Power is a test of our character. When we are given the power to do what we want, what we choose to do will reveals WHO we really are.
• Whoever leads has great power. And that’s what worries many.
• That’s probably what makes the US Presidential election so tense. And nearer home, the anxiety we see in Philippines, in North Korea, or in Thailand now.
Historian Lord Acton said in 1887: “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men.”
• Not so if we can submit to God, that power becomes a great asset to God.
David has finally been given the power to rule. He started off with very little influence, put out in the fields by his family to keep a flock of sheep.
• When Samuel came to the house to anoint Israel’s future King, David was not even considered a possibility. They had to be told to get him in from the field.
• Soon he was given some power under King Saul, but that was momentary and fleeting. Even his wife was taken from him and he became a fugitive.
But now David has become the King of Israel. He has been given the power to rule over all Israel.
• In the next few chapters, we are going to see David at his best, but sadly, also the King at his worst.
• We will learn from his experience over the next few chapters.
Today we are going to look at 2 Sam 8. God said He is going to establish his Kingdom. And that would mean first establishing the territory of Israel.
• God grants David victory after victory (NIV bible) over his enemies. We are going to read his conquest of the land.
Read 2 Sam 8:1-14. TWO THINGS I want us to see from this text.
God’s Sovereignty - NOTHING CAN THWART GOD’S PURPOSES
Chapter 8 is the fulfilment of what God said to David in chapter 7:
• 2 Sam 7:9-11 “I have been with you wherever you have gone, and I have cut off all your enemies from before you. Now I will make your name great (8:13), like the names of the greatest men of the earth. 10 And I will provide a place for my people Israel and will plant them so that they can have a home of their own and no longer be disturbed. Wicked people will not oppress them anymore, as they did at the beginning 11 and have done ever since the time I appointed leaders over my people Israel. I will also give you rest from all your enemies.
The success and the triumph of chapter 8 is the result of the promise.
• It did not happen in isolation, it did not happen by chance. It happened because God has promised.
• David is seeing the fulfilment of what God had promised, not just to him NOW but to Abraham, at least 600 years ago.
God made this promise in a covenant with Abraham, some 14 generations before David, according to the genealogies.
• Gen 12:7 “The LORD appeared to Abram and said, "To your offspring I will give this land."
• Gen 13:14-15 “The LORD said to Abram after Lot had parted from him, "Lift up your eyes from where you are and look north and south, east and west. 15All the land that you see I will give to you and your offspring forever.”
• Gen 15:18-21 “On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram and said, "To your descendants I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates - 19the land of the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites, 20Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaites, 21Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites and Jebusites.”
The geographical boundaries to this Promised Land were already in God’s mind when He made a covenant with Abraham.
And now that has come to pass. 2 Sam 8:1 says IN THE COURSE OF TIME, David defeated the Philistines, the Moabites, the Arameans… one after another.
• God gave David victories over the territories that belongs to Israel. These places surrounds Israel; not distant places that David conquers out of ambition.
• It wasn’t a personal conquest. It was a divine one. God did what was necessary to fulfil what He has promised, to Abraham and to David.
David was acting, not on his own impulse, but on the basis of what God said.
• 2 Sam 7:10-11 “I will provide a place for Israel that they can call HOME and no longer be disturbed; I will give you rest from all your enemies.”
Look at the text. These were the places David took back:
• In the WEST the Philistines (v.1), to the EAST the Moabites (v.3), in the NORTH the Arameans of Damascus (v.5), SOUTH the Edomites (v.12), NE Ammonites (v.12), SW the Amalekites (v.12).
• God acts to fulfil His will. Israel will occupy these territories according to the promise He made to Abraham.
The lesson is simple. Can anything thwart the purposes of God?
• When God makes a promise, when God says, “I will do this,” when He made that promise to Abraham, when He made that promise with David, can anything thwart the promise that God makes? NO! Of course, not!
• When God says something, it will come to pass, no matter how long the delay or how bad the situation is.
• God’s will has not change (since Abraham’s time), and will not change. God does not change like shifting shadows (James 1:17).
• We trust Him today precisely because of this, else we have NO BASIS to trust Him.
When Abraham first stepped into this land – Gen 12:6b-7 - At that time the Canaanites were in the land. 7The LORD appeared to Abram and said, "To your offspring I will give this land."
• Abraham, led by God to this land, was probably surprised to see that it was occupied. The Canaanites have taken it.
• The Lord appeared and said: “I will give your descendants this land!”
• It really doesn’t matter who is there, even if they are “giants” (that’s what the spies saw in Joshua’s time).
• Whatever the obstacles, God says I will give you this land.
That was 600 years ago! And now we see it come to pass. The purposes of God cannot be thwarted.
The SECOND THING I want us to see is David’s role in all of this.
• God is going to fulfil His promise, but HOW? THROUGH DAVID.
• Who is he? HIS SERVANT.
Our Stewardship – GOD ACCOMPLISHES HIS PURPOSES THROUGH US
God is going to accomplish His purposes through David.
• The text says it TWICE: “The Lord gave David victory wherever he went” (v.6,14)
The flow of the text tells something.
• God spoke to David in chapter 7, revealing His will and His promise.
• David responded with a prayer, acknowledging God’s goodness and expressing his faith in God’s Word.
• He ended with an AMEN to what God has revealed (even though it was difficult for him to fully comprehend the meaning of an eternal Kingdom).
• And in chapter 8 we have David acting on what he believes – God will establish the Kingdom through him, so he took arms and fights for the land.
If we step back and take a look at David’s life we will be amazed at God’s blessings in his life. God PREPARES His servant for this day.
• David was a shepherd-boy when taken “from the pasture and from following the flock…” (7:8) to becoming “ruler over My people Israel” (7:8).
• To be a King means he needs to lead his nation to battle. God trains him.
• God puts him in the palace under Saul, for a short time, and then over an extended time on the run, leading a bunch of men and fighting for survival.
• 7:9 “I have been with you wherever you have gone…”
God prepared him for this day. He fought and subdued his enemies, one after another. Don’t undermine the trials of life. God uses them to prepare you.
David knows that God gave him this throne. David knows that God gave him the victories.
• He acknowledges God’s role and He dedicates everything - the articles of silver, gold and bronze – to the Lord… ALL that he has gotten from ALL the nations he had subdued.
• All the success and gains belong to God, the victories and the spoils.
How often do we NOT see this? We take credit for our achievements and successes.
The famous words of Julius Caesar: “I came, I saw, and I conquered!”
The King of Poland (John III Sobieski) in the late 17th Century, became famous when he fought against the armies of Turks and saved Central Europe. His rescue of Vienna was the decisive battle in European history.
In announcing his victory, he changed Caesar’s words: “I came, I saw, and God conquered!”
David acknowledges God’s role and His blessings in his life.
A farmer took a small plot of land and grew some things on it. Proud of his accomplishments, he invited his pastor to come and see what he has done.
The pastor was impressed. "That's the tallest corn I've ever seen. Praise the Lord! I've never seen anything as big as those melons. Thank you, Lord!" He went on that way about every crop, praising the Lord for them.
Finally the farmer couldn't take it anymore. "Reverend," he said, "I wish you could have seen this place when the Lord was doing it all by Himself."
• Psalm 127:1 “Unless the LORD builds the house, its builders labour in vain. Unless the LORD watches over the city, the watchmen stand guard in vain.”
David is God’s servant, doing God’s work and fulfilling God’s will.
• God grants him success and he thank the Lord for it.
We are all servants of God, called to do His work and fulfil His will.
• Nothing can thwart God’s purposes.
• God fulfils His purposes THROUGH us. The victories belong to Him.
• When we do His will, we have nothing to fear. God grants us the strength to do what He wants and accomplish His will, for His own glory.
