“David, The Covenant”
2 Samuel 7:1-29
Vs. 1-3 A desire to give our best
Vs. 4-9 A shepherd, not a contractor
Vs. 10-17 A building not made with hands
Intro.
What we have in this section is what has been called the Davidic Covenant, a declaration that reaches far beyond David to Israel and even you and me. While David was wandering for some 20 years, he wrote in Psalm 132 that he would not rest until he built God a dwelling place. But it all starts with a king’s heart to give his best for God and is told NO! It is difficult for us to hear no, especially when what we ask for is clearly the right heart and motive; in fact, it is a desire to be a blessing to God and His people. I know of no servant that handles this well, but David reveals to us a heart that says, “If I can’t have it my way, then I’ll be involved in any way you want me to be!”
A desire to give our best
Vs. 1 Now chapter 8 tells us “that David attacked the Philistines and subdued them,” which would suggest that the events of chapter 7 happened after the events of chapter 8. So why would it be compiled the way it is? Well, it seems as though God wanted you and me to see the importance of this chapter above the 8th chapter. Why? Well, it is a prophetic chapter as it speaks to David’s reign through a yet future Son, Jesus, and speaks to you and me about God’s ways being far greater than our own.
Vs. 2 Cedar wood was very hard to come by and was not a native tree of Israel; in fact, in the fifth chapter, we are told that it came from Tyre. What this tells us is that David was blessed and lived in an expensive, beautiful home. Ah, but when he was in that house, he looked out and saw that the presence of God was resting inside a tent of curtains.
This is a good heart to want the Church of God to be a nice place and not give God our hand-me-downs, and David was bothered by the thought that he had it nicer than where the Lord’s presence dwelt amongst the people. When we consider that David had fled to the cave of Adullam, where the Lord blessed him with His presence, and now he lived in a cedar palace, he had come a long way.
As this relates to you and me, it is seldom that our heart of grace grows with His heart blessings upon our lives. David is at rest and at peace because of what the Lord has done, and we see him not kicking back but rather pressing on. Man does that speak volumes to me, as when things are going well, I have a tendency to kick back instead of pressing on. Paul spoke of this same heart in Philip. 3:13-14 when he said, “One thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” David is spending his down time in an upward manner as he is hanging around a brother in the Lord milling over the things of God, speaking out loud about what he could do as king for God who had done so much for him.
His heart was troubled because God had given him so much, and David felt as if he hadn’t done much for the Lord. Since the Lord had defeated all of the enemies of Israel, they were sending him tribute to the toon of over a billion dollars, according to some, and his palace was huge and glorious. David was living in the realm of the “lifestyles of the very rich and famous.” Statistically, the more a person has been blessed, the less they spend upon the work of the Lord, but David was looking for new ways he could bless God and the people of God, and he thought, “Man, what better way than to build God a house, a glorious center in which His people could come together and extol His virtues and praise His character?” It’s a wonderful heart to see that David wants to give back to the Lord!
Vs. 3 In Exodus 25:8–9, more than 400 years before this, God instructed Moses to build the tabernacle according to a specific pattern. So Nathan anticipates David’s heart by telling him, “Go do all that is in your heart, for the Lord is with you.” Now in Deut. 12:5, God said that there would come a time where His people should “seek the place where the LORD your God chooses, out of all your tribes, to put His name for His dwelling place; and there you shall go.”
The tabernacle was perfectly suited to Israel’s wilderness wanderings, as they were constantly on the move. But now Israel has security on all her borders, and there is a sense of permanency for God’s people, so David thinks now the time is right to build a temple to replace the tabernacle. Nathan’s thought was that David’s heart was right; therefore, what could be wrong with the idea? So perhaps Nathan just thought of that verse and said to David, “Go for it!”
It is never wrong to want to do something special for God to want to give Him your best, but doing something special and giving Him our best always starts with seeking Him! Hey saint, we can sit down and dream big plans and ideas for the Lord to make His name great and fail to seek Him to see if it is what He desires. Now don’t get me wrong, the heart is in the right place, but the knees aren’t!
A shepherd, not a contractor
Vs. 4-7 So the word of the Lord came to Nathan, saying, “When did I ever say build me a house for me to dwell in? I never asked anyone to do so; from when you left Egypt to this day, I have tabernacled among you.” “I’m the God of Peace; you go back and tell David he can’t build a house for me, but I’m the chief builder, and by Me building Him a house, I’ll be building Me a house.”
You see Nathan’s answer was based upon presumption, which according to Webster’s dictionary is the “reason or evidence lending probability to a belief,” but he did so before he inquired of the Lord. Hey saint, we must test even the best that our hearts have by His word. Even though the work is good and for God’s glory, it still must be proved before we start. Proved? Yes, I surrendered to His word and to waiting patiently for His time.
In God’s response through Nathan, He seems to be both honored and blessed by David’s offer to build him a house. Like a child who bakes mud cookies for their mother, “That’s so sweet that you have that heart,” but the taste is in the heart, not the cookie! Again, it is worthy of comment, as far too many of God’s children want to know how little of themselves they can give to God and still please Him instead of David’s heart, which wants to do more than God asks. Furthermore, David does so:
- Not from a heart that wants to obligate God to do something for him.
- Nor from a heart that wishes to earn what He has given us.
No, David’s heart was, “You’ve blessed me, so Lord, I want to bless you. I want to give to you the best of my time, talent, and treasure.” Far too often we give with a heart that says, “Go ahead and take it!” instead of “Oh God, let me give it!” Hear me out, saint; based upon the Lord’s response in verses 11-16, He blesses David and the nation even more while not allowing David to build the temple. I can’t help but wonder how much of our spiritual poverty has come upon us because we have had a heart that grasps the blessings of God instead of passing them on back to Him!
Of further interest to me is that even though David now knew that the Lord didn’t want him to build a temple, that didn’t stop David from gathering the materials according to 1 Chron. 29:2-9. There are a great many that would not give or serve if they could not do so on their terms, but not so with David. “Can’t build you a temple, Lord? Well, then I’ll gather the material for someone else!” How about it, child of God, would you be willing to gather for someone else’s building? There are not many who are given the opportunity to build, but the true test of the heart is whether or not they will still be just as motivated to gather so that someone else might build!
Vs. 8-9 Now isn’t it interesting that God takes this moment to remind David that He had taken him from the pasture to the palace? And more than that, He had protected him throughout the whole journey, making his name great in all the earth. So why remind David of these truths? Well, it suggests to me that God wants David to take a journey through the blessings He has bestowed upon his life. It is not often that you and I take stock of God’s work in our lives; we have such a tendency to forget His blessings, adopting a “What have you done for me lately attitude”.
I find that God often takes me to a place where He can remind me of the way I was, a nobody. Yet because of His greatness, He chooses us to reign as kings and priests with him forever. “I took you, Dale, from being fatherless and on the street, and I set you in My family and in My house.” “I never sent you anywhere; I didn’t go with you, and I’m with you now. I’m with you now and will be with you in the future, and when it’s time for you to come home, I’ll use what I did in you to be a blessing for others.” Why does God do this? Well, to remind us that our blessings do not come upon us based upon our deserving them but rather upon His love.
“David, you’re not a builder; you’re a shepherd. That’s why I called you to herd people to green pastures, not to construct buildings.” I’ve got to tell you that far too often I’ve tried to be a builder of people instead of just having a heart for them. I think that is often a problem with us pastors; you see, God wants shepherds, not contractors. In taking David down “memory lane,” God is showing David that His love for him was when he was a nobody; His protection over him has been while he was held in caves out on the open land to the palace; furthermore, God declares that He had made David a man in whom others looked up to. So how does this relate to David’s desire to build a tabernacle? Well, God is letting David know that He was close to him throughout his entire life and that intimacy with the Lord has nothing to do with a building and everything to do with where our heart is at.
Now there is something else here to consider: at no time in Israel’s history did He ever ask anyone to build him a house. Instead He had commanded Moses to make a tabernacle that would travel with His people so that wherever they camped He would be right there with them. It is interesting to me that in John 1:14 we are told literally that, “And the Word became flesh, and did tabernacle among us, and we beheld his glory, glory as of an only begotten of a father, full of grace and truth.” But now that Israel was safe in the land of promise, David wanted a sense of permanence in the presence of God.
But God wanted a shepherd, not a contractor, someone who would continue to lead the people to Him and not to a building! If we fast forward to Solomon, when he dedicated the temple in 1 Kings 8:18, he said, “The LORD said to my father David, ‘Whereas it was in your heart to build a temple for My name, you did well that it was in your heart.” Did you hear that, “You did so well that it was in your heart the Lord told David”? So instead of building God a house, the Lord chooses rather to build a house upon a heart, not bricks!
A building not made with hands
Vs. 10-11 The first promise God makes David has to do with those that he serves, Israel. He promises that under David’s reign they will be secure and that they won’t be vagabonds. Secondly, God promises David a legacy that will endure long after his death.
Get it? David wanted to build God a house to dwell amongst His people, and God says, “Nice gesture, my son, but I dwell in a house not made with hands, so by me granting you a legacy, then I will continue to dwell amongst My people.” What’s cool here is that God honored David based upon his intention and at the same time honored his intention by sending the Son of David who would die for the sins of all mankind and then dwell in human hearts that received Him.
In 1 Chronicles 22:8-10 we are given an explanation of this: “You have shed much blood and have made great wars; you shall not build a house for My name, because you have shed much blood on the earth in My sight. Behold, a son shall be born to you, who shall be a man of rest; and I will give him rest from all his enemies all around. His name shall be Solomon, for I will give peace and quietness to Israel in his days. He shall build a house for My name, and he shall be My son, and I will be his Father; and I will establish the throne of his kingdom over Israel forever.” What is interesting is that this explanation came years later, and David was just told NO and would have to wait to understand the reason.
Furthermore, God declares through Nathan that He has a plan to establish a center of worship, but it will not be a work of man; it will be a work of God. Go with me to Hebrews 9:11, as we are told, “Christ came as High Priest of the good things to come, with the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, that is, not of this creation.” How interesting is this that David sought a glorious temple in which the nation would gather to praise and worship God, but God didn’t want people to come to a place to worship Him? No, His plan was to always be among the people to travel to wherever they are to meet you and me in every situation and every circumstance so He would build a temple within every heart that wants Him. But you know what we like to do? Well, we still like to decorate the outside of our temples, don’t we? Jesus said of the “scribes and Pharisees that they were like whitewashed tombs, which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness.”
So the Lord says, “No way can I let David do what he wants to do. I’ve got a better plan, and I’m going to need him for it! From you, David, the true king will dwell amongst His people.” Again, Hebrews 1:5 tells us about the Son of David saying, “You are My Son; Today I have begotten You.” And again: “I will be to Him a Father, and He shall be to Me a Son?” Some interpret the phrase “If he commits iniquity,” “If he carries iniquity,” he shall be beaten, and of course then this phrase would fit Jesus, but most likely it is referring to Solomon, who was disciplined by God but did not lose his kingdom.
So what we have here before us is a prophetic word concerning a future house that God would build in which would last forever, and because of this King, His presence would indwell His people, and they would be with him forever. In John 14:17 Jesus said, “the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you.”
Vs. 12-17 David was only the 2nd king, and the family of Saul will become totally extinct while David’s line will remain till the incarnation. What’s amazing to me is that this promise has only a future fulfillment, and the only way David could receive it was like Abraham by faith. Upon hearing these promises, David must have realized that the Messiah was to be born from his ancestry and that somehow the redeemer was to come.
So God slips in a great promise: “You won’t be building me a temple; I will through your offspring.” The lineage of David did reign for more than 400 years, but they, like all flesh, succumbed to sin and were removed yet, according to Isaiah 11:1-2. “There shall come forth a rod from the stem of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots. The Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon Him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD.” This was partially fulfilled through Solomon, as God was “his Father, and he was His son, and even after Solomon committed sin, God did not reject him but instead chastened him.” But then the promise reaches past Solomon to the Son of David, Jesus, as we are told that “the throne of His kingdom will be forever.”
These three promises were only partially fulfilled in Solomon:
- Solomon ruled on David’s throne.
- God’s mercies never left Solomon, though he sinned.
- Solomon built God a magnificent house.
But according to Jeremiah 23:5-6, we are told of yet another who would completely fulfill these words: “Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, that I will raise to David a branch of righteousness; a king shall reign and prosper, and execute righteousness in the earth. . . . Now this is His name by which He will be called: THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.” Also in Isaiah 9:6-7, “For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government will be upon His shoulder… . . upon the throne of David and over His kingdom, to order it and establish it… from that time forward, even forever.”
So consider God’s promises to David completely fulfilled in Jesus Christ;
- Jesus does reign and will reign on David’s throne forever.
- The Father’s mercies never departed from Jesus, even when He was made sin for us.
- Jesus is building the Father a magnificent house (1 Corinthians 6:19) in the sense that we are God’s temples (1 Peter 2:5) and the church is God’s new house.
David, “Beyond Mercy and Grace.”
2 Samuel 7:18-29
Vs. 18-21 His goodness in the present
Vs. 22-24 His goodness in the past
Vs. 25-29 His goodness in the future
Intro.
Here in the 18th verse through the end of the chapter we have David’s response to God’s answer of refusal to allow David to do something special for Him. What follows is David’s prayer and praise for God’s goodness; he examines it looking at the present and past as well as into the future.
You see David wanted to do something special for the Lord, but there is always a danger in allowing us to do something special for the Lord, and that is that we begin to think that we are special to the Lord based upon what we do for Him instead of seeing ourselves special based upon what He has done for us! So God sat David down and said, “I can’t let you do that special thing for me, but you are nonetheless precious to me.” I wonder how many times God’s numbers are really His goodness being distributed?
David saw that God’s denial was for a greater purpose, a better plan than what he had in mind for God. Hey saint, I don’t know about you, but this is confession time for me, man, when the Lord tells me No, I tend to pout, not praise. How about you? Don’t you know that you will learn to praise instead of pout when you will want what you get instead of get what you want! How seldom does God ever find any of us humbled and left speechless by His goodness towards us? Far too often, our ambitions can become far greater than His promises and
His goodness in the present
Vs. 18 As God spoke of His plans for David, he was left only two responses, praise and prayer;
- He praises God for the promises
- He prays in the promises
Hey saint, both are necessary if we want to experience dwelling in the house that God is building us by His Son. David did not dwell on what he wanted to do for God; no, he dwelled on what God was doing for him, had done, and would do for him in the future. Oh to God that we would so marvel at His work towards us that we would be left speechless by His goodness towards us.
Rom. 2:4 tells us that “the goodness of God leads you to repentance.” And here we see that it leads to a thankful heart as well. David says, “Lord, you’ve made me king, placed me in this palace, put my enemies under me, and honored me with a great reputation. But look at me; I’m nothing, nobody.” David is thanking the Lord for the present for taking him from the pasture to the palace. Notice that David calls Him Lord God, referring to God as both sovereign and the powerful promise keeper.
There are far too many times we Christians tend to think that God’s blessings and gifts make us great instead see that the greatness lies in the one who gives, not in the one who receives. Jesus said in Acts 20:35, “It is more blessed to give than to receive.” David looked out at all the Lord had done and said, “Who am I?” He didn’t say, “Man, I’m so great that even God gives me gifts.” No, he said, “God is so great that He even gives me gifts.” I tend to think that of all of God’s creation, we humans tend to be the most ungrateful, as we tend to always be comparing His blessings to those which He has granted to others and saying, “Why not me?” instead of looking at what He has given us and saying, “Why me?” What this reveals to me is that I’ve become so spoiled that I think God owes me His blessings instead of seeing myself as not being deserving.
Vs. 19 The NLT renders David’s question this way: “Do you deal with everyone this way, O sovereign LORD?” The answer to that question is both no and yes.
- No, because God has chosen the house of David to bring in His Son.
- Yes, in that all who trust in this Son will be saved and be called a child of God.
It is seldom that we are humbled by God’s goodness; it is more often that we are humbled by our failure. But the truth of the matter is that if we would only take the time to consider His goodness, we would have more occasions to be humbled by His goodness than even our failure.
Ten times in 12 verses, David calls himself the servant of God, and as a servant, it would be proper for David to merely wait for his master to give us orders and then simply carry out His commands, but God did not bark out orders to David; instead, He said, “You are My plan; all you need to do is accept it and trust Me to do the work!” Imagine going to work for an extremely wealthy man whom you serve daily carrying out His interests, and one day he calls you into His office and says, “Son, I’ve called you into my office to let you in on a new direction for the company; it’s you!” “You’re the plan, and all you have to do is let me bless you; let me work with you and through you; that’s my plan!”
Hey, could it be that an attitude of gratitude comes from a perspective of our status, as David was more than blessed at what God had given him because he saw himself as a servant and not a king? I can’t count the times I’ve thought to myself, “Man, I deserve better than this!” Ah, but David said of himself, “I don’t deserve any of this; I’m a servant of the King, not the king of the servants!” Again, all of this took place right after God had told David no to building him a temple. He didn’t sulk at not getting his way, as David wasn’t about getting things his way; instead, he wanted God to get it His way.
Vs. 20: “Lord, I can’t say anything more.” There comes a peace in our hearts as we reflect upon His goodness towards us; words can’t convey our gratitude; God’s goodness has left us speechless. Our hearts are so full that our emotions are so deep that you cannot really express them with words. As I reflect upon my own heart, I’ve got to say that over my Christian life I have spent far too little time reflecting on His goodness towards me and far too much time complaining to Him about my situation. As blessed as David was at what God had done in his life, he was already praising the Lord for what He had promised He was going to do (verse 19). It is good for us to count His blessings in our lives, as these often hold the keys to us trusting His promises for the future. David seemed to always see himself as undeserving rather than deserving better.
God not only showers His mercy (not getting what we deserve) but also pours out His abundant grace (getting what we don’t deserve). Ah, but according to David, the Lord goes beyond mercy and grace to lavish His undeserved goodness upon us. Hey, saint, we are always on the lookout for the qualified deserving people to reward; we give our goodness to the qualified “good people.” But God doesn’t call the qualified; He qualifies the called, and as they trust upon His glory, His honor, His power, and His riches, He grants them His grace and strength just to confound the wise of the world.
Vs. 21: David refers to God’s work as “You have done all these great things.” What made these promises great was that they were dependent not upon David’s goodness and faithfulness; no, they were dependent upon God’s goodness and faithfulness. David prays, “Lord, you didn’t do all of this because I was so cool and just a great guy. I wasn’t worthy or deserving of one of your blessings in my life. No, You did it all for Your word’s sake, so that it would speak of Your goodness and glory, not mine!” Now this isn’t going to be very flattering to you and me, but that’s why God chooses the most unlikely people to do His work in and through so that the glory may be to God and not of us.
Paul said, in 2 Cor. 4:7, “We have this treasure in earthen vessels that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us.” I was given the task of going through Donna’s parent’s house in search of jewelry and was amazed at how we found the valuable amongst the costume and that in ordinary boxes. You wouldn’t think that you would put a diamond or a sapphire ring amongst junk in a beat-up old wood box, but there they were. As I was going through it, finding the few nice items, I reflected upon this verse as God puts His glorious treasure in our clay pots, earthen vessels. Why? So that the glory may be to God and none of us, people see the work, and they say, “Only God could do that because it sure can’t be them.”
His goodness in the past
Vs. 22-24 David broadens his view of God’s goodness to both what He has done in the past and to whom He has distributed His goodness, His people Israel. In Deut. 7:7-8, Moses spoke to the nation, saying, “The LORD did not set his affection on you and choose you because you were more numerous than other peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples. But it was because the LORD loved you.”.
So we see David looking at God’s mercy in the past towards His people, as He had not given them what they deserved. God had chosen Israel to make Him known and to be a demonstration of His love towards all mankind, and they, as recipients of God’s goodness, were not to be like other people who worshiped the work of their own hands, as they were to remember that they were the work of His hands.
Now notice that David says that God has confirmed to Himself the people of Israel to be a people unto Him forever. There are those today who are declaring that God is through with Israel, that they have been set aside, and that God’s whole purposes now are to be accomplished through the church, and that the church is now Israel. So they claim that all the promises that relate to Israel now apply to the church. What is interesting is that they don’t take all the things of judgment that are to come upon Israel; instead they say, “No, the blessings are the churches, but the judgments are Israel’s.”
Based upon the above truths of reflecting upon God’s goodness towards him, David says, “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.” You hear what David is saying? He is extolling the goodness of God based upon personal reflection looking back over his life and says, “I’ve experienced personally your goodness upon my life, and I’m testifying that You’re the only God there is, and even those people who speak of the worship of other gods can’t come up with fiction that comes close to what I’ve experienced personally.”.
In Hab. 1:5, the Lord tells the nation, “I will work in your days, which you would not believe, though they were told you.” Then in Eph. 3:20 Paul says, “Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us.” Both of these verses speak of a problem with God’s goodness as it relates to our receiving it. Namely, that He blesses us so much that it just blows our minds. We just can’t handle His goodness, so we tend to doubt and worry rather than reflect upon what He has done that blew our minds in the past and say, “Well, Lord, you blew my mind last week with your goodness towards me, so I’m going to just sit back and receive you blowing my mind again!”
His goodness in the future
Vs. 25: David reflected upon the words God had just promised to him by simply believing Him at His Word. David just prayed through the promise and said, “Do just as You said.” In verse 27 David says, “Your kingdom come,” then in verse 28 he says, “Your will be done.” Hey saint, David not only heard the promises of God and believes He prayed to the Lord to fulfill them just as He promised He would do.
David’s prayer is not:
- Passive: “Well God, do whatever You want to do—I don’t really care one way or another.”
- Arrogant: “Well, God, let me tell You what to do.”
- It is bold: “God, here is Your promise—now I trust You to fulfill it grandly and to be faithful to Your word.”
It is good for you and me to pray His word back to Him, oh, not to remind Him to keep His word but rather to remind us that He keeps His word!
Vs. 26 David is applying these promises of God through prayer. Hey saint, just because God promises doesn’t mean that we possess what He promises. No, we must trust Him through prayer like this, and the God who promised will be appropriate in His time. Much of God’s promises go unclaimed simply because we don’t trust Him.
Vs. 27 Hey, notice that David prayed from the heart, not from a book, not from a script, my point? He came before the Lord to “pray this prayer” to express his heart before the Lord. When we pray to our Heavenly Father, we are doing so not to be heard by others but to be heard by Him, and we don’t need to impress Him or convince Him; just talk with Him.
It is clear based upon David’s words in his prayer that, “in his heart to pray this prayer to You,” David’s prayer was based only upon God’s promises and not trying to strike a deal with the Lord. God writes David a check, and He expects him to take it to the bank and cash it, not return it and say, “It’s not what I expected, or I think I’ll take it back and get something a little different.” How about it, saints, how do you receive His gifts?
Vs. 28-29 David says, “You are God, and Your words are true.” To not do so in prayer is to say that He is a liar by saying that He cannot be trusted to keep that which He has promised. Ah, how many times have we been guilty of this? The foundation of any relationship must be trust, and who is more trustworthy than God? Every word of God is true, and it is impossible for Him to lie. Hey saint, if God withholds the lesser, He will bestow the greater. He does not refuse our offer that He has no promise waiting for those that trust Him at His word.
Here are the words of the Lord in Isa. 60:17, 22. “Instead of bronze, I will bring gold; instead of iron, I will bring silver; instead of wood, bronze; and instead of stones, iron. They shall inherit the land forever, the branch of My planting, the work of My hands, that I may be glorified. A little one shall become a thousand, and a small one a strong nation. I, the LORD, will hasten it in its time.” That’s His promise of goodness, Christian, as Jer. 29:11 says, “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.”