Nathan ~the fearless prophet

Here is the picture of Nathan. let us examine his life to see why he is in this great hall of faith.

Nathan was a man who had no fear of mankind. I believe that this is because he had such a strong faith in God that he was willing to do whatever God asked him to do. Let us look at Nathan's ministry life to get a better handle on this shall we?

Nathan was the spiritual adviser to King David. This had to be done by a Prophet who was not afraid of David, since David was a man with the power to kill him if he wished. We see three times when God called upon Nathan to go and deliver harsh news to David. Let us look at these.

The first time is when David wanted to build a temple for the Ark of the Covenant, because of his love for God. At first, Nathan said, "Sure, why not!" But had to go back and change that when God told Nathan that he didn't want David to build a temple, but was allowed to get things together for one of his sons to build later(2 Sam. 17:1-15).  This would take great faith in God to go back and tell King David that what he personally had given permission to do was NOT in God's plan. King David could have gotten upset and had Nathan killed. Yet due to his GREAT faith, Nathan did not compromise and followed through with what God asked him to tell David.

The second time we see Nathan taking a hard truth to David is after David had committed adultery with Bathsheba, & then had her husband Uriah killed  to cover his sin up (2 Sam. 12:1-9; 1 Kings 1:13). Other prophets had been killed when they told kings of their sins, but even with that possible threat, Nathan obeyed God and went and told David of his sin (2 Sam. 12:1-9; I Kings 1:13).

Third, we see Nathan helping reveal to David that his son, Adonijah's plan to steal King David's throne when he died & helped King David make his son, Solomon king ( I Kings 1). This took double faith to do, because both King David & self appointed king, Adonijah could have had him killed if they did not like what he did. Yet he stood on his faith in God to do what he believed was the right thing to do.

It is said that Nathan wrote books keeping records of King David & King Solomon (I Chron. 29:29;
 2 Chron. 9:29). Books with his name is not found today, but some believe that some of what you read in the books of Kings could be from his books.

Nathan is a good example of someone whose great faith in God allowed him to minister to a couple great kings without fear. may we be as faithful to God in our service to Him.