Byfield Parish
Church
Devotional Guide
For the week of November 13, 2011
Jesus in 2nd Samuel
Prepared by:
Dr. William Boylan
Box 335, Georgetown, MA 01833
This devotional guide is designed to help you hear each Sunday‟s
sermon better. Faith comes by hearing. Hearing is the key to a living
faith. When we come to worship prepared to hear from the Lord and
primed to listen to scripture, our faith is strengthened.
Copies of this devotional are available for the asking. If you know
someone who could benefit, we would be pleased to send them a
copy. Please include a self-addressed envelope with your request.
www. ByfieldParish.org
Monday
Tuesday
To Read: 2 Samuel 3
To Read: 2 Samuel 4
To Know:
To Know:
“David grew stronger and stronger, while the house of Saul
grew weaker and weaker. (2 Sam. 3:1)
“As surely as the Lord lives, who has delivered me out
of all trouble, when a man told me, „Saul is dead,‟ and
thought he was bringing good news, I seized him and
put him to death in Ziklag.‟” (2 Sam. 4:9,10)
What is Jesus Christ plan to become stronger and stronger?
Christ certainly expected his kingdom to increase. Upon his
departure, Jesus commissioned his disciples to, “…go and make
disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father
and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey
everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you
always, to the very end of the age.” (Matt. 28:19,20) It is a long
way from twelve disciples to making disciples of all the nations
on earth. What is Jesus plan to accomplish such a monumental
purpose?
In Support Your Local Sheriff, a spoof on Hollywood Westerns,
the Danby family sought to expand their power. The family had
its way in the town and the territory. A new sheriff threatened to
put a halt to their increasing stranglehold on the town. The sheriff
was winning every battle. Finally, the family patriarch sent for
help from all the men in the wider Danby family. He had loaned
money to almost all who bore the Danby name. For that reason,
he expected to rally the family to come to his aid.
David grew stronger and stronger. In the verses that follow, his
sons born in Hebron are listed. Are we not to connect David‟s
strength with his expanding family? Jesus sends the disciples
forth to expand the size of the family of God.
After telling us that David grew stronger and stronger, the author
of 2nd Samuel lists the sons born to David in Hebron. The
implication is that his increasing family was a key to how David
grew stronger and stronger. Growing his family is certainly Jesus
strategy to increase his authority everywhere on the planet earth.
Christ increases his family by granting sinners birth from above.
The amazing fact is that God has chosen to make enemies into
friends by giving them a new and eternal life as a free gift. That
is what it means to be born again. In his old age John was still
amazed. He wrote, “How great is the love the Father has lavished
on us, that we should be called children of God. And that is what
we are!” (1 Jn. 3:1)
An Amalekite came to David boasting that he killed
Saul. He expected David to be an ordinary oriental
despot. Since David was destined for the throne; the
Amalekite imagined that he was securing his future. The
man made a mistake that cost him his life. David may
have been king but he was also a man under authority.
The Lord himself was the king of his kingdom.
Regardless of God‟s promise to David that he would
ascend to the throne, as long as Saul was still alive he
was the Lord‟s anointed. Therefore David asked the
Amalekite, “Why were you not afraid to lift your hand
to destroy the Lord‟s anointed?” (1:14)
Like the Amalekite, the murderers of Ish-Bosheth
expected to be rewarded for their deed. David set the
two men straight. He told Recaab and his brother
Baanah, “When a man told me, „Saul is dead,‟ and
thought he was bringing good news, I seized him and
put him to death in Ziklag. That was the reward I gave
him for his news! How much more – when wicked men
have killed an innocent man in his own house and on his
own bed – should I not now demand his blood from
your hand and rid the earth of you!” (4:10,11)
David ordered that the hands of those that killed IshBosheth and the feet of those that ran to tell David of
their deed be severed. If the son of Saul is avenged by
David, how much more will God avenge the death of
his Son upon sinners who die unrepentant? At the end
there will be two categories of sinful men and women.
Some will repent and others will not. The Bible says
that God will grant repentance to those who are willing
to hear his voice.
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
To Read: 2 Samuel 5
To Read: 2 Samuel 6
To Read: 2 Samuel 7
To Know:
To Know:
To Know:
“Once more the Philistines came up and spread out in the valley
of Rephaim; so David inquired of the Lord, and he answered,
„Do not go straight up, but circle around behind them and attack
them in front of the balsam trees. As soon as you hear the sound
of marching in the tops of the balsam trees, move quickly,
because that will mean the Lord has gone out in front of you to
strike the Philistine army.” (2 Sam. 5:22-24)
“When they came to the threshing floor of Nacon, Uzzah reached
out and took hold of the ark of God, because the oxen stumbled.
The Lord‟s anger burned against Uzzah because of his irreverent
act therefore God struck him down and he died there beside the
ark of God.‟” (2 Sam.6:6,7)
“The Lord declares to you that the Lord himself will
establish a house for you: When your days are over and
your rest with your fathers, I will raise up your
offspring to succeed you, who will come from your own
body, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom
forever.” (2 Sam. 7:11-13)
It was a hot night, at the end of August the streets of Ipswich,
Massachusetts were mostly deserted. In the 1950‟s, the curfew
bell rang at 9:00 pm. Harold Bowen rang the bell in the
Congregational Church on Meetinghouse Green. The bell had
just rung and three of my friends were sitting with me in my car.
We were parked below the church and at the upper end of Market
Street. The cop on duty was standing across from us on Quint‟s
corner. That night the officer proved to be my savior.
Sixty years ago, small towns were much more isolated than they
are today. Eisenhower‟s Interstate Highway System was barely
beginning to be built. T V‟s were not yet in every home far less
in most every room of the house. It was rare to see a person
downtown that everyone didn‟t recognize. My friends and I
didn‟t recognize the twenty or so teenage guys walking in our
direction on the other side of the street. From the back seat a
voice shouted “what a bunch of winners.” The twenty turned as
one man and came toward the car. By instinct I jumped out but
my friends locked the doors. A fight ensued and had not the
officer fired his gun in the air I would have been weeks in
recovery. The teens turned out to be a football team from South
Boston holding pre-season practice at Don Bosco Seminary.
My friends knew better than to follow me. After all, I am not
God. Jesus is God. He said to his disciples, “If anyone would
come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and
follow me.” (Matt. 16:24) Like the wind in the balsams, Jesus
voice is the sound of God on the move. Unlike me when in my
teens, Jesus does not take chances. He knows the end from the
beginning. He is the only person in existence who knows how to
lead someone safely to the world to come.
Mainline churches are dying. As president of the Biblical
Witness Fellowship of the United Church of Christ, I meet twice
a year with my counterparts in the established churches of North
America. Churches like the United Methodists, United
Presbyterians, Lutherans, American Baptists, Episcopalians,
United Church of Christ and the United Church of Canada meet
across the Potomac River from Washington in Arlington,
Virginia to share our concern for a spiritual awakening in our
respective churches. Churches are struggling and many have
closed their doors. Numbers of congregations have so few
worshippers that the mission has turned inward in order to keep
the doors open. What happened? The death of Uzzah may be our
answer.
The ark of God was his earthly throne. God told Moses, “There,
above the cover between the two cherubim that are over the ark
of the Testimony, I will meet with you and give you all my
commands for the Israelites.” (Ex. 25:22) “God is a consuming
fire,” (Heb. 12:19) therefore, to protect sinners from his holiness,
the ark was never to be touched by human hands. Uzzah was a
Kohathite and the Kohathites were instructed how to carry the
ark. “… When the camp is ready to move, the Kohathites are to
come to do the carrying. But they must not touch the holy things
or they will die.” (Nu. 4:15) When the Philistines became afraid
of the ark and decided to return it to Israel they put it on a new
cart. (see. 1 Sam. 6:7) When the Israelites transported the ark
they used a cart like the Philistines. When the oxen stumbled it
would not have defiled God to touch the mud, but it does defile
God to be touched by sinners. The church of Jesus Christ is the
ark of God. Ananias and Sapphira lied to the Holy Spirit and like
Uzzah they died on the spot. (see Acts 5:3-6,10) Many mainline
pulpits proclaim that the Scriptures lie regarding the saving death
of Jesus Christ. Is that why many have died?
“Nathan replied to the king, „Whatever you have in
mind, go ahead and do it, for the Lord is with you.”
David had asked Nathan if he had God‟s permission to
build a temple. Nathan was quick to please the king and
give him the go-ahead. In the night the Lord corrected
Nathan. He said, “Go and tell my servant David…the
Lord himself will establish a house for you.” The Lord
planned to establish a dynasty for David that would be
the house (temple) in which God intended to reside. The
Christian Church was to be that house. Thus Paul wrote
to the Corinthians, “Don‟t you know that you
yourselves are God‟s temple and that God‟s Spirit lives
in you?” (1 Cor. 3:16) Jesus revealed to the Jewish
leadership that in truth his body was God‟s temple. This
was the Lord‟s explanation of his claim to be able to
raise the temple in three days. (see Jn. 2:21)
The apostle Paul picked up on the words of Jesus when
he wrote to the Corinthians. He said, “Now you are the
body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.” (2
Cor. 12:17) The Christian Church is the house that the
Lord promised to build for David. It was to bear the
name of David‟s son. This could not be fulfilled with
the reign of Solomon. The throne of this son was to be
established forever. The New Testament confirms that
Mary and Joseph were both from the house of David in
order to demonstrate that Christ and his Church are the
result of God keeping his promise to David.
To Read:
Saturday: 2 Samuel 8
Sunday: 2 Samuel 9