“For we must needs die, and are as water spilled on the ground which cannot be gathered up again: neither doth God respect any person; yet cloth he devise means that his banished be not expelled from him “(2 Sam. 16:1414And the king, and all the people that were with him, came weary, and refreshed themselves there. (2 Samuel 16:14)) These words of the wise woman of Tekoah convey to us a deeply precious truth—precious to the poor sinner who has learned his own misery and helplessness, and who wants to learn God’s redeeming love to his soul.
Before we enter upon the truth conveyed to us in the verse, we will look at the scene which gave rise to the words.
Absalom, the son of David had committed a grievous sin in the murder of his brother Ammon. To be sure, Ammon had committed a great crime, but Absalom had no right to murder his brother, in avenging his sister’s wrongs. Absalom had fled away to Geshur, and was there three years, and his father David’s heart longed to see his son; his heart had been comforted concerning the death of his other son Ammon. Joab was Absalom’s friend, and saw that the king’s heart went out after his erring son; and he got the wise woman of Tekoah to feign herself to be a mourner, and one who sought the king’s help in her own need. When David decided her case, she said that he spoke as one who was himself faulty, because he had himself a banished son, whom he had not fetched home again. The result of the scene was that King David gave command that Absalom should be brought home. He sought to act like God in this—to do what God alone can do-and the result was that his throne was cast down. He gratified his own heart’s desire at the expense of the righteousness of his throne. His heart was gratified, but his throne was cast down. For Absalom, soon after his return, conspired against his father David, and David soon found himself an exile from Jerusalem, and his throne in possession of his revolted son. (2 Sam. 15)
It is God’s own right, dear reader, to do this alone. It is our privilege to forgive one who injures us until seventy times seven. (Matt. 18:2222Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven. (Matthew 18:22)) But while acting thus in grace, we cannot justify the person who has injured us. The law can condemn the guilty sinner, and act in perfect righteousness in doing so. The king can pardon, in royal clemency, the culprit who is about to be executed, but he cannot justify him. He can set aside the law in the exercise of mercy, but he cannot justify the criminal. God alone can do that, and in such a way, that His throne is not cast down as David’s. He has devised means that His banished be not expelled from Him. This is not merely the exercise of sovereign mercy. In God’s blessed way for bringing the sinner to Himself, “mercy rejoices over judgment;” and God’s way of saving sinners is on a basis which has established the glory and the authority of His throne.
In the verse which tells us of this, we find the poor helpless sinner aptly described. One who “must needs die”—the thought of death will come in betimes, when the sinner’s heart would try to be lightest, and bring its chill shudder over the soul, as to what will be its fate beyond that boundary. Death came in by sin; it proves the existence of sin; and the wages due and earned for sin is death, not only of the body, but of the soul. “The second death”—the “part in the lake of fire which burneth with fire and brimstone... is the second death.” (Rev. 21:88But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death. (Revelation 21:8)) “It is appointed unto man once to die, and after this the judgment.” (Heb. 9:2727And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment: (Hebrews 9:27)) “And I saw the dead stand before God,... and the dead were judged according to their works, and whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.” (Rev. 20:12-1512And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. 13And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. 14And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. 15And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire. (Revelation 20:12‑15)) It is the inevitable fate of all men in themselves, as responsible before God. How aptly is the utter helplessness of the sinner described in those words: They “are as water spilled upon the ground, which cannot be gathered up again.” Poor sinner, what could more aptly describe you? what could more forcibly figure your weakness and irrecoverable state? Have you not betimes to cry out of the depths of your heart for a deliverer? When you think that God gave His law, which showed you the way to leave your state, and promised you life in doing so, and that you never availed yourself of His remedy and when you have tried, you have failed; failure after failure only making your weakness more apparent—your heart more desolate than before? How willing we are to confess how ungodly we are—ungodly sinners—but how unwilling to confess that we are without strength— “as water spilled upon the ground, which cannot be gathered up again.” If we only once came to the discovery that we are truly and utterly helpless, we would be glad enough to be cast over on Jesus, and then we would find Him a mighty Deliverer. If you are thinking still that you have even one straw, as it were, to grasp at, you have not given up that one straw, and owned yourself undone. As long as we have one reserve in our hearts—one idea of “doing” for salvation—we have not come to the full consciousness of our utter weakness; and so long as we are in this state we are morally unfit to learn the means God has devised, that His banished might not be expelled from Him.
Let us think on that word “banished.” When did that word come in? In the third chapter of Genesis when God “drove out the man.” God had made Adam in innocency in the garden of Eden, and he fell from his state of innocency, and never can return. When innocent, he did not know good and evil. When he fell under Satan’s power, he received his conscience-his knowledge of good and evil-and he never can be innocent again. God “banished” him from his presence-from the earthly Paradise he had given him—and he has lost that state forever; what, then, is he to do He never can get back to Paradise; and where is he to go? He was “banished” from the place where a good and blessed God had placed him, and that forever! But God did not give him up, although He could not allow him to return, and so, instead of restoring him to Paradise, He brings His righteously banished creatures to Himself: How, then, is this to be done? The wise woman of Tekoah tells us that “God has devised a means.” It began in His thoughts. Christ carries out His will—He comes Himself from the bosom of His Father, and goes down into the very place of weakness, in grace, under the power of death, in which, poor sinner you lie, and this in such divine love. Satan wields the power of death; death comes in by sin; Satan has power thus over the sinner. Jesus was perfect and sinless, and therefore, Satan had no power over Him, not even the power of death. “The Prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in me.” (John 14:3030Hereafter I will not talk much with you: for the prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in me. (John 14:30)) And yet He went down into death. Man was as water spilled upon the ground-weakness itself. Christ goes down into the place of death, “the dust of death.” “I am poured out like water” were His accents in the place of death and sin-bearing on the cross (Psa. 22:1414I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint: my heart is like wax; it is melted in the midst of my bowels. (Psalm 22:14)). The cross was the weakness of God, and it was stronger than man (1 Cor. 1:2525Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men. (1 Corinthians 1:25)). Jesus was “crucified in weakness” (2 Cor. 13:44For though he was crucified through weakness, yet he liveth by the power of God. For we also are weak in him, but we shall live with him by the power of God toward you. (2 Corinthians 13:4)). He made good, and proved and glorified every expression of the character of God—perfectly glorified Him, as to your sin, in the work of His cross. God now acts on the ground of this, to bring the poor sinner, who was under sentence of eternal banishment, to Himself—not restoring him to Eden, but bringing him to Himself in Jesus Christ.” “The just died for the unjust, that he might bring us to God.” (1 Peter 3:1818For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit: (1 Peter 3:18)) He brings those who were righteously banished to Himself; not as David did Absalom. When David gratified his heart’s desire in bringing Absalom home again, he did so at the expense of his throne. His throne was soon cast down. God does not act thus. He brings them to Himself on the ground which has established the righteousness of His throne. He does not bring sinners to Himself with their sins, but displays His love in bringing them to Himself but without their sins. Man can act in pardoning grace in forgiving his enemy till seventy times seven times, but he cannot justify him at the same time. Hence the force of those beautiful words: “A just God and a Saviour; there is NONE beside me.” (Isa. 14:2121Prepare slaughter for his children for the iniquity of their fathers; that they do not rise, nor possess the land, nor fill the face of the world with cities. (Isaiah 14:21)) There is surely “none beside Him.” Thus, dear soul-bowed down, it may be, with a load of sin-has God done for you in Christ. He desires to give you rest and peace in your soul; desires that you should enjoy the blessedness and the consciousness that you have been brought to God in Christ-as near as He. Do you believe this? Have you set to your seal that God is true? This is faith, to believe what He says. “When we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.” (Rom. 5:66For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. (Romans 5:6)) Again, “To him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.” (Rom. 4:55But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness. (Romans 4:5).)
Dear fellow-sinner, is it not blessedly simple, His way—the way that God has devised that “His banished”—the poor sinner whom He could not allow to remain in the earthly Paradise here below— “His banished,” might not be expelled from Him, in the heavenly Paradise above? He gives us a better place, a better portion, as poor sinners saved by His grace, than we should have had, if Adam had retained his place, in the garden of Eden. And all this He does in virtue of the work of Jesus, His Son. How happy to be thus the objects of His boundless mercy; happy to be the objects of His perfect love; happy to know that we are not only saved, but saved in righteousness, by One who alone could say, “A just God and Saviour; there is none beside me.” “Being justified freely by his grace, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus; whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood;... to declare, I say, at this time, his righteousness; that he might be just and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.” (Rom. 3:24-2624Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: 25Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; 26To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. (Romans 3:24‑26).)
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