Bubblical

Talkin’ with God about Kings and Kingdoms2Samuel 15-20The sin of David with Bathsheba rolls into a wayward son who usurps his father, takes the kingdom into civil war, and has sex with his father’s concubines. Off the hook stuff, but actually the substance of modern day politics of rebellion. This can not be the Kingdom of God. We need a king to do away with evil once and for all.

Talkin’ with God about Kings and Kingdoms2Samuel 14-15David’s ‘sexcapades’ continue to roll out consequences, just like God said. David went from being the epitome of faith in God to dirty rotten scoundrel, and now he is a ‘do nothing dad’. Every character in God’s novel shows us both faith and unfaith, so that we can be inspired to do better than even kings like David. Fatherhood is half of God’s Marriage and Family Plan (MFP).

Talkin’ with God about Kings and Kingdoms2Samuel 11-13All the good vibrations of Israel becoming a nation among nations, to bring the nations to God and to bring God’s compassion to the down and outs goes out the window. Sex in the city turns the kingdom upside down, as it does. The real Kingdom of God must defeat evil not wallow in it. David really steps in it in this maddening story of sex gone bad on many levels. Come Lord Jesus come!

Talkin’ with God about Kings and Kingdoms2Samuel 10Mocking, beards and the Kingdom of God roll together in this pretty humorous and eye opening segment of God’s story. David behaves with Godliness but the world around him mocks. God gets the last laugh and the Ammonites are embarrassed beyond their own mockery. But there is something about mocking beards that God uses here and later in his story. Isaiah, 300 years later, will talk of future beard folly, and 700 years after Isaiah, Jesus will bring mocking beards to life - and death - and life again!

Talkin’ with God about Kings and Kingdoms2Samuel 9The high point of the promised nation of Israel’s inauguration is a cripple named Mephibosheth. Equity and justice for all! This is God’s idea for us, then and now. Jesus makes it even better, the kingdom Jesus promises takes compassion as its chief virtue top down then out, so that the down and outs can have equity and justice. Your kingdom come your will be done!

Talkin’ with God about Kings and Kingdoms2Samuel 8What seems like an uneventful, maybe a bit dreary, text is actually a peak in the whole Biblical story so far. A thousand years before David, God promised a nation to Abraham’s children and here it is! This is the Kingdom of God and God’s promise fulfilled. Exciting stuff, but is this it? It can’t be, because God told David (2Sam 7:13) that a son of his would be the King of a forever kingdom and this is no forever kingdom. The forever kingdom will be inaugurated in another thousand years, without bloodshed except the Kings blood. This King and Kingdom will blow every other to KINGDOM COME. Your Kingdom come! Yay!

Talkin’ with God about Kings and Kingdoms2Samuel 7:18-29David talks to God. Why? Because God became his God. When God becomes your God you should talk to him, just like David. That’s what this passage is here for. Do you talk with God? Are you amazed by his grace in your prayers? Do you pray God’s promises? David models proper prayer so you can pray like this. No surprise, Jesus teaches us to pray the same way.

Talkin’ with God about Kings and Kingdoms2Samuel 7:1-17Today we expect leaders to be ‘servant leaders’ without realizing how different this is to human history and the world outside Christian influence. God gives David a lesson of History by reminding David that he is a happy camper, pitching a tent wherever his people are. If this isn’t extraordinary, nothing is. God keeps his word moving forward, and David gets a big reminder that God doesn’t need a house of human building, humans need a house of God’s building that can be lived in forever.