Sermon Tone Analysis

This is the third week we’ve been looking at Scriptures we don’t normally read at Christmas, and some would add, but probably should.

Today, we’re going to be looking at a passage that goes way back to the inception of the Davidic covenant, that is, The covenant that God made with David and his house that extended and was not fulfilled even as Jesus was triumphantly entering Jerusalem in that grand scene where he enters riding on a on a donkey and the crowds are shouting, “Hosanna to the Son of David!”

So let’s back up to the covenant and then we’ll look at what it meant to those people, and what it means to us.

Where does God dwell?

This passage is a great insight into David’s heart.

He recognized that he was living in a great residence, that didn’t compare to the one that had been there for the Lord.

It didn’t sit right for him.

There is something to be said about the difference of attitude we might have between our personal homes and our house of worship.

David recognizes that he has built up his personal house and neglected the house of the Lord.

But God does not want David to build him a house, no that will be saved for one of his descendants.

According to 1 Kings 5:3, Solomon said David was not able to build the temple (the house of the Lord), “because of the warfare with which his enemies surrounded him, and in 1 Chronicles 22:8, we read that David said the Lord had told him he couldn’t build it because of the blood he had shed and the wars he had waged, “you shall not build a house to my name, because you have shed so much blood before me on the earth.”

In vs. 12 the Lord promises to establish the kingdom through David’s offspring.

In fact, it will be David’s son Solomon who is commanded to build the “Lord’s House” for God.

But until then, he will abide in tents until then.

The promise of a Messiah

If we’re not paying attention we do miss the statement that this is pointing to Jesus, the Christ.

Yet the scriptures make it clear.

We read in Hebrews:

Looking specifically at vs. 14 of our passage for today:

The phrase “I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son applies to Christ because as Messiah, Jesus inherits Davids role as representative of God’s People.

Then we get to the moving prayer at the end of Chapter 7 in vs. 18-29.

Intimacy with God

8 times David uses the phrase, “O Lord God,” expressing intimacy with God.

Psychologists tell us the most beautiful sound to a person is their name.

David was known as a man after God’s own heart - he offers up his praise and affirmations readily to God.

It’s not a Christmas wish list for himself, but it is focused around God Himself.

Why read this at Christmas?

There is a strong lesson here.

Remember that God has made covenants in the past with Adam, with Noah, with Abraham, and now with David.

What’s interesting to note in terms of a covenant, we tend to think of it as a promise or a contract, but scripture uses it as something much stronger.

If you look at the covenants of Scripture and indeed by definition it is a promise but with an extreme commitment on the part of usually one party.

In Scripture covenant is a very weighty commitment, it simply says, “I promise…” and is totally independent of whatever actions the other party might take.

This is important when we look at the Bible.

We see in our own promises that we break them.

Often we think of them as contracts, if one party breaks the agreement then the other party is released of their commitment.

This is not true in a covenant.

If I make a covenant with you, despite whatever you do I remain bound.

This is demonstrated throughout Scripture we see God promise Israel and Israel rebel.

When Jesus comes riding in on the donkey in Jerusalem some 400 years later, since the time of the covenant the nation of Israel has divided and fallen, there have been two exiles, and the throne is still not established.

Yet the people despite their rebellion held on to the covenant and hoped for hope that God would not fail to live up to his promise.

Their hope was fulfilled in the entering of the Messiah, but it wasn’t the Messiah they were expecting.

They expected him to overthrow the government and make everything good for them, instead he went to the cross 5 days later.

And rose on the third day.

Past —> Present —> Future

The promise was made for a Messiah back in David’s time, and it was fulfilled in Jesus Christ.

He came, he died for our sins, and he rose again.

Despite all the hard things that had happened God still fulfills the promises made, despite our rebellion, whether hidden or overt, God overcomes it.

Where have you been doubting God’s promises?

Remember God is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow!

Trust in God’s promise.

He’s not going to let us down.

Let’s wait expectantly.