I've been posting recently about the lessons we can learn from David's life- through the narrative in 1 & 2 Samuel and his prayers and songs in Psalms. We have seen how David went through many trials, and his prayers can be a great help to us when we are going through tough times too.
But having just read Graeme Goldsworthy's 'Gospel and Kingdom', I've been reminded of the importance of David's connection with Jesus, and the dangers of misapplying David's experiences to our own lives. For example, Goldsworthy writes that to apply David to ourselves in the story of David vs Goliath is probably not that helpful, because in that incident, David was acting as God's anointed one to save His people. I still think David is an example of faith to us, as I wrote in my blog-post, but I think Goldsworthy's point is very important. We can identify a lot more with the stunned and ecstatic people of Israel than with the giant-slayer! After all, the gospel is all about what God has done FOR us in Jesus Christ:
- Jesus lived a life of perfect obedience for us
- Jesus died taking our punishment for us
Jesus was pre-figured in David, because David was a king after God's heart. David was not a perfect king. But Jesus is! David points us towards Jesus as the ultimate King, the ultimate One anointed by God to save His people. David, in 2 Samuel 5-6, leads Israel to victory (as their king), and defeats the Philistines through God's power. David saves the people from the Philistines. Jesus, however, saves God's people from their sins -past, present and future. It's a whole different scale!
Later in 2 Samuel we will see God's promise to David that his descendant will reign for ever- a prophecy that sees fulfilment in Jesus. Seeing how Jesus is the culmination of all God's promises is a fantastic spur to worship Him more whole-heartedly, I've found this week.
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