I mainly want to be looking at
verses 34 down through verse 42, but I think it would be helpful
if we go back and just read the first part of the whole chapter.
1 Samuel 20, And David fled from
Nahoth and Ramah, and came and said before Jonathan, What have
I done? What is mine iniquity? And what
is my sin before thy father, that he seeketh my life? And
he said unto him, God forbid, thou shalt not die. Behold, my
father will not do nothing, either great or small, but that he will
show it me. And why should my father hide
this thing from me? It is not so. And David sware
moreover and said, thy father certainly knoweth that I have
found grace in thine eyes. And he saith, let not Jonathan
know this. lest he be grieved. But truly,
as the Lord liveth, and as thy soul liveth, there is but a step
between me and death. Then said Jonathan unto David,
Whatsoever thy soul desireth, I will even do it for thee. And
David said unto Jonathan, Behold, to-morrow is the new moon, and
I shall not fail to sit with the king at meet. But let me
go, that I may hide myself into a field, until the third day
at evening. And notice that he said, that
I may go hide myself in the field. If thy father at all missed me,
then say, David earnestly asked leave of me, that he might run
to the Bethlehem, his city, for there is a yearly sacrifice there
for all the family. And if he say thus, it is well,
thy servant shall have peace. But if he be very wroth, then
be sure that evil is determined by him. Therefore, thou shalt
deal kindly with thy servant. But thou hast brought thy servant
into a covenant of the Lord with thee. Notwithstanding, if there
be in me iniquity, slay me thyself, Jonathan. For why shouldst thou
bring me to thy father?' And Jonathan said, Far be it from
thee. For if I knew certainly that
evil were determined by my father to come upon thee, then would
not I tell it thee.' Then said David to Jonathan, Who shall
tell me? Or what if thy father answered
thee roughly? And Jonathan said unto David,
Come, let us go out into the field. And they went out both
of them into the field, alone and together. And Jonathan said
to David, O Lord God of Israel, when I have sounded my Father
about tomorrow any time, or the third day, and behold, if there
be good toward David, and I then send not to thee, and sheweth
thee, the Lord do so in much more to Jonathan. But if it please
my Father to do the evil, then I will show it thee, and send
thee away, that thou mayest go in peace, and the Lord be with
thee as he hath been with my Father. And thou shalt not only,
while I yet live, show me the kindness of the Lord, that I
die not, but also thou shalt not cut off thy kindness from
my house for ever. No, not when the Lord hath cut
off the enemies of David, every one from the face of the earth. So Jonathan made a covenant with
the house of David, saying, Let the Lord even require it at the
hand of David's enemies. And Jonathan calls David to swear
again, because he loved him, for he loved him as he loved
his own soul. Then Jonathan said to David,
Tomorrow is the new moon, and thou shalt be missed. because
thy seat will be empty. And when thou hast stayed three
days, then thou shalt go down quickly, and come to the place
where thou didst hide thyself, when the business was in hand,
and thou shalt remain by the stone easel." Don't you see this? This is what the lesson is going
to be about today. I just wanted to read you this so you'd understand
the context. Jonathan said, you go there and
you wait by that stone out in the field. This is between David
and Jonathan, no one else knows about it. And I will shoot three
arrows on the side thereof, as though I shot it at a mark. And
behold, I will send a lad saying, go find out the arrows. If I
expressively say unto the lad, behold, the arrows are on this
side of thee, take them. Then come thou, David, for there
is peace to thee, and no hurt, as the Lord liveth. He's saying,
I'm going to go out and shoot these arrows, and if they're
on this side, well, that means, David, you can just come on back
and everything's fine. But, verse 22, if I say thus
unto the young man, behold, the arrows are beyond thee, go thy
way, for the Lord hath sent thee away. And as touching the matter
which thou and I have spoken, behold, the Lord be between me,
between thee and me, forever. So David hid himself in the field. You know, we could just pause
right there and just think about that. This is David. This is
the chosen, anointed King of God out here hiding in a field,
running for his life because Saul intends to kill him. So
David hid himself in the field, and when the new moon was come,
the king sat down to eat meat, and the king sat upon the seat,
as at other times, even upon a seat by the wall. And Jonathan
arose, and Abner sat by Saul's side, and David's place was empty. Nevertheless, Saul spake not
anything that day, for he thought, well, something's happened to
him. He is not clean. Surely he is not clean. He's
not able to come to this feast. It came to pass on the morrow,
which was the second day of the month, that David's place was
still empty. And Saul said unto Jonathan his
son, Wherefore cometh not the son of Jesse to me, neither yesterday
nor today? He didn't call him David. He
called him the son of Jesse. That's a name of reproach. He
said, Well, he's nothing and nobody. Well, where is he at?
And Jonathan answered Saul. David earnestly asked leave of
me to go to Bethlehem, where he lived. And he said, Let me
go, I pray thee, for our family hath a sacrifice in the city.
And my brother, he hath commanded me to be there. And now, if I
have found favour in thine eyes, let me get away, I pray thee,
and see my brethren. Therefore he cometh not to the
king's table. Then Saul's anger was kindled
against Jonathan. And he said unto him, Thou son
of the perverse, rebellious woman, do not I know that thou hast
chosen the son of Jesse to thine own confusion, and to the confusion
of thy mother's nakedness. 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 finds out
that his daddy is intended on killing David. And Jonathan answered,
saw his father, and said unto him, Wherefore shall he be slain? What hath he done? And Saul cast
a javelin at his own son to smite him, whereby Jonathan knew that
it was determined of his father to slay David. So now we come
to the last part of this chapter where Jonathan has to go back
and tell David the news. David's waiting. And what's the
news going to be? Is David going to be able to
go back home? He's the king's son-in-law. He's
married to Saul's daughter. Is he going to be able to go
back to his wife? Is he going to be able to go
back to the palace? Or is he even going to be able to go back
to his home? This is the question. And this is what Jonathan has
to go tell David. And he's going to do it with
these arrows. Verse 34. So Jonathan arose from the table
in fierce anger. He's mad. Why is he mad? He loved David. Sometimes we
ask, is it right for us to get upset? I think it is sometimes. Don't you? There is a righteous
anger. His father now reveals his hatred,
not only for David, but for himself. Why? Because he sided with David. He sided with David. And when
a person identifies themself with the Lord Jesus Christ, there
is no middle ground. There is no straddling the fence.
Whose side are you on? Either you're on – Elijah said,
choose – he said, how long halts you between two opinions? He
can't – King Saul can't be right and David both right. One's right
and one's wrong. Which one's king? Which one's
king now? It's not the one that Manus chose
to be king, but whom has God chose to be king. And Jonathan
says, he loved David as his own soul. And if God has shed abroad
his love in your heart when he regenerated you and quickened
you, it bothers you to see someone blaspheme our God. If they could,
they would jerk him off the throne. That's exactly right. And Jonathan
was filled with wrath, with 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 goes with him. You get the picture.
Now, you need to see this picture. Here, Jonathan goes out with
this little lad. We don't know how big he is,
how old he is. He's just Jonathan's servant. And Jonathan's going to go out
and shoot these arrows, and this lad's going to go get these arrows,
and he has no idea what's going on. He would just be like, Jim,
I'm going to pick on him because he likes to shoot his bow. He
says, I'm going to go ahead and shoot at a distance. I'm going
to shoot at this mark, and I've determined where I'm going to
shoot at, and all you're going to do is go pick up them arrows
for me. And he has no idea what's going on. Why? Because this is
between Jonathan and David. This is the picture here. Let
me read on. We'll come back and make some
comments. And he said to his lad, run, find out now the arrows
which I shoot. And the lad ran. And as the lad
ran, he shot an arrow beyond the lad. 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? You remember what that means?
What does that mean? David can't come back home. That
means that Saul was trying to kill him. That's what this means.
And David knows it. Jonathan cried after the lad,
make speed, haste, stay not. And Jonathan's lad gathered up
the heirs and came to his master. And the lad knew not anything. Only Jonathan and David knew
the matter. And Jonathan gave his heirs 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 he fell on his face to the ground, and bowed himself
three times. And they kissed one another,
and wept with one another, wept one with another, until David
acceded. And Jonathan said to David, Go
in peace. Forasmuch as we hath 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. And he arose and
departed, and Jonathan went into the city. What is the message
in these eras? These eras carried a message. Imagine David hiding over here
by this stone. Either he will be able to go
back home or he won't. That's the message. He thinks
maybe Jonathan might be able to persuade his father to let
him come back. He doesn't know. The message
was that King Saul hated him and he cannot go back home. This is a turning point in David's
life. And for the next several years,
before he's actually brought to the throne, he is chased and
hunted by King Saul everywhere he goes till Saul is eventually
killed. God is going to use this wicked
king to make his king before he brings him on the throne.
Everything, every step that David takes is ordained by Almighty
God. No accident. It was no accident
that the Lord Jesus Christ was born in a cow stable. It was
no accident that Herod, as soon as he was born, tried to kill
him. No accident. And God had him
hid for almost 30 years. Very little said about his youth,
except when he was 12 years old, he went to the temple, till he
began his ministry, and John said, Behold, the Lamb of God
that takes away the sin of the world. And even today, it seems
like the Lord Jesus Christ, the one that sits upon the throne
of David, the rightful king to this whole world, it seems like
he's here, doesn't it? It seems like he's here. These
eras revealed the purpose of God for David, God's purpose. David longed to go back home
to his wife, back to the palace, and he longed for Jonathan's
friendship. You notice he always runs to
Jonathan, doesn't he? In chapter 19, the first thing
he went to was Jonathan. And as soon as he left Samuel,
where did he go? He went to Jonathan. When you're
in trouble, where's the first place you run? It should be your
Jonathan. It should be our mediator. These
errors meant that David would never be able to go back to the
palace so long as Saul lived. This meant that it would be the
last time that he would see Jonathan, except he saw him just for a
little while before Jonathan was killed. The last time. That's what this meant. And I
believe David knew it. This is God's purpose. This is
God's plan. And that's what these eras represented. David is God's anointed king,
chosen and set apart from all of his brethren. But it will
be a long time before he sits upon the throne. And during that
time, he will be hunted, chased, and despised. Do you not see
the picture? Is the Lord Jesus Christ loved
in this world? He's hated. He's despised. He's rejected. It's not just
when He walked this earth. He's still hated and despised.
Why? He's rightful King. Now, they
will accept the little Jesus as their personal Savior, but
they don't want anything to do with one that's Lord and sovereign
over all things. You say, well, it doesn't seem
like, to the world's eyes, it doesn't seem like he's raining.
He's still king. He's still king. You know why? God has given us an understanding,
and we understand the message of the hours. We understand what
this message is. We understand what it means.
Why is he rejected? We understand it. Becerra spoke
of imminent danger. These errors are not shot by
accident. They were shot on purpose. On
purpose. Jonathan knew what it means when
he shot those errors. He knew exactly what he was doing. Jonathan knew, and David knew
what it meant. Do you know why? They had entered
into a covenant. Those two. Nobody was around. And before this world was made,
God entered into a covenant with His Son. And God purposed how
His Son would be born, He purposed how His Son would be treated,
and He purposed that His Son would sit upon the throne. Why?
God purposed it. Purposed it. Just a matter, now think about
this, just a matter of a few yards would decide David's future. If they were on this side of
the land, that meant he could go back home. But if they're
beyond him, you can't go back home. These eras determines David's
way to the throne. These eras taught that human
love must be separated. David knew what all this meant.
Can you imagine how he felt in his heart? Can you imagine how
the Son of God thought when he goes to Jerusalem? He knows exactly
how he's going to be treated. He knows how he's going to be
despised and be rejected of men. He knows that he will be an outcast,
not having any friends, alone, but not alone. God's ways are
not our ways. God is emptying David of every
prop. Now he must stand alone. Behind
him lays the comforts, the friendships. That's what man by nature would
want. Can I have any volunteers this
morning that would like to be hunted like an animal? Anybody? Any takers? Which way would you
have chose? We would always choose the easy
route. And you know what means such
a blessing to the people of God? When we read, especially in the
Psalms, when David, it seems like God just allowed David to
pour out his heart. Isn't it? The enemies can camp
round about me. They hate me without a cause.
You know why they hated him? Because all the sin of God's
people was laid upon him. He came to be identified with
us. I can't wait to get over to that
chapter when David's hid in the cave of Dullam. And those people
that were poor and distressed, they all went and identified
with David. That blesses my heart. You know
why? Because he is like me. He's able to be felt with the
feelings of my infirmities. Do you ever feel alone? Do you
ever feel like you're at a place and you don't know which way
God's determining for you to go, and God shoots the arrows
and you know exactly what it means? And you know what you
must say? Not my will, but thine be done. Behind him lay the comforts of
friendship, of human love and home. But here in this I see
the message of the gospel. I see in these eras a picture
of the gospel. God determined to set his son
upon the throne of David. But before he would set him upon
that throne, he must suffer and die. You remember when they said
one day, they came to Christ and they said, we're going to
take you by force and we're going to make you king. He said, oh,
no, you're not. Oh, no, you're not. If he had been born in a
palace, If he had been born with a silver spoon in his mouth,
and if he had come the way that everybody else had, oh, everybody
would have loved him. They said, this can't be the
king. He must be an outcast. He was born for this purpose
his whole life. He was an outcast, hated by his
own people, despised and rejected of men. This is the way God purposed
it. If we had been planning this,
we'd done it some other way. But God spared not his own son
and delivered him up for us all, all of his people, that he might
be a merciful and faithful high priest. Our great king is now
able to be felt with the feelings of our infirmities. David's life
had to have been, before he's brought to the throne, a lonely
life. You remember what he said one
time? He was out one day, and he wanted to drink a water from
that well at Bethlehem. Wanted it. Remember? Something
else he's not able to do. He's not able to go worship God.
He can't go see Samuel. He can't go to the temple. Remember
how he said, I want to go worship God. And David said, I'd love
to have a drink of water from that well at Bethlehem. And you
know what? Three of his men risked their
life and went and got that water. Remember that story? That's our David. That's our David. Said, well,
he don't look like king. I don't care how he looks. He's
king. I don't care how he looks to
the world. He's king. He's king. And Jonathan knew he'd be king. That's why Jonathan said, when
you come to the throne, would you show mercy to my household?
And you know why God shows mercy to you? For Jonathan's sake,
for the Lord Jesus Christ's sake. That's the only reason. Because
of the covenant that was made. It's not because of any goodness
in you, Connie. There's none there. But I want us to notice the last
part, verse 39. where it said the lad knew not
anything, only Jonathan and David knew the matter. Had anyone asked
the lad that day what Jonathan was doing in the field, he would
just have replied, Jonathan's just out there shooting for amusement,
and I'm just out here picking up his arrows. The lad was totally
ignorant of what was going on, totally. There was something
of great importance here. It was a matter of life and death
for David, and the lad knew nothing about it. The love of Jonathan for David
directed those arrows. They did not fly haphazardly. The arrows would determine the
safety or the danger of David's life. David, under instruction
for Jonathan, was to wait by that stone. You wait right there
till you hear the news. And this lad has no idea what's
going on. Do you see where I'm going? Most
people have no idea what I'm talking about this morning. They're
totally ignorant to what's going on. This was a secret between Jonathan
and David on which his life depended. The life of our immortal souls
depend upon Him. Psalms 25, 14, listen, ìThe secret
of the Lord is with them that fear Him, and He will show them
His covenant.î You know what God does? He lets us in on His
secrets. Do you understand what this book
means? Do you understand the message
of this book? This book, if you ever find the
key, it's like if you ever want to get into a house, you better
have the key to unlock the door or you won't get in. And without
the key, you cannot understand this book. And the key to this
book is understanding who Jesus Christ is and understanding that
everything in this book is about him. That's the key. That's the
key. This is the message. Our souls are safe in His everlasting
love. His grace will never forsake
them. Our salvation is sure. Psalms
91 5, Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night, nor
the arrows that fly by day. It doesn't matter what's happening.
He's in control. Don't you wish we could learn
that? Don't you? Well, I wish I could. Well, we
can all quote Romans 8, 28, but how many of us believe it? Isn't
that right? Well, we believe it on Sunday.
Wait until about Sunday evening. When you're standing there and
don't know which way to go. The errors were either beside
behind or beyond the lad. The lad did not understand the
declaration of God's everlasting love, and they don't receive
them by faith. They do not understand. As the
lad picked up the arrows but knew not the matter, so do religious
people pick up God's word but have no understanding about what
it means. Have no understanding. Say, well,
I don't understand that. I can understand that. I can understand that. I can
understand why people say things they do on the radio or TV. I
can understand that. You know why? They don't understand.
They don't understand. They are totally strangers to
what's going on. Strangers. Strangers. This is between our Lord and
His Davids. This world has no idea what's
going on. They know not the matter. Now listen, our great God makes
men, like this lad, the unconscious instruments that he uses to work
out his own counsel. He uses them to accomplish his
purpose. You know who that lad was? He
was Jonathan's servant. I mean, Sandy was talking about
this yesterday. Just think about this. Even Satan
is God's servant. Isn't that right? He's God's
bulldog and he's on the chain. He can only do what God lets
him do. Listen to this. Peter standing and preaching
on the day of Pentecost. These people had no idea. They
did not understand the message of the gospel. He said, you men
of Israel, hear these words. Jesus of Nazareth. a man approved
of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs which God
did by him in the midst of you, as you yourselves also know."
He didn't do those things in a corner. You know who I'm talking
about. Him being delivered by the determinate
counsel and foreknowledge of God. God determined it to happen. God determined it, his determinate
counsel, his foreknowledge, he foreordained all it to come to
pass. You have taken, and by wicked
hands have crucified and slain." They were unconscious of what
they were doing, and they were fulfilling God's purpose and
God's plan. And they were responsible for
everything they did. If Satan knew what he was doing,
He thought, man, I've got him exactly where I want him. I've
incited this whole mob and they're going to kill him. Boy, this
is what I want. But in doing that, he destroyed
his own kingdom. He had no idea what was going
on. Do you see the picture? Does
it make any sense? Whom God hath raised up, having
loosed the pains of death, because it was not possible that he should
be holding to it. They crucified the Lord of glory. They did exactly what they wanted
to do, and they were unaware of what was going on. They thought,
that's just a man. He's getting exactly what he
deserved. And that's what even what both
of the thieves on both sides of him first began to say. They
both began to rail on him until God opened one's eyes. And you
know what? Then that man understood what
was going on. One man understood the matter.
One man didn't. This lad had no idea. But David
and Jonathan knew. These errors have to do with
one thing, and that's Jesus Christ and Him crucified. That's the
purpose. It all has to do with the King. It all has a message surrounding
the King. Jonathan knew who David was,
and he knew that one day he would sit upon the throne. If God gives you faith, you know
who He is. And you know that one day, no
matter how it looks upon this earth, one day, every knee is
going to bow and every tongue is going to confess that Jesus
Christ is Lord. He came riding into Jerusalem
on a little humble donkey the first time. But the next time
he comes, he's not riding on a little humble donkey. He's
riding on a horse, a white horse. You think that's literal? I don't
think it's a literal horse, but he's going to come riding as
king. He had on his vesture, king of
kings and lord of lords. Every knee is going to bow. You
know what? We know that. We understand the
message. I don't care how it looks. He's
God. He's Lord. He's king. We understand
the message of the eras. That's the message. David spared Mephibosheth for
the sake of Jonathan. Remember our Lord, when He hung
up on the cross, you know what He said? Father, forgive them. They know not what they do. And we, every one, had a hand
in it. We were, every one, just like
that lad, going out, picking up God's Word, picking it up,
reading it, but had no idea what it meant. Listen, Matthew 11, 25. Our Lord had been out doing a
lot of miracles, miracles, raising people from the dead, healing
the sick. And at that time, Jesus answered and said, I thank thee,
O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid
these things from the wise and prudent and hath revealed them
unto babes. Even so, Father, for so it seemed
good in thy sight. All things are delivered unto
me of my Father. And no man knoweth the Son, but
the Father, neither knoweth any man the Father save the Son,
and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him." That led, we
don't know how close he came to David and never even knew
where David was at. He be not far from all of us.
And we have no idea until God opens up your understanding and
gives you a revelation of who He is. And until then, you will
not understand. But when He does, you'll understand. John 15, 13. Greater love hath
no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends,
You are my friends if you do whatsoever I have commanded you.
Henceforth I call you not servants, for the servant knoweth not what
his lord doeth. But I have called you friends
for all things that I have heard of my father I have made known
unto you. And the lad knew not anything,
only Jonathan and David knew the matter.