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Blog Bio

Name
Ryan Haider

Family
Wife Jessica (above), son Corban Henry, and daughter Eden Evangeline.

Occupation
Pastor Hickory Hill Baptist

Hobbies
Reading books and doing web design. I run a very small part-time business called Kerux Web Design (kerux means preacher).

Rebels Redeemed Blog

Entries in Grace (2)

Wednesday
Nov252009

I am Mephibosheth!

DateWednesday, November 25, 2009 at 9:20AM |

2 Samuel 9:11
          So Mephibosheth ate at David's table, like one of the king's sons.

Not many know the story of Mephibosheth. He was the son of Jonathan, the son of Saul, David's predecessor and former enemy. So he was the grandson of Saul.

When God disposed of Saul from the throne of Israel (by death), Jonathan his son also died. David soon after became king (check out 2 Samuel 2 for the story of a king between Saul and David almost entirely forgotten about). David remember that earlier in life, he had made a covenant with Jonathan. When David became king, he promised to love, help, and do good to Jonathan and his family. But now that he's king, Jonathan and his household are dead.

There was a servant of Saul's, Ziba, who was still alive. So David asked Ziba to find out if there was anyone left of Jonathan's family. Ziba told the king that there was one son remaining; the rest had been killed. The son of Jonathan was named Mephibosheth.

He was only a young boy (perhaps a baby even) when Saul and Jonathan had died. When his nurse heard what had happened, she grabbed the young boy and started to run away with him to keep him safe. She knew that people would be after the boy to kill him (and she was right).

Tragically though, as she was running away with the baby in her arms, she tripped and fell. The child was damaged for life. Both legs were broken by the fall, and Mephibosheth would be a cripple for the rest of his life.

Now think about this: Mephibosheth was the last remaining survivor of the king. The throne would have past to him, had not God taken it away. Furthermore, he's a cripple. And no cripple should ever be in the great and glorious presence of the king. And above all of that, he was the grandson of David's arch-enemy. Truly, Mephibosheth was the enemy of King David who, by every strand of earthly reasoning, should have been executed.

But! 2 Samuel 9:11. Far from being executed, King David graciously provided for Mephibosheth, set him up with an array of servants, provided for his entire family, and even opened up his kingly table to this crippled enemy. So for the rest of his days, "Mephibosheth ate at David's table, like one of the king's sons." The table was the deepest and most intimate place of fellowship. And the king took this cripple and treated him as his own son.

That text melted my heart. I am Mephibosheth. I am the crippled enemy of God's anointed King, Jesus, who by every strand of earthly reasoning deserves immediate execution. I have no claim to one ounce of goodness from the King. And yet, in an infinite condescension, the King has taken me in and granted me daily intimate fellowship with the King. He has taken me in, not just as an enemy, but rather as an adopted son. I EAT EVERY MEAL AT THE KING'S TABLE!

How could you not serve and love and kiss this King? (Psalm 2) There is no grace like the grace of King Jesus, opening his eternal table to all his enemies who would repent and believe on Him for righteousness.

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Friday
Jun122009

From Reviling, Railing, and Mocking to Believing... All While Hanging on a Cross

DateFriday, June 12, 2009 at 1:00PM |

I wonder if you've ever noticed something rather spectacular in the Gospel accounts. No doubt, the story of the thief repenting and believing on the Lord Jesus Christ in his last hour is a popular and well-known story, but there are two other verses in the Bible that make this story even more spectacular.

First, Luke's account in 23:32-43:

Two others, who were criminals, were led away to be put to death with him. And when they came to the place that is called The Skull, there they crucified him, and the criminals, one on his right and one on his left. ...And the people stood by, watching, but the rulers scoffed at him, saying, “He saved others; let him save himself, if he is the Christ of God, his Chosen One!” ...
One of the criminals who were hanged railed at him, saying, “Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us!” But the other rebuked him, saying, “Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed justly, for we are receiving the due reward of our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong.” And he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” And he said to him, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise.”

Pretty spectacular, right? This criminal, obviously heart-broken and humbled by his death-sentence sees the dying Christ on the cross and is so moved by the sight that he repents of his rebellion and pleads with Jesus to reconcile him to God. And even more amazingly, Jesus freely agrees. It is surely true, grace is free.

But have you ever noticed Matthew and Mark's same account?

Matthew 27:44 "And the robbers who were crucified with him also reviled him in the same way [as the scribes and elders."

Mark 15:32 "Those who were crucified with him also reviled him."

Do you see? Perhaps it wasn't the man's death sentence at all that humbled him. If we believe in the inerrancy of Scripture, then both thieves, the one to his left and the one to his right, started out reviling him. They were both unmoved by their impending death. They were still hardened in their hearts, rebellious, and under the wrath of God.

But then, in an instant (Jesus was only on the cross for a matter of hours), God used the sight of Jesus suffering under the Father's wrath to soften one thief's heart, and to compel him to repent and put all his hope for redemption in the man crucified next to him. Wow! What a radical, instantaneous transformation. Who can deny that a man believing on the Lord Jesus is a sovereign act of God? Who but God alone can take a dying, hard-hearted man from reviling to desperately clinging for salvation in a matter of moments? And all that while the man is slowing suffocating, bleeding out, and having his flesh torn open. It wasn't like he didn't have other things to think about!

Marvel at the grace of God! And if that sovereign grace has drawn and compelled you, like this thief, to look upon this dying man and to cry out, "My Lord and my God, forgive me of my sins and reconcile me to the Father," then marvel in the free, sovereign grace of God all the more.

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