2 Samuel 7:12–17 - The Davidic Covenant: God’s Grace Forever

This prophecy of the messiah took place about 1000 years before the birth of Jesus. David was the king of the nation of Israel. He had succeeded an evil king named Saul after a long conflict. Because of Saul’s wickedness, God had rejected him and chose David. Saul was jealous of David and had repeatedly attempted to kill him. At this point, Saul was dead. He was defeated in battle and took his own life.

David was king over all of Israel, which existed as 12 tribes. They were united under him, and he had begun to correct mistakes made by Saul. From the time God brought the people of Israel out of Egypt, He intended that they wouldn’t be like the other nations of the world. But 1 Samuel 8 says they wanted to be “like all the nations…that our king may judge us and go out before us and fight our battles.” This had always been God’s role, if they would only trust Him. But they wouldn’t.

So God gave them Saul – the kind of king they asked for. However, in His grace He had now given them David. The installation of David as king was a continuation of the covenant promises made to Abraham and developed further with Moses. The people of Israel were a great nation that God promised would come from Abraham. He gave them His law, which organized Israel as a nation, and they took the land.But further development was needed.

Israel was a free nation, but that wouldn’t last forever. David would die and his son Solomon would become king. After Solomon, the nation would split and eventually each side would be conquered by rival nations. All of it was foretold by prophets as they repeatedly warned the people what would happen if they continued in their sin against God. We should interpret this in light of what happened before and what would happen after.

We also have to recognize that like many other prophecies, there would be partial fulfillment to this soon and complete fulfillment later. This is sometimes misunderstood about biblical prophecy. For example, with the promise to Abraham that from his offspring would come a great nation,a partial fulfillment occurred in Isaac and his family and the ancient nation of Israel, but as Galatians 3 explains, the complete fulfillment of that promise is in Jesus Christ. Ultimately, Christ would be the complete fulfillment of these promises to David, but there would be partial fulfillments in the near future, especially in Solomon.

I told you last week that the covenants with Abraham and Moses emphasized physical blessings, but the covenant with Christ emphasizes spiritual blessings. God’s covenant here with David is the phase of transition between the two. The emphasis shifts from the temporal to the eternal – from now to forever – from the transient to the permanent.

We are naturally fixated on temporary things, aren’t we? We put our hope in things that we can see and feel, and when those things fail us, we look for the next one. At some point, you have to wonder: are there any permanent things to put our hope in?

Through the birth of Jesus Christ, God gave us something permanent. In a world full of temporary things, He gives permanent things to those in covenant relationship with Him – everlasting things to satisfy the longings of our hearts.

So what are those permanent covenant blessings of God? His permanent protection, presence, and love. Let’s look closer at this.

Under David, Israel was united, strong and secure – free from other nations. Rival nations always wanted to conquer Israel. David knew that he couldn’t rule forever. But here God promises him a descendant who could rule forever. Look at verse 12, “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.” God tells him, “I will establish his kingdom,” and verse 13, “I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever,” and verse 16, “your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me. Your throne shall be established forever.”

For someone to reign forever, he would have to be immortal. Did David understand this to mean that he would have an immortal descendant? Yes. In Acts 2, Peter says of David, “he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. Being therefore a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that he would set one of his descendants on his throne, he foresaw and spoke about the resurrection of the Christ.” Peter refers to David’s writings in Psalm 16 and Psalm 110 – of a king who would live forever and who could permanently reign over and protect God’s people.

It’s believed that the early Native Americans had an extraordinary custom for training young braves when they became teenagers. A boy would be blindfolded and led deep into the forest. When he removed the blindfold, he would find himself alone and lost in the woods, where he would have to remain all night long.

Fear would fill the heart of the boy, who had never been away from his tribe. All night long, he would cower in fear, startled by every noise, vulnerable to whatever might be lurking in the dark. But in the morning, when the dawn broke and he could see his surroundings clearly, he would see the shape of a man close by, holding a bow and arrow. It was his father, who had been there all night long – carefully watching over him.

Do you ever feel like that young boy, vulnerable and unable to see what’s coming? You should, because, in a sense, we all experience that in this life. No one knows all that the future holds. So we try to plan and protect what is ours. The father of the young brave could attempt to protect his son through the night, but he wouldn’t be there for his son forever. And the father was only a man, not sovereignly powerful.

King Jesus, however, is in total control. He governs all things, and He’s always there. In Luke 12, He told his disciples, “Do not fear those who kill the body, and after that have nothing more that they can do. But I will warn you whom to fear: fear him who, after he has killed, has authority to cast into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him! Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? And not one of them is forgotten before God. Why, even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not; you are of more value than many sparrows.” Jesus is the permanent protector of His covenant people – now and forever. We must find our rest and hope in this.

Do your actions and your words reflect that you believe it? Does the way you use your time or your money demonstrate that you believe that Jesus is Lord over every square millimeter of the universe? God provides His permanent protection through a king who reigns forever, and He graciously calls you to admit your fears and rest in that protection.

Now, earlier in 2 Samuel 7, David says that he wants to build God a permanent house. The first verses two verses of 2 Samuel state, “Now when [David] lived in his house and the LORD had given him rest from all his surrounding enemies, the king said to Nathan the prophet, “See now, I dwell in a house of cedar, but the ark of God dwells in a tent.”

The ark of the covenant was kept in a portable tabernacle. The ark held the tablets on which the Ten Commandments were written, and along with the tabernacle was a symbol of God’s presence with Israel. David felt that God deserved a permanent house rather than one that was mobile. But Nathan tells David, verse 11, “the LORD declares to you that the LORD will make you a house.” David just said that he has a house. What did God mean?

Well, look at verse 13 again. God says this permanent king who descends from David “shall build a house for my name.” A permanent house, verse 16, “And your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever.” It’s a house for David but also for God’s name. What did this mean?

Well, in those times, “house” was synonymous with “dynasty.” A dynasty is an era in which power and rule belong to one family. God promises David that he would be the first king of a dynasty that would never end. That’s clear from God’s statements about the permanent kingdom. God’s permanent presence would be with this everlasting dynasty.

But we learn something else about the permanent place of God’s presence on earth. David’s son Solomon did build a temple. Eventually it was destroyed, then rebuilt, then destroyed again. Therefore, God had no permanent temple or house – no permanent place for His holy presence on the earth. But then in 1 Corinthians 3, Paul tells the church, “Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you?
…God's temple is holy, and you are that temple.”

The permanent house of God is the Church. Not a building, but the people in whom His Holy Spirit dwells. In Ephesians 2, Paul tells the church, “You are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.” The house that will stand forever – filled with the presence of God – is the true church justified, sanctified, and glorified by Jesus Christ.

It has nothing to do with the brick and mortar structures that people call “churches.” When you see the word “church” in your Bible, it does not mean “building.” The Greek word simply meant “public assembly” or “public gathering.” Jesus added to the meaning by using the word to describe the community which He established and gave structure as He called people out of sin and into covenant relationship with God. And He is still doing this today.

Edmund Clowney states this about the church. He says, “When Protestants speak of going to church...they are not thinking of a building but of a congregation. The congregation, not the building, is holy. The church is holy because the congregation is the house of God.”

God provides His permanent presence through a house that stands forever. The local church is therefore a necessity in your life. Not a local building, but the local community of believers with whom God’s Spirit dwells. Today, the individual’s relationship with God has been elevated in such a way that some people think that the church is unnecessary for the Christian life.

But again, Ephesians 2, we are “built together into a dwelling place for God.” The church is the place where we worship together and care for one another, led by shepherds and deacons who meet certain qualifications. The church is the place where we encourage each other and spur each other on to rest in God’s grace and live for His glory. God graciously calls you to be part of His church.

Now I said before that with prophecies, there were partial and complete fulfillments. For instance, the Genesis 3:15 prophecy that Satan would be destroyed was partially fulfilled at the cross and will be completely fulfilled when Jesus returns. 2 Samuel 7 prophecy has both partial and complete fulfillments.David’s son Solomon did build a house for God—the temple in Jerusalem. And after David’s death, there were other kings from his line who ruled before Israel was exiled to captivity in Babylon. They were David’s “house.”

But verses 14-15 help us see another aspect of the partial and complete fulfillments and this bridge between the temporary and the permanent. Nathan quotes God saying of David’s descendant: “I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son. When he commits iniquity, I will discipline him with the rod of men, with the stripes of the sons of men, but my steadfast love will not depart from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away from before you.” God had a special, enduring relationship with the kings in David’s dynasty, and so He had a special, enduring relationship with the people of their kingdom.

The complete fulfillment of this prophecy is the coming of King Jesus into the world, but look at verse 14. Jesus did not commit iniquity. He didn’t sin. Therefore, He didn’t deserve to be disciplined “with the rod of men, with the stripes of the sons of men.” But the kings who came after David did need discipline. Some of them were bad kings, but sin didn’t dissolve God’s covenant relationship.

All of these promises in 2 Samuel 7 form a special covenant, and like all the covenants before it, this part of the covenant reflects God’s grace –because, as God says in verse 15, “my steadfast love will not depart from him.” The king represented the people, so the love of God would not depart from the people, even though they would commit sin.

This “steadfast love” is very important to understand here. It is God’s unwavering covenant faithfulness toward the people He redeems. It’s the favor that He extends to them, not because of their good works, but because He chose them and set His love upon them. The fact that God pledges grace to them insures that He will never abandon them.

Yet, because God is a just God who must punish sin, the wrath that sin deserves would have to be put somewhere. The sons of David endured temporary God’s discipline for their sins, but ultimately, Jesus endured the discipline of the rod of men and bore the stripes of the sons of men in his death on the cross. He paid the penalty for the sins of those who lived before Him and looked for Him, and for those who lived during and after His life and trust in Him.

Again, there’s a temporary nature to everything in our lives. You clean your house, but, before long, you have to clean it again. You fix all the problems at work, but inevitably, more problems arise. Things break or wear out and have to be repaired or replaced. Even the things that bring us the most excitement and joy are temporary. Children hope desperately for a certain Christmas gift, only to receive it and eventually lose interest.

We hope for the perfect job or the perfect home, but neither can last forever. We won’t be strong and healthy forever. We won’t have our full mental capacity forever. Family and friends grow older and pass away. Life itself comes to an end.

But in covenant with God through Jesus Christ, we have permanent things. God provides His permanent love through a covenant that lasts forever. In his book The Five Love Languages, Gary Chapman describes “covenant love.” He says, “Covenant love…is intentional love. It is commitment to love no matter what…It does not wait for the encouragement of warm emotions, but chooses to look out for the interest of the other party because you are committed to the other's well-being.”

God is committed to those in covenant with Him, even though we don’t deserve it. No rebellious plot can overthrow Jesus, our protector. No siege can destroy the house where His presence dwells. And no failure on our part can remove His love.

I hope you can receive and rest in that today. I hope you can be comforted more by His grace in the year ahead. Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ today – for His is the power and the kingdom and the glory – forever.

Let’s bow in prayer.