To Encourage You

2 Samuel 18:19-20 “Then Ahimaaz the son of Zadok said, ‘Let me run and carry news to the king that the Lord has delivered him from the hand of his enemies.’ And Joab said to him, ‘You are not to carry news today.  You may carry news another day, but today you shall carry no news, because the king’s son is dead.’”

We’ve all heard stories that start out, “I’ve got some good news and some bad news. Which do you want to hear first?” One such story is the one above from the account of the death of Absalom, King David’s son.  Absalom had been involved in a mutiny against his father’s kingdom.  The words above come at the end of that war. David’s army had just been victorious and thus “the Lord (had) delivered (David) from the hand of his enemies.” That was the good news. The bad news was that this victory had resulted in the death of David’s son.  This caused great anguish to David, not only because he had lost his son, but the war and Absalom’s death had ultimately come about because of David’s own sin.  Years before that, David had committed adultery with Bathsheba and murdered Bathsheba’s husband. It was a despicable act for which David was disciplined severely.  The prophet Nathan, the man through whom God had exposed David’s sin, spoke the following words to him in 2 Samuel 12:7-12: “I (i.e., God) anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you out of the hand of Saul. And I gave you your master’s house and your master’s wives into your arms and gave you the house of Israel and of Judah. And if this were too little, I would add to you as much more. Why have you despised the word of the Lord, to do what is evil in his sight? You have struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and have taken his wife to be your wife and have killed him with the sword of the Ammonites. Now therefore the sword shall never depart from your house, because you have despised me and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife.’ Thus says the Lord, ‘Behold, I will raise up evil against you out of your own house. And I will take your wives before your eyes and give them to your neighbor, and he shall lie with your wives in the sight of this sun. For you did it secretly, but I will do this thing before all Israel and before the sun.”  Absalom was the “neighbor” of whom Nathan spoke.  It was good news/bad news story all the way around. 

As I considered this account today, I realized that the gospel is a good news/bad news story as well.  The good news is that we can be forgiven of all our sins and have eternal life. Who wouldn’t want to hear such a thing? The “bad news” however, is that for this to happen, the greatest Son of the David had to die, not for His own sin, but for your sin and mine. 

And that’s the part of the story so many people don’t want to hear. They see themselves as “good” people, in no need of a sacrifice for sin.  That’s how the religious elite of Jesus’ day saw themselves.  They railed against the message that they were full of sin.  So, they killed the perfect Lamb of God because of it.  It’s the same message today. 

So, are you willing to hear the bad news about your own sin? If not, if you close your ears to the bad news, then the good news of the gospel is not a message for you.  On the other hand, if you have ears to hear the bad news, then the death of the Son of God for your sin is the most wonderful news in the world.