David: A story of Sin, Repentance, and Restoration
Recap 2 Sam 12
If anybody is just joining us now, here is the recap. David is the king of Israel. Israel is at war, and at this time in history, a king would be at war with his army. David, however, is at home laying around. So he is not where supposed to be. He is restless and can’t sleep, and goes up on the roof and is walking around, and sees a girl bathing. he starts lusting after her and arranges for her to come to his house. He finds out that she is married, but calls for her anyway. He sleeps with her and she becomes pregnant.
He later finds out that her husband is one of his mighty soldiers. He also finds out that the girl is one of his best buddies daughters. He tries to get the soldier, Uriah, to come back from war and sleep with his wife, so he can cover up the pregnancy. However, Uriah is too loyal, and will not go home to his wife while his brother soldiers are still fighting. David then devises a plan to have him killed instead. He thinks he is free and clear and covered up his sin, but of course, in the end, you can never hide your sin from God.
After this, God sends a prophet name to Nathan to visit David. He tells a story about a rich king, who took the only lamb that a poor family had to use for a banquet, rather than one of his hundreds or thousands. David was enraged and stated that , his punishment should be death plus restitution of four times the cost of the lamb. David did not realize that Nathan was telling a parable about the way David treated Uriah the Hittite’s wife Bathsheba. Nathan says to David “you are the man“ Finally, after all of the sin upon sin, going to multiple steps, including even murder to hide what David has done, he admits that he has sinned against God.
The last thing we read last week was: v13 Then David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord .” Nathan replied, “The Lord has taken away your sin. You are not going to die.
…and that’s where we start today.
In Hollywood, the story would end here. We love stories with perfect, happy, endings, and we want sin forgiven without consequence.
But, the first word in 2 Samuel 12:14 is “however…”
In reality, we can be forgiven for breaking the window, but we still have to sweep up the broken glass and repair the window. There are consequences to our actions, and like it, or not, we must coexist with those consequences, just as David did.
Read:
2 Samuel 12:14-23
- But because by doing this you have shown utter contempt for the Lord, the son born to you will die.” 15. After Nathan had gone home, the Lord struck the child that Uriah’s wife had borne to David, and he became ill. 16. David pleaded with God for the child. He fasted and spent the nights lying in sackcloth on the ground. 17. The elders of his household stood beside him to get him up from the ground, but he refused, and he would not eat any food with them. 18. On the seventh day the child died. David’s attendants were afraid to tell him that the child was dead, for they thought, “While the child was still living, he wouldn’t listen to us when we spoke to him. How can we now tell him the child is dead? He may do something desperate.” 19. David noticed that his attendants were whispering among themselves, and he realized the child was dead. “Is the child dead?” he asked. “Yes,” they replied, “he is dead.” 20. Then David got up from the ground. After he had washed, put on lotions and changed his clothes, he went into the house of the Lord and worshiped. Then he went to his own house, and at his request they served him food, and he ate. 21. His attendants asked him, “Why are you acting this way? While the child was alive, you fasted and wept, but now that the child is dead, you get up and eat!” 22. He answered, “While the child was still alive, I fasted and wept. I thought, ‘Who knows? The Lord may be gracious to me and let the child live.’ 23. But now that he is dead, why should I go on fasting? Can I bring him back again? I will go to him, but he will not return to me.”
What do you think of God allowing the child to die for Davids sin?
The death of David‘s newborn son seems, at first look, to be a cruel and unfair punishment of an innocent child. This is not an easy one to get into. There are a lot of different commentaries floating around with different ideas of why God did this.
Any idea what a few of these possible reasons are that have been commented on throughout history?
One idea is that the child would have lived a painful and disgraceful life as an illegitimate son. His death has an infant was merciful.
Others have commented on the possible ramifications of this illegitimate child becoming king.
Still another, the example of atonement; and innocent life, being given to redeem the life of the guilty.
Why do YOU guys think God responded this way?
Isaiah 55:8-9
- “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord . 9. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.
No matter, which, if any of these are true, one thing is for certain. The child’s death does demonstrate an important truth. Our sin affects not only ourselves, but also those around us. The long, reaching effect of a moment of sinful, self indulgence can be disastrous. we seldom consider that factor in a moment of temptation. If we could see the results of our actions, clearly we would say “no “more often.
Anyone want to share a time that someone you know suffered because of your sin?
There is a difference in judgment for sin and judgment by sin. God forgave David’s sin, but He would not shield him from every consequence of the sin. David had to face the consequences of his sin, beginning with the death of the child born by Bathsheba.
… the Lord struck the child that Uriah’s wife had borne to David…
Did you notice that the text says Uriah’s wife? Why?
Though Uriah was dead, and David was legally married to Bathsheba, the biblical writer still referred to Bathsheba as Uriah’s wife. This is because when the child was conceived Uriah was alive and Bathsheba was Uriah’s wife. It is God’s way of saying, “Uriah’s death and the subsequent marriage doesn’t make everything alright.”
- David pleaded with God for the child. He fasted and spent the nights lying in sackcloth on the ground.
David was right to take the announcement of God’s judgment as an invitation to earnestly seek His mercy. When God’s judgment is announced or present, we shouldn’t receive it passively or fatalistically. We should cry out to God in repentance and ask for His grace and mercy.
Jeremiah 17:14 – Heal me, O Lord, and I shall be healed; save me, and I shall be saved, for you are my praise.
Jeremiah 33:6 – Behold, I will bring to it health and healing, and I will heal them and reveal to them abundance of prosperity and security.
1 Peter 2:24 – He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By His wounds you have been healed.
Psalm 41:3 – The Lord sustains him on his sickbed; in his illness you restore him to full health.
Psalm 147:3 – He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.
James 5:15 – And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.
3 John 1:2 – Beloved, I pray that all may go well with you and that you may be in good health, as it goes well with your soul.
Here are a lot of verses about healing. Why didn’t God heal Davids baby?
This shows that extraordinary prayer and fasting do not change God’s mind. It put David in the right place to receive what he must from God, but it did not “force” God to change His plan.
2 Corinthians 12:8-10
- Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. 9. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. 10. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
With this in mind, is God showing mercy to the child allowing him to enter Heaven as a baby?
- The elders of his household stood beside him to get him up from the ground, but he refused, and he would not eat any food with them. 18. On the seventh day the child died. David’s attendants were afraid to tell him that the child was dead, for they thought, “While the child was still living, he wouldn’t listen to us when we spoke to him. How can we now tell him the child is dead? He may do something desperate.” 19. David noticed that his attendants were whispering among themselves, and he realized the child was dead. “Is the child dead?” he asked. “Yes,” they replied, “he is dead.”
Put yourself in this scene. What is going on here?
David have been fasting, sobbing, laying face down on the ground. In other words acting pretty crazy extreme. His people think he might lose it.
- Then David got up from the ground. After he had washed, put on lotions and changed his clothes, he went into the house of the Lord and worshiped. Then he went to his own house, and at his request they served him food, and he ate.
Why do you think he reacted this way?
There is something beautiful here.
This shows that David’s extraordinary prayer and fasting were answered. He had a sense of peace when the child died, knowing he did all he could to seek God’s mercy in a time of great pain.
God did not heal the child but he did give David comfort.
- His attendants asked him, “Why are you acting this way? While the child was alive, you fasted and wept, but now that the child is dead, you get up and eat!” 22. He answered, “While the child was still alive, I fasted and wept. I thought, ‘Who knows? The Lord may be gracious to me and let the child live.’ 23. But now that he is dead, why should I go on fasting? Can I bring him back again? I will go to him, but he will not return to me.”
Is David’s baby in Heaven?
Deuteronomy 1:39
Moreover, your little ones who you said would become a prey, and your sons, who this day have no knowledge of good or evil, shall enter there, and I will give it to them and they shall possess it.
Matthew 18:3
and said, “Truly I say to you, unless you are converted and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.
2 Samuel 12:22-23
He said, “While the child was still alive, I fasted and wept; for I said, ‘Who knows, the Lord may be gracious to me, that the child may live.’ But now he has died; why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I will go to him, but he will not return to me.”
Mark 10:13-14
And they were bringing children to Him so that He might touch them; but the disciples rebuked them. But when Jesus saw this, He was indignant and said to them, “Permit the children to come to Me; do not hinder them; for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.
Luke 18:15-16
And they were bringing even their babies to Him so that He would touch them, but when the disciples saw it, they began rebuking them. But Jesus called for them, saying, “Permit the children to come to Me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.
David was confident that his son would meet him in heaven. This is an indication that babies and perhaps children who pass from this world to the next will go to heaven.
Read 2 Samuel 24-25
- Then David comforted his wife Bathsheba, and he went to her and made love to her. She gave birth to a son, and they named him Solomon. The Lord loved him; 25. and because the Lord loved him, he sent word through Nathan the prophet to name him Jedidiah.
David comforted Bathsheba his wife…
This is the first time the biblical writer called this woman Bathsheba except for the mere reporting of her name in 2 Samuel 11:3. Each time before this she is called the wife of Uriah. Only now, after dealing with David’s sin, is she called Bathsheba his wife.
This shows that God did not command that David forsake or leave Bathsheba, even though his marriage to her was originally sinful. He was to honor God in the marriage commitment he made, even though it began in sin.
How is this relevant to us today in a world of blended families?
The principle in context warns us against trying to undo the past in regard to relationships. God tells us to repent of whatever sin is there and then to move on. If you are married to your second wife, after wrongfully divorcing your first wife, and become a Christian, don’t think you must now leave your second wife and go back to your first wife, trying to undo the past. As the Lord has called you, walk in that place right now.
So she bore a son…. the LORD loved him:
Here is the great forgiveness and tenderness of God. He did not hold a grudge against David and Bathsheba. The days of blessing and fruitfulness were not over for David.
He called his name Solomon…
Remarkably it is this son– the son born out of a marriage that began in adultery – that will be heir to David’s throne. God chose this son among David’s many sons to be heir to the throne and the ancestor of the Messiah to demonstrate the truth that God forgives repentant sinners.
Solomon is in the direct bloodline to Jesus.
People may not forgive; we may refuse to really believe that we are forgiven. But God forgives repentant sinners.
So he called his name Jedidiah…
The name Jedidiah means, “loved of the LORD.” It was God’s way of saying that He would love and bless this son of David and Bathsheba.
Summary:
It is important to know that the healing and reconstruction of this relationship did not happen immediately. Based on historical accounts and comparative scriptural studies, it is apparent that several years passed between the death of the first son, and the birth of Solomon. It is also apparent that, although David had many wives, Bathsheba became his favorite. A marriage built on healing grace of God, always produces very special, intimate, bonded relationships.
God never brings us condemnation without offering us grace and healing. This is a recurring theme throughout the Bible. God wants to have an intimate relationship with each of us and goes out of his way to invite us into that relationship. The whole point of Nathan‘s story, was not to punish David, but to ultimately restore him.
It doesn’t matter who you are, we all stand on level ground at the foot of the cross. It doesn’t matter what you’ve done, or where you’ve been. God’s healing, restoring grace is available for you, just like it was for David. All you have to do is be willing to face, God, and yourself, with the same painful honesty. That was David’s first step toward rebuilding his life.
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Are you ready for a fresh start? Your life can be healed, restored, and rebuilt, just like David was.
Like David, you will have to be honest with God, and yourself.
Stop trying to hide your skin behind cheap excuses and lies.
Be willing to deal with and accept the consequences of your sin.
Totally surrender yourself to God.
Allow Jesus to come into your heart and forgive your sin.
Having accepted his free gift of salvation, let him start the process of rebuilding your life on his firm, eternal foundation
God is not only willing to help you rebuild, he wants you even more than you do!