2 Samuel 7 God Turns David’s Plan Into A Promise

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Transcript

David’s Rest And New Home

SPEAKER_00 0:12

Second Samuel Chapter Seven is where we're at. Second Samuel Seven. All right. Second Samuel seven. We are considering the life of David. We know that. Now, at this point in the story, Second Samuel, things have changed. And things have changed. David is now officially king. And when you see him, here he is listed as such, the king. Now, he's arrived in that sense, but something we pointed out in the character that God's building in him and the life of David, he's never arrived. Because you never arrived until you get to heaven. None of us have arrived. It doesn't matter if we're five or 105. You aren't done with God working in your life until you get to heaven. And so we see that it's the continued formation of character in David's life. Well, we're in chapter 7, verse 1. Let's read it. Now it came to pass when the king was dwelling in his house, and the Lord had given him rest from all his enemies all around. That the king said to Nathan the prophet, See now, I dwell in a house of cedar, but the ark of God dwells inside tent curtains. Then Nathan said to the king, Go, do all that's in your heart, for the Lord is with you. So here we see in chapter 7, David's dwelling in a house. You flash back to chapter 5, and uh individual named Hiram, uh king of Tyre, I believe it is, um, you know, he becomes friends there with with David and and encourages him by bringing timbers and stones and stonemasons and carpenters. And they build David a house. Um so picture that David's in a house, not not it was an uncommonly nice house, even. But then also in verse one, notice it says God had given him rest from all his enemies. Rest. And you can picture that. That's a nice thought, isn't it? David's got a new house, um, and he's got rest, rest and blessing, and God's done it. That's um that's a nice thought, especially that word rest, isn't it? Because life is it it feels like it's rarely a time of rest in our lives. And I picture the sea after Jesus calms it there in the Gospels, and everything just and there was a great still, a great calm. And I picture that when I look at this and say rest, nice place, you know. Life is humming as a well-oiled machine, you know. It's like the vacation life if your vacation goes well, you know, where you just stand there and and the wind is softly blowing, and you just you take a deep breath and you go, man, life is good, you know. Rest. Um, now this is great, right? We we should be very happy for David here. Um, and and yet I want to say this is a time of danger. Rest and blessing is a wonderful thing, but a time of rest can often be a time of great danger. Uh, we see this in the life of David later on. Now he does well here in chapter 7, so I don't want to pursue this too much, but in 2 Samuel 11, it's a time of rest for David. We read there in chapter 11 that it's the time that kings went out to war, and David is taking a nap on top of his house. Well, I got other people I can send. I don't have to go out to war, I'll just rest. And you know the story as he's there taking a little nap, strolling around the terrace, deep breath, and what does he notice but a woman taking a bath, right? Uh odd enough, right? But David is there resting and he takes a look and he takes a longer look. And that longer look, you know, goes to inquiry. And and very quickly in that time of rest when David wasn't doing what he was supposed to be doing, when he wasn't aware, we realize that David uh went from a resting king to a pervert, then an adulterer, then a liar, and finally a murderer, all before the chapter is done. Um, so a time of rest is a wonderful thing, but we need to be aware because it's a time when we can have our worst fallings, right? Now, thankfully, this isn't that time uh for David. Um, and it's not even bad, but here's David resting, and he looks at his house, right? Still got that new house smell, I'm sure, you know. And and he looks at it and he goes, This is nice. You know, this is a far cry from the the cave I used to live in, literally, right? And and he's just enjoying it, and he goes, but but but God is not living in a house, God's living in a tent just down the road, right? Now, God wasn't living in a tent, but the ark was there. God's presence was said to be there. And and David looks and he goes, This isn't right. Why do I live in a house, this beautiful house, and God lives in a tent, and he begins to think. He begins to think, I want to do something about this, and that's a great place to be, isn't it? Where he looks at his life and he goes, God, you've been so good to me. I just want to do something for you. It's that response of worship in our lives. That's a good thing, right? Romans 12, 1. This is a good verse to have down. In the New Living, it says this. And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you, give your bodies to God because of all that he has done for you. And that's the response of worship in our lives. Just like David, where we look at our lives, we go, God, my family, uh, this place, the way you provide for me, God, you've been so good to me. I just want to do something for you. And that's where David's at. And it's good. And he vocalizes it with his friend Nathan notice, because Nathan comes in in verse three. He's there, it seems, see in verse two, see now I dwell in a house of cedar, but the ark of God dwells inside ten curtains. And Nathan, his friend, said to the king, Go do all that is in your heart, for the Lord is with you. And Nathan, hearing this, says, That's a good idea. I see what you're getting at here, David. I see you want to build God a house. Boy, that would be a great idea. Slam dunk. And and Nathan says, Go ahead and and do it. Now, that's the wonderful response of God's blessing in our life. It leads to worship, it leads to action, you know, in our lives to the Lord. But in this case, it's not what God wanted. Let's read on verse four. But it happened that night that the word of the Lord came to Nathan, saying, Go and tell my servant David, thus says the Lord, would you build me a house? Uh, build a house for me to dwell in? For I have not dwelt in a house since the time I brought the children of Israel up from Egypt, even to this day. But I've moved about in a tent and in a tabernacle. Whenever I have moved about with all the children of Israel, uh, have I ever spoken a word to anyone from the tribes of Israel whom I commanded to shepherd my people, saying, Israel, saying, Why have you not built me a house of cedar? Now therefore, thus you shall say to my servant David, thus says the Lord of hosts, I took you from the sheepfold and from following sheep to be ruler over my people over Israel. And I have been with you wherever you have gone, and cut off all your enemies from before you, and it made your made you a great name, like the name of the great men who are on the earth. Moreover, I will appoint a place for my people Israel, and I will plant them that they may dwell in this place of their own and move no more, nor shall the sons of wickedness oppress them anymore, as previously, since the time that I commanded judges to be over my people Israel, and have caused uh you to rest from all your enemies. Also, the Lord tells you that he will make you a house. Now, here we are. God comes to Nathan in in the night time there. And Nathan gets word from the Lord, hey, that do all that's in your heart. That wasn't me, Nate. You need to go back and tell David that's not what's gonna happen. Now, Nathan, let's just consider him for a second. We don't know much about him, he's just listed as a prophet. Uh, we don't know if he's a Levite or a priest or any of that. He's just a prophet, he's a guy that God speaks to, and he speaks to other people, right? And that's what a prophet does, rather simply, like. And Nathan is his friend, I think we could gather from this. He's his advisor. And Nathan tells David the hard things. Now, I can imagine this was a hard thing for Nathan now to go back and say, you know what I said about do all that's in your heart? God says no. No, you can't. Uh, we find out there in in uh 1 Chronicles the reason why God said no. One of the reasons was because David was a man of blood. And Nathan tells him precisely, Dave, it's a great idea, but you can't do it. God's not gonna let you do it. Um, sorry, I spoke too soon. But Nathan tells him the hard things, and I'll just put it out there. We need people like that in our life. Later on, with that same sin with Bathsheba, Nathan's the one that comes to David and says, David, you're the man. You're the one that did this evil in the sight of God. And he tells David the hard things. We absolutely need people like that in our life that we can receive what God has us say, good, bad, or ugly, right? We now we need to be people that can speak that kind of truth into people's life in love, right? And Nathan is that guy here. And he gives David the message from the Lord we we can imagine. And God says, look, did I ever ask for a temple? I mean, let's just think about this, guys. I never asked since the day that I took him out of Israel. I've never said I had a problem with this tabernacle. Now, of course, God doesn't really live there, right? So it's not that important. The building is not that important, but God says, I didn't ask for this, I'm not complaining. Um, and there's probably good reason for that, really. Um, because a tabernacle is a good picture of Jesus, right? Paul talks about this tent that we live in. He says, This mortal tent, it breaks down. And if we lose this mortal tent, our bodies, one day we have a habitation in heaven eternal, right? And so Paul says, our bodies like a tent. God wants a tabernacle. Why? I think it's pretty obvious, it's Jesus, right? Uh there in John chapter one, John's wonderful beginning to the book, calls Jesus the Word, right? And there in verse 14, John says, and the word became flesh and dwelt among us. You know, yeah, okay, so Jesus became flesh and lived among us. That word dwelt is interesting. It means that the word Jesus became flesh and he put up his tent right next to ours. I mean, that's what that word dwelt means. It's very specific. That God put his tent next to ours and lived with us. That's what Jesus did. He came in a real body and lived among us. So the tabernacle is actually a better picture of what God would do for us. Um, that God would be right in the middle of his people. Wherever they go, he goes, right? And so folks says, I never asked, I never asked for a building, but it's okay, right? And I think the picture goes on. We have, you know, a home eternal in the heavenlings that one day will forever be with the Lord, permanent home. And there is a temple, right? Um, David has this in his mind. God says, Well, you can't do it, Dave, but even more. It's it's not the way I'd want to go about it. Now, notice, though, verse nine. God gives him a little bit of a history lesson. And I think this is just to blow David away with what's coming next. He says, I've been with you wherever you've gone. I've cut off all your enemies, I've made your name great. Dave, remember, you used to be a shepherd, you used to be watching sheep, and there you were, not the biggest, not the strongest, not the best looking. And I chose you to be king. David, I blessed you, and I'm gonna keep blessing you. Now, notice the extended blessing there in verse 12. When your days are fulfilled and you rest with your fathers, when you die, and that's a great picture for us too, right? And he doesn't say, When you when you when you die, Dave, and you go in the dirt. No, when you rest with your fathers, now that sounds nice because I tell you, every day, every Sunday, I'd like to take naps and rest. Sounds nice, you know what I mean? Is death all that bad? No, it's just rest. That's good, right? He says, You're gonna rest with your fathers, and I will set up your seed after you, who will come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be his father, and he shall be my son. If he commits iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men and with the blows of the sons of men. But my mercy shall not depart from him, as I took it from Saul, I whom I removed from before you, and your house and your kingdom shall be established forever before you, your throne. Uh, sorry, what did I do here? Uh, before you, your throne shall be established forever. According to all these words and according to all this vision, so Nathan spoke to David. So there's this extended blessing. God says, I've done so much for you, I've taken you from the sheepfolds, I've made your enemies, you know, serve you, and and wait, there's more, right? The extended blessing, isn't that just how God is? He just blesses and blesses and blesses, and that's who he is. God wants to bless us for sure. Um I remember uh a successful Christian businessman was once asked, um, what's the secret of your success as a Christian businessman? And he says, you know what I do? I keep shoveling it all over to God. But what do I find out? God has a bigger shovel, right? Now, it's not just about name it and claim it. This is not just this kind of thing, you know, if you give, God will bless you. That's not what I'm talking about there. Um, but but what I'm talking about is that God really wants us in a place where he can bless us. And just stop and look at your life. Oh, there's hard things, there's trials, but the wonderful blessings of God in our life, that's what he likes to do. That's what he wants to do. Um, now the prophetic word here is deep, and let's come back for this for just a moment. The prophetic word here is both near and far. That's what we find in the things that God says many times. There's a near fulfillment and a far fulfillment. Verse 12, we already went over it. He says, You'll die, you'll rest with your fathers, and I will set up your seed there. That's Solomon, right? I'll establish his kingdom. Verse 13, he'll build me a house, and I will establish his throne forever. And notice, I think it's still talking about Solomon here in verse 14. Uh I'll be a father to him and he shall be a son. There's a relationship. And if he commits iniquity, I'll chasten him. He's gonna commit iniquity. And we look at Solomon, and that's the rough thing. So much potential, but you know, he he he really he really went head on into sin. That was his heart. Um, but if he commits, I'll chasten him, I'll discipline him. But verse 15, I won't forsake him like I did Saul. I remember there came that point where God said, Saul, I'm done. Um just we're going somewhere else, we're doing something else. And and God won't do that same thing to Solomon. Why? Because of Solomon, probably not. I think it was for David, right? He says, I'm gonna work through him, and and we'll we'll keep him, we'll keep him there until the day he dies. And your kingdom, verse 16, will be forever. Your throne will be forever. Now, what's the history of Israel after that? We won't go through the whole thing, but this is basically how it goes after Solomon dies. Solomon's son Rehboam is not very smart, he's a young guy, he's kind of spontaneous. And through a process of events, he loses the kingdom, makes some really dumb decisions. And the kingdom is split north and south. Solomon's son Rehboam, he's only in charge in the south, two tribes, Benjamin and Judah. And really, Benjamin was just for the fact that Jerusalem is in Benjamin. So he loses it all, right? The kingdoms are divided, and the kings in the north are pretty much exclusively wicked and evil. In time, they fall to the Assyrians and are just pretty much just dispersed, wiped out, all these kinds of things. The tribes, the two tribes in the south are a little bit longer, they last. They have good kings, they have bad kings, um, but ultimately the Babylonians take them away. So when you look at this, I make this promise and says, Your kingdom will be forever. And yet there was a very clear stopping point in the kingdom of Israel and in the kingdom of Judah. Uh, there was a very clear destruction of them in judgment. And that came, and the prophet said that that would come. But we know that's not the end of it. Um that's not the end of it because Jesus is that descendant of David. Mark chapter 10, uh, and many other places, Jesus is referred to as the son of David. Mark chapter 10, you'll remember it's blind Barnabaius on the road to Jericho. Great guy, lots of spirit, right? And Barnabai, he's blind, he doesn't know, but he hears Jesus is coming, and he starts to shout out, not Jesus, help me, but Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me. And he just keeps saying it, son of David, son of David. He's referring to this. Jesus is that descendant of David who will be king forever. And this blind guy, ironically, sees it, right? And that's who Jesus is, the son of David, the Messiah, the king of an eternal kingdom. And we see that that's the way it's gonna go down, right? Uh, the book of David. Daniel chapter two. It's the thing of the kingdoms of the earth. And finally, God's king comes from heaven as a rock and smashes that statue. Remember what I'm talking about, right? And it consumes the earth. It grows to consume the earth. And that's the kingdom of Jesus, the son of David, that goes on forever. And that's the happily ever after of the whole story. And God here promises, David, I'm going to build you a house. Your dynasty will live forever. Not because of you or Solomon or any other guys, but because of Jesus, the King of all time, forever and ever and ever. Now, let's finish it up. David's response. It's so simple and it's so beautiful. And it's the response that we ought to have in our lives when God shows us blessing. Then King David went in and sat before the Lord, and he said, Who am I, O Lord God? And what is my house that you've brought me this far? And yet, this was a small thing in your sight, O Lord God, and you have spoken of your servant's house for a great while to come. Is this the manner of man, O Lord God? Now, what more can David say to you? For you, Lord God, know your servant. For your word's sake, and according to your own heart, you have done all these great things to make your servant know them. Therefore, you are great, O Lord God, for there is none like you, nor is there any God besides you, according to all that we have heard with our ears. And who is like your people, like Israel, one nation on the earth whom God uh went to redeem for himself as a people, to make for himself a name, and to do for yourself great and awesome deeds for your land, before your people, in whom you redeem and yourself uh for yourself from Egypt, the nations and their gods. For you have made your people Israel, your very own people forever, and you, Lord, have become their God. Now, O Lord God, the word which you have spoken concerning your servant and concerning this house, his house, establish it forever, and do as you have said. And so let your name be magnified forever, saying, The Lord of hosts is the God over Israel, and let the house of your servant David be established before you. For you, O Lord of hosts, God of Israel, have revealed this to your servant, saying, I will build to you a house. Therefore, your servant has found it in his heart to pray this prayer to you. And now, O Lord God, you are God, and your words are true. You have promised this goodness to your servant. Now, therefore, let it please you to bless the house of your servant, that it may continue before you forever. For you, O Lord God, have spoken it, and with your blessing, let the house of your servant be blessed forever. And it's just this worship and thanks. And David, of course, goes on not to build the temple, but to provide, right? It's a different take on that call in his heart to provide for the temple. He sets it up for his son, he draws plans and all these different things. But it's just this response of God, you're just so good to me. So good to me. You're gonna do what you said you're gonna do. And and and it's just wonderful to see. So, God, um I know that's really what you want. We think of all the great things that you can do in us and through us and and all these different things, but God, um, so little to do with us, and everything to do with you, your faithfulness and your kindness, your goodness. That we rest in that, and we just rejoice in that as well. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.