Part 14: Prince Nathan
Sept 17, 2016 11:40:26 GMT
Post by Colossians on Sept 17, 2016 11:40:26 GMT
This material is for the teaching of the Body of Christ, however the author reserves copyright over it.
Forward
There is no proof that the bible has been written by God: as born again Christians we know it has been (for the Spirit has revealed it to us), but there is no objective (external) proof. And neither should there be, for such were tantamount to an objective (external) proof for the existence of God.
That is, the bible simply echoes what we know in the Spirit to be true. This doesn’t mean of course that we already have a knowledge of spiritual doctrines before we learn about them in scripture, but simply that we know those doctrines in an experiential (relational) sense before we know them in articulated form. Such is indeed what the apostle John meant when he said to all who are in Christ:
“Ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things” 1 John 2:20
: when it is time for the Lord to tell us something new, it will be because He has first of all prepared us to receive it so that when we hear it, we shall know that it is the Truth.
The point is that, if one cannot prove the bible to be from God, then one is actually no better off for proving something in the bible from the bible: in the end it comes down to whether or not what you are being told is witnessed within by the Spirit.
It is with this in mind that we introduce this work as that which has no biblical proof for it whatsoever: we shall rather be basing it solely on theological persuasion.
A very strong persuasion.
______________
PRINCE NATHAN
“I waited patiently for the LORD; and He inclined unto me, and heard my cry. He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings. And He hath put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God: many shall see it, and fear, and shall trust in the LORD” Ps 40:1-3.
David knew the Lord. He really knew Him.
___
Now we are told that David’s wife Bathsheba bore him a male child from the adulterous relationship he had had with her (when she was yet another man's wife). And we are told that the Lord took the child’s life on the 7th day from its birth, but that He spared David’s life because He had in fact taken away David’s sin (2 Sam 12:13,14).
Strange: David had his sin taken away, but the child who had done no wrong, had his life terminated as though it were he who had done the wrong.
But David knew the mercy of the Lord: recall how that when Gad came to him to point out his sin in counting the number of the troops of Israel, and offered him one of three forms of chastisement, David replied with what is probably the most grace-magnifying statement in the entire bible:
“I am in a great strait: let us fall now into the hand of the LORD; for His mercies are great: and let me not fall into the hand of man” 2 Sam 24:14
and which is echoed in the NT:
“Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need” Heb 4:16.
___
The point is that David knew the Lord better than to just believe that the child’s life had been taken and that that was that – a rather dead-ended scenario indeed. No no no: David was the man whose throne Christ would receive (indeed has received) in His being resurrected from the dead (Acts 2:25-31): David understood that there was no end to God’s mercy toward those whom He loves – that He will “save … to the uttermost” (Heb 7:25).
Indeed David the prophet was of the same mindset as his father Abraham the prophet, who considered that God could raise Isaac from the dead if he (Abraham) had taken his (Isaac’s) life at God’s command.
David the prophet was of the same mindset as Elisha the prophet who lay hand to hand, mouth to mouth and eye to eye on the son of a Shunammite woman and brought him back to life, a pre-eminent figure indeed for what Christ has done for us. (For was not Christ joined to us in our death that He might bring us to the Father?)
___
But let us also remember that David was a human being, and Bathsheba too, for we unwittingly treat these bible characters as icons rather than normal people with normal problems. And so let us not forget that David had to comfort Bathsheba upon the death of their child (2 Sam 12:24).
But what would they name him? (for a child of Israel was only named (and circumcised) on the 8th day, and his life was taken on the 7th day). Would they just put him in the grave with no name?
___
Now we have said many times in this series that David was the consummate foreshadow of Christ.
But/and we have also said that when considered in tandem with David, Nathan the prophet stood for Christ and David for the Father, for we have pointed out that Nathan means “given”, and that David who was the primary foreshadow of Christ could also stand for the Father in that Christ Himself can be considered to be the Father in accord with the ramifications of the Trinity (i.e. without violating the constraints of the Trinity).
___
“[He] was delivered 1 for our offences” Rom 4:25a
: David’s child born of Bathsheba, and dead at 7 days old, would be named after the prophet who foretold of his death: he would be called Nathan2 and would stand for Him who was given for our offences.
“He was raised again for our justification” Rom 4:25b
: Nathan the prophet would stand for the risen Christ.
1 Literal Greek: “given up”.
2 See 2 Sam 5:14.
In closing ...
The child born of David and Bathsheba's adulterous relationship, would die on the 7th day of its life.
But David, a man after God’s own heart, knew the Lord a little better than that: he knew that His mercies endure forever, and that nothing is wasted in His economy.
And so he would in such situation rather declare the promised sacrifice and resurrection of Jesus Christ: he would name the child who had been taken in his stead, Nathan, and (thus) in a figure declare that same one who was given, risen again in Nathan the prophet.
"For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon His shoulder: and His name shall be called Wonderful, Counseller, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace" Is 9:6.
“I am he that liveth and was dead” Rev 1:18.
“The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy” Rev 19:10.
Amen.
Forward
There is no proof that the bible has been written by God: as born again Christians we know it has been (for the Spirit has revealed it to us), but there is no objective (external) proof. And neither should there be, for such were tantamount to an objective (external) proof for the existence of God.
That is, the bible simply echoes what we know in the Spirit to be true. This doesn’t mean of course that we already have a knowledge of spiritual doctrines before we learn about them in scripture, but simply that we know those doctrines in an experiential (relational) sense before we know them in articulated form. Such is indeed what the apostle John meant when he said to all who are in Christ:
“Ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things” 1 John 2:20
: when it is time for the Lord to tell us something new, it will be because He has first of all prepared us to receive it so that when we hear it, we shall know that it is the Truth.
The point is that, if one cannot prove the bible to be from God, then one is actually no better off for proving something in the bible from the bible: in the end it comes down to whether or not what you are being told is witnessed within by the Spirit.
It is with this in mind that we introduce this work as that which has no biblical proof for it whatsoever: we shall rather be basing it solely on theological persuasion.
A very strong persuasion.
______________
PRINCE NATHAN
“I waited patiently for the LORD; and He inclined unto me, and heard my cry. He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings. And He hath put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God: many shall see it, and fear, and shall trust in the LORD” Ps 40:1-3.
David knew the Lord. He really knew Him.
___
Now we are told that David’s wife Bathsheba bore him a male child from the adulterous relationship he had had with her (when she was yet another man's wife). And we are told that the Lord took the child’s life on the 7th day from its birth, but that He spared David’s life because He had in fact taken away David’s sin (2 Sam 12:13,14).
Strange: David had his sin taken away, but the child who had done no wrong, had his life terminated as though it were he who had done the wrong.
But David knew the mercy of the Lord: recall how that when Gad came to him to point out his sin in counting the number of the troops of Israel, and offered him one of three forms of chastisement, David replied with what is probably the most grace-magnifying statement in the entire bible:
“I am in a great strait: let us fall now into the hand of the LORD; for His mercies are great: and let me not fall into the hand of man” 2 Sam 24:14
and which is echoed in the NT:
“Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need” Heb 4:16.
___
The point is that David knew the Lord better than to just believe that the child’s life had been taken and that that was that – a rather dead-ended scenario indeed. No no no: David was the man whose throne Christ would receive (indeed has received) in His being resurrected from the dead (Acts 2:25-31): David understood that there was no end to God’s mercy toward those whom He loves – that He will “save … to the uttermost” (Heb 7:25).
Indeed David the prophet was of the same mindset as his father Abraham the prophet, who considered that God could raise Isaac from the dead if he (Abraham) had taken his (Isaac’s) life at God’s command.
David the prophet was of the same mindset as Elisha the prophet who lay hand to hand, mouth to mouth and eye to eye on the son of a Shunammite woman and brought him back to life, a pre-eminent figure indeed for what Christ has done for us. (For was not Christ joined to us in our death that He might bring us to the Father?)
___
But let us also remember that David was a human being, and Bathsheba too, for we unwittingly treat these bible characters as icons rather than normal people with normal problems. And so let us not forget that David had to comfort Bathsheba upon the death of their child (2 Sam 12:24).
But what would they name him? (for a child of Israel was only named (and circumcised) on the 8th day, and his life was taken on the 7th day). Would they just put him in the grave with no name?
___
Now we have said many times in this series that David was the consummate foreshadow of Christ.
But/and we have also said that when considered in tandem with David, Nathan the prophet stood for Christ and David for the Father, for we have pointed out that Nathan means “given”, and that David who was the primary foreshadow of Christ could also stand for the Father in that Christ Himself can be considered to be the Father in accord with the ramifications of the Trinity (i.e. without violating the constraints of the Trinity).
___
“[He] was delivered 1 for our offences” Rom 4:25a
: David’s child born of Bathsheba, and dead at 7 days old, would be named after the prophet who foretold of his death: he would be called Nathan2 and would stand for Him who was given for our offences.
“He was raised again for our justification” Rom 4:25b
: Nathan the prophet would stand for the risen Christ.
1 Literal Greek: “given up”.
2 See 2 Sam 5:14.
In closing ...
The child born of David and Bathsheba's adulterous relationship, would die on the 7th day of its life.
But David, a man after God’s own heart, knew the Lord a little better than that: he knew that His mercies endure forever, and that nothing is wasted in His economy.
And so he would in such situation rather declare the promised sacrifice and resurrection of Jesus Christ: he would name the child who had been taken in his stead, Nathan, and (thus) in a figure declare that same one who was given, risen again in Nathan the prophet.
"For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon His shoulder: and His name shall be called Wonderful, Counseller, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace" Is 9:6.
“I am he that liveth and was dead” Rev 1:18.
“The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy” Rev 19:10.
Amen.