2 Samuel 12:13
The 11th chapter of 2 Samuel is one of the saddest in the Bible. It tells the story of David’s sin of adultery with Bathsheba and his subsequent murder of her husband and the cover-up thereafter. The “apple of God’s eye” slipped so far into sin, and it is painful to read about. The 12th chapter is the confrontation between Nathan, the prophet of God and King David. Nathan tells him about his sin, how that God has seen what he did and will bring the sword into his house forever.
We learn a valuable lesson about the redemptive power of grace in this chapter. When David acknowledges his sin, he confesses it as being “against the LORD”. This act of repentance is seen by God as faith, knowing that David has a broken heart due to his failure. Nathan responds with, “The LORD also hath put away thy sin; thou shalt not die”. What sweet words those are! To know that the Lord has put your sin away so that you are not guilty anymore is the greatest knowledge in the world.
Why does God put away David’s sin, even without a lamb being sacrificed? David tells us that this is the fact in his prayer of repentance, found in Psalm 51: “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God thou wilt not despise” (verse 17). There is no scripture prior to this one that told man that the Lord was looking for a broken spirit in man, but David had knowledge as to how the heart of God functioned. He knew that God could not and would not turn away the broken man; for God created man and He loves him unconditionally.
Prior to this verse, David tells us another remarkable truth, “For thou desirest not sacrifice; else would I give it: thou delightest not in burnt offering” (Psalms 51:16). Again, at no point in previous scripture has God indicated that He did not want sacrifices to be offered for the sins of man, but David is looking forward to the cross, when God would need no more lambs. David is a New Covenant thinker in an Old Covenant world, and God honors this kind of faith.
So complete is God’s forgiveness, that when Chronicles retells the story of Israel it intentionally leaves out the story of David and Bathsheba (1 Chronicles 20:1). I call this, “The Case of the Missing Story”, because when you look for the story of David’s sin, it is missing. God’s redemption is complete in that there is no trace of the failure left over when the blood of Jesus is applied.
Under the Old Covenant, God remembered Israel’s sins, “to the third and fourth generation” (Exodus 20:5), but under the New Covenant, “Their sins and iniquities will I remember no more” (Hebrews 10:17). When David appealed forward to Christ’s finished work, he was doing so independent of works, believing for a time when God would not count his sins against him.
You and I are living under this New Covenant, and we have the blessed promise that our sins are forgiven. Does this motivate you to go out and sin? Of course not! In fact, we know that we are dead to sin, so how can we continue to live in it? (Romans 6:1, 2) The knowledge that our sins are gone is coupled with the insurmountable love of God which strengthens us to live beyond sin. In fact, how can we continue to live in failure with so much grace around us? Give God glory for the knowledge that, “Thou shalt not die”.
The 11th chapter of 2 Samuel is one of the saddest in the Bible. It tells the story of David’s sin of adultery with Bathsheba and his subsequent murder of her husband and the cover-up thereafter. The “apple of God’s eye” slipped so far into sin, and it is painful to read about. The 12th chapter is the confrontation between Nathan, the prophet of God and King David. Nathan tells him about his sin, how that God has seen what he did and will bring the sword into his house forever.
We learn a valuable lesson about the redemptive power of grace in this chapter. When David acknowledges his sin, he confesses it as being “against the LORD”. This act of repentance is seen by God as faith, knowing that David has a broken heart due to his failure. Nathan responds with, “The LORD also hath put away thy sin; thou shalt not die”. What sweet words those are! To know that the Lord has put your sin away so that you are not guilty anymore is the greatest knowledge in the world.
Why does God put away David’s sin, even without a lamb being sacrificed? David tells us that this is the fact in his prayer of repentance, found in Psalm 51: “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God thou wilt not despise” (verse 17). There is no scripture prior to this one that told man that the Lord was looking for a broken spirit in man, but David had knowledge as to how the heart of God functioned. He knew that God could not and would not turn away the broken man; for God created man and He loves him unconditionally.
Prior to this verse, David tells us another remarkable truth, “For thou desirest not sacrifice; else would I give it: thou delightest not in burnt offering” (Psalms 51:16). Again, at no point in previous scripture has God indicated that He did not want sacrifices to be offered for the sins of man, but David is looking forward to the cross, when God would need no more lambs. David is a New Covenant thinker in an Old Covenant world, and God honors this kind of faith.
So complete is God’s forgiveness, that when Chronicles retells the story of Israel it intentionally leaves out the story of David and Bathsheba (1 Chronicles 20:1). I call this, “The Case of the Missing Story”, because when you look for the story of David’s sin, it is missing. God’s redemption is complete in that there is no trace of the failure left over when the blood of Jesus is applied.
Under the Old Covenant, God remembered Israel’s sins, “to the third and fourth generation” (Exodus 20:5), but under the New Covenant, “Their sins and iniquities will I remember no more” (Hebrews 10:17). When David appealed forward to Christ’s finished work, he was doing so independent of works, believing for a time when God would not count his sins against him.
You and I are living under this New Covenant, and we have the blessed promise that our sins are forgiven. Does this motivate you to go out and sin? Of course not! In fact, we know that we are dead to sin, so how can we continue to live in it? (Romans 6:1, 2) The knowledge that our sins are gone is coupled with the insurmountable love of God which strengthens us to live beyond sin. In fact, how can we continue to live in failure with so much grace around us? Give God glory for the knowledge that, “Thou shalt not die”.
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