“Kingdom of God: Revelation of ‘Violence’ to David/Ps 18”

Along with speaking of the mysteries of the kingdom, Jesus also said of it, in Mt 11:12, ‘And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force.’

In continuing on with the kingdom of God and its bent toward suffering violence, as Jesus spoke of it, our Lord has given us a ‘behind-the-scenes’ look, one of its mysteries, through David’s life.

This is recorded in one of David’s songs - Ps 18.

The companion passage of this song is found in 2 Sam 22.
It has some variations, but basically, it is of the same thought and content. 

But - turn with me, if you like, please, to that psalm - Ps 18 - to follow along tonight. 

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David had quite a life of hardships. One of his most difficult relationships to deal with was with Saul whose relentless pursuits, persecutions, harassment, snares, traps, and tauntings set the course of life for David.

Also, after David became king, he was perpetually troubled by altercations with other rival kings.

He was often engaged in long and brutal wars with foreign nations.

And, of course, he was plagued with his own lusts that ‘war against the soul’ and with their consequences.

But, now, as he composed this song, he is looking back over the whole spectrum of the trouble he had met, especially those with Saul.

And, he brought it all to this one point of convergence: to the revelation of the might, force, and power that was in the wake of them all. 

The sum of his countless troubles ended up as a confident trust he had placed in the Lord God through every one of them.

And the only song coming straight out from the very depth of his heart, as he pondered this, was this song of abounding praise and thankfulness to his God.

There is no doubt, whatsoever, that, by the time he wrote this, he knew something of the richness of divine grace and mercy. 

It is of little wonder, then, that he started with: ‘I dearly love Thee, O Lord, my strength.’

God had stooped from heaven to save him! It was He Who deserved David’s absolute and complete love. David knew it!

It was He Who deserved to be deluged with utmost gratitude and acknowledged with rightful homage! 

And is not this what happens within every soul who reaches this place of the heart’s sincere gratefulness?

By this time, it is not ‘just mouthed’. It is not just spoken lightly and then brushed off with an indifferent attitude.

Oh no! Such a weight of gratitude produces in us even more heartfelt utterances.

Even more spills out, so much more, that we cannot deplete the abundance we find to be true of our God!

So, David went on with his description, saying, ‘The Lord is my Rock and my fortress and my deliverer.

My God, my Rock wherein I find refuge, my shield and the horn of my deliverance, and my high tower.’

What a revelation he received in going through these experiences!

They showed him it was God Who girded him with strength to go on!

It was He Who was his shelter, as if hidden in a Rock - the place where his enemies could not reach him!

It was He Who kept him safe! 

It was God Who delivered him every step of the way!

Safety - Protection - Deliverance - they were all there when David had trusted the Lord God. 

This is what God meant to David as the result of his trials and tribulations throughout his life.

Not a one of these was just a trifling experience.

Oh no - they were all significant parts of his life!

Even though he felt battered about and beaten, even though he often met discouragement, disdain, and disappointment, and, yes, even though he felt as though he was in the throes of death on many occasions, he learned something.

David learned - yes - David learned something of the richness of God’s Being as he recalled his having cried out to the Lord for help with each troubling time. (v 6)

But - what was David doing as he was crying out for help?

Very simply put - he was ‘pressing into’ the realm of God, coming into the knowledge of God’s presence, exercising faith that embodied God’s kingdom! 

And what was David given as he trusted God?

He was given a revelation of what was transpiring in the spiritual realm: God was contesting the ground the enemies were seeking to take from David!  

And, now, let us see something of that revelation of the violence that takes place in the heavens when God’s activity is put into motion on behalf of the one who is ‘pressing into’ God’s kingdom.

I start reading from verse 7, onward.

‘The earth shook and quaked; And the foundation of the mountains trembled and were shaken because He [God] was angry.  

Smoke arose from His nostrils. And fire from His mouth devoured - coals were kindled by it. 

And he bowed the heavens and came down; Thick darkness was under His feet.

He rode upon a cherub and flew...’ [an angel was God’s chariot as He came to David]; ‘...He soared upon the wings of the wind.

He made darkness His coverings round about Him; His pavilion was the darkness of waters - the thick masses of clouds.

Because of the brightness before Him, the clouds about Him passed away; Hailstones and coals of fire.’ (v 12)

Again, the force God put into this mighty act is repeated in verse 13.

‘Then the Lord thundered in the heavens; And the Most High uttered His voice - hailstones and coals of fire.

And He shot arrows and scattered them; He hurled His lightnings and confounded them.’

David heard the voice of the Lord. Jehovah spoke with thunder, hailstones, and coals of fire.

He shot forth His arrows at the enemy, confusing and baffling them.

It was then that David could also ‘see’, as we go on.

And what could he now see? (v 15)

David saw, with his spiritual eyes, God taking a personal concern in him.

‘Then the bed of waters could be seen;

The foundations of the earth were laid bare because of Thy rebuke, O Lord, and because of the blast of the breath of Thy nostrils.’ (v 15) 

Yes - Dan 2:22 tells us: ‘He [God] revealeth the deep and secret things: He knoweth what is in the darkness, and the light dwelleth in Him.’ 

David could see God in action! David could see that God Himself acts on behalf of His own!

And how does He act?

There is nothing here suggesting a hesitancy on God’s part! Everything was in readiness for this all to happen!

When God acted with such immense, purposeful force as He saw one of His own pressing into His kingdom, it seemed as though the very elements of the earth trembled at His activity!

Of course, David’s deliverance was not really followed through by such agitation in nature - of an earthquake, fire or storm, nor as the other symbols given.

But - as he recalls his experiences, he sees God’s hand acting with such force and power that this is the most logical human way to explain its intensity and firmness.

Stop to think about it what it depicts!

What force, what might, what power, what strength God shows on behalf of His saint who dares to trust in Him, ‘press into’, and ‘take hold’ of God’s ‘horn of salvation’!

Yes - it can be depicted as a very violent storm, but what promise does the ‘storm’ have in it?

God Himself is housed in the storm! Yes - He is in it!

There is in it the pledge of God’s presence - His approach - He is taking action!

He rides on all the storm clouds as His own saint is being pressed deeply into His kingdom.

There is darkness in these clouds, but the ‘thick darkness is under God’s feet’.

It is His secret place, (vs 9 -11) as He is coming to hold His saint in safety and deliverance.

And, even though all around seems dark, yet it suddenly brightens when His lightnings flash forth before Him. (v 12)

The darkness disperses and suddenly, ‘the Highest gave His voice’ as ‘Jehovah...thundered in the heavens.’ (v 13)

Yes! David heard the voice of God and knew he had been drawn from the waters that were about to overwhelm him.

It is no wonder that he started his song with praises! He was understanding the divine ‘behind-the-scenes’ activity going on in his behalf!   

‘He drew me out...He delivered me...Jehovah was my stay’, he said. ‘He brought me forth into a large place - into a large place.’ (v 19) 

God came and drew him out of the dangerous waters; that is, ‘He delivered me from my strong enemies’, even though David was helpless against them since they were far stronger than he was. (vs 16-17)

They may have gained the upper hand over him, but they had to let go and bow down to the Almighty Presence of God in David’s life! (v 18) 

And, to finish off the description, after he was drawn out of affliction, God set him in a place ‘where there was ample room.’ (v 19)

David saw that - whatever escape or deliverance there was - it was God Who delivered him when he called on Him and trusted Him!

Was it always easy? Was it always a ‘bed of roses’? I will let you answer that for yourself!

Did he know the full purpose of his life? Of course not!

All he knew - and all we need to know as we trust Him - was that God was for him. ‘And if He is for us, who can be
against us?’ 

And he also knew that everything had fallen into place, and, as in a ‘momentary affliction’, it was leading on to the Eternal, to God’s Eternal glory, as David looked toward the unseen. 

‘...For we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.’ (2 Cor 4:17-18) 

And in that, David rested, not knowing that God would eventually make known the greatest of all the riches of His glory to dwell within man, a mystery David could only hope for, if he could have known anything about it. (Col 1:25-27)

What he did know was that God would definitely show His ‘mercy to his seed forevermore’. (v 50)

But Jesus had not yet appeared on earth’s scene at this time to be his known Advocate, nor to take the punishment for his sin. (I refer you to 2 Sam 12) 

But recorded for our sake is what is given here of David’s  spiritual experience in understanding the richness and the fullness of God’s Being contesting on his behalf.

And this record of David’s spiritual experiences could well have been, partially, of what Jesus had in mind when He spoke of the ‘mysteries of the kingdom’ and the violence it suffers.

Clearly, Jesus was indicating that the kingdom of God is filled with mysteries, completely and totally different from what man expects or imagines.

Who could imagine such warring, such violence, of the netherworld contesting against the divine mind for the soul ‘pressing into’ God’s kingdom?

Who could know of the conflicts and struggles taking place in a man’s soul as he holds to the ‘horn of his salvation’?

It was Jesus Who did make clear that no man could possibly believe this nor understand it fully until he has been ‘born again’, until he has a ‘new mind’, until he is born of the Spirit and has an entirely new understanding of it.

It was interesting to overhear a remark someone made recently of why he could not stay at home one Sunday evening, even though he was feeling ill, but not ill enough to go to bed to recuperate.

I know this is only an infinitesimal part of this ‘violence/mystery’ part of the kingdom of God, but I use it to serve as an illustration of its working, even in the smallest matters. 

Just paraphrasing, to explain why he could not stay home, he said, ‘I couldn’t find an excuse good enough that Christ would go along with!’

You see - the Christian’s mindset is not bound by the horizons of this world.

Rather, he views things in the light of the eternal, as David did.

In the light of ‘Christ in us’, the hope of glory, we look for the glory; we look for those things that really matter and let the things that really do not matter fall away, like water off a duck’s back.

That is when everything takes its proper place in life since everything is connected to, dominated by, and is part of Christ - it is the ‘glory’ part of the way of His kingdom, of going into His very presence before the throne of God.

That is what makes the kingdom of God a mystery, for His ways are beyond any way we could imagine, even in the smallest of matters!

And - His kingdom opens up to us by revelation as it opens in both the large and small matters!

Suffering violence as part of it? Oh, yes! - a thousand times ‘yes’! It is the ‘violence’ on God’s part that is the most important!

He knows when the time is ripe to act - to ‘send forth His thunder, to utter His voice of hailstones and coals of fire, to shoot forth His arrows that scatter and confound the enemy!’

But - He sees every part of it - He is in every storm - the greatest, the hardest, the smallest, the least!

And, in that, He is deserving of all our praise!

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I will close for tonight. Will you take all these things before the Lord once again this week.  

As we do, we can look for a great pouring out of His blessing: He will open His kingdom even more.

So - let us go onward as we keep yielding to Christ in us - to reveal to each one of our hearts - the vastness of the glory of His kingdom!
  
Amen. 

Let us pray!