The Perfect King

One evening David got up from his bed and walked around on the roof of the palace. From the roof he saw a woman bathing. The woman was very beautiful … (2 Samuel 11:2)

I’m reading through the book of Samuel in my Time Alone with God these days. 1 and 2 Samuel is about Israel’s transition from a people to a nation, from being led by judges to being led by kings. It’s about the early years of Israel as a kingdom. The citizens thought by asking for a king much of the nation’s problem will be solved (in fact their reason for asking for a king was because they envy other nations surrounding them who had a king leading them). But it’s far from becoming a perfect government, especially with humans involved. We read Saul’s rise and tragic fall. Even David, who was even called by God a man after His own heart, fell for a married woman thereby unleashing chaos on his own family. It was only by God’s grace and unfailing love that David was restored.

It got me thinking, leaders are not perfect people. We have followed “kings” leaders who at one point of your life have let you down. Leaders who are supposed to do the right thing; who are supposed to know the answers. But as leaders ourselves we are not exempted. We have instances that we feel or know that we have let down some people in our lives. One thing is sure. Apart from God and the recognition of His lordship, His kingship over us, we are surely to mess up, because our heart is prone to deceive itself if not in constant submission to Christ.

Jeremiah 17:9, “The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?”

John 15:5, “apart from me you can do nothing.”

And may I add, apart from Christ, we can do nothing good.

Despite Israel’s foolishness to put a king above them instead of having God lead them as a nation, God’s sovereign will is in effect as the age of kings through Samuel, Kings and Chronicles become a foreshadow of the coming Perfect King. God at one time promises to David:

When your days are over and you rest with your ancestors, I will raise up your offspring to succeed you, your own flesh and blood, and I will establish his kingdom. He is the one who will build a house for my Name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. - 2 Samuel 7:12-13

While this prophecy found an immediate fulfillment with the reign of David’s son Solomon, God was also alluding to a future King whose kingdom will be established forever—Jesus Christ. And truly He is our Perfect King. The King who will not let us down, the King who does the right thing. He’s the kind of King we leaders aspire to be, selfless yet mighty. The King who could empty Himself without losing Himself. The King who became the ransom for many. The rightful King who alone can pardon our sins. Though His death and victorious resurrection, He becomes our righteousness—even to the worst of sinners.

Create in me a pure heart, O God,
and renew a steadfast spirit within me. 
Do not cast me from your presence 
or take your Holy Spirit from me.
Restore to me the joy of your salvation
and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.

Psalm 51:10-12

He is the Perpetual King. The Selfless King. The Mighty King. The Returning King. The Perfect King. Come, Lord Jesus.