428: God's Promise to David | Dave Sloop

Introduction

Good morning, everyone. Good morning. Did you guys have fun watching KJ and Harrison light that candle of expectation? I sure did. We're excited for you guys, and that was really fun. Really fun to watch. We're gonna be looking at a fantastic passage this morning from the Old Testament, Second Samuel 7.

You know, it's always tempting to say things like this is probably the most important text in the Bible. And I'm not gonna say that, but it's up there. This is God's promise to David. It's known as the Davidic covenant. And if you know anything about redemptive history, what you would know is that God is always fulfilling his redemptive purposes through covenants that he makes with human partners.

There are five primary covenants beginning in the Old Testament. It starts with his covenant that he makes with Noah, then he makes a covenant with Abraham, then with Moses, and then with David. And finally, there's someone who will usher in a new and final covenant. Today, we're gonna look at that covenant that he makes with David in Second Samuel 7.

And here is why this is really important. It is important because it connects everything God has been doing. You know, in Genesis 3:15, he says, there's a seed of woman who will crush the serpent's head. In other words, I'm going to bring a redeemer. And if you don't know this, in Genesis 3, that's when the fall happens. And then immediately, he says, I'm going to bring a redeemer.

And the rest of the Old Testament is just this unfolding revelation of who that redeemer would be. He speaks to Abraham, and he says that your offspring will be a blessing to the nations. It's coming through you. And now he comes to David, and he's going to continue this covenantal promise.

And I've heard someone say this is a great definition for what a covenant is. It is a job description given to God by God, and it outlines how he will deal with his people and what he will do for his people. Almost always, these covenants are unconditional in the sense that God is going to accomplish his purposes whether you do your part of the covenant or not.

And I'll give you, as a spoiler, we never do. We always fail on our part of the covenant. Therefore, there are some expectations that God has, and blessings that human beings miss out on because of their failure to keep God's commands. But God says, even if you don't, even if you don't do the things that I'm requiring, I'm still going to accomplish my ultimate purpose of redemption.

We're gonna look at this promise to David, and it is the link between the old and the new. All of the messianic prophecies that are gonna come, they find their roots in this promise that God made to David. So we're gonna look at that. But before we do, let me say a prayer.

Father, we thank you for your word. We believe that this book that we hold in our hands, that it contains the words of life. These words are living. They have the power to change us. You did not leave us in this world to figure things out for ourselves. You spoke, and we can know you and interact with you as we open this book.

God, I pray that this morning, as we look at this promise you made to David, that we would be changed and transformed as we understand more about how you plan to deal with us and what you want to do for us. It's in Christ's name we pray. Amen.

The Context of the Passage

Okay. We're gonna look starting in verse 1 of chapter 7. And I would encourage you, if you have a Bible, you can grab one in the pew. You can look on your phone. Just follow along because there's so much in here. There's 17 verses. I'm gonna do my best to get through as many of them as we can. And just so you understand the context, David has just made it to the palace.

He has been newly anointed the king. And there's this strange season in David's life where he's entering into a season of rest. And he has not known rest since Samuel showed up at his father's doorstep and called him to be the future king. It's been a crazy, chaotic road for David.

But here is what it says, beginning in verse 1:

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. It says here that David lived in his house. That actual word is he sat in his house. When does a king sit? When his work is done. There were no more battles to fight. He was sitting down, almost like, what do I do with this? What do I do with this peace that I have?

It says that God had given him rest from his surrounding enemies. That word rest—the first time that shows up in the Old Testament—is Genesis 2:15, when it says, placed Adam in the garden. He rested him there. And it's the same idea here—that God had accomplished this rest, this peace for David, and he sits, and he looks out the window from his lush palace, and he sees God out there in a tent, the ark of God in the tabernacle. And he said, something is not right with this picture.

He calls over Nathan. This is the first time Nathan—Nathan is the prophet who is later going to confront David for his sin with Bathsheba. He's an important character in David's life, but he's a trusted adviser. He calls him over, and he says, I've gotta do something about this. I've gotta build God a house.

And Nathan says to David, do all that is in your heart. The Lord is with you. And, of course, Nathan would have said that because anybody paying attention would have said, yeah. The Lord is with David. I mean, this guy can't be stopped. Against all odds, he's sitting here in the palace. God is with David.

But the question that I want to ask us this morning is, what was in David's heart? See, Nathan said, go and do all that is in your heart, and I wonder what was in David's heart. What was driving this desire to build a house for God?

Most commentaries that I read and a lot of people that I listen to talk about this suggest that this was a very noble and honorable thing that David wanted to do for God. And I to be sure, that was part of his motive. Even in Solomon's prayer in Second Chronicles 6, he said, God, you are pleased that David wanted to build a house for you.

And if that is the case, then we should all take a page from David's playbook. We should look at where God has placed us and say, how can I increase God's glory with what he has given me? That is a good and honorable and noble thing to do.

But I want you to notice that in verse 4, the next words are this, that very night, God spoke to Nathan. God shuts David's plan down, and there's a sense of urgency to it. And you have to wonder why. What was it in God's in David's heart that maybe God could see that nobody else could see? Is it possible, if not probable, that David was in danger of misunderstanding some things about God and even about himself?

Listen to what he says in verse 4:

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?

I've 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 who commanded whom I commanded to shepherd my people Israel saying, you’ve not built me a house of cedar, or why have you not built me a house of cedar?

Do you hear what God is saying here? He's saying, David, I've never had a house in the sense that you're talking about. I’ve never asked anybody to build me a house. I don't need a house because, David, I already have a house.

Did you notice what he said? My house is with my people. Everywhere they go, I go. If they're in a tent, I'm in a tent. If they're in the wilderness, I'm in the wilderness. If they suffer, I suffer. Because you see, that's who God is. That's who he has always been. He is telling David, I'm not like these other so-called gods.

It was customary back then for the kings of the earth to build lavish temples to their pagan gods to curry favor. God said, I'm not like that. I don't need that. I go out of my way to make myself accessible to my people.

Maybe that was the first thing David didn't quite understand about God. Then there's something else.

Listen to what he says next. He says, now, therefore, 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.

And I have been with you wherever you went, and I have cut off all your enemies from before you.

Hear what he's saying here? He's saying, David, don't forget how you got here. He says, Nathan, go tell my servant David, I know he's the king in a palace, but remind him he's a servant, first of all.

And then remind him this: I took him from the pasture, and I put him in the palace. He was tending sheep. And now here he is, having fought all these battles, which, by the way, was my presence with him that caused his victories. Now he's in the palace. But make sure he understands, I'm the one that put him here.

Just like I put Adam in a garden. See, God wanted David to remember how he got to where he was. Why? Have you ever heard the phrase dance with who brung you? It’s an old quote from a football coach—Daryl Royal.

Royal. Okay. Royal. Talking about a king. Dance with who brought you, he said. The idea was, you start the lineup that got you to the championships. You stick with the plan that's working. David, I'm the one that put you here. Dance with who brung you.

I had a friend in high school, had a big crush on this girl, and he asked her to homecoming, sophomore year. Much to his surprise, she said yes. And he was pretty excited because he was hoping this would be more than a one-time date. He thought maybe something special would happen on the other side of this dance.

And so he takes her to homecoming. And, much to his disappointment, when they got there, she had hit it off with some other dude named Josh, and she danced the whole night with this guy, Josh.

My friend leaned against the wall, watching as this girl, the one that he brought, danced with someone else all night. That was a tough night for me—that is, for my friend.

And David is hearing this message from God: Don't forget who put you here. Dance with who brung you. David, don't forget—you were the least of Jesse's sons. When Samuel showed up at your doorstep, he didn't even think to mention you. You were out tending the flocks.

I did this. I did this.

You know, there's another word for this incredible favor that David is experiencing. Do you know what it is? Grace. He's saying, David, you got here by grace. And if I let you go off and build me a house, you might start to think you had something to do with your success. It wasn't you, David. I will not let you take any credit for how you got here.

But not just that. God won't let David take credit for what he's about to do, not just for the palace, but for the promise that's coming next—and it's a good promise.

And if he let David build him a house, there's a high likelihood that both David and other people would think, oh, I see. It's because of what David did for God that he is doing this for David. No. It is by grace and grace alone.

Listen to the promise. He says, and I will make for you a great name—like the name of the great ones of the earth.

Has God ever said this to someone before? He said this exact same thing to Abraham. I will make a great name for you. And if you were a faithful Jew reading this, you knew these are echoes of what God already promised Abraham.

And now, God is saying, what I promised to Abraham, I am fulfilling it now, David, through you. And I'm bringing along with it a new covenant and new promises—a new job description for me.

Listen to what I'm about to do. He says, and I will appoint a place for my people. This is exactly what he did with Abraham. He said, I'm going to give you a place. I'm going to give you land. I'm going to give you offspring.

He says, I'll appoint a place for my people Israel, and I will plant them so that they may dwell in their own place and be disturbed no more. And violent men shall afflict them no more as formerly, from the time that I appointed judges over my people Israel.

And I will give you rest from all your enemies. God is saying, I promised it to Abraham. I'm doing it now. I'm ushering in a season of peace. You are gonna rule over your people, and there will be no wars. I will give you rest from all your enemies. And you will be secure. It's happening. It’s happening right now.

And just like he promised offspring to Abraham, now he's going to promise offspring to David. Listen to what he says:

Moreover, the Lord declares to you that the Lord will make you a house. — 2 Samuel 7:11

I love how the NIV says this: The Lord declares to you that the Lord himself will build you a house. Do you hear that repetition? Who's doing it? The Lord is declaring it, and the Lord himself is building it. David, it's not you. This is my doing, and it has nothing to do with what you've accomplished for me thus far. This is my plan. I'm doing it.

David said, I wanna build you a house. And God says, no, thank you. But I will build you a house. David had in mind a physical building. God had in mind a dynasty. He was saying, David, a king is coming from you. Your line will continue.

Did you know this was promised to Abraham too? God said to Abraham, kings, plural, will come from you. God says to David, the king will come from you. I'm bringing the true and final king through you. What he promised to Abraham now gets more specific and clear through David.

Let me tell you about this king. It says, 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 own body. This is exactly what he said to Abraham. Your offspring will come from your own body.

And I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name. David, you're not gonna build me a house, but this king that comes from you, he will build me a house. And I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.

Pay attention to that word. You're gonna hear it two more times. Forever. It's a long time. I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son.

You know, this is the first time that God uses this language towards any individual in the Bible. He refers to Israel corporately as a son. When Moses speaks to Pharaoh, when God speaks through Moses to Pharaoh, he says, Israel is my son. Let them go. Here, he speaks specifically about a person, a king, a son of David, who will be a son to him, and he will be a father to him.

He continues. He says, 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.

What’s going on here? We get a greater insight into the covenant. In Second Chronicles 6, Solomon is praying a dedicatory prayer for the temple. He says that one of the things God promised to David in this covenant, which we don’t see here but is in quotations—it's God's words—it says, so long as your descendants remain faithful to me, they will always be seated on the throne. But Solomon says, if they’re not faithful, they will be punished for their sins by the hands of men, by the stripes of men. They will be punished, but I will not depart from them.

In other words, I will accomplish my purposes even if they are unfaithful, but they might remove themselves from the blessing. I will not stop. I will bring it to pass. And he says this:

And your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me. Your throne shall be established forever. — 2 Samuel 7:16

In accordance with all these words, in accordance with all this vision, Nathan spoke to David. What a promise.

Let me just recap what he said about this king. He said, David, it's going to be a descendant of yours. He's going to come from your very own body. He's going to build a house for my name. He's going to be punished for sin. I'm going to establish his throne and his kingdom forever and forever and forever.

Wow. Now, in the very near future, a lot of these or this kind of prophecy would start to take shape. There's going to be a son of David that built a house for his name. You know who he was? Solomon. You know what Solomon means? That word means shalom—peace. The king of peace would build a house for the name of the Lord, and he did.

And if you were the people of God, you were thinking, here comes the forever part. We got the sun. We got the house. Let's just enjoy forever and forever and forever.

This passage presents for us both a promise and a problem. We see the promise start to get fulfilled, but what's the problem? Forever didn't happen. Not in the way they thought. Why? Because David's sons were bad sons. They did not remain faithful.

And it wasn't way down the line. It started with Solomon, actually David too. Solomon, by the end of his life, filled with idolatry. God punished him. And the king from this point on became a kind of representative for how God would deal with the nation.

If the king was disobedient, He would judge the nation, and it would get so bad that eventually, the kingdoms would split. You had the southern and the northern kingdoms. The northern tribes would be sent off into captivity into Syria, and the southern tribes would last a little longer. But eventually, four hundred years later, Zedekiah would be the final king. Nebuchadnezzar would come in and sack Jerusalem, laying waste everything.

Right? If you were an Israelite back then and you knew this promise, you're probably thinking, wait. Wait. What happened? I mean, God, you said you'd do it even if we weren't faithful. Where'd the kingdom go?

In fact, if you look at Psalm 89, it is a beautiful psalm written by someone named Ethan, the Ezraite. And he writes this—the first 37 verses are just a beautiful poem about the greatness and magnificence of this promise God made to David. But then, in verse 38, it's like this harsh change of tone.

Listen to what he says:

Here's some of the good part. This is God. He's saying what you said: I will not violate my covenant or alter my word that went forth from my lips. Once for all, I have sworn by my holiness. I will not lie to David. His offspring shall endure forever. His throne, as long as the sun before me. Like the moon, it shall be established forever. A faithful witness in the skies.

But now you've cast off and rejected. You are full of wrath against your anointed. You have renounced the covenant with your servant. You have defiled his crown in the dust. You have breached all his walls. You have laid his strongholds in ruins. All who pass by plunder him. He has become the scorn of his neighbors.

How long? How long, O Lord, will you hide yourself forever? What man can live and never see death? Who can deliver his soul from the power of Sheol? Lord, where is your steadfast love of old? Remember, O Lord, how your servants are mocked and how I bear in my heart the insults of the many nations.

Can you hear it? He’s so confused. I—I love that. He just says it. The the promise, the problem—had God's word failed? And the answer, of course, is no. It had not.

See, the prophets picked up on this. They knew. They knew that God wasn't finished. But if there was going to be a king that would reign forever—and forever—what kind of king did he need to be? He needed to be a king that would never fail in his faithfulness to God.

See, prophets understood that this king needed to be more than just a son of David. He needed to be the son of God. They understood that when God spoke to David and promised him, I would be a father to him, and he would be a son to me—that this wasn't just some metaphor. He was speaking literally.

So Isaiah, in chapter 9—actually, before chapter 9, in chapter 11—gives this beautiful promise:

A shoot from the stump of Jesse. — Isaiah 11:1

You know why it's a stump? Because it's cut off, and it looks dead, and it looks like all hope is gone. But Isaiah says a shoot will come up from that stump, and it will turn into a branch. God isn't done.

Isaiah 9:6:

Unto us a child is born. A son is given. And the government shall be upon his shoulder. He will be a real child with a real government, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor. That’s a good one. But how about this? Almighty God.

Do you think Isaiah knew God wasn't done? And what this particular son of David, who he would be? He would be the son of God. He would be the everlasting Father.

And then get this: he will be prince of peace. Who is Solomon? King of peace. God's not done. There is a son coming.

See, the prophets knew that if God is going to fulfill his promises to David, he's going to have to come and do it himself.

And so in Matthew chapter 1, the genealogy of Jesus Christ, son of David. Five hundred and sixty years between when Zedekiah died and Jesus was born, and Matthew says, he's here. He's here. It is God Himself.

No one expected Him to be like He was. Do you know why? Because this one who came was content to not live in a palace. As John 1:14 says, He became flesh, and He dwelt among us.

Because if they are in the wilderness, I'll be in the wilderness. If they're in a tent, I'll be in a tent. He did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking on human form. That's who the Son of David was.

You know, in Matthew 12, Jesus says this. He says two things in the same chapter. He says, hey, one greater than Solomon is here. And in the same chapter, he says, something greater than the temple is here. And both times, He was referring to Himself.

Jesus was saying to them, I am the greater son of David, and I come to build the greater temple. As the greater son of David, He came to take on a human tent—just like God said to David, I dwell with my people.

As the greater son of David, He would build the house—that is, the temple—that Solomon tried to build. But Solomon and the temple—they weren't the ultimate fulfillment of the promise. They only pointed to the greater reality that was to come as the greater son of David.

See, Solomon was punished for his own sin, and every king that followed. But Jesus, as the greater son of David, was punished not for His own sin. Did you hear the language, by the way, by the rod of men, by the stripes of the hands of men? He was punished, but not for His sin—your sin, my sin.

And by His stripes, you will be healed. Jesus came as the greater son of David to be stretched out upon a cross, taking the sin and becoming your sin and my sin. That's how Paul puts it. He was made to be sin, who knew no sin, that you and I might be the righteousness of God.

He was the greater son of David, and He comes to build a greater temple. Do you know how He does it? Just like God made a promise to David—and in so doing, He fulfilled promises He had previously made to Abraham—here comes Jesus.

And He is going to fulfill promises that He made to David in a greater way. And Jesus is going to bring a new covenant. And here's what it is.

I'm over. But here's my summary: God says, I'm doing it all. I'm gonna do my part, and I'm gonna do your part. I will come and put My Spirit in you because you will never love me. You will never obey me, but I will cause you to love me and obey me. I will do it all.

I'll provide my righteousness to your account. I'll take the penalty you deserve, and I’ll put my Spirit in you. And how does God build the house? With you and me, and Himself as the chief cornerstone.

And He will come again in a new heaven, in a new earth, and He will sit on His father David's throne in a real new Jerusalem. And we will worship Him forever and forever and forever.

Do you believe that? Have you ever looked around at the world we live in and felt, God, where are you? Does it feel like He’s not winning?

Can I tell you something? He has already won. And the question is, has He won your heart? Some of us today need to remember this: He doesn't need anything from you. He does not need you to build Him a house. That's for sure.

But He would love to make you part of the house that He is building. Would you let Him? Would you be willing to bring yourself, your sin, your brokenness? You have nothing to offer except for your sin.

Bring it and lay it at His feet, and let Him put you in the palace. He took the cross so you could have the crown. Would you yield to Him?

Let's pray.

Father, thank you for your word, for the beauty of it. I pray that we would stop fighting, trying to be the king of our own universe—that we would let you be king.

For those of us that might be here today and you wanna come, just pray. These rails are always open to you, and come and connect with God. And for those of you that might want someone to pray specifically with and for you, we have people who will be in the back to do that with you. There’s a big sign that says prayer back there—you can't miss it.

And for the rest of us, let's stand and prepare our hearts to worship the Son, the true and greater Son of David. It is in His name that we pray. Amen.