"A Covenant House" 2 Samuel 7:12-17

Introduction:

A good summary of the Book of Judges can be found in Judges 21:25 -“In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.”

Eventually the people wanted a King to rule over them. Saul was anointed by the prophet Samuel to be Israel’s first King at the Lord’s instruction.

Saul was a tremendous disappointment because he embodied the self -centered pride of the people.

So the Lord rejected Saul and appointed a young man from the household of Jesse to be King. God described him to be a man after His own heart.

David was just a boy when he was anointed King of Israel to take the place of Saul.

David even as a boy had his bright spots. Remember when he took down Goliath with a stone and a sling and he became a hero in Israel. He was one who conquered in the name of the Lord and gave Israel relief from all her enemies on every side.

But David had his dark spots too. Remember his affair with Bathsheba and they conceived a child together and David then had Uriah murdered in battle. And the prophet Nathan confronted David and there was rebellion in his household and all kinds of dysfunction due to David’s sin.

The affects of David’s sin bled over into the Kingdom and there was rebellion not only in his home but in the Kingdom as well.

Eventually God restored the Kingdom to David and David desired to build a Temple in Israel for the Ark of the Covenant to be placed in. In other words, David wanted to build a Temple for God to dwell in.

And the Lord approved of David’s desire and the Lord said that He would give His people rest from their enemies. And that the Lord will be the one who would build a house for David.

It appears that Israel will finally have their rest in the Lord because of all that the Lord promises to do for David. Look at verses 12-13 at the promises of God associated with the reign of David.

I. The Reign (12-13).

These verses are repetitive in using God’s covenant language of His initiating work of grace to bring all of the promises to pass.

Obviously it wont be David that will bring about the fulfillment of this covenant. He will lie down with his fathers. In other words David will be dead when all these promises come to pass.

That is the problem with human Messiahs, they are fallen and they make mistakes and then they die and are unable to live in the fulfillment of promises that are eternal without God’s intervention.

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.

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).

Notice all the references to the “I will” of Yahweh when it comes to the fulfillment of the promises of the reign of David’s “offspring.” And yes it is singular in number, not plural. So we have a reference to the singular “offspring of David. Where have we seen the “I will” of the Lord in connection to the singular offspring being expressed in covenant language before?

Oh yes that is right we saw it back in the Book of Genesis in the expressed promises made by the Lord in the Abrahamic covenant. So the basic language is the same in both the Abrahamic covenant and the Davidic covenant.

Now if you know your Old Testament you may be thinking that this would all be fulfilled by David’s son, Solomon.

Solomon was a wise King but he still had many flaws. He built a grand Temple for the Lord but he had a serious problem with accumulating many wives and concubines. Many of the wives were pagan women and with them came their false gods.

False religion made a comeback in Israel because of Solomon and his firm rule fostered resentment in the Land.

And you know what happened to Solomon at the end? He died, and after his death the Kingdom split into North and South. And eventually both Kingdoms were overthrown as God once again judged Israel for their disobedience.

But the promise is not just about the the Lord sustaining the reign of David’s offspring but there were relational implications as well. Look back to your text to verses 14-15.

II. The Relationship (14-15).

The Lord declares regarding the offspring of David that, “I will be to Him a father” and “I will discipline Him with the rod of men, with the stripes of the sons of men” in verse 14. It would appear at first glance that the Lord anticipates needing to punish the offspring of David for his sin.

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. And he built the Temple for the Lord. There were some bright spots in the life of Solomon.

But there were some dark spots too. If you know your O.T. history you know 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. And 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 a desire for more sensual pleasure and material wealth. Very similar to our current day in America.

But when it comes to the implications of Solomon’s Kingdom there is nothing but moral bankruptcy and no eternal contribution to be made. But yet the Lord still promises covenant results. Look at verses 16-17 of II Samuel 7:

II. The Results (16-17).

First we see that the Kingdom will be “made sure” and his throne will be “established” firm for eternity. The two words “made sure” in verse 16 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 those who came before them in the covenant line.

How can eternal promises that are dependent on obedience have eternal implications if all we see is disobedience and failure on the part of the covenant people of God?

Christian, the only way the Kingdom of God can be “made sure” is if the devastating affects of sin are dealt with once and for all time by God. And they must be dealt with in such a way as to satisfy the righteous demands of God in keeping with His covenant.

You see it would not be Solomon that would be beaten and receive stripes as mentioned in verse 14. What God is saying in this text is pointing to one greater than Solomon who would disciplined on our behalf as to fulfill the covenant for us as the people of God.

David may have thought of Solomon in the immediate sense but the Lord was speaking of one to come in the extended future of David’s line. Like David, Solomon was a type of the true Messiah to come.

Conclusion:

The true Messiah had to be truly human as to identify with us in the frailty of our humanity and truly God as to fulfill all the demands of the righteous requirement in obedience to the law. That is the only way the Kingdom could be eternally established and be inclusive of sinners like us.

When we look at David in his battle with Goliath, this is not primarily a story that applies to us as to inform us to go out and conquer the giants of our life. It is primarily how the actions of David are illustrative of what Messiah will do in conquering our enemies on our behalf.

We could never do it. It had to be God through Jesus Christ and death on a cross in the place of sinners. He delivered us and took on the Goliath of sin as the greatest enemy that the people of God have ever had.

Unbeliever the gift is set before you again today. You are commanded by God to be obedient to believe the gospel of Jesus Christ for your salvation.

Christian, God put His own Son on the original Christmas tree with the glory of heaven as an expression of divine love, mercy and sovereign grace. And this table today points us back to what Christmas is all about.

The Lord holds out to us the means of His grace to us as an expression of His covenant faithfulness to us. This is why we are to examine ourselves

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

In preparation of this table let us examine our hearts before the Lord in humble reliance on His provision. For in Christ we are in the Covenant House of our heavenly Father. Let’s pray!