2 Samuel 23:1-7 - Testimony of Salvation

2 Samuel 23:1-7

David’s Last Words

1 Now these are the last words of David.

Thus says David the son of Jesse;
Thus says the man raised up on high,
The anointed of the God of Jacob,
And the sweet psalmist of Israel:

2 “The Spirit of the LORD spoke by me,
And His word was on my tongue.

3 The God of Israel said,
The Rock of Israel spoke to me:
‘He who rules over men must be just,
Ruling in the fear of God.

4 And he shall be like the light of the morning when the sun rises,
A morning without clouds,
Like the tender grass springing out of the earth,
By clear shining after rain.’

5 “Although my house is not so with God,
Yet He has made with me an everlasting covenant,
Ordered in all things and secure.
For this is all my salvation and all my desire;
Will He not make it increase?

6 But the sons of rebellion shall all be as thorns thrust away,
Because they cannot be taken with hands.

7 But the man who touches them
Must be armed with iron and the shaft of a spear,
And they shall be utterly burned with fire in their place.”

These final words of king David are his testimony of God’s grace and providence in his life for us to witness and meditate over.  He identified who he was and where he came from, the son of Jesse.  Then he identified himself as anointed by the living God of Jacob-Israel Himself.  He also identified as the psalmist of Israel, the writer of many songs and hymns he gave them and us to extol and praise praise the LORD his and our God.  His testimony of grace then gave us the source of those psalms, inspired by the Holy Spirit of God who spoke His word to us down through the generations and recorded as God’s very words given as scripture to us; they were not his own words found on his tongue.  When God spoke to him, He gave him the solid foundation of Himself as the Rock and the words based on the same assurance of truth, namely that he was to rule as the anointed king with justice in the fear of God and therefore not in pride or disobedience as Saul before him.  This righteous loving would be as the clear dawn’s early light and as the fresh grass springing up after a satisfying rain that meets the sun rising throughout the day.  He confessed that he was far from perfect, yet chosen by the LORD by the unbreakable covenant promise given by God to him that was safe and secure (John 5:24, 10:28-29, Ephesians 1:13, 14) from all alarms to the contrary that doubts might throw at him.  This is the basis of our calling and election of grace to salvation we now experience in Jesus Christ, the Seed of David who is the Messiah, Anointed of the Father.  This deliverance from condemnation promised to us through the line of David now is set in order by His work of grace on the cross and out of the grave as promised to secure our eternal future.  God promised David that this desire for deliverance that filled his heart would be increased as it grew and not diminished or taken away (John 3:36, 6:40, 1 John 5:12-13) from him as it also grows in us as we are conformed (2 Corinthians 3:18) to the image of God in the face of Jesus the Anointed.  Only those not chosen and who reject this covenant of grace will perish as useless thorns thrown into the fire to be burned because they cannot be taken out due to their rebellion against the Most High in refusing Him.  Just as David warned others then not to battle against such without being equipped for war, knowing their fate, we also must don the entire armor of God by faith (Ephesians 6:10, 13, 15, 19) to bear witness as our testimony of saving grace who speaks to us still today through His Spirit inspired words written in the scriptures and upon our hearts by that same Spirit in this new everlasting covenant of our secure standing in Jesus Christ.  This is our own testimony of God’s salvation that leads us to praise our Lord in word, deed, and songs of praise.