Well this evening our confessional lesson actually comes from the larger catechism, question and answer 191. You can find this on page 965 in the back of your hymnal, actually 965 and 966. 965 and 966. This is a section dealing with the various petitions in the Lord's Prayer. Question 191. What do we pray for in the second petition? In the second petition, which is Thy Kingdom Come, acknowledging ourselves and all mankind to be by nature under the dominion of sin and Satan, We pray that the kingdom of sin and Satan may be destroyed, the gospel propagated throughout the world, the Jews called, the fullness of the Gentiles brought in, the church furnished with all gospel officers and ordinances, purged from corruption, countenanced and maintained by the civil magistrate, that the ordinances of Christ may be purely dispensed and made effectual to the converting of those who are yet in their sins, and the confirming, comforting, and building up of those that are already converted. That Christ would rule in our hearts here, and hasten the time of his second coming, and are reigning with him forever. and that he would be pleased so to exercise the kingdom of his power in all the world as may best conduce to these ends. One of the things I love about the larger catechism is it doesn't take a superficial perspective upon the Christian faith. We live in a big world and the authors of the Confession believe that biblical theology provided big answers. And so when it takes us to the second petition of the Lord's Prayer, which is, Your Kingdom Come, it first reminds us that there are two competing kingdoms in the world. The first kingdom is the kingdom of sin and Satan, a kingdom in which we're all born, and apart from a sovereign and miraculous work of the Spirit would remain in. But there's also a second kingdom, a kingdom of justice and righteousness and grace, over which Christ rules. And when we pray the second petition, we're praying for the kingdom of Satan to progress and be destroyed, and we're praying for Christ's kingdom to advance and be victorious. And there's something behind this petition that we mustn't overlook, and that is these two kingdoms are at war. To use the language of Genesis 3.15, there's enmity or hostility between these two kingdoms. Now much of the middle part of the catechism lesson is there to tell us what it will look like as God answers this particular prayer. The gospel will be announced throughout the whole world till every elect Jew and Gentile is brought into his kingdom. The church will be well ordered, it'll be purified, it'll be granted enough liberty by the civil magistrates to faithfully exercise the Great Commission where sinners will be drawn to Christ and saints will be confirmed and comforted and built up in the Most Holy Face. Also, when we pray the second petition, Your Kingdom Come, we're asking the Lord Christ to rule in our hearts here and to hasten the time of His second coming and our reigning with Him forever. In other words, we're praying, Come quickly, Lord Jesus. But make no mistake that this petition of the Lord's Prayer has warfare in the background. It depicts the clash of kingdoms, the clash of dominions, the clash of who rules. And even in us as individuals, it's a prayer about Christ having increased rule in our own hearts over against the old man. And that's spiritual warfare. Now one of the things you might be thinking is, yes, but Pastor Byrd, isn't our victory assured? And the answer is yes, it's assured. Christ is victorious, the war is won. But the fact that we're to pray the second petition of the Lord's Prayer teaches us we're gonna face battles on this side of glory. And it won't be until Christ returns that we'll know the full experience of the victory. Christ is one for us. Till then we pray and need to know there will be some times when there are seismic events in the kingdom of God that seem like the kingdom is being shaken to its core and we pray for it. But despite what it seems like, it only seems that way. Because ultimately our Lord's kingdom is indestructible. The writer of Hebrews picks up on this imagery in a very profound and dramatic way in chapter 12. He basically says there's going to be a lot of shaking in the kingdom of God leading up to Christ's return. And at the moment of His return, there will be cataclysmic shaking. But he then offers this encouragement and charge in verse 28 of Hebrews 12. Therefore, let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken. And thus, let us offer to God acceptable worship with reverence and awe. You see, when we are praying, Thy kingdom come, we're saying, Lord, we're looking forward to that kingdom that can't be shaken. This evening when we return to our study of 2 Samuel, David's picking up the pieces of his kingdom, which in the Old Testament is God's kingdom on earth. And it's really a picture of a kingdom that appears to be unstable. It's a picture of a kingdom of God that's shaken. And it'll point us to the need for a better king, the God king, to establish a kingdom that cannot be shaken. So for now, let's praise the Lord, standing to sing number 559. This is a rendition of the Lord's Prayer, 559. Well, let me ask you to open up your copy of Scripture to 2 Samuel 20. 2 Samuel 20. I'm going to read verses 1 through 26. Hear now the true word of the living God. And there happened to be there a rebel whose name was Sheba, the son of Bichri, a Benjamite. And he blew a trumpet and said, We have no share in David, nor do we have inheritance in the son of Jesse. Every man to his tent, so Israel. So every man of Israel deserted David and followed Sheba, the son of Bichri. But the men of Judah, from the Jordan as far as Jerusalem, remained loyal to their king. Now David came to his house at Jerusalem, and the king took the ten women, his concubines, whom he had left to keep the house, and put them in seclusion and supported them, but did not go into them. So they were shut up to the day of their death, living in widowhood. And the king said to Amasa, assemble the men of Judah for me within three days and be present here yourself. So Amasa went to assemble the men of Judah, but he delayed longer than the set time which David had appointed him. And David said to Abishai, now Sheba the son of Bichri will do us more harm than Absalom. Take your Lord's servants and pursue him, lest he find for himself fortified cities and escape us. So Joab's men with the Cherethites, the Pelethites, and all the mighty men went out after him. And they went out of Jerusalem to pursue Sheba, the son of Bichri. When they were at the large stone which is in Gibeon, Amasa came before them. Now Joab was dressed in battle armor. On it was a belt with a sword fastened in its sheath at his hips. And as he was going forward, it fell out And Joab said to Amasa, Are you in health, my brother? And Joab took Amasa by the beard with his right hand to kiss him. But Amasa did not notice the sword that was in Joab's hand, and he struck him with it in the stomach, and his entrails poured out on the ground, and he did not strike him again. Thus he died. Then Joab and Abishai, his brother, pursued Sheba the son of Bichri. Meanwhile, one of Joab's men stood near Amas and said, Whoever favors Joab and whoever is for David, follow Joab. But Amasa wallowed in his blood in the middle of the highway. And when the man saw that all the people stood still, he moved Amasa from the highway to the field. and threw a garment over him, when he saw that everyone who came upon him halted. When he was removed from the highway, all the people went on after Joab to pursue Sheba, the son of Bichri. And he went through all the tribes of Israel, to Abel and Bethmaka and all the Berites. So they were gathered together and also went after Sheba. Then they came and besieged him and Abel of Bethma-akah. And they cast up a siege mound against the city and it stood by the rampart. And all the people who were with Joab battered the wall to throw it down. Then a wise woman cried out from the city, here, here, please say to Joab, come nearby that I may speak with you. When he had come near to her, the woman said, are you Joab? He answered, I am. Then she said to him, hear the words of your maidservant. And he said, I'm listening. So she spoke saying, they used to talk in former times saying, they shall surely seek guidance at Abel. And so they would end disputes. I am among the peaceable and faithful in Israel. You seek to destroy a city and a mother in Israel. Why would you swallow up the inheritance of the Lord? And Joab answered and said, far be it, far be it from me that I should swallow up or destroy. That's not so, but a man from the mountains of Ephraim, Sheba the son of Bichri by name, has raised his hand against the king, against David. Deliver him only and I'll depart from the city. So the woman said to Joab, watch his head will be thrown to you over the wall. And the woman in her wisdom went to all the people And they cut off the head of Sheba, the son of Bichri, and threw it out to Joab. Then he blew a trumpet, and they withdrew from the city, every man to his tent. So Joab returned to the king at Jerusalem. And Joab was over all the army of Israel. Benaniah, the son of Jehoiada, was over the Cherithites and the Pelvithites. Adaron was in charge of revenue. Jehoshaphat, the son of Ahalud, was recorder. Sheva was scribe. Zadok and Abiathar were the priests. And Ira, the Jerite, was a chief minister under David. When the grass withers and the flowers fade, but the word of our God endureth forever. May he bless it to our hearts this evening. Well, there's congregation of our Lord Jesus Christ. David wanted to unite Israel and do so peacefully in a way that highlighted grace and mercy, but that was not to be. After Absalom's revolt and his death, along with 20,000 men who had followed Absalom, there was a brief moment of peace, but it seemed that that peace lasted just a bit longer than it took David to cross the Jordan River. He was returning home to the west side of the Jordan on his way back to Jerusalem. when he's confronted by a worthless man by the name of Sheba, a Benjamite. And he's about to exploit some of the ongoing tension associated with David's return. You'll remember in the final verses of the previous chapter, it records the river crossing. And there was a bitter conflict that emerged between Judah and the northern ten tribes. The northern tribes felt slighted because there were more people from Judah who crossed over with Judah than there was from the ten tribes. And they let Judah know that they were frustrated. And this began a major spat between the ten tribes and Judah. Judah immediately fired back, hey, David's our kinsman, he's our blood kin, and there's nothing illicit going on here. We didn't bribe him, he didn't bribe us. And of course, having heard that, the northern tribes had their retorts right in hand. Well, we're ten tribes and you're one. We have more of a claim on him than you do. And with that, the Judahites essentially said, you'll back off if you know what's good for you. So they get to the other side of the river, and the northern tribes are red-faced, they're angry, their egos have been bruised. Judah's essentially attacked their pride. In many ways, this whole spat was childish. Sounds like a tit for tat. The problem is there were adult tempers at work with men who have adult weapons at their disposal. As one writer put it, all this serves as kindling for a second fire of rebellion and Sheba was the match that ignited it all. And listen, the vast majority of this passage is either directly or indirectly related to Sheba. In the first two verses, we get a very vivid picture of Sheba, the rebel. In verse 3, which almost seems out of place in our passage, we get a reminder of sin's devastation. In verses 4-13, we see this rebel Sheba is being pursued. And then in verses 14-22, the rebel Sheba is dealt with ultimately by an able woman, which of course is a pun. So those are the basic headings. Verses 1 and 2, a rebel picture. Verse 3, a reminder of sin's devastation. Verses 4 through 13, the pursuit of a rebel. And then verses 14 through 22, a rebel dealt with by an able woman. Let's look at this picture of Sheba. Shortly after the ferry boat landed on the west side of the Jordan and everyone was assembled, Sheba blew a trumpet and said, we have no share in David, nor do we have an inheritance in the son of Jesse. Every man to his tent, so Israel. Now Sheba is a rebel. And what that word rebel literally means is he's a man of Belial. He's a worthless man. He's an evil man. And he's setting himself up against David, who's the Lord's anointed. And don't miss the gravity of this. It's nothing less than direct opposition to God's anointed king, the Old Testament Messiah. And he's pursuing this rebellion as one who's supposed to be inside the covenant community. This is a great evil unfolding before us. To get some perspective here, it's worth pointing out that later in redemptive history, the Apostle Paul will say in 2 Corinthians 6.15 that there's no accord, there's no place of agreement between Christ and Belial, and that's because by New Testament times, Jews had come to associate Belial with a Satan figure. So here in 2 Samuel, Sheba is a rebel with demonic intentions to lead God's people away from God's anointed. And that's really emphasized by the language when he says, we have no share in David. Nor do we have an inheritance in the son of Jesse. Inheritance was an integral part of Israel's hope both in this world and the world to come. And of course it was closely associated with land. which was grounded in a key covenant promise that God had made to Israel. And what Sheba is basically doing is calling Israel to turn aside from that. He's telling Israel, there's nothing for you in David's kingdom. That inheritance is not your inheritance. Despite the fact that God had already promised, He's going to work covenantally through David's line. So what Sheba is doing is basically calling Israel to apostatize. Now this really is a wicked man who intends to lead the people of God into wickedness by leading them away from God. And you know, we might be inclined to read this narrative and think, well thankfully, he's going to be done in by a wise woman just at the end of this chapter. And that's true. But we might be inclined to think that this way of thinking didn't get very far. That's not true. These evil seeds of division are planted, and they're going to raise their ugly heads a bit later on after Solomon died. Turn forward in your Bibles to 1 Kings 12. 1 Kings 12. Solomon died. Israel is about to be divided into two nations, a radical division between the North and South. And glance there at 1 Kings 12 and verse 16, because I want you to see the language. What share have we in David? We have no inheritance in the son of Jesse to your tents, O Israel. You see, this is the moment when Israel split. for good. So in 2 Samuel 20, we're seeing deadly seeds of division being planted. And dear ones, we need to understand this rebel, Belial, the son of wickedness, the son of the devil, is essentially exploiting hurt pride and bruised egos to shape the kingdom of God. And we see that in our own experience, don't we? More than a few churches have been split because someone did or said something that hurt another's pride, and they couldn't or more precisely wouldn't get over it. Something happens, somebody gets aggrieved, and there's little to no interest in reconciliation. They simply retreat to their particular tribe, Because division and separation and fighting and bickering is actually easier for fallen sinners than humility. And that's what happens in our text. People retreat to their tribe. It says that in verse 2. Every man of Israel deserted David and followed Sheba the son of Bichri. But the men of Judah from the Jordan as far as Jerusalem remained loyal to their king. This means when David returns to Jerusalem, he's doing so with just a small part of Israel with him. The point is the kingdom appears to be so fragile and altogether shaken. So this is a picture of a rebel whose name is Sheba. Verse 3, as I said, is a reminder of sin's devastation. Sin's devastation. Glenn's here at verse 3. Now David came to his house at Jerusalem, and the king took the ten women, his concubines, whom he had left to keep the house, and put them in seclusion and supported them, but did not go into them. So they were shut up into the day of their death, living in widowhood. What a tragic and sad picture. David returns to Jerusalem, he encounters the ten women, the ten concubines he had left to take care of his household when he fled the city. You have to remember who these women were and more specifically what Absalom had done to these women. You remember we learned this back in 2 Samuel 16, verse 22. This is after Absalom had moved into Jerusalem and driven his father out. And in 2 Samuel 16, 22, it says that they pitched a tent for Absalom on the top of David's house. And he went into his father's concubines in the sight of all Israel. And what's even more important to remember about that event, even more important than the wickedness of Absalom, is this all unfolded as a result of David's adulterous affair with Bathsheba and then murdering her husband. You may remember that when the prophet Nathan went to David back in 2 Samuel 12, The Lord spoke through His prophet and said, you know, what you did to Bathsheba, what you did to Uriah, you thought you were doing in secret, but your punishment is going to unfold before all of Israel. In other words, the pitiful account of these poor women is a reminder of sin's devastation, David's sin in particular. And now these women are put under something like house arrest. And the language doesn't imply so much that they're restricted as much as they're being protected. And David does indeed provide for them for the rest of their lives. But it's a tragic picture. These are women who will now never know the intimacy of marriage. They'll never have the joy of children. They're condemned to a life of widowhood. And you see, verse 3 is snuck into our passage here to remind us that this whole mess, this whole big mess that's unfolding from top to bottom is in part a consequence of David's sin. And there are two important takeaways here. First, this reminds us that our sin almost always affects others. Perhaps you've heard someone say, well, what I do in my private life is of no concern to you. If it doesn't affect someone else, I don't see a problem with it. And I've heard Christians say that sort of thing. The problem is all sin is ultimately against God. And he sees. And the Bible tells us there's no such thing as a private sin. Numbers 32, 23 reminds us, you've sinned against the Lord and you can be sure your sin will find you out. Private sins inevitably become public sins. And then the consequences of sin will reverberate out in ways and magnitudes that we often can't imagine. And when that happens, Deep hurts reach into the church, into our families, among our friends, out into our communities. Sin matters. It's never isolated. The devil's so clever in this way, he does his best to convince us, oh, we can do it in secret. Even if we know it's the kind of thing that can explode in a grave scandal, that subtle whisper, that no one will be the wiser, has led so many saints down a path of destruction. Sin always finds us out, it will always be destructive, and it will inevitably hurt others. Sometimes those who are closest to us. Here's a second takeaway. reminds us of another way the kingdom of God can be shaken, when its leaders are involved in gross public sins. You know what? Hardly a month goes by without breaking news that some bigger-than-life ministry figure or pastor has been charged with sexual sin, or being abusive spiritually, or harsh to the flock that he was called to serve, or doing something that causes the enemies of God to blaspheme the name of the Lord. Which, by the way, is exactly what Nathan said of David back in 2 Samuel 12, 14. And in every instance, you have to think, early in their sin trajectory, they had the thought, I won't get found out. And they do. And God's name gets blasphemed. And the kingdom of God appears to be shaken. So verse 3 is inserted in this narrative as a reminder of sin's devastation. Devastation that began all the way back in 2 Samuel 9. And that brings us to the pursuit of this rebel Sheba. in verses 4-13. After David gets back to Jerusalem and he provides for the concubines, he knows he's got to act quickly. There's a real threat against the kingdom. So he tells Hamas to assemble the men of Judah, get them ready for combat within three days. Now you'll remember that David had promised the men of Judah that he was going to demote Joab and make Amasa the chief general over the army in place. You see, Amasa had been the general of Absalom's forces and it was a way for David to say, no one who followed Absalom will face reprisals, not even the general. Everyone's forgiven. But for some reason, Absalom does not meet the deadline that David set for him. Frankly, he doesn't seem to be a very capable man. And the king doesn't want to wait to allow the rebellion to develop any further, so he turns to Abishai, Joab's brother. And he explains to Abishai, if we don't get on top of this, it could be worse than the harm that was caused by Absalom. So David presses upon Abishai that Sheba can't be allowed to make it to a fortified city and create a base camp, or this rebellion could really spiral out of control. And Abishai immediately leaves and we're told in verse 7 that he took Joab's men with the Cherithites, the Pelethites, and all the mighty men went out after him. And they went out of Jerusalem to pursue Sheba the son of Bixri. It's interesting that at this point we're told that Joab's men are with Abishai as well as some of David's best soldiers. What we're not told is that Joab is with them. That's sort of lingering in the background. But something we know of Joab is he has no intention of being sidelined. And it soon becomes clear that he's the one who's gonna take charge of this army. So they get to Gibeon, which was about six and a half miles north-northwest from Jerusalem. And who shows up but the late Amasa, who is about to be the late Amasa. And this is where Joab makes his move. He's dressed in combat gear, and what seems to happen is that the dagger that he carries with him in his kilt is positioned in such a way that it's able to just fall down very gradually in his left hand. And as he approaches Amasa, he says literally, aren't things shalom with you, my brother? And with his right hand, he took hold of his cousin's beard to kiss him, which was an affectionate greeting, but instead plunges the knife into Amasa with such ferocity that his guts poured out on the ground. And with that, Joab's just murdered his cousin. It's interesting that the circumstances here are similar to the events in which he killed Abner. The other man, David, had appointed to replace Joab as the commander of the armies. And by the way, that is not the job you want, replacing Joab. Right? He doesn't take it well. Both of these murders were calculating and they were both self-serving. When he killed Abner, it was an act of vengeance because Abner had killed his brother. Now he's killed Amasa because he's got it fixed in his mind that he's the only one suited to lead the Israel army. And no one gets in Joab's way. This is why later in 2 Kings 2, David's going to tell his son Solomon he's going to have to get rid of Joab. See, twice David installed generals, and he installed both of those generals in the hope of uniting Israel. And both times, Joab murdered them. And this simply wasn't David's way, and it never was. Even in David's earliest days, he didn't want to take the kingdom by force and he didn't want to unite the kingdom by force. And he could have when he was a younger man. There were a couple occasions when he could have killed Saul and taken the kingdom by force. But he wouldn't do that and even forbade his men from doing that. And again, he was a warrior. David was a warrior when he was young. They sang songs about him. Saul has killed his thousand. David has killed his ten thousands. He was a warrior. He had no reservation about using the sword to protect and defend Israel. But he was hesitant in using the sword on Israel. It was a last resort. He would do almost anything to avoid bringing the sword upon Israel. Joab had no conscience issues. The sword, or more precisely the dagger, was for anyone who got in Joab's way. Well, the pursuit of Sheba the rebel It's going to be renewed with an odd and really ominous battle cry. In verse 11, a man that isn't identified cries out, whoever favors Joab and whoever is for David, follow Joab. And you have to understand what's just happened. Whatever else we might think of Joab, he's just rebelled against the king's authority. And while I wouldn't want to press this too far, I think it's significant that Joab is mentioned before David by this man. That was a real breach of protocol. The king always gets the top billing. And that's not to say that Joab was trying to usurp David's kingship at this time. But Joab's only under the rule of Joab. David's the king of Israel. He's got authority over all Israel except Joab. And that's an untenable position. And did you notice, Amasa's murder almost derailed the mission to get Sheba. When the other soldiers saw Amasa wallowing in his blood, the army stood still. They were fixated by this. They didn't know what to make of it. And remember, these were the Cherethites, the Pelethites, and David's mighty men. That is, they were David's special forces, many of whom had been fighting with him from the days when he was in Philistia. They were warriors. They were not shocked by bloodshed. But when they saw the general David had appointed to lead them, murdered and laying on the side of the road, Everyone froze in their tracks. Eventually, the person who gave that battle cry to follow Joab and to follow David had the wherewithal to remove the body from the highway and cover it up with a garment. And then the soldiers continued on. Again, it seems to me this act, this murder, caused the kingdom to be shaken. I think Job set before us, frankly, the wrong way to pursue kingdom stability. He was a fierce warrior. He was a gifted general. But his mindset was somewhere between might is right and the means justified in the end. He was loyal to David, God's anointed and appointed king, until that loyalty bumped up against Joab's loyalty to Joab. And in every instance, Joab would choose Joab. This reminds us of those who have a ministry in the church and think, I'm so important, I'm so necessary, that I can play by my own set of rules. God's standard, they're good for most people, but I'm on a mission here. And like the leaders who get found out for some public gross sin, that kind of leader can give the appearance that the kingdom is shaky. I have to tell you as I was working through that second and third point there, I couldn't help but think of the horrible news that's unfolded about Ravi Zacharias' ministry, right? This is a man, I haven't really followed him much for the last 10 or 15 years, but prior to that, I was just so impressed with him as a gifted apologist. And presumably, these two standards worked in his life in a powerful way. He thought no one would find him out. He could do it in secret, and that never works out. And presumably he thought he was above the standards that are set for God's people to serve. And all in all, God's name is blasphemed, and there's the appearance that the kingdom was shaken. Well, that brings us to our fourth point. This rebel Sheba is dealt with by an able woman. Although Sheba's initial Call garnered a lot of attention. And all of Israel, intimated they wanted to follow him, that seems to have fizzled out. I say that because he had traveled all the way north to Beth Maacah, which was about 25 miles north of the Sea of Galilee. So he's about 40, 45 miles north of Jerusalem. In other words, he's running. He's running through all of Israel, and by the time he gets to the northern tip of Israel, the only ones who were with him are the Baraites. That's basically some of the men from a single clan from the tribe of Benjamin. Well, Sheba rushes into the city of Abel, and when Joab and the army arrives, he's within the gates, and Joab and the men begin to build a wall that will enable them to breach the rampart. And they're hammering away at the wall, and that's when an Abel woman steps up. And she immediately seeks Joab's ear. And she gets it. And she basically says, look, our city has a long history of living peaceably and faithfully in Israel. And historically, we've been known for our wisdom. So much so that when there are disputes in Israel, peaceful people would come here to Abel to settle them. This is a godly, wise voice that's being proclaimed here. Matthew Henry makes a comment about this woman that's too good not to share. He writes, it seems none of all the men of Abel, none of the elders or magistrates offered a treat with Joab. They were stupid and unconcerned for the public safety, or they stood in awe of Sheba, or they despaired of gaining any good terms with Joab, or they had not sense enough to manage the treaty. But this one woman and her wisdom saved the city. Souls know no difference of sexes. Though the man be the head, it does not therefore follow that he has the monopoly of the brains. Man, this dear woman did have the brains and the wisdom, and she seems to be the godliest actor in this passage. Look what she says in verse 19, I am among the peaceable and faithful in Israel. You seek to destroy a city, a mother in Israel? Why would you swallow up the inheritance of the Lord? There are a couple of important things to take note of in this verse. First, she's the only one in the whole passage that mentions the name of Yahweh, the covenant name of God. And second, if you can remember how this passage began, Sheba was trying to lead people away from the Lord's inheritance. She's depending on it and pleading on it. In other words, she's trusting in the covenant promises of God to Israel. And this proved to be convincing to Job and he says, far be it, far be it from me that I should swallow up or destroy. But of course he only meant that if things fell out his way. So he explains that they're chasing down an enemy of the kingdom and an enemy of David and once she hears that she explains the situation to the others in the city and before you know it Sheba loses his head and it's cast over the wall of the city. and Joab blew the trumpet, and they returned to Jerusalem. Well, we're given a postscript in verses 23 through 26, and this is basically a wrap-up of the events that began all the way back in 2 Samuel 9, when David sinned with Bathsheba, and murdered her husband Uriah. And it's an important postscript, because what it's telling us is that even after all of that, as shaky as the kingdom might have seemed through all these years, it's still intact. The administration of the kingdom is in place, but it is shaky. It really is a very shaky kingdom at this point. And I think that's emphasized by verse 23, and Joab was over all the army of Israel. Joab. Not the generals David appointed. The general that took that role by force. Dr. Ralph Davis captures the essence of this well when he writes, David can hardly have welcomed him with open arms, and yet he's got to deal with the fact that Joab saved the kingdom again. Joab's both intensely loyal and completely uncontrollable. He doesn't raise the standard of revolt against David like Sheba, nor does he seek David's throne like Absalom. and yet he acts to be his own king. He's extremely loyal to David, but essentially unsubmissive to David. And you see, dear ones, there's no such thing as acknowledging the king's sovereignty while disregarding the king's will, and yet that's what Joab does. David's kingdom had become too much like the kingdoms of this world, And it's held together by the likes of men like Joab. And while this postscript gives a little glimmer that the kingdom is intact, this is a somber moment in biblical history. Because the truth is, David's earthly kingdom will never recover. There will never be full unity. As soon as Solomon dies, It's over. The kingdoms are split, north and south. It's a shaky kingdom. And yet the hope of the world is the promise that God made to David for an everlasting kingdom. And that could ultimately come until David's greater son, was born, lived, died, rose and ascended to heaven and took his place as the king of kings at the right hand of the majesty on high. The kingdom was shaky until the Lord Jesus ascended and took his place of authority and now We who come to Jesus, as I mentioned in Hebrews 12, we've received a kingdom that cannot be shaken. And the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ announces a day when the kingdoms of this world will become the kingdoms of our Lord and His Christ, and He'll reign forever and ever. The kingdom to which we belong is unshakable. because it is the kingdom of the Lord Christ. Amen. I'll give you a minute to ask any questions you might have. That's a long passage to try to blow through, so... I shouldn't say blow through, work through. Verse 5, when it says a massive delay, longer than time, What Jeff asked is the fact that verse 5 says that Amasa was late. I just think he was incapable. I think he was kind of a buffoon. No, I don't think he was part of the rebellion. The reason I say that is if you go back to chapter 19, and I think I shared this a couple weeks ago, when David made Amas of the General, he became like a David evangelist. He's the one who won the hearts and minds of the people of Judah. So that would be odd to think that that that was part of that plan. I just think he was a man who lacked capability. Which, by the way, we can fault David for saying, why did you put this buffoon in charge of the army? But at the end of the day, he's the king and he has the right to put that buffoon. Just like he has the right to put a buffoon here. Right? I mean, really, it's, you know. Any other questions? Why don't you deal with Joab? That's a great question. Go back to 2 Samuel 5. The short of this is, I think David was scared of him. I mean, I can't think of another explanation. If you go back to 2 Samuel 5, let me pull this up. It's at the very end of it. 2 Samuel 5. Oh, no, it's not 2 Samuel 5. 2 Samuel 4, pardon me. Now, Ishbosheth has been murdered. The guys who killed him, they show up. And do you remember, they told David, hey, we've done you this great service. We've killed Ishbosheth, the son of Saul. Now all your rivals are dead. And they thought that David was going to pat them on the back. They got the Sheba treatment, right? But look at the end of chapter 4. And David commanded his young men, and they killed them, and cut off their hands and feet, and hanged them beside the pool of Hebron. but they took the head of Ish-bashith and buried it in the tomb of Abner at Hebron. This is a little way of making a point. God was, excuse me, David was rendering justice on these two men. Abner never got justice. You see, David should have responded to Abner, but part of it after this was David's sin. I mean, what's he going to do? He sends a message, hey, hey, Joab, you know, that faithful warrior, Uriah, he's gonna be out there, kill him. What's Joab do? He kills him. At this point, they're in bed. I think, again, weak in his hand. David had no moral authority. And I think at this point, he passes the buck. And he passes the buck to his son. And Rick Phillips picks up on this, and he makes a very interesting application. He says, if we don't deal, With the struggles and challenges we have to deal with, we're gonna make someone else deal with it, perhaps our children. And that's really what he did. Any other? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. No. Right. Yeah. Well, right. I mean, Absalom gets his hair all hung up in the tree, and you'd think the general would be there, well, let's defend the king, and he seems to be just as lost as Absalom was, right? Yeah, I don't think he was very capable. I think he proves that. Yeah. We don't know who the man was that said whoever's Joe Epp, we don't know at all. No, we don't. The man who said, oh, all who follow Joe Epp will follow David, come on. No, we have no idea who that is. But he was clearly a Joe Epp loyalist. Because he's also the one who, I mean, again, you have to think, these fierce warriors are stopping and they're like, what's, they couldn't process it. And it clearly wasn't the blood, right? Because they were bloody guys. There's like, there's something wrong here. And he knew, he had the wherewithal to, we gotta get this off the road. Any other comments? I mentioned this a few weeks ago, when we're studying the Old Testament and you're looking at someone like David, there are times when his nobility points There are times when the stability and the blessing of the kingdom points to Christ's kingdom. I think specifically of chapter 8 in 2 Samuel, that was sort of the zenith of David's kingdom. He was ruling and reigning in justice and peace over the kingdom. But there are other times when you see a type of priest like David and he falls short and it makes you say, wow, we need the greater David to establish the greater kingdom. And that's who we look to. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for the Lord Jesus. We thank you that the kingdom he established, the kingdom he won for us by giving his body and shedding his blood is an unshakable kingdom. And we pray that that would be a comfort and a blessing to us as we go from here. Hear our prayers in Jesus' name.