“To preach salvation by works is not only to mock impotent sinners, but is to grossly insult the ineffable Jehovah.” – AW Pink
2 Samuel 9:7 And David said unto him, Fear not: for I will surely shew thee kindness for Jonathan thy father’s sake, and will restore thee all the land of Saul thy father; and thou shalt eat bread at my table continually.
But the next word of David’s was yet more blessed: “Fear not” (v. 7) he said to the cripple prostrate before him. There was no rebuke for his having so long kept away from him, no reproaching him because he was of the house of Saul; but instead, a word to assure him, to put him at his ease.
O how this should comfort every contrite soul: we have nothing whatever to fear, once we take our place in the dust before the Lord. “God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble” (James 4:6). Was it not thus with the Father, when the penitent prodigal cast himself on His mercy! No word of censure left His lips: instead He quickly assured him of His love. How this “fear not” of David to Mephibosheth reminds us of the same language found so often on the lips of the Redeemer when addressing His own!
Wondrous is it to observe that, when the glorified Saviour appeared unto John in Patmos, when that apostle fell at His feet as dead, it was the same old familiar “Fear not” (Rev. 1: 17) which reassured him.
Not only did David address Mephibosheth by name, and quiet his heart with a “Fear not,” but he also added, “For I will surely show thee kindness for Jonathan thy father’s sake, and will restore thee all the land of Saul thy father; and thou shalt eat bread at My table continually” (2 Sam. 9:7). This was grace pure and simple, wondrous grace, the “exceeding riches of grace.” There was no contingency here, no bargain made, no conditions stipulated; but instead “I will surely show thee kindness.”
David did not say “If you do this or that” or “if you will keep your part of the contract, I will adhere to mine.” No, no; it was free favor, gratuitous mercy, unmerited bounty; everything for nothing. David acted royally, like a king, for it becomes not a monarch to barter. How much more is this the case with the King of kings: He is “the God of all grace” (1 Peter 5:10), and eternal life is a gift (Rom. 6:23) wherever He is pleased to bestow it.
To preach salvation by works is not only to mock impotent sinners, but is to grossly insult the ineffable Jehovah.
And what effect did this astonishing kindness have upon Mephibosheth? Did it puff him up with self-importance, and cause him to act as though he was other than a poor cripple? No, indeed; such is never the effect of divine grace applied to the heart, though often it is the ease where airy notions of it sink no deeper than the head. “And he bowed himself, and said, What is thy servant, that thou shouldest look upon such a dead dog as I am?” (v. 8). Is not that truly beautiful?
The exceeding kindness of David did not work in him self-elation and sell-exaltation, but self-abasement: it wrought in him a deeper consciousness of his utter unworthiness before such un-thought-of favors. He was amazed that the king should even notice, much less favorably regard, such a worthless creature as he felt himself to be. Did he not now conduct himself in suitable accord with his name, when he called himself “a dead dog;” for “Mephibosheth” signifies “a shameful thing.” And what is the name which Scripture gives to me?—sinner!: do I, by my attitude, own the truthfulness of it?
This line in our picture calls for particular notice in such a day as we are living in, wherein there is so much self-esteem, creature boasting, Laodicean complacency and Pharisaic self-righteousness. O what a stench in the nostrils of the Almighty must be the reeking pride of modern Christendom. How little practical exemplification of that principle, “Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves” (Phil. 2:3). How few feel, like Paul did, that they are “the chief of sinners.” And why is this? Because the hearts of so very few are really touched and affected by the grace of God. Grace ever humbles. The goodness of God leadeth to repentance (Rom. 2:4).
Where the kindness of God is truly felt in the soul we are “little in our own eyes.” Just as the royal magnanimity of David bowed Mephibosheth before him, causing him to own that he was but “a dead dog,” so when the love of God melts our hard hearts, we realize and own what unworthy wretches, vile creatures, and corrupt worms we are.
We must now consider the wondrous portion which was bestowed upon Mephibosheth as the result of the great kindness which David showed him, for this was a striking figure of the “riches” which divine grace imparts to those who are blessed with all spiritual blessings in Christ. First, there was life for him, for the king refused to slay him when he was in his power. That his life was spared him was a notable act of clemency on the part of the monarch. Blessedly did this illustrate the abounding mercy of God unto those who have flouted His authority, broken His laws, and deserved naught but unsparing judgment at His hands: though the wages of sin is death, yet the gift of God is “eternal life” through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Second, there was peace for him: David’s “Fear not” was designed to allay his terror, quiet his heart, and set him at perfect ease in the presence of the king. So it is with the believer: “Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God” (Rom. 5:1).
Third, there was an inheritance for him. “Then the king called Ziba, Saul’s servant, and said unto him, I have given unto thy master’s son all that pertained to Saul and to all his house” (v. 9). What a truly wonderful line in our typical picture is that!—one, we are again constrained to say, which no merely human artist could have drawn. How it portrays to us the bounty of our God in bestowing upon poor bankrupt paupers the riches of His grace. Though we come to Him empty-handed, He does not suffer us to remain so. But there is something there yet more definite: Mephibosheth had restored to him the forfeited inheritance. The heritage which had originally belonged to Saul had been lost to his family. In like manner, through our first father’s apostasy, we lost our primitive heritage, even the life, image, and blessing of God. Nor could we possibly do anything to regain it. But as David “for Jonathan’s sake” restored unto Mephibosheth the estate of his father, so God for Christ’s sake gives back to His people all that they lost in Adam.
Fourth, there was a wondrous portion granted him. Said David to Mephibosheth, “Thou shalt eat bread at my table continually” (v. 7). What a tremendous contrast was that from being an outcast at Lodebar—”the place of no pasture”: now to feast at the king’s own table, and that, not merely for once, but “continually”! Truly it was the “kindness of God” which David showed unto him. How forcibly this reminds us of what we find at the close of the parable of the prodigal son, when he who, having been “in want” in the far country, after his return in penitence, is feasted by his Father with the “fatted calf.” Nothing short of giving us His best will satisfy the great heart of “the God of all grace”: and what is His “best” but fellowship with Himself, of which eating at His table is the symbol.
Fifth, there was an honored position for him: “As for Mephibosheth said the king, he shall eat at my table, as one of the king’s sons” (v. 11). He eats not as an alien or stranger, but as a member of the royal family. Not only was he sumptuously fed, but highly honored: a place in the king’s own palace was now his, and that, not as a servant, but as a son. How this makes us think of “Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God” (1 John 3:1)! O what a marvellous place does divine grace give unto those that are the objects of it: all believers stand accepted as the children of God, the subjects of His everlasting favor. That is something which Saul never enjoyed, but for Jonathan’s sake Mephibosheth now gained more than he had previously lost. So through Christ the believer obtains far, far more than he lost in Adam. Where sin abounds, grace does much more abound. “That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord” (Rom. 5:21).
Under the king’s table the crippled feet of Mephibosheth were lost to sight: in Christ all our deformities are hid!
PRO REGNO 
Leave a Reply