The King

Psalm 51 is probably the world’s greatest prayer of repentance. David wrote this beautiful song just after Nathan the prophet confronted him with his adulterous affair with Bathsheba and murder of her husband, Uriah. David first asks God for mercy and then goes on to admit his sin. Psalm 51 is too long to quote word for word but here is a short section “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me away from Your presence, and do not take Your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of Your salvation, and uphold me by Your generous Spirit.” 

The problem with David, was that he did not follow God’s scriptures. God had given all future kings of Israel fair warning in Deuteronomy 17:14-20. Kings were not to return to Egypt to multiply horses, they were not to multiply silver or gold for themselves and they were not to multiply wives but have only one. David missed God’s mark, like all of us have done to one degree or another, and now he will begin to reap from the seeds he has sown.

 If we try and imagine what David’s life as king was like, with all of his many foreign wives, it soon becomes apparent that there must have been some incredible family rivalries. There must have been some pretty good fights in the king’s palace among his children, especially his sons.  But for David and Bathsheba, the cost of their sin would begin nine months after their adultery as their child is born, immediately becomes ill, and dies fulfilling the prophecy of Nathan. 

Soon Solomon is born but also more deaths were not far behind the new additions to the family. Absalom takes vengeance for the rape of his sister Tamar by killing his brother Amnon . Forty years pass as Absalom prepares to take the kingdom away from his father David. Absalom dies at the hand of Joab and David is left to grieve for another son.

The late pastor Chuck Smith said “Any man who would lead others needs to be led by God. No man should rule over men, unless he himself is consciously ruled by God.” It’s interesting that the Messiah was prophesied to come from the line of David, the root of Jesse, and that Jesus Christ fulfilled that promise. Even more intriguing, is the fact that Jesus Christ was recognized as that perfect king by the people of Israel as He rode on a donkey over palm branches into Jerusalem.

The musical group “Tears for fears” once wrote a song with the lyrics “Everybody wants to rule the world”. It is so true how many men over history have wanted to rule it all. These men have ended up causing great pain and catastrophe upon the earth they so desperately wanted to control. The fact is, there will be no peace anywhere on earth until the Messiah, Jesus Christ, returns to claim the throne.

The apostle John wrote about a vision he had of a future event where the title deed to the earth is sealed up in a scroll but it seems at first glance there is no one worthy to open it! A section from Revelation 5:1-7 states “So I wept much, because no one was found worthy to open and read the scroll, or to look at it. But one of the elders said to me, ‘Do not weep. Behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David, has prevailed to open the scroll and to loose its seven seals.”

Oh, what a king we have in Jesus! Who is our Emmanuel (God with us), the only God-man and whose blood can take away our sin. The spotless Lamb of God, who took away the sting of death forever, will one day return to reign and rule the earth that He made.  The Living Word of God, literally the alpha and omega (the beginning and the end) will one day return to take His place as the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

This present world is filled with darkness and, as time continues to pass, people are not getting any better as they are left to their own devices. Jesus once told a Jewish Pharisee who asked Him what he must do to be saved from the world, to which Jesus responds “You must be born again”

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Have you received the free gift of salvation God extends to all men and women of the earth?  The bible instructs us that one day every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. Why not choose to worship Jesus as King and bow your knee and confess Him as King!