Who Paid for David’s Sin

When I wrote “What Happened in the Fall,” I suggested that the worst damage done by Adam’s sin was the loss of intimate fellowship with God. Where once Adam could stroll throughout the Garden with his Creator at his side, suddenly the Garden was off limits and the relationship between Creator and creation was altered dramatically. Of all people, Adam could surely feel the distance between himself and God caused by his disobedience. That distance was still there when David wrote his psalms. “My God! Why have you forsaken me,” was the psalmist’s lament over the broken fellowship which Adam caused.

David did not always feel isolated from God though. Throughout his psalms, he reveled in the reality of God’s presence and provision. If all we knew of David was prior to his dalliance with Bathsheba, we might understand why God called him “a man after my own heart.” Truthfully though, we begin to understand that heart-to-heart relationship after the sin with Bathsheba was exposed through the prophet Nathan. David wrote Psalm 51 sometime after the prophet called him out. He made a puzzling declaration to God in that psalm:

Against You, You only, I have sinned

And done what is evil in Your sight,

So that You are justified when You speak

And pure when You judge. Psalm 51:4

When we consider the totality of David’s actions, it is hard to believe that the sin was against God alone. The adultery, deception, and murder ensnared not only the couple at the center of the drama, but also Uriah (Bathsheba’s husband), Joab (David’s general), the child conceived in adultery, and eventually, most of David’s family. Even so, David recognized that ultimately, the sin he committed was against God; the consequences roped in the rest of the people who were affected.

Writing in defense of capital punishment, R. C. Sproul says, “There is a sense in which the commission of murder is regarded by God as an indirect assault on Him. Just as an attack on an ambassador of a king is seen as an affront to the king, so the act of murder is an assault against the very life of God, inasmuch as it desecrates one made in God’s image.” (How Should I Live in This World?, vol. 5, The Crucial Questions Series, Lake Mary, FL: Reformation Trust Publishing, 2009, 75.) One could make a similar statement regarding any sin. By definition, sin is a deviation from God’s order as expressed in His character. David understood that, and so he said:

For You do not delight in sacrifice, otherwise I would give it;
You are not pleased with burnt offering.

The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit;
A broken and a contrite heart, O God, You will not despise. (Ps. 51:16-17)

David realized that the most important thing in his life was his relationship with God. In Old Testament Hebrew, the word heart refers to the innermost part of human existence. With Spirit led insight, David equated heart with spirit, a distinction the New Testament makes clear. David’s desire to have his relationship with God made whole is evident:

Create in me a clean heart, O God,
And renew a steadfast spirit within me.
Do not cast me away from Your presence
And do not take Your Holy Spirit from me.
Restore to me the joy of Your salvation
And sustain me with a willing spirit. (Ps. 51:10-12)

We don’t know exactly when David wrote Psalm 51. The initial consequences involving Bathsheba, Uriah, and Joab had surely taken place. Yet David could say his sin was against God only (v.4). I can’t imagine that he discounted the impact on those he harmed. However, he seemed to realize that the effects of his sin on others were less troublesome than the effect on his relationship with God. He also recognized the spiritual nature of things.

We sometimes speak romantically of giving our heart to someone. My wife and I have wedding bands that incorporate the Irish claddagh, a pair of hands offering a heart. Worn with the heart offered inward, it symbolizes our heart-to-heart commitment to one another. This is how David felt toward God, and it explains why he could say his sin was against God alone. You can only share your heart with one person.

Jesus said, “If you love me, keep my commandments.” If we fail to keep His commandments, it casts doubt on the depth of our love for Him. The devil has done a good job convincing people, even some Christians, that Jesus’ commands are conditional. In certain situations, the tempter says, it is better to disobey a command for the good of someone or something. This is a damnalbe lie from the father of lies. Only God knows what is good in any situation, and it is a clear violation of His good Word to take His prerogative as our own. That is precisely what Adam and Eve did that threw us into the mess we are in. (See “The Knowledge of Good and Evil”)

Nothing I have said should be taken to mean that the consequences of sin are not important. Look at the widespread results of the HIV virus being shared through illicit sex. Another virus, COVID 19, ravaged our entire healthcare and economic well-being. The perpetrators there were careful to clothe their sin in false proclamations of the good of the masses. One man’s adultery can destroy a family, and if he is a public figure, the effects spread to the larger society. Look at the consequences of John Wilkes Booth’s single shot in Ford’s Theater. Or the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand in 1914.

David couldn’t undo the results of his sin. What he could do was make a heartfelt confession. The word confess in the New Testament means to say the same. In verse four, David says what God says, and calls it justified. That is true confession. Although you may not have strayed as far from God’s commands as David did, you would be a liar if you said you have no sin, according to the Apostle John. There were those in David’s life, as in yours, who were made to pay for the sin of another by suffering the consequences.

Ultimately, Jesus paid for David’s sin and yours and mine on the cross of Calvary. That payment is available to all who are willing to confess, repent, and throw themselves into the merciful arms of their loving Savior. God stamps the balance due as paid in full. Then as debt-free children of God He restores to us the joy of our salvation. Just like David.

Related Posts: The Cry of Sin; David Stayed in Jerusalem; Despising the Downpayment