Glimpses of a Royal Priesthood

2 Samuel 11-18 esp. 14:13-14

"So the woman said: "Why then have you schemed such a thing against the people of God? For the king speaks this thing as one who is guilty, in that the king does not bring his banished one home again. For we will surely die and become like water spilled on the ground, which cannot be gathered up again. Yet God does not take away a life; but He devises means, so that His banished ones are not expelled from Him."

Divided Heart, Divided Home:

These days we learn about David's household and all the heartaches it brought to the king. Two principles come to mind when reading this episode in history: (1) The grave consequences of 'personal' sin (2) Things we simply have no control of such as the freedom and reaction of other people (counterfactuals). I guess our most important human relationships rise and fall somewhere around these principles. First, is the idea that there are 'victimless crimes'; that somehow in our private sins no one gets affected. This, to me, is flawed. Our 'mind'/'heart', where "it all springs from" (Prov 4:23, Jer 17:19), carries much more weight that influences our actions and behaviour towards others. Second, is that another layer is added to our relationship experience by the meanings interpreted by those around us and their reaction to the resultant words and deeds that emanate from our unchecked thought patterns. David was a brave warrior, a great general, and a benevolent king, but he failed miserably in the area of family.

In Roy Hession's 'The Calvary Road' I read "as the spokes get nearer to the center of the wheel they get nearer to one another." and I also have this idea I heard somewhere that "when you take care of God's 'business', God takes care of yours" (~Matt 6:33). I did not think for a moment that king David fell short in drawing near to God (though I may be speculating, he still sinned after all), after he sinned, he genuinely repented, I suppose, through a most beautiful heartfelt psalm (Psalm 51).

Now, I am always tempted to view these events as unique to David, Solomon, Saul, etc., as the (1) Lord's annointed ruler – being subject to a higher moral standard, (2 Sam 14:13) (2) having lived in a Mosaic pre-Christ society (John 1:17), and/or (3) simply having too much on their plates – running a kingdom etc (Exod 18:14-18), which is almost a God-ordained ministry after all.

And yet I am constantly reminded of the Apostle Peter's confirmation of our status as "royal priesthood..." (1 Pet 2:9) and is even more pressed by the Lord Jesus, Who Himself came "not to abolish the law" (Mat 5:17) but has set it on a higher plane (Rom 6), and the numerous references to the idea that we are "separate" more than ever before by virtue of being "salt and light of the world" (Mat 5:13). These set us on a level at par with annointed kings and religious leaders in a background of decay, despair and lostness. We are expected to rise, by God's grace, above all chains that bind us to the fallen condition of humanity in every area of our lives (Rom 7:24).

Then it dawned on me that David's sin with Bathsheba is another parallel of the Fall of Adam (Gen 3): "And if that had been too little, I also would have given you much more!" (2 Sam 12:8) He had all the trees in the garden that he can have and enjoy for himself, and yet it is that forbidden one that he desired most. Jesus looks at us differently across the progression of our Christian lives. We may have been children once, youth in a certain period, and a time will come when He calls each of us to maturity, ready to move the project of being like Him, of restoring that image and character, forward.  [The Father Effect: http://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtu.be&v=_iZnFPXVJ60 ]

Indeed brothers "we know that the whole creation groans..." (Rom 8:22) as if somehow looking up to us to rise up and take our rightful place in the universe. Let the grace and glory of our One True King, Jesus Christ, lead us to triumph in our daily battes and this age-old war that rages within our hearts, let the new creation emerge (2 Cor 5:17) and show the world the clues to the Spirit-led man within, a victorious glimpse of our future Christ-like resurrection selves (1 Cor 15:42-49).

1 Peter 2:9

"But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light..."

~31.05.2014