2 Samuel 11

David's earlier troubles with Saul were from outside himself, since Saul was the one who was sinning. But now David faced an even bigger struggle within his own heart.

You have heard it said, “You shall not murder” and “You shall not commit adultery.” But when David's greatest descendant came, He addressed the deepest matters of the soul teaching us that God's intentions of grace were not merely a matter of cleaning up the parts of our lives that could be seen by others.

When David sinned against Bathsheba, Uriah, and many others, he was first sinning against God. He was also displaying his own need for a renewed heart. God has heard our plea for cleansing that would come through the grace of the Holy Spirit. In Him we have a new beginning in the inner battle against sin.

While Joab and the men of Israel were off fighting against the enemies of Israel, King David was besieged within his soul by base impulses that destroyed many lives. He wanted another man's wife, and he took what he wanted. First he saw what he should not have been gazing at. Then he inquired longingly after that which was not his. Finally, he took for himself what God had by no means granted to him. The consequences for his life would be very serious.

The woman, Bathsheba, the wife of loyal Uriah the Hittite, became pregnant by King David. David seemed to forget about God in His covetousness. He conceived of a plot to make it seem that the baby to come was the child of Uriah. But when the king called Uriah home for a special visit, the man would not sleep with his wife out of reverence for God and solidarity with the troops who were off fighting the Ammonites.

When this first enticement failed, David set out to bring about the death of Uriah on the field of battle. David's awful plot was successful, and the man after God's own heart had become not only an adulterer, but also a murderer. Not only was Uriah's life taken in the service of the king's lie, but others who were near Uriah were also killed.

David then took Uriah's wife as his own and she gave birth to a boy. Was David's secret safe? No, “the thing that David had done displeased the Lord.”

A child is a gift of God, and marital blessings are according to God's own good design. But even the best of men are capable of turning against the Lord. Even God's leading servants may deceive themselves and those around them. Yet the Lord will know the truth.

David had failed badly. God would redeem, but not without great loss.

When the Son of David came to save, He was tempted in every way as we are, yet without sin. Without this perfect obedience to the Law of God, the cross of Christ would have been emptied of all its power. But Christ made the perfect offering to the Father as our Substitute. He had no sin in His heart so that He could be the atoning sacrifice for millions who had pursued even adultery and murder in their hearts.

David would have to be confronted with His grievous errors. But now the Son of God, the perfectly holy Jesus of Nazareth, confronts us with the greatness of His love for us. Without His sinless life, there would be no power to our faith and repentance. The entire plan of the cross would have failed.

Jesus rose above every temptation to sin that ever sought to defeat Him. Then He rose from the grave to give to us a sure sign of His victory for all those who confess their sins, repent, and trust in God's glorious provision for eternal life. Now when we sing, “Create in me clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me,” we hear His words of assurance from the cross reaching down over the centuries into our troubled souls. He says to us even today, “It is finished.”