2 Samuel 18-19; Psalm 117; John 1

June 18: One comedian we recently saw joked that God allows us to feel what He feels when we raise a child in our own image who grows up and rebels against us. It’s cute but true in a way that God allows us to feel something of the pain of broken relationships with the children we produce. We long for reconciliation but we can’t violate our own principles and know that there are boundaries we must maintain, though we would die for a restored relationship with our children.

2 Samuel 18-19: David’s lament over his lost son hits the reader in a visceral way: why? You’re all wrapped up in the scandal of the rebellion. You’re feeling concern that David will be destroyed and the kingdom will be divided. Then all of a sudden there’s deliverance, but you realize the cost: the deep pain David felt over his son’s death. He was so careless about the death of Uriah the Hittite, though he had been among David’s elite guard, the mighty men: “Let not this thing displease thee, for the sword devoureth one as well as another…” (2 Samuel 11:25) Before it’s over, he loses a baby and two adult sons.

Sometimes personal matters are glossed over and you can only assume the relational cost, like in the case of the rape of Tamar. But the death of his firstborn isn’t handled that way. Here it’s brought to the surface, raw and passionate: a father’s will to be a substitute for his lost son. Nathan’s response after David’s confession, “The LORD also hath put away thy sin; thou shalt not die” (2 Sam. 12:13), doesn’t mean there are no consequences. Before it’s over, David prefers death. Yet even in this, he shows the heart of God for His lost creation: “would God I had died for thee, O Absalom, my son, my son!” (2 Samuel 18:33)

Psalm 117: Why does the king of Israel long for the nations to praise the LORD? Isn’t that in contrast to the spirit of established Judaism by New Testament times? Yes, and that was part of what the parable of the Prodigal Son was meant to illustrate, although it was expressly about tax-collectors and sinners. The attitude of the Jews about the world was not representative of God’s attitude toward them. Although Jesus said He was only sent "to the lost sheep of the house of Israel," (Matthew 15:24), He also said He had "other sheep… which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd." (John 10:16) 

John 1:24-51: What is John 1 meant to show us? In no uncertain terms, it shows us exactly who Jesus of Nazareth is. The biggest mystery, the eager anticipation, the longing for fulfillment, has been answered in this chapter; and John wants to make sure we don’t miss the point that was hinted at in many ways throughout the Old Testament: Messiah is God in human flesh, and bruising the serpent’s head means taking away the world’s sin-debt by becoming the Lamb of God that all other lambs pointed to. In saying He baptizes with the Holy Ghost, it is also explaining that He will restore the fellowship lost in the fall.