God's Promise to David

God's Promise to David 2 Samuel 7 Last week we looked at how David, now King of all Israel, took the ark of the Covenant which contained the Ten Commandments written on stone, and which was recognised as being the throne of God, up to Jerusalem, his new capital City. And we saw the problems that arose as a result of his failure at that point to seek God's will, and to follow God's instructions for transporting the ark. Well in today's reading we find that time has moved on with verse 1 telling us that he "was settled into his palace and the Lord had given him rest from all his enemies around him, ..." Now we know, in fact, that this peace with those nations surrounding Israel was something that didn't become the case until many years into David's reign and so it seems that chapter 7 of 2 Samuel is perhaps a little out of sequence with some of the verses that follow since we find from them that the wars between Israel and those nations were still continuing. Our chapter does however flow on from those that have gone before telling us, as it does, about David's further plans for the ark now that it had safely been brought into Jerusalem. And in fact it's actually a very significant chapter, one that's widely recognised as being the most important passage of all those in the books of Samuel, and one of the key passages in the whole of the Old Testament. And that's because it reveals for the first time Gods will for the two institutions that were to be so vital in both the secular and spiritual lives of the people of Israel for the next several centuries after David, right up to the start of the New Testament. Those two institutions being the temple in Jerusalem, and the Davidic monarchy. We begin then, as we've said, with David once more having plans for the ark. And this time he was careful to seek God's permission before taking things further, so that he approached Nathan the prophet and was told by him: "Whatever you have in mind, go ahead and do it, for the Lord is with you." The problem for David was that here he was living comfortably in his palace and yet the ark of God, where the Lord was believed to reside, still remained in a tent. And this just didn't seem right to him ... he wanted to build a permanent house for God too. And Nathan said that as far as he was concerned that was fine. However, on that same night, God spoke to Nathan saying in effect: "thank you but no thank you". Yes a house was going to be built for him, but not by David. Which is surely a reminder that sometimes in our Christian walk an idea that we have might be a perfectly good idea, and one that appears to so clearly fit in with what we feel are God's plans for us, and yet the Lord says: "no, that's not what I have planned for you". Even though when we ask others whose opinions we trust, they agree with us and they encourage us to proceed, our circumstances prevent us or we become convinced that after all it isn't right, that now isn't the time, and perhaps it never will be. This was certainly the case for David as the Lord spoke to him through Nathan. But notice that there was no anger, no condemnation of David, from God, no words of rebuke for his wrong thinking. Because his motives were good. However God was reminding him again that he is Sovereign, that he is the one with the plans, the one who's in control. The fact was that if the Lord had wanted a house to be built for him to live in then he could have asked for it at any time, but he'd other plans and for now, it seems, it was still important that He should be seen to be moving along with the Israelites wherever they went. Of course he would still have been doing so, whether or not a permanent temple had been built, but the Lord knew his people, knew that they needed this obvious reminder of his presence. Just as, in the future, he would allow them to build him a great temple in Jerusalem because he saw that they would need that as well. But, then again, such a Temple when it finally was built wasn't to be the last word regarding God being amongst his people, as we're reminded when Jesus was speaking to the Samaritan woman by the well in John chapter 4. She began to make excuses for herself and her fellow Samaritans saying that whilst they'd a place to worship God the Jews poured scorn on them, maintaining that Jerusalem was the only place that he could be worshipped properly. But Jesus' response was that the actual place for worship wasn't important, rather what was important was that God should be worshipped in the right way. And indeed the time was coming, he told her, when the Father would be worshipped in the right way ... that is in spirit and in truth. You see, God and his plans for his people are far more important than any place of worship. And God did have great plans for David. He'd already done great things with him, taking him from the pasture and from following the flock to be ruler over his people Israel, and he'd even greater things in store for him yet. And although David had expressed his wish to build a house for God, the Lord explained through Nathan that He in fact was to establish a house for David. Not a permanent house for him to live in securely, but a dynasty, the House of David. So that not only was David to be blessed by God but his son and his successors for generations to come were also to be blessed. In this way God would make David's name great, verse 9: "like the names of the greatest men of the earth". Reminding David that it's God who's the ultimate giver and that we are but the unworthy recipients. And then the Lord went on to give David some details about his son's reign, how he, the Lord, would establish his Kingdom, and how that son would be the one to fulfil David's desire to build a house for the Lord's name, saying: "And I will establish the throne of his kingdom for ever". "I will be his father, and he will be my son." Saul had been a king who reigned and yet whose throne wasn't secured, whose house wasn't built. But this wouldn't be the case for David, whose offspring would reign. What's more when Saul sinned then God rejected him whereas, when David's son did wrong, God said: "I will punish him with the rod of men, with floggings inflicted by men. But my love will never be taken away from him." The Lord, then, gave David the assurance of his continued blessing upon his son, blessings that weren't to be dependent upon his continual obedience. A clear demonstration of God's relationship of grace with the ones who he has specially chosen. However God's favour wasn't to be shown to David and his line alone because in verse 10 of our passage we read: "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. This then was a corporate blessing, a blessing for the whole of God's people which God was promising David. A blessing that widens even further in its scope as he tells him in verse 16: "You will always have descendants, and I will make your Kingdom last for ever." In other words God was now going beyond David's successor, beyond even his natural descendants who would sit on his throne, because of course we now know that David's earthly line was to end when Jerusalem fell to the Babylonians in 586. No the Lord was pointing forwards to the prophet Isaiah's words in Isaiah chapter 9 verses 6-7 where we read: "For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. And then: "He will reign on David's throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever." In other words the Lord here was revealing to David his plans not only for him and for Israel but for the whole of the world, underlining at the same time the importance of David in those plans. And it is interesting to see how David heard Nathan out as he spoke to him. Having been told that his dreams of building a temple for God had been dashed, he might well have refused to listen to any more and gone away in a huff, as we can so easily do when we've been severely disappointed. Remember how David himself, after Uzzah was killed, angrily chose to leave the ark sitting rather than to carry on taking it up to Jerusalem. But now things were different. Obviously he'd matured in the meantime and so he was able to receive all that the Lord wanted him to know instead of perhaps missing out on his blessings, as we sometimes might. David heard God and he reacted in the right way, in the way that the one who'd been especially chosen by God should have reacted. He went into the tent that had been constructed to house the ark, into God's presence and there he sat before Him and prayed to him. And as we read his prayer, in verses 18 to 29, we get the impression of the feelings of great awe and deep humility that must have come upon David as he listened to Nathan and then as he considered all that he'd said. Any thought of regret that his plan to build God's house had been rejected completely disappeared as he became still before God and acknowledged: "Who am I, O Sovereign Lord, and what is my family, that you have brought me this far?" David was fully aware of the immensity of God's grace and of the huge gulf that existed between Him and the one whom he'd chosen to bless, and he just couldn't square this with all that he'd been told. You can imagine David sitting bemused shaking his head, aghast, only able to wonder, as we read in verse 19: "Is this your usual way of dealing with man, O Sovereign Lord?" After all, he reasoned, "You know your servant", you know the sort of person that I am, you know my weaknesses, the many times I've failed you... And then David saw why, why the Lord was treating him this way, it is (verse 21): "for the sake of your word and according to your will, (that) you have done this great thing and made it known to your servant." In other words David saw that God acted as he did not because of David but because of God, because of His promises to Abraham and his descendants, because of His great plan, that would become reality in God's time. He realised that he and his family, and the whole nation of Israel were simply those who'd been chosen by God to be used by Him to bring about His will. And so David praised the Lord: "How great you are, O Sovereign Lord!" he declared, "There is no one like you, and there is no God but you, as we have heard with our own ears. And who is like your people Israel ... You have established your people Israel as your very own for ever, and you, O Lord, have become their God." But now it seems the whole tone of David's prayer changed. Because instead of acknowledging God's promises and praising him for them he began, it appears, to almost doubt the Lord's words saying to him, verse 25: "And now, Lord God, Keep forever the promise you have made concerning your servant and his house. Do as you promised, so that your name will be great forever, Then men will say, 'The Lord Almighty is God over Israel'" Until we realise that this was far from being the case. Rather, as he considered the wonder of all that God had done and was to do, so David realised that His blessings are conditional upon the willing response of those who would receive his gracious gifts. In effect he was saying "I believe what you have told me you will do, I believe you will bring it to pass, so Lord let it be done as you have said so that your Holy name might be glorified as it ought to be. Lord I want to see that, and I want to be part of that" In 2 Samuel Chapter 23, verse 5, as he looks back on his life, David refers to these words of God that the prophet Nathan delivered to him saying, "Is not my house right with God? Has he not made with me an everlasting covenant, arranged and secured in every part?" A reminder that the truth is that we, when we know the Lord, are also heirs to God's covenant with David. Just as we are to all the covenants that God made with his people, each of which pointed to the coming Messiah, who we now call our Lord Jesus Christ. And now, because of him, and not because of anything we are or that we can do, we have with him an everlasting covenant arranged and secured in every part. With the result that we can be secure in our faith certain that, as Paul tells the Roman Church, absolutely nothing "will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord." What's more, as we look at our lives and consider all that God has done with and for us in the time that has passed we can also be certain that his plans haven't yet finished. Indeed it might well be the case, for each one of us, that the Lord has even greater things for us in the future than we've yet known; things that we can't even begin to imagine. So then let us, in response, be a people who worship God with awe, experiencing a sense of wonder as we realise how unworthy we are of his grace shown towards us. But then let's not assume anything either, but rather let's put all that we feel to be his will to the test of his Word, prepared to abandon all those visions that we're not meant to fulfil. Ready to live in obedience to our Lord Jesus Christ as, along with David, and with all humility, we continue to say and mean those words that he has taught us, "thy Kingdom come, thy will be done Lord, on earth as it is in heaven".