To Encourage You

2 Samuel 24:17 “Then David spoke to the Lord when he saw the angel who was striking the people, and said, ‘Behold, I have sinned, and I have done wickedly. But these sheep, what have they done? Please let your hand be against me and against my father’s house.’”

Do you believe in justice?  As you look at our world today, are you ever disgusted with what you see?  This morning I read in the newspaper of an adult who had molested a 9-year-old girl. As a result, her whole personality had changed as she suffered the long-lasting impact of what he had done.  Do such things boil your blood?  But do you realize that when we cry for justice when we hear about or witness such wickedness, it is the heart of sinners seeking retribution for another sinner’s sins?  How often do we desire justice for our own sins, or do we see them in a completely different light? 

So what’s the perspective of the only One Who is perfectly just in His dealings with men as He looks at such things? What’s the perspective of One Who’s viewpoint isn’t clouded by His own sin?  Well, that’s the viewpoint of our sinless Creator. He’s a God Who hates every aspect of sin, for He knows how it has marred His Creation.  But He is just. He’ll make all things right. In the end, no sin will escape His gaze and His justice, whether it’s something as overt as the sin of a child molester or as hidden as the sin of those whose eyes are full of adultery but that sin is hidden from others as they indulge in secret meditations deep within their heart.  

In the passage above we have an excerpt from the life of David as God meted out judgment on his and Israel’s sins.  It was a time of incredible suffering, as a plague had taken the life of 70,000 men.  And so, David pleads for God to stay his hand. He asks God to spare the people and focus all His judgment on him and his family.  He wanted to atone for the sin of others. Yet David, too, was guilty of sin.  And so, God tells David to construct an altar and to offer a sacrifice upon it.  Only after this was done did God stay His hand of judgment. 

So is there a lesson in this story for us, or is it just given to us in the Bible as an interesting historical account?  To answer this, we should remember that God said elsewhere in His word that “it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins” (Hebrews 4:4). So, what IS sufficient, and why DID God call for sacrifices such as the one just described? 

The Bible answers this question in the following way: “When Christ came into the world, he said, ‘Sacrifices and offerings you have not desired, but a body have you prepared for me; in burnt offerings and sin offerings you have taken no pleasure.’ Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come to do your will, O God, as it is written of me in the scroll of the book’” (Hebrews 10:5-7).  With these words we see that the Old Testament sacrifices all pointed to Christ.  It is in David’s pleadings above, that we see a great contrast between David’s sacrifices and the sacrifice of David’s greatest Son.  As David cried out to God he said, “Behold, I have sinned, and I have done wickedly. But these sheep, what have they done? Please let your hand be against me and against my father’s house.”  Conversely, Jesus, alone in the history of mankind, could say, “Behold, I have NOT sinned, but every one of the people who have ever lived HAVE.  Yet, let your hand of judgment rest on Me and not on them.”  It was only because Jesus was sinless that such an atonement was possible.  As Jesus agonized on the cross, His plea to the Father was “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34), and not, as He could have said justly, “Father, destroy them for their sin.” 

It’s an incredible thing, the atonement of Christ.  What an awesome plan that God has set in place so that we can be forgiven in a way that is perfectly just despite all our wickedness.   And so, the apostle John could say “He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world” (1 John 2:2). 

Praise God for the plan of salvation!  Praise the Son of David who gave Himself for us as the Lamb that takes away the sins of the world (John 1:29).