2 Sam 3:18, Now then, do it! For the Lord has spoken of David, saying, 'By the hand of My servant David I will save My people Israel from the hand of the Philistines and from the hand of all their enemies.'"
	This morning, in our reading, we have the account of how The Lord was working, even through the enemies of David to bring forth the kingship of David that God had appointed, over all the nation of Israel. Abner was a violent opponent to the kingship of David. He had put his work and his effort and his ambition into continuing the kingdom of the family of Saul upon the throne. This was despite the fact that he knew, as detailed in this morning’s passage, that God had anointed David to sit upon the throne of Israel.
	What we want to see in this entire account is the fact that God works perfectly to bring forth that which is His plan and His will in the course of the walk of mankind on this earth. All will take place as it serves and furthers His ordained purpose. This is to the fullness of what has always been the active and wondrous manifestation of His love and grace and mercy throughout the course of human history. 
Everything points to and is completed in the great gift of salvation through Jesus Christ, the Only Begotten Son of God. Nothing could ever stop that expression of the love of God which culminates in His living relationship with those whom He has created. In Jesus, that has been eternally established. The linchpin for this relationship was the institution of the earthly kingdom of David, from whose lineage would come forth the everlasting King of Glory over the whole of His creation. 
What we would do well to trace is the manner in which the Lord brought forth the monarchy of David, through whom this promise of a Ruler to sit on the throne of the Kingdom of God over all mankind would be initiated on this earth. Even though David had been anointed the next king to sit on the throne of Israel, that actuality was not immediately set into place. As we discussed last time, David was made king over Judah. However, the rest of the nation still held on to the earthly principle of the lineage of lordship through the human bloodline of Saul. 
Abner was violently defending the kingship of Saul’s heritage. Thus a long lasting war was being waged by those who wanted to remain tied to the original king of Israel, Saul. This was in severe opposition to those who put forth the Godly ordination of David as the new sovereign. 
As the close confidant and commander of the forces of Saul, Abner held tremendous sway with the rest of the nation of Israel. As he stood against the kingship of David, so did the majority of the nation follow his lead and his proclivity. 
Abner held tremendous influence over the people in the terms of being a king-maker in his own right. His decisions would lean the course of the rest of the tribes to one side or the other. As he had been holding forth the heir of Saul as the rightful king, so had that opposition against David been strong and fierce. 
As a direct result of this war, the house of David had been growing strong, while the heritage of Saul had become weak and faltering. It was seemingly only the strength of the influence of Abner that was holding the kinship of Saul upon the throne. 
That is why is was such a major shift in the power structure when Abner, feeling great indignation and disrespect at the treatment he was receiving, shifted his allegiance and his power to the house of David to occupy the place of authority as king over the whole of Israel. As indicated in our morning’s passage, despite the fact that he had personally held the throne away from David, it became evident that even Abner was disenchanted with the status quo. 
This was through the manner in which he counseled the leaders of some of the tribes of Israel that David was the one who should become the next monarch of the nation. …Now then, do it! For the Lord has spoken of David, saying, 'By the hand of My servant David I will save My people Israel from the hand of the Philistines and from the hand of all their enemies.' 
Abner gave the testimony that the Lord had set into place through the anointing of the one whose heart was after Jehovah, as was the growing undercurrent throughout the nation. This had even been directly proclaimed to King Saul by the Prophet Samuel, if you will recall, in 1 Sam 13:14.
1 Sam 13:14, But now your kingdom shall not endure. The Lord has sought out for Himself a man after His own heart, and the Lord has appointed him as ruler over His people, because you have not kept what the Lord commanded you."
	It was reiterated to Saul again by Samuel in 1 Sam 15:28. 1 Sam 15:28, So Samuel said to him, "The Lord has torn the kingdom of Israel from you today, and has given it to your neighbor who is better than you. 
	There was no doubt that God was displeased with the way in which Saul had so followed the whims and fancies of the people rather than the way of the Lord. Saul had let jealousy and human acclaim and power over the nation corrupt his heart to the point that he no longer honored or obeyed the commands of the Lord God Almighty. This had been the indication that Saul was usurping the place of honor that was Jehovah’s in the manner in which the people were to be governed. Saul had set aside the place of God for the place of self and self-acclaim in the depths of his heart. 
	This battle within the nation, as to whom to follow, had been figuratively waged earlier in our readings in the heart of the Prophet Samuel. He had a desire for Saul to change from his wicked ways and to repent and to begin to govern the people in the way which honored God. 
But Jehovah knew that Saul’s heart would not so soften and turn back to honor the Lord, so God had to call forth the obedience of the Prophet to go and anoint another to become king. This was not easy for Samuel, as we read in 1 Sam 16:1. God had to basically shake Samuel from his grieving for what should have been with Saul to what the Lord would establish through one of the sons of Jesse, as recorded in this passage.
	1 Sam 16:1, Now the Lord said to Samuel, "How long will you grieve over Saul, since I have rejected him from being king over Israel? Fill your horn with oil, and go; I will send you to Jesse the Bethlehemite, for I have selected a king for Myself among his sons." 
	This led to the introduction, in 1 Sam 16:12+13, of the one in whose lineage the very salvation of all mankind was set. God knew the heart of David, the shepherd boy who would so govern with that compassion after the Lord’s witness in the nation that God had chosen unto Himself. 
	1 Sam 16:12+13, So he sent and brought him in. Now he was ruddy, with beautiful eyes and a handsome appearance. And the Lord said, "Arise, anoint him; for this is he." Then Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brothers; and the Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon David from that day forward. And Samuel arose and went to Ramah.
	From that day onward, the Hand of Yahweh was on this young man to guide him into the full measure of what it meant to be a king whose heart was after the way and the will of God as a shepherd of the flock that belonged to Jehovah. This was not hidden from any who would have the eyes to see it. 
Even as we have discovered, King Saul was fully cognizant of the fact that David would become the next king. As but one example, of several in scripture, we have it recorded in 1 Sam 24:20. 1 Sam 24:20, And now, behold, I know that you shall surely be king, and that the kingdom of Israel shall be established in your hand. 
	This was after many attempts by the first king of Israel to destroy this young man, through treachery and manipulations and even to the point of hunting him and his men through the wilderness regions for months at a time. All of this finally led to the fact that Saul and his nearest sons were killed by the Philistines in battle, thus opening the way for David to be put on the throne as the Lord directed. 
	As recounted in our morning’s reading, it was a long conflict that ensued, led by the forces of Abner to hold onto the throne for the namesake and the legacy of King Saul. However, the Lord was at work, even in this time of civil war, to bring into place, through the accusations of the distant son of Saul, the heart in Abner which would put the throne within the grasp of David. 
	There developed such a sense of betrayal in the mind of Abner by the house of Saul to all that Abner had tried to do, that he turned completely away and sought to enthrone David instead. Consider what was pronounced by Abner in verses 9+10 of this morning’s reading. 
2 Sam 3:9+10, May God do so to Abner, and more also, if as the Lord has sworn to David, I do not accomplish this for him, to transfer the kingdom from the house of Saul, and to establish the throne of David over Israel and over Judah, from Dan even to Beersheba."
	God works, even in the hearts of those enemies of His people to cause them to seek to do that which God has foreordained. This turning of the heart of such as Abner, who so forcefully and violently fought against any encroachment by David upon that throne which Abner held onto with all his might for the sake of Saul’s heritage, is amazing to consider. 
God knew exactly how to get Abner to see who was truly the ordained and anointed one for the throne. He did not live to see it. But it was by Abner’s death, even as David honored the memory of Abner, the one who had withheld his rightful place over the whole of Israel for those years of Hebrew killing Hebrew, that hearts even of those who opposed his ascension to the throne, were as well turned and David would soon be declared the king of the entire nation of Israel.
	This entire episode detailed some of the full measure of what was necessary for the Lord to maintain the path of His salvation of humanity. It would be imminent through the One to come, Who would be from the House of David and from the Tribe of Judah as highlighted by the Psalmist in Ps 78:65-72. This is the account of how God made the choice and how He fulfilled it in the placement of David as the shepherd over the flock of God.
	Ps 78:65-72, Then the Lord awoke as if from sleep, Like a warrior overcome by wine. And He drove His adversaries backward; He put on them an everlasting reproach. He also rejected the tent of Joseph, And did not choose the tribe of Ephraim, But chose the tribe of Judah, Mount Zion which He loved. And He built His sanctuary like the heights, Like the earth which He has founded forever. He also chose David His servant, And took him from the sheepfolds; From the care of the ewes with suckling lambs He brought him, To shepherd Jacob His people, And Israel His inheritance. So he shepherded them according to the integrity of his heart, And guided them with his skillful hands. 
	The everlasting promise of the throne of David to be established forever and forever is as well recounted by the Psalmist in Ps 89:3+4. Ps 89:3+4, "I have made a covenant with My chosen; I have sworn to David My servant, I will establish your seed forever, And build up your throne to all generations." Selah. 
	The manner of the eternal dominion of the One Who would come forth from the lineage of the House of David is declared by the Psalmists with the joy and the adoration that God, Alone deserves for His manifest work of grace and mercy and power. As God so chose David, so did He work to put this young shepherd boy into the place where his heart after Jehovah would be witnessed by the entire nation, and the entirety of all creation in Jesus the Christ, the everlasting Lord of all that He has created.
	Ps 89:19-24, Once Thou didst speak in vision to Thy godly ones, And didst say, "I have given help to one who is mighty; I have exalted one chosen from the people. "I have found David My servant; With My holy oil I have anointed him, With whom My hand will be established; My arm also will strengthen him. "The enemy will not deceive him, Nor the son of wickedness afflict him. "But I shall crush his adversaries before him, And strike those who hate him. "And My faithfulness and My lovingkindness will be with him, And in My name his horn will be exalted. 
	The continued reality of the Kingdom that God would establish through the lineage of David was further detailed for all in Ps 132:13-18. This is a glorious depiction of the working power and might of God on the behalf of the one whose heart was so set on honoring and bringing glory to The Lord God Almighty, Creator of Heaven and earth. There would be a place for God in the temple that would be established. This is the temple built in the hearts and lives of those whom He has chosen unto Himself by the death and resurrection of His Only Begotten Son of the lineage of the horn of David.
	Ps 132:13-18, For the Lord has chosen Zion; He has desired it for His habitation. "This is My resting place forever; Here I will dwell, for I have desired it. "I will abundantly bless her provision; I will satisfy her needy with bread. "Her priests also I will clothe with salvation; And her godly ones will sing aloud for joy. "There I will cause the horn of David to spring forth; I have prepared a lamp for Mine anointed. "His enemies I will clothe with shame; But upon himself his crown shall shine." 
	Nothing could thwart the hand of God to put David on the throne over the entirety of the nation of Israel then, and Jesus on the throne of all creation, now and evermore! God will always accomplish His good and faithful and glorious work, even by the use of the enemies of His plan. They will only ever serve to further what God has always put into place! God’s will is accomplished forever and forever! So be it!
	Now then, do it! For the Lord has spoken of David, saying, 'By the hand of My servant David I will save My people Israel from the hand of the Philistines and from the hand of all their enemies.'" Amen. 

	This morning’s benediction is Ps 18:46. The Lord lives, and blessed be my rock; And exalted be the God of my salvation… Amen