David and Absalom and the War in Heaven Part 2

So, let’s take a deeper look into the story as we see David fleeing from the city because all the hearts of Israel had been seduced by the tongue of Absalom (15:6). Forced from the throne to dwell in the wilderness. He crosses the brook Kidron (v23) and then ascends Mt Olivet, weeping as he went. Weeping not for his own affliction but for a rebellious son and those who followed his rebellion.

We are reminded of another who crossed the brook Kidron on His way to Olivet, and there felt the anguish of His lost brethren, as He suffered in lonely prayer. In the agony of Christ we see Him pouring Himself upon the ground, which is a picture of the fulness of the offering which he made for humanity, as His mental pressure drove His frame to ornamental lengths and He sweat great drops of Blood.

Behold the majesty of God in tears! David wept for one son; Christ wept for untold billions who would not live for eternity but seek earthy recognition like Absalom. This is “The love of Christ which goes beyond our knowledge” (Eph.3:19). The love of Christ in its sweetness, its fullness, its greatness, its faithfulness; that which passes all human comprehension. Where shall language be found which shall describe His matchless, His unparalleled love towards the children of humanity? It is so vast and boundless that it is like the bird that skims the water of the vast ocean. When it dives into its waves it but penetrates the surface when an immensity lies beneath. So, too, all descriptive words but touch the surface, while depths immeasurable lie beneath.

Before we can have any right idea of the love of Jesus, we must understand His precious glory in its height of majesty, and His incarnation upon the earth in all its depth of shame. It was one great leap from the throne of God, to a manger in a stable; from the top of glory to the bottom of humiliation – from a Son to a servant, for “he made Himself of no reputation, and took upon Him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men.” (Phil 2:7.)

He put on humanity, that we might put on divinity. He became the Son of Man that we might become the sons and daughters of God, He was condemned for our sins in which he had no share, that we might be justified by His righteousness in which we had no share.

How must the angels have felt when told that he who threw into space the racing planets, whirling worlds, and luminous suns; that He who created a world with its wonders of animals, beauty of flowers, majesty of rippling rills, grassy seas, and lofty mountains; that He who placed the twinkle in the stars, the sparkle in the planets, and the blaze in the sun, was going to lay aside His purple robe for a peasants gown; that the infinite God upon whose shoulders the Universe hangs, was going to become so helpless as to hang at the breast of a woman. “God is become my salvation” Isaiah cried (12:2). Such condescension! He was man – He was God!

But who can tell us the majesty of Christ, or the height of glory, or who can understand how low He descended? To be a man was something, to be a man of sorrows was far more. But to bleed, and die, and suffer; these were much for Him who was the Son of God; But to suffer such unparallel agony – to endure a death of shame and desertion by His father. In the story of David we read in 2 Sam 15:25, that David must be cut off from the Ark of the Covenant, left behind in the holy city – this was the symbol of God’s presence.  Christ was for us cut off from ‘the’ Father – this is the depth of condescending love which the most inspired mind must utterly fail to fathom.

In the face of Absalom’s rebellion David had to flee from Jerusalem, just as Jesus left the court room of heaven. Absalom was rebelling against the one who had given him life and he had done so by slandering his father, just as Jesus told us lucifer was the father of lies and a murderer from the beginning. (John 8:44). Now Absalom was seeking to take his father’s life (15:10). One third of the angels sided with lucifer. 1 Sam.15:13 tells us “The hearts of the Men of Israel have gone after Absalom.

As David ascended the Mt of Olives I am reminded that Christ gave glory to God on the exact same Mountain with His sermon on the Mount. 15:32 says that David came to the summit where God was worshiped.

Chapter 16 tells us how the   followers of Yahweh are sustained in the wilderness. In 2 Sam.16:5-8 we see David accused of a crime for which he was innocent. He was not responsible for the death of Saul. But we can see in this a picture of Christ as He was led from the garden, mocked, abused, and then finally accused of a crime for which He was innocent.

“For He made Him who knew no sin, to be sin for us, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” 2 Cor 5:21.

We will conclude the story of Absalom’s rebellion tomorrow.