Christians all over debate pretty hotly about the return of Jesus. When is it? What will it be like? There's a lot of arguing going on. Let's be real. Those of you who are aware, it's a pretty hotly contested issue. People have different timelines, different charts, Some have even dared predict dates when Christ would return. Well, that's automatically heresy. automatically a false teacher if a date is appended. Someone claiming they know exactly when. But generally the arguments are, when is the millennium? Who is the antichrist? How much of revelation is figurative? Et cetera, et cetera. And for all of us, for all of us, no matter how many degrees at seminary we may have accumulated, the stuff, it gives us headaches. It's a lot. And it could be discouraging. Man, if so many people disagree about Christ's return, it kind of discourages us from really hoping in Christ's return, but it shouldn't, because I want you to think through all of those debates. There's unity in common with all of those churches, all of those Christians, all of those authors, because all Christians in all places, throughout all time, as long as there ever have been Christians, all agree Christ is returning. Now we might disagree about various details about that return. We get in trouble when we start timelining it. But is he returning? Christians have not ever disagreed that Christ is returning. And I think we can take great solace in that. There's great hope in the fact that our King is returning. I don't know about you, but as we read 2 Samuel 19, and we look at this passage where David has secured the throne, he is the king, but he was ousted and is now making his return. It's really hard not to see echoes, projections from 2 Samuel 19 about this return of Christ that we're all still waiting for. So here's what I want us to do. We're gonna go to 2 Samuel 19. It's a long chapter, but we at least did the first seven verses last time. So we're gonna start at verse eight. We even ate into verse eight a little bit last time. And as we look through, we're going to see a picture of, in David's return, we're going to see a picture of the return of Jesus Christ. And I pray that as a result of understanding the return of Christ through the lens of the return of David, that you would leave here encouraged, that you would leave here with hope, that you would leave here with your eyes set on Jesus more firmly. So let's begin in 2 Samuel 19. There's a lot of material to go through. I'm not gonna stop and make a comment on every single verse. There's no time, but let's see what this has for us in terms of David's return, teaching us about Christ's return. And just look at verse eight for a moment. Then the king, that's David, the king arose and took his seat in the gate. And the people were all told, behold, the king is sitting in the gate, and all the people came before the king. Right here, we already see a picture of the return of Jesus, our final Davidic king, don't we? Just by way of background, if you've not been with us, what's going on here? His son Absalom rose up in defiance against him and gained such a big following that David and his smaller group of followers had to leave. They had to leave the kingdom. And then Absalom and his men gave chase to David. David and his men defeated Absalom. They killed Absalom against David's orders. but they won, and now it's time for his return. He was mourning, oh Absalom, my son, and Joab kind of, not literally, but with his words, slapped him in the face, woke him up like, hey man, you need to sit on the throne and lead your people. It's a great victory, and so David listened. He sat, he arose, took a seat in the gate, and all the people came. Behold, the king is sitting in the gate. Here he is, he's the king. He's the rightful king, not Absalom. Absalom is dead, he never was the real king. Here's the real king, David. like Jesus, has successfully set up his kingdom. He has successfully defeated his enemy who was vying for his throne. He left the kingdom in order to set up his victory, but he's not back yet. David is sitting in the gates. And as he's sitting there, the people are gathering to him. And his return is soon, but not quite yet. He's gathering people. And as we'll see in a moment, everyone else on the other side of the Jordan River is arguing about whether to follow him or not. They're arguing about making their decision regarding David's kingship. But there's a sense that they need to make their decision before David crosses the Jordan. You're gonna see that as we read this chapter. They're like, let's, we gotta get to David. If we're gonna be on his good side, we need to get to him before he returns. Because after he returns, it might be too late. You see the theme. They're picking sides before he returns. Now, as we see Israel arguing back and forth, looking ahead to David's soon return, we kind of only see one side of the argument in this passage as we read it. Some of them are resisting the idea that they should embrace David as king, and that doesn't really tell us why, but probably they're like, we already made our bed, we already chose Absalom, and even though he's dead, like, we can't change sides now. We're already rebelled against him. He's gonna kill us anyway. So better to double down and keep resisting him. The text doesn't say that, but you're just using your imagination. Like why wouldn't they embrace David? Probably to just double down. And oftentimes, a pattern of resisting the king, even though you realize it would be better for me to switch allegiances and embrace the king, sometimes we don't just because we feel like we already made our bed. And this passage undoes that. No, you didn't. Until he crosses the Jordan, you can switch sides. They're arguing about this very fact. And the other side of the argument are people going, look, they're basically saying, we're gonna see this in a moment, this is just my summary, okay? They're basically saying, look, we tried to follow Absalom, which in retrospect was a dumb idea, because David's always been our hero. Ever since he slayed that Philistine giant, David's always been our hero. And now Absalom is dead. We need to welcome David back, and we need to get behind him. Why wouldn't we do that? But not everyone is quickly on board. They've already been resisting David. It's easier to stay in that mode, but others are seeing the wisdom and getting on board with the true and rightful king. There's a division. Now as we look at this chapter, let's look first at the rest of verse eight going through verse 15. As people are arguing about welcoming King David, David sends a message of peace and reconciliation. He sends a message ahead of himself to help these people figure out what side to get on before he gets there. Get it? He's working reconciliation before he arrives. This is an eschatological text, meaning it talks about last things. Let's look at eight through 15. That last line in verse 8, now Israel had fled every man to his home. Absalom was defeated. They're like, ah, and they all ran. They're not forming an army line anymore. They all went home, verse 9. And all the people were arguing throughout all the tribes of Israel, saying, the king delivered us. They're talking about David. The king delivered us from the hand of our enemies and saved us from the hand of the Philistines. And now he's fled out of the land from Absalom. But Absalom, whom we anointed over us like idiots, that's my insertion, but I think that's what they're thinking. Hey, he's dead in battle. Now, therefore, why do you say nothing about bringing the king back? So this is the side arguing, why don't we just get behind David? Doesn't that make sense? It just makes sense to get behind David. He's the winner. He's always been the winner. He's always been the hero. We should have never even sided with Absalom. And even if we wanted to, he's dead, so let's just switch sides, man. Verse 11, and King David sent this message to Zadok and Abiathar the priests. If you remember from prior sermons, this is sort of his way of communicating with what's going on on that side of the Jordan, inside the land. Say to the elders of Judah, why should you be the last to bring the king back to his house when the word of all Israel has come to the king? You are my brothers, you are my bone and my flesh. Why then should you be the last to bring back the king? So let's pause there a second. All of the tribes that said, all of the tribes were arguing, right? There's 12 tribes, all 12 tribes were arguing. David, it doesn't tell us why, but David sends a message particularly to Judah. He selects one tribe, and I think maybe that's the tribe that's most ready to lead the way in terms of making the right decision, and then maybe everyone can kind of else get behind it. And his argument is, we're related, man, I'm from Judah. So he's sending a message to his home tribe, the tribe that he's from. and go, you know, remember back when Jacob gave the blessing to Judah originally? He said the scepter will never leave the house. I'm the scepter man, I'm holding the scepter. You should be the first ones in line to welcome me back. I'm your champion, I'm your king. He's not excluding the rest of Israel. I think he's trying to jumpstart this thing and get this thing going. Then it says in verse 11, not verse 11, verse 13, this is interesting. He says, and say to Amasa, he's the commander of, he's the general of the armies that were just rebelling against him. He was the general of the soldiers underneath Absalom, who's now dead. Say to Amasa, are you not my bone and my flesh? Hey, we're related too, man. God do so to me and more also if you were not commander of my army from now on in place of Joab." Ooh. What's Joab gonna think about that? Well, he's Joab. disobeyed David's order and killed Absalom, his son, when he told him not to, you remember that? Joab's always doing his own thing. He's like, I don't like this guy. David's like, no, leave him alone, he's a good guy. And then Joab shanks him in the dark somewhere. He's a rough character. And we're gonna see later, not today, we're gonna see later how Joab handles this. You can probably guess it. You can probably guess what Joab's gonna do. That'll be another time. For now, David... It's kind of a two for one. He's basically saying, look, Joab disrespected me, I can't let that go. I'm not gonna kill him, I'm just gonna demote him. At the same time, by promoting Amasa to be the leader, I'm saying, hey, I'm gonna come back and you can keep your leader. He's gotta work for me, but I'm not gonna go in there killing everybody. Enough executions. I just wanna come in, Amasa could be the leader, I'll demote Joab, disrespected me anyway, and he's reconciling. He's doing what it takes to get everybody together. to follow him. And it worked, verse 14, So he's at least got this tribe, they're all in. So the king came back to the Jordan. Think of the Jordan River as sort of that barrier. David's on this side, he's approaching the Jordan. As soon as he crosses the Jordan River, he's in the land, the king has returned. But he's on this side of the Jordan, he's approaching it and the tribe of Judah is going to sort of cross the Jordan, welcome him and bring him in. So the king came back to the Jordan and Judah came to Gilgal to meet the king and to bring the king over the Jordan. So while all of Israel is debating, David reaches out to his closer king, this tribe, hey, why should you be the last? You're my bone, you're my flesh, you should welcome me, you should be first. I think he's thinking, let's just start there and then we can get everyone else on board. They're convinced, they're united as one, as one man, the text says, to bring the king welcome back into the land. And this is going to set up a further rift with the other tribes, a further dispute. How come you gotta let them in first? Well, you should have thought of it, we thought of it first, like little children bickering, okay? And we're going to return to that. This chapter ends with that theme. It takes a timeout, though. Right here, it takes a timeout and gives us three little vignettes, three little stories, little mini episodes, three paragraphs. In fact, if you're following along in the English Standard Version, the ESV, you'll see that where we just left off, we have four paragraphs left in the chapter, right? The next three are those three little stories, and then the fourth one comes back to this argument, like, hey, man, how come you got to let him in first? Well, you should have. He's our closer kin in this argument. So the timeout is gonna take us through these three stories. Now all week I'm thinking, why doesn't it just go to that final paragraph? Why do we get these three mini episodes, three characters that David encounters? And I think it's because the text is saying, the returning king is making reconciliation before his arrival. And while there's bickering about whether to accept that reconciliation or not, The text is gonna now give us three examples of what kinds of things the king reconciles. You follow? He's a reconciling king. The returning king is about reconciliation, making peace. And we're gonna get three examples of what it looks like for the king to make peace before he returns. And that first one is a story of Shimei. Shimei is a nasty character. You might remember when Ben preached on chapter 16. Shimei was really happy that David was having to leave the kingdom. Shimei was really happy that Absalom was in charge. And as David was on his way out, Shimei, in front of everyone, cursed him, called him worthless, accused him of murder, accused him of cheating, accused him of falsely taking the throne out of Saul's hands. All of these things are not true. So he's shamelessly and wrongfully accusing the king publicly. He picks up rocks and starts throwing them. He's not literally trying to stone David to death, but he's basically saying, you might as well be stoned, you should be stoned. And David, the king, is leaving on his horse, and this guy's chucking rocks at him and just following him for miles and miles publicly. And at that time, David let it go. Now, as David is returning, this same guy changes his tune. Nevermind, you're my king. Hmm, how do most people feel about that? Too late, man. Too late. Like the bad guy at the end of the movie, he's finally caught, and he's like, oh, and he tells the good guy, never mind, never mind. I've been against you this whole movie. This movie wouldn't even exist. All the people I killed, all the people I betrayed, never mind. I'll be on your side. How would you feel if the main character was like, OK, cool? And then the credits rolled. No satisfaction, no vindication, no vengeance, no justice. Well, that's what Abishai thought the first time. Abishai, the first time when David was getting cursed, he's like, let me kill this guy. David's like, no, no, no, we're not gonna kill him. Now this time, Abishai's like, seriously now though, David, for real this time, like he should die. David says, no again. I don't wanna execute him, I want to reconcile him. Check it out, verse 16. And Shimei, the son of Gerah, the Benjaminite from Bahurim, hurried to come down with the men of Judah to meet King David. Why is he hustling? I think he's hustling because he's, I've got to get this fixed before he comes in the land. Verse 17, and with him were a thousand men from Benjamin. Doesn't tell us why, but he's got clout. He's got the backing of Judah, and he's got the backing of the tribe of Benjamin with a thousand of them sort of standing behind him backing his plea for mercy. And Ziba the servant of the house of Saul with his 15 sons and his 20 servants rushed down to the Jordan before the king. We'll get back to that character in a second, because he's involved with the next one. And they crossed the ford to bring over the king's household and to do his pleasure. So they're crossing the Jordan to meet the king, be reconciled to him, and then bring the king into the land. And Shammai, this nasty character we just talked about, the son of Gerah, fell down before the king as he was about to cross the Jordan and said to the king, let not my lord hold me guilty or remember how your servant did wrong on the day my lord the king left Jerusalem. Do not let the king take it to heart. for your servant knows that I have sinned therefore behold I have come this day the first of all the house of Joseph to come down to meet my lord the king so he's not from Judah or from Benjamin he's from Joseph's line but he's got the backing of these people behind him And verse 21, Abishai the son of Zeruiah answered, shall not Shammai be put to death for this because he cursed the Lord's anointed? He's bringing it up again. Verse 22, but David said, what have I to do with you, you sons of Zeruiah, that you should this day be as an adversary to me? Shall anyone be put to death in Israel this day? For do I not know that I am this day king over Israel? Hard not to think of the times that Jesus rebuked his disciples and said, if you don't get with the reconciliation program, you're actually against me. You're against my program. I know in your zeal you think you're for me, but it's actually against me. We're doing reconciliation today. We're not doing execution. So he tells Shema, you shall not die. He forgives him. And the king gave him his oath. So remember that Abishai represents that desire to see justice, and it wouldn't have been wrong for David to execute this guy the first time, definitely the second time. But David, even though he has the right to kill him, he says, I know I'm king already. I don't need to prove it by executing anybody, but I can make a greater kingdom out of this through reconciliation. This is the day of victory, not executions of our own people. Abishai's probably thinking, but he's not our people, he rose up against the king. And I think what David is trying to say is that all these people are his bone and his flesh, they're his people, even if they don't have good track records. Even if they didn't earn being his people, what matters is right now, and right now Shammai is repenting. Right now, what matters is Shammai is honoring David as king. Does David have the right to hold his past against him? Yes, but in mercy, he's forgiving the past and allowing him to be a penitent, loyal servant now. And I tell you, this is how Jesus makes peace. Jesus doesn't make peace with those who've always honored him. He makes peace with those who recognize we've not honored him. And maybe some of us at one time even hated him, said we'd never serve him. We hated him because he let certain things happen to us in our lives. We hated him because he hasn't proved himself enough to us or for whatever the reason was, but at some point he changed us and he's brought us to a point where we repent and believe on him as our true and rightful and just and merciful king. And that's how Jesus makes reconciliation, by forgiving us of our past and allowing us to change sides. Story number two, Mephibosheth. Mephibosheth, a name I'm sure I'll botch before the sermon is over, at some point, he was a member of Saul's house, right? The guy who was king before David. But he was special because he was Jonathan's son. If you remember, David and Jonathan were best friends. They had made a covenant together that David would not harm Jonathan's children. And at some point, David asked his servant, hey, has anybody left from Jonathan's house? Yeah, this guy Mephibosheth, he can't get around much, he's lame in both feet, he can't really walk very well. And David honored the covenant with Jonathan by allowing Mephibosheth to always eat at the king's table. And he found Zeba, that guy we just saw there, groveling at the River Jordan. Ziba was put in charge by David to sort of manage Mephibosheth's affairs. Ziba was Saul's servant, and he's like, hey, now you're his grandson's servant, you're gonna serve him. Okay, okay, I'll serve him, yes, yes, I'll serve him. But then, if you remember, before David left and got kicked out of the kingdom, Ziba tricked David into believing that Mephibosheth was a traitor. And so David was like, all right, so take all of Mephibosheth, there it is. Mephi, I'm gonna just call him Meph. No, that's not gonna work. Take all of his stuff and you can have it. Gave Ziba all of the things that he told Mephibosheth that he can have, gave it to Ziba. Now, Mephibosheth is broke. It was a lie, I think. Mephibosheth wasn't a traitor, and now as David comes back, he sees Mephibosheth, the guy that he thinks was a traitor, maybe vying for his throne, maybe ingratiating himself with the people, maybe he made a deal with Absalom to be like his number two, and he sees him and he looks like a diseased homeless person. He doesn't look like somebody who's been gaining wealth through trickery and deceit, he looks the opposite, someone who's been left behind and not cared for. So which story is true? Verse 24. And Mephibosheth, the son of Saul, came down to meet the king. He had neither taken care of his feet, they didn't have Jordans back then, just open sandals, right? Everybody's feet are visible. These are, I'm sure most feet are pretty rough, walking around in dusty ground and whatnot, but it was really bad, the text is trying to tell you. He hadn't taken care of his feet, he hasn't trimmed his beard, he hasn't washed his clothes, since when? Now some of you think your high schoolers are bad with the laundry. Since David left, this is years. David wasn't away for like a couple days. This is a long time. From the day the king departed until the day he came back in safety. This doesn't sound like someone leading a revolt or staging a coup or vying for his place in the kingdom the way Ziba made it sound. So David's like what? Like what's going on? So he asked them, verse 25, when he came to Jerusalem to meet the king, the king said to him, why didn't you go with me, Mephibosheth? He answered, my lord, O king, my servant, he's talking about Ziba, my servant deceived me, for your servant said to him, I will saddle a donkey for myself that I may ride on it and go with the king, for your servant is lame. I had to read that like 15 times, so if you're confused, I get it, right? The wording is a little tricky, but I think the gist of it is that he needed Ziba to saddle a donkey for him, and Ziba didn't. And then he couldn't when Ziba betrayed him because he's unable to do it himself. That's why he says he's lame in both feet. He doesn't have good use of his feet. So verse 27, he's basically, Ziba lied to you about me. He says, he has slandered your servant to my lord the king, but my lord the king is like the angel of God. Do therefore what seems good to you. That phrase, you are like the angel of God, is like you will represent God's wisdom. You will do what is right. We've seen that phrase before. Verse 28, for all my father's house were but men doomed to death before my lord the king, but you set your servant among those who eat at your table. What further right have I then to cry to the king? He said, before you came along, David, I didn't have anything anyway. I was already broke. So what right do I have to claim anything from you? So he's like, I'm not here to argue things back from what Ziba took. I'm just here to greet you. You're it. And the king said to him, why speak any more of your affairs? I have decided, you and Ziba shall divide the land. Well you might be reading that like, well that's not fair, dude stole it and it gets half. Then maybe David's like, enough, I can't, he tells me one side, you tell me the other side, whatever man, just split it 50-50. Maybe that's not the wisest, but he's trying to reconcile the kingdom. And then Mephibosheth doesn't even care. Look, Mephibosheth said to the king, verse 30, oh, let him take it all, since my lord the king has come safely home. You read that and go, take it all? He shouldn't have any of it. And now he's letting him have half. Well, David, in offering him the inheritance back, or at least half the inheritance back, is trying to reconcile the situation, and Mephibosheth is essentially saying, what's that to me? I will give up all the property of this world just to have you back as king. You're my treasure. You're the one I need. I don't need stuff, I don't need things, I don't need materials, you're back. Can I just eat at your table again? He doesn't need the material. Isn't that an appropriate picture of Jesus' promise to all his saints who suffer wrong at the hands of others? We might lose things on this side, but Jesus is returning. How does this alter our perspective on pain, on suffering, on loss? If we knew, if we knew, we don't, because I just told you, people who name dates are heretics. But just imagine for a moment, somehow we knew he's coming back like March 2nd, okay? I don't know. You knew he's coming back in about a month. How would that change your stress, the things that fill you with anxiety, how you handle pain, suffering, betrayals? It would change it, right? That's where Mephibosheth is. He's like, yeah, he's not denying that he's been wronged. He's just so excited about the return of the king. He's so excited about it that in comparison, he doesn't care about anything else. Of course he needs to eat, but right now he doesn't care about anything else. He just cares about his king. Now with Shammai, we saw a total traitor ask for forgiveness and receive it. That was one aspect of reconciliation. With Mephibosheth, we see someone who's faithful, who's loyal, but was oppressed and taken advantage of, and things are made right in the end. He gains his king. That's another aspect of reconciliation. Third story, Barzillai the Gileadite. Barzillai, I don't know, it sounds like one of the monsters Godzilla fought or something. Strange names foreign to us, but this is an interesting character. He's not a bad guy, he's not a villain, he's a good guy. He provided for David while David was in exile. While David wasn't in the kingdom, this guy just made sure the troops had food, shelter, he provided for David at Mahanaim. Look at 31 to 40. Now Barzillai the Gileadite had come down from Rogalim and he went on with the king to the Jordan to escort him over the Jordan. Barzillai was a very aged man, 80 years old. He had provided the king with food while he stayed at Mahanaim, for he was a very wealthy man. And the king said to Barzillai, come over with me, and I will provide for you with me in Jerusalem. In other words, you spent all this time providing for me, now that I've returned as king, I'm gonna provide for you. Here's your reward. Now you get provided for. Now you get protection in a greater way than you were even able to supply for me. But Barzillai said to the king, how many years have I still to live that I should go up with the king to Jerusalem? I am this day 80 years old. Can I discern what is pleasant and what is not? Can your servant taste what he eats or what he drinks? Can I listen to the voice of singing men and singing women? Why then should your servant be an added burden to my Lord, the King? Your servant will go a little way over the Jordan with the king. Why should the king repay me with such a reward? Please let your servant return that I may die in my own city near the grave of my father and my mother. But here is your servant, Kimham. Let him go over with my lord the king and do for him whatever seems good to you.' And the king answered, Kimham shall go over with me and I will do for him whatever seems Now I just lost it. The king went on to Gilgal, and Kimham went on with him. All the people of Judah, and also half the people of Israel, brought the king on his way." And we'll get back to that Judah-Israel thing in just a minute to wrap it up. But again, Barzillai was faithful to David. He served David, provided for David. David is offering him this great reward, and it's basically a no thanks, which you might be surprised as you go like, wow, who would turn that down? I mean, I'm not 80, quite 80 yet. And I don't know what it's like to be an octogenarian, okay? Some of you do. But maybe some of you are at the point where you've established yourself, you got a big home, I don't know, you move to an area and you ask your parents, hey, you're getting older, you don't have to keep up the whole house yourself, move in with us, or come move out here. And the response might be like, Nah. It's not that they don't love you, it's that they'd rather just finish out low-key, you know? They're not going to want to do game night. as much anymore. They're not gonna stay up late. They wanna get up at 10 and go to bed at six. They put in their years, man. They put in their decades. He's like, you're gonna have parties. You're gonna have singing men, singing women, concerts. It's loud. It bothers me. You guys go ahead. He means no disrespect. He literally just means he's old. That's it. Otherwise, I think if he was young, he'd be like, yeah, it's an honor. And so, because he's too old to enjoy it, we don't know who Kim Ham was, probably a son, a grandson, a cousin, a nephew, someone else, and he goes, all the blessings and reward he would bestow on me, put it on him. He's young. I think that's all it is. And this is a picture of reconciliation as well. Barzillai is a man who served the king faithfully and got nothing for it until the king returned. Shimei is a traitorous sinner reconciled to the king. Mephibosheth is an oppressed victim whose losses are reconciled by gaining the king. Barzillai is a faithful, dedicated servant whose hard work that didn't get rewarded is now rewarded and is reconciled that way. So these three pictures of reconciliation help us understand what it means for a king to come and make sure the kingdom is put in order, and what it means for things to be reconciled between us and God before Jesus returns. And then we come to this final paragraph, this three verses real quick, 41 through 43, and we get back to this theme of the bickering Israelites, which is like, it's a little bit confounding almost. that they would be arguing this way, but they do. Is this reconcilable? Look at verse 41. Then all the men of Israel came to the king and said to the king, why have our brothers, the men of Judah, stolen you away and brought the king and his household over the Jordan and all David's men with him? Why do you guys get to do that? Then verse 42, all the men of Judah answered the men of Israel, because the king is our close relative, dummy. Like he came from our tribe. You know that. Why then are you angry over this matter? You have no right to be angry about this. Have we eaten at all at the king's expense? Did we take stuff from him? Has he given us any gift? No, is the answer. Verse 43, the argument continues. And then the men of Israel answered the men of Judah. Well, we have 10 shares in the king. You only have one share in the king. If the king represents 12 tribes, one of the tribes is Levi, so they don't have land. So now we're talking about 11 tribes. You're only one and we're 10. So the arguments are going back and forth about who should get David more? Who should have the king's attention more than the others? Were we not the first to speak of bringing back our king? Remember, Judah wasn't on board until David sent the message. Before that, Israel was the one going, maybe we should bring him back. They were half and half on it, that's why only half showed up to the Jordan. But interesting look, but the words of the men of Judah were fiercer than the words of the men of Israel. They didn't win by logic, they won by yelling louder. As sometimes happens around many dinner tables and various households, it's not good. But Judah wins the argument just by being fiercer in their words. I think because Judah will always hold the scepter, as Jacob predicted, Judah will always sort of be on top of the tribes because the eternal dynasty, the Davidic kingdom, was promised to David, who's from Judah. And David's line produces Jesus, and in that way, Judah produces the rightful king of all of Israel and all the world. That's why he's called the Lion of the tribe of Judah. It'll never be the Lion of the tribe of Benjamin. It'll never be the Lion of the tribe of Gad. Sorry, guys. He came from Judah. And there's always this sort of fiercer lion-like position that Judah has over the brothers. So I think that line there is just not saying Judah's better than everybody else. It's tying it to Jacob's promise and that theme of Judah. producing the king. Now, as we read this, we might go, man, who would argue like this? Like, it's so petty. He's closer to us, we have more shares. Shouldn't we just be happy the king is back? That he's restoring order. That he's going to defeat the Philistines like he always has, et cetera. And we go, man, who argues like this? This petty bickering. You remember the disciples though? Like Luke 22, I don't have it on the screen, this will just be real fast. Listen to this, it's the same, it's the same. Luke chapter 22, here's how Luke captures it. A dispute also arose among them. Who's them? The disciples, the closest people to Jesus. They start disputing, and what are they disputing about? Which one of them is to be regarded as the greatest? I think I'm the greatest. No, I think I am. You're crazy. And Jesus said to them, he's just so kind. He said to them, the kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them and those in authority over them are called benefactors. Notice how Jesus talks about kingship, kingdom. What is it like to be a part of my kingdom? This is how Gentiles do it. And you guys are arguing like if you're not in covenant with God, you're supposed to be different. But not so with you, he says. Rather, let the greatest among you become as the youngest and the leader as the one who serves. For who's the greater, the one who reclines at table or the one who serves? Is it not the one who reclines at table? But I am among you as the one who serves. He washed his feet, didn't he? Verse 28. Just three more verses, but listen how he ties it to the kingdom again. You are those who have stayed with me in my trials, like Barzillai. And I assign to you, as my father assigned to me a kingdom, like the reward he offered Barzillai, that you may eat and drink at my table, like what he offered Mephibosheth. that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom and sit on thrones judging the 12 tribes of Israel. This is how the tribes unite, not over who's the greatest or who's the best. You unite over servitude and humility and gratitude to sit at the table. That's what it's like to be in the kingdom. And keep in mind, this blows my mind, guys. This dispute, this argument that they're having was right after Judas betrayed Jesus. They aren't thinking, as Judas walks out to go get the soldiers, and Jesus is momentarily gonna be arrested, they're not going, man, what if I'm next? What if I betray Jesus next? They're thinking the opposite. Oh my goodness. I saw that coming. I saw that, I knew that dude would do it. One of you is probably next. I would never be next. I would not betray Jesus. Any of you would betray Jesus before I would, because I'm kind of the greatest. They're thinking, I wouldn't do that. Bro, you do that before I do that. What? You don't spend as much time with Jesus as I do. When we ate, I got to lean up against him. You don't spend as much time with him? He doesn't tell you as much as he tells me? Have you been writing this stuff down? Because I'm about to publish a gospel. Oh yeah, you spend a lot more time with them because I have a job, you freeloader. You don't have a job. You used to have a job cheating our own people out of tax money for Roman oppressors. You're already a traitor, dude. Maybe taking Matthew down a peg. And on and on it probably went. I mean, I'm using my imagination, but it's not that hard. May we too easily act like that as we await our returning king. Yes, we've been reconciled to him, but oftentimes we don't act like we've been reconciled to each other. As we await our returning king, we need to be unified, not trying to be better than each other. not trying to one-up each other, not trying to get the better job, get the better girl, look better, have the better ministry, get better attention, more clicks, more likes than the next person, but to serve each other. Jesus said that's how the world behaves, clamoring for attention all the time. But the kingdom is about serving. And Jesus modeled it. And he didn't just model it by washing their feet, he modeled it when soon after this argument, the soldiers show up to arrest him, and he goes and dies for their arguing. He demonstrated he's the greatest by being crucified like a criminal, by being the least. And as Isa mentioned earlier, he did it to nail all of his traitor sins to the cross, and that's all of us. To defeat death in his resurrection so that we can have life, and if we repent of all of our sinning, and our bickering, and our arguing, even if we repent, even of the feeling like we've been on the wrong side too long, and that's why I keep delaying embracing him as my savior. That's also sin, because you're refuting His mercy that He says is available to you, whatever you've done, however nasty you've been. Don't linger. Don't wait. Believe, repent, and believe on Christ, and be reconciled to God, and if you're a believer, It's hard to serve Him when times are tough, but He's returning and His absence is temporary. And right now our focus needs to be on serving one another, uplifting one another, praying for one another, putting each other first for not our glory, but for the glory of Christ our King. Let's pray.