The Resurrected King (2 Samuel 7)

The Resurrected King
2 Samuel 7

INTRODUCTION:
In three weeks, Rachel and I will be attending a gathering of Christians in Sevierville, TN, called “Polishing the Pulpit.” Even though the word “pulpit” is in the name, it is not just for preachers. Brandon and Kate and their kids have gone before and Rodney and Mary and Emily have gone. It is for Christians of all ages and all walks of life. It is kind of a “Horizons” for teenagers. Every year “PTP” prints t-shirts. A few years ago, they printed a t-shirt that said, “No matter who is president, Jesus is still King.”

I think it is easy to get caught up in the politics of our age and forget what it really means that Jesus is King. Let’s return to that topic today…

GOD HAS ALWAYS PLANNED HIS PEOPLE TO BE GOVERNED BY A KING:
In Genesis 17, God gave Abraham His covenant and in that context, in verse 6 God told Abraham that “kings will come forth from you.” In the same context, in verse 16, God spoke of Abraham’s wife Sarah, that “kings of people will come from her.”

Abraham’s great-grandson, Judah, offered himself - in Genesis 44 - as a substitute to the prime minister of Egypt, to take the place of his younger brother, Benjamin, who was in slavery. I wonder if that’s the reason God chose Judah to be the ancestor of the royal bloodline that would rule over Israel and eventually over the whole world.

Because, later on his deathbed, Judah’s father gives a final blessing to each of his twelve sons and when he gets to Judah, he promises that the “scepter will not depart from Judah” (Gen. 49:10), and “to him shall be the obedience of the peoples.” There seems to be a promise there that the king from Judah would rule over many people, not just the family of Abraham.

Now we fast forward about 1,000 years to the time of King David…

EVENTS LEADING TO KING DAVID:
Before God appoints the first king, Israel was being led by men called “judges.” One of the last “judges” was Eli. Eli may have been a good judge, but he was not a good father. His sons were “sons of Belial” the Hebrew text says (1 Sam. 2:12). They were greedy men and immoral. That failed leadership contributed to Israel wanting to have a king.

Another factor that led to Israel wanting a king was the terrorism of the Philistines. So, Israel was being harassed by this foreign nation and Israel did not have good leadership. Thus they cry to God to give them a king.

God answered their prayer and gave them King Saul, son of Kish, of the tribe of Benjamin (1 Sam. 9). The fact that King Saul was from the tribe of Benjamin rather than the tribe of Judah tells us that Saul was not going to be the prototype of the king that God had in mind. It seems to me that God consented to giving Israel a king at that point in time because David, son of Jesse, from the tribe of Judah, was not old enough or prepared to be king. God gave Israel Saul as a fill-in until David could be prepared.

Saul was a good king at the start of his reign but he proved himself to be unfaithful to God and disobedient to God’s commands. That made Saul unfit to be the prototype of God’s king for Israel.

But when the time was right, in 1 Samuel 16, God sent the prophet Samuel to the village of Bethlehem to anoint this handsome young man with a fair complexion and red hair (16:12) to be the second king of Israel - David, son of Jesse, of the tribe of Judah. David was smart; he was perceptive. But mostly, he had a powerful trust in Jehovah God. I assume he had a good mom and a good grandma. David’s great-grandmother was Ruth, the Moabitess woman who also had a strong trust in Jehovah God. David’s trust in God was illustrated by the battle with Goliath that our VBS studied just two weeks ago.

That battle had a major impact on David’s popularity with the people of Israel and it had a negative impact on David’s popularity with King Saul. From that point on - 1 Samuel 17 - to the end of the book, King Saul is trying to kill David. That is the storyline that runs through the rest of the book of 1 Samuel. King Saul is killed by the Philistines in the very last chapter. So that 2 Samuel is entirely dedicated to the reign of King David. No other king in Israel has as much material dedicated to him - indeed, the entire book - as King David, son of Jesse, of the tribe of Judah.

David illustrated what kind of man he was when he greatly mourned the loss of King Saul and, especially, Saul’s son Jonathan who was a close friend of David. But not only that, King David was extremely gracious to the whole house of King Saul. As David consolidated his reign over the whole nation of Israel, he was very patient and very gracious with King Saul’s family and tribe and all those who loved and respected King Saul.

By 2 Samuel 5, David had consolidated his reign and was ruling over all of Israel. He defeated the Jebusites and took Jerusalem to be his capital city. He finally defeated the Philistines who had harassed Israel for decades. When he moved the ark of the covenant into Jerusalem, he did not do it right the first time and it cost the life of one of David’s men, Uzzah. But, David proved himself willing to read and study the Law of Moses to learn how to move the ark correctly, and God blessed him for that.

That brings us to David’s plans to build a permanent structure for worshipping God and housing the Ark of the covenant.

GOD’S COVENANT WITH KING DAVID - 2 Samuel 7:
Nathan the prophet shares his opinion (7:1-3) - David wants to build God’s ark a permanent structure and the prophet, Nathan, says, “Go ahead!”

God says that Nathan’s idea is not God’s idea - (7:4-7) - God appears to Nathan and basically says, “Have I ever lived in a permanent structure? Have I ever told anyone to build Me a permanent structure?”

God reminds David what He has done - (7:8-11) - God tells Nathan to remind David that God is the One who took David from the pasture to be ruler over Israel. God has cut off David’s enemies. And God will make David’s “name great.” This is a similar promise to the one God gave to Father Abraham back in Genesis 12:2. God would give David a great reputation. God will work so that Israel would be settled in their land and free from disturbance from any of their enemies around them. God would continue to give Israel rest from her enemies. Verse 11 is the fourth reference in this context to God giving David and Israel rest from their enemies.

God promises to make David a house - (7:11b-16) - This paragraph is now the center, the crux, of our lesson today about the Resurrected King. Let’s look at this paragraph a little closer…

First, the Lord promises to build David a house (7:11). David had wanted to build Jehovah God a house but God says, “No. I’m going to build you a house.” Wow! What a turn in blessings!

Secondly, when David leaves this physical life, God promises to raise up his “descendant” (which is “seed” in Hebrew that is a key word in the book of Genesis - 59 times; this ties the covenant of promise both to the covenant with Abraham as well as the promise God gave to Eve in the garden of Eden that her seed would crush the seed of the serpent) and he also will rule over David’s “Kingdom.” God had established Israel as a “kingdom of priests” in Exodus 19:6 at Mount Sinai. This idea of God’s people being a kingdom goes back to the days of Father Abraham. Now we see that David and his family, from the tribe of Judah, are going to be the dynasty that rules over God’s people.

Notice the interchange of words here. In verse 11, God uses the word “house” as he does in verse 13. But he also uses as a synonym the word “kingdom.” Finally, God uses the word “throne” as a synonym for “kingdom,” which is a synonym for “house.” It seems to me that the first part of verse 13 refers to David’s son Solomon while the last part refers to the distant “son of David” who is the Messiah. King Solomon is the one who actually builds the temple for worshiping God. But the Messiah is the one who rules over the kingdom forever.

Thirdly, God will have a unique relationship with the king of Israel. He will be a “father” to David’s son and Solomon will be a “son” to Jehovah God. Verse 14 clearly refers to David’s physical descendants because when they commit sin, God will chastise them. At this point, if I had another hour, I would show how Psalm 2 is the bridge that links this idea of “sonship” between King David and Jesus Christ. At this point, I’ll have to let you do that study on your own. Yet, verse 15, God’s loving loyalty (“lovingkindness”) will never be taken away from David’s family, as he took it away from King Saul and his family. Why? Part of the reason was because God had already promised that Judah’s family would reign over the nation of Israel and eventually over all peoples. That promise is now focused on the family of King David.

Notice the use of the word “forever” in verse 13 and twice in verse 16. This was a permanent promise God is giving to King David.

David’s Response (7:18-29) - Before we talk about Jesus fulfilling this promise to King David, I want to point out some things in David’s prayerful response to God. First, in verse 18, David asks, “Who am I that you have brought me this far?” David continued to see himself as small and insignificant in the overall plan of God. David did not boast. He did not become arrogant. He never suggested that he had earned nor deserved this great promise from God. It is one of the great qualities that David had that we see completed in his distant ancestor - Jesus, son of Joseph from the tribe of Judah.

Notice that David refers to God as “Lord God” in verses 18, 19 (twice), 20, 22, and 29. This phrase translates the Hebrew expression: “Master God.” The other five times “LORD God” is found, it translates the Hebrew expression: “Jehovah God.” David is humble. He refers to himself as God’s “servant” 10 times in his prayer! (verses 19-21, 25-29).

One more thing I want to point out before we move on… In verses 22-24, David talks about God redeeming Israel out of Egypt to be His own people. Notice again the emphasis on what God did: “You are great!” I have counted 15 references to God in these three verses! David is all about praising God and giving Him all the glory. And this love for praising God carries over into all the psalms which David wrote in praise of God.

Now let’s stop off in the book of Psalms on our way to the Messiah…

PSALM 110 - A BRIDGE BETWEEN 2 SAMUEL 7 AND JESUS:
Psalm 110 was written by King David. The Holy Spirit inspired and guided David to write these words. In verse 1, and I will use words that reflect the Hebrew language better than the English here, David says, “Jehovah says to my master: ‘Sit at My right hand until I make a footstool for your feet.” The question is: “Who is David’s ‘master’?” Who is the One who is invited by Jehovah God to sit at His right hand?

In verse 2, “Jehovah will stretch forth Your strong scepter from Zion, saying, ‘Rule in the midst of your enemies.” Who holds the scepter? The king - David’s descendant. Jehovah God gives Him that scepter to rule over God’s people. But that’s not all…

Notice in verse 4, David continues: “Jehovah has sworn and will not change His mind, ‘You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.’”

So, David’s son - His master - is also going to be a priest forever. David’s son is going to be a priest as well as a king.

So now we fast forward another 1,000 years…

JESUS - THE RESURRECTED KING:
The angel Gabriel appeared to Mary to tell her about her son, Luke 1:32-33. I want you to notice that we have those same three key words / synonyms that we saw back in 2 Samuel 7: “house,” “throne,” and “kingdom.” Jesus came to be king; He said as much in John 18:37. He came to rule over the house of God, which is the church. He came to sit on the throne of God. He came to rule over the kingdom, which is the church of Christ. I taught a 14-week class on Wednesday nights where we studied in-depth the nature of the kingdom that Jesus came to establish. Those lessons are available on the church’s YouTube page as well as Podcasts. If you would like to have those lessons printed so you can read them, I can do that.

At the end of Jesus’ life, when He is getting hammered with questions by the Jewish leaders, He eventually breaks the back of the opposition by a single question. Let’s finish our study with Luke 20:41-44…

In verse 41, Jesus poses a question to the Jewish leaders: “How is it that the Christ [the Messiah] is David’s son?” In verse 42, Jesus refers the leaders to the passage we just considered: Psalm 110 - David says in the book of Psalm 110:1: “Jehovah said to my Master, sit at My right hand, until I make Your enemies a footstool for Your feet.” (ver. 43)

Jesus’ question that silences His critics for the rest of the week is in verse 44: “Therefore David calls Him ‘Master.’ How is He his Son?”

Think back to Psalm 110 - David’s master (“David’s son”) was equal with Jehovah God because Jehovah gave Him to sit on the throne at His right hand. How is it that David could call his Son “Master”? Because the Messiah is eternal. The Messiah is God in the flesh. The Messiah is the Master of the world. He has always been in control of the world; He will always be in control of the world!

THE IMPLICATIONS OF THE RESURRECTED KING:
1. It means that Jesus Christ, as God in the flesh, is all-powerful. He is sovereign Lord over the whole world. Nothing happens in our lives that Jesus has not given His approval.

2. Jesus is a safe refuge for us when we need grace and support and encouragement. He is the “benevolent king.”

3. Jesus is our High Priest, forgiving our sins and making petitions to the Father on our behalf.

4. Jesus has conquered death.

5. Jesus has conquered sin.

6. Jesus has all authority. No one is outside of accountability to Jesus Christ. Every single command in the NT is addressed to every single human being on this planet. Why? Because Jesus Christ is “King of kings and Lord of lords.”

Take home message: Jesus reigns on His throne and everything will be okay.

Start an evangelism conversation: “How are you growing personally?”