"A King Forever" 2 Samuel 7:12-16

Introduction:

We saw last Sunday that the divine right of God’s Messiah King was established all the way back in Genesis 49:10 to be in the line of Judah.

It is a challenge for us to think of Christmas as a celebration of Jesus as a glorious King coming into the world.

This is because we usually think of a baby being born in a stable and being laid in a manger.

But Christmas has the reality of covenant promises and decrees coming to bear on the events of the birth of Christ.

Our text this morning displays this very thing. A covenant promise being made to King David that connects us to that original decree spoken over Judah by his father, Jacob.

And this covenant promise is being given in such a way as to emphasize the work of God in bringing it to pass. Look back at your text at verses 12-15:

I. The Initiation of the Covenant (12-15).

These verses are repetitive in using God’s covenant language of His initiating work of grace.

Obviously it wont be David that will bring about the fulfillment of this covenant. The first line in verse 12 tells us what David will do. He will lie down with his fathers.

This is God’s way of saying that David you are going to die.

As great of a King that David was, David was unable to bring about the fulfillment of the Kingdom of God on earth.

As a matter of fact there is not a fallen human being who has ever lived capable of bringing the Kingdom of God to fulfillment on earth.

God makes it clear to David that this covenant fulfillment will not ultimately depend on what a mere human does.

The one behind the initiation of the covenant will be God alone. Notice the language of the text:

“I will raise up your offspring after you” (vs. 12).

“I will establish His Kingdom” (vs.12).

“I will establish the throne of His Kingdom forever” (vs.13).

“I will be to Him a father” (vs.14)

“I will discipline Him” (vs.14)

And if you know your O.T. history you know that David’s son Solomon ruled on David’s throne after his death.

Many of you are familiar with the glory of the Kingdom when Solomon ruled. And the wisdom of Solomon and exercised in his rule was second to none on earth.

Remember that Solomon had 700 wives and 300 concubines (I Kings 11:3).

And these wives led the heart of Solomon astray because he allowed them to build temples to their false gods in the land of Israel.

Israel began to practice religious pluralism under the reign of Solomon.

Solomon had a lot of money and a lot of wives and a lot of power and he still wanted more.

So in the end the Kingdom he rules over was pluralistic in religion and driven by material wealth.

Of course Solomon did get to build the temple for God. At the time is was one of the greatest structures in the world. Dignitaries would travel for miles around just to see it and marvel at the material wealth and wisdom of Solomon.

But the eternal nature of Solomon’s Kingdom is questionable when it comes to the fulfillment of this passage.

The Kingdom divided after Solomon died. And the materialism and religious pluralism caused great division and unrest among the people. And God ended up raising up other nations to over-throw Israel and Judah. Both thrones fell. and Judah’s line was no more on the throne of Israel.

Remember that Solomon was the 3rd King to rule over Israel.

The first King was Saul. He was from the tribe of Benjamin. And Saul was not from Judah’s line and therefore Saul’s line would be temporal over Israel. Saul was a man of the people and he was always more concerned with how he appeared before the people than how he ruled before the face of God.

Saul couldn’t fulfill the prophetic decree given to Judah even if he wanted to. He was from the tribe of Benjamin. No wonder God took it from him as it is referred to in verse 15.

David was of the line of Judah and was a man after God’s own heart. David and his line are an aspect of the progressive fulfillment of God’s Messianic decrees coming to pass.

And this Davidic covenant has a clear Messianic implication when it comes to covenant fulfillment. Look back at your text to verse 16:

II. The Implication of the Covenant (16).

The two words “made sure” are just one word in Hebrew. And the term denotes the idea of pillars undergirding and supporting something as being unmovable (BDB).

And we may ask the question why is the Kingdom made sure? Well it wasn’t going to be because of David and the stellar contributions of those born in sin into the line of David. The history of all of them displayed the reality of their human depravity just as much as our sin displays our own.

If that is all we have to hope in I wouldn’t want to go to the effort of putting up a single Christmas decoration.

There is no joy if we are locked away into the bondage of our human condition.

The best thing we could do is spike the punch and eat, drink for tomorrow we die.

In thousands of years of human governments, including our own, how often have we seen the nature of sin in the world corrupt man’s best attempts at ruling over themselves?

Christian our own government has been corrupted from the beginning and it is compounding to the point that unless something happens we are going to be given over to what looks to be global Marxism.

This is coming because the cultural idols of power, material wealth, and sexual indulgence are incapable and powerless against the evil one. Because they come from him.

Solomon proved it. No wonder the theme of Ecclesiastes is there is nothing new under the sun and all is vanity.

Christian don’t let a godless culture crash your Christmas.

Psalm 89 and Hebrews 1 is worth reading today for your Spiritual reflection today.

Get ready to celebrate because the true reality was spoken by our Lord many years ago in Luke 11:31 “The queen of the South will rise up at the judgment with the men of this generation and condemn them, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and behold, something greater than Solomon is here.”

The only way the Kingdom of God can be “made sure” is if the devastating affects of sin are dealt with by God.

Let me call your attention back to verses 14-15. When was Solomon done this way because of his sin?

He wasn’t but Christ was sent into the world by the Father to suffer His Father’s ,wrath for sin but it wasn’t His sin it was ours. Mine yours, David’s sin as well as Solomon’s sin.

Conclusion: That is the only way the Kingdom could be eternally established and be inclusive of sinners like us.

We could never do it. It had to be God through Jesus Christ and death on a cross in the place of sinners.

God put His Son on the original Christmas tree with the glory of heaven as an expression of divine love, mercy and sovereign grace.

Unbeliever the gift is set before you again today. Believe the gospel for salvation.

Christian we come to this table to remember and to examine our own hearts that we might cling to the reality of His grace to us.

We are in this Kingdom under the reign of our divine sovereign King Jesus and we come before Him in absolute certainty of His love, mercy and grace to us.

Confess your sin and know He is faithful. Let’s pray!