Note: Here
is one of the applications from last Sunday’s sermon on 2 Samuel 19:
2 Samuel 19:18 … And Shimei the son of Gera fell
down before the king, as he was come over Jordan; 19 And said unto the king,
Let not my lord impute iniquity unto me, neither do thou remember that which
thy servant did perversely the day that my lord the king went out of Jerusalem,
that the king should take it to his heart. 20 For thy servant doth know that I
have sinned….
One of
the things we see in 2 Samuel 19 is that David was an imperfect agent of
reconciliation who points to a greater reconciler.
We can
focus on David’s dealings with just one person:
Shimei, the man who had cursed him. There are some significant gospel
overtones to the conversation David has with Shimei. Shimei pleads for his iniquity not to be
imputed to him (v. 19). He confesses his
sin (v. 20). David extends to him mercy
(vv. 22-23).
It all
sounds good. But later we learn the rest
of the story. David had not perfectly forgiven
Shimei and was not, in fact, lastingly reconciled to him.
In 1
Kings 2, while David is on his death bed he gives these ominous instructions to
his son Solomon:
1 Kings 2:8 And, behold, thou hast with
thee Shimei the son of Gera, a Benjamite of Bahurim, which cursed me with a
grievous curse in the day when I went to Mahanaim: but he came down to meet me
at Jordan, and I sware to him by
the LORD, saying, I will not put thee to death with the sword. 9 Now therefore
hold him not guiltless: for thou art a wise man, and knowest what thou oughtest to do unto him; but his hoar head
bring thou down to the grave with blood.
And,
in fact, Solomon carries out his father’s instructions (see 1 Kings 2:44-46).
The
thing that I am struck by here is the contrast between David and Christ. What David could not do even on a temporal
basis, Christ has done on an eternal basis.
A
verse that came to mind was this:
2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore
if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are
passed away; behold, all things are become new. 18 And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to
himself by Jesus Christ, and
hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation; 19 To wit, that God was in
Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto
them; and hath committed unto us
the word of reconciliation.
Notice
especially the phrase in v. 19: “not
imputing their trespasses unto them.”
Another
that came to mind was this:
1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just
to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
We
have a perfect Reconciler in the Lord Jesus Christ, the son of David. If we confess our sins he will forgive us and
he will not impute our trespasses against us.
Thanks be to God!
Grace and peace, Pastor Jeff Riddle
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