Christ in 2 Samuel

I think I'm the family tree person in my family. You know what I mean? Every single family has a family tree person, the only person who cares about the tree when everybody else doesn't.

Can I get a show of hands? Who are the family tree people in the house? God bless the family tree people, people who hold on to history.

I have this great uncle called Barry Macoustra, and I love my great uncle Barry Macoustra because he's my great uncle, Barry Macoustra.

And so I have built my family tree from scratch, not using ancestry.com through like births, deaths, and marriages. I have built my family tree, and there's Barry Macoustra, my great uncle.

And so with great pride, I once presented my family tree to my family, and they said, thank you, Ben, for all your hard work. Now, they didn't say that, they didn't care at all. What they said was, who on earth is Barry Macoustra?

You don't have a great uncle called Barry Macoustra. Somehow, I had got confused with somebody who was my grandmother, who had the same name, who married a guy called Barry Macoustra.

And so I scratched him from the family tree and erased my great uncle, Barry Macoustra. But I've realised that this is my job as the family tree guy in the family.

The reason I love family trees is to look at all the generations that have come before me and to wonder in what ways I am who I am because they were who they were. The truth is that we are all products of our family.

We are who we are because they were who they were. I love looking at my 16 great great grandparents and thinking about what their life was like and the way that I am maybe similar to them and I'll never even meet them before.

The truth is that I see myself more clearly because I know where I came from. We see ourselves clearly in the light of our past.

I think the same thing is true for Jesus. We see Jesus more clearly because of the story that he comes as the fulfilment of. Put another way, that means that to understand Jesus properly, we have to understand his past, his family tree, if you will.

I think 2 Samuel helps us see Jesus clearly. Last week, if you were here, Jack gave us an overview of kingship in the Hebrew Bible. It was a great message.

Today, we're in 2 Samuel. And these two messages are a part of a series called the Former Prophets series. We are looking at the part of the story of the Old Testament after the Torah and before the exiles.

It's called the Former Prophets. And all these messages are part of our Christ in Scripture project. You've heard about it.

Over these two years, we are, Lord willing, gonna spend one week in every single one of the 66 books of the Bible to see how that book points us to Jesus and to his person and his work, his life, death, resurrection and ascension.

And all of this project, this Christ in Scripture project, it goes without saying is about seeing Christ in Scripture, right? Yes, we want to see 2 Samuel in the context of Scripture.

But the point of this project is that by reading 66 books of the Bible, we would see Jesus more clearly. So today we're looking at 2 Samuel and the way that book points us to Jesus. 2 Samuel is David's story, the story of his kingship.

Saul has died by the end of 1 Samuel, and very soon in 2 Samuel, David becomes king. So 2 Samuel is David's story. How does David help us see Jesus clearly?

That's our question. The whole Christ in Scripture project is that we might see Jesus more clearly. How does 2 Samuel help us to do that?

Well, in studying this question this week, I have become more convinced than ever that you cannot understand Jesus without understanding David.

Did you know that Jesus and David are the two names that appear more often than any other names in the Bible? The most commonly occurring names in the Bible are Jesus at around 1300 uses and then David at around 1000.

The two most commonly used names. Did you know that Jesus and David are the first names that appear in the New Testament? Did you know that they are also the last two names that appear in the New Testament?

You cannot understand Jesus without understanding David. So what is the relationship of Jesus to David and of David to Jesus? I think seven things, as I've studied it this week.

Jesus comes in the line of David, from the town of David, with the heart of David, on the path of David, to the city of David, by the words of David, as the son of David.

When you hold up Jesus and David, I think these are the seven things that you see. I'm struck by the fact that as we work through these points, we trace the story of the gospel itself over the course of the New Testament.

So firstly, Jesus comes in the line of David. When you open the New Testament, the first book is Matthew, and somebody said Genesis. In the New Testament, Matthew is the first book, and how does Matthew open?

With the genealogy. Now Matthew 1 verse 1, this is the genealogy of Jesus, the Messiah, the son of who? David.

The first two names in the New Testament are Jesus and David, and also the last two. The genealogy of Jesus, the Messiah, the son of David, the son of Abraham. Abraham was the father of...

Down to verse 6, Jesse the father of King David. David was the father of Solomon, whose mother had been Uriah's wife.

Down to verse 16 at the end, Jacob the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary, and Mary was the mother of Jesus who was called the Messiah.

Thus, there were 14 generations in all from Abraham to David, 14 from David to the exile to Babylon, and 14 from the exile to the Messiah. Jesus comes in the line of David. This is the first thing we see in opening the New Testament.

Jesus comes in the genealogical line of David. Now, scholars estimate that David lived around the year 1000 BC, and Jesus lived at 0 BC. He was born on 0.

So that's 1000 years of history that Jesus lives in the line of David. Here in the scripture, it says that there were 14 plus 14 generations between David and Jesus.

But when you zoom out in the genealogy, there's that bit at the end, 14 generations plus 14 plus 14, which equals, maths teacher, 42, 42 generations. The point of Matthew's genealogy is to say that Jesus is the seventh seven.

14 plus 14 is two sevens plus two plus two, six sevens. Jesus comes as the seventh seven. That is the number of perfection and fulfilment in the Hebrew Bible.

So Jesus, from page one of the New Testament, is presented as the fulfilment of the story of Israel, the seventh seven. The other thing that is interesting about this genealogy of Jesus is that, yes, he fulfils it, but it's also a line of failures.

Have you read the genealogy? Even look at verse six. Jesse, the father of King David, David was the father of Solomon, whose mother had been Uriah's wife.

Do you remember that story? 2 Samuel 11, David rapes a woman and then gets her husband killed and then lies about it and covers it up. It's one of the darkest stories of the whole Bible, and it's in the genealogy.

Jesus comes from that line. The prophets of the Old Testament speak of the shoot of David, the root of David. This idea that as David sinned, he was judged by God for the wicked thing that he did.

And yet the prophets still have hope for David's line. And so they talk about this idea that David was like a tree chopped down becoming a stump. But from the stump of David, life will emerge, and that is Jesus.

We see that in Luke's version of the genealogy, it says he was the son, so it was thought of Joseph. We recall that Jesus was not the biological son of Joseph.

And so in that beautiful detail of the virgin birth, we get the resolution of how Jesus could come in the line of David as the fulfilment of the promise to David, and yet not be in the line of the failures in David's line.

Jesus is from the line of David. Secondly, he is from the town of David. When you continue throughout the New Testament, you see the second thing is that he is from the town of David.

Matthew chapter 2. When King Herod heard about the birth of Jesus, he was disturbed and all Jerusalem with him. When he had called together all the people's chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Messiah was to be born.

In Bethlehem, in Judea, they replied, for this is what the prophet has written. But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah, for out of you will come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel.

Jesus was from Bethlehem, the town of David. This is a quotation from Micah 5, verse 2. Bethlehem appears a few times in the Old Testament before 2 Samuel.

The name literally means house of bread for some reason. That sounds like a pretty good place to live. Rachel's wife of Jacob was buried in Bethlehem.

One of the judges was from Bethlehem. But it's not until the Book of Ruth that the town of Bethlehem comes into focus. Do you remember the story of Ruth?

Virginia preached on it a couple of weeks ago. Naomi and Elimelech and their sons were from Bethlehem. Then there's a famine, so they leave to Moab and they come back.

The Book of Ruth is really the book of the Bible that places Bethlehem in focus. Jesus is from the town of Bethlehem. We read about the fact that David was born in Bethlehem.

We see that contrast between David, King of Israel and Saul, King of Israel. Saul was tall, dark and handsome, a head taller than everybody else.

And in contrast to Saul, David was presumably short, also handsome, but he was a shepherd boy from Bethlehem. And so the image is of meekness and humility. David's this great human leader.

Saul is this great human leader. And David is this shepherd boy from Bethlehem. The reason is that Bethlehem is shepherd town.

That's the theme of Bethlehem. In Ezekiel chapter 34, God judges the leaders of Israel for being bad shepherds. They have not cared for the flock of God's people.

And so God promises that he himself will be the shepherd of Israel. Jesus comes and he's born in shepherd town, Bethlehem. And he says in John, I am the good shepherd.

Jesus is God himself come to earth to shepherd his people, to lay down his life for them. Jesus is from the town of Bethlehem, sorry, from the town of David. And thirdly, with the heart of David.

The character of Jesus is the character of David. Continuing through the New Testament brings us to Matthew chapter 11 to these well-known words, verse 28. Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.

Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light. Jesus comes with the heart of David.

Dane Ortlund is an American pastor who wrote a book called Gentle and Lowly, which was very popular a couple of years ago, and even still.

And he makes this great point that this passage is the one place in the entire New Testament where Jesus gives us a window into his heart, where Jesus tells us what he is like on the inside without letting his actions speak for him.

And what does Jesus say his heart is like? Gentle and humble. He says, I am gentle and humble in heart, gentle and lowly in other translations.

Is that familiar at all? Does that remind you of someone? Do you remember the man after God's own heart?

That's what 1 Samuel says about David. Verse 13, you've done a foolish thing, Samuel said to Saul. You have not kept the command the Lord your God gave you.

If you had, he would have established your kingdom over Israel for all time, but now your kingdom will not endure because the Lord has sought out a man after his own heart. That is David and appointed him ruler of his people.

David is presented in contrast to Saul as a man after God's own heart. And here comes Jesus, gentle and humble in heart. He has the heart of David.

He's full of compassion. You read the gospel story after story after story. Jesus is compassionate in Matthew 9, verse 36.

When Jesus saw the crowds, he had compassion. He's gentle and humble in heart because they were harassed and helpless like sheep without a shepherd. This is who Jesus is, the heart of David.

Fourthly, he is on the path of David. We continue through the gospels. We get to Matthew chapter 21, Palm Sunday.

The Sunday before Jesus was crucified, he entered the city of Jerusalem on a donkey. And we read this in Matthew 21 verse 7. The disciples brought the donkey and the cult and placed their cloaks on them for Jesus to sit on.

A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, while others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road.

The crowds that went ahead of him and those that followed shouted, Hosanna to the son of David, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest heavens. That word, Hosanna, means an expression, an exclamation of praise.

And it also is a request to be saved. It's like if you're kind of drowning at the beach and you put your hand up like this to save someone, to get the lifeguard to come and save you, you're saying, save me.

And as they are coming to you, it's sort of this exclamation of praise that somebody has come to save you. That's what the word Hosanna means. This is the path of David that Jesus follows.

But there's a kind of dissonance in Palm Sunday because what does Jesus enter Jerusalem on? On a donkey, not on a white horse, the symbol of military victory.

He comes gentle and lowly and humble on a donkey, and yet the crowds are joyfully receiving their king, but they seem to miss what is going on under the surface.

There's this kind of fascinating connection, which I don't know if you've seen before, where Jesus is directly following the path of David in 2 Samuel.

There's this scene in 2 Samuel 15 and 16, where David's son Absalom stages a coup to overthrow David as king. And in 2 Samuel 15 and 16, David flees from Jerusalem barefoot on the Mount of Olives riding a donkey. This is a story of shame.

David's own son has ousted him from the kingship. And here comes Jesus entering Jerusalem on the Mount of Olives riding a donkey. The parallels are clear between these 2 stories.

So not only is Jesus not riding a triumphant white horse, he's riding a donkey, embodying a very shameful part of David's story. We know that Jesus enters Jerusalem to give up his life on a cross, beaten and naked.

He's the humble king entering the city. He's on the path of David. And fifth, he is going to the city of David.

On Palm Sunday, it is Jerusalem that Jesus enters for the last time. Jerusalem is called the city of David. In 2 Samuel chapter 5, King David and his men marched to Jerusalem to attack the Jebusites who lived there.

The Jebusites said to David, You will not get in here. Even the blind and the lame can ward you off. They thought David cannot get in here.

Nevertheless, David captured the fortress of Zion, which is the city of David. That is Jerusalem. David was the first king to establish Jerusalem as the political capital of Israel.

Later on in 2 Samuel chapter 6, he brings the Ark of the Covenant to make Jerusalem the religious capital as well. So the city of David is called that because David was the guy that set it as the centre of Israel.

Jerusalem is really important for David and it's also important for Jesus. It was Jerusalem that Jesus entered on Palm Sunday. You know, the synoptic gospels, that is Matthew, Mark and Luke, they all start in Galilee where Jesus was born.

And they have this, what scholars often call the road trip structure. Because over the course of the gospel, Jesus and his disciples take a road trip from Galilee to Jerusalem, this north to south kind of journey.

And there's this key moment in Luke chapter 9, that as the time approached for Jesus to be taken up to heaven, he resolutely set out for Jerusalem.

This is a hinge point in Luke's gospel where the journey in Galilee is over and he makes his way to the city of Jerusalem, the city of David. In Luke 19, this story comes immediately after Palm Sunday. Jesus enters on a donkey.

And we read that as he approached Jerusalem and saw the city, Jesus wept over it and said that if you even you only had eyes, sorry, if you even you had only known on this day, what would bring you peace, but now it is hidden from your eyes.

The name Jerusalem means city of peace. And so Jesus is weeping over the city of peace because they don't know what would bring them peace.

When Jesus enters the city of David, it is to give his life on the cross, which brings us to point 6 by the words of David.

All throughout Jesus' life, he was quoting scripture in his parables, his teachings, he was constantly referring to the Hebrew Bible, and especially to the Psalms. The Psalms were on Jesus' lips all the time.

In fact, there's this scene in Matthew chapter 22, where Jesus understands his own identity through the lens of the Psalms. Psalm 110 says this, The Lord says to my Lord, sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.

The Lord will extend your mighty sceptre from Zion, saying, rule in the midst of your enemies. Your troops will be willing on your day of battle.

Arrayed in holy splendour, your young men will come to you like dew from the morning's womb, whatever that last line means. This is a triumphant psalm.

It is a picture of the son of David victorious, granted authority and power in the presence of God. And Jesus says that that's pointing to him.

Jesus is constantly using the Psalms of David to understand himself, and nowhere more poignantly than on the cross. You know, Jesus said seven things on the cross when you add them up. One of the things he said was this, Matthew 27, 45.

From noon until three in the afternoon, darkness came over all the land. About three in the afternoon, Jesus cried out in a loud voice, Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani, which means my God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

He's quoting Psalm 22, the first line. And in Hebrew thought, when you quote the first line of a Psalm, it's shorthand for quoting the entire thing.

That means that when Jesus was literally suffering on the cross, the words that he reached for were the words of the Psalms of David. It was David's words that gave expression to Jesus' suffering on the cross.

When you see the scene of the crucifixion, all of the details surrounding it are found in Psalm 22. It says in Psalm 22, they divide lots for my garment, they circle me, they say, let the Lord rescue him.

The fact that Jesus is thirsty, all of the details of the crucifixion come from the words of David. In Psalm 22, in our own suffering, the Psalms give us words to reach for when we can't find them ourself. They teach us how to pray, how to lament.

That's what Jesus does on the cross. He borrows, he uses the words of David in Psalm 22. This lament, every lament except for one, ends in hope.

And Psalm 22 ends in hope. Because in the Gospel, Jesus' crucifixion is not the end, but he is resurrected 3 days later.

Which brings us to the final point, by the words of David, Jesus comes as the son of David. By the end of the Gospels, you look back and you see the parallels between Jesus and David.

And the one main thing that shouts above all the other things, is that Jesus is the son of David. Now, that's not typically used as a genealogical claim. Yes, Jesus is from the line of David.

But son of David is a messianic title. It's used 17 times or more throughout the Gospels, to describe the king from the line of David. Stephen read for us what's called the Davidic Covenant.

God's promise to David that he will never fail to have a successor to sit on the throne, that David's son will be the king over the whole world, that he will reign, that he'll be the best king, the full messianic king that the Bible points us to.

Son of David is the vocation of Jesus. All of the pieces of the David and Jesus puzzle fit together in this vocation.

That Jesus is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, the suffering one who uses the words of David in crucifixion, but who is resurrected again and who reigns forever. This is the Son of David. This is Christ in 2 Samuel.

And as I said, the whole point of this Christ in Scripture project is that having seen 2 Samuel, we might see Christ more clearly. That as we work our way through the Bible, we would understand who Jesus really is and the life that he invites us to.

When we look at 2 Samuel, the story of David, we see Jesus comes in the line of David from the town of David, with the heart of David, on the path of David, to the city of David by the words of David, and as the son of David.

And when we see Jesus more clearly, as 2 Samuel helps us, there really is only one response. Lord, son of David, have mercy on us. I want to finish with this story in Matthew chapter 20.

As Jesus and his disciples were leaving Jericho, a large crowd followed him. Two blind men were sitting by the roadside, and when they heard that Jesus was going by, they shouted, Lord, son of David, have mercy on us.

The crowd rebuked them and told them to be quiet, but they shouted all the louder, Lord, son of David, have mercy on us. Jesus stopped and called them. What do you want me to do for you?

He asked. Lord, they answered, we want our sight. Jesus had compassion on them and touched their eyes.

Immediately, they received their sight and followed him. I love this story because it draws together all these themes. When you see Jesus clearly, the only proper response is Lord, have mercy on me because I fall short of your glory.

I am weak and broken and sinful, and you are great and glorious and all-powerful. The great irony of this story is that it is blind men who see Jesus most clearly.

They see with the eyes of faith that Jesus is the son of David, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. And so they beg him for mercy. I pray that we might do the same thing this morning.

Throughout this whole Christ in Scripture project, especially in 2 Samuel, that that would help us see who Jesus is, the shepherd king, the one who gives his life for us, the one who is gentle and humble in heart, the one who suffers in the

crucifixion, but rises again in glorious power. As we see Jesus, that we might ask him to have mercy on us and we would see ourselves more clearly. Lord Son of David, we thank you that you are who you are.

We see now that you fulfil the entire story of the Bible, that it finds its culmination in your life and your death and your resurrection. And Lord, our story is fulfilled in you as well.

Lord, when we see you clearly, we do ask that you would have mercy on us. God, we confess all the places where we fall short of your grace, where we are selfish and we don't love the way that you loved us.

When we forsake to do the good that you put in front of us. Lord, we thank you that you are merciful and you do have mercy on us.

And so now we give you thanks and praise with the confidence that when we ask for your mercy, you are faithful to answer that prayer. So receive all the glory now because we pray in Jesus' name, amen.