Today’s Reading:  2 Sam 5:1–6:23, 1 Pet 4:1–11, Ps 136:1–26

Today’s Theme: The King in His Kingdom

Today’s theme is about our great King Jesus and His kingdom. We see a shadow of King Jesus in king David. We are called to live as good stewards in God’s kingdom.

2 Samuel 5:1–6:23

Jesus, The Anointed King

So all the elders of Israel came to the king at Hebron, and King David made a covenant with them at Hebron before the LORD, and they anointed David king over Israel. 2 Samuel 5:3 (ESV)

David is anointed as king for the third time. The first time was by Samuel when he was still a boy, the second by the Elders of Judah and now all of Israel has anointed him as king.

David is an Old Testament picture of Jesus. Jesus is King, He came and was proclaimed as the king yet He has not fully consummated His kingdom which is why many Jews say He is not the Messiah. Isaiah 9:7.

The truth is that even though Jesus is king now, He will be enthroned as king fully at the second coming, much like David’s staggered assent to rule over all Israel. John 1:49, John 6:15, John 18:37 and Acts 17:7.

Jesus is a descendant of David and is therefore a king physically and spiritually as the promised Messiah. Jeremiah 23:5.

Like David, Jesus is not only king He is the shepherd over us guiding and protecting us as well as ruling over us. 1 Peter 2:25

Tear down the walls

And David came to Baal-perazim, and David defeated them there. And he said, “The LORD has broken through my enemies before me like a breaking flood.” Therefore the name of that place is called Baal-perazim. 2 Samuel 5:20 (ESV).

God gave David the victory over his enemies. David recognises this and proclaims praise to God as the Lord of Breakthrough.

Like David we must realise we are in a spiritual war and that it is God who comes in like a mighty flood to defeat the enemy.

God’s kingdom is not a stagnant, passive kingdom, it is an advancing and growing kingdom. We need to rely on God in the daily spiritual battles to give us the breakthrough.

Consider what Paul calls strongholds. He describes them as thoughts, opinions, philosophies and teachings that build arguments up like a wall of defence against the truth of the Gospel in 2 Corinthians 10:5.

We can ask for God to breakthrough these stronghold walls, which are themselves little kingdoms rising up in rebellion to His kingdom and rule.

Let’s stand up and fight the King’s battles in the spirit knowing God will be with us like a flood tearing down the enemies walls and overthrowing every foe.

The commands of the king

And the anger of the LORD was kindled against Uzzah, and God struck him down there because of his error, and he died there beside the ark of God. 2 Samuel 6:7 (ESV)

We must follow Gods ways. He has made both decrees (things which will happen regardless of us) and commands (commands He desires that we obey) as the King of all creation.

David and the people were trying to do what would seem a good thing but not following the instructions God had laid out. This resulted in the death of Uzzah for steadying the ark in his own way.

God, our king is to be feared. He did not give commands just for the sake of it, we should seek to please Him by obeying Him in joy.

In a way we do want God to breakthrough on us, by the Holy Spirit so that the ways of our flesh would die

The presence of the king

And the ark of the LORD remained in the house of Obed-edom the Gittite three months, and the LORD blessed Obed-edom and all his household. 2 Samuel 6:11 (ESV)

God’s presence in our lives through the Holy Spirit brings with it blessings of righteousness, peace and joy as we read in Romans 14:17.

We should seek the presence of the king today and see the blessings of his presence fill our lives as we see God’s presence through the ark blessed the house of Obed-Edom.

Seek God’s presence as you pray, read, mediate and worship today.

Celebrate the king

And David danced before the LORD with all his might. And David was wearing a linen ephod. 2 Samuel 6:14 (ESV)

We should praise God with all our might just like David. God is our king so we should praise Him with everything.

Our allegiance is first to Him, not our own self image or the sensibilities of those around us.

The heart of the king

And David said to Michal, “It was before the LORD, who chose me above your father and above all his house, to appoint me as prince over Israel, the people of the LORD—and I will celebrate before the LORD. I will make myself yet more contemptible than this, and I will be abased in your eyes. But by the female servants of whom you have spoken, by them I shall be held in honor.” And Michal the daughter of Saul had no child to the day of her death. 2 Samuel 6:21–23 (ESV)

We need to celebrate the king with the heart of the king which is kind and understanding.

David showed no understanding with Michal. Her problem was the young women watching David, she begun her life with David as his only wife and after years of being used as a political pawn by her father and David, is now in a place of real hurt (now sharing David with many wives and concubines, abused by her dad, abandoned by David, taken by force from her husband) and so speaks out of turn from her broken and bitter heart.

We give no excuse to Michal but David made no attempt to show her understanding, love or mercy. Instead he responds with harsh pride and his own contempt as it seems clear all intimacy between them came to an end as the scripture ends by saying she bore no children.

As we celebrate and praise the Lord, we must be careful that our hearts are not filled with pride, arrogance or indifference. We must remain sensitive to the needs of those around us.

1 Peter 4:1–11

Think like the king

Since therefore Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves with the same way of thinking, for whoever has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, 1 Peter 4:1 (ESV)

Peter tells us to arm ourselves with a way of thinking, an insight, a perspective, in a sense a good stronghold. The thought we should arm ourselves with in our fight against sin is to be willing to suffer in the flesh.

If we wanted to lose weight in our fight against fat we would be willing to suffer the strain of exercise and abstaining from the tasty fatty foods we love.

Peter tells us to think like Jesus who suffered in the flesh to ultimately destroy sin on the cross.

Suffering in the flesh through discipline and sanctification will help to keep us from sin and will ultimately lead to sins’ complete removal in the new age.

Arm your mind today with the thought that “I will willingly suffer to put sin to death”. Think like the king today.

Live for the king

so as to live for the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for human passions but for the will of God. 1 Peter 4:2 (ESV)

We should not live for ourselves, our lives should not be all about us and our own pleasures. We should live to see God’s will done.

As believers we should have a new agenda, that of our kings kingdom. We proclaim the message of the king and establish His kingdom on the earth. We should live to see the king glorified and ensure our lives bring Him pleasure.

We must not just take the path of least resistance and so go along with our natural desires. We should instead focus on fulfilling God’s will even if it means we will go though suffering.

Our lives should come full circle, our pleasure should be to do God’s will. In this sense we should be Christian Hedonists, finding pleasure in bringing pleasure to God.

The king will judge

but they will give account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead. 1 Peter 4:5 (ESV)

Every person that has ever lived will be judged, this should encourage us to suffer being maligned for not indulging in the debauchery of the world around us.

God judges in this life and on the day of judgement. He judges both the living and the dead, we must appeal to His grace and mercy and obey His commanded will.

Remind unbelievers that a day of judgement is coming.

Think clearly

The end of all things is at hand; therefore be self-controlled and sober-minded for the sake of your prayers. 1 Peter 4:7 (ESV)

We need to have clarity of thought as believers, we should be self controlled and sober. A clear understanding of God’s word will give us clarity of thought which will help us pray.

The way of the king

Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins. 1 Peter 4:8 (ESV)

Our king showed us and continues to show us His great love. We should love one another in the church community. We are God’s kingdom on the earth and so should walk in the way of the king which is to walk in self sacrificing love.

Love covers all sorts of offence and if we all walk in love, most of the problems we face in church community are dealt with immediately because forgiveness and understanding will flow freely.

We are encouraged to keep loving. That means we don’t just try love on and when we don’t get the result we want to try something else on. No, we should keep on persevering with love.

Cover one anothers’ shortcomings today by walking in love.

Serve the kingdom

As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace: 1 Peter 4:10 (ESV)

Use the gifts God has given you to serve in God’s kingdom. None of your gifts were given to you to just build yourself up. You have been blessed to be a blessing to others.

God wants us to be good stewards of the particular grace He has given to us. Be a good steward by investing in others with the gifts God has given you.

If we all give, we will all have.

Psalm 136:1–26

Praise our faithful King

to him who by understanding made the heavens, for his steadfast love endures forever; Psalm 136:5 (ESV)

This song is filled with praise to God whose love remains faithful to His people forever. Our God is faithful and loyal to His covenants and deserves our praise.

In this particular verse we see that God intelligently designed the entire universe. Hallelujah.

Most of the above post is a copy of the original notes from the same date in 2014.

Additional resources

Desiring God on 1 Peter 4