David’s Story, Part 1

1 Samuel 17

Today, we’re exploring the story of David—a shepherd boy turned monarch whose triumphs and tribulations resonate through history. Despite his stature as Israel’s most lauded king, David understood that his true greatness was rooted in his relationship with Jesus Christ. As we trace his lineage forward, we see a lineage destined to bring forth Jesus Himself.

We’re journeying together into 1 Samuel 17, where young David’s famous encounter with Goliath offers more than just a tale of courage; it’s a precursor to the coming Messiah whom David prefigured—a king of peace, shepherd of His people, and a beacon for all nations.

So grab your Bibles, tune in with an open heart, and walk with us through the life of a man after God’s own heart—David. As we examine his story, may we also realize the importance of our connection to Christ and the significance that relationship holds above all worldly achievements.

Your pastor told me that some of you are big shots in business and in the city. Well, he didn’t exactly use these words, but that’s what he meant. I tell you, whatever you achieve in your life, the most important thing about you will be your relationship to Jesus Christ. Welcome to Open the Bible with Pastor Colin Smith. I’m David Pick, and we’re in the middle of a series, Christmas Stories, looking at the Christmas story from the perspective of different biblical characters. And Colin, today it’s King David’s story. One of my favorite characters in all of the Bible. I think of David as a great achiever. Think of what he accomplished in his life, I mean, recognized as Israel’s greatest king. All that he did, and yet the greatest thing about him is not his accomplishments, but his relationship to Jesus Christ. Of course, Christ is descended from David, but the Bible makes this great emphasis that there’s a relationship between David and Christ. Thank God that by faith, there can be a relationship between Jesus Christ and us too. That is something to be grateful for. So today we’re in the first book of Samuel in chapter 17. So I hope you’ll join us there if you can, as we begin the message, David’s story. Here’s Colin. Merry Christmas to you, everyone. It’s wonderful to be here. You look back to the birth of Jesus, where I lived a thousand years before he came into the world, I looked forward. But as one who placed my faith in Jesus before he came, just as I hope you’ve put your faith in Jesus since he came, I’ve had the joy of spending these years in his marvelous, marvelous presence. I’m not allowed to tell you what that’s like, but what I can tell you today is something of my own story and something about my own relationship with Jesus that I hope will help you to see just how great he is and what he can mean to you. You know, I was the youngest in my family and some of you know, you know, you never outgrow being the youngest in your family. It’s not the easiest position in which to be placed. I had brothers who got to do all of the fun things. As the youngest, my father, Jesse, he had me out watching the sheep. And I would have loved to have been with my brothers, but that’s how it was for me for much of my early years. If someone had come and had asked me, David, guess which member of your family will sit as king on the throne of Israel? I would never have guessed in a thousand years that it would have been me. But I can tell you this, that God has plans for your life if you’re a follower of Jesus that are greater than anything you have ever dreamed. And seeing it from up there now, I see it more clearly than I ever saw it in my life down here. Some of you, of course, will know the stories from my life. You’ll know about some of my great successes and you’ll also know about some of my great failures. No one knew greater happiness than me on the day when they brought the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem. Wow, what a fantastic day that was. I was so happy, I danced before the Lord, overwhelmed by joy. But if you’ve read my story, you will know that I also had my problems. If some of you think you have problems in your family, read my story. My son Absalom, who rebelled against me and his terrible, terrible end. And that awful, oh unspeakable thing that happened to my daughter, Tamar. I lived in an evil world a thousand years before the coming of Jesus Christ and I expect that you’ve had your fair share and your taste of that too. Now you know, people have fallen into the habit of calling me Israel’s greatest king. Frankly, I wish they wouldn’t do that. But here’s why they do. When I was king, God gave us victory over our enemies. Our borders were secure and we lived with peace in our time. And get this, during the entire period of my reign, you’ll like this, our economy was booming. Now just thinking about that and being around here, I’m thinking maybe I should stick around and have a shot at running to be your president. But I’m not here to talk about myself. I’m here today to talk to you about my greater son, whose name is Jesus. Now remember this, the most important thing in my life is not anything that I achieved as the king of Israel. The most important thing about me is my relationship with Jesus. And you will find in your life and you’ll certainly find beyond the period of your life that the most important thing for you is your relationship with Jesus. Your pastor told me that some of you are big shots in business and in the city. Well, he didn’t exactly use these words, but that’s what he meant. I tell you, whatever you achieve in your life, the most important thing about you will be your relationship to Jesus Christ. You take that from me as the word of a king. So let me tell you about my relationship with Jesus. It all began with a promise that God gave to me through the prophet Nathan. Nathan spoke the truth into my life, as you may remember, on many occasions, sometimes painfully so. But God used this very special man, Nathan, to speak the truth in a very wonderful way. You can read about it in 2 Samuel chapter 7 and verse 14. In fact, Nathan became so important in my life that I named one of my own sons after him. You might like to remember that. Here’s what God said to me through Nathan. God said that after I was dead and gone, he would raise up my offspring to succeed me. In other words, that there would be a future person who would come from my family line, and God said he would be the one who would build a house for God’s name. It was an amazing promise, especially when you think about this. God never made a promise like that to Moses. No promise like that was ever given to Joshua or to any of the judges. This was a promise that was given wonderfully to me. I can’t get over the privilege of it. God said there will be a son in your line, David. He will arise after your lifetime, but he will be your offspring, and he will be the one to build the house for my name. Then God said something else about this future person. God said about him that he would give to this person the throne forever. Now I was scratching my head when I heard that word from God, because kings come and kings go. Kings rise and kings fall. No king has a throne that lasts forever, but God said that this offspring who would come into my line after I had died, he would be given the throne and his kingdom would last forever, and then God said something even more astonishing. He said this, and I will be his father, and he will be my son. You’re listening to Open the Bible with Pastor Colin Smith and David’s Story, one of our series, Christmas Stories, looking at the Christmas story from the perspective of different biblical characters, and if you’ve missed any of the series or if you want to go back and listen again, you can always do that by coming online to our website, openthebible.org.uk. You can also find our messages as podcasts. If you go to your favorite podcast site, search for Open the Bible UK and subscribe to receive regular updates. Back to the message now, we’re in 1 Samuel and chapter 17, here’s Colin. God said that this offspring who would come into my line after I had died, he would be given the throne and his kingdom would last forever, and then God said something even more astonishing. He said this, and I will be his father, and he will be my son. I scratched my head when I heard that word through Nathan. How could any son of mine be the son of God? How could God be father to my son? I understand it now, but you can understand it was a complete mystery to me then. But this was the promise. It was quite clear. You can read it in your Bible. The son of God would be born into my family line, and from that day you will understand that the eyes of faithful and believing people were always on my line of descent through the generations. Well, if you know a little bit about the Bible, you’ll know the story that followed. When I died, my son Solomon became the king, and he was the one who built the temple. Of course, I expect some people thought that that was what was meant by building a house for God’s name, and in some ways it was. But Solomon didn’t fulfill the promise, and he ended actually rather badly. It was very sad. After him came my grandson, Rehoboam. Poor fellow didn’t know the first thing about leadership. Soon as he became king, he alienated most of the people, and it wasn’t long therefore before there was someone who rose up in the north of the country, a man by the name of Jeroboam, a military leader, and he led a revolt against my grandson. And that resulted in the ten tribes in the northern part of Israel, the huge majority of Israel, declaring independence from the house of David, and they appointed their own king. It turned out to be Jeroboam. It’s amazing how the military leader ends up being the king, isn’t it? That’s what happened. And from then on it was a line of unbroken disaster for these ten tribes that had separated from the rule of my family line. One after another, evil kings, until the year 722 BC, about 300 years after my time, when the Assyrians came in, and they deported the people, and they overwhelmed all of the armies of the north, so that the northern area of the kingdom was left as a complete desolate wasteland. And then the king of Assyria, having scattered all these people, brought foreigners from all kinds of other nations, and forcibly repatriated them to live in the northern kingdom. You know what these folks were called? Samaritans. You know how much we Jews loved them. Well, that left just two tribes in the south, around Jerusalem, continuing to live under the line descended from me. Now, to tell you, my descendants were a bit of a mixed bunch. Some of them had a heart for God, a lot of them turned out to be all about themselves. They continued after the fall of the northern kingdom for about another hundred or more years. But eventually the same disaster that had come to the north also came to these two tribes living under the rule of my descendants in the south. Babylon was the superpower of the day, and Nebuchadnezzar’s armies came along and marched against Jerusalem. The city was completely destroyed, the temple was devastated, and the people who had not fled or had not died were taken off into exile in Babylon. Zedekiah was the last king of my line to sit on the throne in Jerusalem, and the end came for him in the year 586 years before Jesus. And after that, descendants from my line, they all lived in obscurity, most of them living in poverty. People watched and people waited to see how God’s promise might be fulfilled. Of course, you know the story that after 70 years, the people who were in exile, some of them came back to Jerusalem and they rebuilt the city walls and they rebuilt the temple. You can read about this in the books of Ezra and Nehemiah. But I want you to understand this, when that little community came back, they had a temple, there was a worshipping people, but they had no Davidic king. No Davidic king. They were ruled from that time on by kings who were foreigners right down to the time of Herod, who was an Edomite. No one from my line on the throne since Zedekiah, 600 years before the birth of Jesus. And so people waited and watched and wondered, 600 years since the Davidic king has been on the throne, how will one ever arise from obscurity to fulfill the promise of God? Well, I tell you, it was a thousand years after my lifetime before the promise was fulfilled. And as I watched from above, I cannot tell you the joy that was in my heart as he was born. By the way, have you noticed that I get a direct personal mention in the very first verse of the New Testament? Did you notice that? Here’s what it says. Matthew chapter one and verse one, a record of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David. My favorite verse in the New Testament. By the way, while we’re on that, you might be interested to know, did you know this? That both Joseph and Mary were descended from my line through different sons. Joseph was my descendant through Solomon, and his line is traced in the Gospel of Matthew. Mary was my descendant through Nathan, the son that I named after the prophet, and her line is traced in the Gospel of Luke. Both of them were of the royal bloodline. Both of them living in obscurity. Amazing. By the way, I get a mention all over the Christmas story. Do you remember when the angel appeared to Mary? He said that the son that she would bear would be called the son of the Most High, and that God would give him the throne of his father, David, my son on my throne. And then when Caesar called for that census, and everyone had to return to their own town of origin in order to register, where did Mary and Joseph go? But to Bethlehem, which was my hometown. Now think about this. Has it ever occurred to you, I was a shepherd from Bethlehem. I knew what it was to be out on those hills watching sheep at night. That’s what I did as the youngest brother for years before God had given me opportunity to serve in other ways. I knew what it was like for these guys who were out on the hills behind Bethlehem watching sheep on the night when Jesus was born, and the angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them. And do you remember what the angel said to them? Don’t be afraid, he said, today there’s good news of great joy, because today in the town of David, Bethlehem, they’d renamed it really, because that’s where I came from. A saviour has been born to you, and he is Christ the Lord. Roll the story forward, because if you end at Christmas, you really don’t get what it’s all about. Roll the story forward, and you find Jesus beginning his public ministry. And he healed people, and folks were astonished at what he did. On one occasion, you can read about this in Matthew and chapter 12, some people found a person who seemed to be a uniquely difficult case. This man couldn’t speak, and he couldn’t see, and on top of that, he was possessed by many evil spirits, demons. I guess these folks wanted to test Jesus, you know, we’ve seen him doing some miracles, let’s see what he can do with this fellow. So they brought this fellow who can’t see, and can’t speak, and is possessed by many demons, they bring him to Jesus, let’s see what he can do with him. And you know what Jesus did? He healed him, and delivered him on the spot. Well that absolutely astonished everyone. You can read this in your Bible. Here’s what people started to say, they said, could this be the son of David? Could this Jesus be the one who for all these centuries and generations we’ve been looking since God gave the promise to me? Word about him spread, of course. And eventually he came to Jerusalem, wouldn’t you celebrate this a little nearer to Easter? There was a day when he came into the city riding on a donkey, and more and more people had come to the same conclusion that they expressed that day. You remember they picked up palm branches, and they said, say it with me, Hosanna to the son of David. They’d come to believe that this is the one in whom that great promise to me would be fulfilled. You know, as you read through the Gospels, Jesus referred to me on many, many occasions. But my favorite is the time when Jesus quoted one of my Psalms and threw the Pharisees into utter confusion. I wonder if you know this story. Here’s what I wrote in Psalm 110. I wrote these words, they’re very important, in fact they’re so important that these words are the most quoted words from the Old Testament in all of the New Testament Scriptures. Psalm 110, verse 1, here’s what I wrote. Under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, I said, the Lord, that is God Almighty, Yahweh, the Lord, I wrote, said to my Lord, sit at my right hand until all your enemies are under your feet. You see, it had been revealed to me by God that beside the Almighty himself would be one who I could only describe as my Lord, and that the Almighty would say to the one I can only describe as my Lord, that he should sit at the right hand of the Almighty, and that he should sit there until all his enemies have been placed under his feet. It was all a little hazy to me, but enough was revealed to me so that I knew that the one I could only describe as my Lord would be at the right hand of the Almighty, and that all his enemies would be put under his feet. And I wrote that in Psalm 110 under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, and it’s so important that it is the most quoted single statement from all the Old Testament scriptures in the New Testament. I wonder if you knew that. You’ve been listening to Open the Bible with Pastor Colin Smith, and today’s message, David’s Story, part of our series, Christmas Stories, looking at the Christmas story from the perspective of different biblical characters, and today, King David, as found in the first book of Samuel, chapter 17. And if you’ve missed any of the series, or you want to go back and listen again, you can always do that by coming to our website, that’s openthebible.org.uk. Open the Bible is supported entirely by donations from our listeners, and we’re very grateful for that. And if that’s something you haven’t done up till now, but you feel you’d like to begin doing it, we have an offer for you this month. If you’re able to set up a new donation in respect of Open the Bible, for the amount of five pounds per month or more, we’d love to send you a book of prayers. It’s called Valley of Vision. And Colin, how might we benefit from reading this book? Well, I think this is a book that will really help folks to pray. And you know, as a pastor over the years, I’ve found that that is a question that people want to ask more than any other. I’ve quite often over the years just said to people, when there’s opportunity for an open conversation, hey, what do you want to talk about? And I’ve given some suggestions, and the most frequent question that I get asked is, can we talk about prayer? People want to know how to grow in our prayer lives. And the Valley of Vision is a collection of prayers that has come down through the centuries that are really, really helpful for stimulating prayer. They’re organised according to different parts of prayer, worship and praise, asking and interceding, and also confessing. And just the richness with which they’re written. So I mean, here, for example, are a couple of lines out of one of the prayers for purification. Deliver me, O God, from attachment to things unclean, from wrong associations, from the predominance of evil passions, from the sugar of sin, as well as its gall. Boy, now that would just make you think, wouldn’t it? There’s a sugar in sin as well as a gall, and we need delivered from both. Well, you know, that’s just picking one little phrase out of this. It’s so rich. As you read through these prayers, you’ll find your own heart to be stirred and your own prayers to be stimulated. I find this book immensely helpful. It has helped Christians for generations, and I think it will be immensely helpful to you. Well, we’d love to send you a copy of this book as a way of saying thank you for setting up a new donation in respect of Open the Bible in the amount of £5 per month or more. Full details of this offer on our website, openthebible.org.uk. For Open the Bible and Pastor Colin Smith, I’m David Pick, and I hope you’ll be able to join us again very soon. After David’s victory over Goliath, the people of God made him king. Find out why God’s people needed a better king next time on Open the Bible.

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Colin Smith

Trustee / Founder and Teaching Pastor

Colin Smith is the Senior Pastor of The Orchard Evangelical Free Church in the northwest suburbs of Chicago. He has authored a number of books, including Heaven, How I Got Here and Heaven, So Near – So Far. Colin is the Founder and Teaching Pastor for Open the Bible. Follow him on X formerly Twitter.

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