God’s Promise To David Transcript

Well, we must be flexible in life, huh? When I woke up this morning, I was not planning on transforming this room into a worship space. But you know, we sang quite loud. We sang quite fruitfully. There is a closeness that we're here today.

And I give God praise for that. And so I give God praise that we are able to worship Him no matter where we are. For God is good and God is ever -present. Which speaks to today's passage. David had a successful political career up to this point.

He went from being a lowly shepherd, the smallest of his brothers, to being selected as king, being a general essentially under Saul, and eventually taking Saul's place as king. Up until this point, we left several years ago in our last week's reading. We've jumped forward quite a bit again because Saul hadn't even been chosen as king last week. And now Saul's already been king.

It doesn't go well for him. His sons don't obey God. And so God says, I'm choosing someone else. That prophecy that God had given that said, why do you ask for a king? This isn't going to go well for you, is really living out. But here we have David.

He's been successful against battling his enemies. He's been successful over and over again, rising to the kingship. And now he has a home in Jerusalem. A house. And he's looking at all that he has and all that has happened.

I believe he is giving God thanks for what he has. He's recognizing that where he is in that moment is because God helped him along the way. I don't think he's seeing it as his own abilities, his own military proclivities. I think he's honestly desiring to thank God. He's seeing himself living in this comfortable home, this comfortable palace, and he's saying, you know what we need? We need to build something for God just as luxurious, just as powerful, just as important because God gave me this.

And he goes to Nathan and Nathan at first says, sure, go ahead and do it. Whatever you choose to do, God is behind you. So go ahead and build it. But then God speaks to Nathan and Nathan shares this with David and says, David, you are not the one who's going to build me this house. You have a house. I know you want to build me a house. Or a temple. But what I'm going to do instead, because you're not the one who's going to do this, I'm going to build you a house, a household, a dynasty. And it's going to last and last. And there will always be someone from your lineage on the throne.

So there are ways of reading this passage that maybe David wasn't worthy to build the temple. Or David wasn't the one who has this idea that God doesn't live in temples. It's not needed. God says, I've lived in tents and moved among the people this long. Why in the world do I need a house? And there's ways of reading this passage that puts David in a poor light. But I don't think that's quite fair.

Nathan, on the other hand, might get into a little trouble in his betrayal in this passage. David has been so successful in everything he's done so far. Obviously, God has been with him. Nathan automatically assumes, as soon as David says to Nathan, you know, I'm going to build God a temple. Nathan says, go and do it. God's behind. He's been behind you so far. Just go and do it.

God calls Nathan back. Says, wait a minute. This isn't quite right. This other thing is going to happen. So we need to be careful when we believe God's been on our side. When we claim that God's on our side, we need to be careful to not just assume that God's going to be behind us no matter what we do.

We need to constantly go back to God and ask, God, what is it that you want me to do? God, you've been with me this far. But I don't want to do something that you don't want for me. I don't want to do something that will distract from you. I don't want to do something that will deter your plans. So tell me what you think I should do.

We should always be humble enough to go back to God and say, tell me what I should be doing in this moment, in the here and now. What should I do next? We should never just assume that God is on our side. And this is what Nathan does when he first tells David. That he should go and build the temple.

Fortunately, God speaks to Nathan and says, wait a minute. Before David gets too far down this path, share this message with him. That I am not worried about a house. I'm not worried about a temple. I'm not worried about my comfort. What I'm going to do is continue to bless you and your family and the people through you and your family.

I think David was thinking about it in terms of God needing a place just as opulent as his. And God said, David is saying, wait, what this is for is the people. I'm going to give you a steady dynasty for the sake of the people. Because up until this point, they have never had a succession plan. They have never had inherited kingdom.

Saul is chosen, not randomly, but Saul is chosen by God. His sons are unworthy to become king next. And so David is selected. There's been all of the judges beforehand, each kind of rising up and ruling over the people and helping the people. The people manage and live. Some doing well, some doing poorly. The people doing well, the people doing poorly.

We remember at the end of the judges, it said, The people did what was right in their own eyes, for there was no king. There's been a lot of political turmoil and no guidance for the people up until this point. I believe what God is promising David is he's saying, hold off and wait. But I'm going to give you a lineage, a dynasty, a household that lasts generations. And I think it's for the sake of the people.

And so while we tend to think temporally, we tend to think short term, God is thinking the long game. God is thinking what's going to happen a year from now, 10 years from now, 50 years from now, 100 years from now. Where are the people going to be? Is the temple what's needed right now or is something else to give stability?

And so we need to look at that long range plan as well. It's not just about what we want in the here and now. It's not what we believe we should be doing. It's not what we believe we should be doing. It's not what we believe God wants us to do right now. We need to look at the long game and say, God, what will bring fruitfulness? What will bear fruitfulness long into the future? What will ensure that you have a household long into the future? And how can we be a part of that?

We always go back to ask God what God wants us to do. We always have an eye to the long future of what God's ultimate plans are. We're going to go to Solomon next. And Solomon does well. But David's lineage, it's important. We talk about here and now is this promise that God makes. We have to go back to and try to understand.

And as Christians, we do that one way. Jews do it a different way. Ultimately, David's lineage, David's sins, Solomon's sins, Solomon's sons, it gets progressively worse as the kingdom and the dynasty and the kingship passes until eventually Israel splits into two kingdoms, the North Kingdom and the South Kingdom. And then we find out that this promise that God made, that Solomon of David's lineage would always sit on the throne, doesn't quite happen in the physical sense.

As Christians, we come at that and we say we trace that through. Jews look at it as a messianic promise, and they're still waiting for that promised expectation. As Christians, we say that messianic promise, that lineage of David always sitting on the throne, follows through to Jesus Christ. If you go back and read the early Gospels, they trace their lineage back to David, to show that this promise that God has made to David, that there will always be someone sitting on the throne, is fully realized in Jesus Christ.

And so as we approach the next week and a half, as elections come, we ultimately have this promise made to David to rely on. Because the one who sits on the throne now is good and holy and just. The one that sits on the throne, has conquered death and has conquered evil, and stands against the evil powers in this world and all that would seek to destroy life. The one that sits on the throne now, who beckons us to follow, to be more like Him, to seek after Him with our hearts and minds and strength, is with us, will always be with us, and gives us the strength that we need to face whatever may come.

This promise that was given to David, that has a lot of tumultuous history, up and down, doesn't go according to how David thinks it's going to go. It doesn't go to how we think it should go, when God gives this powerful promise. But isn't that ultimately also what we need to do? We need to recognize that as we seek after God's plan, we seek after God's will, sometimes we're going to get it right, sometimes we're going to get it wrong. When we get it right, sometimes it's going to go according to how we think it's going to go, and sometimes it's not.

But ultimately, ultimately, when we put our eyes on God, put our trust in Christ, we can trust in the outcome, and not in the path that it took. Because when we trust in the outcome, we can weather the storms, the highs and the lows. If we expect a particular journey, and it doesn't go that way, then our faith is shaken. And sometimes we abandon the journey itself, rather than getting to where God wants us to be.

So this promise, this promise to David's sincere desire to build something of grandeur for God, born out of a desire to say, thank you, I believe, results in a promise that gives us strength and courage today to face whatever may come, and to plan and work alongside God for his redemptive work for the kingdom. And ultimately, we become the very sanctuary, the place of God's holiness within us, through the power of the Spirit, that David wanted to build that day.