2 Samuel chapter 12 and verse 15. And Nathan departed unto his
house. That's Nathan the prophet. And
Nathan departed unto his house. And the Lord struck the child
that Uriah's wife bare unto David, and it was very sick. David therefore
besought God for the child, and David fasted and went in and
lay all night upon the earth. And the elders of his house arose
and went to him to raise him up from the earth, but he would
not, neither did he eat bread with them. And it came to pass
on the seventh day that the child died, and the servants of David
feared to tell him that the child was dead. For they said, Behold,
while the child was yet alive, we spake unto him, and he would
not hearken unto our voice. How will he then vex himself
if we tell him that the child is dead? But when David saw that
his servants whispered, David perceived that the child was
dead. Therefore David said unto his
servants, is the child dead? And they said, he is dead. Then
David arose from the earth and washed and anointed himself and
changed his apparel and came into the house of the Lord and
worshipped. Then he came to his own house,
and when he required, they set bread before him, and he did
eat. Then said his servants unto him,
What thing is this that thou hast done? Thou didst fast and
weep for the child while it was alive, but when the child was
dead, thou didst rise and eat bread. And he said, while the
child was yet alive, I fasted and wept, for I said, who can
tell whether God will be gracious to me that the child may live? But now he is dead, wherefore
should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I
shall go to him, but he shall not return to me. And David comforted
Bathsheba his wife, and went in unto her, and lay with her.
And she bare a son, and he called his name Solomon, and the Lord
loved him. And he sent by the hand of Nathan
the prophet, and he called his name Jedidiah, because of the
Lord. Amen. May the Lord bless to us
this reading from his word. Nathan had been a faithful prophet,
delivering God's message to David concerning his guilt in the matter
of adultery with Bathsheba and the murder of Uriah, her husband,
and all the shame that David incurred in trying to cover up
his crimes. And then having fulfilled his
duty, Nathan returned to his home and left David alone with
the Lord. Now the child, the fruit of that
sinful relationship, became very sick. and remained so for seven
long days until he finally died as God had said. This is what
we've read together in our passage. Nathan had foretold that this
is what would happen and almost immediately we discover that
the child is stricken and after this week of days succumbs to
the sickness. These were sad days in the royal
household. Under ordinary circumstances,
when a young prince was being born into a royal family, it
should have been a time for great celebration, a time of great
joy. But sin spoils our happiness. And David's soul especially was
sensitive to the suffering of the child and the responsibility
that he bore for that. How often sin in our lives hurts
those around us whom we love the most. David found that to
be the case and many others have found it so too. While the child
was alive, David humbled himself. He fasted. That means he didn't
take anything to eat. He sought the Lord for the baby's
life. But that was not God's will. God had spoken, God had told
him what was going to happen, and God continued through with
this plan. It is a hard experience when
a baby or a child dies in a family. And sometimes that happens even
when we pray passionately and earnestly to the Lord for the
baby's life, as it seems that David did here. David might have thought that
none of this was the baby's fault. and he was right. Nevertheless,
in the purpose and providence of God, whose knowledge and wisdom
is greater than ours, this child would not survive despite all
of the prayer put up on its behalf. David's conduct at this time
puzzled his servants. He fasted and he mourned while
the child lived. But he rose up, he washed and
he ate food on learning of the child's death. His courtiers,
his servants, expected the opposite. They expected that he would be
eating and engaged with the welfare and the living of the child until
he died and then he would mourn and fast. David explained himself
in this way. He said, while the child was
yet alive, I fasted and wept. For I said, who can tell whether
God will be gracious to me that the child may live? But now he
is dead. Wherefore should I fast? Can
I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he shall
not return to me. What David is saying here is
that now the child is dead, God's will has been revealed. God's will has been accomplished. There was no usefulness in mourning
any longer or any further. Indeed, it would have been wrong
to persist in appealing to God now that the child's life had
been taken. Now God's will was known, it
had to be accepted. David knew that the child could
not now return to him because he was dead. The child could
not now return to the land of the living. But David also says
that he would go to the child when he died and when he went
to the grave where the child now was, where the body of the
child now would shortly be placed. But there's also another meaning
here, I think. David seems rather to be speaking
about life after death. David seems rather to be speaking
of heaven and eternal happiness, that he says that he would go
to where the child was. David hoped and he believed the
soul of the deceased child had gone to be with the Lord. And that shows that David believed
that the soul of a person, in this case the child, and soon
his own soul, lives on after death in a future state of life. And David hoped that he and the
child would meet in this afterlife. The child could not come back
to him, but he would go to where the child was. And then the end
of our passage today is much brighter after all the darkness
of the previous events. I wonder if you noticed that
Bathsheba is now acknowledged by the Lord as David's wife. Her husband Uriah being dead,
David takes her officially and formally to be his wife and the
Lord acknowledges that. David goes to comfort her for
her grief for her son who was dead and the Lord gives them
another child. God had promised this child to
David before and indeed had promised him and even given David the
name of the child. His name would be called Solomon
which means peace. That name was given because Solomon's
reign would be a reign of peace. It would be a time of peace. There would be no war in Israel
during the reign of Solomon. And we are told that the Lord
loved this child. for which reason Nathan, the
prophet, called him Jedidiah, which means beloved of Jehovah. And Solomon is a type of the
Lord Jesus Christ. He was in the direct lineage
of our Saviour. And here are a few lessons that
I want to leave with us all today with respect to this little passage. The first one is this. The question
is asked whether all infants who die go to heaven. And that's a question that a
lot of people have had over the years. And this passage from
2 Samuel chapter 12, this passage is often quoted in the answer
to that question. But here's the thing, the Bible
does not tell us with certainty, one way or another, whether all
infants who die go to heaven or not. And that means that we
should be careful about what we say. When scripture is silent
on a subject, we often find that coming down on one side of the
question or the other simply raises more issues. than it answers and very soon
we end up building a whole doctrine on something that the Bible says
very little about. Nevertheless, there are a few
things that direct our thoughts in this matter. And the principles
here also apply to those who are intellectually or mentally
impaired. So that when we're talking about
those who are mentally impaired and we're talking about infants
or babies, the same principles seem to apply. Let me tell you
what I understand as far as that is concerned. I believe that
this passage does suggest that David hoped to see this child
again and perhaps it is that the Lord gave him this hope,
gave him this consolation during these seven days as he prayed
and humbled himself before the Lord prior to the child's death. Now whether that means that every
infant is saved, I cannot tell. I will say this however, throughout
the Bible, the Lord is kind and merciful and welcoming to infants. This is true in the Old Testament
and it is true in the life of the Saviour as well. The Lord
said, suffer the little children to come unto me. And we see it
in the verses that we will read a little bit later today from
the prophecy of Jonah as well. We see it in the Lord's earthly
ministry. When the Lord healed the sick
and raised the dead in his earthly ministry, many of those miracles
were performed on those who were very young. Children, the widow
of Nain's son, Jerisey's daughter, the man who brought the child
to the Lord because he was possessed of an evil spirit and kept trying
to kill himself by throwing himself in the fire or into the water. The Lord was careful very often
to particularly identify the needs of children. And I think
that it is consistent with the nature of the Lord who gives
believing parents deep affection and concern for the souls of
their deceased infants. that he also gives suitable comfort
when such questions of the eternal well-being of their children
arise and become relevant. In all of these matters, we remember
that the Lord is a wise and loving Father, gentle and full of sympathy
for his people. He is kind. He knows those who
are his. He never loses a single one of
his little ones. And he does all things well. And let me just make one final
point as far as this lesson is concerned. If some or all infants
go to heaven, They do so upon the merits of the blood of Jesus
Christ, as do all other believers. Sin affects all of Adam's race
and our salvation, all of our salvation, is in Christ alone. Here's another lesson that we
have from this passage. At the beginning of our reading,
Bathsheba was called Uriah's wife. At the end of our reading,
for the very first time in scripture, she is called David's wife. At first, the Lord was displeased
at David because of the circumstances of this marriage. But now, repentance
having been expressed, discipline applied, correction received
and forgiveness given, the Lord confirms and blesses this union
between David and Bathsheba with a child. She is David's wife
and the Lord gives them this child, Solomon. And I want you
young people especially to notice this. Notice what I am saying
here. As you grow up, sin will enter your lives and very likely
do much harm. Sin does damage in our lives. That is the weakness of our flesh
and it is the shame of our nature. However, I want you to remember
this fact. There is forgiveness with God. There is mercy, there is recovery,
and there is restoration in the Lord Jesus Christ. That is what
this example of David and Bathsheba tells us. Do not ever think that
you have gone so far from God that there is no way back. It
is true that the way back was hard and full of sorrow for David
and Bathsheba. But the Lord put their sin behind
his back and in time he put it behind their backs as well. And he can put your sin behind
your back. When the Bible speaks about our
sins being removed and washed away and taken away, it means
exactly that. When we repent of our sins, He
is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us
from all unrighteousness. When we repent of our sins as
David repented of his, our sins are cleansed in the blood of
Jesus Christ. Christ died to bear the sin and
carry the guilt of his people. Jesus Christ takes our sins to
the cross and pays for them there, then God will not remember them
against us ever again. And finally, Solomon was God's
gift to David and Bathsheba to comfort them in their loss. The Lord had taken away but he
gave better in its place. In the moment of loss, it can
be very hard to imagine how this is possible, that even although
the Lord takes away, as he did take away that one child, he
gave another in his place. It might be hard in the moment
to imagine how that could be an improvement, but it is true
and patience will prove it true. Solomon brought great joy to
his parents and he brought great promise for Israel. His reign
would be one of peace, stability and prosperity. He's also named
Jedidiah, loved of Jehovah. and he would build a great temple
in Jerusalem where God would dwell amongst his people. In
all of this, he is a type of the Lord Jesus Christ who brought
peace and love from God and who builds his people, the church,
into the temple of the living God where God is worshipped. where God is worshipped, not
in a physical building, but in the united communion and fellowship
of his people, worshipped in spirit and in truth. Solomon
was the son of David after the flesh, as was the Lord Jesus
Christ. And let me just close by mentioning
this, how kind God is to our weak humanity by including this
child, Solomon, born out of such sin in the genealogy of the perfect
man, Jesus Christ. By representing us in the flesh,
the Lord Jesus Christ took all our sin and all the consequences
of our sin to himself, paid the price of our deliverance and
has set us free to worship and serve God forever. May the Lord
bless these thoughts to us today. Amen.