The Right Man, The Right God in a World Full of Options

A Glorious Commitment

(1 Chronicles 11:1-3, Preaching: Pastor Stephen Magee, October 15, 2017)

[1] Then all Israel gathered together to David at Hebron and said, “Behold, we are your bone and flesh. [2] In times past, even when Saul was king, it was you who led out and brought in Israel. And the LORD your God said to you, ‘You shall be shepherd of my people Israel, and you shall be prince over my people Israel.’” [3] So all the elders of Israel came to the king at Hebron, and David made a covenant with them at Hebron before the LORD. And they anointed David king over Israel, according to the word of the LORD by Samuel.

All Israel Gathered Together to David

Today we return to the rest of First Chronicles. It is all about David the king. The struggles of David to get to this point which are presented in detail in First Samuel are summarized in just a few words at the end of 1 Chronicles 10. Saul of Benjamin was out because of his breach of faith with God. David of Judah was in.

Now “all Israel” got on board. They came together with David the king—the one man who would lead them. In earlier decades, before Saul, “there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.” (Judges 21:25) From the story of Ruth the Moabite, through the account of the struggling Hannah the mother of Samuel, on to the disappointing insistence of Israel that they wanted a king, and all the way to the death of Saul and his son Jonathan, Israel has been brought by God to the dynasty that would eventually lead to the Savior of the world to come. When Israel gathers together and acknowledges David as their king, we have come to a great moment in history. (See Amos 9:11 with Acts 15:13-17, also Ezekiel 34:23-24, 37:24-25)

Israel's Testimony

The people do not understand where this is all leading. They do not know what the angels will be singing about in the skies above Bethlehem in a thousand years. What do they know?

1. David is one of them. They put it this way: “Behold, we are your bone and flesh.” They are together as brothers, even though David is descended from Judah and many of them are from Joseph, Benjamin, and the other brothers. Nonetheless, they are all descended from Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. They are all Israel. When Jacob their ancient patriarch was ready to die, he had said that the ruler's scepter would belong to Judah: “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 49:10) This statement of the dying Jacob has much more in it than the nation can affirm at this moment, but they are at least saying that they are one Israel under David of Judah, and not two or more Israels under leaders of their own choosing.

2. They are also affirming David's life up to this point as proof that God has prepared him for this great moment: “In times past, even when Saul was king, it was you who led out and brought in Israel.” This was what young Israelite girls had sung about years before which had driven Saul to distraction. God had clearly used David as a great military leader over the fighting men of the entire nation. The exploits of David for the glory of the Lord, from the days of the defeat of Goliath through the entire reign of Saul, were extraordinary. David's analysis of his success was God-centered from the beginning. As he said before he sent a deadly stone flying, “You come to me with a sword and with a spear and with a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied.” (1 Samuel 17:45)

3. The Word of God had indicated that David would be king. God had said to David, “You shall be shepherd of my people Israel, and you shall be prince over my people Israel.” In particular, God had spoken through the prophet Samuel when no one expected David to be king. When Saul was rejected by the Lord, Samuel also said that “The Lord has sought out a man after His own heart, and the Lord has commanded him to be prince over His people.” (1 Samuel 13:14) Later Samuel said to Saul, “The Lord has torn the kingdom of Israel from you this day and has given it to a neighbor of yours, who is better than you.” (1 Samuel 15:28)

The Covenant of the King & His Anointing from on High

We are told in our passage this morning that “David made a covenant with them ... before the Lord.” This was a solemn commitment on the part of David to be their king. It all took place as an activity of the worship of Yahweh as the Almighty King of Israel.” As Samuel had done so unexpectedly so many years before, now the people “anointed David king.” They did this by pouring oil over his head as a symbol of the Spirit of God empowering him to reign in accord with His Word.

The word “anointed” here is the Hebrew “mä·shakh'.” The “anointed one” is in English the “Messiah.” The Greek word is “Christos” from which we get “Christ.” David was anointed with oil as king. Jesus was full of the Holy Spirit beyond measure. The gospel that we preach is all about this Anointed One, who made a very public covenant to be our King through His death on the cross. He “cut” a covenant with us that will never be broken. He “was descended from David according to the flesh and was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord.” (Romans 1:3-4)

The Word of the Lord

It was according to God's plan contained in His prophetic Word, that David would be king over Israel. According to the same Word of the Lord, a new King has now been anointed over the people of a better covenant. When we assemble together to worship Him, we do what all His subjects must do. It is our privilege to ascribe to Jesus all glory as the Resurrection King over an eternal kingdom. He takes us from the mourning of our futility to the joy of resurrection.

It is also our duty to recognize Jesus as one of us, a true Man, yet without sin. We should see His record of battle against evil and death, evidenced first by messianic miracles (consider Isaiah 35) and culminating in the cross and resurrection, as proof positive that He is the right King of the promised resurrection world that is coming soon. Finally, we must celebrate that the identity and actions of Jesus are fully in accord with the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments. He is the right Man and the right God in a world full of options.

It is our privilege to ascribe to Jesus all that we would say about Yahweh, because, as the basic Christian confession has been from the first century of what we call A.D., “Jesus is Lord.” He calls us to a life of simplicity and goodness with daily opportunities to follow Him in sacrificial love flowing from the good Christian confession. We have been designed for a Master, but which one? Self? The false gods of idolatry? The siren call of successful people and celebrity Christianity? No, only for Jesus, the long-expected David.

Old Testament Reading—Psalm 30 – From Mourning to Dancing

Gospel Reading—Matthew 9:32-34

[32] As they were going away, behold, a demon-oppressed man who was mute was brought to him. [33] And when the demon had been cast out, the mute man spoke. And the crowds marveled, saying, “Never was anything like this seen in Israel.” [34] But the Pharisees said, “He casts out demons by the prince of demons.”