The House That God Will Build
2 Samuel 7
©Copyright
March 29, 2009 Rev.
Most of us would
like to make a significant difference with our lives. Probably every young boy (and many girls) has
dreamed of making the last second basket or hitting a homerun to win the World
Series. Many have dreamed of being
President of the
This morning we
will look at a big dream of David. The dream is eventually realized but not by
David himself. But what is most significant in the passage is not David’s
vision for the future but God’s plan for the future. As we look at this I hope
you will see that David’s big plans also impact our lives.
The
House David Wanted to Build
2 Samuel 7 begins
with this statement, “After the king was settled in his palace and the Lord had
given him rest from all his enemies around him…” It appears a significant
amount of time has passed since chapter 6 of 2 Samuel. David is now established
in the new capital city of
One day David was
sitting on the porch of his new home enjoying the peace and contentment of His life
and he looked over at the Tabernacle of God. The comparison between his
beautiful new home and the tents of the Tabernacle sobered David. So the King summoned the prophet Nathan to
consult with him about his dream of building a majestic
Notice some things
here. First, what David wants to do is a good thing. David’s desire is
to honor the Lord. Later in the history of
Second, notice that
David does not act unilaterally. As King, David could have simply
commanded that a temple be built. He didn’t do this. Instead he consulted the
prophet of God. Even though David is the King, he recognized that he is
accountable to the Lord. He recognized that the nation would be blessed only as
they sought the Lord’s will and followed His ways. David stopped to check with
God before he moved ahead with his plans. If you have been paying attention,
this is a common theme. When David waited on the Lord, He reaped blessing. When
he rushed ahead he reaped trouble.
Nathan returned
home that night after talking to David and we are told the Word of the Lord
came to Nathan. God vetoed the plan that Nathan and David agreed was good.
Don’t miss this lesson: good plans implemented at the wrong time are bad
plans.
God’s response is
interesting,
Go and tell my servant David, ‘This is what
the Lord says: Are you the one to
build me a house to dwell in? 6 I have not dwelt in a house from the
day I brought the Israelites up out of
God seems to say to
David and Nathan, “You will build me a house when I ask for a house and not
before.” He reminded them that the Tabernacle (a portable
Other religions
make pilgrimages to temples and locations so they can meet with God. The
Israelites had God in their midst. With the coming of Christ this fact is even
more pronounced. After the resurrection we were given the Holy Spirit to live
in or “tabernacle” with us.
The
Blessing of Grace- The House God Was Going to Build
The message to
Nathan was not a rebuff of David’s desires. Quite the contrary. David wanted to
make a house for God. God turned that around and told David the incredible
house He was going to make for David!
God reminded David
that He had been His source of strength over the years. He was the one who
called him to his post, he is the one who protected him in the desert, and he
is the one who cut off his enemies. Then
God said, “I will make your name great like the greatest men of the earth…I
will provide a place for my people
That’s not all! He
continues in verses 11-16
“ ‘The Lord
declares to you that the Lord
himself will establish a house for you: 12 When your days are over
and you rest with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring to succeed you,
who will come from your own body, and I will establish his kingdom. 13 He
is the one who will build a house for my Name, and I will establish the throne
of his kingdom forever. 14 I will be his father, and he will be my
son. When he does wrong, I will punish him with the rod of men, with floggings
inflicted by men. 15 But my love will never be taken away from him,
as I took it away from Saul, whom I removed from before you. 16 Your
house and your kingdom will endure forever before me; your throne will be established forever.’
This is known as
the Davidic Covenant (or the Covenant made with David.) It’s important for you
to understand this idea of a covenant. The Bible consists of a number of
covenants. Think of a covenant as an agreement between two parties. If you go
to work for an individual you enter into a covenant. You agree to do certain
work and the employer agrees to compensate you in a certain manner. When a
couple exchanges vows they are entering into a covenant.
In the Mosaic
Covenant (the one given to Moses), God gave the people His commands and
promised that if they kept God’s commands, God would bless them. If they did
not, they would face God’s discipline and wrath. This covenant includes the Ten
Commandments.
In other covenants
in the Bible God made promises that were unconditional.
God made such a promise to Abraham in Genesis 12. He told Him that he was going
to make Abraham (and his descendents) into a great nation and that nation would
end up blessing the entire world.
To drive home the
point, in Genesis 15 there is an incredible scene. Abraham was a little unsure
of the conditions of the promise. God told Abraham to take some animals and cut
them in half with a path between the halves. (This was the practice in a
covenant ratifying ceremony). God reiterated the promise and then we read,
When the sun had gone down and it was dark,
behold, a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch passed between these pieces.
(Gen 15:17 NLT)
Normally the two
people who made the promise would both walk through this path of cut in half
animals. It was a way of declaring “If I do not keep the conditions of this
covenant may I become like these animals.”
This was a common
practice. What was uncommon was the fact that God (represented by the smoking
firepot) was the only One to walk the course. The responsibility for fulfilling
the promise is all on God.
This Promise to
David is another unconditional covenant. One commentator made these
observations about the Covenant to David.
a. Death will not annul it 12-13.
Even though David would eventually die, God would continue to bless
David through his descendents. What dad would not be thrilled by such words?
b. Sin cannot destroy it 14-15 God told David that even when his
sons strayed and required God’s discipline and correction, even then, God would
not finally withdraw His love.
c. Time will not exhaust it 16 The blessing would be forever. His kingdom would endure
forever. Think about how wonderful it would be to know that the family farm was
going to remain the family farm forever. This is much better.[1]
The person who
knows history might observe that after 586 B.C.
When you turn from
the Old Testament to the New Testament you read these significant words, “A
record of the genealogy of Jesus Christ the son of David. . . . “ In the first
words Matthew wants us to understand that he is going to tell us about the fulfillment
of God’s promise! Jesus is the next and FINAL King of
The
Faithful Response to God’s Astounding Grace
I hope you can see
what a significant event and promise this is to David and why the promise is
also significant to us. In the rest of 2 Samuel 7 David responds to what he has
just heard. You can learn a great deal about a person if you can listen to them
pray. We learn a great deal about the
heart of David in the last half of our text.
David began with
the words, “Who am I, O Sovereign Lord, and what is my family, that you have
brought me this far?” Is we understand what God has done for us in Jesus Christ
we should say the same thing. Paul said
something similar, “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I
am the worst” (1 Timothy 1:15).
John Stott writes,
Towards the end of my time as a theological student at Ridley Hall,
It is easy to take
for granted the grace and mercy of God extended to us in Jesus Christ. I have
said the words at the funerals of Christian people many times . . . “my
confidence that this person is in Heaven is not because they were good people
(though by the world’s standards, perhaps they were). My confidence of their
eternal destiny is anchored to the fact that they trusted a great Savior.
Think about it. We
have scorned and disobeyed God’s commands thousands of times (that we are
willing to admit). We deserve Hell. Time and again He has extended forgiveness
and we have fallen again.
Think about someone
who has hurt you. They tell you they are sorry and you (trying to be a
good Christian) extend forgiveness. Suppose the same person hurts you in the same
way again. Let’s say they do it many more times. How do you respond now? Most
of us would become cautious and reluctant to believe the person was serious in
their apology. We would make sure we were not vulnerable again and might even end
our relationship with the person.
We have offended
the Lord again and again. Instead of God turning away He became man and took
upon Himself the just punishment for our sin. He was wounded for our transgressions. He died in our place. We are indeed saved by good works . . . but
they are not OUR good works (which the Bible says are like filthy rags). We are
saved because of the works of Christ who lived in obedience to the Law
(fulfilling all the demands of the covenant) because He then gave us His
righteousness and took upon Himself our sin.
God offers us
forgiveness and new and eternal life. This is a covenant of grace. The only
requirement for us is that we embrace Jesus as our Savior and our Lord. In
other words, He asks us to take Him at His Word. Our Lord promises that He will
never leave us or forsake us. He promises that no one can snatch us from His
hands. He says “nothing can separate us from His love.” He told us that we will live even though we
die. He says He will supply all our needs.
He will help us in our praying, equip us for our tasks, and use us for
His glory.
Many times people
as, “Why doesn’t God save everyone?” It is better for us to ask, “Why me,
God? Why have you been so kind to me?” I
don’t know about you but I say this often. If you understand the nature of the
blessing, you can’t help being deeply humbled by that blessing.
David moved naturally
from humble gratitude to heartfelt worship. The first step to effective worship
is to realize how small we are before Him. The person who understands grace
realizes how worthy God is of our praise. He should be adored and celebrated.
We owe Him the obedience of our lives. Paul says presenting ourselves to God is
our spiritual act worship.
Lessons
Hear the good news:
the Lord is working in your life. God is not indifferent to you. As with David,
He has been guiding your path. In fact, you are here today because of His
kindness and His grace. You are here so you can know how much He loves you. Let me give you three take-home points.
First, good
plans + bad timing = bad plan. This is a lesson we all need to learn. God’s timing is perfect and we
must trust Him. David did not build God a temple as he desired, but his son
Solomon, did. Near the end of his life David worked hard to get things ready
for the project. The lesson is: when God says “No”; when he shuts a door; when
things don’t go as expected; it may not mean the plan is bad . . . it may simply
mean the timing is wrong. Don’t despair. Wait for the right time.
Second, God’s offer
of salvation is staggering in its generosity, mercy and grace. God has consistently shown us love but we
have spurned that love and gone our own way. The Creator of the universe could
have wiped us all out and simply started over. That’s not what He chose to do.
Instead He revealed Himself to Abraham, to Jacob, to Moses, to David. He chose
one nation and sought to show us His kindness and Grace by the way He dealt
with that nation. He also reached out to us through His Son, Jesus. Christ who
left the glory of Heaven to take on the nature of man. He lived a perfect life,
was rejected, beaten, and crucified.
However that was not near the worst of what He endured for us. Jesus
suffered the wrath of God on our behalf. This is a horror we can’t begin to
comprehend.
Why did He do all
of this? The answer staggers us with its simplicity. He did it because He loves
us. He did it because this is what He promised Abraham and what He promised
David. And how do we know that this
grace will be extended to us after all we have done? We know it for the same
reasons: because He loves us and because He promised.
Third, a true
understanding of grace will make us humble not proud. Sometimes you can walk into a place with a
bunch of Christians and feel like everyone feels they are better than you are.
Sometimes we look down at others and conclude they could experience God’s
blessing if they worked a little harder like we do.
These are sinful
moments. The person that truly understands grace is stunned that God could love
one such as them. They are not swallowed up by their goodness, they staggered
by God’s love and humbled by His mercy. They are grateful, not arrogant. They
are soft, not hard.
The gratitude of
grace leads us to worship. It spurs us to action. It convinces us that no one
is a lost cause and consequently it motivates us to share the message with
others. This grace, when understood, transforms us. It makes us alive. It makes
us secure. It sets us free. It leads us home.
©Copyright
March 29, 2009 Rev.
[i] John R.W. Stott God’s New Society: the Message of Ephesians (Bible
Speaks Today: IVP, 1979) p. 82