Read 2 Samuel 7:1-29
David has now become secure in Jerusalem. The enemies, both within God’s people and outside, have been subdued. David has brought the Ark of the Covenant, the symbol of God’s presence, into the heart of the people. And he has built himself a magnificent palace. But something still nagged away at him. Yes, he lived in comfort, luxury even, but the Ark, the perpetual reminder of God’s presence and grace, was housed in the ragged tent that it had been in during all those years in the wilderness. Didn’t God deserve better than that? Shouldn’t the Ark also be in a splendid building? David expressed this thought to his prophet, Nathan, who said, ‘sure boss, whatever you have in mind, go with it!’
But God came to the prophet Nathan to change his (and David’s) mind. The Lord said that he didn’t need a house to live in. In all these years in the wilderness did he ever ask for a house for the Ark? No! And the Lord then made a wonderful promise to David using a bit of word play. He said to David, through the prophet Nathan, ‘I don’t want you to build a house for me, instead I will build a house for you’. And what the Lord meant by this was that he was going to build a house in the sense of a dynasty for David, (like we say that the present queen is from the House of Windsor), v12 – ‘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’. What a promise that is from the Lord.
But there is more. The Lord said in verse 16, ‘Your house and your kingdom shall endure for ever before me, your throne shall be established forever’. This is an astonishing promise and the Lord says that his love will never be taken from the king and that this kingdom is eternal; death won’t stop it, sin won’t destroy it and it will never run out of time (vv12-16). While it is a wonderful promise there is a question hanging over it. As we read on in the Old Testament we see that the monarchy does eventually die out. There is a king descended from David on the throne but only up to the time the Babylonians invade and the Israelites are taken into exile. After that there is no king over Israel, so what does that say about God’s promise of there always being a Davidic king ruling eternally?
For the answer to that we have to go to the New Testament. Matthew and Luke tell us that Jesus is descended from David and we read that Jesus is the Son of God, that he is Lord of Lords and King of Kings. It is Jesus, who died and was raised up by God the Father, who is the promised king, descended from David and who will reign and whose throne is established forever.
David’s response to God’s love and grace was to pray to God, saying (v22) ‘How great you are’ – doesn’t that make you think of the hymn that we often sing and when we think of what Jesus has done for us what can we do but sing:
Then sings my soul, my Saviour God to Thee
How great Thou art, how great Thou art