Ten Minute Bible Talks Devotional Bible Study - A Sneak Peek of the Kingdom of God | Historical Books | 2 Samuel 8

Episode Date: June 16, 2025

What did Jesus teach about? Do you attribute success to yourself or God? How does God establish his kingdom? In today's episode, Keith shares how 2 Samuel 8 foreshadows the kingdom of God that Jesus would ultimately bring. If you're listening on Spotify, tell us about yourself and where you're listening from! Read the Bible with us in 2025! This year, we’re exploring the Historical Books—Joshua, Judges, 1 & 2 Samuel, and 1 & 2 Kings. Download your reading plan now. Your support makes TMBT possible. Ten Minute Bible Talks is a crowd-funded project. Join the TMBTeam to reach more people with the Bible. Give now. Like this content? Make sure to leave us a rating and share it so that others can find it, too. Use #asktmbt to connect with us, ask questions, and suggest topics. We'd love to hear from you! To learn more, visit our website and follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter @TenMinuteBibleTalks. Don't forget to subscribe to the TMBT Newsletter here. Passages: 2 Samuel 8

Welcome to 10-minute Bible talks, where we connect the Bible to your life. In the time it takes to get to work. I'm Keith Simon. So we're back in Second Samuel today, but that's not exactly where we're going to start our time together. We're going to start with Jesus and see how he helps us understand the significance of what David does in Second Samuel 8. Let's pray and ask God to help us learn. Lord, we ask you to open your word to us so that we might understand it, and we ask you to open our heart. that we might be transformed by your word. Amen.

Okay, put yourself in the first century. You've heard about Jesus. He's the teacher, the miracle worker, everybody's talking about, but you've never personally heard him teach. But now you know that he's going to be near your town. And so you want to go out with some of your friends and actually hear him for yourself. What do you think he's going to talk about? You might say, well, I expect Jesus to share ethical truth. Truth, truth's slum. like love your neighbor, love your enemy, don't lust or don't be angry, treat others as you want them to treat you. Or you might say that you expect Jesus to share a lot of stories called parables. He has some really famous ones, like the parable of the prodigal son or the parable of the Good

Samaritan. But nowhere does the Bible ever summarize Jesus' ministry as he goes from town to town teaching ethical truths, or he goes from town to town teaching parables. Instead what it says is that Jesus announced the kingdom of God. Here's Mark 1.15. The time has come, Jesus said. The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news. Here's Luke four. But Jesus said, I must proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns also, because that is why I was sent. Here's Luke 8. After this, Jesus traveled about from one town and village to another proclaiming the good news of the kingdom of God. What did you? Jesus do? Well, he came to announce the kingdom of God. Now, let's stay with this, but let's add

another important fact. This time we go to what the angels said to Mary when he told her that she was pregnant with the Messiah. We pick it up in Luke chapter 1. The angels said to her, do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you were to call him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the son of the most high. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over Jacob's descendants forever. His kingdom will never end. Did you hear how the angel described Jesus? He said Jesus will sit on the throne of his father, David, and he will reign over an eternal kingdom. This is the connection back to 2nd Samuel. If you've been following along, David is God's choice to be king. We've followed his progress from the time

he was anointed king as a young shepherd boy, to now several years later, he has finally, made king over all Israel, God promised David that he would establish the throne of his kingdom forever. And Jesus is the fulfillment of that promise God made to David. That means that when David is crowned king in 2 Samuel, God is restoring his kingdom through David's reign. Okay, so now we're ready for 2nd Samuel 8. Verse 1. In the course of time, David defeated the Philistines and subdued them, and he took a city from the control of the Philistines. Now the Philistines were Israel's primary enemy. The people had wanted a king to defeat the Philistines, but the king they chose, Saul could never actually do what they wanted. Saul's failures were encapsulated in his failing to

drive the Philistines from the Israelite territory. But where Saul failed, David succeeded. But it wasn't just the Philistines that David defeated. No, under his leadership, Israel defeated all their enemies. God's kingdom always faces resistance in this world. There will always be evil kingdoms or kingdoms that oppose God's values. That shouldn't discourage us because we know how the story ends. In the end, God wins. God's kingdom will triumph. One of the ways the Bible shows importance is through repetition. Your mom probably repeated things she wanted to make sure you didn't forget. Maybe she said to mind your manners or to clean your room or be home by midnight or to do your best. Well, in this story, there's something that is repeated in verses 6 and verse 14. And I think

the reason it's repeated because God doesn't want us to forget it. Here's verse 6. The Lord gave David victory wherever he went. Here's verse 14. The Lord gave David victory wherever he went. God repeats that truth for the same reason our mom repeated things to us. He knew how quickly we forget. He knew how quickly we attribute success to ourselves and not to God. And God wants us to know that these battles weren't won by David's strength or David's wisdom or David's power, they were won by God. Zechariah 4.6. Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, says the Lord Almighty. The Lord doesn't establish his kingdom through human strength, but divine strength. The Lord's work must be done in the Lord's way. When the soldiers come to arrest Jesus,

the Gospels tell us that Peter drew his sword and swung, trying to kill someone, but Peter wasn't a very good aim, so he only succeeded in cutting off the man's ear. Jesus told him to put away his sword. Jesus said, look, I don't need you to defend me, Peter, because Jesus' kingdom would not come through violence. Then Jesus is arrested, he's tried, and eventually crucified. Jesus didn't kill his enemies, he died for them. And as his followers, we must fight the Lord's battle in the Lord's way.

That means depending on God's strength, not our own. and winning through sacrifice, not power. Let's pray. Father, we need to learn the truth, that we need to fight your battles your way, relying on your strength and your wisdom and your power. Please teach us that, Lord. Amen. Now, as David defeated these rival nations, he took all their treasures, and those eventually ended up being used to build the temple. And in addition to the ones he defeated military, were told that some nations made peace with David in Israel. Here's verse 9.

When one king heard that David had destroyed the entire army of another king, he sent his son to congratulate King David for his successful campaign. See, these kings had been his enemies, and they were often at war. And so they presented David with many gifts of gold, silver, and bronze. King David dedicated all these gifts to the Lord, as he did with the silver and gold from the other nations he defeated. So I think there's two takeaways from this. First, all the wealth of the nations belong to God. He is the rightful owner. David is willing to use the wealth of the nations for God's purposes. The prophets tell us that when God is king and his kingdom fills the earth, God will reign

in beauty and splendor. Listen to how the prophet Haggai puts it. He says, for this is what the Lord of Heaven's armies says. In just a little while, I will again shake the heavens and the earth, the ocean and the dry land. I will shake all the nations, and the treasures of all the nations will be brought to his temple. I will fill this place with glory, says the Lord of Heaven's armies. The silver is mine and the gold is mine, says the Lord of Heaven's armies. The future glory of this temple will be greater than its past glory, says the Lord of Heaven's armies. See what David had started, God will finish.

David's kingdom is a foretaste of the Heavenly Kingdom. The second takeaway is that nations have the option of resisting or submitting to God's kingship. And that's the same choice we have today. Jesus is the king. He's come to bring his kingdom. Is that good news to you or is that bad news? Well, it all depends if you're going to resist or submit to his rule. If you resist the king, then you face his judgment. If you submit, you receive his mercy, grace, and forgiveness.

Jesus is king and he will sit on the throne for all eternity. He also wants to be king of your life. Every throne I've ever seen is only a one-seater. There's only room for one person on every throne I've ever seen. There's no love seats that serve as thrones, no room for two people. Jesus doesn't share his throne with you. You're not going to be co- kings of your life. You either crown him king or you make yourself king.

You either submit to his kingship or you resist it. Jesus is king. Let's pray that you and I would learn to submit and surrender to him. Amen.