David Bowing Under God

The forerunner of the Lord Jesus, John the Baptist, once said, “He must increase, but I must decrease.” What a grace it is if we may really be on that place!

David, being king in Jerusalem, received many benefits from the Lord, but he also had fallen into a terrible sin. He had become a murderer and an adulterer. When Nathan the prophet came to him and said, “Thou art the man,” David bowed under God. He became the guilty one. Nathan also testified, “Now therefore the sword shall never depart from thine house.” This word of the Lord became evident in the days in which Absalom his son turned against him. David had permitted his son Absalom to come back to Jerusalem without true reconciliation. This was not in God’s favor, but was caused by human weakness and softness. It was not based on satisfaction of justice. Any way in which justice is not satisfied will never be to God’s honor and our real benefit.

Absalom stole the hearts of the men of Judah. He impressed them with a display of some pomp and show of horses with riders. He simulated much interest in their needs, tried to please them, and was very zealous in trying to reach his goal. “He rose up early and stood by the way of the gates.” The plot he was working out required much labor and much patience. But Absalom persevered in it, upheld and encouraged by the hope of ultimate success.

The curbstone which Absalom put on his plot when all was ripe for execution was a piece of religious hypocrisy. He knew the sincerity of his father’s religion. He knew that nothing could possibly gratify David more than to find in his son evidence of a corresponding state of heart, so he asked for permission to go to Hebron. He said, “Let me go and pay my vow which I have vowed unto the Lord in Hebron.” David gladly gave him this permission, but then Absalom’s true intentions appeared. Absalom wanted the throne. When Absalom was in Hebron, he proclaimed himself to be king saying, “As soon as ye hear the sound of the trumpet, then ye shall say, Absalom reigneth in Hebron.”

We read, “And the conspiracy was strong; for the people increased continually with Absalom.” When David heard that, he decided to leave Jerusalem. He didn’t want the holy city to become a battlefield, so he departed with some faithful followers. How painful this way must have been for the God-fearing king of Israel! What a dangerous work of Absalom, for the Lord had said, “Touch not My anointed and do My prophets no harm.” Yet this was all because of David’s sin.

So David left Jerusalem. “And all the country wept with a loud voice, and all the people passed over: the king also himself passed over the brook Kidron, and all the people passed over, toward the way of the wilderness.” What a heavy way for David, to go through the brook Kidron, which means blackness! What a dark night for the God-fearing king! In that night there seemed to be some ray of hope, for the Levites and Zadok were also coming with him and they were bearing the ark of the covenant of God with them. This ark was precious to David. Once he had danced before the Lord when the ark was brought up to Jerusalem. David knew the desire “to behold the beauty of the Lord and to enquire in His temple.” This beauty was also displayed in the ark which testifies of God’s presence and of the mystery of salvation, that a holy and a righteous God can dwell among a guilty people. The ark testifies of the ladder of Jacob, the Mediator of God and man, Jesus Christ. We can understand that this ark was utterly precious to David. How it must have gladdened his heart in the midst of all his afflictions that the Levites were carrying the ark unto him!

We would say that this ark should be with David and his army, and not with Absalom. How could God dwell in the midst of the enemies of David? Was not David God’s anointed king? Was he not chosen to be a leader of Israel? We would say, “That is right, Zadok and Levites. You are bringing the ark to the right place.” Yet David gave a surprising answer to Zadok. “Carry back the ark of God into the city.” He rejected the bringing of the ark and testified that the ark had to be brought to the place where it ought to be, in the dwelling place of God, in Jerusalem. David did not want to have the ark with him, as if he had a right to it, thus stealing the token of God’s gracious presence and covering the real cause of his tribulation. David knew he had sinned. This was God’s righteous punishment. The ark belonged in Jerusalem; there was its dwelling place; there atonement could be made; there the sacrifices were brought. David bowed under God. He didn’t want to steal the grace of God.

What a dangerous work of Absalom, for the Lord had said, “Touch not My anointed and do My prophets no harm.”

How many there are who would act differently! They do not know anything of this bowing of David, this unconditional bowing under God. They do not know anything of what Micah said, “I will bear the indignation of the Lord, for I have sinned against Him.” Yet they speak of Jesus, of His love, and of His redemption, but they have never lost the battle or stood outside. Oh, happy David, who in all his tribulations fell at the side of God. He didn’t want to have God on his side to follow him, but he wanted to follow God, even in His dark ways. He said, “If I shall find favour in the eyes of the LORD,” — favour, grace — “He will bring me again.” It was the desire of David that He might be brought back to Jerusalem — not just to his throne, but to the dwelling place of God, where God dwells in the midst of a guilty people. However, he realized that this also would be favor, grace, unmerited goodness. David showed his unworthiness. Although his soul longed for the nearness of God, for the tokens of His presence, he said, “If I shall find favour ...He will bring me again, and shew me both it, and His habitation.”

There is a people who say as in Psalm 43:3, “O send out Thy light and Thy truth: and let them lead me; let them bring me unto Thy holy hill, and to Thy tabernacles.” They need to be restored by God. They need to be brought back time and again. David also realized that the Lord righteously could do otherwise. He could say, “I have no delight in thee.” What a terrible thing this would be! The Lord could say, “I have no delight in you as I had before.” The Lord could testify, “I will never show you My favor again. You will never see the light of My countenance; you will never enjoy My nearness again. I have no delight in such a sinner as you are.”

We do not hear that David said, “Lord, this would not be right. I am the appointed king. I am Thy child; I am Thy chosen one.” He didn’t plead upon any rights in himself, not upon his office, nor upon the grace once received, but he said, “Lord, if thou would have no delight in me, behold, here am I.” With this word, he surrendered himself to the government of God. He was as clay in the hands of the potter, “Here am I. Lord, Thou mayest do with me as seemeth good unto Thee.” As Eli once said, when he heard of the terrible judgments which the Lord would bring upon him, his children, and the people of Israel, “It is the Lord, let Him do what seemeth Him good”; so David might also say, “Here am I, let Him do to me as seemeth good unto Him.” This is a surrendering to God’s government. If the Lord would say, “Depart from me,” it would be deserved. If the Lord would have no delight in His child anymore, David would say, “Lord, Thou art just.”

All true humility, surrendering, and bowing under God are out of the fullness of Christ.

Dear friends, do you know this place? — “Here am I”? It would be the worst punishment we could ever receive if the Lord would say, “I have no delight in you.” Yet, to say, “It is the Lord.” How inclined we are to rebel against God’s heavy hand when it is laid upon us, to do as Asaph did when he envied the ungodly and in fact disagreed with God, or to try to change the Lord’s leadings and to get Him to do what we would like Him to do. But here, however, God’s honor and God’s glory stood above David. Here David had lost his rights and he was as clay in the hand of the potter. Precious place, also today! But where do we hear of it? How different the church would be if this disposition as in the heart of David would be ours!

That is possible. Do you know why David bowed under God? Because of the Greater David, because of Jesus Christ who also would leave the city of Jerusalem and would go through the brook Kidron, as we read in John 18:1, “He went forth with His disciples over the brook Cedron, where was a garden, into the which he entered, and His disciples.” There He would creep as a worm and no man. There He would drink the bitter cup of suffering placed upon His hand by the Father who is the righteous Judge. There He said, “Nevertheless not as I will, but as Thou wilt.” There He said, “O my Father, if this cup may not pass away from Me, except I drink it, Thy will be done.” He has said, “Behold, here am I,” for He had said it already in eternity. When His Father asked for a Mediator, for a Surety, He answered, “Lo, I come, in the volume of the book it is written of Me, I delight to do Thy will, O my God.” This Greater David surrendered to the will of His Father; He said, “Father, glorify Thy Name.”

Therefore David bowed under God. All true humility, surrendering, and bowing under God are out of the fullness of Christ. Therefore sinners may lose the battle, may surrender unto God, and become hell-worthy, putting their hand upon their mouth and saying, “It is the Lord; if Thou wouldst never look upon me, if Thou wouldst cast me away forever, if I would never receive a word of Thy mouth, then Thou art just.” But this Greater David did not only leave Jerusalem, He is also the Ark of the covenant who is now at the right hand of the Father and by Him unworthy and hell-worthy sinners may be brought back to Jerusalem.

It would be just if the Lord would have no delight in them. He cannot have delight in sinners outside of Christ, but Christ stood in their place and the Father hid His face from Him. He cried out, “My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?” The Father withdrew Himself from His Son. He delivered Him up; He gave Him up into hell. He will not delight in sinners, but the Father had a delight in the work of His Son and He clearly showed that. When Christ said, “It is finished,” then the Father showed His agreement and delight with the work of His Son. The veil in the temple was rent from the top to the bottom. Even nature spoke of the majesty of God; the rocks were rent and there was an earthquake on the day of the resurrection. The Father raised up His Son; He had a delight in His work, and on Ascension Day He took Him up into heaven. There He gave Him a place at His right hand and gave Him the glory He had with Him before the world was. He had a delight in the work of His Son. And now in Him, in Christ, a righteous and a holy God, offended by our sins, even as of David’s, can and will have a delight in sinners who have forfeited everything and by His grace may say, “Here am I. Lord, I am not worthy that Thou would ever look upon me. Do with me what is good in Thy sight.” Then the Lord will look upon them. We read in Isaiah 66, “But to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit and trembleth at My word.”

May the Lord grant that such a people may be found amongst us, a people who lose the battle and bow under God. It will be because of Him who went through Cedron, through the black night of God’s heavenly wrath, and who loved His own to the very end, paid the price, and who is now in the heavenly Jerusalem. They may also be brought there where He is. The Lord will say, “I have a delight in thee. Thou art My Hephzibah — My delight is in thee.” Then they will be restored and He will be all in all. Then they will disappear when He appears, and they will cast the crown before His feet. All the ways of deep trials and the wilderness journey will have an end and they will sing praises to the glory of Him who humbled Himself even unto the death of the cross.

The Father will have a delight in the bride of His Son and He will receive all the glory.

What will it be if we have maintained ourself and have gladly accepted the ark brought to us, have stolen the grace and never bowed under God, have imagined to enter in and are not able to do so? Then we will begin to stand outside. Oh sinner, learn to bow under God and say by grace, “It is the Lord.” May the Lord bring us to this place of David and may bowing sinners be given a look upon the now exalted King at the right hand of His Father. Soon the battle will be over and He will restore fallen office-bearers to the glory He has prepared for them.

Rev. C. Vogelaar is pastor of the Ebenezer Netherlands Reformed Church of Franklin Lakes, New Jersey.

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