Tuesday, September 14, 2010
2 Samuel 12:13 Then David said to Nathan, "I have sinned against the LORD." Nathan replied, "The LORD has taken away your sin. You are not going to die.
DAVID: THE FORGIVEN
Today we consider the great tragedy of David's life: his adultery with his neighbor's wife and his murder of her husband. The Bible does not cover up this sin, even though David at first tried to cover it up.
From the roof of his home he watched his neighbor's wife bathing herself, and he lusted for her in his heart. He invited her to his home, the adultery was committed, and a baby was conceived. Then came David's futile attempts to cover up his sin. Uriah the soldier was summoned home from battle. David tried to get him to go to his wife so that it would seem as though the child in the womb would be Uriah's. But Uriah refused to go home, and then David gave orders to have Uriah put in a dangerous battle area so that he would be sure to die. It all happened just as David ordered it. Uriah's wife mourned for her husband, and then David married her. But "the thing that David had done displeased the Lord" (2 Samuel 12).
God therefore sent His prophet Nathan to David to preach God's stern Law to him. Nathan spoke directly to David about his sin. When David heard the prophet's words, he said: "I have sinned against the Lord." And Nathan said at once: "The Lord also has put away your sin; you shall not die."
But now comes the question: how can David be a type or picture of Christ, his Son, in connection with this sin? David was a sinner, an adulterer and a murderer and a hypocrite all in one, and Jesus, His Son, was totally without sin. Our answer comes in the Messianic psalm, Psalm 69, where David, speaking for the Messiah, says: "O God, You know My foolishness; and My sins are not hidden from You." Is this the Messiah confessing His sins? Yes, it is, but these sins the Messiah is confessing are His sins only because God has transferred our sins, David's sins, yes, the world's sins, to Him.
It is because Jesus was bearing our sins that He was nailed to the cross and given our punishment. So He cries out as one guilty of all sin: "My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?" Yes, we can say that Jesus on the cross made Himself guilty of David's adultery and murder and took the punishment David deserved. Only for that reason was Nathan able to pronounce forgiveness to David after he confessed his sin. Only for the same reason is God through His minister able to declare to us that our sins are forgiven.
