Adult Sunday School - Part 25 - Oh, my Son, my Son

Adult Sunday School – Part 25 - Oh, my Son, my Son

The most traumatic moment in the life of God was when His son died. Some of us who have lost a son can relate to that, but, for God,  the grief of that moment was more intense in that He knew when and how His son would die - at least four thousand years before it happened.

The first hint to us that it would happen, is when He spoke to the serpent in the Garden of Eden. Gen 3:15 … it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel. This scripture says in my words: You shall bruise His heel when you send Him to Calvary where He will die, but He will bruise your head at Calvary, because there He will be crowned the King of Kings.

God also made known to us how deeply He was worried about what would happen at Calvary, because in those moments mankind was deciding about the fate of His son and the fate of the world. In that the future of the universe hung in the balance.

This gospel song says it so beautifully:

There's a line that's been drawn through the ages;
On that line stands the old rugged cross.
On that cross a battle is raging
For the gain of a man's soul or its loss.

On one side march the forces of evil,
All the demons and devils of hell;
On the other the angels of glory,
And they meet on Golgotha's hill.

The earth shakes with the force of the conflict;
The sun refuses to shine,
For there hangs God's Son in the balance,
And then through the darkness He cries —

It is finished! The battle is over.
It is finished! There'll be no more war.
It is finished! The end of the conflict.
It is finished! And Jesus is Lord!

Note: I have marked the phrases in red which are prophecies relating directly to the crucifixion story and I have made my  comments next to it in blue)

We pick up this tragic story in 2 Samuel 13 onward which in effect prophesies how God’s Son would die and how great the Father’s anxiety and grief would be about the fate of His son. It is the story of the greatest earthly king ever on earth, David, and of his son, Absalom. It relates directly as prophecy about the Greatest Heavenly King and His Son.

It starts early to tell us how beautiful Absalom was: But in all Israel there was none to be so much praised as Absalom for his beauty: from the sole of his foot even to the crown of his head there was no blemish in him. An apt description of Jesus Christ.

Then we read a remarkable piece about how Absalom sat in the city gate and ‘forgave’ the people their sins in saying their cases were good and right closing with this prophetic words: Absalom said moreover, Oh that I were made judge in the land, that every man which hath any suit or cause might come unto me, and I would do him justice! (Here he refers prophetically to Jesus Christ who would one day do it).

Our next prophetic hint is that Absalom sent word throughout the land: .. saying, As soon as ye hear the sound of the trumpet, then ye shall say, Absalom reigneth in Hebron. (This refers to the trumpets in Revelation when Jesus Christ comes back to earth to wage war and take up His kingship. The reason we know that He will wage war to take up His kingship, is that directly when this trumpet of Absalom sounded, the war between the rebels and King David started).

As the war started, king David sent this message of love for Absalom to his chief of the army, Joab: Deal gently for my sake with the young man.(In the end the Jews did not deal so gently with Jesus Christ as God asked here)

This war ended with the death of Absalom where he hung on a tree: And Absalom rode upon a mule, and the mule went under the thick boughs of a great oak, and his head caught hold of the oak, and he was taken up between the heaven and the earth; and the mule that was under him went away. (So clear of what would happen to Jesus Christ as He rode on a donkey into Jerusalem for the crucifixion).

As the two messengers haste towards king David to tell him Absalom was dead, this scene plays itself out. I quote it in full as it so vividly and emotionally portrays the feelings of the father for the son:

From 2 Sam. 18 verse 19:

Then said Ahimaaz the son of Zadok, Let me now run, and bear the king tidings, how that the LORD hath avenged him of his enemies. 

And Joab said unto him, Thou shalt not bear tidings this day, but thou shalt bear tidings another day (here scripture refers to another day when the message of the death of Jesus Christ will be relayed.) : but this day thou shalt bear no tidings, because the (earthly) king's son is dead (and not the son of God).

Then said Joab to Cushi, Go tell the king what thou hast seen. And Cushi (the first messenger) bowed himself unto Joab, and ran.

Then said Ahimaaz the son of Zadok yet again to Joab, But howsoever, let me, I pray thee, also run after Cushi. And Joab said, Wherefore wilt thou run, my son, seeing that thou hast no tidings ready (Ahimaaz, the second messenger, did not have the tidings of the crucifixion of Christ yet as it was not time yet)? 

But howsoever, said he, let me run. And he said unto him, Run. Then Ahimaaz ran by the way of the plain, and overran Cushi.

And David sat between the two gates: and the watchman went up to the roof over the gate unto the wall, and lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold a man running alone.

And the watchman cried, and told the king. And the king said, If he be alone, there is tidings in his mouth. And he came apace, and drew near.

2Sa 18:26  And the watchman saw another man running: and the watchman called unto the porter, and said, Behold another man running alone. And the king said, He also bringeth tidings (David says the second messengers with no tidings also have tidings, but good tidings, because he looks forward in prophecy to Calvary)

And the watchman said, Me thinketh the running of the foremost is like the running of Ahimaaz the son of Zadok. And the king said, He is a good man, and cometh with good tidings.(Indeed prophecy of Jesus Christ. Here Ahimaaz with no message is said to bring good tidings, that of Christ, while the first messenger carries bad tidings) 
  

And Ahimaaz called, and said unto the king, All is well. And he fell down to the earth upon his face before the king, and said, Blessed be the LORD thy God, which hath delivered up the men that lifted up their hand against my lord the king.

And the king said, Is the young man Absalom safe? And Ahimaaz answered, When Joab sent the king's servant, and me thy servant, I saw a great tumult, but I knew not what it was.

2Sa 18:30  And the king said unto him, Turn aside, and stand here. And he turned aside, and stood still.

David's Grief

And, behold, Cushi came; and Cushi said, Tidings, my lord the king: for the LORD hath avenged thee this day of all them that rose up against thee. 

And the king said unto Cushi, Is the young man Absalom safe? And Cushi answered, The enemies of my lord the king, and all that rise against thee to do thee hurt, be as that young man is.

And the king was much moved, and went up to the chamber over the gate, and wept: and as he went, thus he said, O my son Absalom, my son, my son Absalom! would God I had died for thee, O Absalom, my son, my son! (This is indeed the heart rending lament of God over the death of His Son)

In actual fact, during the crucifixion of His son, God turned His head away from His son, as he could not stand it to see the pain and suffering of his son, and that is why Jesus cried out loud: My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?