I. Introduction
-- turn in Bibles to 2 Samuel 7:1-3
2
Samuel 7:1 After the king was settled in his palace and the Lord had given him
rest from all his enemies around him, 2 he said to Nathan the prophet, “Here I
am, living in a house of cedar, while the ark of God remains in a tent.”
3
Nathan replied to the king, “Whatever you have in mind, go ahead and do it, for
the Lord is with you.”
-- this morning, we’re continuing in
our sermon series tracing God’s promise through Scripture -- last week, we
looked at the story of Hannah and how God met her greatest desire by giving her
a son -- the prophet Samuel -- who would be the last great judge of Israel -- a
righteous judge who led the nation to follow God -- both spiritually and
sovereignly -- a picture of what the Messiah would look like when He came in
fulfillment of God’s promise to Israel
-- but the people rejected God once
again by seeking an earthly king, rather than living with God as their king --
and God had Samuel anoint Saul as the first king of Israel -- ushering in a
long line of rulers who continued to lead the people away from God
-- but in the midst of these rulers,
there were bright moments of promise as some kings brought in revival and
restoration of the worship of God to the nation2 Samuel
-- this passage this morning is
about one such moment of promise -- the beginning of the reign of David, the
man after God’s own heart -- David ushered in a period of revival in the nation
as he defeated all the nation’s enemies and brought the ark of the covenant
back to Jerusalem -- leading the nation to worship God and look to Him as their
king once again after the long and unrighteous rule of Saul
-- so, let’s look now at this
passage and at the promise that God gives to David and the people of Israel at
the beginning of his reign
II. David’s Desire to Build God a House (2 Samuel
7:1-3)
-- look back at verse 1-3
2
Samuel 7:1 After the king was settled in his palace and the Lord had given him
rest from all his enemies around him, 2 he said to Nathan the prophet, “Here I
am, living in a house of cedar, while the ark of God remains in a tent.”
3
Nathan replied to the king, “Whatever you have in mind, go ahead and do it, for
the Lord is with you.”
-- David had been anointed by Samuel
to replace Saul when he was a mere teenager -- but it was years later before
David ever became king -- David was patient and trusted God during that time --
he fought with Saul’s armies on the battlefield -- defeating Goliath -- and
winning battle after battle after battle
-- after Saul grew jealous and tried
to kill David, David never gave up hope -- he fled away from Saul and lived in
the wilderness and in other lands, waiting for the promise to come --
eventually, David became king over part of the nation of Israel when he lived
in Hebron -- and after Saul’s death, God’s promise finally came to pass as David
is selected by the people to rule the entire nation
-- so now, as this chapter opens, we
see David as king -- settled in his palace and at rest from all the wars and
the battles that had defined his life -- he had just brought the ark of the
covenant into the city -- and was sitting with his chief advisor -- Nathan the
prophet -- considering what he should do next as king over all Israel -- when
he hit on the idea that he should build a house for God -- a place for the ark
of the covenant to reside in the city of Jerusalem
-- why? -- what was his motivation?
-- scholars and commentators have questioned David’s motives for wanting to
build a house for thousands of years
-- some said that David was
motivated by thanksgiving -- that building a place for God in Jerusalem would
be an act of worship and praise by David for all that God had done for him --
from bringing him from being a shepherd in the field to being king over all
Israel
-- and knowing David and reading
through the Psalms, this makes sense -- David is described as a man after God’s
own heart -- a man who sought God at all times in his life -- when things were
bad and now, when things are going good -- so, this desire to build a house for
God could have stemmed from David’s desire to offer God praise and thanksgiving
-- a reminder to us that we are to come before God constantly, not only with
our needs, but also in praise and thanksgiving for what He has done for us
-- Nathan heard David’s desire and
told him he thought it was a good idea -- he basically said, “Go, build God’s
house -- God is with you”
-- and note that that is not
necessarily a prophecy or word from the Lord, but a statement of fact -- Nathan
wasn’t saying, “Thus saith the Lord” here -- he was just pointing out the fact
that God was obviously with David and had been throughout his whole life -- God
had blessed David and protected David -- and now, if David wanted to build a
house for God, then God would be with him
III. God Says No (2 Samuel 7:4-7)
-- verse 4-7
2
Samuel 7:4 But that night the word of the Lord came to Nathan, saying:
5
“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 Egypt to this day. I have been moving from
place to place with a tent as my dwelling. 7 Wherever I have moved with all the
Israelites, did I ever say to any of their rulers whom I commanded to shepherd
my people Israel, “Why have you not built me a house of cedar?”’
-- well, it turns out Nathan was
wrong -- God was with David, but God didn’t want David to build a house for Him
-- it was a good idea, but it wasn’t the right time and it wasn’t the right
person and it wasn’t the right way
-- David had a heart for God and
wanted to do a good thing for Him -- and Nathan agreed with David -- but God
stepped in and said, “No, that’s not what I want you to do”
-- it’s a hard thing for us to
believe, but there are times when we come up with ideas or we have desires to
do good things for God, and God simply says, “No, that’s not what I want you to
do -- that’s not what I have planned for you”
-- I remember hearing J. Vernon
McGee on the radio one time talking about a call he got from an organizer in
Los Angeles, where he pastored -- the organizer was getting together all the
churches in the city and all the non-profit ministries and they were going to
have this big outreach to clean up Los Angeles -- get rid of the crime and the
violence and to petition city hall and get the people mobilized to make things
better
-- and this woman called him and
asked him to come and join their project and bring the people of his church
with him, and he told her no -- that wasn’t what he was called to do -- he said
he applauded her desires -- it was a good thing -- but it wasn’t something God
wanted him to do
-- just because something seems to
be a good idea, doesn’t mean it’s the right idea -- David had already learned
that lesson -- when he first time tried to bring the ark back to Jerusalem --
it was a good idea -- it was a good thing -- but it wasn’t God’s timing and
David didn’t do it the way God commanded
-- rather than bringing the ark into
the city carried by Levites as the Law demanded, David put the ark on an ox cart,
resulting in the death of Uzzah because he reached out to stabilize the ark
when the oxen stumbled and the cart rocked -- the second time David decided to
bring the ark back to Jerusalem, he first went to God in prayer before he did
anything else -- and when God said, “yes,” David was careful to bring it into
the city the way the Law prescribed -- and everything went smoothly
-- David had a good idea when he
desired to build a house for God -- but God said no
-- the message here for us is that
God doesn’t just want us to do good things for Him -- He doesn’t just want us
to dream up new programs or new missions and ask Him to bless them -- He wants
us to come to Him -- to be in relationship with Him -- to seek His desires and
His direction in our lives -- and to do what He leads us to do
-- remember that good doesn’t mean
best -- and if God says no to something good we want to do, that means He has
something better for us to do
-- God explains to David in these
verses why David is not the one to build a house for God -- God points out that
He doesn’t need a house -- He is not looking for a physical place to live --
instead, God’s desire is to dwell with His people -- to be with them in their
hearts and their souls -- no matter where they are -- no matter where they
wander -- any house built by man would not be for God, but for man
-- back when Catherine the Great
ruled Russia, she decided she wanted to take a tour of her country and visit
the smaller villages in the land -- an official in her court, Gregory Potemkin,
heard about her plans to visit these little villages
-- so, in a bid to impress her,
Potemkin went into the countryside and built a fake village -- he put up fake
buildings along the river banks that were much nicer than the real villages --
and then he hired peasants and dressed them up in nice clean clothes, and lined
them on the route that the queen would take.
-- The only problem was that everything
was just a facade and afront, without substance -- there was nothing inside the
walls -- it was all fake and built only to impress
-- The term "Potemkin
Village" is now used to describe anything we do to deceive others into
thinking that a situation is better than it really is.
-- the point that God is making here
with David is that it’s not about the building -- it’s about God’s presence
with His people -- that’s what really matters1
-- God’s words to David here about
how He thinks about buildings also calls into question where God would have us
spend our resources -- too many churches spend money on building God’s house
rather than building God’s spiritual kingdom -- are we spending money on
sprinklers rather than on sharing the living water?
III.
Extravagant Grace (2 Samuel 7:8-11a)
-- verse 8-11a
2
Samuel 7:8 “Now then, tell my servant David, ‘This is what the Lord Almighty
says: I took you from the pasture, from tending the flock, and appointed you
ruler over my people Israel. 9 I have been with you wherever you have gone, and
I have cut off all your enemies from before you. Now I will make your name
great, like the names of the greatest men on earth. 10 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 11 and have done ever since the time I
appointed leaders over my people Israel. I will also give you rest from all
your enemies.
-- so, now what does God do to David
after He tells him he cannot build Him a house as he desired? -- He responds
with extravagant grace
-- earlier I mentioned David’s
motives in wanting to build God a house and how that it could have been driven
from a desire to thank God for all the blessings that God had given him -- but
it could have been that David thought that he needed to do something for God to
get God to continue to bless him in the future
-- you’ve got to remember -- the
promise has come to pass -- all that God had promised to David -- that He would
bring him from the pasture to the palace and make him king over all Israel had
been done -- and now what? -- would God’s hand leave David? -- would God’s
blessings leave David?
-- so, David might have come up with
the idea of building a house for God sort of like a bribe -- a way to stay in
God’s good graces
-- we do that, don’t we? -- we
should all know that our good works have no value in our salvation -- but we
still live with the mindset that if we do good and obey God, we will get
rewarded -- and if we don’t do good, then bad things will happen
-- we may not say it, but most of us
live that way -- and it could be that that was part of what motivated David in
his plan to build a house for God
-- but God doesn’t respond to us
like karma -- He doesn’t just bless us and love us when we’re good and then
turn His back to us when we’re bad -- He loves us completely, no matter what we
do -- as someone once said, there is nothing you can do to make God love you
more and there’s nothing you can do to make God love you less -- God’s love for
you is perfect and He always seeks the best for you
-- so, in response to David’s
concern about future grace, God speaks to David’s heart and lets him know that
His grace in David’s life is not over now that David is king -- God’s grace
never ends -- it is new every day
-- God points out what He has done
for David, specifically listing three things God has done for him -- He took
David from being a shepherd to being prince over Israel -- He was with David
wherever he went, even as he fled from Saul in the wilderness -- and He removed
all of David’s enemies before him.
-- and then God goes on and says,
“And I’m only getting started” -- listing three more promises in verses 9-11
that are going to come to pass in David’s life -- two for David, and one for
Israel
-- in verse 9, God promises to “make
David’s name great, like the names of the greatest men on earth” -- in verse
11, God says that He will give David rest from all his enemies -- that his
kingdom will be a kingdom of peace -- and for Israel, God promises to “appoint
a place” and “plant them, so that they may live in their own place,” where they
will not be disturbed, nor afflicted by wicked people -- for the first time
since coming into the promised land, the Israelites will have permanency and
peace
IV.
The Davidic Covenant (2 Samuel 7:11b-17)
-- second part of verse 11b-17
2
Samuel 7:11b “‘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 ancestors, I
will raise up your offspring to succeed you, your own flesh and blood, 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 a rod
wielded by men, with floggings inflicted by human hands. 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.’”
17
Nathan reported to David all the words of this entire revelation.
-- finally, in addition to all the promises
that God has given David and Israel, God establishes a new covenant here with
David and Israel -- we call this the Davidic covenant -- the ultimate
expression of the Messianic prophecy -- this is the point when the idea of the
Messiah becomes firmly established in the nation of Israel
as Ray Geide points out, “The
Messiah concept started when God promised king David that his descendant would
build a house for God and God would establish his throne forever (2 Samuel
7:13). From that time on people looked for the kings in David’s royal linage to
accomplish these things.”
-- we’ve been tracing the promise of
the Messiah from the Book of Genesis and the fall in the garden of Eden all the
way through Abraham and Joseph and Moses and the nation of Israel coming into
the promised land -- the Messiah has been hinted at -- the reason for the
Messiah has been explained -- but here, we see it given to us unequivocally
-- God tells David that a future
King would come from David’s own line and that His kingdom would be firmly
established by God Himself -- He would be the one who would build a house for
His name -- His throne and kingdom would stand forever and God’s love would
never be taken away from Him
-- this is what we call a dualistic
prophecy -- a prophecy that has a short-term fulfillment and a long-term -- eternal
-- fulfillment
-- so, in the short-term, David’s
son Solomon will be the one who builds a house for God in Jerusalem -- Solomon
is the builder of the first temple -- and is the last king of the united nation
of Israel
-- and, as we see in the books of 1
and 2 Kings and 1 and 2 Chronicles, David’s descendants continue to rule in
Judah even after the nation splits into two kingdoms -- right up to the point
where the nations go into exile into Assyria and Babylon
-- the future, long-term fulfillment
of this covenant will be realized when Jesus returns to establish His kingdom
forever
-- before we close, I want to point
out one thing here -- in verse 14, it says of David’s descendants, “when he
does wrong” -- this was certainly true of David’s mortal descendants, but it
doesn’t seem to fit with the prophecy of the Messiah given here, because the
scriptures tell us that Jesus never sinned
-- but the scriptures do say that He
who was without sin became sin for us -- Jesus didn’t do wrong -- but He took
upon Himself all the sins of those who did, becoming sin -- becoming wrong --
for us
-- verse 14 points to the cross and
to Jesus bearing our punishment on the cross
V. Closing
-- this chapter began with David
wanting to build a house for God -- but God responds by saying, “No, but I will
build a house for you -- an eternal house -- an eternal kingdom -- and My love
for you will never end”
-- this is one of the great passages
of Scripture -- the promise of the Messiah revealed to David, the man after
God’s own heart
-- it is a reminder to us to seek
God first in all that we do -- to continually lift Him up in praise and
thanksgiving -- and to walk with Him in all our ways -- seeking to do His will
and not our own -- seeking to obey His commands and to do what He has called us
to do, rather than what we would want to do
-- this promise for David and Israel
is a promise for all of us -- it is the promise of eternal life with Him -- it
is the promise of salvation and redemption from our sins -- it is the promise
of new life in God’s house
-- as we leave this morning, I want
to encourage you to spend some time reflecting on the blessings God has given
you and the promises He has made -- try to live for Him this week -- try to
spend time with Him this week -- and live in expectation of all that He has for
us
-- let us pray
1
modified from Christian Cheong, “A Tale of Two Houses” --
https://www.sermoncentral.com/sermons/a-tale-of-two-houses-christian-cheong-sermon-on-god-s-presence-204469]
2
[Ray Geide, “The Real Meaning of Christ”
-- https://www.sermoncentral.com/sermons/the-real-meaning-of-christ-ray-geide-sermon-on-christian-disciplines-168672]
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