2 Samuel chapter 7 and reading
from verse 1. And it came to pass, when the
king sat in his house, that is, David, and the Lord had given
him rest round about from all his enemies, that the king said
unto Nathan the prophet, See now, I dwell in a house of cedar,
but the ark of God dwelleth within curtains. And Nathan said to
the king, Go, do all that is in thine heart, for the Lord
is with thee. And it came to pass that night
that the word of the Lord came unto Nathan, saying, Go and tell
my servant David. Thus saith the Lord, Shalt thou
build me an house for me to dwell in? Whereas I have not dwelt
in any house since the time that I brought up the children of
Israel out of Egypt, even to this day, but have walked in
a tent and in a tabernacle. In all the places wherein I have
walked with all the children of Israel, spake I a word with
any of the tribes of Israel, whom I commanded to feed my people
Israel, saying, Why build ye not me an house of cedar? Now therefore, so shalt thou
say unto my servant David, thus saith the Lord of hosts, I took
thee from the sheep code, from following the sheep, to be ruler
over my people, over Israel. And I was with thee, whithersoever
thou wentest, and have cut off all thine enemies out of thy
sight, and have made thee a great name, like unto the name of the
great men that are in the earth. Moreover, I will appoint a place
for my people Israel, and will plant them, that they may dwell
in a place of their own, and move no more, neither shall the
children of wickedness afflict them any more as before time. And as since the time that I
commanded judges to be over my people Israel, and have caused
thee to rest from all thine enemies, Also the Lord telleth thee that
he will make thee an house. And when thy days be fulfilled,
and thou shalt sleep with thy fathers, I will set up thy seed
after thee, which shall proceed out of thy bowels, and I will
establish his kingdom. He shall build an house for my
name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom for ever. I will be his father, and he
shall be my son. If he commit iniquity, I will
chasten him with the rod of men and with the stripes of the children
of men. But my mercy shall not depart
away from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away before
thee. And thine house and thy kingdom
shall be established for ever before thee, thy throne shall
be established for ever. According to all these words,
and according to all this vision, so did Nathan speak unto David.
Then went King David in, and sat before the Lord, and he said,
Who am I, O Lord God? and what is my house, that thou
hast brought me hitherto? And this was yet a small thing
in thy sight, O Lord God, but thou hast spoken also of thy
servant's house for a great while to come. And is this the manner
of man, O Lord God? And what can David say more unto
thee? For thou, Lord God, knowest thy
servant. For thy word's sake, and according
to thine own heart, hast thou done all these great things,
to make thy servant know them. Wherefore, thou art great, O
Lord God, for there is none like thee, neither is there any god
beside thee, according to all that we have heard with our ears.
And what one nation in the earth is like thy people, even like
Israel, whom God went to redeem for a people to himself, and
to make him a name, and to do for you great things and terrible? for thy land before thy people
which thou redeemest to thee from Egypt, from the nations
and their gods. For thou hast confirmed to thyself
thy people Israel to be a people unto thee for ever, and thou,
Lord, art become their God. And now, O Lord God, the word
that thou hast spoken concerning thy servant and concerning his
house, establish it for ever, and do as thou hast said. And
let thy name be magnified for ever, saying, The Lord of hosts
is the God over Israel, and let the house of thy servant David
be established before thee. For thou, O Lord of hosts, God
of Israel, hast revealed to thy servant, saying, I will build
thee an house. Therefore hath thy servant found
in his heart to pray this prayer unto thee. And now, O Lord God,
thou art that God, and thy words be true, and thou hast promised
this goodness unto thy servant. Therefore now let it please thee
to bless the house of thy servant, that it may continue for ever
before thee. For thou, O Lord God, hast spoken
it, and with thy blessing let the house of thy servant be blessed
for ever. Amen. May the Lord bless to us
this reading from his word. Well, after what seems like a
long time of fighting and war and people killing each other,
here is a chapter where no one dies. So that's good. But let us be grateful for it
because we're back to the battles next week. But here we learn
that David finds a time of rest and indeed all Israel finds a
time of rest. The Lord has settled David in
his kingdom. He has supplied a palace built
by Hiram's craftsmen and he has given David peace from his neighbours. And when kings don't go to war,
often they build. And David realises that he's
in a lovely home, this palace that he lives in. But the Ark
of God, which remember he brought to Jerusalem, to Zion, in our
chapter last week, the Ark of God is housed in a tent of curtains. And David decides that he would
like to build a temple for the Lord. Now it was a commendable
aim. David wished to thank and to
honour and to worship the Lord properly. And he hoped that building
God a temple would enable that. The Lord had told Moses that
he would have a fixed dwelling place in Israel where worship
could be made and David wants to be the builder. So he asks
Nathan the prophet what he thinks and Nathan agrees. David should
go ahead Who this Nathan is, we don't really know. He just
appears here. This is the first reference to
this man, Nathan. He just appears here without
any introduction. But from now on, he is going
to be a frequent visitor with David and an advisor to David
in the years to come. However, what we discover is
that the enthusiasm of these two men to build a temple for
God is short-lived. That night, the Lord tells Nathan
that David is not to build the temple. God will decide where
and when his temple will be built and by whom it will be built. And it would not be David. And
yet the Lord tells Nathan that he is not displeased by David's
desire. And he reveals that although
David would not build the Lord's house, The Lord would build David's
house, not his palace. He'd already got a palace. Hiram
had sent his craftsmen and they had built that palace for David. But this is talking about David's
lineage, David's family. The future kings of Israel would
come from David's line. David's family would be established
as the rulers of Israel for a long, long time. Indeed, a son would
be born to David and that son would build the temple. That
son was called Solomon and he would be blessed by the Lord
and mercy would be shown to him. So that we read in verse 14,
I will be his father, this is God who is speaking and he says
of Solomon, I will be his father and he shall be my son. If he
commit iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men and with
the stripes of the children of men. And that's actually what
happened because Solomon was not always obedient to the Lord. Solomon, in fact, took many wives
and he adopted the gods and the religion of these wives and he
sinned with their idols. And yet, true to his word and
the promise given to David, the Lord remained faithful to him. And he chastened Solomon and
he recovered Solomon as he had promised to do. The final part
of the chapter sees David accepting that he will not build the temple. and yet thanking God for his
mercy and the covenant promises of goodness that were given to
him concerning Solomon and concerning this house that the Lord would
build for him. And here we see the first indication
that more than Solomon is being spoken of here. Another of David's
sons is also in view. Only this son would not be born
to David, rather he would arise many generations later. And the Lord tells David that
a king will arise from his line whose kingdom will last forever
and ever. and the Lord points David to
the Lord Jesus Christ, the coming Messiah. So that is why I wanted
to read the whole of this chapter and just spend a little bit extra
time on it, because this is an important moment in the life
of David. We sometimes call this the covenant
that God made with David, making these promises to him. And particularly
of importance is the fact that here we begin to see the coming
of the kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ foretold. So here are
a few lessons that I want us to draw from this passage today. And the first one is going back
to this man called Nathan, Nathan the prophet. And I just want
to point out something about Nathan's involvement in this
chapter. Nathan's initial advice was wrong
advice. And Nathan's initial advice needed
to be changed. And that's a point for us to
bear in mind. God's prophets don't always get
things right. And that's true for preachers
as well. And whether we're thinking about
Moses, or Samuel, or Nathan, or Jonah, we're thinking about
in our other sermon today, they were all prophets and they all
made mistakes. Their message was only reliable
to men. It was only useful to the church
when that message came from the Lord. It is the Lord who is authoritative,
not the preacher. It's not the preacher who has
the right to say what will be and what not will be. It is the
Lord who speaks, and a good preacher is one who takes what the Lord
says and delivers it as the Lord says it. Preachers can be experienced
men, they can be wise men, and their advice can be received
as such. but they are not God and they
are not always right, except as they preach the truth of God's
word. Nathan should have taken David's
question about the building of the temple to the Lord before
deciding that it was a good idea. And let us remember that no man
is without sin and no man is without self-interest. No man
is infallible. Nathan's true value comes when
God tells him what to say and Nathan delivers that message. And that's what happens in verse
17. We're told, according to all
these words, that is the words given by God to Nathan, according
to all this vision, so did Nathan speak to David. Let a preacher preach the truth
of God's word and let that be believed. Thereafter, the preacher's
views are his opinions. Some preachers like to have other
strands to their bow, but preachers as politicians or as family counsellors,
or as financial advisors, or as building planners, are out
of their depths. Remember that. The Lord is with
his people, and the Lord is to be asked of his people. for wisdom
and guidance. And you and I can go to the Lord
and seek his guidance, seek his wisdom, seek his direction. We
have a personal right, indeed we have a personal duty to take
our questions and to ask for help making decisions to the
Lord. Paul encourages us to do that.
He says, in everything, by prayer. and supplication, that is asking
for help in everything by prayer, and in supplication, asking for
help with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God. So here's our first lesson, that
just be aware that preachers don't always get things right.
Only to the extent that they properly preach the word of God,
and we all have a right and privilege to take our questions directly
to the Lord. Here's another thing that I want
us to note. God's message to David was that
David would not build the temple because David had other work
to do. God reminded David of the blessings
that God had supplied to him, taking David from being a shepherd
to being a king. And it wasn't David's idea to
do these things, but it was the Lord who had brought him and
the Lord who had directed him. And in reminding David of that,
the Lord is saying, You are my workmanship and I am doing with
you as I will.' God had looked after him and he would continue
to do so. The Lord is at work in his people's
lives and we do well to remember all the ways that the Lord has
led us and the good that he has given to us. David would have
his role in God's plan. He would gather materials to
leave for Solomon to build the temple. That was going to be
David's job. David would write Psalms, he
would arrange music, he would direct the worship in the temple. But building it was someone else's
job. And yet there's more to this
as well because God uses David's disappointment to open to David
God's own grander, bigger, greater purpose. for his servant and
for his servant's house. The Lord says, you're not going
to build me a house, but I'm going to build you a house. And
there's something lovely here for us all to realise, whether
we're young or whether we're older. Our disappointments are
God's appointments. Our setbacks in life as well
as our successes, are God's way of bringing about his purpose. David's son would build the temple,
but a greater son would have a kingdom that would never end. And God promised David that Christ,
the Messiah, would come from his line. And we find that many
hundreds of years later, confirmed by the angel who came to Mary
to announce the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ. That angel
said, Gabriel, that angel Gabriel said in Luke chapter 1 verse
32, he shall be great and shall be called the son of the highest
and the Lord God shall give unto him, listen, the throne of his
father David and he shall reign over the house of Jacob forever
and of his kingdom there shall be no end. This is the spiritual
kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ. We're not talking about Israel.
We're not talking about that land that borders the Mediterranean
that is actually so much in the news these days. We're not talking
about that nation or that people. We're talking about the body
of Christ. We're talking about the spiritual
people of God, spiritual Israel. men and women who are of the
faith of Abraham and this is the kingdom over which Christ
is king and the kingdom for which there will be no end. It is God's purpose to build
and to gather his everlasting kingdom where Christ is king. And if we believe in the Lord
Jesus Christ and if we trust him for salvation, it is because
we are citizens of Christ's spiritual kingdom, where the Lord Jesus
rules and reigns. David's kingdom is long gone,
but Christ's kingdom endures forever, and we who are saved
by the blood of Christ and blessed with everlasting life, we shall
share it with Christ forever. Let me point out one more thing
and then we're finished today. David's reaction to all of this
news, this astounding news, this wonderful news, what man ever
heard these things spoken to him? Very, very few. But David's
reaction to all this is both humble and exemplary. Exemplary means that it's a good
example to us. He did not become grumpy, he
did not become angry when his idea of building a temple was
rejected. He probably had, he had probably
thinking about how thick the walls would be, how high they
would go, how many towers they would have and all the things
that he could include in it. but it was not to be. But he
didn't become angry when the Lord said no. He quietly went
to the Lord and he acknowledged God's sovereignty with reverence
and gratitude. Oh that you and I could be more
like David in this matter. Let us go before the Lord personally. Let us learn to do that and I
know some of you are young but I want you to think about what
I'm saying. Learn to go before the Lord personally,
not just when somebody takes you to a Bible or reads a chapter
to you or suggests some religious activity, but personally pray
to the Lord, speak to the Lord. Let us learn to pray and sit
quietly before the Lord. David, we're told, sat down before
the Lord. He went personally. He didn't
send Nathan. He prayed, He meditated and he
waited. Was he disappointed? He spoke humbly and he gave honour
to God. He thanked God and he expressed
his trust and his confidence in the wisdom of God. And all
of our lives, whether we're older or younger, all of our lives
contain hardship and loss and trouble and disappointment. David's
dead but this servant of the Lord teaches us to wait on the
Lord, to wait on the Lord in our disappointments and to thank
him nevertheless for the wisdom of his ways that are above our
thoughts and past our understanding. Things may not go right for us
in our immediate estimation, but they are going right in the
will and purpose of God and for our greater good. So like David,
we should acknowledge it with gratitude, though we cannot see
it immediately. The Lord has blessed us up until
now and he promises us eternal blessedness in the everlasting
kingdom of our glorious King Jesus. In this chapter, David didn't
conquer any enemy. He didn't enlarge his empire
one little bit, but he deepened his trust and his relationship
with the Lord, which was far better and a grander accomplishment
than either of the other two. May the Lord bless these thoughts
to us today. Amen.