Bible Talks

From: Messages of God's Love: 1955

1 Samuel 25:37-44³⁷But it came to pass in the morning, when the wine was gone out of Nabal, and his wife had told him these things, that his heart died within him, and he became as a stone. ³⁸And it came to pass about ten days after, that the Lord smote Nabal, that he died. ³⁹And when David heard that Nabal was dead, he said, Blessed be the Lord, that hath pleaded the cause of my reproach from the hand of Nabal, and hath kept his servant from evil: for the Lord hath returned the wickedness of Nabal upon his own head. And David sent and communed with Abigail, to take her to him to wife. ⁴⁰And when the servants of David were come to Abigail to Carmel, they spake unto her, saying, David sent us unto thee, to take thee to him to wife. ⁴¹And she arose, and bowed herself on her face to the earth, and said, Behold, let thine handmaid be a servant to wash the feet of the servants of my lord. ⁴²And Abigail hasted, and arose, and rode upon an ass, with five damsels of hers that went after her; and she went after the messengers of David, and became his wife. ⁴³David also took Ahinoam of Jezreel; and they were also both of them his wives. ⁴⁴But Saul had given Michal his daughter, David's wife, to Phalti the son of Laish, which was of Gallim. (1 Samuel 25:37‑44)

THE stoning of Stephen in Acts 7 marked the turning point in the ways of God with the guilty nation of Israel. After this we see the Gentiles brought in, the truth of the Church revealed to Paul from Christ in glory, the setting aside of Jerusalem as a center and its final overthrow in A. D. 70 by the Roman .army. Thus it was in our chapter, the hand of God fell upon Nabal for his wicked treatment of David, God’s rightful king. It says that his heart died and he became as stone. This is the condition of Israel now, for they are pictured as a valley of dry bones (Ezekiel 37:1-14¹The hand of the Lord was upon me, and carried me out in the spirit of the Lord, and set me down in the midst of the valley which was full of bones, ²And caused me to pass by them round about: and, behold, there were very many in the open valley; and, lo, they were very dry. ³And he said unto me, Son of man, can these bones live? And I answered, O Lord God, thou knowest. ⁴Again he said unto me, Prophesy upon these bones, and say unto them, O ye dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. ⁵Thus saith the Lord God unto these bones; Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and ye shall live: ⁶And I will lay sinews upon you, and will bring up flesh upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and ye shall live; and ye shall know that I am the Lord. ⁷So I prophesied as I was commanded: and as I prophesied, there was a noise, and behold a shaking, and the bones came together, bone to his bone. ⁸And when I beheld, lo, the sinews and the flesh came up upon them, and the skin covered them above: but there was no breath in them. ⁹Then said he unto me, Prophesy unto the wind, prophesy, son of man, and say to the wind, Thus saith the Lord God; Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live. ¹⁰So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood up upon their feet, an exceeding great army. ¹¹Then he said unto me, Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel: behold, they say, Our bones are dried, and our hope is lost: we are cut off for our parts. ¹²Therefore prophesy and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, O my people, I will open your graves, and cause you to come up out of your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel. ¹³And ye shall know that I am the Lord, when I have opened your graves, O my people, and brought you up out of your graves, ¹⁴And shall put my spirit in you, and ye shall live, and I shall place you in your own land: then shall ye know that I the Lord have spoken it, and performed it, saith the Lord. (Ezekiel 37:1‑14)) and as having hearts of stone (Ezekiel 11:19¹⁹And I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within you; and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them an heart of flesh: (Ezekiel 11:19)), though in the millennium they will be brought into national blessing.

After the death of Nabal, David sent and took Abigail to be his wife. At first she pictures to us the godly of Israel who followed the Lord in His rejection here upon earth, and who are also seen in the first chapter of the Acts looking for Israel’s national blessing (Acts 1:6⁶When they therefore were come together, they asked of him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel? (Acts 1:6)). But after the nation as such had rejected the Holy Spirit’s testimony, the precious secret in the heart of God came out that Jew and Gentile are together to form the one body, the Church, the bride of Christ. Abigail therefore now becomes the wife of David, following him in his rejection, until the time comes for him to reign. So now in this present period of grace, all those who believe the gospel, whether Jew or Gentile, are baptized by one Spirit into one body, and will form the bride of Christ in that wonderful day now so near at hand—the marriage of the Lamb in heaven. (1 Cor. 12:12, 13¹²For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ. ¹³For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit. (1 Corinthians 12:12‑13) and Rev. 19:7, 8⁷Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honor to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready. ⁸And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints. (Revelation 19:7‑8).) As we await that day, it is important for us to remember the true character of the Church in this world. She is to be like Abigail following the rejected king David, waiting the time when he would reign.

Abigail was free forever from the claims of Nabal too, and so if we see true Christian position now, we will not introduce anything of the old system of Judaism into Christianity. It is an entirely new thing, with new relationships and new joys altogether. Christendom at large has mixed the two systems together, Judaism and Christianity, but the new wine of Christianity must be put into new bottles, or it will burst the old bottles and be spilled. A believer who really lays hold of true Christian position will not be able to remain in a place where the two are mixed together, for his new joy will lead him into a new position, like Abigail here. He will find himself outside the camp with Christ, drawn there by cords of love.

Moreover, the Church has no part in trying to set the world right. How contradictory it would have been for Abigail to have gone to the court of Saul and tried to set things right there. Nothing could be right until David, her bridegroom, had his rightful place. And every time the Christian meddles in the affairs of this Christ-rejecting world, he is out of his place. Indeed the world would never have him in their affairs at all unless he hides his true relationship, any more than Saul would have had Abigail in his court unless she had hidden her relationship to David whom he hated. Jonathan had chosen to remain in Saul’s court, though a true man of faith, but oh what a loss to his own soul and testimony it was. He perished with Saul in battle soon after this.

Messages of God’s Love 1/2/1955

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