians 2:7).

Peter’s first letter looked at spiritual work from the standpoint of intense persecution. Peter said, “In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls” (1 Peter 1:6-9). Peter indicated that faith is more precious than gold and said that it is what will be tested when Jesus judges the world (1 Corinthians 3:13). Peter’s viewpoint was that believing in Jesus was the outcome or product of faith and said that it would result in the salvation of your souls. When Jesus was asked, ‘What must we do, to be doing the works of God?’ Jesus answered them, ‘This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent’” (John 6:28-29). The reason why Jesus identified believing as work was probably because it took a great deal of effort from a human standpoint. Jesus told his disciples, “if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you” (Matthew 17:20-21). The fact that faith can move a mountain makes it a very effective instrument for spiritual work. Jesus said that nothing is impossible, if you use faith to accomplish it.

Jesus’ parable of the persistent widow was intended to convey the point that it was not God’s unwillingness to answer prayers that was the problem with regard to accomplishing spiritual work. Luke opened the story with the comment, “And he told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not to lose heart” (Luke 18:1). And then stated:

He said, “In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor respected man. And there was a widow in that city who kept coming to him and saying, ‘Give me justice against my adversary.’ For a while he refused, but afterward he said to himself, ‘Though I neither fear God nor respect man, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will give her justice, so that she will not beat me down by her continual coming.’” And the Lord said, “Hear what the unrighteous judge says. And will not God give justice to his elect, who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long over them? I tell you, he will give justice to them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?” (Luke 2:2-8)

Jesus’ question, “will he find faith on earth?” (Luke 2:8) was a rebuke to those who prayed constantly, but got no results.

Hebrews 11, which highlights the accomplishments of Old Testaments believers, begins with the statement, “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. For by it the people of old received their commendation” (Hebrews 11:1). The Greek word that is translated conviction, elegchos (elˊ-eng-khos) means to have a certain persuasion, “in the sense of refutation of adversaries” (G1650). In other words, faith presupposes that there is a contradicting opinion about the things that we believe. Paul went on to say, “And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him” (Hebrews 11:6). Paul identified two requirements for drawing near or worshipping God. First, a person must believe that God exists. There needs to be an awareness of his presence in the world. In addition to that, a person must believe that God rewards those who worship him. The Greek word misthapodotes (mis-thap-od-otˊ-ace), which is translated reward, is derived from the words misthoo (mis-thoˊ-o) which means “to let out for wages, i.e. (middle) to hire” (G3409) and apodidomi (ap-od-eedˊ-o-mee), which means “to give away” or pay (-ment) (591). In that sense, a worshipper of God has to believe that not only does he exist; but also, that seeking God is a form of work, and God pays those who do it.

Spiritual Communication

Jesus told a Samaritan woman he met at Jacob’s well, “God is spirit and those who worship him must worship him in spirit and truth” (John 4:24). The term spirit, or in the Greek pneuma (pnyooˊ-mah), refers to God as an immaterial being. Jesus also used the word pneuma to refer to the Holy Spirit. Jesus said, “It is the Spirit who gives life, the flesh is no help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life” (John 6:63). John later explained that those who believed in Jesus received the Holy Spirit, but not until after Jesus was resurrected. John 7:37-39 states:

On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’” Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive, for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.

Jesus associated being filled with the Spirit with quenching your thirst and indicated that the Holy Spirit provided an abundant source of spiritual nourishment and capability. “The Holy Spirit prompts one to do or restrain from doing particular actions (Acts 8:29, 39; 13:2, 4; 15:28; 16:6, 7)” and “serves the medium of divine communications and revelations (Acts 7:55; 11:28;21:4; Ephesians 3:5)” (G4151). The Spirit and God the Father are used interchangeably in some passages of Scripture to refer to God as a spirit being (Acts 5:3, 9 [cf. 5:4]; Ephesians 6:17).

Paul talked about receiving wisdom from the Holy Spirit in his first letter to the Corinthians. Paul said:

Yet among the mature we do impart wisdom, although it is not a wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are doomed to pass away. But we impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God, which God decreed before the ages for our glory. None of the rulers of this age understood this, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. But, as it is written,

“What no eye has seen, nor ear heard,
    nor the heart of man imagined,
what God has prepared for those who love him”—

these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. For who knows a person’s thoughts except the spirit of that person, which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. (1 Corinthians 2:6-11)

Paul referred to God’s wisdom as a secret and hidden wisdom that is revealed through the Spirit. Paul was talking about the spiritual communication that takes places between a believer and God after a person has been born again. Jesus told the Jewish ruler Nicodemus, “Unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus said to him, ‘How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?’ Jesus answered, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit; he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit’” (John 3:3-6).

Paul indicated that God reveals things to believers through the Spirit. Therefore, it is not only necessary for believers to be indwelt by the Holy Spirit, but also to remain under his constant influence. God’s grace, or what is called in the Greek charis (kharˊ-ece), refers in a figurative or spiritual sense to “the divine influence upon the heart and its reflection in the life” (G5485). King David is an example in the Old Testament of how God communicated with believers before they were indwelt by the Holy Spirit. After David committed adultery with Bathsheba and killed her husband, Uriah in order to conceal his sin, the LORD sent Nathan to David. “Nathan used his parable (2 Samuel 1-4) to skillfully bring David to condemn himself, and David painfully realized the consequences of his sin” (note on 2 Samuel 12:1-14). At the end of Nathan’s parable, 2 Samuel 12:5-9 states, “Then David’s anger was greatly kindled against the man, and he said to Nathan, ‘As the Lord lives, the man who has done this deserves to die, and he shall restore the lamb fourfold, because he did this thing, and because he had no pity.’ Nathan said to David, ‘You are the man! Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, “I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you out of the hand of Saul. And I gave you your master’s house and your master’s wives into your arms and gave you the house of Israel and of Judah. And if this were too little, I would add to you as much more. Why have you despised the word of the Lord, to do what is evil in his sight?”’” David seemed to be unaware of what he had done until Nathan’s parable stirred up his righteous indignation. At the point when David felt contempt for the man who had stolen his neighbor’s sheep (2 Samuel 12:4), Nathan gave David’s conscience a spiritual jab by stating, “You are the man” (2 Samuel 12:7).

Spiritual communication is a two-way exchange of information between God and believers. Not only does God reveal things to believers through his Spirit, but he also listens and responds to us when we pray. David spoke to the LORD the words of a song that is recorded in 2 Samuel 22. David said:

“In my distress I called upon the Lord;
    to my God I called.
From his temple he heard my voice,
    and my cry came to his ears.

“Then the earth reeled and rocked;
    the foundations of the heavens trembled
    and quaked, because he was angry.
Smoke went up from his nostrils,
    and devouring fire from his mouth;
    glowing coals flamed forth from him.
He bowed the heavens and came down;
    thick darkness was under his feet.
He rode on a cherub and flew;
    he was seen on the wings of the wind.
He made darkness around him his canopy,
    thick clouds, a gathering of water.
Out of the brightness before him
    coals of fire flamed forth.
The Lord thundered from heaven,
    and the Most High uttered his voice.” (2 Samuel 22:7-14)

David called to the LORD. The Hebrew word that is translated called, qara (kaw-rawˊ) can mean to summon or call aloud, addressing a person by name (H71721). David said of the LORD, “he heard my voice, and my cry came to his ears…He bowed the heavens and came down; thick darkness was under his feet. He rode on a cherub and flew; he was seen on the wings of the wind” (2 Samuel 22:7, 10-11). David’s depiction of the LORD coming to his rescue was intended to convey spiritual activity that was undetectable to the natural senses. David imagined the LORD riding on a cherub and flying on the wings of the wind, but in actuality, the LORD was engaging with David in his mind through the Holy Spirit.

Paul explained in his letter to the Corinthians that God’s thoughts are transmitted to believers through the Holy Spirit who speaks to us in our hearts or minds. Paul said, “For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. For who knows a person’s thoughts except the spirit of that person, which is in him. So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God. And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual” (1 Corinthians 2:10-13). The Greek word that is translated interpreting, sugkrino (soong-kreeˊ-no) means “to judge of one thing in connection with another, i.e. combine (spiritual ideas with appropriate expressions) or collate (one person with another by way of contrast or resemblance)” (G4793). The Holy Spirit makes it possible for us to see God in a way that makes sense to us as human beings. David’s description of the LORD riding on a cherub and flying on the wings of the wind made sense to him from the perspective of God being able to transcend the distance between heaven and earth and to be with David in a brief moment of time.

The Greek word sugkrino is derived from the words sun (soon), which denotes “union; with or together,” and krino (kreeˊ-no), which means “to judge in one’s own mind as to what is right, proper, expedient” (G2919). Krino also refers to discriminating between good and evil. When the Holy Spirit is at work in believers, he is helping them to discriminate between good and evil. The Holy Spirit communicates to believers what is the right, proper, expedient thing for them to do based on God’s will for their lives. Paul talked about this in the context of the renewal of the Holy Spirit, which is the adjustment of the moral and spiritual thinking to the mind of God. “In Titus 3:5, ‘the renewing of the Holy Spirit’ is not a fresh bestowment of the Spirit, but a revival of His power, developing the Christian life, stressing the continual operation of the indwelling Spirit of God” (G342). Paul concluded his discussion of wisdom from the Spirit with the statement, “The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned” (1 Corinthians 2:14). Spiritual discernment is the result of the Holy Spirit interpreting spiritual truths. Therefore, unbelievers to not have that capability. Paul said the things of the Spirit of God are folly or absurdity to the person that has not been born again, as was demonstrated by Nicodemus when he asked Jesus the question, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?” (John 3:4). With regard to spiritual communication, Jesus likened the influence of the Holy Spirit on a person’s heart to the wind that causes things to move without any physical evidence of its presence. Jesus said, “The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit” (John 3:8).

Being saved

The Apostle Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians began with a detailed description of the people he was writing to. Paul said, “To the church of God that is in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints together with all those in every place who call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours” (1 Corinthians 1:2). Paul addressed his audience as the church of God and indicated that they were sanctified in Christ Jesus. Paul was clearly referring to people who had already accepted Jesus as their Savior. The Greek word that is translated sanctified, hagiazo (hag-ee-ad’-zo) means “to make holy” (G37). Hagiazo is spoken of persons who are consecrated “as being set apart of God and sent by Him for the performance of His will (John 10:36).” The resultant state of Hagiazo is hagiasmos (hag-ee-as-mos’). Hagiasmos refers not only to the activity of the Holy Spirit in setting man apart unto salvation and transferring him into the ranks of the redeemed, but also to enabling him to be holy even as God is holy (2 Thessalonians 2:13)” (G38).

Paul went on to say that his audience was not lacking in any gift as they waited for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ, who would sustain them to the end, “guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 1:7-8). The term guiltless has to do with being accountable for a debt. Jesus told a parable about an unforgiving servant in order to explain each person’s accountability to God for the sins they commit (Matthew 18:21-35). Jesus began by stating that the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his servants. At first, a servant was forgiven a debt of ten thousand talents. A talent was a monetary unit worth about twenty years’ wages for a laborer, so there was no way the servant could pay the debt he owed. After the servant was forgiven, he demanded payment from someone who owed him a hundred denarii. A denarius was a day’s wages for a laborer, a very small amount compared to the ten thousand talents that the servant had been forgiven. When it was reported to the master what had taken place, Jesus said, “Then the master summoned him and said to him, ‘You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. And should you not have had mercy on your fellow servant, as I had mercy on you? And in anger, his master delivered him to the jailors, until he should pay all his debt. So also my heavenly father will do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother from your heart” (Matthew 18:32-35).

Paul wanted his readers to understand that their moral debt was cleared from God’s accounting system when they accepted Christ as their Savior, but that didn’t absolve them of their responsibility to deal with their fellow believers in a manner similar to the way God had dealt with them. Paul said, “I appeal to you, brothers, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind, and the same judgment” (1 Corinthians 1:10). The divisions in the church were hindering the believers’ spiritual growth and what Paul later referred to as their edification (1 Corinthians 14:3). Paul used the Greek word katartizo (kar-ar-tid’-zo), which is translated united, to describe the purpose of edification, that the members of Christ’s body would be “perfectly joined” together. Katartizo indicates the close relationship between character and destiny in that the right ordering and arrangement of the members of Christ’s body results in every member being “fitly framed together” into a holy temple in the Lord (Ephesians 2:21, KJV).

Paul went on to explain that the power of God was linked to the cross of Christ and that it had to be working in the believers’ lives until the day of our Lord Jesus Christ in order for them to be guiltless in the end. Paul said, “For Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel, and not with words of eloquent wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power. For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God” (1 Corinthians 1:17-18). Paul indicated that the cross could be emptied of its power. In other words, Christ’s sacrifice for our sins could be neutralized or made ineffective in what it was intended to do in a person’s life. Paul brought up this problem in the context of a person being saved. “The participle is used substantively to refer to those being saved, those who have obtained salvation through Christ and are kept by him” (G4982). Paul clarified his statement about being saved in 1 Corinthians 15:2, when he said, “Now I remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you — unless you believed in vain.” According to Paul, being saved meant that you continued to believe what you did when you first received salvation through the gospel. Paul likely contrasted being saved with perishing in order to make it clear that  a person’s state does not change. A saved person can not become unsaved, but he can lose the reward God intended for him (Matthew 25:26-30).

Paul indicated that Jesus is the one who sustains believers as they go through the process of being saved. He said, “I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that was given you in Christ Jesus, that in every way you were enriched in him in all speech and all knowledge—even as the testimony about Christ was confirmed among you—so that you are not lacking in any gift, as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will sustain you to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 1:4-8). Jesus’ ability to sustain believers to the end is based on a personal relationship with the Lord that involves walking together by faith (G950). Paul indicated that Christ sustaining believers results in them being guiltless or being freed from their eternal moral debt to God. The way that it happens is by miraculous power being activated through the preaching of the gospel. Paul said, “For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God” (1 Corinthians 1:21-24).

Paul went on to say that the effect of being saved is that the mind of Christ is formed in the believer. Paul said, “The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. The spiritual person judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one. For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ” (1 Corinthians 2:14-16). Paul also talked about the renewing of the mind in his letter to the Romans. Paul admonished them, “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect” (Romans 12:2). The Greek word that is translated transformed, metamorphoo (met-am-or-fo’-o), is where the English word metamorphosis comes from. Metamorphosis refers to the process of transformation from an immature form to an adult form in two or more distinct phases. Paul indicated that transformation takes place as a result of the renewal of the mind. Renewal is intended to make a person different than in the past. The Greek word that Paul used, anakainosis (an-ak-ah’-ee-no-sis), stresses the process of sanctification (G342). Anakainosis “is the gradual conforming of the person to the new spiritual world in which he now lives, the restoration of the divine image. In this process the person is not passive but is a fellow worker with God” (G3824).

Paul linked together different aspects of being saved in his letter to Titus. Paul referred to these two aspects of salvation as the washing of regeneration and the renewal of the Holy Spirit. Paul said, “But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration, and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life” (Titus 3:4-7). Justification by grace means that God’s divine influence upon our hearts and its reflection in our lives will cause us to be declared innocent in the end, when God actively intervenes to punish sin. God’s day of judgment is referred to as the day of the Lord. The day of the Lord holds an important place in prophecy (note on 1 Thessalonians 5:2). Paul wrote about the day of the Lord in his first letter to the Thessalonians. Paul said, “Now concerning the times and the seasons, brothers, you have no need to have anything written to you. For you yourselves are fully aware that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. While people are saying, ‘There is peace and security,’ then sudden destruction will come upon them as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and they will not escape. But you are not in darkness, brothers, for that day to surprise you like a thief. For you are all children of light, children of the day. We are not of the night or of the darkness. So then let us not sleep, as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober. For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, are drunk at night. But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation. For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us so that whether we are awake or asleep we might live with him. Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing” (1 Thessalonians 5:1-11).

Jesus emphasized the importance of remaining under the influence of the Holy Spirit in his message about the signs of the end of the age. After his disciples asked him when the end would occur, and the sign of his second coming, Jesus said, “Many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another. And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end will be saved” (Matthew 24:10-13). The Greek word that is translated endures, hupomeno (hoop-om-en’-o), means “to remain under the approach or presence of any person or thing, in the sense of to await” (G5278). What Jesus meant by the one who endures to the end will be saved was that endurance will be a distinguishing characteristic of believers that are in the process of being saved at the end of the age. Constant communion with the Holy Spirit will be more and more important for believers as Christ’s return draws near. Jesus concluded his Olivet Discourse with several parables about faithful and wicked servants and then, talked about the final judgment. Jesus said, “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all his angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats” (Matthew 25:31-32). The sheep and the goats represent two spiritual categories that all people fall into, saved and unsaved. Jesus said of the sheep, who represented the group of saved people, “Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world” (Matthew 25:34). Jesus commended the sheep because they had taken care of him when he was in need of help (Matthew 25:35-37), but they were unaware that they had done anything to merit his favor (Matthew 25:37-39). When Jesus confronted the unsaved, the opposite happened. They argued that they had done everything that was expected of them. Matthew 25:41-46 states:

“Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’ Then they also will answer, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to you?’ Then he will answer them, saying, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’ And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

The key differentiation that Jesus made between the sheep and the goats was that one group ministered to his needs and the other did not. The sheep had done what Jesus expected of them, but were most likely unaware of it because it had not been an intentional effort on their part, but rather the divine influence of the Holy Spirit on their hearts that caused them to act the way they did.

Paul summarized all of his doctrine related to salvation in his letter to the Romans. In this letter, Paul emphasized the importance of faith (Romans 4:1-5:11), but he also made it clear that it takes an act of the will to overcome the effects of sin in our lives (Romans 6:13). In order to clarify the difference between works of the flesh, the things we choose to do based on our own desires and preferences, and acts of faith, Paul said:

Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due. And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness, just as David also speaks of the blessing of the one to whom God counts righteousness apart from works:

“Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven,
    and whose sins are covered;
blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin.” (Romans 4:4-8)

The main point that Paul made in this passage was that God counts righteousness apart from works. Therefore, it isn’t necessary for us to do anything to be saved. But, Paul went on to explain that life in the Spirit involves being mentally disposed toward doing the things that God wants us to (Romans 8:5-6). In his conclusion, Paul identified the uniting principle associated with being saved and the final judgment that Jesus described in Matthew 25:31-46. Paul said, “Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. For the commandments, ‘You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,’ and any other commandment, are summed up in this word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law” (Romans 13:8-10).

Friend or foe

The conspiracy that was instigated by David’s son Absalom undermined David’s confidence in the loyalty of his closest advisors. Second Samuel 17:25 tells us, “Absalom had set Amasa over the army instead of Joab. Amasa was the son of a man named Ithra the Ishmaelite, who had married Abigail the daughter of Nahash, sister of Zeruiah, Joab’s mother.” Because Joab killed Absalom after David gave him strict orders not to, David decided to make Amasa commander of his army instead of Joab after he returned to Jerusalem and was restored to his position of King of Israel. It says in 2 Samuel 19:8-15:

Now Israel had fled every man to his own home. And all the people were arguing throughout all the tribes of Israel, saying, “The king delivered us from the hand of our enemies and saved us from the hand of the Philistines, and now he has fled out of the land from Absalom. But Absalom, whom we anointed over us, is dead in battle. Now therefore why do you say nothing about bringing the king back?”

And King David sent this message to Zadok and Abiathar the priests: “Say to the elders of Judah, ‘Why should you be the last to bring the king back to his house, when the word of all Israel has come to the king?You are my brothers; you are my bone and my flesh. Why then should you be the last to bring back the king?’ And say to Amasa, ‘Are you not my bone and my flesh? God do so to me and more also, if you are not commander of my army from now on in place of Joab.’” And he swayed the heart of all the men of Judah as one man, so that they sent word to the king, “Return, both you and all your servants.” So the king came back to the Jordan, and Judah came to Gilgal to meet the king and to bring the king over the Jordan.

David’s strategy of winning back the loyalty of his tribesmen was successful, but a division among the tribes of Israel had already begun to erode the unity that had been a mark of David’s reign as king. After David had crossed the Jordan, 2 Samuel 20:1-2 states, “Now there happened to be there a worthless man, whose name was Sheba, the son of Bichri, a Benjamite. And he blew the trumpet and said, ‘We have no portion in David, and we have no inheritance in the son of Jesse; every man to his tents, O Israel!’ So all the men of Israel withdrew from David and followed Sheba the son of Bichri. But the men of Judah followed their king steadfastly from the Jordan to Jerusalem.”

Sheba’s statement had particular significance with regard to Israel’s Messiah. Sheba said, “We have no portion in David, and we have no inheritance in the son of Jesse” (2 Samuel 20:1). The words portion and inheritance were likely intended to refer to the blessing that Jacob’s son Judah received at the time of Jacob’s death. Jacob said, “Judah, your brothers shall praise you; your hand shall be on the neck of your enemies; your father’s sons shall bow down before you. Judah is a lion’s cub: from the prey, my son, you have gone up. He stooped down; he crouched as a lion and as a lioness; who dares rouse him? The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, until tribute comes to him; and to him shall be the obedience of the peoples” (Genesis 49:8-10). “This verse does not mean that there will be a continuous reign by the descendants of Judah but merely that their line will retain a permanent right to rule. It is generally regarded as messianic prophecy” (note on Genesis 49:10). Isaiah’s prophecy of the “righteous reign of the branch” (Isaiah 11) refers to Israel’s Messiah as both a stump and root of Jesse (verses. 1 and 10), the name of David’s father. In one of his sermons, the Apostle Paul identified David, the son of Jesse, as the progenitor of Israel’s Messiah. Paul said, “Then they asked for a king, and God gave them Saul the son of Kish, a man of the tribe of Benjamin, for forty years. And when he had removed him, he raised up David to be their king, of whom he testified and said, ‘I have found in David the son of Jesse a man after my own heart, who will do all my will.’ Of this man’s offspring God has brought to Israel a Savior, Jesus, as he promised” (Acts 13:21-23).

Israel’s rejection of David was the first step in a progression of events that resulted in Jesus’ crucifixion. Likewise, the generosity of Barzillai the Gileadite in taking care of David’s needs while he was in exile (2 Samuel 19:32), established the basis of Jesus’ judgment of the world. Jesus told his disciples, “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. Before him will be gathered all the nations and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left. Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me” (Matthew 25:31-35). The Apostle John talked about support and opposition in his final letter which he addressed to “the beloved Gaius, whom I love in truth” (3 John 1:1). “Originally from Macedonia, Gaius was one of Paul’s companions who was seized during the riot perpetuated by opponents of the gospel in Ephesus (Acts 19:29). He was also among those who accompanied Paul to Jerusalem, perhaps as an official delegate of his church in Derbe, and was a member of the party that awaited the apostle at Troas (Acts 20:4, 5). He was baptized by Paul in Corinth (1 Corinthians 1:14). His house was used as a regular meeting place for the congregation and Paul stayed with him during one of his visits from Corinth (Romans 16:23). John commended Gaius for his gracious hospitality (v. 5) and expressed his desire to see him soon (v. 14)” (note on 3 John 1:1).

John went on in his letter to single out a man that was causing trouble in the church. John said, “I have written something to the church, but Diotrephes, who likes to put himself first, does not acknowledge our authority. So if I come, I will bring up what he is doing, talking wicked nonsense against us. And not content with that, he refuses to welcome the brothers, and also stops those who want to and puts them out of the church” (3 John 1:9-10). “Diotrephes was an ambitious person who resisted the authority of the elders in the church. He attacked them publicly and forbade the reception of John and his followers. He excluded those who received them, perhaps by formal excommunication or by physical violence” (note on 3 John 1:9). John said that Diotrephes was “talking wicked nonsense” (3 John 1:10). The Greek words that John used, logos (logˊ-os) poneros (pon-ay-rosˊ) phluareo (floo-ar-ehˊ-o) indicate that Diotrephes was using the word of God in a hurtful or evil manner. Diotrephes’ position in the church enabled him to control the other members’ behavior. Diotrephes stopped those who wanted to welcome John into their congregation by excommunicating them (3 John 1:10).

Joab undermined David’s effort to reunite his kingdom by killing Amasa, the man David appointed to take his place as commander of Israel’s army (2 Samuel 19:13). It says in 2 Samuel 20:4-10:

Then the king said to Amasa, “Call the men of Judah together to me within three days, and be here yourself.” So Amasa went to summon Judah, but he delayed beyond the set time that had been appointed him. And David said to Abishai, “Now Sheba the son of Bichri will do us more harm than Absalom. Take your lord’s servants and pursue him, lest he get himself to fortified cities and escape from us. ”And there went out after him Joab’s men and the Cherethites and the Pelethites, and all the mighty men. They went out from Jerusalem to pursue Sheba the son of Bichri. When they were at the great stone that is in Gibeon, Amasa came to meet them. Now Joab was wearing a soldier’s garment, and over it was a belt with a sword in its sheath fastened on his thigh, and as he went forward it fell out. And Joab said to Amasa, “Is it well with you, my brother?” And Joab took Amasa by the beard with his right hand to kiss him. But Amasa did not observe the sword that was in Joab’s hand. So Joab struck him with it in the stomach and spilled his entrails to the ground without striking a second blow, and he died.

Joab’s act of treachery gave him the ability to reestablish himself as the commander of Israel’s army without David’s approval. After the head of Sheba the son of Bichri was thrown to Joab over the wall where he sought refuge, 2 Samuel 20:23 tells us, “Now Joab was in command of all the army of Israel; and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada was in command of the Cherethites and the Pelethites.”

David’s final instructions to his son Solomon reveal that even though David didn’t trust or respect Joab, he allowed Joab to remain in command of his army until Solomon succeeded him as king. David told Solomon, “Moreover, you also know what Joab the son of Zeruiah did to me, how he dealt with the two commanders of the armies of Israel, Abner the son of Ner, and Amasa the son of Jether, whom he killed, avenging in time of peace for blood that had been shed in war, and putting the blood of war on the belt around his waist and on the sandals on his feet. Act therefore according to your wisdom, but do not let his grey head go down to Sheol in peace. But deal loyally with the sons of Barzillai the Gileadite, and let them be among those who eat at your table, for with such loyalty they met me when I fled from Absalom your brother” (1 Kings 2:5-7). David distinguished Joab, who had led Israel’s army during his entire reign, from Barzillai the Gileadite who had shown him kindness when he fled from Absalom, by the loyalty or disloyalty that each man demonstrated toward him. The Hebrew word that David used which is translated loyalty in 1 Kings 2:7 is chesed (khehˊ-sed). “The classic text for understanding the significance of this word is Psalm 136 where it is used twenty-six times to proclaim that God’s kindness and love are eternal. The psalmist made it clear that God’s kindness and faithfulness serves as the foundation for His actions and His character…The entire span of creation to God’s redemption, preservation, and permanent establishment is touched upon in this psalm. It all happened, is happening, and will continue to happen because of the Lord’s covenant faithfulness and kindness” (H2617). David’s distinction between his friend and his foe was similar to the Son of Man’s distinction between the sheep and the goats (Matthew 25:33), David based his judgment of the two men on their resemblance to God’s character.

Antichrist

The Apostle John introduced a character into his gospel message that none of the other apostles seemed to be aware of. John referred to him as antichrist. John said, “Children, it is the last hour, and as you have heard that antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists have come. Therefore we know that it is the last hour. They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out, that it might become plain that they all are not of us” (1 John 2:18-19). The Greek word that is translated antichrist, antichristos (an-tee´-khris-tos) means “an opponent of, an imposter for the Messiah.” Antichristo can mean either “against Christ” or “instead of Christ,” or perhaps, combining the two, “one who, assuming the guise of Christ, opposes Christ and takes His place” (G500). “This noun is only found in John’s epistles, and there is defined to be, “collectively, all who deny that Jesus is the Messiah and that the Messiah is come in the flesh (1 John 2:18, 22; 4:3; 2 John 7). What class of person the apostle had in mind is unknown; probably Jewish adversaries” (G500). Paul seems to have been referring to the same person or class of person in his second letter to the Thessalonians when he said, “Let no one deceive you in any way. For the day will not come, unless the rebellion comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, who opposes and exalts himself against every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God” (2 Thessalonians 2:3-4).

John indicated that antichrists had already appeared on the scene in the first century and were attempting to disrupt the spread of the gospel in the church’s early stages of development. John said, “For many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not confess the coming of Jesus Christ in the flesh. Such a one is the deceiver and the antichrist” (2 John 1:7). The Greek word that is translated deceiver, planos (plan´-os) means “an imposter or misleader” (G4108). John and Paul’s descriptions agree in that both men identify the antichrist/man of lawlessness as one who deceives others. The key evidence we are to look for in identifying Antichrist is that he will attempt to take the place of Christ and will proclaim himself to be God (2 Thessalonians 2:4). Paul said, “The coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders, and with all wicked deception, for those who are perishing, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved” (2 Thessalonians 2:9-10). “Two words in this verse refer to supernatural occurrences: ‘signs’ (semeion [G4592]) and ‘wonders’ (teras [G5059]). These ‘counterfeit miracles’ are accomplished by the power of Satan. Miracles are not necessarily evidences of God’s power (Acts 19:13, cf. Exodus 7:22)” (note on 2 Thessalonian 2:9). According to Paul, “the Holy Spirit is the restraining force in this world, holding back the power of lawlessness and the many ‘antichrists’ existing today (1 John 2:18)” the removal of the Holy Spirit’s restraining power will allow Satan and the Antichrist “to exercise dominion on the earth, but God will use whatever happens to further his plan in accordance with his own timetable” (note on 2 Thessalonians 2:6, 7).

God’s covenant with King David (2 Samuel 7:4-16) specified that he would establish an eternal kingdom through one of David’s offspring, a son that would come from David’s own body. “The Jews recognized that the Messiah would come from David’s descendants (cf. John 7:42). One of the titles applied to Jesus during his earthly ministry was ‘Son of David’ (Matthew 9:27; 12:23; 15:22)), emphasizing his heirship of all David’s royal prerogatives as well as his fulfillment of the messianic promises to David (2 Samuel 7:8-16, cf. Matthew 22:41-45; Luke 1:32, 33, 69)” (note on 1 Samuel 16:13). God didn’t specify which of David’s sons would inherit his throne, but implied there would be a special relationship between him and the Messiah. God said, “I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son” (2 Samuel 2:14) indicating he always intended Israel’s Messiah to be both the Son of David and the Son of God.

Antichrist’s plot to usurp the throne of God is revealed in detail in the book of Daniel. Daniel stated:

After this I saw in the night visions, and behold, a fourth beast, terrifying and dreadful and exceedingly strong. It had great iron teeth; it devoured and broke in pieces and stamped what was left with its feet. It was different from all the beasts that were before it, and it had ten horns. I considered the horns, and behold, there came up among them another horn, a little one, before which three of the first horns were plucked up by the roots. And behold, in this horn were eyes like the eyes of a man, and a mouth speaking great things…As I looked, this horn made war with the saints and prevailed over them, until the Ancient of Days came, and judgment was given for the saints of the Most High, and the time came when the saints possessed the kingdom. (Daniel 7:7-8, 21-22)

“The coming Antichrist is represented as a ‘little horn,’ who eliminates three of the original ten horns. The mouth that speaks boastfully correlates to the description of the beast that will campaign against God and the saints for forty-two months (Revelation 13:5-7) but will finally be destroyed and cast into the lake of fire (v.11, cf. Revelation 19:20)” (note on Daniel 7:1-28).

Absalom’s conspiracy against his father, King David (2 Samuel 15-18), to a certain extent, depicts the struggle between Antichrist and Christ, and also provides us with a valuable lesson in how God defeats the purposes of Satan. David left Jerusalem without a fight and allowed Absalom to take over as the reigning King of Israel. A loyal servant of David’s, Hushai the Archite, was instructed to “return to the city and say to Absalom, I will be your servant, O king; as I have been your father’s servant in time past, so now I will be your servant’” (2 Samuel 15:34). David did this so that Hushai could interfere with the counsel that Absalom received from Ahithophel, his co-conspirator and former advisor of David. After Ahithophel had advised Absalom to pursue David immediately and throw him into a panic while he was weary and discouraged (2 Samuel 17:1-3), Hushai said to Absalom:

“This time the counsel that Ahithophel has given is not good.” Hushai said, “You know that your father and his men are mighty men, and that they are enraged, like a bear robbed of her cubs in the field. Besides, your father is expert in war; he will not spend the night with the people. Behold, even now he has hidden himself in one of the pits or in some other place. And as soon as some of the people fall at the first attack, whoever hears it will say, ‘There has been a slaughter among the people who follow Absalom.’ Then even the valiant man, whose heart is like the heart of a lion, will utterly melt with fear, for all Israel knows that your father is a mighty man, and that those who are with him are valiant men. But my counsel is that all Israel be gathered to you, from Dan to Beersheba, as the sand by the sea for multitude, and that you go to battle in person. So we shall come upon him in some place where he is to be found, and we shall light upon him as the dew falls on the ground, and of him and all the men with him not one will be left. (2 Samuel 17:7-12)

The battle strategy that Hushai proposed to Absalom is similar to what we see in Revelation 19:19 where Antichrist was preparing to fight against Christ and his army, and 20:7-8 where Satan gathered the nations, and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city (Revelation 20:9). The anticlimactic end to each of these situations (2 Samuel 18:14-15; Revelation 19:20; 20:9-10) demonstrates the invincibleness of God’s covenant with David and ultimately, the Messiah that is expected to rule and reign over the kingdom of heaven. John’s warning to first century believers about Antichrist was not so much about the possibility of being defeated, but about losing the reward that Jesus promised to his faithful followers (Matthew 10:40-42). John advised them, “Watch yourselves, so that you may not lose what we have worked for, but may win a full reward” (2 John 1:8).

Jesus states in Revelation 22:12, “Behold, I am coming soon, bringing my recompense with me, to repay each one for what he has done.” The Greek word that is translated recompense, misthos (mis-thos´) means “pay for services” G3408). Paul talked about the recompense that believers will receive in his first letter to the Corinthians. Paul identified two groups of Christians, “spiritual people” and “people of the flesh,” and differentiated these two groups by the type of spiritual nourishment they required, milk or solid food (1 Corinthians 3:1-2). Paul went on to explain that the work he was doing to help the Corinthians mature spiritually would be rewarded based on the motive behind it (1 Corinthians 4:5). Paul said:

He who plants and he who waters are one, and each will receive his wages according to his labor. For we are God’s fellow workers. You are God’s field, God’s building.

According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master builder I laid a foundation, and someone else is building upon it. Let each one take care how he builds upon it. For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw—each one’s work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. If anyone’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire. (1 Corinthians 3:8-15).

Paul indicated that a person could be saved and yet, receive no reward for serving God. John’s caution to believers, “Watch yourselves, so that you may not lose what we have worked for, but may win a full reward” (2 John 1:8), suggests that even if we have earned a reward, it could be lost afterward. Paul admitted that he was vulnerable to human error and stated, “Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified” (1 Corinthians 9:24-27).

Paul’s concern about being disqualified had to do with how he was perceived by others. The Greek word dokeo (dok-eh´-o) “refers to a person’s subjective mental estimate or opinion about something…It always signifies a subjective estimate of a thing, not the objective appearance and qualities the thing actually possesses” (G1380). Paul knew that he was definitely saved and had been tasked with preaching the gospel, but he referred to himself as “the very least of all the saints” (Ephesians 3:7-8). Paul’s estimate of himself was likely based on his behavior before he became a Christian, rather than afterward, but it reveals an important point about the attitude Paul had about himself. Paul knew that he had failed in the past, and was capable of failing again, therefore he didn’t think of himself as being invulnerable to the influences of Antichrist or as being beyond the reproach of God. When Shimei cursed King David as he was fleeing from Absalom, David responded, “’If he is cursing because the LORD has said to him, “Curse David,” who then shall say, “Why have you done so?”’ And David said to Abishai and to all his servants, ‘Behold, my own son seeks my life; how much more now may this Benjamite! Leave him alone and let him curse, for the LORD has told him to. It may be that the LORD will look on the wrong done to me, and that the LORD will repay me with good for his cursing today’” (2 Samuel 16:10-12). Instead of thinking that he deserved a reward for all the things he had done for the LORD, David hoped the LORD would repay him with good for the wrong that was done to him. This is consistent with Jesus’ teaching in his Sermon on the Mount. Jesus told his followers, “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you” (Matthew 5:11-12).

The shadow of death

David’s famous Psalm 23, which is titled, “The LORD Is My Shepherd,” contains a verse that refers to a dark period in David’s life that was likely near the end of his reign as King of Israel. David said:

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
    I will fear no evil,
for you are with me;
    your rod and your staff,
    they comfort me. (Psalm 23:4)

The rod and the staff were familiar tools to David because of his own experience as a shepherd (1 Samuel 16:11). The rod in particular was significant due to its connection with the rule of Israel’s Messiah. The Hebrew word that is translated rod in Psalm 23:4, shebet (shayˊ-bet) appears in Genesis 49:10 in reference to the Messiah coming from the tribe of Judah. “Because of the association between smiting and ruling, the rod became a symbol of the authority of the one bearing it; thus, this word can also mean a scepter (Genesis 49:10; Judges 5:14; Isaiah 14:5). Also, the connotation of tribe is based on the connection between this term and the concept of rulership” (H7626).

David recognized that God’s rulership over his life meant he would have to submit to the Lord’s authority even when doing so might result in his death. Absalom’s conspiracy against David caused him to flee Jerusalem. After the Ark of the Covenant was brought to him, David told the priest Zadok to take it back, and said, “If I find favor in the eyes of the LORD, he will bring me back and let me see both it and his dwelling place. But if he says, ‘I have no pleasure in you,’ behold, here I am, let him do to me what seems good to him” (2 Samuel 15:25-26). David may have thought that God was going to deal with him the same way he had King Saul, whose reign over Israel ended when he was killed in battle (1 Samuel 31:1-4). The thought that he would never return to Jerusalem might have felt like death to David. The phrase the shadow of death implies that death was near enough that it was casting its shadow on David. It could be that David sensed the presence of evil spirits and was aware that they meant to do him harm. In response to walking through the valley of the shadow of death, David said, “I will fear no evil” (Psalm 23:4).

It says in 2 Samuel 15:30 that “David went up the ascent of the Mount of Olives, weeping as he went, barefoot and with his head covered.” The Mount of Olives played a significant role in the ministry of Jesus. Jesus’ prominent Olivet Discourse was spoken on the Mount of Olives (Matthew 24:3-25:46) and his triumphal entry into Jerusalem was initiated on his way down from the Mount of Olives (Luke 19:37-38). The Mount of Olives was just east of the Old City of Jerusalem and was separated from it by the Kidron Valley. “Jesus crossed the valley many times traveling between Jerusalem and Bethany. The valley contains the Garden of Gethsemane, where Jesus prayed the night before he was crucified” (Wikipedia.org). David’s walk through the valley of the shadow of death likely included passing through the Garden of Gethsemane. It could be that as David fled Jerusalem and headed toward the Mount of Olives that he thought of his need for redemption and realized that his Messiah was using his experience to make him aware of what he would have to go though one day in order to save him. David said of his experience, “For you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.

The shadow of death may be thought of as a grim reminder of the consequences of our sin nature. Isaiah said of Jesus:

He was despised and rejected by men,
    a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief;
and as one from whom men hide their faces
    he was despised, and we esteemed him not. (Isaiah 53:3)

This may accurately convey David’s experience when Shimei cursed him as he came to Bahurim. Second Samuel 16:13-14 states, “So David and his men went on the road, while Shimei went along on the hillside opposite him and cursed as he went and threw stones at him and flung dust. And the king, and all the people who were with him, arrived weary at the Jordan.” Isaiah when on to say:

Surely he has borne our griefs
    and carried our sorrows;
yet we esteemed him stricken,
    smitten by God, and afflicted.
But he was pierced for our transgressions;
    he was crushed for our iniquities;
upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,
    and with his wounds we are healed.
All we like sheep have gone astray;
    we have turned—every one—to his own way;
and the Lord has laid on him
    the iniquity of us all. (Isaiah 53:4-6)

David wrote about his experience when he fled from Jerusalem in Psalm 3. David said, “Many are saying of my soul, there is no salvation for him in God” (Psalm 3:2). Even though others may have thought that David had lost his salvation when he fled from Jerusalem, David continued to put his trust in the Lord. David said, “But you, O LORD, are a shield about me, my glory, and the lifter of my head. I cried aloud to the LORD and he answered me from his holy hill” (Psalm 3:3-4). David’s assurance of salvation was based on the fact that he had repented of his sins and was told by Nathan the prophet, “The LORD also has put away your sin; you shall not die” (2 Samuel 12:13). The Hebrew word that is translated put away, abar (aw-barˊ) means “to cross over” (H5674). David’s sin was put away when he walked through or rather, crossed over the valley of the shadow of death and experienced his Savior’s agony in the Garden of Gethsemene.

The consequences of sin

David’s affair with Bathsheba not only resulted in the conception and subsequent death of a child, but also in the introduction of evil into David’s family. When he rebuked David, Nathan the prophet stated:

“Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you out of the hand of Saul. And I gave you your master’s house and your master’s wives into your arms and gave you the house of Israel and of Judah. And if this were too little, I would add to you as much more. Why have you despised the word of the Lord, to do what is evil in his sight? You have struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and have taken his wife to be your wife and have killed him with the sword of the Ammonites. Now therefore the sword shall never depart from your house, because you have despised me and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife.’ Thus says the Lord, ‘Behold, I will raise up evil against you out of your own house. And I will take your wives before your eyes and give them to your neighbor, and he shall lie with your wives in the sight of this sun. For you did it secretly, but I will do this thing before all Israel and before the sun.’” (2 Samuel 12:7-12)

Nathan indicated that David had done what was evil in God’s sight and that God would raise up evil against David out of his own house. The Hebrew word raʿ (rah), which means bad or evil, “combines together in one the wicked deed and its consequences. It generally indicates the rough exterior of wrongdoing as a breach of harmony, and as breaking up of what is good and desirable in man and in society. While the prominent characteristic of the godly is lovingkindness (H2617), one of the most marked features of the ungodly man is that his course is an injury both to himself and to everyone around him” (H7451).

The moral degeneration that followed David’s transgression was first noticed in the rape of his daughter Tamar. David’s oldest son Amnon was in love with his step-sister and “was so tormented that he made himself ill because of his sister Tamar, for she was a virgin, and it seemed impossible to Amnon to do anything to her” (2 Samuel 13:2). Amnon’s cousin Jonadab helped him to craft a plot to trap Tamar and rape her in his own house (2 Samuel 13:5-6). Afterward, 2 Samuel 13:15 tells us, “Then Amnon hated her with very great hatred, so that the hatred with which he hated her was greater than the love with which he had loved her. When David was told what had happened, it says in 2 Samuel 13:21-22, “he was very angry. But Absalom spoke neither good nor bad, for Absalom hated Amnon because he had violated his sister Tamar.” Two years later, Absalom invited his half-brother to a party, and when his heart was merry with wine, Absalom ordered his servants to kill Amnon (2 Samuel 13:28-29).

An actively bad person is referred to in the Bible as the wicked or the ungodly. This kind of person is “guilty enough to deserve punishment (Deuteronomy 25:2)” (H7563). The rashaʾ is guilty of hostility to God and His people. Writing about the wicked in Psalm 36, David said:

Transgression speaks to the wicked
    deep in his heart;
there is no fear of God
    before his eyes.
For he flatters himself in his own eyes
    that his iniquity cannot be found out and hated.
The words of his mouth are trouble and deceit;
    he has ceased to act wisely and do good.
He plots trouble while on his bed;
    he sets himself in a way that is not good;
    he does not reject evil. (Psalm 36:1-4)

David said that the wicked sets himself in a way that is not good and he does not reject evil. What David meant was that the wicked like the idea of hurting other people. The wicked want to cause pain and suffering.

Jesus differentiated the wicked from members of God’s kingdom and used the example of a tree bearing fruit to identify the way you can tell the condition of a person’s heart (Matthew 12:33). Jesus said, “The good person out of his good treasure brings forth good and the evil person out of his evil treasure brings forth evil” (Matthew 12:35). Jesus said “on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak, for by your words you will be justified and by your words you will be condemned” (Matthew 12:36). The Greek word that is translated give account, logos (logˊ-os) means “something said” (G3056) and is used in John 1:1-18 to refer to Jesus’ divine nature. Logos is the reasoning faculty as that power of the soul which is the basis of speech.

In order to deal with the eternal aspect of the consequences of sin, Jesus told two parable that specifically mentioned a wicked or evil one who was competing for ownership of believers’ hearts. Jesus said “When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart” (Matthew 13:18). Jesus went on to explain in his parable of the weeds that an intentional effort was being made to disrupt the establishment of the kingdom of heaven. In his explanation, Jesus specifically stated that the evil one is the devil and that he is trying to hinder the development of God’s kingdom by sowing his followers among God’s people (Matthew 13:37-39). Even though both were allowed to grow side by side until the harvest, the wicked were removed at harvest time. Jesus said, “Just as the weeds are gathered and burned with fire, so will it be at the end of the age. The Son of Man will send his angels and they will gather out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all law-breakers, and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Matthew 13:40-42)

No regrets

David’s prominent position in the kingdom of Israel made it possible for him to abuse the power that God had given him. 2 Samuel 11:1 tells us that, “In the spring of the year, the time when kings go out to battle, David sent Joab, and his servants with him, and all Israel. And they ravaged the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah. But David remained at Jerusalem.” Even though it was David’s responsibility to lead his men in battle, he remained in Jerusalem. Essentially, what David was doing was taking a vacation from the wars that his country was engaged in. We aren’t told why David remained behind, but it is clear in the next verses that David was not acting according to God’s will. It says in 2 Samuel 11:2-5:

It happened, late one afternoon, when David arose from his couch and was walking on the roof of the king’s house, that he saw from the roof a woman bathing; and the woman was very beautiful. And David sent and inquired about the woman. And one said, “Is not this Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?” So David sent messengers and took her, and she came to him, and he lay with her. (Now she had been purifying herself from her uncleanness.) Then she returned to her house. And the woman conceived, and she sent and told David, “I am pregnant.”

David knew that the woman he was attracted to was the wife of another man, and yet, he “sent messengers and took her” (2 Samuel 11:4). David’s sin might not have been discovered except that Bathsheba got pregnant. In an attempt to cover up what he had done, David sent for Uriah and tried to get him to have sex with his wife, so that it would appear that he had gotten Bathsheba pregnant instead of David (2 Samuel 11:6-13). When that failed, David sent Uriah back to the battle with a note to Joab, his commander, stating, “Set Uriah in the forefront of the hardest fighting, and then draw back from him, that he may be struck down and die” (2 Samuel 11:15).

It says in 2 Samuel 11:26-27, “When the wife of Uriah heard that Uriah her husband was dead, she lamented over her husband. And when the mourning was over, David sent and brought her to his house, and she became his wife and bore him a son. But the thing that David had done displeased the LORD.” The Hebrew word that is translated displeased, raʿaʿ (raw-ahˊ) means “to spoil (literally, by breaking to pieces); (figurative) to make (or be) good for nothing” (H7489). A word that is derived from raʿaʿ is raʿ (rah) which means “bad or (as noun) evil (natural or moral)” (H7451). Raʿ appears three times in 2 Samuel 12:7-23 which deals with the consequences of David’s sins. When the LORD sent Nathan to confront David, he used a parable “to skillfully bring David to condemn himself, and David painfully realized the consequences of his sin. He had violated four of the ten commandments in one rash sin: you shall not commit murder, you shall not steal, you shall not commit adultery, and you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife. Although it was about a year later, David sincerely repented of his sin (cf. Psalm 32:5; 51:1-19)” (note on 2 Samuel 12:1-14).

Psalm 51 gives us an intimate look at the consequences of David’s sins from a moral perspective. David began Psalm 51 with a petition for mercy. David prayed:

Have mercy on me,O God,
    according to your steadfast love;
according to your abundant mercy
    blot out my transgressions.
Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity,
    and cleanse me from my sin!

For I know my transgressions,
    and my sin is ever before me.
Against you, you only, have I sinned
    and done what is evil in your sight,
so that you may be justified in your words
    and blameless in your judgment. (Psalm 51:1-4)

David was aware of his need for God’s mercy and admitted, “Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight” (Psalm 51:4). David went on to say:

Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity,
    and in sin did my mother conceive me.
Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being,
    and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart. (Psalm 51:5-6)

David indicated that truth in his inward being and wisdom in his secret heart were the result of him being confronted by Nathan about his sin. The secret heart may have been a reference to David’s conscience, which was intentionally pricked by the parable that Nathan told him. The figurative meaning of the Hebrew word satham (saw-thamˊ) is “to keep secret” (H5640). One way of thinking of the secret heart is that it’s the part of us that we are unwilling to share with God. The things that we do that we don’t want anyone to know about. It’s likely that David was ashamed of what he had done and knew that he needed forgiveness before Nathan confronted him with his sin, but David was too proud to admit his failure. It wasn’t until the wisdom of God’s parable got into his soul and made him aware of the truth in his inward being that David was willing to repent and ask God for mercy.

David’s insight into the process of sanctification is revealed in verses 7-17 of Psalm 51. David prayed:

Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean;
    wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
Let me hear joy and gladness;
    let the bones that you have broken rejoice.
Hide your face from my sins,
    and blot out all my iniquities.
Create in me a clean heart, O God,
    and renew a rightspirit within me.
Cast me not away from your presence,
    and take not your Holy Spirit from me.
Restore to me the joy of your salvation,
    and uphold me with a willing spirit.

Then I will teach transgressors your ways,
    and sinners will return to you.
Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God,
    O God of my salvation,
    and my tongue will sing aloud of your righteousness.
O Lord, open my lips,
    and my mouth will declare your praise.
For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it;
    you will not be pleased with a burnt offering.
The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit;
    a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.

David asked God to create in him a clean heart, to renew a right spirit within him, and to restore the joy of his salvation. David was already saved, but he wasn’t experiencing life the way he was supposed to. David understood that his sin had affected his inner being and that he needed God to make it right again. David described his condition as “a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart” and indicated that they were “the sacrifices of God” (Psalm 51:17). The Apostle Paul referred to this as “godly grief” and said that it “produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret” (2 Corinthians 7:10).

The regrets that David had were an indicator that he was going through the process of sanctification and provided evidence that he had actually repented of his sins, but that wasn’t the end result that God was looking for. David’s repentance was intended to lead him “to salvation without regret” (2 Corinthians 7:10). What that means is that God wanted David’s salvation to become irrevocable. In other words, there would be no turning back after that. David was fully committed to his walk with the Lord. The end result of David’s sanctification was that he was willing to testify to others about the grace of God (Psalm 51:15). David promised God that he would use his experience to help others. When the joy of his salvation was restored, David said, “Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will return to you” (Psalm 51:13).

The kingdom of heaven

Israel’s demand for a king (1 Samuel 8:5) was a sign of their rejection of God and their desire to be like other nations. “God knew that the Israelites would someday desire a king. He had previously given guidelines that were to be followed by the people and by the kings that would reign over them (Deuteronomy 17:14-20)…The people were no longer satisfied with the system of judges that had been established. They improperly attributed the failures during that time to the system itself, not to their sin. They rejected God because they wanted to be like the other nations, not a peculiar people, set apart as the chosen ones of God. They wanted a visible deliverer in whom they could place their trust (cf. Judges 8:22). They wanted to walk by sight, not by faith” (note on 1 Samuel 8:5-7). Initially, God gave the Israelites the kind of king they were looking for. “From a human perspective, Saul fully satisfied the desires of the people. He was a man of great stature from the most military-minded tribe in all Israel and was considered capable of leading the people in battle against their enemies. Saul was also a man whose own spiritual life mirrored that of the majority of the Israelites; it was not long until he disobeyed the Lord (1 Samuel 13:8, 14)” (note on 1 Samuel 10:20-24). After Saul offered an unlawful sacrifice to the LORD, Samuel told Saul, “You have done foolishly. You have not kept the command of the LORD your God, with which he commanded you. For then the LORD would have established your kingdom over Israel forever. But now your kingdom shall not continue. The LORD has sought a man after his own heart, and the LORD has commanded him to be prince over his people, because you have not kept what the LORD commanded you” (1 Samuel 13:13-14).

Samuel anointed David king approximately twenty years before he began his thirty-three year reign over all Israel and Judah (2 Samuel 5:4-5). During Jesus’ ministry, “The Jews recognized that the Messiah would come from David’s descendants (cf. John 7:42). One of the titles applied to Jesus during his earthly ministry was ‘Son of David’ (Matthew 9:27; 12:23; 15:22), emphasizing his heirship of all David’s royal prerogatives as well as his fulfillment of the messianic promises to David (2 Samuel 7:8-16, cf. Matthew 22:41-45; Luke 1:32, 33, 69)” (note on 1 Samuel 16:13). The LORD’s covenant with David is recorded in 2 Samuel 7:8-16. Speaking through the prophet Nathan, God said:

“I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son. When he commits iniquity, I will discipline him with the rod of men, with the stripes of the sons of men, but my steadfast love will not depart from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away from before you. And your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me. Your throne shall be established forever.’” (2 Samuel 7:12-16)

The statement God made about David’s son building a house for his name referred initially to Solomon but was ultimately fulfilled in Jesus Christ, the ‘Son of David’ (Luke 1:31-33; Acts 2:25-35). Jesus told his disciples, “In my Father’s house are many rooms: if it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also” (John 14:2-3).

Jesus’ departure from the earth is recorded in the gospels of both Mark and Luke. Mark tells us, “So then the Lord Jesus, after he had spoken to them, was taken up into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God” (Mark 16:19). In his letter to the Ephesians, Paul elaborated on Mark’s statement and indicated that Jesus received God’s authority when he sat down at his right hand (Ephesians 1:20-23), but we know that his reign hasn’t yet started because he told his disciples, “Truly, I say to you, in the new world, when the Son of Man will sit on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel” (Matthew 19:28). Jesus referred to the future kingdom that he would reign over as the kingdom of heaven and used numerous parables to describe it to his followers. Based on Jesus’ parables, the kingdom of heaven appears to be a place that is hidden from our view (Luke 17:21), but is a part of our current earthly existence (Matthew 6:33) and will be inhabited by both Old and New Testament believers at some point in the future (Matthew 8:11). Jesus indicated in his conversation with a ruler of the Jews named Nicodemus that “unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God” (John 3:3) and then, explained, “That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit” (John 3:6-8).

Jesus’ mother, Mary, was visited by the angel Gabriel and was informed about her son’s future kingdom. Gabriel said:

“Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you!” But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be. And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end” (Luke 1:28-33)

The unique thing about the throne of David was that God promised him it would be “established forever” (2 Samuel 7:16). David’s royal dynasty was intended to be built up or made sure by the eternal life that only Jesus could provide through his substitutionary death on the cross. The Hebrew word that is translated made sure in 2 Samuel 7:16 is ʾaman (aw-manˊ), which means “have belief” (H539). ʾAman is used in Genesis 15:6 where it says that Abraham “believed the LORD and he counted it to him as righteousness.” “This is one of the key verses of the entire Old Testament. It is an important witness to the doctrine of justification by faith and to the doctrine of the unity of believers in both Old and New Testaments. Abraham’s faith was credited to him for righteousness before he was circumcised and more than 400 years before the law was given to his descendants. Therefore neither circumcision nor the law had a part in Abraham’s righteousness. Abraham’s faith was not merely a general confidence in God nor simple obedience to God’s command; Paul stressed that it was indeed faith in the promise of redemption through Christ (Romans 3:21, 22; 4:18-25; Galatians 3:14-18)” (note on Genesis 15:6).

Jesus’ conversation with Pilate, the governor who gave the order for him to be crucified, ended with Jesus being asked the question, “What is truth?” John tells us:


So Pilate entered his headquarters again and called Jesus and said to him, “Are you the King of the Jews?” Jesus answered, “Do you say this of your own accord, or did others say it to you about me?” Pilate answered, “Am I a Jew? Your own nation and the chief priests have delivered you over to me. What have you done?” Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But my kingdom is not from the world.” Then Pilate said to him, “So you are a king?” Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world—to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.” Pilate said to him, “What is truth?” (John 18:33-38)

Jesus told Pilate that his kingdom was not of this world. The world that Jesus was talking about was not the physical planet that we live on, but the kosmos (kosˊ-mos), “the present order of things, as opposed to the kingdom of Christ; and hence, always with the  idea of transience, worthlessness, and evil both physical and moral, the seat of cares, temptations, irregular desires” (G2889). Jesus distinguished his kingdom from Pilate’s by pointing out to him that another world existed. The new world Jesus mentioned in Matthew 19:28 refers specifically to “Messianic restoration…In the sense of renovation, restoration, restitution to a former state; spoken of the complete eternal manifestation of the Messiah’s kingdom when all things are to be delivered from their present corruption and restored to spiritual purity and splendor” (G3824).

The reason why Jesus wanted Pilate to know that another world existed may have been so that he wouldn’t feel threatened by him being identified as the King of the Jews. When Pilate was told that Jesus had made himself “the Son of God” (John 19:7), “He entered his headquarters again and said to Jesus, ‘Where are you from?’” (John 19:9). It’s possible that at that point Pilate understood what Jesus was talking about when he said his kingdom was not of this world, but more than likely, Pilate assumed that Jesus was out of his mind. It says in John 19:10-11, “So Pilate said to him, ‘You will not speak to me? Do you not know that I have authority to release you and authority to crucify you?’ Jesus answered him, ‘You would have no authority over me at all unless it had been given you from above. Therefore, he who delivered me over to you has the greater sin.’” The phrase from above is “spoken of whatever is heavenly or from heaven, and since God dwells in heaven, it signifies from God, in a divine manner” (G509). Jesus clearly wanted Pilate to know who he was dealing with and didn’t hide the fact that God was allowing him to crucify his own Son. Perhaps, in an attempt to bring the people to their senses, Pilate said to the Jews, “’Behold your King!’ They cried out, ‘Away with him, crucify him!’ Pilate said to them, ‘Shall I crucify your King?’ The chief priests answered, ‘We have no king but Caesar.’ So he delivered him over to them to be crucified” (John 19:14-16).

Jesus’ final conversation was with a man who was hanging on a cross next to his. Luke tells us, “When they came to the place that is called The Skull, there they crucified him, and the criminals, one on his right and one on his left” (Luke 23:33). Luke went on to say, “One of the criminals who were hanged railed at him, saying, ‘Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us!’ But the other rebuked him, saying, ‘Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed justly, for we are receiving the due reward of our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong.’ And he said, ‘Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.’ And he said to him, ‘Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise’” (John 23:39-43). The second criminal realized the Jesus’ reign over the kingdom of heaven was not going to be prevented by his death or more specifically, by his crucifixion. The expression kingdom of heaven “often embraces both the internal and external kingdom and refers both to its commencement in this world and its completion in the world to come…In this latter view it denotes especially the bliss of heaven which it to be enjoyed in the Redeemer’s kingdom, i.e. eternal life” (G932).

Enthusiastic disobedience

The Ark of the Covenant was an important part of the sanctuary where the people of Israel met with God because it contained the mercy seat which was necessary for atonement of sins to be made (Leviticus 16:15-17). God told Moses, “There I will meet with you, and from above he mercy seat, from between the two cherubim that are on the ark of the testimony, I will speak with you about all that I will give you in commandment for the people of Israel” (Exodus 25:22). In the early years of Samuel’s ministry, “The Israelites treated the ark as a kind of magic charm instead of the testimony of God’s presence and power” (note on 1 Samuel 4:3). The Israelites brought the Ark of the Covenant into their camp during a battle with the Philistines thinking it might save them from the power of their enemies (1 Samuel 4:3), but “there was a very great slaughter, for thirty thousand foot soldiers of Israel fell. And the ark of God was captured” (1 Samuel 4:10-11). The ark was in the country of the Philistines seven months (1 Samuel 6:1) and then, it was voluntarily returned to the Israelites because “the LORD was heavy against the people of Ashdod, and he terrified and afflicted them with tumors” (1 Samuel 5:6). First Samuel 7:1-2 states, “And the men of Kiriath-jearim came and took up the ark of the LORD and brought it to the house of Abinadab on the hill. And they consecrated his son Eleazar to have charge of the ark of the LORD. From the day that the ark was lodged at Kiriath-jearim, a long time passed, some twenty years and all the house of Israel lamented after the LORD.”

One of the first things that David did after he became king over all Israel was to bring up the ark of God from the house of Abinadab. It says in 2 Samuel 6:3-10:

And they carried the ark of God on a new cart and brought it out of the house of Abinadab, which was on the hill. And Uzzah and Ahio, the sons of Abinadab, were driving the new cart, with the ark of God, and Ahio went before the ark.

And David and all the house of Israel were celebrating before the Lord, with songs and lyres and harps and tambourines and castanets and cymbals. And when they came to the threshing floor of Nacon, Uzzah put out his hand to the ark of God and took hold of it, for the oxen stumbled. And the anger of the Lord was kindled against Uzzah, and God struck him down there because of his error, and he died there beside the ark of God. And David was angry because the Lord had broken out against Uzzah. And that place is called Perez-uzzah to this day. And David was afraid of the Lord that day, and he said, “How can the ark of the Lord come to me?” So David was not willing to take the ark of the Lord into the city of David. But David took it aside to the house of Obed-edom the Gittite.

“The severe judgment on Uzzah, despite his good intentions, served notice to the people of Israel that God must be revered and obeyed. Uzzah showed disrespect for the Lord by touching the ark (Numbers 4:15). Furthermore, as one of the priests, he was disobeying God by letting the ark be carried on a cart. The ark was supposed to be carried by priests upon staves or poles (Exodus 25:12-15). Uzzah’s actions illustrate that one is often led into additional error and disastrous consequences by disobeying God’s specific instructions” (note on 2 Samuel 6:7).

David was angry because the LORD had broken out against Uzzah (2 Samuel 6:8), but later realized that his enthusiasm to bring the ark of God to Jerusalem didn’t excuse him from doing it the right way. David explained to the priests and the Levites before they made a second attempt, “Because you did not carry it the first time, the LORD our God broke out against us, because we did not seek him according to the rule” (1 Chronicles 15:13). The New Living Translation of 1 Chronicles 15:13 indicates that the problem with David’s attempt to move the ark was that he didn’t ask God how to do it properly. When the Philistines returned the ark to Israel, they transported it to Beth-shemesh on a new cart pulled by two milk cows that had never been yoked and had just had their calves taken away from them (1 Samuel 6:7). The Philistines did this so that they would know if the hand of the LORD had struck them or “it happened to us by coincidence” (1 Samuel 6:9). “It is normally difficult for even cows who have been trained to be driven straight down a road when their calves have just been taken away from them. In this case, the cows did follow a straight line, carrying the ark back to the Israelites, which revealed that their behavior was controlled by God” (note on 1 Samuel 6:7-12). The Philistines success in transporting the ark on a new cart may have influenced David’s decision to do the same, but the mistake that David made was assuming that he didn’t have to transport the Ark of the Covenant the way that God had instructed the people of Israel to do it.

The Hebrew word that is translated seek in the phrase “we did not seek him according to the rule” (1 Chronicles 15:13) is darash (daw-rashˊ), which means to consult or ask. “One of the most frequent uses of this word is in the expression ‘to inquire of God,’ which sometimes indicates a private seeking of God in prayer for direction (Genesis 25:22), and often it refers to the contacting of a prophet who would be the instrument of God’s revelation (1 Samuel 9:9; 1 Kings 22:8). At other times the expression is found in connection with the use of Urim and Thummim by the high priest as he sought to discover the will of God by the throwing of these sacred stones (Numbers 27:21)” (H1875). David inquired of the LORD on numerous occasions (1 Samuel 23:2, 4; 30:8; 2 Samuel 2:1; 5:19, 23), and yet, he did not do so in this instance. It could be that his enthusiasm to bring the Ark of the Covenant into Jerusalem overshadowed David’s sense of dependence upon God. 2 Samuel 6:20-23 suggests that David was humbled by his tragic mistake. It says in 2 Samuel 6:14 that David “danced before the LORD with all his might” as the ark came into the city of David. Afterward, David’s wife Michal accused him of being one of the vulgar fellows who shamelessly uncovers himself (2 Samuel 6:20), but David responded, “I celebrate before the Lord. Yes, and I am willing to look even more foolish than this, even to be humiliated in my own eyes!” (2 Samuel 6:21-22, NLT)