29th December 2024

David’s Greater Son

Speaker:
Passage: 2 Samuel 7
Service Type:

God’s promise to David in 2 Samuel 7 reveals a pattern that extends far beyond the building of a physical temple. While David wished to build God a house, God instead promised that it was He who would build David’s house – establishing an eternal dynasty that would find its ultimate fulfilment in Jesus Christ. This reversal teaches us that God’s plans are always greater than human intentions, and His Kingdom comes not through our efforts but through His sovereign work. The peace and rest that David temporarily achieved in his earthly kingdom points forward to the perfect and eternal peace found in Christ’s reign.

Automatically Generated Transcript

[00:00:00] Alright, well, thanks everyone for having me today. My name’s Callum. If you don’t know me, I am usually over the road a bit at Graceful Presbyterian Church where I worship with my family, my wife, Charlotte, and four kids. We’ve got two boys, the oldest being six, and then two girls, the youngest being six months. So life is quite busy at the moment, as you can imagine. And unfortunately, earlier this week, I got a call from my dad. You might know him. His name’s Pastor Jim Gibson.

[00:00:33] And he told me that he had COVID, and that unfortunately meant that the entire family Christmas was a bit of a skip. It got cancelled, Christmas was cancelled, and all the COVID people, I think, got together and all the healthy people had to work out what to do instead. But here I am, and I’m really glad to be back. This was my home church for several years. And in some ways, going away and then coming back, some things haven’t changed. Let’s be real. The baby-pew colored, the baby yellow, baby-pew colored pews have been here for longer than I can remember.

[00:01:14] The new carpet now looks kind of old. But it’s great to be back because even though some things haven’t changed, there’s still one of the things that is good that hasn’t changed is that it’s still a house of God, a place where people come and are genuinely excited to gather together to worship God and to praise His name. Well, it’s my privilege to be here. And today, I’d like to take us to a passage in the Old Testament, in particular to Samuel chapter 7. You can get that ready in your Bibles because we’ll be working through what I think is probably one of the key, most pivotal passages of the Old Testament.

[00:01:58] If you had to put, you know, the whole Bible is important, but if you had to put together top 10 verses, maybe if you’re writing a blog post from the Old Testament, I reckon 2 Samuel chapter 7 probably should be in there somewhere. But before we do that, let me ask you this question. What do you think of when you hear the word house? Just let that word resonate with you for a moment. Do you think of a home that has a physical dwelling place? That might be one option. Do you think of a household, a family? I know when I think of a house, I think of my family.

[00:02:39] Well, in ancient times as well a house might be another word for a temple. more contemporary, in a contemporary environment it might be the church, a house of God, or a house could also mean a political dynasty. There are less of those around today but still I think as a metaphor we see that this idea of a house has a lot of potential and in particular it can convey a place of belonging and rest. A house might be a place where we keep our treasures and it might be a place where we meet in fellowship with other people and in fact there’s a lot of different ways in which this word house can be used and I hope that today we can leverage that to think about this passage because in today’s passage to Samuel 7 what we see is actually the development of this

[00:03:33] theme in the various ways in which we understand the idea of a house. The chapter starts with David wanting to build God a physical house as a temple and in a surprise reversal God promises that actually he will build David’s house that is a dynasty and it’s through this dynasty that God will establish his kingdom forever. Well with that let’s turn to the passage we’re reading from 2 Samuel chapter 7 verses 1 onwards. Let’s read. Now when the king lived in his house and the lord had given him rest from all his surrounding enemies the king said to Nathan the prophet see now I dwell in the house of Cedar but the ark of God dwells in a tent and Nathan said to the king go do all that is in your heart for the lord is with you but that same night the word of the

[00:04:29] Lord came to Nathan go and tell my servant David thus says the Lord would you build me a house to dwell on I have not lived in a since the day I brought you up, brought up the people of Israel from Egypt to this day but I’ve been moving about in a tent for my dwelling in all places where I’ve moved with the people of Israel. Did I speak a word with any of the judges of Israel whom I commanded to shepherd my people Israel saying why have you not built me a house of cedar? Now therefore thus you shall say to my servant David says the Lord of hosts I took you from the pasture from following the sheep that you should be Prince over my people Israel and I’ve been with you wherever you went and I’ve cut off all your enemies from before you and I will make

[00:05:17] for you a great name like the name of the great ones of the earth and I will appoint a place for my people Israel and will plant them so that they may dwell in their own place and be disturbed no more and violent men shall afflict them no more as formerly from the time that I pointed judges over my people Israel. And I will give you rest from all your enemies. Moreover the Lord declares to you that the Lord will make you a house. When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you who shall come from your body and I will establish his kingdom. We shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be to him a father and he will be to me a son.

[00:06:05] When he commits inequity, I will discipline him with the rod of men, with the stripes of the sons of men. But my steadfast love will not depart from him, as I took it from Saul who my put away from before you. And your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me. throne shall be established forever.” In accordance with all these words and in accordance with all this vision, Nathan spoke to David. Well, we’re starting at the beginning of chapter 7 with the house for God. The opening of the chapter takes us to a time in David’s life when he had rest on all sides. It depicts David, the King David, established in a position of strength in the center

[00:06:54] of his capital. And as far as human achievements are concerned, there’s not really much left to be done. David’s achieved it all. The books of, you know, 1st and 2nd Samuel show us that David lived a life of bloodshed. So we know that the piece described here in this chapter is disrupted later, particularly with the insurrection of Absalon and more warring against the Philistines. But for a brief moment in chapter 7, we have a picture of God’s anointed King installed in his capital city surrounded by peace. And at a time of peace, David is able to redirect his attention away from war efforts to his capital. And from his own lavish dwelling, perhaps he’s sitting out on the balcony admiring all that God has provided for him, from his own lavish dwelling he looks out and realizes that

[00:07:48] while he is dwelling in the House of Cedar, this is some expensive imported goods. This is the prime real estate material. So as he’s dwelling in the House of Cedar, he looks at and he sees that the Ark of the Covenant is in a tent. So let’s quickly add some context. The Ark of the Covenant was a small box built to God’s exact specifications. We can read about that in Exodus. It would be carried about with God’s people as a symbol, among other things, that God was with his people. We can look at the previous chapter in 6.1. David goes to bring up from there the Ark of God, which is called by the name, the name of the Lord Almighty, who is enthroned between the Cherubim on the Ark. So it’s a box and there’s a picture symbol of these Cherubim pointing inwards and God,

[00:08:43] it’s a symbol of him being enthroned between the Cherubim and in chapter 6 this Ark is brought into Jerusalem and this is a big deal because it’s the enthronement of God in his capital city. It’s important not to miss the picture being depicted here. God is enthroned in his holy city to dwell with his people and his anointed David is king as vice-regent over the people and under this regime the people are at rest and experience peace. Let’s hold that picture in view because it’s from here that things start to go a little wrong. David goes to Nathan the prophet saying, here I am living in this house of Cedar while the Ark of God lives in a tent. He perceives some imbalance about his own lavish dwelling and that of the Ark. See David’s own house would have been a

[00:09:37] symbol that he had been established as king over the people. It was a symbol of David’s authority as well as a symbol of stability and longevity and so if we look back at 2 Samuel 5 it recounts David’s capture of Jerusalem and the building of a royal palace made of Cedar. This is where we get the back story and expensive imported good from Lebanon and building this palace is expressly connected with David’s awareness that God had established him as king of Israel and so when David looks out and sees that the symbol for God’s dwelling place is just a tent the comparison drives him to action. Maybe David thought a lavish temple would be would better reflect God’s status as you know in the life of Israel as their God showing God’s authority over the people and over him

[00:10:28] as king as well. Or maybe, maybe David felt just a little uneasy that God’s symbolic dwelling place was not a fixed and permanent building but something movable and just as easily as the Ark had been carried into Jerusalem it was a symbol, it was possible that that Ark could be carried out. Either way, Nathan doesn’t hesitate to give his approval. In verse 3 Nathan replies to the king he says whatever you have in mind go ahead and do it for the Lord is with you. Nathan assumes that David is guided by correct moral instincts you know of course go and do what is in your heart. David is after all a man after God’s own heart we read about that in 1st Samuel 13 14 it all sounds very reasonable doesn’t it but verse 4 that night the word of the Lord came to Nathan saying

[00:11:26] go and tell my servant David this is what the Lord says are you the one to build me a house to dwell in. So very clearly and without wasting any time God rejects David’s plans to build him a physical dwelling place. See in the first place David is not operating from anything God has said. Since Israel was formed as an independent nation being brought out of Egypt God has gone about with the Israelites in a tent and not a single word did God give to a single ruler over his people that they should build him a temple. Instead David is following a human script it would have been very normal in ancient Near Eastern cultures for a king to engage in temple building it would be very normal for a king to establish a temple to show that God was in that city and and watching

[00:12:19] over that city as a symbol of protection. But through all the Old Testament and the preceding chapters of 2 Samuel, we should see that God does not do things like the surrounding gods with a small g. It’s a little presumptuous, too, of David that He would be the one to build God’s house. See this is, I think, something worth taking pause here noticing as a pattern in God’s kingdom that God builds the house. David does not build God’s house. Similarly today, God builds His church, becoming a Christian isn’t about doing God or the church a favour. And if you’re sitting here in your approach to churches to look around and think, how lucky everyone is to have me here, then I’m afraid you’ve got it all wrong. Just like David can’t possibly build a temple to make God’s name great, there’s nothing you can do or give in your own right to make God’s name any more great than it already is.

[00:13:22] Rather, becoming a Christian is firstly about humbly receiving God’s gracious gift of Jesus Christ. It’s about recognising that we bring nothing to the table except our own sin, and that the church is there to help sort us out. I mean, this doesn’t mean we should become completely passive takers, but rather it should stress for us the importance that we start from a position of real humility. God builds the house. Your being a Christian isn’t about you making God’s name great, it’s about God making His own name great, as He does a glorious work of transformation in you. This is why the Gospel is called the Great Equaliser. No one has the right to say they are better than anyone else, because we’ve all received the same undeserved gift to be here. Even David. Even David, the symbol of one of one of Israel’s greatest kings, came from such humble beginnings as a shepherd boy pastoring sheep. Let’s look at this. We’ve

[00:14:30] talked about a house for God, now let’s talk about a house for David. So as a quick recap, David, in comparing his own lavish house with a tent, has an ark, wants to build a suitable dwelling place for God. Nathan the prophet says, go ahead, all is well, do what’s in your heart. But God that night visits Nathan in a vision to put a stop to David’s plans, application denied. David is not the one who will build the temple. And although God corrects David, putting a stop to his building plans, I think it’s important to notice here that his words are full of tenderness and promise. Look at verse 8 onwards. God recounts the numerous blessings He has already done to bless David. He’s lifted him from a lowly status as a shepherd to be ruler over Israel in verse 9. He’s been with David. We see this in verse 10. Clearly, David’s meteoric rise to kingship is an outflowing of God’s presence with him. God has given him victory over his enemies.

[00:15:29] And so if we look in verse 9, God promises to make David’s name great like the names of the greatest men on earth. And this is a strong reference to God’s promise to Abraham in Genesis 12. So if we look, the Lord declares to David that the Lord himself will establish a house for David. You know, we know this isn’t just a physical house. David already has one of those. God’s promising to establish David’s line, his dynasty as Israel’s king. And do you notice the irony here? How God flips the script. Whereas the chapter begins with David wanting to build God a house. There’s a temple. God’s response is a promise to build David’s house, a dynasty. And so God says to David through Nathan, the prophet in verse 12, when your days are over and you rest with your ancestors, I will raise up your offspring to succeed you, your own flesh and blood. And I will establish his kingdom. He is the one who will build a house for my name. And I will

[00:16:30] establish the throne of his kingdom forever. Don’t miss this. God promises David that one of his descendants will sit on the throne forever. That his offspring will build a house, a temple for God’s name, and that his offspring’s throne will be established forever. So in the first place, the text has an immediate and direct application that’s fulfilled in David’s near future. We can read about this in 1st and 2nd Kings. There David’s direct descendant Solomon would succeed David and build a temple after David’s death, and we can read about that in 1 Kings chapter 6. Moreover, in 1 Kings 11, we can see more of God’s promise to David being fulfilled in the way that the Lord would bring up adversaries against Solomon, and we can see direct fulfillment of how God would discipline his son through the rods of men. And then even so, in 1 Kings 11, we see how God doesn’t take the whole kingdom out of Solomon’s hand for the sake

[00:17:37] of his father David, and there’s this forward-looking momentum that God has a forever plan that will withstand the sins of men. So yes, in a very direct way, Solomon’s life depicts an immediate and relatively short-term fulfillment of God’s promise, but in just one generation after Solomon, the kingdom fractures in two, the northern kingdom Israel and the southern kingdom Judah, and the books of 1st and 2nd Kings, paint a grim picture of a steady decline where generation after generation, the kings of these fractured nations forget God’s law and do wicked. Things move from further and further away from the initial picture that we had at the beginning of this chapter of God’s King established in his capital surrounded by peace and at rest. God’s anointed Messiah should be ruling over the people as an extension of God’s authority and yet through generation after generation the kings that came after David

[00:18:39] and Solomon went further and further from God’s law doing wicked and doing only what was right in their own eyes. And so after generations of compounding wickedness that comes crumbling down, God’s people are conquered by foreign nations and go into exile at the hands of their invaders and then God is silent for several hundred years while Israel is subjected to foreign rulers. The Assyrians, the Babylonians, the Persians, the Greeks and the Romans, foreign nations come and go and yet the people of Israel remain under foreign occupation waiting and hoping for David’s heir, for the son to come and inherit the throne and rule forever, for the people to be surrounded by peace. No one knew when he would come, no one knew who he would be other than that he would be an heir to David’s throne and it seemed impossible with Israel subject to Roman occupation that any man could ever come and free Israel. That’s what we’re celebrating over Christmas is this glorious

[00:19:57] message of David’s son Jesus that far distant descended to come and inherit the throne and rise and take his people and lead them in a forever sense. Never again to be done away with sin, never again to suffer the discipline of God due to wickedness and for God’s people to enjoy a peace forever. So we see this in verse 15 that God underwrites his promise with an unconditional guarantee that no matter what any individual descendant of David might do, any kind of wickedness that at the culmination of history again God would install his king on the throne. Verse 15, but my love will never be taken away from him as I took it away from Saul whom I removed from before you. Your house and your kingdom will endure forever before me. So in these verses God guarantees that history would inevitably reach a climactic resolution with the descendant of David enthroned forever and thus underscoring this entire chapter with its many allusions to the Abrahamic covenant

[00:21:16] and God’s promises to make Abraham into a great nation is God’s revelation that a Davidic king would reign upon the throne forever, a key term repeated throughout the passage. Certainly the scale of God’s promises put in absolute terms and backed by God’s assurance that his covenantal commitment would never depart from David’s offspring. God’s promise was therefore an irrevocable guarantee that despite the risk of sin, despite wayward kings, despite the turn of history and in the way in which David’s descendants would slowly move away from keeping God’s law, ultimately history would reach a climactic resolution and God’s eternal promises to David would form the basis of a hope that all of Israel could cling to in those years of silence that one day their son of David would come and reign and with that son on the throne once again that people of Israel would experience peace.

[00:22:23] So it’s good news then that while the text initial focuses on Solomon, God’s promise to David is underscored by a lasting, even eschatological dimension that the throne of David’s descendant will endure forever. And even David himself seems to get this. He read about this in verse 19. He acknowledges that God has spoken of his servants house for a great while to come from far off. And thus, the more compelling application of today’s passages, the way God’s promise speaks into the distant future beyond Solomon,

[00:22:57] beyond David’s initial descendants and speaks of Jesus of Nazareth. These words are what God’s people clung to in exile, hoping that one day God would restore the throne of David. And they are the same promises that the New Testament writers see fulfilled in the coming of Jesus Christ. It’s why Matthew’s gospel begins with these words that Jesus, who is called Christ, is the descendant of David. He is the long awaited one. Jesus is the son of David, who will sit on the throne forever. Jesus will build a house, a temple for God’s name.

[00:23:32] See in Stephen’s speech in Acts seven, he proclaims the need for a more heavenly dwelling place not made by hands. Solomon’s temple was destroyed. It was a pale comparison to the house Jesus would build for God’s name in his death and resurrection. Jesus is the one whose throne would be established forever. And more importantly, the birth of Jesus just doesn’t just signify the end of God’s silence and a restoration to the kind of kingship that that David had, but everything is raised to a whole new level. Just as Second Samuel seven one describes David at peace in his capital.

[00:24:15] Jesus comes so that we can have peace on all sides. And while David’s kingship involved military prowess over his political enemies, achieving a temporary peace over the surrounding nations. In contrast, Jesus emerges victorious over the forces of death and darkness themselves. Jesus is the person about whom Isaiah wrote. He will swallow up death forever. And whereas David achieved temporary peace for a limited time in history, the good news of the gospel is that Jesus has conquered the grave. No longer are humans locked in a contest between the forces of darkness

[00:24:55] begun in Genesis three and Adam and Eve’s first sin. But Jesus, his victory is over these forces and it promises a kind of rest unparalleled by any other king. See, when Jesus came, his own people did not understand this. They thought he would come to be a king to to to wage political war against a foreign occupation. They thought he would come to restore Israel as a physical place in time to overturn the Romans and wage war. But Jesus had far grander sites set on what that peace would mean, not just for a geographical place,

[00:25:41] but for an eternity free from sin and death. Unlike David, whose shameful acts are recorded in Second Samuel, and it it should break our hearts as we read on through Second Samuel, how David himself, who was at such a height, could sin so devastatingly. But unlike David, Jesus’s obedience to the father is perfect. It qualifies him as the blameless sacrifice to conquer sin and death once and for all.

[00:26:21] Friends, I hope that as we read through the passage of Second Samuel seven and we see a picture of God’s king installed in his capital, that we should see past David and see Jesus because in those cruel nouns which pinned him to the cross and the shameful mockery of those that scoffed around him, Jesus became lowly for our sake, paying the penalty of human sin, absorbing all the wrath of God as an atoning sacrifice once and for all so that the very people who were riled against him might receive forgiveness. That we, sinners, enemies of God could come to peace. We who belong to the forces of death and darkness

[00:27:09] could be taken out of that realm and transferred into a realm of life. So the climactic resolution of history was not to be undone by death. Jesus’s death could not hold Jesus down. And so in fulfillment of God’s word to David, he raises Jesus from the dead so that Jesus would rise up in glorious and glorious enthronement as alive and coming back to judge the living and the dead. And now as God’s people, we wait for his return in the fullness of time, hoping, waiting for that moment when Jesus comes back to put away with all that remains of death and darkness, the victory is won.

[00:28:03] We’re just in a time now where we wait. The penalty of sin is gone. We live in its presence. We live in a broken world, but we’ve won the victory. This should give us hope for anyone sitting here today who feels lost or down down trodden, because we know there’s a limit. There’s a limit on pain and suffering. There’s a limit on wickedness that, yes, we’ve received partial fulfillment of Jesus in his coming, and we see how amazing it is that he came to die on a cross.

[00:28:36] And we look forward to the fullness of time coming in which Jesus does away with death for good, and we’re raised to be like him. A house for God’s people. So the eternal throne of Jesus has significant implications for all humanity. For Christians, it fills us with hope, pointing us towards the end of the age where the entire people of God will call out in joyous praise that everything that has breath praise the Lord. That’s not just a song, by the way, that’s from Psalm 150. The eternal throne of Jesus should give us encouragement to trust in his word, to trust in him through the hard times.

[00:29:25] That once again, we will. That through death, we will be we will join him in the resurrection. Read about that in first Thessalonians. And indeed, the fulfillment of God’s promise to David in the person of Jesus and seeing that unfold throughout history in his coming and death should encourage us to look forward and know that his word can be trusted as we eagerly await and even greater fulfillment in God’s promises at the coming of the age. And under that rule and reign of God’s King, the people will experience peace in abundance.

[00:30:02] Let me remind you of this picture in in Second Samuel, chapter seven, verses 10 and 11. And I will provide a place for my people, Israel, and will plant them so that they can have a home of their own and no longer be disturbed. Wicked people will not oppress them anymore, as they did at the beginning and have done ever since the time I appointed leaders over my people Israel. I will also give you rest from all your enemies. The church today, we look we look forward to a far ground fulfillment in which God’s people are planted at home,

[00:30:42] no longer burdened or weary, but under the protective shade of God and his anointed king at rest. But for those outside of Christ’s protective shade, the promise of his eternal throne should put everyone on notice. Jesus’s victory over sin and death was achieved in his death and resurrection. But in his return, all will be judged. God’s word tells us this in Second Timothy, chapter four. The message of Second Samuel proclaims an everlasting throne. It is a call to respond to give your loyalty to Jesus as the king, trusting him for the salvation of your sins,

[00:31:22] to snatch you from the clutches of sin and death, to move you from the realm of death and darkness into the realm of life. It promises God’s word tells us that anyone who calls in the name of the Lord will be saved. And as one last reflection, I think it’s really important that we see in the opening verses of this chapter that David’s story also shows us we need to worship God on his terms, not ours and his terms of this receive my son. No doubt, the house that David wanted to build for God would have been a brilliant house.

[00:32:04] But it was on David’s terms, not God’s terms. And because of this, David’s thinking was far too small. Instead, God had a far greater plan in mind. And similarly, as Christians, we need to we need to be on God’s terms now, not our own. And God has clearly set these out on in his word. Centrally important is this question. How do we respond to his son, Jesus? The time of fulfillment has arrived and the kingdom of God is close at hand. Repent and believe in the gospel.

[00:32:40] This was Jesus own words in Mark, chapter one. And we know that he who has the son has life and he who does not have the son does not have life. Friends, I want to encourage you to. Clearly look at yourself today and question, am I living in a way that is, am I worshiping God on his terms? Have I accepted the son Jesus? Am I waiting? Am I ready? Am I hoping for his coming to rule as the eternal king on the throne forever?

[00:33:20] For some of us, the message might need to be in our darkest moment, as we feel pain and suffering, as we experience the effects of death and darkness in this world, that God has ultimately won the victory and that we only need to persevere and look forward with an eternal hope that one day we will live forever in his peace. Friends, we’ll leave it at that. I’m going to pray and then the musicians are going to come and sing. Let’s can let’s keep in mind the eternal throne of Jesus. As we go forward today, let me pray. Dear Heavenly Father, your word cuts to the heart.

[00:34:10] It challenges who we are as people and calls us to respond. There’s no way we can sit on the fence. Lord, your word tells us that your son Jesus won an eternal victory on the cross. Would we be willing to respond to give our loyalty to Jesus and Lord, would you do a work in each of us, changing us, transforming us out of that realm of darkness as you make us more and more like your son Jesus and display more and more his qualities of patience, peace, virtue, love. And God, would you liberate us from the effects of death and darkness in our lives today? Would you give peace to those who are suffering due to sickness or estrangement? And Lord, ultimately, we look forward to the day when you come, when you return and you instill forever your throne here on earth. Amen.

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