Covenant Promised

Good morning. We are continuing our series through 2 Samuel. We are in chapter 7. We've been building up to this chapter for some time, and a question we could ask as we prepare, what kind of king would you like to have over you? If you could create the perfect president, king, ruler, governing authority, whatever you might call that person, what kind of attributes, what would you like him to be like? This is different than who are you willing to vote for. What would you actually say are the ideal traits? Kindness? Generous? Trustworthy? Wise? Just? A big question is, how much power should a king have? How much authority? How limited? How limited should the time be that he could be king? How limited should his stretch go in terms of his power? Well, a better question is the question that 2 Samuel and 1 Samuel have actually been seeking to answer. What kind of king does God want for us? What kind of king does God want for us? There's an important assumption throughout Scripture. We were created to be ruled. We were created to have an authority over us. We were not created to be free of any and all authority. We were created to be under authority. And if we're honest with ourselves, the king we want either probably looks like us or does what we want him to do. Well, if we look at judges, When there was no king, we all did. Man did what was right in his own eyes, and it was wicked. And for Samuel, they wanted a king like the nations, and they were warned in chapter eight that king will take and take and take and take. Even go back to the garden. There, God is king, and we're meant to be stewards. He gave us rules and boundaries. And we can see the most basic element of sin. Rejecting God's good authority because we thought we could get something better. Today, we see a significant changing in the story. We see a significant heightening and building up of the story of how God is seeking to bring us back himself, bring us back to his loving authority, bringing us back to his good authority. Here we see a significant promise in chapter 7 of how God is going to establish his reign forever. If you're looking at the section, just so we can kind of study the text, this text is worthy of your meditation and time because of how significant it is in the hinging of Old Testament promises to New Testament fulfillment. We'll deal with that a lot later. But there are some basic scenes we can walk through. Verses one to three, that's David's request. I would like to build God a house. We see verses four to seven, God says no. Verses eight and nine, God reminds David, if you just look back at the wording, I have done this, I did this, I took you out of the pasture, I've been with you. God reminds David of all that he's done. And then 9 to 11, God promises David rest. There's a significant change from I have done this to I will do this. And then beginning halfway through verse 11, moreover, God promises a future kingdom, a future son who will reign forever. If you go back to 1 Samuel 8, the warning of the king like the nations, was that he would take, take, take. Here again, the emphasis of our actual passage, God says, I brought you up. I have been moving with you. I have been with you all the time. I spoke the word. I commanded. I took you out of the pasture. I have been with you. And then it's all promises. It's all just giving over. I will make you a great name. I will appoint you a place. I appointed my judges, and I never needed this. I will give you rest. I will raise up your offspring. I will establish his name. I will establish a throne. I will be to him a father. I will discipline him." And then that grand declaration at the end, your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me. Your throne shall be established forever. God is a generous king. He's promising himself to a people, he's giving himself over to a people. And we're gonna see how that actually causes a significant conflict and problem as we look through the history. This passage, again, it's a hinge. Many of the promises to Abraham are being fulfilled. We hear echoes of it, a great name, assure people, because if you've been with us, five and six were significant. You've got the right people, in the right land, with the right king, with the right worship. They just brought in the ark. And David is pondering, now that he has rest, and God's going to say, I have something better for you. Our story really breaks down to two proposals. David says, I want to build you a house, God, and God says, no, I have something better. I'm going to build you a house. If you're taking notes, there's three main points. They're in the imperative for us as we contemplate this. First, know your place, K-N-O-W, know your place. So verses one to seven. Second, remember God's goodness. That's verses eight to nine. Know your place, verses one to seven. Remember God's goodness, verses eight to nine. And then the last section, trust his promises. Trust his promises. And there's present promises, I will give you peace. There's future promises, there will be a king. Let's first look at our section here, one to seven. David has established, David has been established. He's in the right city. He's in the right land. The people have all acknowledged him as king. He has victory over the Philistines who are all around him. And notice there, it's a key word. The Lord had given him rest. This feels like it's the fulfillment of so many things. The seventh day of creation, God rested. And we believe that that's pointing that the whole point of creation is to eventually rest in God. And now the king we've all been waiting on is resting. So David, we see, it talks to Nathan. First time we see Nathan the prophet introduced. He'll be a significant character here with David. David is contemplating. See now, I dwell in a house of cedar. And cedar was the precious material. We saw earlier, the king of Tyre sent cedar so David could have an elaborate palace. I live in a house of cedar. Notice the contrast. But the ark of God lives in a tent. Nathan, who is a prophet, but is not speaking as a prophet. When you remember, prophets probably wrote grocery lists. That doesn't mean, thus says the Lord, go get a fish or a loaf of bread. When he says, thus says the Lord, he's speaking as a prophet. Here, as a man spending time with David, he hears David's request. It sounds good, so he says, go do all this in your heart. The Lord is with you. So what's David actually saying here? He's right. Look how nice and elaborate and established my house is. It's greater than the housing of God's ark, and that shouldn't be because God is greater than me. Make sense? God is greater. That's the main premise that's lying behind this. And how could I have a house that's greater than God's? It's a good intention. He is right. And so that night, the Lord comes to Nathan the prophet, and God says, no. Perfectly logical, but not what God has determined, because God has something better. God says to Nathan, go tell my servant, David. Thus says the Lord. Now he's speaking as a prophet. And notice what he does with David. He puts him in his place. Who are you? Would you build me a house? First of all, I gave the instructions for the tent to begin with. That's my ark. That's my tent. That's how I designed it so that I could be with you wherever you're roaming. I don't need a leopard house. Have I ever said I needed a house? Why all of a sudden do you think I need a house? Who are you? It sounds a lot like Peter at the Mount of Transfiguration. We see this beautiful picture of Jesus transcendent in his glory and all white, and then we see Elijah and Moses, and Peter's first thought is, let's build some houses. Let's make this permanent. Let's glorify God. Well, Peter was wrong too. This is a correction, not the kind of correction Nathan's gonna give David later in chapter two. Just a step back. Our plans, even the most logical plans, even the plans where we're trying to glorify God, they're not always the best plans. We want God to establish our plans. We want God to direct our plans. And the main purpose of God is that we would worship Him appropriately. So here we see an interesting change. God says, no, who are you? He puts David in his place. You don't just figure out how you would worship me. You don't figure out what I need. I am the one who directs this. I am the one who leads you. And then just as God always does in his covenants, this is the Davidic covenant. We heard that in Psalm 89. This is the covenant made with David. God wants his people to remember. Remember. Our second point, remember God's goodness. First, know your place. Second, remember God's goodness. And notice what he says here, and it's all in the past tense. I took you from the pastor. I have been with you wherever you go. The only covenant that God doesn't remind his people of what he's done in the past is the Abrahamic covenant, because that was the first covenant with the people of that would become Israel. There's no reminding. I am the Lord. Go! And then when he comes to Moses, he says, I am the God of Abraham and of Jacob and Isaac. And then when he comes to David, I am the God of Abraham, Jacob, and Isaac, when he makes the covenant with him earlier, when he anoints him king earlier. Now he's reminding David, I've been with you these many years. David is reminded, you were a lowly shepherd. Your family didn't even invite you to the feast with Samuel. He had to go get you. And I made you prince. I have been with you. That's how David is successful. I am with you, God says. I am for you. The emphasis is that there's nothing new being brought about here other than God just clarifying exactly how he's going to bring his kingdom about. And that's why David is going to rejoice. A third point, and we're going to spend much more time here because this is what's most significant. Trust his promises. This is how the saints of old, this is how the Old Testament folks were saved. You believed God's promise. It's how we're saved. We believe God's promise. We just have a more clear vision of what that promise is, and that He promises salvation because Jesus has come to fulfill all those Old Testament promises. Notice the language changes in the second half of verse 9. Trust His promises. It becomes future. I will make for you a great name. That echoes the Abrahamic covenant. God said the same thing to Abraham. Now it's for David. His name will be made great. God is the one who does that. Like the name of the great ones of the earth. And, what else? I will appoint a place for my people, Israel, and will plant them. Notice that strong language of established. that they will dwell in their own place, not be disturbed. No more violence, no more affliction. From the time I appointed judges, I will give you rest. That first half of the promise is for David himself, and that his kingdom will know peace, will know rest, will be able to be settled, you will be able to build gardens, not worry about enemies coming in and taking and taking and taking. There's a beautiful aspect here that David is receiving a great promise that God is going to establish him. There's going to be peace. Now this is the kind of thing that a president in our country or a king who just comes onto his throne for the first time in the ancient Near Eastern world would kind of make. He would say, I'm going to prepare your boundaries. I'm going to make you safe. I'm going to provide food. You're going to have plenty. I'm going to help the economy. Notice David isn't campaigning. God isn't campaigning. God is just declaring what he will do. I will give you protection. I will give you peace. I will appoint this place and you will be blessed. Now the promises get more specific and they're more futuristic. Notice that change there in the halfway through verse 11. Moreover. Pause when you see a moreover. There's something heightening here. Not just peace right now, moreover. The Lord declares to you that the Lord will make you a house. Now we need to pause here for a second because house is one of the key words for this passage. Last week it was ark. This week it's house. And house is being used three different ways. The first way is house, as in the living structure that David had. It's a palace. It's a home. The second way is used is the house like a dynasty, a lineage. And we use this in our language, the house of Windsor. That is the family line. The third way is a house, and that is a temple. The Lord has told David, I gave you that house. You are not going to build me a house. But then he says, I will raise up one of your offsprings from your body and I will establish his kingdom. Verse 13, he shall build a house for my name. That's a temple. House as in the little house David lives in, house as in a dynasty, house as in a temple. God said, I don't need what your hands can do to protect my ark. I do not need what your hands can do to establish the place of my ark. You need me to establish the promises that I have committed to so that there will be a forever perfect king who provides this peace. He tells David, you're gonna die. And after you, I will raise up one of your children. And just listen to the language. His kingdom, his throne, his house will be forever established, planted, sure, built. Very sure. Very strong. Very certain. This sounds like the kind of living we want. Sounds like the kind of king we want. Well, how does God fulfill this promise? This is where it starts getting interesting. because this promise is very unique. I will establish him. I will build him. I will raise him up. I will show him love. Something very unique is the new kind of relationship God's gonna have. God is liking himself to a father, to the nation of Israel, but here he says specifically, this one son will have a unique relationship with me. I will be to him a father. He will be to me a son. I will discipline him. My steadfast love will never depart. How does God fulfill this? Well, without a doubt, the first fulfillment of this is Solomon, the son of David. He looks so promising. When God says, ask me anything you want, Solomon sounds like the king who's going to bring the peace because he says, give me wisdom so I can care for your people. And we see borders expanded. We see borders secured. But David follows his father's pattern. He takes many wives, he takes many concubines, and just as it was warned not to do this for a king in Deuteronomy 17, those foreign wives lead his heart astray to foreign gods. The kingdom is divided after Solomon, and if you just read the rest of the histories, and we're gonna continue 2 Samuel and see how David's house is even not one of peace. He doesn't have war from outside. His war because of his own sin comes from inside his household. But after Solomon, we wait a thousand years. Israel is promised to be established and planted, and yet because after Solomon the kingdom is divided, and then if you look at those little genealogies which are so important, that king did evil and led Israel to evil. That king did evil and led Israel to evil. That king did evil and led Israel to evil. Pretty amazing, David had a son on the throne in Jerusalem, in Judah, for over 400 years. It's one of the longest, if not the longest, dynasty ever, but God didn't say, I'll give you the longest dynasty. He said it'd be a forever dynasty. Well, how did it end? At the end of 2 Kings 25, Zedekiah, he provokes Nebuchadnezzar, and Nebuchadnezzar comes in and he destroys Jerusalem. And he lines up Zedekiah's sons before him and kill each one before Zedekiah, before gouging his eyes out. So that's the last thing he ever sees. And then he takes Zedekiah and the rest of Judah into captivity, dragged out. What happened? What happened to the forever king that's supposed to be planted and established? What is God doing? Did he fail? It is important to remember in the middle of that exile, Ezekiel speaks, and Ezekiel 34 is one of those key passages. He says, I see my sheep. I see that I'm being fed. And I myself will come and be their shepherd. And then he says, and I will establish the son of David to be their shepherd. Well, which one is it, God? Are you going to be the shepherd? Or is the son of David going to be the shepherd? We have some confusion. And then if you just look at how the Old Testament ends, if you had a Hebrew Bible, our Bible ends differently than the Hebrew Bible. The Hebrew Bible ends with 2 Chronicles 36. Thus says Cyrus, king of Persia, the Lord, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth and he has charged me to build him a house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Whoever is among you of his people, may the Lord his God be with him. Let him go up. God said one of David's sons will be on the throne forever. One of David's sons will build him a house. And now the king of Persia, just so you're very clear, that is a foreigner. That is not anyone near related to Abraham. He gives a verdict, he gives a declaration, freeing Israel from exile, sending Israel back, and he's the one who commissions that the house of God be rebuilt. You have to ask yourself, what in the world is going on? Not a son of David, not even a son of Abraham is the hero that ends the Bible. Did God fail? It's so slow, it's so confusing, that even a new temple, when they go back, it's a shanty. Nothing of the glory of God. And then if you actually look at the 400 years of silence, what happens? Alexander the Great conquers those who have gone back to Judah. And as we show up the New Testament, Rome is ruling them. A thousand years. Has God failed? Has God been too slow? Well, as we look at this, I want to make sure we see Solomon is a partial fulfillment, but not the true fulfillment. Cyrus is somehow some kind of weird, crazy partial fulfillment in God's power to cause a dilemma. And then Jesus arrives. A few weeks ago, we walked through the Gospel of Matthew. The Gospel of Matthew says the genealogy of Abraham and David. What Matthew wants to start his gospel with is to make it clear, the one who is born to be the Savior of Israel was born of David to fulfill this promise, and born of Abraham to fulfill the promise in Genesis 17. And then we saw in the triumphal entry in Matthew, Hosanna! Praise be to the Son of David! And he's now to the cross, and over his head they put the placard, the King of the Jews. Matthew's trying to help us see that Jesus is the fulfillment of all this promise. But I want us to go to another place that does it. Romans 1. You can turn there in your Bibles, Romans 1. This is how Paul opens the letter. Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God. which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures. That's what we're actually looking at right now, 2 Samuel 7. Concerning his son, who was descended from David according to the flesh, that is, he was born in Bethlehem. He was born a true child of David. But that's not it. Verse 4, and was declared to be the Son of God in power. according to the spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead. Jesus Christ our Lord. How is it that God could say I'm going to be your shepherd in Ezekiel 34 and the Son of David will be the shepherd? It's because Jesus Christ is both. Not just someone who's treated like the Son of God, but somebody who is the true, perfect, forever Son of God. How is it that he can say the Son of David's coming? He was born of the line of David. God has fulfilled every single promise in an amazing way, in a perfect way, after all the tension, and all the waiting, and all the frustration. Thousands of years. Here Jesus is. We should ask the question, what kind of king would we choose? If you could create your own king, what kind of king would you choose? That's an important question because if we look at the Gospels, they didn't get it. They didn't get it. Every time Jesus would predict that he was going to die and rise again, they got frustrated, even confronted Jesus. They wanted a king that would overthrow the government, the Roman rule that was abusive. They wanted a king that would win their battles and heal their diseases. Jesus came to be the king we need. I in no way want to make little of persecution among those churches and nations that do not allow gatherings. I in no way want to make little of cancer and viruses and the things that plague us and the fallen world of sickness. A harsh king, an unjust king, a persecuting king, sickness and death, those are all things that are truly terrifying. They're not the biggest problem. They're not the most important problem. The most important problem is the sin that dwells in us. See, God is not going to judge us for the things that happen to us. God is going to judge us for the things we do. And we have all sinned. We have all rejected him. We have all refused to be in our proper place, submitting to God and honoring him and thanking him. We've all decided to try to throw him off and do things our own way. And we all deserve judgment. That's why when Jesus comes in John 10 and says, I am the good shepherd, it's relieving news. He's saying I'm the one Ezekiel spoke of in 34. He's saying I'm the one Nathan spoke of in 2 Samuel 7. He's saying I'm the one that was spoken to of Abraham. He's even saying I'm the one that God promised would crush the head of Satan in Genesis 3. He's a true and absolute fulfillment of all the promises. Well, what kind of king is he? He defines his kingship in a very specific way. I will lay down my life for my sheep. I know them all by name. I know each of them better than they know themselves. I know all their little tics and their problems and their insecurities, and I'll help those, but the most important thing is that I lay it on my life so that they might be forgiven of their sin, so that they might have the righteousness that I would impute to them. This is where that declaration in 2 Samuel 7, I will discipline him with the rod of man, is a little confusing because Jesus is never disciplined for the sins he committed, but yet he still received stripes. He received the rod. Isaiah 53 makes it very clear, with his stripes we are healed. The Lord has laid on us, on him the iniquity of us all. He. was punished not to be disciplined for his sin. He was punished so that we would not receive judgment for our sin. There's also a way we can look at what he said regarding his body. Remember, one of the definitions of house isn't just the dynasty. Jesus is the final fulfillment of the one king who's going to reign forever because he died, he rose, he ascended, and he's on the throne now, forever. There's also a way in which he's the temple. Remember one of the false accusations against Jesus is that they went before the sovereigns and they said, he said he's going to tear down the temple. Well that's twisting his words. He simply said, tear down this temple and I will raise it up in three days. He's speaking of his own body. He's saying this temple, my body is going to be destroyed. You're going to hang me on a cross and don't worry disciples, I'm telling you now, I'll rise again. There will be a resurrection. The importance of his body being the temple is found in Hebrews 10, 20, where it says, the curtain which was his flesh is where we enter into the presence of God, because that is how he brought peace between us and God, when there was enmity. If you're not a Christian this morning, the invitation is free to believe that God is good, that God has made these promises, that God is able to keep these promises, that God promises you can be forgiven if you believe in Jesus Christ. My encouragement to you would be to consider Mark 10 today. A blind man cries out to Jesus, have mercy on me, son of David. This blind man could see the truth. that his only hope was for Jesus to heal him. And so even after being told to stop crying out, he would not stop crying out because there's only one who can actually heal him. Have mercy on me. That word mercy is the same as what we saw earlier, that word of love. Steadfast love. The Hebrew there is hesed. It's established, promised, covenant love. Mercy is the New Testament translation of that same word. Show me kindness. Son of David. The blind man saw it. You can see it. If you call upon his name for forgiveness. The second thing we see for Christians. Remember what Jesus has said. He knows us. We don't have to wonder about his love. We don't have to wonder about his care. We can be so confused about our circumstances. We can be so confused about what he might be doing when we can't trace his finger. We always want to look up and see his smiling face and the promises he set and the way he's always shown his kindness. Israel had to wait for a thousand years through all kinds of confusion. I just highlighted some of the high points. Christian, trust him. Christian, if you're wrestling with guilt, you too can cry out, have mercy on me, son of David. He's quick to forgive. Katie, this morning you're pursuing baptism. And we're applying baptism because we've heard your testimony and we see evidence of grace and we're so thankful that your desire is to follow this king in obedience. And we all need to hear that he still disciplines us because we are his children. We all need to remember that discipline is because of love. He disciplines us so that we will grow, that we will mature, so that we will see Him as He is, and so that we will be able to glorify Him more. As we conclude, I'll look at how David responds next week, but I want to see just a few high points, and I want to see verse 18. Notice God first said, who are you, David? Notice how David responds, verse 18, who am I? Who am I? That's the right response of the gospel. Who am I to receive such kindness? Who am I to receive such gifts? Our Heavenly Father is the giver of every good and perfect gift. And those who truly receive it, they don't look up and say, is this it? Can't you be doing more? No, those who really receive the gift are full of gratitude. even amazement as we see her sin and we see how God is so quick and absolute to help us. We say, who am I to receive such kindness? There's two important truths we need to recognize that God is praiseworthy for. First, He speaks. He speaks so we can know Him. He speaks so that we know what to expect. He speaks so that we know what He expects of us. He speaks so that we can enjoy Him in a loving relationship where we submit to His authority. And He speaks full words, not empty words. He speaks, and the second thing is, He's not a God of weakness. He's not a God who is incapable. He speaks these promises to David, and David believes them because he's seen how he's worked, and now he knows he will do it. Do we trust a God who speaks? And do we expect Him to act? He's a God who gives amazing promises, and then He always fulfills them in a way that we can never imagine. Praise God. The second thing, pray with courage. Pray with courage, because the king sits at the right hand of the father, and he says, in my name, you can ask whatever you want. In my name, you can go before God, and you can call him father. He's given us that relationship. You can go to him, and you don't live, and you don't worship in a shanty. You get to enter into the holy of holies. the presence of God. You can see the glory of God if you come in my name, pursuing him according to my way. Pray with courage. Third, pursue what is best. And this is just a warning here because it's interesting, David begins this entire episode with his own proposal. God, I want to build you a house. That's good, but it's not what's best. It wasn't a bad idea. It wasn't a bad notion. God is actually going to build a house with his son. We need to realize God's ways are higher than our ways. When we want to be settled and establish our plans, we're taking second best. We want to pursue what is best. That means when we're disciplined, we actually thank God rather than grumble. When we worship, we want what is best. We want to give God what is most glorious. Pursue what is best. What are our time commitments? What are our promises? Are we saying like Joshua, as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord? Finally, stand firm. I'd love to see what this looks like for David, and what his posture is that he's hearing, and we don't have that. But he's just receiving. David is getting corrected in a most kind way, but he's doing nothing but actively receiving the promises. It's important we think about what active receiving is. That's the word we use, trust or belief. But really he's doing nothing but letting God speak. Soaking that in and saying, thus has said the Lord. It isn't trying to be busy. It isn't trying to be controlling. It isn't trying to figure out how am I gonna make this happen. It's just being at peace and still and standing in the promises of God. That's hard. We like to feel like we have some control when we're doing something. We like to feel like we have some control when we're active and doing something. Praise God, there's these seasons, this whole Christian life at some level. Actively receiving what God says He will do and what God is doing. This passage is important for us to meditate upon, mainly because we see how God is so perfect through not just a thousand years afterwards fulfilling this promise in the most glorious, amazing way by sending Jesus, God's own son, the son of David, to die for us, but we see how God is, the whole plan is to, again, reunite us in a right relationship. And that means we recognize his authority is good, We recognize Him being our King is good. We seek to receive His promises. We seek to obey His commandments, all trusting what He says is good. Will you pray with me? Father, we thank You, Lord, that You are the good God. You have not left us alone to do what is right in our own eyes. You have refused to leave us in the condition of believing that we can be our own kings. Thank you that you've set apart Abraham, Moses, David, and many others to establish these promises, to establish your plans, so that when we look back, we can see how your hand is moving with such purpose and power and kindness. Thank you that we can look to Jesus. And in him we see every yes and amen. Thank you that we can look up to him as our good shepherd who knows us, who has laid down his life for us, who has demonstrated perfect love for us. Help us to trust his word all the more. Help our unbelief. Have mercy on us, son of David. Give us forgiveness. Give us the rest we long for. Help us, Lord, to trust you're coming back, and you will complete your work. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.