Advent: King Messiah

In the progressive revelation of God’s promised redemption, the figure of the redeemer becomes clearer. The Messiah, or Anointed One, will be one who will reign as king. It was prophesied by Jacob and realized in David, Israel’s archetypal king. But the task of restoring humanity to a state of peace and abundance in fellowship with God is more than any earthly king could accomplish. This deficiency was something that David appears to have grasped, for in Psalm 110 he pays homage to one he calls “my Lord,” whom Yahweh exalts to his right hand: “The Lord says to my Lord/“Sit at my right hand,/until I make your enemies your footstool.” Remarkably, this figure was one to whom even the God-appointed king of Israel must pay obeisance.

The identity of this figure was claimed by Jesus himself (Matthew 22:41-45), and proclaimed with apostolic authority (e.g., Acts 2:34-36). He was the promised Son of David who fulfilled the covenant given to the shepherd turned king. He ushered in the kingdom that has as its hallmarks, equity, justice, righteousness, and peace. The works that he did testified to his true identity; and though he was “killed by the hands of lawless men,” God demonstrated through his resurrection, ascension, and subsequent outpouring of the Holy Spirit, that he was, that he is, “both Lord and Christ.”

Advent is a time of waiting in anticipation. For those alive at the time of Jesus’ birth, it had been a millennium since David wrote his prophetic lyrics. But those who waited in faith saw their faith rewarded. Our advent season is even longer than theirs. Yet our reason to hope is greater than theirs. Not only do we have the record of Jesus’ ministry on earth that testifies to his Messianic anointing, we have the vision of the one who possesses “the keys of Death and Hades,” the “Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, [who] has conquered,” of whom voices in Heaven proclaim, “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever,” and who himself testifies that, “I am coming soon, bringing my recompense with me, to repay everyone for what he has done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end” (Revelation 1:18; 5:5; 11:15; 22:12). Armed with this vision may we be reminded, in the words of the hymn, that,
“This is my Father’s world. O let me ne’er forget
That though the wrong seems oft so strong,
God is the ruler yet.
This is my Father’s world; the battle is not done;
Jesus who died shall be satisfied
And earth and heav’n be one.”

Increasing Maturity

David’s sparing of Saul’s life a second time (1 Samuel 26) was by far the more extraordinary. The first demonstrated David’s willingness to allow God to judge between Saul and David, but the second demonstrated how far David’s faith was willing to run in seeing it come to pass. Recall that the first time Saul inadvertently wandered into David’s camp. The second time, David deliberately walked into Saul’s! In fact, David’s confidence in God’s vindication is evident in his interpreting the second incident as a divinely provided opportunity to demonstrate his righteousness (Cf.1 Samuel 26:23). I would suggest that David understood the encounter as (to use American evangelical parlance) “a God thing.” What we the readers know, and which apparently David did not, was that his ability to secure the trophies of his righteousness, Saul’s spear and water jug, was indeed a “God thing;” the Lord had caused a deep sleep to fall upon Saul and his army.

In Saul’s camp, David demonstrated that he had learned something from the Nabal affair, the one in which he purposed to wipe out Nabal and his household in an act of vengeance until Nabals’ wife, Abigail, intervened. God would be both his vindication and his vengeance. That lesson (a “God thing” in its own right) he applied to this God-given opportunity. God will determine when Saul’s life would be over, not David. And implicit in that understanding is that Saul’s death, like Nabal’s, would prove David’s righteousness. As is seen at the end of 1 Samuel, that will prove to be the case.

Something of importance to note is the progress of David in this vengeance triptych. David’s initial pious motives in sparing Saul (1 Samuel 24) matured after being brought through the Nabal affair (1 Samuel 25) so that he can say, “As the Lord lives, the Lord will strike him, or his day will come to die, or he will go down into battle and perish” (1 Samuel 26).  Such growth is meant to be the fruit of God’s dealings with us. Too often we ask God to reconstruct his character in the face of each new trial: Does he see what’s going on? Does he care? Will he be faithful? Let’s learn from God’s previous grace to trust him for present grace.

Hallowed Be Your Name

One of the most famous stories in the Bible is David v Goliath. The message of the story, however, is often misconstrued as being about a weak party triumphing over a powerful one as when, for example, a small software company takes on Microsoft for something like copyright infringement. In such a scenario, Microsoft has overwhelming resources and can easily crush the attempt by the small market share “David.” Yet, should the small company win despite the imbalance, we would say it was a David v Goliath confrontation.

This typical application of the biblical account misses the point. Yes, shepherd boy David beats towering brute Goliath, but what is at the heart of the story is David’s zeal to maintain God’s honor. He is provoked to action by the “uncircumcised” Philistine’s defiance of the army of Israel and, by extension, Israel’s God. This affront needed to be addressed and David was willing to do it.

We have our own Goliath’s that have marched out on to the field of battle defying the “living God.” For instance, loud voices treat with contempt the biblical understanding of marriage as they seek to bring political power to bear upon the church. If possible, they would “give [our] flesh to the birds of the air and to the beasts of the field” (metaphorically speaking, of course).

Now, I’m not an alarmist (and, no, I don’t think it’s the “end times”) but I do think that great and grave challenges face the church in the not too distant future. We must determine now that we will stand, as did David, with the “living God.”  I’ve included a link below to a document that I hope you will take time to read. It places a challenge before us regarding several important issues. The intent of the framers of the declaration was to encourage Christians to determine beforehand how they will respond should they need to make a choice between honoring God and yielding to the threats of Goliath. Manhattan Declaration