Resurrection Power Part 4 – Roaring Repentance
His life was a tumultuous tapestry woven with the warp and woof of spiritual low-lights and physical high-lights. His exploits can disgust us, and at the same time, offer hope of eternal salvation. He was a man who sinned hard, but to the degree that he did so…I think he repented even harder. For some reason, this passionate king was given probably more insight toward the hope of resurrection than anyone before him. If he was not given more insight, he certainly saw it with profound clarity.
Post Nathan’s parable to David, we see that God tells David that the son of his sin with Bathsheba will not live. (II Samuel 12 & 13) The depths of David’s sins with Bathsheba then become eclipsed by the gravity of his repentance. For seven days he fasted, roaring on the ground, held down to the earth making mud with his tears, sapping his body of moisture until it was as the drought of summer (Psalm 32:4.) This…is repentance. It was not a show, it was not monastic piety, evidently this man understood the earthy roots of repentance.
When David’s attendants asked why he stopped mourning as soon as the child was announced dead, David responds almost cryptically, “…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.” (II Samuel 12:23)
Is it a coincidence that David gets a glimpse of the idea of resurrection right after a prolonged period of deep repentance? Is it possible that God revealed this to him during all of his roaring? I am not sure it was during this occasion, but David wrote another Psalm where he most certainly saw prophetically the clearest Old Testament prophecy concerning the resurrection of Christ from the dead.
“I have set the LORD always before me: because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved. Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoiceth: my flesh also shall rest in hope. For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption. Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fullness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.” (Psalm 16:8-11)
It is here that David is given the knowledge that he will not stay in hell after he dies, and neither will the Holy One see corruption. This is an obvious reference to Jesus being raised from the dead, and is quoted by Paul in Acts 13:35, and confirmed as a prophecy fulfilled by the Christ.
What is the point? The resurrection was clearly prophesied, yet the prophecy is veiled in a Psalm that I imagine would have been difficult to decipher its meaning prior to the Messiah actually accomplishing it. Secondly, there is a synergy between repentance and resurrection. For the moment I am making a tentative connection between resurrection and repentance, we will lock this idea down with steel jaws later on. But just as prophecy is tentative, until the fulfillment of the prophecy locks down the impact of its prediction, so also we will soon begin gleaning the locked down measure of the fullness of Christ’s resurrection power.
A few other passages where David sees Resurrection is:
Psalm 17:15, “As for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness: I shall be satisfied, when I awake, (more than likely from the grave) with thy likeness.”
Psalm 49:15, “God will redeem my soul from the power of the grave: (hades) for he shall receive me.”
