grace

The number one selling book of all time is the Bible. Every year it is the number one seller, yes I said every year. The bible consists of 66 books with two sections. The sections are as every knows are the Old and New Testaments. In church we always here about the New Testament and we look at the stories of Christ, the journeys of Paul and we read stories of the disciples. What we never seem to hear about is the Old Testament. The O.T. was written within a span of 2,000 years before Christ to 400 years Before Christ. There are 39 books in the O.T., those 39 books were written over a 1,600 year span. No one in the O.T. knew Jesus; they knew of a Savior to come but didn't know Christ. For us we know Christ, he is the guy that died on the cross, he is the perfect man, he is the son of god, he is the savior. We have history books that show Christ was real they had nothing. The whole purpose of the O.T. was a foreshadowing of Christ. Every story showed the love, grace, brilliance, beauty, kindness, anger, humility, and servant hood of the Christ to come. For the people of the O.T. they put their faith in a person that was to come. In 2 Samuel there is a great story of King David. He has been in this pursuit of becoming King of Israel. The king that was before him (Saul) was crooked, evil, selfish, disobedient, etc and David was appointed to take over as king of Israel but not until Saul died. That is where we are going to pick up. Saul has died (actually killed himself) and the kingdom of Israel is opened for taking and David steps in. The country is stoked they are what I would call giddy. There is a new king who has been a big part of their success in battle and they feel relieved at the lose of such a bad king. David is in charge. Based on Hebrew laws and the way things were run back 3,000 years ago the new king who had succeeded the thrown of another king could have the entire family of the old king killed. The reason is quite simple, to the Jews your blood line was everything and if there was a remaining family member of the old king's family they would have president over the new king for the thrown. So in order for the new king to be able to keep his kingdom he had to get rid of all possible threats. Kind of harsh I know, but that's how it was. In the story David is on the thrown and calls for Saul's servant to come and notify him of any remaining people from Saul's family. There is one left. His name is Mephibosheth (Ma-fi-ba-chef), Mephibosheth is lame (can't walk). As a kid he was dropped and became paralyzed in both legs. In that day and age you were considered a sinful person if people in your family were disabled, so that included people with skin diseases, retarded people, lame people, deformed people, you get the picture. So in order for the king (Saul) to look holy and righteous to his people he couldn't have the country knowing he had a grandson who was disabled, because that would make his family look unholy. So they sent Mephibosheth to a village called Lo Debar where he was supposed to live his life with other "unclean people". Lo Debar was a place for misfits and weirdoes. It was the hiding place that predominately wealthy people could send their family members so there image wouldn't be tainted in Jerusalem. So king David sent his servants to Lo Debar to get Mephibosheth. Mephibosheth knowing how new kingships happened knew that this new king was probably going to kill him. Mephibosheth was brought to the king and fell flat on the floor to show his honor to the king. I don't know what the scene looked like but I can tell that Mephibosheth was scared because after greeting Mephibosheth David says these words "Don't be afraid". What David gives Mephibosheth is amazing, he allows him to have his Grandfathers estate and all the servants Saul (his grandfather) had. The last thing is David tells Mephibosheth that he is forever allowed at the king's table. The king's table was the most revered and respectable thing any one could possibly be invited to. The grace of David is awesome. Here you have a lame guy who for years had lived in a community with misfits and David can have him killed and that's even what Mephibosheth is expecting but David doesn't do it. Mephibosheth deserves death and David gives him life. Here is the foreshadowing part. In life we are Mephibosheth, we are misfits, we live on Earth which in God's eyes is like Lo Debar a place for the outcast and yet God sent his son to die on the cross for us. We deserve death but we are given life through Christ. May you come to realize the grace you were given.