{"id":520,"date":"2017-07-31T21:43:54","date_gmt":"2017-07-31T20:43:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pbthomas.com\/blog\/?p=520"},"modified":"2017-07-31T21:43:54","modified_gmt":"2017-07-31T20:43:54","slug":"great-david%e2%80%99s-greatest-son-2-samuel-71-17","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/pbthomas.com\/blog\/?p=520","title":{"rendered":"Great David\u2019s Greatest Son 2 Samuel 7:1-17"},"content":{"rendered":"

Pick the ten most important chapters in the whole of the Old Testament and 2 Samuel chapter 7 would be up there with the best of them. As far as the history of Israel is concerned, and indeed for the whole story of God\u2019s cosmic masterplan of salvation, these promises which God made to David are more important than anything else which happened in David\u2019s life. Afterwards, these verses are quoted and referred to more than almost any others, both in the Old Testament and in the New Testament. They tell us how God made a covenant with David the King which would shape history from that point forwards and forevermore.<\/p>\n

A GREAT NAME 8-9
\n2 Samuel 7 8 \u2018Now then, tell my servant David, \u201cThis is what the LORD Almighty says: I took you from the pasture, from tending the flock, and appointed you ruler over my people Israel. 9 I have been with you wherever you have gone, and I have cut off all your enemies from before you. Now I will make your name great, like the names of the greatest men on earth.
\nFrom his humble beginnings as a shepherd boy, David would indeed become one of the most significant figures in human history. His name would become great. But even here there is a hint that these promises may be pointing beyond David himself, the one who would have the greatest name of all, the name above all names. To the one who is truly King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
\nGod had made covenants before, especially with the Patriarchs Abraham and Isaac and Jacob. And then came the covenant with the nation of Israel through Moses at Mount Sinai, the Jewish Law. Very many of God\u2019s promises had been wrapped up in the Promised Land, the land flowing with milk and honey, a land of safety and peace. And these promises were renewed to David. <\/p>\n

A LAND OF SAFETY AND FREEDOM 10-11
\n10 And I will provide a place for my people Israel and will plant them so that they can have a home of their own and no longer be disturbed. Wicked people shall not oppress them any more, as they did at the beginning 11 and have done ever since the time I appointed leaders over my people Israel. I will also give you rest from all your enemies.
\nThis promise of a place for God\u2019s chosen people simply repeats the promises that God had made to Abraham and also to the Israelites through Moses. It will be a place of security and freedom with no more conflict with wicked people. There will be no more battles with enemies. It will be place of and undisturbed rest and perfect peace. Home, sweet home. However this promise was not to be fulfilled in David\u2019s lifetime, which would be full of battles and wars. The promise looks beyond David to one of his descendants who one day would bring that perfect peace to the Land and to the people of God. More than three centuries later the great prophets were still looking forward to that day of peace.
\nJeremiah 33 14 \u2018 \u201cThe days are coming,\u201d declares the LORD, \u201cwhen I will fulfil the good promise I made to the people of Israel and Judah. 15 \u2018 \u201cIn those days and at that time I will make a righteous Branch sprout from David\u2019s line; he will do what is just and right in the land. 16 In those days Judah will be saved and Jerusalem will live in safety. This is the name by which it will be called: The LORD Our Righteous Saviour.\u201d
\nAnd Isaiah even more was putting all his hopes in the coming of God\u2019s chosen one, the Messiah.
\nIsaiah 9 6 For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called
\nWonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
\n7Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David\u2019s throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the LORD Almighty will accomplish this.<\/p>\n

These promises of the Messiah all built on God\u2019s covenant with David which was God\u2019s guarantee that one day a righteous king would come and bring God\u2019s peace to a troubled world.
\nAnd the blessings God brings to His people are even greater than David could have imagined. The enemies attacking Israel were the surrounding nations. But in time God would bring rest from the greater enemies. The devil and all the powers of evil would be defeated. And the last enemy, death, would be vanquished forever. And God would give more wonderful peace than David could imagine, the peace of God which passes understanding. The peace which comes through a personal relationship with God. All these were part of God\u2019s plan of salvation which would come to the world, not through David, but through <\/p>\n

DAVID\u2019S OFFSPRING 11-12
\n2 Samuel 7 11 \u2026. \u2018 \u201cThe LORD declares to you that the LORD himself will establish a house for you: 12 when your days are over and you rest with your ancestors, I will raise up your offspring to succeed you, your own flesh and blood, and I will establish his kingdom.
\nFrom this moment in history forwards, all God\u2019s promises are centred on an offspring of David. Some of the promises were fulfilled in his son Solomon who would build the great Temple in Jerusalem where God would be worshipped for centuries to come. But other promises would not be fulfilled until the Messiah came, God\u2019s anointed, Great David\u2019s Greatest Son. In his Kingdom, in his reign as King, He would bring<\/p>\n

AN ETERNAL THRONE 13
\n2 Samuel 7 13 He is the one who will build a house for my Name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom for ever.
\nThis descendant of David would build a house which would not be material or physical but spiritual. And this descendant\u2019s throne would not be limited by time but it would be eternal \u2013 he would reign for ever and ever! <\/p>\n

PSALM 89 3 You said, \u2018I have made a covenant with my chosen one, I have sworn to David my servant, 4 \u201cI will establish your line for ever and make your throne firm through all generations.\u201d
\nPSALM 45 6 Your throne, O God, will last for ever and ever; a sceptre of justice will be the sceptre of your kingdom.
\nAll these prophecies point to the truth that this eternal Kingdom would come not through David but through a descendant of David\u2019s. John the Baptist’s father Zechariah prophesied this about Jesus:
\n“He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High.
\nThe Lord God will give him the throne of his father David,
\nand he will reign over the house of Jacob forever;
\nhis kingdom will never end.” (Luke 1:32-33)
\nThe crowds all recognized that Jesus was fulfilling all these promises as they welcomed him to Jerusalem.
\nMatthew 21 9 The crowds that went ahead of him and those that followed shouted,
\n\u2018Hosanna to the Son of David!\u2019 \u2018Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!\u2019\u2018Hosanna in the highest heaven!\u2019
\nBut the Messiah would be even more than just a human descendant of David! He would be<\/p>\n

GOD\u2019S SON 14
\n2 Samuel 7 14 I will be his father, and he shall be my son.
\nThe relationship which Great David\u2019s Greatest Son would be more special and more intimate than ever before. He would be God\u2019s Son. And God would be His Father.
\nThere are ten of the Psalms which together are described as the Royal Psalms because they focus on God\u2019s chosen King. They are based on this covenant with David in 2 Samuel 7 and talk about David\u2019s dynasty and his royal descendant who reigns over God\u2019s people and inherits God\u2019s promises. Together these Royal Psalms point forward to the Messiah. The first and the most obvious is Psalm 2.
\nPsalm 2 6 He says to them, \u201cI have placed my king on my holy mountain of Zion.\u201d 7I will announce what the Lord has promised. He said to me, \u201cYou are my son. Today I have become your father.
\n8\tAsk me, and I will give the nations to you. All nations on earth will belong to you. \u2026.
\n10\tKings, be wise! Rulers of the earth, be warned!
\n11\tServe the LORD and have respect for him. Serve him with joy and trembling.<\/p>\n

Jews knew that Psalm 2 and the other Royal Psalms were looking beyond any earthly king and pointing forward to the Messiah. And the first Christians realised that all these promises were actually fulfilled in Jesus and proved by his glorious resurrection from the dead.
\nActs 13: 32 \u2018We tell you the good news: what God promised our ancestors 33 he has fulfilled for us, their children, by raising up Jesus. As it is written in the second Psalm:
\n\u2018 \u201cYou are my son; today I have become your father.\u201d
\n34 God raised him from the dead so that he will never be subject to decay. As God has said,
\n\u2018 \u201cI will give you the holy and sure blessings promised to David.\u201d
\nThe whole nation of Israel had been described as God\u2019s son. But this descendent of David would have a relationship with God which was far beyond the relationship which any human being had ever had with the Almighty and Eternal God. The Messiah would be the Son of God and God would be His Father, and he would inherit all the blessings promised to David.<\/p>\n

SECURE IN GOD\u2019S LOVE 15
\n2 Samuel 7 15 But my love will never be taken away from him, as I took it away from Saul, whom I removed from before you.
\nYou may have noticed that this covenant God makes with David is unconditional. Nothing in these promises God makes depends on the actions of David or of his descendants. The covenant rests entirely on God\u2019s faithfulness and on the certainty that God will always keep His promises. God will never take his love away from this descendant of David\u2019s. This reminds us that there is absolutely nothing we can ever do to earn or deserve God\u2019s love and his grace and his forgiveness. But at the same time it is important to recognise that God\u2019s faithfulness and loving-kindness deserve and demand a response from us. Because God loves us unconditionally, it is entirely right that we should love God unconditionally in return. We should respond with gratitude and obedience, dedicating our lives to worshipping and serving the God who has loved us so very much.
\nDavid\u2019s son Solomon was the one God chose to build his Temple in Jerusalem, And Solomon understood the kind of response which God\u2019s love and mercy deserve. In his prayer dedicating the Temple to God, this is how Solomon prayed.
\n2 Chronicles 6 16 \u2018Now, LORD, the God of Israel, keep for your servant David my father the promises you made to him when you said, \u201cYou shall never fail to have a successor to sit before me on the throne of Israel, if only your descendants are careful in all they do to walk before me according to my law, as you have done.\u201d 17 And now, LORD, the God of Israel, let your word that you promised your servant David come true.
\nSolomon recognised that the right and proper way to respond to all God\u2019s unconditional love for us is to be careful in all we do to walk before God according to His Law.
\nAN ETERNAL KINGDOM 16
\n16 Your house and your kingdom shall endure for ever before me; your throne shall be established for ever.\u201d \u2019
\nGod\u2019s covenant with David is eternal. It will last for ever and ever.
\nThe blessings God promised would not just last for a generation or a lifetime or even just a century. God\u2019s blessings would last far beyond the 3,000 years which have passed since God made these promises to David. They are indeed eternal, lasting longer than this world will endure and into the next world where \u201cthere will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.\u201d God gives his people every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms. For ever. And ever. And ever!
\nWith the benefit of hindsight we can see how all these wonderful promises were ultimately fulfilled in the birth, life, death, resurrection and exaltation of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is how the angel announced the birth of Jesus to his mother Mary.
\nLuke 1 31 You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. 32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, 33 and he will reign over Jacob\u2019s descendants for ever; his kingdom will never end.\u2019
\nAll the wonderful blessings promised to David, and much much more, come to us through the Lord Jesus Christ. A great name \u2013 the name which is above all names. A land of safety and freedom and peace. All brought by David\u2019s offspring, Great David\u2019s Greatest Son reigning on an eternal throne. God\u2019s Son, completely secure in God\u2019s love, bringing all the blessings of an eternal kingdom to all who trust and follow Him.
\nBow down and worship \u2013 for this is your God!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Pick the ten most important chapters in the whole of the Old Testament and 2 Samuel chapter 7 would be up there with the…<\/span><\/p>\n

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