David's Anointing |

1 Samuel 16:13, 2 Samuel 2:4, 2 Samuel 5:3

June 29th 2025

The book of Matthew, in which we are just beginning our weekly study, outlines the coming King Jesus.  It opens with a bold declaration that Jesus is the Messiah, the promised King for which the Jewish people awaited.  Matthew declares Jesus the Son of David, the son of Abraham; also, prophet, priest and king.  The book of Matthew is a story of a King to come, a King who is rejected, crucified and a King who is to return.  This week, we begin a six-week series in which we will look at the life of David and the many ways in which he foreshadowed Christ, our coming savior.  Today, we begin our focus on David’s Anointing.

As we look back, revisit and consider the key events recorded in the Bible, from Abraham’s call by God out of the Land of Ur (Genesis) to the time ushered in with Matthew, a time spanning approximately 2000 years, we garner a visual representation of what the people of Israel expected (and still expect!) from their Messiah, their King.  We must note that the nation of Israel has never been fully restored under the leadership of a king, which is not happenstance.  When Christ returns, Israel will be restored.   Revelation 1:8 reminds us Jesus is the Alpha and the Omega.  Revelation 11:15-17 reminds us of His future glory when He will reign over all.    

David, who led as king for 40 years, led a united Israel for 33 years.  He was everything one would look for in a Godly leader, but he was not the perfect king, the Messiah, “The Anointed One”.  He was a man of great faith, a man after God’s own heart.  He was a humble servant of God who desired in his heart to please God.  Take note: David began his life of leadership strong, but ended embattled with sin.  As we look at David’s life, we should learn from his successes and his failures.  Likewise, we should look at the righteous one, Jesus, who cleanses us from all unrighteousness and frees us from our sins and our evil, wicked ways.

As we examine and compare the first two kings anointed by God for Israel, we like to see David as a good and Saul as bad.  Each had his moments of successes and failures.  If we focus on David, we see that he committed adultery with Bathsheba, then had her husband murdered in battle (in an attempt to hide his sin!).  Out of pride and distrust in God, he ordered a census of Israel and Judah.  These sins had their consequences on David,  his family and the nation of Israel (1 Chronicles 21:10-13).  David knew the guilt of his sin.  The Psalms often reveal this.  David was not a perfect man or king; but, as we examine his life, may we more clearly see the grace of God in our own.

As we approach David’s first anointing, let us consider the prayer of Hannah (1 Samuel 2:1-10), the core theme of the book of Samuel.  Consider the lives you know of Saul and David.  Consider your own divine appointment from God.  Consider whether you are angry or thankful for the life God has given you.  By God’s grace we are who we are and we have what we have.  Only as God makes this known to us, as His Spirit presses this truth into our hearts, are we able to rejoice always in Him.  Will you ask him now to make it so?  Hannah’s prayer reveals the life of Saul and David in that the hand of God provides or takes away.  We see this very clearly in the book of Samuel.  All authority over man is granted by God.

Perhaps, an unconventional lead in to David’s anointing, but this is an attempt to lay the groundwork  for the fact that just as Israel desired a king, all people today have a similar desire.  Orthodox Jews still wait for the Messiah, while non-believers reject lordship in their lives (serving as their own king!).  History matters because it sets the stage for our deliverance.  In the context of David, while he was anointed by God, which marked him as set aside for special service to God, David was not, “The Anointed One”, but he is a type of Christ.  Consider the progressive nature of David’s anointing and how God’s provisions grew.

1. David’s First Anointing (I Samuel 16:13)

It was not God’s desire for a king to rule over Israel; however, the people desiring one, God appointed Saul.  With great physical stature, tall, handsome, the abilities of a natural leader, God’s selection for the first king can be seen as providing the people what they wanted.  As their king, Saul did not follow the instructions of the Lord, listening instead to the voice of the people.  At the end of 1 Samuel 15, we read, “...And the Lord regretted that he had made Saul king over Israel”(v.35b).  In 1 Samuel 31, we find Saul’s reign ends with his death, as he falls on his own sword in battle, rather than dying at the hands of the Philistines.

God provides.  As God did through Samuel with Saul, so did He with David: a new and righteous king was anointed.  Yet, David did not immediately ascend to the throne of Israel.  That would come years later.  David’s anointing was an act of consecration into the service of the Lord as Israel’s king, however it was not a practical appointment, not the time that he began to function as king.  David, approximately 15 years of age, was the de facto king to follow Saul, but he was not yet appointed as king to lead the people.

For this first anointing of David, we read 1 Samuel 16.  In Samuel’s grief regarding Saul, God sends Samuel to Bethlehem, to the house of Jesse to find the new king.  Despite fear that Saul might take his life should Saul know of this mission, Samuel obediently goes to Jesse, instructed by the Lord to take a heifer and sacrifice to the Lord with Jesse and his sons (1 Samuel 16:1-3).  As Jesse’s son Eliab passes before Samuel, thinking this must be the one, the Lord tells Samuel, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him.  For the Lord sees not as a man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart” (1 Samuel 16:7).

Man sees the physical, while God, in His omniscience, sees (He knows!) the heart, righteousness seen before it becomes visible to man.  When asked by Samuel if he has another son, because the first seven were passed over by God, Jesse brings forth David, ruddy, with beautiful eyes and a handsome appearance.  Here was God’s righteous leader.

“Then Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brothers.  And the Spirit of the Lord rushed upon David from that day forward.  And Samuel rose up and went to Ramah” (I Samuel 16:13).

Legal status to the throne, but not yet king of the people.  Somewhere between 15 and 20 years would pass before that would occur.  Chosen by God, but patience and great suffering were required to fulfill his role.  Your prayers of salvation for a friend, family member, spouse, child or coworker.  How quickly we become weary and frustrated, often giving up.  We must patiently and obediently persist in our prayers.  We must not lose hope!  As we read Psalm 110, we see Jesus anointed by God to be the Messiah, the perfect sacrifice, the eternal King, Lord over all.  Like David’s first anointing: established in heaven, but not yet fully realized in eternity on earth.  Positionally, Jesus knew what He was anointed to do.  Similarly, David knew he was positionally anointed to lead as king, but to function as king, David had to wait on God’s appointed time.

II. David’s Second Anointing (2 Samuel 2:4)

Much happened in David’s life from the time of his first anointing as king until his second anointing by the tribe of Judah: war, battle with Goliath, fleeing from Saul’s wrath, his desire to kill David.

“And the men of Judah came, and there they anointed David king over the house of Judah.  When they told David, "It was the men of Jabesh-gilead who buried Saul, David sent messengers’ “,  to give those men a blessing for the loyalty shown by them to Saul (2 Samuel 2:4-7).

Despite Saul’s hatred for David, Saul’s pursuit with intention to kill him, David honored Saul and wept for him in his death.  David understood Saul’s anointing by God and the authority that had been given Saul by God.

It was a public declaration of David to be king, when the men of Judah anointed David to be king over the house of Judah; but, it was also a formal declaration of Samuel’s anointment years earlier.  Trust, patience, humility and mercy were on display in David’s life as he waited for the fulfillment of God’s promise.

Jesus was anointed by the Spirit of God at His baptism by John.  “Now when all the people were baptized, and when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the heavens were opened, and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form, like a dove, and a voice came from heaven, ‘You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased’ “ (Luke 3:21-22).  His baptism was a public declaration of His identity as the Son of God.  It was His entry into public ministry.  We see a humble servant eager to please God, even unto his death.

Our baptism publicly identifies us as a child of God, an external declaration of the internal transformation performed by the Holy Spirit.  Baptism is a visual representation of the washing and regeneration for all the church to see.  David was publicly made king before the tribe of Judah.  Jesus was publicly declared Lord by the Spirit of God and His ministry was authorized.  In our baptism, we publicly declare submission to his Lordship and authority over our lives.

As Jesus began His public ministry faced in the wilderness with the temptations of Satan,  David was immediately faced with the challenge of the appointment of Saul’s son, Ish-bosheth, being made king over Israel.  The true followers of Christ are similarly confronted with difficulty.  We follow Him, leaving everything behind, with a future fulfillment of our reward (Matthew 19:27-30), yet we must wait.  Our faith is challenged, stretched and made stronger through great hardship and trials.  We know that our lives are to reflect Christ, but we impatiently respond, wanting our ultimate reward without the work.  Allow God to lead you in a different response.  Do not lose hope.  Live an abandoned life for Christ!

III. David’s Third Anointing (2 Samuel 5:3)

“Then all the tribes of Israel came to David at Hebron and said, ‘Behold, we are your bone and flesh.  In times past, when Saul was king over us, it was you who led out and brought in Israel.  And the Lord said to you, ‘You shall be shepherd of my people Israel, and you shall be prince over Israel.’ ‘  So all the elders of Israel came to the king at Hebron, and Kind David made a covenant with them at Hebron before the Lord, and they anointed David king over Israel” (2 Samuel 5:1-3).

Approximately 25 years after his first anointing, David, a humble servant and warrior leader, is now the recognized king of Israel.  David’s life gives us a picture of progressive sanctification in the life of a believer.  We are saved by grace through faith, not by our works, but by the grace of God (Ephesians 2:4-9).  As believers, we strive for holiness and we pursue righteousness, but as God strengthens our faith, He also leads us in increasing our humility, opening our hearts to see and to know that it is not our efforts but God at work perfecting us.  On the day of our salvation, we are justified, made legally right with God, but we then live the remainder of our days striving, living for God.  In this striving, God perfects us into the image of Christ.  (Romans 8:28-29).  At 15, when first anointed, was David the finished man of God?  At his second anointing, was David the same man as the man at the time of his first?  To both questions a resounding “No”!  We progress towards Christ, yet in this life we do not attain perfection.

We see this progressive sanctification clearly stated in 2 Corinthians 4:7-18 perhaps, best captured in verses 11, then 16-18: “For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh.  So we do not lose heart.  Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day.  For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen.  For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.”

In his humility and in his walk with God, David resembled Christ, yet he did not complete the kingship.  David is just part of the history in which the King of Kings, and the Lord of Lord comes.  After Jesus, ancestral lineage for the people of Israel can no longer be traced, no one can make (and prove!) the claim of being of the house of David.  The records no longer exist.  Jesus is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end, the first, the last, the Messiah.  He completed the kingship!

Does this matter?  Through His death, Jesus, “The Anointed One”,  saved us from our sins.  We are united with God in heaven through Christ.  David was a good king, but he was not the perfect King who takes away the sins of the world.  Only the perfect Man, perfect God, Jesus, accomplished this.  The kingdom of Christ is eternal.  He will return riding on a white horse called “Faithful” and “True”, and with justice He judges and makes war.  David’s throne lasted 40 years; Jesus’ throne is eternal.

To “The Anointed One”, Christ, people respond in one of three ways:

1. People who want the Lordship and authority and will do what they can to be their own king.  Examples include Satan, the Pharisees, Saul after David was anointed king and Unbelievers who openly reject Christ as King.
2. People who fake it until they make it (except they never make it!).  They like the features of being with those in authority and the idea of godliness, but never represent true godliness in their lives.  Examples include Judas Iscariot, Ananias and Sapphira, various diviners/false prophets in the Old Testament, maybe even someone listening to this sermon today.
3. Those chosen (elected) by God.  They desire God, they know the Lord Jesus as their Savior and they fellowship with Him in a broken, sinful state until they are reunited with Him in glory for all eternity.

Are believers anointed?  All Christians are indeed anointed by the Holy Spirit and within the hearts of all Christians, the Holy Spirit dwells, rendering them each chosen instruments for special service to God uniquely gifted and empowered  to fulfill the purpose for which God has called them.

“But you have been anointed by the Holy One, and you all have knowledge.  But the anointing that you received from him abides in you, and you have no need that anyone should teach you.  But as his anointing teaches you about everything, and is true, and is no lie–just as it has taught you, abide in him” (1 John 2:20, 27).

As a new creation, the Holy Spirit has anointed you and richly dwells in you.  Rejoice in the Lord, for He is good and His love endures forever.  Amen!

Selah

• By God’s grace we are who we are and we have what we have.  A very simple statement, but does your life, the way you live, give evidence that you believe it?
• As trust, patience, humility and mercy were on display in David’s life as he waited for the fulfillment of God’s promise, are these same qualities on display in your own?
• As your knowledge of God increases, as He makes Himself known to you, as you examine your faith in Christ, how strong is your heart’s desire to joyfully please Him with everything you think and do?
• Are you your own appointed king, lording over your own life?  (The Lord knows!) Is it time to release your reign and humbly serve the Alpha and the Omega, the only worthy, good and rightful King?  Do this and rejoice!