2 Samuel 9:1-3 NASB95
Then David said, “Is there yet anyone left of the house of Saul, that I may show him kindness for Jonathan’s sake?” [2] Now there was a servant of the house of Saul whose name was Ziba, and they called him to David; and the king said to him, “Are you Ziba?” And he said, “ I am your servant.” [3] The king said, “Is there not yet anyone of the house of Saul to whom I may show the kindness of God?” And Ziba said to the king, “There is still a son of Jonathan who is crippled in both feet.”
David and Jonathan were in covenant together, and Jonathan died having lived faithfully in his relationship with David. Because they were in covenant, they had exchanged mutual promises that included whatever belonged to one belonged to the other, and in the case of one dying, all the blessings and promises would be passed on to their seed.
At some point, David asked the question if there was anyone left of the house of Saul so that David could show them the kindness of God, and here’s the key phrase, “for Jonathan’s sake.” If David could find a seed of Jonathan, then he wanted to bless them by inviting them to enjoy all that belonged to Jonathan, which was all the belonged to David. He wanted to give them all that Jonathan had earned and deserved, not because they had done anything in themselves to earn and deserve such a blessing, but simply because they were the seed of Jonathan. Mephibosheth was living in a place called Lodebar, which literally means “famine,” and he was crippled in both of his feet. David servants particularly mentioned that as if they were trying to say that there is yet a seed, but he really has nothing to offer. They didn’t understand that David wasn’t looking for someone who could offer him something; instead, he was looking for someone to whom he could offer everything because of Jonathan’s faithfulness. It was a covenant of grace that David looked to honor.
In the same way, we are blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places because we are in Christ. Jesus clothed himself in our fallen and crippled humanity, and He kept covenant with the Father on our behalf. It’s as if Jesus said, “Since you can’t obey, I obeyed for you so that you can be blessed on the basis of my obedience and my performance; not yours.” We have all the belongs to Christ, all that Jesus deserves, and all that he earned on our behalf. So many Christians are trying their best to be faithful enough to earn the full measure of God’s favor when the truth is we were born again into the full measure of God’s favor because you are in Christ and Jesus was faithful. That verse in Ephesians 1:3 does not say, “You will be blessed with every spiritual blessing if you perform enough.” It says YOU HAVE BEEN BLESSED with EVERY spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ.” It is our position (in Christ) that secures our having already every spiritual blessing, which we are free to take out for a spin, not our performance. Our part is to believe and, in so doing, experience and display the full measure of God’s favor on our lives.
When David found Mephibosheth and brought him to Jerusalem to bless him as one of his own sons, Mephibosheth tried to explain why he didn’t deserve it. David simply responded to him by telling him that he was being blessed for Jonathan’s sake. It had nothing to do with whether or not Mephibosheth deserved it; it was because Jonathan deserved it. God’s blessing on your life is because you are in Christ, the one who was faithful, and His faithfulness is credited to you.