To Encourage You

1 Samuel 22:22-23 “I have occasioned the death of all the persons of your father’s house. Stay with me; do not be afraid, for he who seeks my life seeks your life. With me you shall be in safekeeping.”

What’s the worst thing that can ever happen to you?  The typical answer to that question is “I could die.”  But for the Christian, the answer to this question gets turned on its head.  Let me explain with an illustration from David’s life given to us in the verses above.

These verses record an interchange between the priest Abiathar and David as David was hiding from King Saul in a cave. Abiathar was the son of Ahimelech, the high priest at that time and the one to whom David had fled for help.  It was Ahimelech who gave David the consecrated bread from the tabernacle for food and Goliath’s sword for protection. It was as a result of this aid that Saul had Ahimelech and 84 other priests slaughtered. This included everyone in Ahimelech’s family except for Abiathar, who fled to David and told him of the slaughter. It was at this moment that David spoke the words in the verse above.  You would have thought that David was the last person with whom Abiathar would have wanted to be associated at that point, for it was on account of David that Saul was seeking Abiathar’s life.  Yet, David, in so many words, assures Abiathar by telling him “although it is because of me that all those of your father’s house have died, if you stay with me, I will be your savior.  Therefore, do not be afraid.” 

So, what does this have to do with you and me?  Is there something in these words from David to Abiathar that might be a message from the Son of David to us?  I think that there is, and it’s a wonderful message at that.  You see, just as David had “occasioned the death of the persons of (Abiathar’s) father’s house” so Jesus has occasioned the death of all the persons who are the children of the believers’ Father’s house as well.  But, in contrast to Abiathar’s case, that death is a wonderful thing rather than a tragedy.  You see, since Jesus died on the cross, the Bible tells us that all those who have put their faith in Him die “with him.”  In other words, Jesus died for us. He bore the penalty for our sin.  It is because of God’s wonderful plan of substitutionary atonement that when Jesus died, we “were united with him in death” (Romans 6:5).  That means that our penalty has already been paid!  We’ve already died with Him! And everyone Who has been united with Him in death will likewise be united with Him in resurrection.  It’s all described for us in the following words from Romans 6:5-11: “For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free from sin.Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.” 

That’s what baptism is a picture of. As we enter the water, it’s a picture of our having died to the penalty of sin with Christ, and as we rise from the water it points to our eternal resurrection in Him. It is in this union that Jesus calls us to “stay with him” just like David called out to Abiathar, and He has promised that He will never leave us nor forsake us.  It is in that eternal relationship with Him that we have safety. Just as Abiathar found safekeeping in his relationship with David, come what may, we, likewise, no matter that those who hate Christ may hate us and we might, like Him, suffer at their hands, we can “entrust (i.e., deposit for safekeeping) (our) souls to (our) faithful Creator” (1 Peter 4:19).  Just as David acknowledged to Abiathar that those who sought his life now sought Abiathar’s life as well, Jesus has told us that the one who sought to destroy His life will now seek to destroy ours. He has told us to “be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour” (1 Peter 5:8). Furthermore, Jesus has warned that some “will be delivered up even by parents and brothers and relatives and friends, and some of you they will put to death. You will be hated by all for my name’s sake. But not a hair of your head will perish. By your endurance you will gain your lives” (Luke 21:16-19).

There is safety in Christ, no matter what.  We have freedom from the penalty of sin because we have died with Him Who died for us.  It’s because of these things that death is not the worst thing that can happen to any believer. Rather, it is the very best thing. Paul put it this way as he wrote to the Philippian believers as he languished in a Roman prison: “It is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed, but that with full courage now as always Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me. Yet which I shall choose I cannot tell. I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better” (Philippians 1:2—23). 

What a wonderful truth that every believer, like Paul, can also say, “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?  The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 15:55-57).

All praise to the One who died that we might live!