God’s Everlasting Kindness
“From the Pasture to the Palace”
2 Samuel 9:1-13
The Bible describes God as the pursuer of those who are not only lost but also unworthy of His pursuit.
- M. Bartlett described this activity of God’s grace when he wrote: “He sought me and bought me with His redeeming love. He loved me ere I knew Him, and all my love is due Him. He plunged me to victory beneath His cleansing flood.” (Victory in Jesus, Eugene M. Bartlett, 1939)
Because of God’s everlasting kindness, God pursues those who are lost and unworthy of His love to give them the exact opposite of what they deserve – the gift of eternal life.
- Charles Wesley expressed this aspect of God’s grace when he wrote: “Long my imprisoned spirit lay, fast bound in sin and nature’s night – thine eye diffused a quickening ray, I woke, the dungeon flamed with light. My chains fell off, my heart was free. I rose, went forth, and followed Thee.” (And Can It Be? Charles Wesley, 1738)
In the book of 1st Samuel, we read the historical account of Saul, the disobedient King of Israel, who was so self-centered that he lost his anointing, his kingdom, and finally his life.
- However, Saul had a son named Jonathan, who later had a son named Mephibosheth. Samuel tells us of David, the shepherd boy who killed Goliath and became the second King of Israel.
- While Saul was still King of Israel, Samuel anointed David as God’s chosen King, which did not sit well with Saul.
- To make matters worse, Jonathan and David were best friends.
- They were so loyal to each other that they made a blood covenant, that if one of them died, the other would look after the family of the deceased.
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- By two parties walking through the blood of an animal, or by two people mixing their blood, they were united as blood-brothers.
- The Bible is divided between the two covenants: the Old Covenant, which was based on God’s Law, and the New Covenant, which is based on God’s grace – a covenant signed by the blood of Jesus Christ. Luke 22:20.
- When we observe the Lord’s Supper, we are celebrating the blood covenant that was made between God the Father and God the Son that united us into His family.
- What is ours is His, and what is His is ours – we belong to Him, and He belongs to us forever.
- After David was crowned the King of Israel, Saul was determined to kill him, but David fled and lived in hiding.
- Saul and Jonathan were killed in a battle, and fearing for his life, the woman who cared for Mephibosheth fled to Lo Debar.
- However, in her haste, she fell, and both of Mephibosheth’s legs or ankles were broken, and he would never walk again.
- Several years later, when Israel was at peace, King David remembered his covenant with Jonathan, and he determined to keep his promise.
1. David’s Faithful Love Declared – 2 Samuel 9:1-5 – Vs 1 – “Now David said, is there still anyone who is left of the house of Saul, that I may show him kindness for Jonathan’s sake.”
When David asked that question, his servants believed the customary purge was about to begin.
- However, David was not like Saul. David was a man after God’s own heart, and he wanted to fulfill the covenant he had made with Jonathan by showing his kindness to Mephibosheth.
- The word “kindness” comes from the Hebrew word “Chesed,” the Old Testament’s version of the Greek word “agape,” and the word used for God’s love, the highest form of love.
- In Hebrew, the word Lo Debar means “no pasture,” a dry, barren place far away from the king’s palace, but a good place to hide Mephibosheth from King David.
- However, the day came when David’s servants found the boy, and they took him to the king’s palace.
2. David’s Faithful Love Demonstrated – 2 Samuel 9:6-13 – Vs 7 – “Do not fear, for I will surely show you kindness for Jonathan your father’s sake, and will restore to you all the land of Saul your grandfather; and you shall eat bread at my table continually.”
When Mephibosheth was brought before King David, he cast aside his crutches, fell with his face to the floor, and prostrated himself before the King, for he expected to be killed.
- King David told him not to fear, for he was about to show him kindness for his father’s sake.
- Not only was David going to spare his life, but he was also going to restore his father’s inheritance, provide a way for his grandfather’s servants to support themselves, and set a place for him at the king’s table forever.
- Mephibosheth “bowed himself and asked why the King would even look upon such a dead dog as he?”
- Mephibosheth knew he did not deserve it, but once he saw the scar on David’s wrist, he could not deny it, and in effect, by sitting at the table, he ratified the covenant his father had made with King David.
- The day before, he was crawling on the dirt floor of a shack in Lo Debar, but now he was sitting at the table of the King.
In the Old Testament, David was known as a man after God’s own heart. In other words, by his attitude and actions, David expressed the heart of God to his people.
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When he sent his servants to find Mephibosheth so he could restore
to him his father’s estate, and he set a permanent place for him at the King’s
table, David was showing the world what God the Father was doing to seek and to save that which was lost.
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Jesus said to His disciples
“You are those who have continued with Me in My trials, and I bestow upon you a kingdom, just as My Father bestowed one upon Me, that you may eat and drink at My table in My kingdom”
Luke 22:28-30
Just as King David made a place for Mephibosheth at his table, the Lord Jesus has made a place for those who will receive Him as their Savior and Lord at the Marriage Supper of the Lamb.
- Matthew 8:11 – “Many will come from the east and the west and recline at table with Abraham, Isaac, Jacob in the kingdom of heaven.”
- Revelation 19:9 – “Blessed are those who are invited to the Marriage Supper of the Lamb.”
- None of us deserves to be at that table – like Mephibosheth, we are nothing but “dead dogs.”
- But the King not only invited us, but He also sent after us. He then cleansed us of our sins, dressed us in the righteous robes of His Son, adopted us into His family, and gave us the right to call Him “Abba, Father!”
- Beloved, there will always be a place at the King’s Table for those who acknowledged their invitation by receiving Jesus Christ as their Savior and Lord.
