The Lord’s Day Evening
November 21, 2010
2 Samuel 8:1-18
“With
Dr. Derek W. H. Thomas
Now turn with me if you would to 2 Samuel chapter 8; 2 Samuel chapter 8.
Last time when we were in Samuel, we were in chapter 7, one of the most
important chapters in the Old Testament, because it’s the chapter in which we
find the Davidic Covenant, the covenant that God makes with David, that on the
throne of Israel there will be a king.
And God makes a covenant that that kingship will be forever.
You’ll remember that one of the things in chapter 7 that David had asked
to do was to build a temple for God.
And God said, “No.” Solomon, his son,
would be the one who would build the temple.
Every now and then, preachers get told after preaching a sermon something they
wish they would have been told before the sermon because it was so good you
would incorporate it into the sermon.
Well, two people did that to me two weeks ago, right at the end.
They’re both here, I think. I
won’t name you! One person said,
“What do you do when God says “No”?
You sing the doxology.” That’s good,
isn’t it? You sing the doxology.
When God frustrates your plans and dreams and ambitions, you sing “Praise
God from whom all blessings flow.”
And then another person, both of these were elders, by the way, the second
person said to me, “We may not have a temple from David, but we have something
better – the Psalms. The temple was
a structure that lasted for a few centuries.
The Psalms are with us still. God
said “No” because He had something better for David.”
That’s a good way, I think, to think about times when God says “No”
because He has something better for you to do.
Well, tonight we come to a chapter – I was thinking this morning as Ligon was in
a chapter on the Sabbath – that wonderful sermon that Ligon preached to us on
the Sabbath this morning [Luke 14:1-6] – and tonight we’re in a chapter that is
really history. And you know, you
have to be, you have to be a Christian, you have to love the Bible to fully
appreciate why it is that we can get all excited about a passage about the
Sabbath as we did this morning, and tonight, I hope, we’re going to get all
excited about a chapter that’s really all about history because this is a
glorious passage. At first, it looks like
just an ordinary chapter about a king who has a lot of military victories and
does well. But this is no ordinary
king. This is King David.
This is God’s king on God’s throne.
Now before we read the passage, let’s look to God in prayer.
Father, again we are mindful that
as we begin to read these lines that they are lines from Scripture - a Book that
is unlike any other book in the whole world, a Book written by the finger of
God, a Book that is infallible and inerrant and is able to make us wise unto
salvation through faith which is in Jesus Christ our Lord.
But we need Your blessing. We
need the help of the Holy Spirit. So
we ask that we might read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest for Jesus’ sake.
Amen.
This is God’s Word:
“After this David
defeated the Philistines and subdued them, and David took Metheg-ammah out of
the hand of the Philistines.
And he defeated
David also defeated
Hadadezer the son of Rehob, king of Zobah, as he went to restore his power at
the river
When Toi king of
Hamath heard that David had defeated the whole army of Hadadezer, Toi sent his
son Joram to King David, to ask about his health and to bless him because he had
fought against Hadadezer and defeated him, for Hadadezer had often been at war
with Toi. And Joram brought with him
articles of silver, of gold, and of bronze.
These also King David dedicated to the Lord together with the silver and
gold that he dedicated from all the nations he subdued, from Edom, Moab, the
Ammonites, the Philistines, Amalek, and from the spoil of Hadadezer the son of
Rehob, king of Zobah.
And David made a name
for himself when he returned from striking down 18,000 Edomites in the
So David reigned over
all
Well, may God bless to us that reading of His holy and inerrant Word.
Now there are three things I want us to see in this passage tonight.
This is not just history, this is covenant history.
This is the history of King David.
This is the history of the
I. The success of David’s kingdom – God’s purposes can never be
thwarted.
The first thing I want us to see is this – that 2 Samuel 8 follows 2 Samuel 7.
That’s it. I want us to see
that. Yes, because the success, the
triumph, the spread of David’s kingdom in chapter 8 is the result of the
promise, the covenant, that God makes with David in chapter 7.
It ought not to come as a surprise that chapter 8 is about the spread and
the triumph of the
And now that’s coming to pass.
That’s the way in which this is being recorded for us in the opening verses of
chapter 8. In the west, the
Philistines in verse 1. And then in
the east, you have the Moabites. And
to the north and northeast you’ve got the Syrians.
And to the south you’ve got the Edomites.
So you’re going west and you’re going east and you’re going north and
you’re going south. And this is the
expansion of the
The lesson is very simple.
Can anything thwart the purpose of God?
When God makes a promise, when God says, “I will do such and such,” when
God made that promise to Abraham, when God made that promise with David, can
anything thwart, bring to naught, the promise that God makes?
No, of course not. When God
says something it will come to pass.
We were thinking about promises in relation to a covenant this morning with
respect to children. God makes
promises, strong promises, powerful promises.
Can anyone thwart the purposes of God?
God had said, “As far as you can see
Matthew 16, Caesarea Philippi – Jesus is speaking openly now about His mission.
He says to the disciples, “I will build My church and the gates of Hades
will not prevail against it.” That’s
a promise. When Jesus sends out His
disciples at the end of Matthew’s gospel, “Go into all the world and make
disciples, and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age,” can
anything destroy that promise that Jesus makes?
“I will build My church. I
will build My church.”
If somebody says, if somebody says the church will not survive the 21st
century, they are wrong. They are
wrong. I don’t care who’s saying it,
they are wrong, because the Word of God is clear and the Word of God cannot be
broken. That’s the principle that
you see in 2 Samuel 8 as David expands his kingdom.
Yes, it belongs to the old covenant.
It belongs to a promise that was made specifically about
The Bible seems to me to say that towards the end, before Jesus returns, there
will be great evil in the world.
That’s my own understanding of end times in the Bible. I believe that before
Jesus comes there will be an appearance of a personal anti-Christ figure of some
kind. I believe there will be a
battle between good and evil. I’m
optimistic about the nature of that good.
I’m optimistic about the size of that good, but there will be a battle.
It will be a battle that - the book of Revelation calls it the battle of
Armageddon; Ezekiel calls it the battle of Gog and Magog.
One thing I’m absolutely sure of, that evil will not triumph.
Turn with me to Revelation chapter 20, Revelation 20 and verses 7, 8, and 9.
This is the passage about the thousand years – we won’t go into that; we
haven’t time – but let me just say that my understanding is that the thousand
years represent that period of time from the ascension of Jesus right through
today and right up almost to the very end.
And then in verse 7 – “And when the thousand years are ended, Satan will
be released from his prison and will come out to deceive the nations that are at
the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them for battle; their
number is like the sand of the sea.
And they marched up over the broad plain of the earth and surrounded the camp of
the saints and the beloved city, but, but
fire came down from heaven and consumed them.”
Will evil triumph? No it will not.
The
Just a little detail – David hamstrung the horses.
Did you see that? David
hamstrung the horses. Verse 4 – he
left only a hundred horses, enough for a hundred chariots.
There were 1,700 horsemen, presumably 1,700 horses able to draw chariots.
You know, what’s that all about? Well,
let’s get past the issue of whether that was cruelty to animals or anything like
that. Let’s get past that and answer
the more important question here – Why did David do this?
Well the NIV Study Bible says David didn’t understand the value of the
horse as a military weapon.
Who writes these things?
David didn’t understand the value of a horse for a military weapon?!
He’s surrounded by people with horses!
Have you ever looked at the typography of
But more importantly, do you remember the number of times in the psalms David
says, “Don’t trust in horses; don’t trust in horses”?
Where is
II. Stewardship – it all belongs to God.
The second thing I
want us to see, and you see it there in verses 7 through 12, it’s a principle of
stewardship. Yes, this is
stewardship season. I wasn’t looking
for a principle of stewardship but it’s right here.
You notice in these verses David captures the wealth – shields made of
silver and gold and much bronze – and you notice in verse 10 he brings them all
into the house of God. At the end of
verse 10, “Joram brought with him articles of silver and gold and bronze” and in
verse 11, “He dedicated them from all the nations he subdued.”
He gives them over to God.
This is God’s wealth. This is God’s
doing. The cattle on a thousand
hills belongs to the Lord. He’s
recognizing, do you see, even in his conquest, even in the expansion of the
kingdom, “unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain that build it.”
And all the triumphs and all the gains belong to Him first of all.
You know that principle is still a principle in the
I don’t know when David wrote the second psalm.
I imagine it was around this time.
It’s a psalm about triumph.
It’s a psalm about the advancement of the
There is only one King – the King of Kings, great David’s greater son, Jesus.
In the life of David there are these recurring patterns and motifs that
are meant to be little windows as to the nature of the
Some of you perhaps here tonight
think that you worshipped God tonight, but you haven’t because your hearts are
still unregenerate. You can never
worship God truly until you kiss the Son, until you submit to Him, you come to
Him – “Lord, have mercy on me, a sinner” – you take Him, you own Him as Lord and
Savior and Prophet and Priest and King.
This was a little glimpse of it here in David’s life.
It’s not David that we bow to, it’s David’s greater son, Jesus, Jesus.
III. Justice.
There’s a third thing I want us to see here and it’s this – it’s verse 15.
It’s a kind of summary of the whole chapter.
“So David reigned over all
A couple of Wednesdays ago we were celebrating the wonderful thing the veterans
have done. And there was a little
ritual up in Miller Hall that Wednesday night and some of you, many of you were
there. And we had some young men
dressed in uniform and the flag was brought in and I was standing sort of in the
corner behind Ligon and Billy Joseph said, “We’ll say the Pledge of Allegiance.”
And I put my hand on my heart and I thought, “Can I say the Pledge of
Allegiance?” And I’m sorry, but I didn’t say it.
I thought the Queen would be, she would be offended!
I still carry her passport, you understand, so I was repeating it in my
head, but nothing came out here. You
know, “One nation under God with liberty and justice for all.”
Well that’s what we’ve got here.
We’ve got one nation under God in verse 15 with justice and equity, with
righteousness and justice perhaps.
You know, it must have been a great thing to be a part of that kingdom in
David’s time when there was justice for all.
That’s not the kingdom we live in in the world, is it?
I mean absolutely no disrespect, you understand.
I mean absolutely no disrespect to the
That’s what the
I’ve been reading the newspapers all week.
Forgive me. British
newspapers you know, online, because I’m fascinated – Kate Middleton and Prince
William. You know, when’s the
wedding? Is it going to be in April?
Am I going to be over there?
Will Bill Wymond be playing the organ?
(laughter) There’s been a lot
of talk, you know. Will there be a
jump in the succession? You know,
the Queen and then, not Charles but Prince William? And the majority of the
people favor that except for the traditionists. It’s all very fascinating.
Kings, queens, presidents – they come and thankfully they go.
But this King, the King of whom David was just a little glimpse, I mean King
Jesus, King Jesus in whose kingdom there is justice and righteousness and equity
for all – perfection, perfection.
This King will reign forever and ever and ever.
You know, had you been around in David’s day you could be forgiven for thinking
this was it. You know, someone got
fired in British politics for saying, “You’ve never had it so good.”
That’s all he said, “You’ve never had it so good,” and he was fired.
He was insensitive to the economic climate you understand.
But you could have been forgiven for thinking in David’s time, “Can it
ever get any better than this?” And
the answer is, “Oh yes. Oh yes, this
is just a little foretaste, but in the new heavens and new earth, well, the King
of Kings will administer justice and equity to all His people.”
Now that’s something worth being thankful for on Thanksgiving week.
Let’s pray.
Father, we thank You for the
Scriptures and as we tease out of them these wonderful, extraordinary truths, we
thank You that by faith in Jesus Christ we belong to the kingdom that shall
never end, not a kingdom like Narnia where it is always winter and never
Christmas, but a kingdom in which it is always Christmas, always in the presence
of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, even our Savior, Jesus Christ.
Now make us thankful, we pray.
We ask it in Jesus’ name.
Amen.
Please stand. Receive the Lord’s
benediction. Grace, mercy, and peace
from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.
© First Presbyterian Church,
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