Peter Barnes | 2 Samuel 12:15-25
SERMON NOTES
THE DEATH OF THE CHILD
2 Samuel 12:15-25; 1 Thess. 4:13-18
There are consequences to our sins e.g. a converted drunkard or adulterer.
1. Prayer may be earnest yet rejected.
– 12:15. David’s prayer life must have been non-existent for about a year, but now he takes to prayer most earnestly – 12:16-18.
– God’s threats can be conditional – Isa.38:1-6; Jonah 3:4-5, but not here. On the day before the boy’s circumcision, he died.
– Heb.12:11. God can be pleased with a prayer that He rejects.
2. Faith is realistic yet believing in the resurrection.
– 12:20-23b. David prays his heart out but when the child dies, he accepts God’s will: ‘he will not return to me’. Compare to Jacob in Genesis 37:34-35.
– David also says: ‘I shall go to him.’ Some say that David only means that he will die, but the Old Testament teaches resurrection (Matt.22:29).
3. God blesses David.
– 12:24-25. ‘Solomon’ means ‘peace’, while his other name, ‘Jedidah’ means ‘beloved of Yahweh’. David’s victory in 12:26-31.
The evil of my former state
Was mine, and only mine;
The good in which I now rejoice
Is Thine, and only Thine (Horatius Bonar).