So once again, that reference,
1 Samuel chapter 20 and verse 31. And this is Saul who is speaking
at the moment, and he's concerned about David. We're going to continue
a little bit thinking about Saul and David, and particularly Jonathan
as well today. But Saul is concerned about David,
and this is what he says to his son, Jonathan. For as long as the son of Jesse
liveth upon the ground, thou shalt not be established, nor
thy kingdom. Wherefore now send and fetch
him unto me, for he shall surely die. And Jonathan answered Saul
his father and said unto him, Wherefore shall he be slain?
What hath he done? And Saul cast a javelin at him
to smite him, whereby Jonathan knew that it was determined of
his father to slay David. So Jonathan arose from the table
in fierce anger and did eat no meat the second day of the month,
for he was grieved for David, because his father had done him
shame. And it came to pass in the morning
that Jonathan went out into the field, at the time appointed
with David, and a little lad with him. And he said unto his
lad, Run, find out now the arrows which I shoot. And as the lad
ran, he shot an arrow beyond him. And when the lad was come
to the place of the arrow which Jonathan had shot, Jonathan cried
after the lad and said, Is not the arrow beyond thee? And Jonathan
cried after the lad, Make speed, haste, stay not! And Jonathan's
lad gathered up the arrows And came to his master. But the lad
knew not anything, Only Jonathan and David knew the matter. And
Jonathan gave his artillery unto the lad, Unto his lad, and said
unto him, Go, carry them to the city. And as soon as the lad
was gone, David arose out of a place toward the south, and
fell on his face to the ground, and bowed himself three times.
And they kissed one another, and wept one with another, until
David acceded. And Jonathan said to David, Go
in peace, forasmuch as we have sworn both of us in the name
of the Lord, saying, The Lord be between me and thee, and between
my seed and thy seed for ever. And he arose and departed, and
Jonathan went into the city. Amen. May the Lord bless this
reading of his word to us. So the last time that we spoke
together, we spoke of how David was drawn closer and closer into
Saul's family, into Saul's orbit, if you like. His close relationship
and friendship and the covenant or the promise that he made with
Jonathan especially cemented this relationship. And he was
betrothed to Merab, Saul's first daughter, and then ultimately
he married another daughter called Michael. However, we also learned
that these connections with the royal family did not ease Saul's
fear of David or his hatred towards David. And Saul became sure that
as long as David was alive, he was a risk, and that David would
ultimately displace him and his family from the throne of Israel. In an attempt to try and prevent
that from happening, to be a barrier to God's purpose, he increased
his effort to kill David, despite his son Jonathan, who loved David,
trying often to soften and to placate Saul's harsh attitude
towards the young man. And during this time, when Saul
was scheming against David, David was continuing to do Saul's bidding. He continued to go and fight
the Philistines and against the enemies of Israel. But David's
successes in these battles only made Saul more envious and more
sure that David must be taken out of the picture. And he told
his plans to Jonathan and he told his plans to his servants
and his closest generals. And at the beginning, Jonathan
was able to dissuade his father, but it became clear that David's
life was in greater jeopardy. On one occasion, Michael, David's
wife, helped David escape from an upstairs window in his home
by lowering him down when Saul's servants came to arrest him. and she very cleverly placed
a model or a dummy in his bed to make it appear to the soldiers
that David was in his bed and sleeping and he was sick. And when these men returned without
David to Saul, Saul shouted at them and he said, bring him to
me in his bed that I may slay him. So by such means, by such
actions, Michael helped David, her husband, to escape. And David,
he went to visit Samuel. You'll remember Samuel. We've
spoken of him often, but not maybe so much in the past couple
of weeks. But the old prophet was still alive at this time.
And David went to visit Samuel, and together they travelled away
to another place. They travelled to a place called
Rama, where there was a religious meeting place and a school. A number of prophets used to
gather there. It was called the School of the
Sons of the Prophets. And Samuel would be at home there
and he made David welcome as well. But Saul discovered that
too. And he sent soldiers to arrest
David in that place. But when they reached that place
and discovered the worship services that were going on there, we
learn that they began to worship the Lord as well. These servants
who had been sent to arrest David. So Saul sent more servants and
the same thing happened. These men began to worship God
instead of taking David back to Saul. And a third group was
sent in order to arrest David. And the same thing happened again,
so that every time Saul sent someone to try and bring David
back to him, they ended up worshipping the Lord. And everyone that Saul
sent to kill David ended up worshipping the Lord. It is perhaps that
they were learning that God had appointed and anointed David
as future king and were thereby prevented from harming God's
anointed. But whatever it was that caused
them to have this change of mind and change of attitude, At the
end Saul decided that he himself would go and he travelled to
Ramah in order to get David himself but we're told in the previous
chapter that as he approached the city the Spirit of the Lord
came on him too. And he began worshipping God
and prophesying and praising the Lord. And so it was that
one way or another, whether it was Michael that helped him escape
or Samuel that took him to another place or the Spirit of the Lord
that seemed to cover David with a protective covering, Saul was
prevented from laying hold of David in order to kill him as
he wanted to do. And these deliverances all bought
David time. And yet it became clear that
soon he would have to separate completely from Saul's company. He would have to leave his home,
he would have to leave his wife, he would have to leave his friend
Jonathan and flee for his life. The circumstances of this moment,
this crucial break in David's relationship with Saul and with
Saul's family is a famous incident. and we've read a portion of it
today. So I just want to mention how
Jonathan warned David that he had to escape once and for all. David was expected to attend
a feast. It was a feast over several days
and it happened at this time of the month. And David knew,
he believed that Saul would use this feast as an opportunity
to have him killed. Jonathan, he was at the feast
and Jonathan agreed to speak to his father to discover if
he truly meant to harm David. And when David didn't appear
at the feast, Saul asked Jonathan where he was. And when Jonathan
told him that he had given David permission to go back to Bethlehem
to see his family, Saul flew into a rage because David wasn't
present and he threw a spear at his own son. And Jonathan
realised at this stage that his father was so angry at him that
he even, he dishonoured him and he dishonoured his mother and
he dishonoured his heritage and he even tried to kill his own
son. And Jonathan realised that there
was no placating his father anymore. He had to warn David to flee
at once and not to come back. And the two men had agreed a
sign that Jonathan would use in order to inform David and
to allow him to creep away unseen and secretly. David hid in a
field near to a rock and Jonathan came out of the city with his
bow and arrows to shoot arrows at a target. And he brought a
boy with him who would collect the arrows. It wasn't certain
if there were going to be others with him. And a sign was agreed
between David and Jonathan. If it was safe for David to return
to the city with Jonathan, then Jonathan would fire short of
the target. If it was too dangerous for David
to return, and if David had to flee for good, then Jonathan
would fire long and tell the boy to go on farther in order
to find the arrows. And this was David's cue to go
far away as well. And Jonathan fired the arrows
beyond the target and beyond the boy. And now David knew that
his old life was over. He was a fugitive, he was an
outlaw in his own country. And as the boy returned to the
city, Jonathan and David had a few moments when they were
able to secretly meet. And the two friends embraced,
they wept together, they renewed their covenant promises to love
and to care for one another and for one another's families. and
then they parted, likely never to see each other again. These
were dangerous times in David's life. And there are times that
are reflected often in the Psalms that he wrote. And sometimes
we can look at David's Psalms and we can find incidents in
his life that reflect these dangerous and difficult experiences that
he went through. But it was clear that the hand
of God was over David to protect him from his enemies. And this
isn't just something for David. That protective hand of God is
for you and me as well. We speak about trusting the Lord,
trusting the Lord. You often hear me speaking about
trusting the Lord. And that is more than just a
statement. It's more than something that
we just say about our beliefs and what we understand about
the Bible and what we understand about faith. Trusting the Lord
is a day-by-day, hour-by-hour, comfort and confidence in knowing
that whatever is going on around about us, we need not be afraid
as we go about our business, because God will protect us from
the dangers that we see, and sometimes from the dangers that
we don't even see. You know that the Lord protects
us from things that we don't even know are a danger to us. and even our enemies are under
the providential control and direction of God. The Lord will
protect his church and his people as he protected and preserved
David's life long ago. And let me mention a couple more
things about Jonathan, if I may. Jonathan proved to be a true
and loyal friend to David. Jonathan was a better man than
his father. And the love and affection that
David had for Jonathan and Jonathan had for David, the love and affection
that these two men shared was of the highest most noble and
most honourable kind of affection. They pledged loyalty to each
other before God. As these two dear friends spoke
together, perhaps for the very last time, their true commitment
to one another was again in view. David must leave his home, he
must leave his wife and his family, but Jonathan promised to care
for them and to protect them. And Jonathan very lightly realised
by now that God purposed to make David king. And he asked David
in turn to remember his family with mercy and kindness when
he came to the throne. And in the most beautiful and
precious of way, ways these promises between these two men who loved
each other speak to us of a believer's relationship with our own saviour
and friend Jesus Christ. A Christian has love for the
Lord and the Lord loves us. And David and Jonathan's love
is a picture of that loving relationship between the Lord and his people.
And that love has practical effects, just as it had with David and
Jonathan. Let's think about it from the
Lord's side. The Lord looks after those whom
he loves. He looks after us by saving us
from our sins, by uniting us or joining us to himself. He
looks after us by bringing us into peace with God, we call
that the atonement, by delivering us from our enemies, and providing
for all our daily needs. And because Christ loves us,
he promises never to leave us, never to forsake us, and he never
will. And likewise, a Christian, that
is a person who trusts the Lord Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour,
a Christian also loves the Lord. We love him, says John, we love
him because he first loved us, and this love also has practical
outcomes because we desire to spend time with the Lord. We desire to spend time with
the one that we love. We want to get to know him better. We want to hear His Word. We want to learn about His accomplishments. We want to speak to Him in prayer. We want to tell Him our thoughts
and our concerns and our hopes. And we learn to love what He
loves. We want to please Him. We want
to honour Him by the things that we do and the things that we
say. We get offended when people despise
him and speak against him. And we long for others to get
to know him and to love him as we have come to know and love
him. These bonds of affection that
David had for Jonathan and Jonathan for David, they proved to be
a lasting testimony in the parting of Jonathan and David. And the
Lord's people also have this everlasting testimony. We have
a gospel security that the Lord will help us in everything that
will befall us in this life. We can trust the Lord's help
for the whole of our lives. We will have hardship. We will
have sadness. We will have to experience separation
in this life. Sometimes it's when a friend
goes away. Sometimes it's by death. Even
the death of our nearest family, our dearest friends. And we may
be left behind and we may be left feeling forsaken and lose
all the earthly things that we hold dear. Nevertheless, the
Lord Jesus will never leave us because He is the Rock of Ages. He is the sure foundation upon
which our life is built. And the covenant promises that
David and Jonathan shared are like the covenant promises that
exist between the Lord Jesus Christ and His people. It is
a sure foundation upon which we can build our lives and place
our trust in the Saviour. His love and His mercy endureth
forever, and because He loves us, He will teach us to love
Him back. May the Lord bless these thoughts
to us. Amen.