In this message I have the burden to speak a word concerning man's failure and God's punishment.
The books of Samuel unveil God's sovereignty and God's economy. God is sovereign; He is behind everything and everyone. He has the full capacity to carry out what He wants according to the desire of His heart and according to His eternal economy.
God desires to work Himself in Christ into His chosen people, making Himself and them one organic entity. This means that the processed and consummated Triune God is building Himself in Christ into the intrinsic being of His chosen people, in order to have a constitution that is both divine and human. Such an entity is called the kingdom of God, the organism of the Triune God, and the organic Body of Christ. Whereas God is building such an entity, many of those who are spiritually blind are endeavoring to build up for themselves a monarchy within the divine kingdom.
The books of Samuel also unveil man's failure. David, a man according to God's heart, failed in the matter of the lust of the flesh. David's defect was that he did not restrict his flesh. When he was crowned in Hebron at thirty years of age, he already had at least six wives (2 Sam. 3:2-5). Later, he abused his kingship by murdering Uriah and robbing him of his wife.
In His creation God ordained that man have one wife so that man may have godly children (Mal. 2:14-15). However, some men broke this principle. For instance, Gideon, one of the judges of Israel, had many wives (Judg. 8:30). Boaz, an important ancestor in the genealogy of Christ, was a good pattern because he controlled the lust of his flesh (Ruth 3). Samuel was also a good example. His mother consecrated him to God as a Nazarite, and he kept the vow of his mother throughout his life. David, on the contrary, even though he was a man according to God's heart, had a great failure in the matter of the lust of the flesh.