Why does God Allow
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Should God’s existence be
proven? /Apologeticshtml/Should the Bible and God Be Proven
Fideism vs WCG.htm
Does the Bible
teach blind faith? Click here: /doctrinalhtml/Gospel of John Theory of Knowledge.htm
What Aspects of King David’s Life and Rule Foreshadowed Christ’s Reign in the Millennium?
Did
King David at times serve as a type or foreshadowing symbol of Jesus? We know from Scripture that, after his
resurrection, David will be a king over Israel during the millennium (Ezekiel
37:24, RSV): "My servant David
shall be king over them; and they shall all have one shepherd. They [Israel]
shall follow my ordinances and be careful to observe my statutes.” See also Ezekiel 34:23 and Hosea 3:5. Jesus was a descendant of David (Matt. 1 and
Luke 3). The Angel Gabriel told Mary
that her Son was to inherit David’s throne (Lu 1:32): “He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High;
and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David.” David once said about the Father and the One
who later became Jesus: “The LORD says
to my lord: "Sit at my right hand, till I make your enemies your
footstool." Jesus Himself quoted
this text in order to pose a paradoxical question (Luke 20:41-44): “‘But he said to them, "How can they
say that the Christ is David's son? For David himself says in the Book of
Psalms, 'The Lord said to my Lord, Sit at my right hand, till I make thy
enemies a stool for thy feet.' David thus calls him Lord; so how is he his
son?’" Peter made the relationship
between David and Jesus a centerpiece of his Pentecost day sermon in Jerusalem
(Acts 2:25-36). Clearly, Scripture ties
David and Jesus closely together.
God
laid upon David one of the highest accolades in all of the Bible for an
ordinary man, that he was a man after God’s own heart (II Samuel 13:14; Acts
13:22). So how did David’s rule
foreshadow that of Christ’s?
Interestingly enough, both were kings in incognito during their lives on
earth and suffered many trials during that time. For years, David was on the run in the wilderness from King Saul,
who was trying to kill him after Samuel had appointed him king (I Samuel
16:1-2, 11-13). Likewise, although He
was a king (John 18:36-37), Jesus during His ministry on earth experienced many
unpleasant trials, cumulating in His ultimate rejection by His people and death
by crucifixion. In this aspect,
however, David’s experience included both privation and glory as a king during
his life on earth, but Jesus has not yet returned publicly to take over
rulership of the earth.
So
then, granted that David served as a type or foreshadow of the Messiah, and
besides both being unrecognized kings at some point during their lives, how
else David’s rule foreshadow Christ’s?
Despite being a great man of war against the gentile enemies of Israel,
David sometimes showed surprising mercy to his enemies. For example, notice how David could have
easily killed Saul in the wilderness on two major occasions (I Samuel 24;
26). He took vengeance against a man
who (falsely) claimed to have killed Saul by his own permission during Israel’s
great defeat by the Philistines near Mount Gilboa. David even waxed lyrically in a lament about Saul! (Notice II Sam. 1). Similarly, he wanted to have mercy on his
rebellious son Absalom, who launched a civil war in order to take his father’s
throne (II Sam. 18-19). Likewise, Jesus
prayed for His enemies on the cross, and asked the Father to forgive them (Luke
23:34). Of course, David was merely a
type of Christ, not a perfect exemplar in showing mercy. For example, Jehovah would not let David
build a great temple to Him since he had killed so many men in battle (I Chron.
22:8). (However, note that Jesus will
slay His enemies in war also when He returns (II Thess. 1:7-10), so David
wasn’t totally different even in this regard.
Notice the messianic Psalm 89’s allusion to David and then to the Messiah’s
killing his enemies, verses 19-23). He
also initially had mercy on Shimei despite the rude insults he hurled against
his Jewish king during Absalom’s rebellion, but made sure his son Solomon would
get revenge for him later (II Sam. 16:5-10; 19:18-23; I Kings 2:8-9; 2:36-46).
One way David was like Jesus was both had zeal for serving God. Despite David so badly sinned when he committed adultery with Bathsheba and set up her husband Uriah to be killed in order to cover up the sin, he seriously repented, as the words of Ps. 51 show. Similarly, Jesus was faithful and had zeal for His Father’s house to be pure (John 2:17). David also had deep faith and never committed idolatry: He never worshipped a false god using statues or a graven image, unlike his son Solomon (see I Kings 11). Think about how David had to have faith in God’s promise about being Israel’s king despite having to live in the wilderness or in exile among the gentiles for years on the run from Saul. Despite he sinned, David took God’s law seriously, just as Jesus Himself did. A good king needs to uphold and enforce the laws of his own kingdom in order to prevent anarchy and injustice. Both suffered in service for God, which was one reason why Jesus quoted David’s opening words in the messianic Psalm 22 during the crucifixion (Matt. 27:46).
Of
course, a lot more could be written on this subject of how David was a type of
Jesus when he was a ruler of Judah and Israel, but some highlights were
described above.
Eric
V. Snow
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Why does God Allow Evil?
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May Christians work on
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