Prayer Challenges

Current Challenge from Doug Knox.

August

Man Builders, Part 49

Hebrews 4:16 – 5:10

David—Forged Masterpiece, Part 31, Conclusion

Son of David

Enduring Teaching From Long Ago

Throughout my grade school Sunday school experience, my church held segregated boys’ girls’ classes. During my fifth- and sixth-grade years, we boys had a male teacher, a younger man in his early thirties. I cannot remember his name, but I can remember his teaching manners. He was softspoken and taught directly from the Bible. He took us through the life of David. Week after week he would pick up where he left off. It would be decades before I would realize what a treasure we had in that man. Not just for the man-to-boy relationship that he gave us, but also in his solid biblical teaching. He refused to settle for the usual Bible stories. He taught us Story, the long and often dangerous journey of a character whose personal history not only communicates heroism to us but also lends meaning to our lives. But like the naive kid that I was, I wondered why the series took so long. It seemed like David would never reach his predestined end.

David in History and Inheritance

David’s story is epic for more than one reason. In the Hebrew histories, he establishes his place as the head of the dynasty that the LORD promised in Deuteronomy. The New Testament Gospel writers would reference David in their portrayal of Jesus as the culmination of generations-long prophetic promise. The people who recognized his works as the supernatural acts that they were called him by the title, “Son of David” (Matthew 12:22-23; Mark 10:47-48). As New Testament theology developed, Jesus’s human ancestry becomes part of the gospel message. Matthew, for example, begins his Gospel, “The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham” (Matthew 1:1). Of course, Matthew would begin his Gospel this way. He is a Hebrew writing to his fellow Jews. But Paul’s theology of the gospel message to the church at Rome, written to Jews and Gentiles alike, shows that Jesus’s genealogical history stands on equal footing with his resurrection:

The Necessity for the Setbacks in David’s Life

This brings us back to David brutal journey from shepherd to king. What ultimately decided his success when Saul failed? If this study has shown anything, it is that exact comparisons are impossible. The two men’s circumstances are entirely different. Saul found himself vaulted from obscurity to dramatic success (compare 1 Samuel 9:20-21 with 11:1-15) but became tethered to his early record. His inability to maintain the momentum becomes evident from his growing dependence on Samuel’s approval over the course of of his forty-year reign (1 Samuel 13-15). A friend of mine compared him to the all-too-typical lottery winner who spends himself into bankruptcy. David likewise experienced early success, but his actions were grounded in his relationship with the LORD (1 Samuel 17:31-37). His intimacy with God guided him through the years that he endured Saul’s pursuit. Unlike Saul, he was intimately familiar with the Law of God (Deuteronomy 17:18-20). Because of his commitment to God’s Word, hurdles that he faced brought him into a more grounded maturity.

Jesus, Our High Priest—Perfect in Standing; Proven Through Suffering

These principles govern our Lord himself. The author of Hebrews writes this regarding the role that Jesus took on as our high priest:

These words stand as a masterpiece of pastoral encouragement. The author writes to a group of Hebrew believers who face persecution and imprisonment following their conversion to the faith (Hebrews 13:3-5). Some have considered falling back to Judaism. In this passage, the author reminds them of Jesus’s work as high priest. In personal terms, he reminds his audience that Jesus was “one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.” That is, he offers leadership by example. Like David before him, he his ministry grows out of submission to God’s direction. The author continues,

No one in God’s service exercises ministry by his own choice. Our walk and service emerge by God’s sovereign command. We simultaneously work in obedience through our conscious submission. The author of Hebrews concludes his line of thinking with these critical words about Jesus’s obedience:

To me, this is one of the most remarkable statements about Jesus in the Bible. The opening statement, that describes his “loud cries and tears, to him who was able to save him from death,” refers to Jesus’s prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane on the night of his arrest. We know that his prayer was denied. He had to endure our penalty for sin, and he had to do so on his own. But his ability did not appear to him out of thin air. He “learned obedience through what he suffered.” That is, his life experiences from childhood on taught him to face the wrath that he would endure at his Father’s hands. As the Son of God, he was the perfect revelation of the Father. As the obedient Son, he was the perfect Law keeper. However, the eternal, holy, flawless, and lovely Son of God was unable simply to step up to the task on the cross. He had to be made perfect for his task by the difficulties that he experienced throughout his life. As the eternal Son of God, he makes us worthy to stand before the Father. As the human Son of David, he makes us able to stand in God’s presence.

David’s Relationship to Jesus

This truth reflects retroactively on David. The Lord’s forerunner would have to face the same difficulties that Jesus would. Experimentally, he had to prove himself as a worthy herald for the perfect mediator. David earned excellence because it was the only way for him to pave the way for the excellent Savior.

Doug Knox

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