Woodhouse 2 Samuel

Your Kingdom Come
1. Auflage 2015
ISBN: 978-1-4335-4616-7
Verlag: Crossway
Format: EPUB
Kopierschutz: 0 - No protection

E-Book, Englisch, 720 Seiten

Reihe: Preaching the Word

King David stands as one of the most important figures of world history. From children's storybooks to Michelangelo's famous statue, ancient Israel's most famous king is still remembered and recognized by people around the world three thousand years after he lived. Helping readers deepen their understanding of David's tumultuous reign, John Woodhouse highlights David's important role in salvation history-a history that began with Israel but now encompasses God's plan for the whole world. Designed as a trustworthy resource for pastors who preach and teach on a regular basis, this commentary ultimately argues that David's story is important because it lays the crucial foundation for the life and ministry of Jesus Christ, 'the son of David.' Part of the Preaching the Word series.

John Woodhouse (DPhil, Victoria University of Manchester) served as principal of Moore Theological College in Sydney, Australia, from 2002 to 2013. He previously worked in pastoral ministry in a suburb of Sydney. He has published articles in various academic journals and is the author of four volumes in Crossway's Preaching the Word commentary series.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Woodhouse, John

Leseproben

Introduction

Kingdom Matters

2 SAMUEL AND MATTHEW 6:9, 10

David is one of the most important figures of world history. This assessment, and the reasons for it, will emerge in the course of our study of the account of his reign through the pages of 2 Samuel. In general terms, however, the claim can hardly be doubted. In cultures that have been touched by his story, David has captured the imagination of great artists, sculptors, and writers. From children’s storybooks to (perhaps the most famous representation) Michelangelo Buonarroti’s David, this man is remembered and recognized by people of many backgrounds over 3,000 years after he lived.

A large part of the reason for this is the remarkable account of his life and reign found in the books of 1 and 2 Samuel. The story is captivating. In one of the world’s finest pieces of narrative literature, the greatness and the weaknesses of this man’s life are portrayed in vivid and gripping detail. This remarkable literary work has made David known to the world and provided the basis for every other representation of him. David’s impact on human history, thought, and culture has been, directly or indirectly, through the books of 1 and 2 Samuel.

However, we miss the significance of David almost entirely if we do not take careful note of the fact that his story belongs to the whole Bible story. While David, the man and the king, is as interesting as almost any great figure of human history, this is magnified many times over when we understand that he is a major figure in the history of God’s purposes for the whole world. Again this fact, and its importance, will be elaborated as we see the narrative of 2 Samuel unfold.

As a great and significant historical figure, David can be (and has been) viewed from many different angles.1 Each of these may or may not have a convincing claim to yield true insights into the importance of David. However the perspective from which to properly and fully understand David is that of Christian faith.2 While this claim might sound puzzling (or even offensive) at first, it follows simply from recognizing that the whole Bible story (in which David’s story is set) culminates in the news about Jesus Christ (importantly introduced in the first sentence of the New Testament as “the son of David,” Matthew 1:1). Those who believe this message are in a position to understand the importance of David as the Bible presents him, rather than arbitrarily taking his story out of this context. In the pages that follow we will repeatedly consider the importance of David for those who have faith in Jesus Christ.

This does not mean that David should be of interest only to Christian believers. On the contrary. But the biggest reason that David should interest believer and unbeliever alike is that his story illuminates the most important story in the history of the world—the story of Jesus Christ. David’s story is an essential part of the story of Jesus Christ. Even a person who does not yet believe that story deserves to understand it.3

In the course of listening to the story of David in the book of 2 Samuel we will discover many facets to the way in which this story illuminates the story of Jesus and the life of faith in him. The central idea is the kingdom of God. David’s story and Jesus’ story are about the kingdom of God. What is the kingdom of God?

The Kingdom and Jesus

Jesus taught his disciples to pray for this kingdom:

Our Father in heaven,

hallowed be your name.

Your kingdom come,

your will be done,

on earth as it is in heaven. (Matthew 6:9, 10)

This is an astonishing prayer. That God’s kingdom would come means God’s perfect will being done here on earth as it is in Heaven. The kingdom of God is God’s own rule, his reign over all. We are praying for a kingdom of goodness, glory, righteousness, grace, peace, blessing.

Christian believers pray “Your kingdom come” (v. 10) because we believe the promise on which this prayer is based. The promise has come to us from Jesus Christ, who began his public life “proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom” (Matthew 4:23; 9:35). “The gospel of the kingdom”4 (or in Christian vocabulary simply “the gospel”) is the news (“gospel” means “news”5) about God’s kingdom made known by Jesus. His message was, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel” (Mark 1:15). He taught about what the kingdom is like (see Matthew 13:24, 31, 33, 44, 45, 47; 18:23; 22:2; 25:1) and about “enter[ing]” the kingdom (Matthew 18:3; 19:23, 24; 21:31; 23:13; cf. 25:34; John 3:5). This kingdom was his constant theme (see Acts 1:3) because it is his kingdom (Matthew 16:28; Luke 1:33; 22:29, 30; John 18:36; 2 Timothy 4:1; Hebrews 1:8; 2 Peter 1:11; Revelation 11:15); he is its king (Matthew 21:5; 25:34; Luke 19:38; John 12:15; 18:37; Acts 17:7; Revelation 17:14; 19:16).6

The Kingdom in Christian Experience

This kingdom is therefore the theme of the Christian message (see Acts 8:12; 14:22; 19:8; 20:25; 28:23, 31). The kingdom is central to the Christian experience: we have been transferred to, are being called into, and are receiving the kingdom (Colossians 1:13; 1 Thessalonians 2:12; Hebrews 12:28). We are looking forward to this kingdom (2 Timothy 4:1, 18; 2 Peter 1:11) and to the day when Christ “delivers the kingdom to God the Father” (1 Corinthians 15:24).7

Furthermore the kingdom defines the Christian mission. Just days before his death Jesus said to his disciples, “And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come” (Matthew 24:14). Those engaged in the task of making known the news of the kingdom are “workers for the kingdom” (Colossians 4:11; cf. Revelation 1:9).

Christian believers are therefore kingdom people. We receive the kingdom of God by humbly coming under the royal rule of Jesus Christ. We pray for the coming of God’s kingdom (just as we pray “Come, Lord Jesus,” Revelation 22:20). We are committed to the task of proclaiming the news of his kingdom to all people everywhere.

This way of speaking, thoroughly Biblical as we have seen it to be, can be difficult for us. It is certainly awkward for our contemporaries who may be seeking to understand the Christian faith. These days most of us have little, if anything, to do with kings and kingdoms. We may be aware that historically these ideas can have terrible associations. Kings have been tyrants. Monarchies have become acceptable in today’s world only when transformed into a largely ceremonial and symbolic role, as we see in Britain’s “constitutional monarchy.” Even then many (in countries like my homeland of Australia) long to be rid of such archaic forms with their associations of privilege, power, and worse. Only a short time ago (in historical terms) the people of the United States of America fought a bitter eight-year-long war to gain independence from a king and declared, in an apparent repudiation of the very idea of kingship, that “All men are created equal.”8

We, for whom kings and kingdoms are at best strange ideas, may well ask, what is the kingdom of God, for which Christians have been praying for 2,000 years, and of which the New Testament says so much?

The Kingdom of God: The Bible’s Theme

The Bible’s answer to that question is astounding. On the one hand, the kingdom of God is what the history of all things has been about. On the other hand, the kingdom of God is the ultimate solution to all of the world’s troubles.

However, this kingdom is not a human achievement. Human activity, political or otherwise, will never establish God’s kingdom. Indeed the Bible’s promise, and the Christian hope, is that this kingdom will come despite the weakness, foolishness, and wickedness of human efforts. The kingdom of God will come as God’s gift, not our accomplishment.

When Jesus spoke of the kingdom of God, he was not introducing a new idea. Indeed, his message was that the time for the kingdom was “fulfilled” (Mark 1:15). That is, the long-expected time had come. This expectation was created, in no small measure, by the story of David, the king who had reigned over Israel 1,000 years before the birth of Jesus Christ. Our reading of 2 Samuel will help us understand the expectation that makes sense of Jesus’ announcement.

The kingdom of God can be rightly seen as the theme of the whole Bible. The idea is not limited to the actual expression.9 God’s kingdom is both his rule as king (in this sense “kingdom” means “kingship”) and the realm that is under his rule. To say that the theme of the Bible is the kingdom of God is to recognize that the Bible is about God’s rule and the bringing of all things under his rule.

David’s Reign and the Bible’s Theme

Before we begin to read the story of David’s reign it is important to see that it is, in a significant sense, pivotal in the Old Testament’s presentation of the kingdom of God. At the risk of oversimplification, we can say that everything in the Old Testament before...