5^th Sunday in Lent – April 10, 2011

The Lord Is In Control

The name Ahithophel is hardly a household name today. Yet, in the days of King David, Ahithophel was the most trusted and famous of all the king's men. No one was like Ahithophel. His advice and counsel was accepted as the very counsel of God. Yet, this trusted friend and advisor displayed a blackness of heart and bitterness of spirit, for he betrayed his dearest friend. He betrayed the Lord's Anointed. He betrayed his king.

David's kingdom was in trouble. His son, Absalom, had risen up in rebellion and seized the throne. For years now Absalom had been secretly stealing away the hearts of Israel. Whenever someone came to the city to find the king's justice, Absalom would meet them at the city gate, listen to their case and take their side in the matter. “But unfortunately,” he would tell them, “the matter won't go very far. The king's judges are irresponsible and won't give you the justice you deserve. If only I were king, things would be better for you.”

Finally, sensing the time was right, Absalom made his move. Going to Hebron under the deception of worshiping the Lord, he gathered together his co-conspirators and proclaimed himself king. And we pick up our text with David leaving Jerusalem after finding out about Absalom’s plot to take the throne and hearing that the hearts of Israel were with Absalom:

2 Samuel 15:23-32; 17:14,23 - ²³ The whole countryside wept aloud as all the people passed by. The king also crossed the Kidron Valley, and all the people moved on toward the desert.²⁴ Zadok was there, too, and all the Levites who were with him were carrying the ark of the covenant of God. They set down the ark of God, and Abiathar offered sacrifices until all the people had finished leaving the city.²⁵ Then the king said to Zadok, “Take the ark of God back into the city. If I find favor in the Lord’s eyes, he will bring me back and let me see it and his dwelling place again. ²⁶ But if he says, ‘I am not pleased with you,’ then I am ready; let him do to me whatever seems good to him.”²⁷ The king also said to Zadok the priest, “Aren’t you a seer? Go back to the city in peace, with your son Ahimaaz and Jonathan son of Abiathar. You and Abiathar take your two sons with you. ²⁸ I will wait at the fords in the desert until word comes from you to inform me.” ²⁹ So Zadok and Abiathar took the ark of God back to Jerusalem and stayed there.³⁰ But David continued up the Mount of Olives, weeping as he went; his head was covered and he was barefoot. All the people with him covered their heads too and were weeping as they went up. ³¹ Now David had been told, “Ahithophel is among the conspirators with Absalom.” So David prayed, “O Lord, turn Ahithophel’s counsel into foolishness.”³² When David arrived at the summit, where people used to worship God, Hushai the Arkite was there to meet him, his robe torn and dust on his head…

When you hear a text like this, what is it that comes to mind? Now, I know that might not be a fair question. For one, perhaps you would like a little more time to think about it. For another, maybe this is the first time you can remember coming into contact with these words of Scripture. Since that may be the case, let me share with you a couple of things that come to my mind.

First, I can’t help but thinking this very simple truth: sin isn’t worth it because it can only cause bad things to happen. Remember David’s sin of adultery and murder? There he was standing on the roof of his palace when he saw beautiful Bathsheba. He wanted her, so lust turned into coveting; coveting into having; and having into murder. The Lord was not pleased and sent his prophet Nathan to rebuke David, and by the grace of God David repented. But the Lord said there would be consequences, “Out of your own household I am going to bring calamity upon you” (2 Samuel 12:11). Here is a fulfillment of that: Absalom, David’s own son, trying to take his father’s throne. Sin just doesn’t pay.

Another thing that comes to mind is the simple childlike trust that the Lord had worked in David. Here he has to flee Jerusalem, his home, and even the ark of the covenant, yet in faith he is able to say, “The Lord’s will be done.” Finally, there is something else that catches one’s attention with these words and I think you will see it too after you hear how this section of Scripture plays out.

Absalom and Ahithophel had what they wanted and it looked like nothing could stop them now. David had fled Jerusalem, not willing to allow the city to become a battle ground between him and his son. So Absalom parades into the city without so much as a spear being raised. Everything was going according to plan. All that remained between Absalom and the throne is an old king and a handful of loyal supporters on the run. But God has a way of bringing down the best-laid plans and strategies of men, of frustrating the wisdom of the worldly wise.

And so, enter a man by the name of Hushai, David's friend and counselor, and God's instrument of judgment against the conspirators. Absalom needed a plan of action to deal with his father David. So he called in two advisors, Ahithophel and Hushai, to see what they would suggest. Ahithophel’s advised, "Hit David now when he's weak and tired. Don't give him a chance to rally support and raise an army. Pursue him and kill him and the kingdom is yours."

Hushai suggested: "Your father's quite a fighter. It's better to wait until you've raised a huge army. Then you can personally lead them into battle and kill David and all his supporters. Then no one will be left to oppose you." We listen to the Lord tell us what happened next…

¹⁴ Absalom and all the men of Israel said, “The advice of Hushai the Arkite is better than that of Ahithophel.” For the Lord had determined to frustrate the good advice of Ahithophel in order to bring disaster on Absalom. ²³ When Ahithophel saw that his advice had not been followed, he saddled his donkey and set out for his house in his hometown. He put his house in order and then hanged himself. So he died and was buried in his father’s tomb.

Ahithophel is humiliated and disgraced. His advice had been good enough to bring Absalom to the throne but now he's forgotten. And perhaps even more importantly, he realizes the folly of Hushai's plan. He sees the handwriting on the wall. Absalom will lose all that he's gained. David will regain his throne and he will be ruined. And we are taught once again of the truth we so often forget, God is in control. Though all seems to be lost, though David is forced to flee for his life, God still holds the outcome in his hands.

And you know, it’s difficult when you hear a lesson like this, not to let the mind drift some thousand years later to an upper room in Jerusalem where Jesus once scanned the eyes of his disciples and said, "One of you will betray me" (Mark 14:18). In essence, one of you will be my Ahithophel! And while we do not call this a shadow of the cross, we can see many similarities.

Throughout the ages there have always been those who are willing to step on anyone and do anything to get ahead. The Lord, in fact, reminded us to always expect opposition from those outside the church and to recognize the danger this world presents. But the treachery and deceit of Ahithophel reminds us that one of the greatest threats to us as God's disciples is and has always come from within. Our sinful nature! It is the traitor that can many time pose the greatest danger.

Now, to their credit, the disciples in the upper room on that very first Maundy Thursday refused to point the finger at each other after hearing the news that someone would betray Jesus. They had too good a handle on the doctrine of original sin to do that. One after another they asked, "Lord, is it I?" They knew how foul the human heart can be. They knew what their hearts were capable of leading them to do. Anyone of them could, but for the grace of God, have played the part of traitor.

And there is a lesson for us in the lives of the Ahithophel and Judas, and that lesson is this: the same evil lives within us all. We hear the stories of sin exposed and blown up on the pages of newspapers. And if we're wise, we realize along with the disciples that we have the same amount of dynamite stored in our own hearts. The temptation is always there to throw God’s Word and his commands out the window, to betray our Savior, and simply live the way we want. We’ve even see it at times.

When we slander someone’s name, or gossip, so that we look better and they look worse, we betray Jesus’ command to love one another. When we turn a deaf ear and shut our eyes to the needs and wants of those less fortunate, we betray Jesus’ command to serve one another. When in selfishness we trample on others to get ahead or to get our way, we betray Jesus’ command of humility. And so, we see the germ of coveting grow into the disease of greed. Anger gives way to abuse. As James says in his letter, “Each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death” (James 1:14,15). The lesson is simple: you can’t play around with sin, be its pal, cuddle up with it and expect to walk away unharmed. You play with fire and you’re going to get burned. It’s a lesson of what the power of Satan can do to man when he gets us to live according to our sinful nature.

And but for God's grace we could, we would, follow Ahithophel and Judas down the path to destruction. But for the grace of God we would follow them to the point of no return, living in impenitence, and throwing away life and salvation all together. And that is the other lesson for us here – the grace of God. You see, just as the Lord was in control in the case of David and Ahithophel, he was in complete control in the case of Judas as well. What looked like an evil plot by Judas and the Sanhedrin was all part of God’s infinite plan. What looked like it would be the most humiliating defeat the world had ever seen was all part of the grandest victory the world would ever know. It had to happen this way. There could be no other way. Jesus had to be handed over. He had to be betrayed. He had to be put on trial for wrongs he had never done. He had to be beaten. And he had to be crucified as the innocent Son of God.

It had to be this way…and he had it all under control. Just think of where we’d be if he hadn’t? If the perfect Son of God hadn’t been betrayed, if he hadn’t been crucified, if he hadn’t suffered our hell, if he hadn’t risen from the grave – we’d still be in our sins. We’d be the most pitied people in the world. We’d be heading straight to an eternal appointment in hell. But Jesus was betrayed, he was nailed to the cross, he did suffer our hell and he did rise from the grave. Jesus, the perfect Son of God died in our place as the sacrificial substitute that removed our stain of sin. Jesus, the very Son of God defeated the power of Satan. Jesus, the Son of God endured our hell to free us from the grip of eternal death. It was all part of God’s saving plan.

This is a lesson of the love of Jesus, a lesson that tells us that no matter how far we wander, no matter how dark the sin, the blood of Jesus can still cover and cleanse. We are part of his family through faith in Christ. By faith, he has put us on the path to salvation. By faith, he has shown us that when we betray him with our sins, there is an answer. Unlike Judas and Ahithophel, and by the grace of God, we know that in his blood there is forgiveness and life. That blood was shed for me and for you. In repentant faith we can return to our Lord and pray, “Lord, I need your forgiveness”…and he gives it. We can pray, “Father, in your mercy do not blot me out of your family”… and he says, “Through the blood of my Son you are heirs of the heaven he opened to you.”

The Lord is in control. And let us thank the Lord that he is, because for us that means an ending far better than we deserve, an ending far better than we could ever imagine. Amen.