2 Samuel 5:1-10

Jesus is king! Right? Jesus reigns! At least I think so. The kingdom of God is here. At least that’s what I’ve been told. We don’t sound so sure of ourselves, do we? We know the promises, we’ve heard the Bible texts, we want to be assured. We sing songs like “Lead On Oh King Eternal” and wow, we sound confident. And then something happens between here in this room and down there in that room. Here we seem to know so confidently that Jesus is king, but walk down those stares, and we either don’t talk about His reign, or we talk about all the bad things that are happening. This world is getting worse. Evil is growing stronger. Sin is getting nastier. The devil is growing more powerful. What happened to “Lead On O King Eternal”? What happened to Jesus is king?

2 Samuel gives us a reminder. We’re six weeks out from Pentecost, seven weeks out from the Ascension, and maybe we just forgot. Maybe we forgot that Jesus sat down at the right hand of God, though we just said we believed that He did just that. We said it in the Apostle’s Creed. Maybe we forgot that the Holy Spirit was sent by the Father and by Jesus to transform this world under the reign of Jesus. Maybe we forgot that Jesus must reign until all of His enemies are placed under His feet. Maybe we just forgot.

So 2 Samuel 5 shoos away the doubts and fears. 2 Samuel reminds us of the truth. 2 Samuel 5 reestablishes the fact that Jesus is King and that Jesus is conquering this world. 2 Samuel 5 gives us a glimpse, through David, of the reign of Christ. King David, in our text, is preview for our King Jesus. And, in verse 1:

All the tribes of Israel came to David at Hebron and said, “We are your own flesh and blood.

David is one of them. They are part of him. They are family, flesh and blood. What hurts the people will hurt David, and what hurts David hurts the people. They go together. They can’t be separated.

And when Jesus came, when He was born, He was born with flesh, born with blood. Our king is human. He is us, and we are Him. Hebrews 2:14,15

Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil— and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death

Our King is real. Our King is human. Our King has skin. Our King has hair. Our King has eyes, real eyes. These aren’t just figurative word pictures. Our King is real. He’s human. And what affects us affects Him. What hurts us hurts Him. Our tears become His tears. Our anger becomes His anger. And it goes the other way, too. What hurts Him hurts us. What makes Him angry makes us angry. His tears become our tears. We’re family. We go together. We can’t be separated.

And He’s on the march. Verse 2:

In the past, while Saul was king over us, you were the one who led Israel on their military campaigns. And the LORD said to you, ‘You will shepherd my people Israel, and you will become their ruler.’”

David had a long history with his people. He was their champion. He was the giant-killer, after all. He had defeated tens of thousands of Philistines. He was unbeatable. No enemy could stand against David.

But as powerful a fighter as David was, our Lord Jesus, our human King, our Jesus is infinitely more powerful, because our human King is also God. And when evil enemies try to fight God, there’s never really much of a contest. Our Lord has been our champion. Our Lord has come to our defense. Our Lord has defeated tens of millions of billions of enemies. He is unbeatable. No enemy can stand against Jesus.

Just look around. We know of friends that used to be enemies. We know of marriages that were breaking down, and are stronger now than ever before. We know of addictions that have been broken. We know of people who wanted nothing to do with church, and now they regularly come. We know of people lost in despair, and now they have hope. We know of people who lived their lives in utter loneliness, and now they have friends. One after another, the enemies have fallen. One after another, Jesus has won the victories.

And He’s not finished yet, because there are more enemies to defeat. More people need hope from despair. More people need assurance from anxiety. More people need comfort from their sorrows. More people need freedom from guilt. More fathers and sons need to reconcile. More mothers and daughters need to resolve their differences. More churches need to be unified. More souls need to be saved.

And to assure us that He will keep fighting for us until every last enemy is put down, verse 3:

the king made a compact with them at Hebron before the LORD, and they anointed David king over Israel.

The king made a covenant with his people. And the typical covenant, the standard contract, required something of the king and something of the people. In this covenant, the king was required to protect his people. He was to use his power and resources to make sure his people were kept safe from poverty and from enemies, from plague and famine and war. In turn, the people would support their king with taxes and time. Those who were qualified would fight for their king. Everyone would give him their support in prayer. If the king failed to do his duty, the people would be let out of the covenant. And if the people failed to support their king, then the king wouldn’t have to protect the people. The covenant between David and the people had conditions. This contract could be broken.

But the covenant that Jesus makes with His people is unconditional. The covenant that Jesus establishes cannot be broken. The care and protection that Jesus gives His people is guaranteed, because the only condition in His covenant is His own faithfulness, and He’s always faithful. When He took that cup, after supper, and He gave thanks and said:

This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.”

That sealed the covenant. Our disobedience, our lack of support, our refusal to give Him what belongs to Him doesn’t affect His protection and care and provision for us. I know that sounds too good to be true, but that’s the gospel. That’s His grace. That’s our King, and why wouldn’t we want to serve and obey and follow that King? His covenant cannot be broken. His promise is eternal because His reign is eternal. His kingdom is without end.

David’s reign ended. Verse 4:

David was thirty years old when he became king, and he reigned forty years. In Hebron he reigned over Judah seven years and six months, and in Jerusalem he reigned over all Israel and Judah thirty-three years.

David began his reign when he was thirty years old. He reigned for seven years in Hebron, and 33 years in Jerusalem. And then something happened. David died. It was natural that he died. He was human, he got old. He died.

Jesus, our King, began His ministry when He was thirty years old. He clinched His reign when He died and rose again 3 days later. But He didn’t reign 40 years. He didn’t reign 400 years. His reign still continues. He’s still on the throne. He never left. And He never will. The numbers in Verse 5 are significant. The numbers are symbolic. For the Hebrews, both the number seven and the number three are complete numbers. David’s thirty three year reign, David’s seven year reign are again pointing to Jesus complete reign.

Ever since Jesus came, there have been opportunities to question whether Jesus is still on the throne. For the martyrs being killed by lions, they had to wonder, is Jesus really in control. When the church was way off track through the crusades, killing Muslims because of their religion, the true believers wondered whether Jesus was really on the throne. Through the Holocaust, the millions of people slaughtered by Saddam Hussein, sometimes we have to wonder, maybe Jesus isn’t king anymore. Maybe He stepped away for a while.

But the fact is, the wonderful truth is that Jesus reign is forever. His reign is complete. When He died and rose again and ascended to the throne of God, that was for all time and all places. Even though sometimes it’s hard for us to see and we have a hard time remembering, Jesus must reign until all of His enemies are placed under His feet.

And to assure us of the victory of Jesus, we hear the story of David conquering Jerusalem. Jerusalem was unbreachable. No one could get in. Verse 6:

The Jebusites said to David, “You will not get in here; even the blind and the lame can ward you off.” They thought, “David cannot get in here.”

But they were wrong, so wrong. And verse 7:

Nevertheless, David captured the fortress of Zion, the City of David.

The city of David, Jerusalem, Zion belonged to the king. Zion belonged to the King. You are Zion. You are Jerusalem. You are the church, and Jesus has captured you. When David captured Jerusalem, verse 9:

David then took up residence in the fortress and called it the City of David.

And when Jesus came conquering in this world, He took up His residence in the new Jerusalem. He took up His residence in the church. Not just living in a city, not just having a house. He made the church His body. You are the temple of the living God. Hebrews 12:22:

you have come to Mount Zion, to the heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the living God. You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly, to the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God, the judge of all men, to the spirits of righteous men made perfect, to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant

This is your king. He is one of us, you are one of Him. He is your Champion, having defeated millions of enemies single-handedly, and not quitting until every enemy is put down. He has stolen back His city from the strongman, He has rescued His people from the devil, He has liberated you and me from the temptations and sin that had controlled us. And Jesus has taken up His residence in you. He lives in your body, He lives in your mind, He lives in your soul, protecting and restraining and strengthening.

David was an amazing king. Verse 10:

And he became more and more powerful, because the LORD God Almighty was with him.

But Jesus is more powerful, because the Lord God Almighty IS Him!

There are plenty of reasons to doubt. There are many times to be afraid. We can really wonder what Jesus is doing, and when He’s going to do it. But we come back to 2 Samuel, and we find that our King has made a compact, a covenant, a contract with us. He has guaranteed that He will use His awesome power against the enemies of our minds and the enemies of our marriages and the enemies of our health and the enemies of our holiness. Our King fights. Our King protects. Our King reigns until His kingdom is complete.