"The Child Dies and the Child is Born"

Quick story…My dad kept a coin jar on his dresser. Every night when he got home from work, the first thing he did was head upstairs to change his clothes. You could hear the familiar jangling of coins as they spilled from his pocket and he set them in the jar. When I was about nine years old, I decided his coins should be mine. Over time I pilfered a few nickels here, a handful of pennies there. Before I knew it, I had successfully swindled my dad out of his loose change, and he never even noticed.

Sometime later, guilt gripped me. I knew that what I'd been doing could only be considered stealing. I had no way to explain away my behavior. With a pounding heart, I penned an apology to him, confessing my sin and asking him to forgive me. I tucked it under his coin jar along with a pile of pennies as restitution.

I waited anxiously for my dad to confront me. Day One went by, and he didn't say anything. Another day passed; still nothing. And then another, and another. Eventually, I forgot about the note.

Then one day out of the blue, my dad stepped into my bedroom and said, "Marian, I got your note and the pennies." My heart raced; my throat felt like a marble was lodged in it …. I was expecting punishment, but … he seemed on the verge of tears. But that didn't make any sense. I had wronged him. He had every right to be mad and punish me. Instead he said, "Thank you." And then he gave me a hug. And then he left. We never spoke of it again.

I stood there dumbfounded. Why, when I fully deserved my father's wrath, did he instead show me mercy? I didn't deserve it; I hadn't earned it. I felt like a criminal let off scot free!

This was my first powerful lesson on judgment and grace. It's experiencing utter relief and humility in the face of guilt because you know how bad you can be, but God chooses to love and forgive you anyway. It is truly God's riches at Christ's expense.

What a powerful lesson on judgement and grace. It is the reality and sting of judgement that we all feel and experience in many ways. Oh but the grace of God... the amazing and immeasurable grace of God. It just cannot be measured. When grace comes it just does not seem right. It does not seem to follow. It seems so impossible and incredible. But it is because nothing will be impossible for God. Nothing. But because it seems so good, almost too good to be true, we struggle. But maybe another example of how gracious our Lord is could help us today.

Nathan had just confronted David on his sin with a parable and judgement was pronounced upon him for his adultery with Bathsheba and his murder of Uriah. The sword will never depart from his house. The Lord is going to raise up evil against him. Your wives will be defiled before you. Finally, the child that is growing in Bathsheba’s womb will die. We saw a truly heartfelt repentance by David in and David is reaching out to the Lord for continued grace for the life of the child. However, today we will witness the death of a child and the birth of a child.

The Lord brought an illness upon the child that Uriah’s wife bore with David. David begged the Lord to let the child live. He lay on the floor, fasted and prayed. Many pleaded with David to eat with them but David refused. On the 7th day the child died and David’ s advisers were afraid to tell him thinking that he did not listen to reason while the child was still alive, how much worse will it be now that the child is dead. David saw that they were whispering and figured that the child was dead. He got cleaned up, put on some old spice, worshipped at the Tabernacle and ate. His advisers could not understand why he didn’t eat when the child was alive, but now he’s eating after the child died. He hoped that the Lord would be gracious and let him live, but now that the child is dead, why should he not eat, he can’t do anything about it now. One day I will go to him, but he won’t come to me. David comforted Bathsheba and she gave birth to a son that David named Solomon. Solomon was loved by the Lord. It was war time again for David as he fought against the Ammonites. He captured Rabbah and took the kings crown and put it on his head… it weighed 75 pounds? 75 pounds? He took some plunder from the Ammonites and turned them into slaves. David was once again victorious.

2 Samuel 12:24–25 NLT

Then David comforted Bathsheba, his wife, and slept with her. She became pregnant and gave birth to a son, and David named him Solomon. The Lord loved the child and sent word through Nathan the prophet that they should name him Jedidiah (which means “beloved of the Lord”), as the Lord had commanded.

2 Samuel

The grass withers the flower fades but the word of our God stands forever.

The Child Dies

A Child is Born

The Child is Born

The first thing we will explore today is this fascinating story of David who mourned while the child was alive and resume normal behavior when the child dies? The second point concerns the birth of a child with the blessing of the Lord. Solomon would display the victory that God’s grace will have over murder and adultery. Finally, we will see how THE child that was born in the manger, the word made flesh, the ultimate immeasurable display of God’s grace sets us free and who this child sets free is free indeed.

- Though the deceptions of the enemy and the world coupled with our sin nature cause us to despair when we sin and wrestle through the consequences of all sin, it is the abounding and abundant Grace of the Lord Jesus in his birth, death, and resurrection that will truly bring us victory over all our enemies once and for all.

I. The Child Dies

- Merciful and Gracious is not something the Lord does, but essentially who he is.

A. One of the first things we catch here is the calling of Bathsheba, Uriah’s wife. It was the Lord that sent the illness to fulfill what He had pronounced upon David. Why Uriah’s wife? This I believe is to remind us that the child is the product of the sinful union in adultery. And to ultimately remind us of the corruption of sin and what it is before a Holy God. It is the reality of Judgement.

B. This is also a reminder of what it is to be a sinner before a Holy God and that we should be silent as the Lord pronounces judgement upon us. For think about it, we are in no position to judge God as to whether what he does is right and fair, right? But punishing a child for the father’s sin? Ahh… but there is no worse judgement to a father than to have to bury his child. Right? It is said that there are worse things than death… living and burying your child.

C. In verse 16, we see that David pleads with the Lord for the life of the Child. Of course it would be an intense pleading in anguish of a father and king who laid on the floor and fasted. He did not eat. And no matter how many times David’s advisers advised him to get up and eat, David did not. Here we witness the beginnings of something extraordinary.

D. Now here we go, verse 18, on the 7th day, the child died. And because of how David was acting, the servants we too afraid to tell him what happened. David had been so intense about this that maybe the advisers thought he might do something desperate. Could he be suicidal? Is he going to hurt himself? “What drastic thing will he do?”

E. But David could hear them whispering amongst each other. So he assumed that the child was dead. He got cleaned up and got something to eat. Now this seemed to puzzle the advisors. Why did you do all of that while the child was still alive and now that the child is dead you resume normal behavior? You mourn while he was alive?

F. And why not? David mourned his sin and yet knows that the Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in love.

- Dr. Davis writes, David thought that maybe Yahweh’s sentence (v. 14b) was not his last word. Maybe, David thought, he’s stirring me to pray. It all rests on David’s thinking, his assumption, about God. ‘I thought, “Who knows? Yahweh may show grace to me!” ’ See how well David knows his God! Showing grace is Yahweh’s forte. And who can tell what a God like that may delight to do in this case? Who can imagine how gracious a God of all grace wants to be to us in our sins and messes? For David grace is not a doctrinal concept but the peculiar bent of God’s nature.

G. Remember, we must remember that David really does understand the Lord. He knows exactly who he is approaching. He knows His character. He knows His nature. He knows who he is. If we know what David knows, then it will not seem strange that David would be honoring the Lord in this. Merciful and Gracious is not something the Lord does, but essentially who he is. He is honoring the Lord by calling for immeasurable grace?

H. There is that story of the always-impoverished philosopher in the court of Alexander the Great. Being in dire financial straits again, where better to go than to Alexander, his master and conqueror of the world? Alexander gave him a commission to receive from his treasurer whatever he wanted. He promptly demanded, in Alexander’s name, ten thousand pounds. The treasurer was aghast; he refused to give it. He went to Alexander with the matter—the request was unreasonable, the amount absurd. Alexander heard his treasurer out, then replied: ‘Let the money be instantly paid. I am delighted with this philosopher’s way of thinking; he has done me singular honor; by the largeness of his request, he shows the high idea he has conceived, both of my superior wealth and my royal generosity.’

I. Sure, the Lord did not grant David’s plea, but it does teach us a great deal about who David believed is this Wonderful Lord that We All serve today. What a way to honor Him. Some may try to use this illustration to assert health, wealth, and prosperity, but the point here is not what the Lord has but who he is. There is a big difference between loving what someone has and loving that person. I want a person to love me for me, not hat I can do for them.

J. David fasted and prayed because he believed that our Lord is rich in mercy. He had tremendous faith that He is abounding in steadfast love. David displayed incredible faith. Question? How merciful do you think the Lord is? Do we believe that even those who murder and commit adultery today could approach the Lord and beg for mercy believing that they might actually find it? Do you believe that someone who wrongfully had a man killed so that he could cover up sin with his wife should be blessed by the Lord with a son like the great Solomon with the widow now his wife?

K. Do we believe that this is the kind of God we serve today? This is the rubber meets the road part of the gospel. This is the offense that the Pharisee’s felt when it came to Christ and his treatment of sinners. How could he bless these people? Do we feel that this is wrong? How could the Lord give grace to David like this? Do we feel that this is wrong? If so then we may not know the Lord’s grace as much as we think we do. This is tragic. Why?

L. David a man after the heart of God saw the abundance of grace and mercy in the Lord. Do we know and do we realize how far it goes? Do we realize that we have now been shown more about the love and mercy of God than even David had? We have been shown the cross of Christ. It is the one thing in the universe that displayed the abundance of the love, mercy, grace, compassion, and forgiveness of the Lord. Nowhere else will we see it. Nothing else so dramatically displays the love of the Lord more than the cross. This is so much more than Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and David had. What they saw dimly, we see so clearly. It is the revelation and fulfillment of the kingdom of God. The Gospel. This should give hope to the sinner today. We do not have to live under the weight of the doom of our sin today and wonder if God is looking upon us right now with a frown.

M. Many times we can see more of the wrath and justice of God in our lives than we do compassion. When we sin we may see judgement and punishment more than grace and mercy. Our time in prayer is in the posture of terror instead of love. Here is what’s important about this.

N. This is how king Saul saw the Lord and look at how he responded when he sinned. It is the difference between how David responded to the Lord and how Saul responded to the Lord. How will we respond to the Lord today? If we think of the Lord as David did, we will walk on in the light of hope. This passage does not help to excuse the guilt of our sin but to help us get beyond the despair of sin. There is hope for all of us today.

II. The Child is Born

- The grace of God it truly immeasurable.

A. There is hope for us today. And how can this be? Because a child was born. David was comforted by both the justice and grace of the Lord and now he would go and comfort his wife. As a result, she would become pregnant once more, this time the author makes it clear that she was David’s wife. Grace continues even more.

B. After all of the mess, the Lord would grant them a son and David named him Solomon. The son that would carry the covenant promise that the Lord gave to David. His son would sit on the throne. The son that the Lord would love. He was the beloved of the Lord. And the glory of the Kingdom of Israel would continue finding its splendor during the reign of Solomon on the throne of Israel.

C. The Lord blessed David and Bathsheba. The Abundance of God’s grace would have victory over adultery and murder. All things will work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his good purpose.

D. Wait one minute, David does not deserve this. I know… that is why it is called grace and mercy. We do not deserve mercy if we deserved it, it would not be mercy. We do not deserve grace, if we did, it would not be grace. Absolutely Amazing immeasurable Grace.

Humans have devised many scales of measurement. We measure height or length in terms of inches, yards, and meters. We weigh objects in pounds and ounces. We divide time from millennia all the way down to nanoseconds (one-billionth of a second). We measure temperature down to absolute zero (0 degrees Kelvin or minus 459.7 degrees Fahrenheit)

But you may not be aware of these strange measurements:

The Smoot: As almost every MIT student knows, a smoot is a unit of length equal to five feet seven inches. In 1958, a 5 foot 7 inch tall fraternity pledge named Oliver Smoot agreed to be used to measure the Harvard Bridge which connects Boston and Cambridge. After repeatedly lying down on the bridge and having his position marked in chalk, it turned out that the bridge was 364.4 smoots (and an ear) long. Google now offers the option to measure anything in smoots.

The "Just a Moment": Whenever somebody asks you to do something and you reply "just a moment," don't think you're being sneaky by not giving them a precise time. You're not. A moment was a measurement of time used during the medieval period that's roughly equal to one and a half minutes.

The Scoville: The Scoville Scale is used to measure the amount of capsaicin in chilies, because it's important to know the exact temperature of the inferno that's raging in your mouth. For example, the Scolville rates a pimento (100-500), cayenne pepper (30,000-50,000), the Carolina reaper (1,000,000), and law enforcement pepper spray (5,000,000) on the scale.

It does not matter what we come up with. No matter the units of measure that man can create. No matter how fancy, how academic, how creative, how necessary, we will never ever be able to completely measure the abundance and fullness of the Amazing grace of God.

E. The death of his first son with Bathsheba was tragic and he taught us the consequences of sin, the discipline and the justice of the Lord. The birth of Solomon showed us the love of God, restoration, redemption, and rich in mercy compassion. And Grace upon Grace Upon Grace immeasurable.

III. The Child is Born

- Jesus came into this world to save sinners.

A. I’m talking about the birth, death and resurrection of David’s son Christ Jesus. It goes a bit different, but what a picture we have in the life of David. Because of David’s sin the death of His child would be a consequence. Because of the sins of the world another one of David’s son’s death would be a consequence. Christ, the son of David would give his life for the sheep, shedding his blood on the cross to deliver his people.

A. I’m talking about the birth, death and resurrection of David’s son Christ Jesus. It goes a bit different, but what a picture we have in the life of David. Because of David’s sin the death of His child would be a consequence. Because of the sins of the world another one of David’s son’s death would be a consequence. Christ, the son of David would give his life for the sheep, shedding his blood on the cross to deliver his people.

B. What is more, the birth of Solomon was a gracious gift in accordance to the covenant of God to David. Christ would be the fulfillment of the covenant of God. Solomon brought the kingdom into its glory day. In the same way. Christ brought the kingdom of God into its divine magnificence.

C. Jesus came into this world to save sinners. David and Solomon included. Jesus died for our sins according to the scriptures.

D. Sinners today we have hope. Look at the hope that David had, the scriptures declare that we can have that same kind of hope today. The word of God declares…all who call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. If you confess with your mouth and believe in your hearts… you will be salved. Yes, salvation belongs to the Lord.

E. Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those of you who are in Christ Jesus…

F. You have been redeemed from the curse of the law. You can have hope today.

G. Finally, when they asked David about his behavior with the child, he responded with an important scripture. There a ton of implications with it, but David was making a point.

H. David said that the child would not come to him, but one day he will go to him. The child is now in heaven and I will see him again, but it will be when I go to heaven. He will not come to me. This child of David… it’s different. This one will come to us. He has promised to come for us one glorious day. This is why we pray today, come Lord Jesus.