God turns a person's heart in the direction and way He wants him to go. When called, we did not decide on our own to repent—God granted us that repentance. Gentile or Israelite, God calls and grants repentance to whom He will. The title is from here:
Acts 11:
18 They glorified God, saying, then hath God also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life.
God grants, allows, gives or bestows repentance, but it is from God.
When a person is first being called he may suppose that he has made up his own mind to repent and follow God’s way. But, Scripture reveals that repentance is always initiated by God as He turns a person’s heart around. Here are other examples:
Acts 5:
31 Him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and a Savior, for to give repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins.
Repentance it toward God because He is the one we have sinned against.
Acts 20:
21 Testifying both to the Jews, and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.
2 Timothy 2:
25 In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth;
2 Corinthians 7:
10 For Godly sorrow works repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world works death.
One would think that we would be aware of any and all of our sins. But often times we are completely blind to our faults and transgressions.
If God did not make them apparent to us we would never realize that we were coming short and missing the mark. David prayed:
Psalms 19:
12 Who can understand his errors? Cleanse thou me from secret faults.
Indeed it is by Divine Providence that even a king’s heart must be transposed and redirected by God.
Proverbs 21:
1 The king's heart is in the hand of the Lord, as the rivers of water: He turns it whithersoever He will. Every way of a man is right in his own eyes: but the Lord ponders the hearts.
In the New Testament Paul put it this way:
Romans 2:
4 Do you despise the riches of [God’s] goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance?
When we are called we repent. God grants repentance, but we continue to have proclivities to revert to the habitual patterns of our past lives. Since God’s way is higher than what we have ever known and experienced, we have to overwrite (as it were) our “past-reality” with God's more perfect way.
2 Corinthians 5:
17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creation: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.
After conversion we must continue to repent because it is entirely possible to fall back into our erroneous ways. A person who grows up in a family of alcoholics develops a certain “reality” – which from God's point of view is no reality at all. And a person who grows up in an abusive or dysfunctional family also develops a severely distorted "reality." It is the same with deceitfulness, anger, gambling, stealing, lying, conniving and any number of vices.
Because of familiar and routine patterns, habits, family practices – aberrant behavior can easily lapse into comfortable areas where we see no need for repentance. When that happens to us, how can we possibly change who and what we are? We literally lose the ability to want to repent. We need to ask God to show us and help us get rid of our old tendencies and ways in our lives.
Jesus Christ would not lie or be angry or cruel to someone else – but we excuse it with a “they deserve it,” or “everybody does it.” When we are told to grow up into Christ – that means that His perfect life is the standard we strive for in our own lives. Only God can provide the impetus and motivation required to bring us to repentance. There is an example of this in the life of David.
Even as a young shepherd boy, David fearlessly slew Goliath—while proclaiming, “The Lord will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.” David loved God and God’s law with delight. And yet, David was a man subject to like passions as we are – hunger, pride, lust, power and vanity. He was just as human, just as carnal, as we are. How was David finally repentant and changed?
God is the master engineer – the author of our salvation. We know, from the Scriptures, that God has big plans for King David. But David could not be used in the carnal state that was natural to him – that he so easily reverted back into. How was David changed to become a man after God's own heart?
Brethren, the answer is that God is the master engineer, and He grants repentance. We are going to look at lessons that we can learn from the life of Uriah the Hittite. Let us look at how God used Uriah the Hittite who was one of King David's thirty-seven valiant mighty men, to help bring David to repentance and salvation. None of those things were by accident, they were all by God’s design. Even though the individuals had free moral agency, and they did what came naturally, when led by God’s Holy Spirit - they responded to God.
Here is the point that I want to drive home: In the same way that God used Uriah and worked with David, He is working in our lives as well, in order to bring us to repentance and salvation. Even though we may not see God’s hand in a situation, and we foolishly say to ourselves that we are not receiving the blessings of God—He is working in us.
Sometimes we think that God is not hearing what is going on. Brethren, God is very much a part of everything that goes on in the lives of His children, those who are led by His Holy Spirit.
Uriah was a member of David's “Special Forces” team, made up of skillful men, strong in body and sturdy in character and loyalty. The mighty men were brave honor guards, bodyguards who protected David with their very lives. They were ready to die for him, and they were on his right hand and on his left hand protecting him.
2 Samuel 16:
6 …all the mighty men were on David’s right hand and on his left.
Uriah was a Hittite. The Hittites were not foreigners, but they were indigenous to the land of Israel when the tribes of Israel arrived after the Exodus, about 1400 BC. They were the Green Berets of the day, or the S.W.A.T. team, and they were highly respected for their skill, strength and courage.
Like the American Indians who were here when Columbus arrived, Uriah was no stranger to the land of Israel, nor were his people. Uriah had a tremendous respect for his nation and the king that God had given him. Uriah fell in love and married the girl of his dreams, the very beautiful daughter of Eliam, another of King David’s mighty men. Bathsheba and Uriah made their home in downtown Jerusalem, in fact, right next door to King David’s home.
Uriah and Bathsheba, like most young people, had hopes and dreams. Uriah was a good man, dedicated to his young wife, and to his king and country. The story of Uriah is a sad story, because someone took his wife and cut his life short. With seemingly everything going well for him—the life of Uriah was about to take a tragic turn. While Uriah was out of town on military duty, his wife and his king betrayed his faithfulness and loyalty.
Though David waited at Jerusalem, he should have been at the head of his troops, but he was in a spiritual slump. David was letting down spiritually. And as a result of that let-down, David was not attending to his business, but he was letting everything go. He was bored with everything, and he had taken his eye off God, and the great workings of God’s eternal plan.
David, as a young shepherd, had been shown so much by God, but he put that on the back burner, and forgot about it. But, as we will see, God never sleeps, and God would use David’s weaknesses at this vulnerable time in his life to bring him to repentance. It was a beautiful spring day, it was early evening, and David had had a nice afternoon nap.
2 Samuel 11:
2 And it came to pass in an evening tide, that David arose from off his bed, and walked upon the roof of the king's house: and from the roof he saw a woman washing herself; and the woman was very beautiful to look upon.
David must have been pretty close to be able to tell that she was very beautiful to look upon.
2 Samuel 11:
3 And David sent and enquired after the woman. And one said, Is not this Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite? And David sent messengers, and took her; and she came in unto him, and he lay with her; for she was purified from her uncleanness: and she returned unto her house.
That phrase “purified from her uncleanness” means that this was a time when she was very likely to become pregnant. Unaware of the illicit affair between David and Bathsheba, Uriah remained loyal to his king and country.
2 Samuel 11:
5 And the woman [Bathsheba] conceived, and sent and told David, and said, I am with child.
Bathsheba has broken her marriage covenant with Uriah. He is no longer the one she first turns to. Bathsheba confides to David, ‘We have got a big problem here, what are you going to do about it to protect my reputation and your own reputation?’
2 Samuel 11:
6 And David sent to Joab, saying, Send me Uriah the Hittite. And Joab sent Uriah to David. And when Uriah was come unto him, David demanded of him how Joab did, and how the people did, and how the war prospered.
David did not care one iota how the war prospered, but David was hatching a plot to get out of his predicament. This was a very evil mindset, and Satan was very much involved with what was going on here.
2 Samuel 11:
8 And David said to Uriah, Go down to thy house, and wash thy feet And Uriah departed out of the king's house, and there followed him a mess of meat from the king.
That phrase, “wash your feet,” is a euphuism for “go to your wife, go sleep with your wife.” David sent a basket of food so that they could have a real nice time, and have a relationship at home. But Uriah was not that kind of man. Not that there would have been anything wrong with going home to his wife. But there were many other concerns on Uriah’s mind.
2 Samuel 11:
9 But Uriah slept at the door of the king's house with all the servants of his lord, and went not down to his house.
Uriah did not leave the palace. David assumed that Uriah would go to Bathsheba and then they would be in the clear and Uriah would never be any the wiser about what was going on. The child would have just come a little bit “prematurely,” and David would be in the clear. But it did not work out that way.
2 Samuel 11:
10 And when they had told David, saying, Uriah went not down unto his house, David said unto Uriah, Came thou not from thy journey? Why then didst thou not go down unto thine house?
David said, ‘Have you not been gone for a while? Are you not anxious to see your wife?’
2 Samuel 11:
11 And Uriah said unto David, The ark, and Israel, and Judah, abide in tents; and my lord Joab, and the servants of my lord, are bivouacked in the open fields; shall I then go into mine house, to eat and to drink, and to lie with my wife? as thou live, and as thy soul lives, I will not do this thing.
Uriah was very gallant, and a man of character. The mighty men had a strict code of honor among themselves, and it was a matter of rigorous discipline that they abstained from their wives in times of battle. Uriah was focused and determined.
David tried everything under the sun to make Uriah go home and spend the night with his wife, even making him drink way too much. But the character of Uriah was unshakable, and he would not yield and go to his wife. David sank to the lowest point, in my estimation, in his life and conspired to kill Uriah. David had become so contemptible, and so despicable, that he placed the instructions for Uriah’s own murder in Uriah’s hand to be carried out by Joab.
2 Samuel 11:
14 And it came to pass in the morning, that David wrote a letter to Joab, [the commander and chief of the special forces] and sent it by the hand of Uriah.
How callous can you be? Here is Uriah who would give his life for David, and David is taking his life and actually putting the murder warrant in his hand. David was basically saying to Uriah, ‘Carry this back to Joab so that he can kill you.’ That is so cruel, ugly and despicable.
2 Samuel 11:
15 And he wrote in the letter, saying, Set ye Uriah in the forefront of the hottest battle, and retire ye from him, that he may be smitten, and die.
Uriah was the kind of man that would volunteer for that kind of duty anyway. But David had taken it upon himself to have Uriah put in a high risk and very vulnerable position. Joab followed David’s orders, and Uriah the Hittite was killed. Joab sent word back to David saying, ‘Look, I did this terrible thing that you commanded me to do.’
David wrote back to Joab and said, ‘Don’t sweat it, it could have happened to anyone. That is the way that war is, some good people die’. David put it out of his mind, and told Joab to forget all about it too. It was a tragic ending to a good man’s life.
But, brethren, in God’s great master plan there is great purpose to Uriah’s life. But God’s purpose was not over, it was not finished. God was using Uriah in a very special way. He was using Uriah to bring about the repentance of David.
2 Samuel 11:
26 And when the wife of Uriah heard that Uriah her husband was dead, she mourned for her husband.
Bathsheba had a lot to mourn about, didn’t she? She sure could not move in with David the next day, could she?
2 Samuel 11:
27 And when the mourning period was past, David sent and fetched her to his house, and she became his wife, and bore him a son. But the thing that David had done displeased the LORD.
So the child that was conceived out of wedlock and in adultery was born. There is no name given to the child. Uriah is among the select few Biblical personalities who are a type of Christ. We will not go into all of the different ways that Uriah was a type of Christ, but we will touch here and there on a few of them.
It will be more than a thousand years from now before Uriah knows and finds out that he was used as a type of Christ. But, when Uriah comes back to life, it is the same time that he will learn that he was betrayed by everyone that was close to him. He was betrayed by his wife, by his king, and by his commander. That is when he will know that his marriage covenant was broken, and that his wife married the adulterous king David. That is when he will find out that he was murdered. Uriah was sacrificed for the sins of others. That makes him a type of Christ.
2 Samuel 12:
1 And the LORD sent [the prophet] Nathan unto David. And he came unto him, and said unto him, There were two men in one city; the one rich, and the other poor.
Keep in mind that as King, David was an Appellate Court Chief Justice, and the prophet Nathan is bringing a lower court case for David to rule on. David is hearing a case brought before him for a final judgment in the matter.
2 Samuel 12:
2 The rich man had exceeding many flocks and herds: But the poor man had nothing, save one little ewe lamb, which he had bought and nourished up: and it grew up together with him, and with his children; it did eat of his own food, and drank of his own cup, and lay in his bosom, and was unto him as a daughter.
This was a very precious little lamb belonging to a poor family. They had a name for the lamb, and a special place for it to sleep, and it was part of the family.
2 Samuel 12:
4 And there came a traveler unto the rich man, and he spared to take of his own flock and of his own herd, to dress for the wayfaring man that was come unto him; but took the poor man's lamb, and dressed it for the man that was come to him.
Usually if you have a visitor you kill the fatted calf, so the rich man did not take any of his animals, even though he had hundreds of them. The rich man took the poor man’s lamb, and he killed it and dressed it for the man who was come unto him. This was the lamb that was such a personal pet to the poor family. When David heard that he became furious.
2 Samuel 12:
5 And David's anger was greatly kindled against the man; and he said to Nathan, As the LORD lives, the man that hath done this thing shall surely die:
Brethren, do you realize what just happened! David has just pronounced his own death sentence, in a bonafide [good faith] legal court of law?
2 Samuel 12:
6 And he shall restore the lamb fourfold, because he did this thing, and because he had no pity.
David harkens back to what God’s law requires. The guilty party was required to give the poor man four sheep back because he did this thing. Now the utterly amazing thing here is that David, obviously a very intelligent man, has not put two and two together. He is just oblivious to what is going on.
How can David be so blinded? How does he rationalize and justify his actions? How can he not apply real spiritual principles to his own life? He is living in a vacuum. Has he not questioned his own actions? Does his conscience not bother him? How could he commit adultery, and how could he kill, and not have it be eating at him?
Was his conscience seared? He seems to be oblivious to the concept. Brethren, could that be me or you? Do we say, “That would never happen to me, I am more alert and more wide awake?”
Brethren, these things are written down for us, so that you and I can judge our conscience and judge every action, whether acts of omission, whether acts of just outright neglect or being mean, or dealing with others. Those who live in either open or hidden sin seem to believe it has no effect or little effect on their relationship with God. But despising God's commandment means despising God Himself, and we can't have fellowship with God and despise Him at the same time.
1 John 1:
6 If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.
Somehow David bore an inclination to lust that remained unaddressed. He did not deal with it and he excused it to his detriment – causing him to become oblivious to his sins – rendering him useless to God. Do we judge ourselves fully against God’s way? Now we see where the prophet Nathan drops the hammer on David. ‘Oh, by the way David, I did not mention who the rich man was. It is you, David. You are the rich man who took the poor man’s lamb. You could have had anything and you took his little ewe.’
2 Samuel 12:
7 And Nathan said to David, Thou art the man. Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, I anointed thee king over Israel, and I delivered thee out of the hand of Saul;
God told David that He prospered him, and that He gave him everything, and protected him: ‘I advanced you and anointed you to this position.’
2 Samuel 12:
8 And I gave thee thy master's house, and thy master's wives into thy bosom, and gave thee the house of Israel and of Judah; and if that had been too little, I would moreover have given unto thee such and such things.
But David took it and he became an adulterer and a murderer. You can imagine that the occasion has become very stark and somber.
2 Samuel 12:
9 Why have you despised the word of The Lord, to do what is evil in His sight? You have smitten Uriah the Hittite with the sword, and have taken his wife to be your wife, and have slain him with the sword of the Ammonites."
If David has not understood that he is the man, and what he has done, then Nathan is spelling it out right here in this legal court of law. We see some of the repercussions of sin:
2 Samuel 12:
10 Now therefore the sword shall never depart from thine house; because thou hast despised me, and hast taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be thy wife.
This is a very important verse, brethren, when we understand what God here is saying here. Sin, whether it is the murder or the adultery, is despising God. When David did this he despised God, he despised His Law, he despised His way, and he despised His plan. God could not use a man like David – not in his unrepentant state.
2 Samuel 12:
11 Thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will raise up evil against thee out of thine own house, and I will take thy wives before thine eyes, and give them unto thy neighbor, and he shall lie with thy wives in the sight of this sun.
If we studied the rest of the life of David we would see how God did that. God is giving David just retribution.
2 Samuel 12:
12 For thou didst it secretly: but I will do this thing before all Israel, and before the sun.
God told David that everybody would see him shamed the way that he shamed Uriah. Uriah was used mightily to bring David to this point. Not that Uriah knew that he was being used mightily, but God used him. When we belong to God, God can spend us as he wishes. If you have a dollar, and it is your dollar, you can spend it on whatever you want. This is how God chose to spend Uriah. He spent Uriah so that David could be made whole.
2 Samuel 12:
13 And David said unto Nathan, I have sinned against the LORD. And Nathan said unto David, The LORD also hath put away thy sin; thou shalt not die.
In His mercy and compassion God chastised and humbled David so that he could become a man after God's own heart. Can you see here that Jesus paid the death penalty in David’s stead? David had pronounced his own death sentence and applied the death penalty to himself, and when he did he was sure to die. But Jesus died that we might live, and that applied to David also.
So God said through the Prophet Nathan, ‘Your sin has been put away, you shall not die’. David lived a long life, learned many lessons and was useful to God. We can see this great plan, this great work that God is doing in Israel. God shapes these things in spite of the foibles of man. We can draw some hope and understanding from this lesson that we see David going through.
It is God who is working out things here below in ways that we cannot fathom, in ways that we cannot yet see, and in ways that we do not understand. That is why when things are going “bad” we should get down on our knees and say, “Father I know that you are working out things through Jesus Christ and it is going to work out to the good as it says in Romans 8:28.”
Romans 8:
28 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.
Like Jesus Christ, Uriah was betrayed by those closest to him. Like an innocent lamb he was led to the slaughter. He was obedient unto death. He was cut off in the prime of life. There are so many parallels between the life of Christ and the life of Uriah. Thankfully, Uriah never felt the pain of betrayal during his lifetime. You might say that he never knew what hit him.
What will Uriah think as he regains his life in the resurrection? Uriah is going to feel the terrible pain of betrayal of his wife and of his king. He is going to think, ‘I thought we were happy together, I thought things were going good, I thought that we had a future, I thought that you loved me and I thought that we were going to raise a family together.’ Uriah will be resurrected back to life only to be immediately crushed! It is going to be a horrible pain, and he is going to sob, and he will cry bitterly.
Perhaps Uriah will even reason for a moment or two that his God also betrayed him. But do not worry brethren, God is merciful and loving and God’s Spirit will be working very much to the full. You and I, God willing, will be there to encourage, lift, explain and show him these things. Even King David, who Uriah is not going to want to see, will be there.
Can we imagine Uriah's consternation and rage? He is going to be beside himself. Everything that Uriah held sacred was defiled. Did you ever think of that? Brethren, there are more trials to come in the Last Great Day. It will not all be peaches and cream even though this earth will have been turned into a veritable paradise when Uriah comes back to life.
Uriah's greatest trial is yet to come. His dilemma will just be starting as he learns of the history that has transpired during the four thousand years that he has been dead. Uriah will find out every stark and sordid detail.
Luke 12:
2 For there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; neither hid, that shall not be known.
Uriah is going to know exactly what took place. In his mind’s eye, Uriah will see Bathsheba on the roof bathing. And King David, up above in the palace, watching her bathe. Will Uriah want to kill Bathsheba for her adultery and her unfaithfulness? Brethren, there is no greater pain than betrayal by those you love the most. That is the worse pain that exists. It is an emotional and mental pain, not a physical pain. It is a deep encompassing pain.
So we see that for Uriah, the worst hurt, the worst pain is yet ahead of him, and ahead of us, in the resurrection. His greatest trial is yet to come. David not only took his wife but David also ruled as a great king for many years while Uriah was decomposing in the grave. There is something not right about that. Uriah may wonder, “Why didn’t God strike David dead? It is not right.”
Let us understand the greater overall plan of God. God wanted David alive! Satan was involved here. If Satan could destroy David he could prevent the Messiah from being born. The scriptures are very clear that Jesus Christ was going to be born of the loins of David.
Paul calls Jesus the root of Jesse (David’s father) In Romans 15:12. King David serves mightily in God’s future plans, and it is prophesied so!
Ezekiel 34:
23 And I will set up one shepherd over them, and he shall feed them, even my servant David; he shall feed them, and he shall be their shepherd.
We are talking about the time of the Millennium. Who is this one shepherd? Keep in mind when Uriah is looking at this he is seeing that David ruled as God’s shepherd after murdering him. There is something wrong with this picture, and there is no equality, justice or righteousness here. How is this going to be rectified in Uriah’s mind? Uriah dealt prominently in enabling David to come to repentance and ultimately to salvation.
David would have been lost had it not been for God using Uriah to bring David to the point of total submission, humiliation, and repentance.
Ezekiel 34:
24 And I the LORD will be their God, and my servant David a prince among them; I the LORD have spoken it.
David is called a prince here, because Jesus Christ will be King of Kings at that time. Only with the outpouring of God's Spirit, in power, knowledge, wisdom, and understanding will Uriah be able to understand his great contribution to the plan of God. Then it will start to make sense to him. While Uriah slept in the grave throughout the one thousand years of the millennium, King David will have reigned over the twelve great nations of Israel.
Ezekiel 37:
24 David my servant shall be king over them... And they shall dwell in the land that I have given unto Jacob my servant..., and my servant David shall be their prince forever.
Jeremiah 30:
9 They shall serve the Lord their God, and David their king, whom I will raise up unto them.
David has this very big and prominent position in the Kingdom of God and in the Millennium. Uriah made it possible, but he sure got the short end of the stick. He missed out on all of these things. He missed out on so much and he will not be in the First Resurrection.
While Uriah was suffering the shame of corruption in the grave, Bathsheba was in the lineage of Jesus Christ. Her blood flows in Jesus Christ the Messiah. In the New Testament, Matthew makes it clear that Jesus came from the union of David and Bathsheba!
Matthew 1:
6 ...David the king begat Solomon of her that had been the wife of Uriah.
Matthew 22:
42 Saying, What think ye of Christ? Whose son is he? They say unto him, The son of David.
All of the disciples and all of the people in Christ’s day knew that Jesus Christ was born of the house of David. Where is the fairness in that, with Uriah in the grave? King David will be resurrected immortal, made king over the twelve apostles at the return of Christ, while Uriah was robbed of his life, his wife, his family, and his future. Where is the justice for Uriah? Where is the righteousness in the system? How can this terrible situation be rectified? We are told in the scriptures that all things are done in righteousness. How can it come together?
Unfaithful David and Bathsheba had tens of thousands of offspring, while faithful Uriah remains childless. King David, as a glorified spiritual Son of God, will be in the first resurrection, and enjoy one thousand Passovers with Jesus!
Luke 22:
16 For I [Jesus] say unto you, I will not any more eat [the Passover] thereof, until it be fulfilled in the Kingdom of God.
How will Uriah be able to forgive David? Forgiveness is not possible under these circumstances, because forgiveness is not a human attribute. It will be only with the outpouring of God's Holy Spirit that Uriah will be able to understand his great contribution to the Plan of God. He will understand how he was useful to God in a superb way. Uriah will come to see, very quickly, that God had dealt very stringently with David.
David paid some severe prices. David’s life did not have a happy ending. David was humbled and suffered much, and justice was served. Jesus Christ will show Uriah the penalties that came upon David for his sin. With God's help, Uriah will see, and be fully convinced of David's whole-hearted repentance. Uriah will wholeheartedly forgive David.
Uriah was the instrument of David's fall – that God might redeem David. As a result, David's heart and life were turned around, and he became exceptionally repentant, remorseful and useful to God. God, in His infinite wisdom, allowed Uriah to be "used up" for David’s sake – but in God's infinite mercy, not forever used up.
Through God's miraculous intervention, Uriah will be able to see God's spiritual plan from a magnanimous perspective – and then he will be able to completely forgive all offences. Uriah's reward will be exceptionally great because he was used to bring about King David's repentance, and ultimately, David's salvation.
Brethren, I look forward to the day, and it will come, when Uriah hugs David, and we see the two men coming together in Godly reconciliation. That will be a glorious day! Think of what will transpire when those two men come together. What should have been in David’s heart was always in Uriah’s heart. Then the thankfulness towards Uriah—that is in David’s heart—because of God’s salvation, will be clearly seen by Uriah.
Uriah will be fully redeemed, and the rewards that God will pour out on Uriah are unfathomable. Uriah will have his children, he will have his glory, and he will have his total spiritual
fulfillment. Best of all, Uriah will see how he was used mightily by God to play a pivotal role—as God granted David his ultimate repentance. If it had not been for Uriah, David would not have been saved. Before his repentance, David was useless to God. Uriah’s life and death changed all that.
In His mercy, God needed to chastise and humble David, so that David could become a man after God's own heart. Let us realize that without our even knowing it, God is providing the Uriah’s in our lives.
God is making it possible for us to repent. God is going to use us mightily as well. So when we have headaches, sickness, betrayal, heartbreak, and pain, let us understand God’s hand in directing our lives for the good. In David’s case, Uriah made it possible.
Acts 2:
30 Therefore [David] being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him, that of the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh, he would raise up Christ [Messiah] to sit on his throne;
This is such a fantastic thing that Uriah made it possible for the Messiah to come. We cannot imagine the reward and the gifts that God is going to pour out on Uriah.
Uriah's reward will be exceptionally great, and exceed anything that we can possibly imagine, because he was used to bring about King David's repentance, and ultimately David's salvation.
1 Peter 4:
13 But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings; that, when His glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy.
That is exactly what Uriah did; he took part in Christ’s suffering. Uriah will have that exceeding joy.
Let us ask God to help us understand how Jesus is working out His vast Plan in ways that we cannot yet fathom, so that we might have the faith to believe in His intervention.
David searched his soul thoroughly and repented resolutely, and this was achieved by God using Uriah. David realized that he was a murderer, that he was an adulterer, and that he was not pleasing in God’s sight. He came to this extraordinary repentance that we have recorded for us.
When we sin, and brethren, we do sin, we should be reminded of our lack of faith and our need for repentance.
Psalm 51:
1 O God, according to thy lovingkindness: according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. For I acknowledge my transgressions: and my sin is ever before me. Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight: that thou might be justified when thou speak, and be clear when thou judge. Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Hide thy face from my sins, and blot out all mine iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy Holy Spirit from me. Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit. Deliver me from blood-guiltiness, O God, thou God of my salvation:
David had the blood of Uriah on his head, and also that of the baby that died because of David. David and Bathsheba did not live happily ever after. But, David never committed any of those terrible sins again.
Let's ask God to help us understand that He is also working out His vast Plan of Salvation in us in ways that we cannot yet fathom.
God continues to grant us repentance.
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| Sermon: |
"God Grants Repentance" |
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