MORE THAN A SAVIOR

Several weeks ago, I said that the book of Ruth was the hinge on which the Christmas story swings. If Ruth is the hinge, then today’s text is the door that opens us to the Christmas story. There is no other Old Testament name attached to Jesus more, especially at Christmas, than David.

Matthew 1:1 ESV

The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.

Luke 2:11 ESV

For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.

The gospel writers are telling us that unless you understand David, you won’t understand Jesus. Unless you know the story of David, you won’t understand the meaning of the birth of Jesus. Today’s text and our comprehension of it is crucial to us seeing Christ in His fullness.

2 Samuel 7:1–3 ESV

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 a 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.”

What’s going on here? David is finally experiencing rest from his surrounding enemies. Israel had been in bondage or oppressed by the surrounding nations for years. David’s military success had brought brought stability to the political, economic, civil environment.

His success was reflected in his home. It was beautiful, fragrant, and incredibly expensive. His cedar home was his sanctuary.

David knew that his success was not of his own making. His sanctuary reminded him of God’s grace towards him. This constant realization inspired David to honor God by building Him a house. David summoned Nathan the prophet and says to him,

2 Samuel 7:2 ESV

the king said to Nathan the prophet, “See now, I dwell in a house of cedar, but the ark of God dwells in a tent.”

What does Nathan do? Nathan is like a lot of ministers. If some wealthy person comes and says to the minister, “I want to make a huge donation to the ministry,” what does the minister say? “Go, do all that is in your heart, for the LORD is with you.”

Nathan told David to go yet God spoke to Nathan afterwards and said . . .

2 Samuel 7:4–5 ESV

But that same night the word of the Lord came to Nathan, “Go and tell my servant David, ‘Thus says the Lord: Would you build me a house to dwell in?

Why will the Lord not allow David to build him a house? There are two reasons given in the text.

The first reason is incarnational .

2 Samuel 7:6–7 ESV

I have not lived in a house since the day I brought up the people of Israel from Egypt to this day, but I have been moving about in a tent for my dwelling. In all places where I have moved with all 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?” ’

David had begun to establish peace, prosperity, and national security, but it still wasn’t there for most of the people, and what God is saying is, “I do not want to live like a king when my people still have needs. I’m going to live with my people. I will experience what my people experience. If my people are poor, I am poor. If my people suffer, I suffer.” It’s amazing that a God would say something like this.

The second reason is grace. In verse 8, God says to David

2 Samuel 7:8 ESV

Now, therefore, thus you shall say to my servant David, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep, that you should be prince over my people Israel.

This is a vivid picture of grace. “You were a sheep follower until I got hold of you. You followed sheep, but now you lead men and women. Why? It’s all because of me. David, you’re not doing anything for me. You only do things through me. It’s by my sheer grace you have power. It’s by my sheer grace you have success. You will not build me a house. I will build you a house.”

As Westerens we don’t see how extremely significance of this moment. History tells us that it was typical for a king who had military success to build a temple to the god to whom he attributed his success.. When the temple was complete, the priests of that god would come with an Oracle saying, “Oh, the god says …”

So for example, Thutmose, pharaoh of Egypt, built a temple for the god Amun-Ra. Then the priests of the god Amun-Ra came and said, “Thutmose III, since you have built my dwelling place and you have outstripped all other kings in building my monuments, now I will establish your throne unto distant days.” Sound familiar?

David is about to do the same thing, and what does God say? It’s radical. God is saying what the average person in America thinks is wrong. All religions are not alike. All religions are not just different ways to worship the same god.

God says, “Every other religion works on the principle, ‘You build god a house, then god will bless you. You do something for god, then god will bless you. However, the God of Scripture is saying something different. He is not saying build me a house but I will build you a house because I am unlike every other god, I am a God of grace. I am utterly different. In every other religion, a divine blessing is achieved conditionally, but with the God of the Bible, a divine blessing is received unconditionally.

God is saying, “I’m utterly unlike every other one of the so-called gods, and my religion is not just a little different, but it’s utterly opposed to what every other religion tells you about how you approach god.”

He’s saying, “If I let you, after all your military victories, build me a house, not only will all the people, but you, will slip into the belief that I am like all the other gods, that our religion is like all other religions, and all religions are not alike.”

Eugene Peterson puts it beautifully in a comment on this text. He says,

“Do you know what I think? I think David was just about to cross over a line from being full of God to being full of himself. David, riding the crest of great acclaim, having decisively defeated the opposition, united God’s people and captured the allegiance of all Israel, he was heavy with success, and he’d begun to think he could do God a favor. But if David continues to develop along these lines, he will be ruined as a representative of God’s kingdom. If any of us develops an identity in which God and God’s grace is less important to who we are than our own action and performance, our ability to represent God’s kingdom is utterly ruined.”

God says, “I’m different than all the other gods. The way you approach me is completely different than the way every other religion tells you to approach god. You follow them, and you’ll never find me.” So how could God be a God of grace? How could any god just lavish grace on people? “Don’t build me a house. Don’t do anything for me. I will build you a house.” How can God do that for people, regardless of their sin? The answer is in God’s covenant.

Sidebar – God shuts doors on plans that appear to godly and he doesn’t provide a Nathan to explain why. When he shuts doors we must trust. He has reasons, great reasons.

When David talks to God about a house he’s talking about a real building. When God talks to David about building him a house, he’s not talking about a building. He’s talking about a dynasty. He says, “I promise to make your descendants a dynastic kingship, and I will so graciously and unconditionally commit myself to them, regardless of their merit, regardless of their pedigree. I will so graciously and unconditionally commit myself to them that neither death, sin, nor time will break my commitment.”

Death can’t break the covenant.

2 Samuel 7:12–13 ESV

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. He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.

Sin can’t break the covenant.

2 Samuel 7:14–15 ESV

I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son. When he commits iniquity, 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, whom I put away from before you.

Some of David’s descendants were incredibly wicked. He says, “In spite of all that, that won’t stop my commitment. I will continue to be utterly committed to you.” So death won’t stop it, and sin won’t stop it, but most amazingly of all, even time cannot break the covenant. Look at verse 16 which is the key verse in this entire chapter

2 Samuel 7:16 ESV

And your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me. Your throne shall be established forever.’ ”

Is that just hyperbole? No. How can it be? There has never been a forever throne. All thrones have risen and then fallen. How can this promise be true? God is establishing through David’s line an eternal kingdom. David’s line will produce a king who will not establish a kingdom but the kingdom.,

The Bible says God began the world in paradise. He created the world to be a paradise, but when we turned from him, everything in the world fell apart. Our sin is the reason why we have war, disease, death, sickness, racism, conflict, and natural disasters. It’s why we have unhappiness in our hearts.

What will heal it? Listen to the

Psalm 96:10–13 ESV

Say among the nations, “The Lord reigns! Yes, the world is established; it shall never be moved; he will judge the peoples with equity.” Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice; let the sea roar, and all that fills it; let the field exult, and everything in it! Then shall all the trees of the forest sing for joy before the Lord, for he comes, for he comes to judge the earth. He will judge the world in righteousness, and the peoples in his faithfulness.

Have you ever thought of the implication of it? When the Lord rules, when the true King comes back, the trees will sing and dance.

You say, “Well, trees can’t sing and dance that’s because they’re just shadows of what they were created to be. They’re only shadows of what they can be. They’re only shadows of what they will be, because the returen of the real King makes everything more than a paradise.

When the king return He will make you everything you were meant to be. If under the eternal king, trees sing and dance, what will you and I be able to do? I mean, if the trees can sing and dance, and they’re just shadows of what they’re going to be, so are you; so am I.

God is telling David (“One of your descendants will not just be a king, but the King, will not just have a kingdom, but the eternal kingdom that will heal everything.”) is the answer to all the riddles. The baby born in the manger was not just a Savior, but the Davidic King. He was a Davidic child, and he overcame death when he rose triumphant over the grave. He overcame sin when he died on the cross and paid the debt the human race owed to justice. He triumphs over time because the baby born in the manger is not just the son of David; he’s the Son of God. Jesus incarnates himself

A god who talks like this, a god who makes promises like this has to eventually become the one who literally was poor, the one who literally suffered, the one who literally was killed, the one who literally wandered, who said, “Foxes have holes, birds have nests, and the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.”

John 1:14 ESV

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

Jesus incarnates to establish His kingdom of grace. How can God just lavish grace on people? Every other religion says, “I build you a house, then god blesses,” but Christianity is God builds you a house, and then he blesses you on top of it.

Every other religion says give god a good record, then god owes you a blessing, but Christianity says God gives you a perfect record through Jesus Christ, and then, you live for him.

The baby born in the manger means, a Davidic king, triumphant over death, sin, time itself, fulfilling the covenant.

What does it mean practically to you and me? Jesus is more than just a Savior. He is the Son of David which means he is the eternal king. So what does that mean

First of all, the kingship of Jesus means hope for the world. If Jesus were merely a Savior, then Christianity would just be an individual thing. Since Jesus is both Savior and King then we are saved into a kingdom.

The ultimate future is the eternal heavenly kingdom coming down into the material world to transform it and renew it, which means Christian salvation is not just an individual thing. It’s not just, “I’m a sinner, and I received Christ. He forgives me, and then, I go to heaven.” It’s also a corporate thing. Christian salvation is Christ fulling redeeming and restoring the fallen and broken world.

We get converted our identities are transformed, and we begin to do corporate renewal, community renewal. We rehab houses, we care for the poor, and we mend bodies because Jesus is not just a Savior; he’s the King.

What do kings do? They get rest for their people. They bring justice. They bring peace. They bring prosperity. A king comes back and makes his place a better place to live. Jesus is a King. So our salvation is not just individualistic. It also has a corporate side. It’s not just individual conversion, but it’s also renewing the world. It’s also working for justice because there’s hope now for the world.

Secondly, Jesus Christ being the King means service. The incarnation means the rich One became poor, the One who didn’t just live in a house but lived in heaven came down amongst his people. J.I. Packer has a hard-hitting quote about what the meaning of Christmas is in his famous old book Knowing God.

“We talk glibly of the ‘Christmas spirit,’ rarely meaning more by this than sentimental feeling, especially for family at holidays, but the Christmas spirit is not the spirit of Christians, alas they are many, whose ambition in life seems limited to building up nice middle-class homes, making nice middle-class friends, bringing up their children in nice middle-class ways, and who leave the submiddle-class parts of their community and world to get on by themselves.

The Christmas spirit, rather, is the spirit of those who, like their Master, live their whole lives on the principle of the One who became poor that others might become rich. They spend and they’re spent, giving time, trouble, money, care, and concern to others, and not just the people like them, in whatever way there seems to be need.”

Thirdly, the kingdom of God means obedience. If Jesus is the King, it means you have to do what he says unconditionally, or you’re not obeying. I’ve often heard people say, “I tried Christianity, and it didn’t work.” Well, whatever they did, there was no obedience in there. Here’s why.

When you say, “I tried Christianity. It didn’t work,” almost always that means, “There were some non-negotiable things I want in my life. I want happiness. I want health. I want to be married. I want to be this. I want to be that. Christianity didn’t give it to me.” What that means is, “I obey God if … I obey God conditionally,” which is not obedience at all. That’s not obeying God. That’s using God.

You’re serving something. Everybody serves something. Everybody has a non-negotiable, but when you say, “I tried Christianity; it didn’t work for me. I’ll serve if … I’ll obey if …” Unless you drop the if‘s, you’re not obeying at all. You’re still on the throne of your life. You’re still holding on. You see, either you’re on the throne of your life or something else, more likely, is on the throne of your life and not him.

He did the impossible for you. He marched right into hell. All he’s asking you to do is to do some difficult things. If he’s the King, that means you serve him even if it’s not working for you. You serve him even if things don’t seem to be paying off. You must obey him unconditionally.

Fourthly, the kingdom of Jesus means trust. What do we mean by trust? Martin Luther understood worry was a form of ruling the world instead of letting God do it. In other words, when you’re just anxious, do you know what that means? You know exactly how the world needs to go, you know exactly how history has to go, and you’re sure God isn’t going to get it right.

The only way you could be frozen with anxiety and worry is because if you’re ruling the world, which you happen not to be, but you know exactly how everything has to go. How do you know? See, Martin Luther had a friend named Philipp Melanchthon, and Philipp was a terrible worrier.

Martin Luther used to come up to him and put his hands on Philipp’s shoulder and not say, “Philipp, stop worrying.” He had a little better, more theological, way to put it. He said something like, “Let Philipp cease to rule the world. Stop trying to rule the world, Philipp, and you’ll stop worrying. You can’t worry and let God be the King. They just don’t go together.”

Fifthly, if Jesus is the King, it means expectation David’s prayer is him simply saying, “Lord, I don’t think I can live without your help in awareness of all you have just promised. I’m afraid I can’t practice it. I’m afraid I can’t live consistently with it.”

He’s not asking for anything. He’s saying, “Let me live consistently with the incredible promises here.” If he’s the King, he’s going to do great things in your life. If he’s the King, he has promised to do great things in your life. John Newton has a great hymn.

Thou art coming to a King,

Large petitions with thee bring;

For His grace and power are such,

None can ever ask too much.

“Thou art coming to a King,” if you’re coming to a king, “Large petitions with thee bring.” So expect.

Lastly, if Jesus Christ is the King, it means joy. This last point can be fully understood in watching the last of the three The Lord of the Rings movies The Return of the King. Why did this movie win the Academy award for Best Picture? Why did it sell $1.12 billion in ticket sales? Why does it carry a 93% rating on Rotten Tomatoes? The most obvious answer is great writing and production. However, I believe there is something much deeper. It appeals to a desire within the human heart that our enemies be slayed and all that is wrong be set right.

People watch these types of movies in two ways with the first being the most common. Most will watch this movie for escapism. It will be an opportunity to escape a world that is broken and evil appears to triumph on every side. It will be an opportunity to dream of a better place and time. It will be an opportunity to sooth our deepest desires of a better world. It will provide joy until that moment we leave our seats and reenter our reality.

Most people are like the middle-age Christian mother of two teenagers who started an internet discussion called “Tolkien and Christianity.” She said, “Look. I’ve gotten to know you so well over the years, and I hope nobody is offended by this. I love you all, but I just want to know. Do you see the Christian stuff in Tolkien?”

Almost everybody said, “No. We’re not offended, but we really don’t see it. So how does Christianity relate to you as you read this?” Here’s what she wrote. It’s perfect. She says, “I think the reason I find this so fascinating is because of the deep-seated and frantic hunger I have inside that these stories be somehow true. It’s a yearning I suspect many of you share. It’s as though I’m watching the shadows sometimes move, playing their parts against the screen, thrilling me with the story, and yet hurting me so terribly because they’re just shadows but once I detected that there was a real person behind all the shadows, a character who is Frodo, Sam, and Aragorn distilled all into one, and as human and as intense and as romantic and as honorable as any, it eased a desperate sorrow that nothing else in the world can.”

What’s the desperate sorrow? That somehow what I’m watching on this screen is true. When she realized who Jesus was, the true King, instead experiencing a momentary joy she is infused with a permanent conquering joy because she is reassured that the shadows have substance. She realizes the King is Returning and He will rule and reign. Everything will be made right. Our deepest desires of should be will be fulfilled in ways that exceed any expectation that we have conjure in our imagination.

The King is coming. Act like it. Practice it. Be different because of it. Let us pray.