Word of Encouragement (10/19/2023)
Then King David went in and sat before the LORD and said, "Who am I, O Lord GOD, and what is my house, that you have brought me thus far? 19And yet this was a small thing in your eyes, O Lord GOD. You have spoken also of your servant's house for a great while to come, and this is instruction for mankind, O Lord GOD! 20 And what more can David say to you? For you know your servant, O Lord GOD! (2 Sam. 7:18-20)
David was in awe. He expressed his desire to Nathan the prophet to build a temple for the LORD. But the LORD said no because he had shed much blood. Even so, God honored his goodwill and established a covenant for him and his household. David knew that Saul, his predecessor, did not receive this honor. He was humbled and overjoyed: “Who am I, O Lord GOD, and what is my house, that you have brought me thus far?” His journey from being anointed by Samuel as a young lad to being crowned king of Israel was a long and tumultuous one, but he also knew that it was possible only because of God’s grace: “I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep, that you should be prince over my people Israel. And I have been with you wherever you went and have cut off all your enemies from before you” (vv. 8-9).
But as he reflected on the covenant he had just received, David realized that all that God had done for him thus far was only “a small thing” in God’s eyes. What did God promise in this covenant? “When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall 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” (vv. 12-13). Oh, to receive this promise when Saul’s kingship lasted only one generation! David had yet many more years to reign as king. But kingship would remain in his house even after he had gone. What he could not do—i.e., building a house for the LORD—his son would do for him. And God would establish his kingdom forever!
But did David fully realize the full extent and scope of God’s promise to him? Yes, his son, Solomon, would build a beautiful and magnificent temple for the LORD. He would usher in a golden age for Israel and make Israel great in the eyes of the nations. And kings would come after him from his household. But, unfortunately, Solomon would marry many foreign wives and be led astray to allow pagan worship in Israel. This would cause Israel to be divided into two kingdoms.
When God established this covenant with David, He had in mind something far greater than David could ever imagine. “Your offspring after you” would be none other than the incarnate Son of God, whom he addressed as “my Lord” (Ps. 110:1) under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. And “a house for my name,” which David’s promised Offspring would build, would be far greater than the temple Solomon had built. It would be a living temple, built with the living stones of God’s holy saints, with the Son of God as the Cornerstone (1 Pet. 2:5-6). Unlike Solomon’s temple, this temple cannot be destroyed. And the throne of David’s promised Offspring would be forever, not because other kings would come after Him but because He would reign forever as the resurrected Lord, who conquered sin and death and Satan and hell!
What David did not, and could not, know, we do—how grand His promises to David actually were and how He had fulfilled them marvelous in Jesus Christ! And by God’s grace, we have been made beneficiaries of God’s covenant with David. But even we do not fully know the full extent and scope of the covenant. We will know only when we enter the heavenly glory, which God had prepared for us. “O Christ, He is the fountain / The deep, deep well of love / The streams on earth I've tasted / More deep I'll drink above / There to an ocean fullness / His mercy doth expand / And glory, glory dwelleth / In Immanuel's land” (“Sands of Time are Sinking”). Let us cherish this hope and persevere in faith!