(2 Samuel) a Tale of Two Houses — David Guzik

Second Samuel chapter seven. We saw last week how David brought the Ark of the Covenant into the city of Jerusalem and how important it was for him to do that because the Ark of the Covenant and the tabernacle of God was the center of Israel's spiritual life and David saw this great city of Jerusalem, the strategic city, the city that already had a history with the things of God having been hundreds of years before the place of the great high priest Melchizedek having been the place in that exact neighborhood where Abraham attempted to offer Isaac this great place of history, this great strategic place.

David Desires a House for God

They brought the tabernacle and the Ark of the Covenant there and David made that his capital city. So that's where we pick it up here in verse one of second Samuel one. Now it came to pass when the king was dwelling in his house and the Lord had given him rest from all his enemies all around that the king said to Nathan, the prophet, see now I dwell in a house of cedar, but the Ark of God dwells inside tent curtains.

Then Nathan said to the king, go do all that's in your heart for the Lord is with you. There's David, he has a great palace, a great home built for himself there in Jerusalem. It's built out of cedars and this was the best wood at the time, brought all the way down from Lebanon, the magnificent cedars of Lebanon, and then he got craftsmen from abroad from different countries to come and build.

It was a spectacular home that David built for himself, and there he is out on the veranda one day, sip an iced tea, looking at all the things, and he looks over and he sees the tabernacle. Well, there's the courtyard, the tent, the excuse me, the linen fence that surrounds it, and there's the building and maybe sees smoke coming up from the sacrifice and David looks at the tabernacle and he turns back and he looks at his house and he looks at the tabernacle again and then he looks at his house and he goes, it's not right.

I live in a great big fancy house. It's beautiful. It's gorgeous. And look at, look at that. God has to live in a tent and David knew that God didn't live at the tabernacle. They understood that this was the representation of his dwelling place, that the Ark of the covenant was the representation of the immediate presence of God.

They understood all of that, but you still get the picture there. Something just says it's not right. It's a nice tent. It's got a lot of gold. It's very, that's a very nice tent, but it's just a tent.

David says, I'm, I want to do something, but he calls in Nathan, Nathan, the prophet. This is the first mention we have in the book of first Samuel or second Samuel about Nathan, the prophet. You might be interested to know that.

Well, of course, my name's David and the two names of my sons are Nathan and Jonathan, two guys in the Bible who were friends of David and very close to him. Oh, here's Nathan, the prophet. We're going to have more about him later, but David runs the plan by Nathan, the prophet.

What do you think, man? I'm living in this great house. Look, the God lives in a tent, so to speak. What do you think, Nathan? Nathan says, oh, go to it, man. It's great. What a great heart you have, David.

Go for it. This is wonderful. Well, look at what the Lord says next. Verse four. But it happened that night that the word of the Lord or that the word of the Lord came to Nathan saying, go and tell my servant, David.

Thus says the Lord, would you build a house for me to dwell in? For I have not dwelt in a house since the time I brought the children of Israel up from Egypt, even to this day, but have moved about in a tent and in a tabernacle in all the places where I've walked with all the children of Israel.

Have I ever spoken a word to anyone from the tribes of Israel whom I commanded to shepherd my people, Israel saying, why have you not built me a house of cedar? Very interesting that Nathan, the prophet, gave David the answer.

Yeah, David, go great. Go do it. But he wasn't acting very much like a prophet. He didn't listen to God. He didn't pray and say, well, Lord, what would you have me say to David? He spoke off the top of his head, which we do all the time.

Right. I don't think we can stop speaking off the top of our head, but may we be like Nathan, that we will listen to the Lord when maybe he says, well, wait a minute, you spoke a little too hastily there.

Let me correct this. And that's exactly what the Lord wanted to do. He comes to Nathan and without saying it in exactly these words, he says, Nathan, you've got to go deliver a message to David. Thanks, but no thanks.

Going Beyond the Minimum for God

Now, do you love the way that God delivers the message, at least in these first several verses to David? God almost seems surprised. He seems, David, you want to do this for me? Well, I've never asked any of the people of Israel to do this.

I never said this to any of the fathers. I didn't say it's Saul. I didn't say to Samuel. I didn't say to any of the judges. I never said it to Moses. I never said it to Joshua. I didn't command the children of Israel in their wilderness.

You know, this tabernacle thing, purely temporary. When you get into the land, build me a temple. I want you to think about it. All the pagan gods had temples. Dagon didn't live in a tent, that god of the of the Philistines.

Dagon lived in a temple, so to speak. All the pagan gods of the surrounding nations, they lived in temples and they were satisfied with saying, well, you know what? Listen to the greatness of our God.

It isn't in the structure that represents his presence. The greatness of our God is in who he is. And so God never commanded anybody to build a temple for him, and it seems like nobody ever thought of it.

And God seems surprised, David, for me. Do you want to do this? Wow, I'm impressed. It's as if God says, don't you want this kind of heart? David wants to do more than God commands. Oh, friends, this is a great place to be in our relationship with God.

And most of us, most of us are so stuck in the thinking, how little can I do and still please the Lord that this kind of thinking is totally foreign to us? David, look, you don't have to do this. God's not telling you to do it.

Don't do it. Put another addition on your own house. You'll build a summer home out in Hebron or something like that. God's not telling you to do this, but isn't it convicting, folks? I don't know, it's convicting to me that most of the time we think so much just, Lord, what's the smallest thing I can do?

Just give me the minimum, God, and I'll fulfill the minimum. David's heart was, Lord, I know all that you've commanded me and I'm doing all that, all that I can. But, Lord, I want to do more, to do more than God commands.

And God says, well, no, you want to build me a house. And he basically says, no, thanks. And now look, verse eight says now, therefore, thus you shall say to my servant David, thus says the Lord of hosts, I took you from the sheepfold, from following the sheep to be ruler over my people over Israel.

And I've been with you wherever you've gone and have cut off all your enemies from before you and have made you a great name like the name of the great men who are on the earth. David, I've blessed you.

I poured out my spirit on you and here David saying, well, Lord, I know all that. That's why I want to build you this temple. That's why I want to build a house for you. It's almost as if the Lord is saying, David, I have blessed you and I'm going to bless you.

Oh, you know, it almost seems as if David and in the Lord are in a contest right here. The contest is to see who can do the most for each other. David says, Lord, I want to build you a temple. And the Lord says, well, I'm going to outdo that.

Let me remind you of all that I've done for you. And then just wait till you see what the Lord does in the following verses. And then David, well, Lord, it just makes me want to do more for you. That's how a couple is when they're just filled with romantic love for one another, aren't they?

It's just they want to outdo each other in wonderful things to do for the other person. That's how the Lord wants it to be in his relationship with you. Virtually, you're trying to outdo one another. And it's almost sort of a dare.

See if you can bless the Lord more than he blesses you. Go ahead, give it a shot. You just give yourself in reckless abandon to God, do just almost crazy things just to honor and bless God and see if he doesn't bless you more on top of it.

God's Promise to Build David a House

We'll see this principle here, verse 10. Moreover, I will appoint a place for my people, Israel, and I will plant them and they will dwell in a place of their own and move no more, nor shall the sons of wickedness oppress them anymore as previously since the time that I commanded judges to be over my people, Israel, and have caused you to rest from all your enemies.

Also, the Lord tells you that he'll make you a house. Do you see that first, God says, David, keep your mind at rest, you're a good king, you're a good shepherd over these people, you care about them more than you care about yourself.

So let me assure your heart. I'm going to take care of these people. Don't worry about it. But secondly, he sends it to the very last line of verse 11 there. Look at it carefully. The very last line. Also, the Lord tells you he's going to make you a house.

What? No, Lord, you don't get it. I wanted to make you a house. No, I'm going to make you a house. It's like they're in this contest to see who can bless each other the most. God promises David that he's going to build him a house in the sense of establishing a dynasty for the house of David.

Are you familiar with that figure? When you talk about royalty, you know, over in England, they say that the queen and her family and all that. It's the house of Windsor. Well, this is going to be the house of David, the dynasty of David.

And this would be an enduring legacy for David long after his death. So when David said to the Lord, Lord, I want to build you a house, God said, oh, thanks, but no, thanks. Let me build you a house. Now, we're mystified by two things.

First of all, why did God say no to David? Wasn't it a good thing? It's kind of interesting. God said no to David. We find the answer out in First Chronicles 22. Where God tells David, I didn't want you to build me a house because you're a man of war.

There's blood on your hands. You've been out fighting the wars of the Lord. I want a man of peace to build my house. I think there's something very interesting about that. Is that the Lord didn't give David that explanation till many, many years later.

Now, why? I don't know. I don't know if David would have been able to handle it right then. For now, God just says no without an explanation. It drives you crazy sometimes, doesn't it? You say, OK, Lord, my kids are like this.

Aren't your kids like that sometimes? You say no to them and they kind of answer back with this thing. Well, I will accept your no, Father, if you give me a sufficient explanation. It's like, wow, sometimes aren't we like that to God?

I don't know. I'm worse to God than that sometimes. I demand an explanation. And God says, well, no, just trust me on this one. The explanation may come along later. Well, that's exactly how he handled David right here.

So he promises David, I'm going to build you a house. And now he's going to detail the promise here in verse 12. He says, when your days are fulfilled and you rest with your fathers, I will set up your seed after you who will come from your body and I will establish his kingdom.

He shall build a house for my name and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be his father and he will be my son. If he commits iniquity, I'll chasten him with the rod of men and with the blows of the sons of men.

But my mercy shall not depart from him as I took it from Saul, whom I removed from before you and your house and your kingdom shall be established forever before you. Your throne shall be established forever.

According to all these words and according to all this vision, Nathan spoke to David. This is a fascinating prophecy. God says, David, let me explain to you what it means that I'm going to build you a house.

I'm going to raise up a descendant, your seed after you. There's going to be a hereditary monarchy for the house of David. I'm making you this promise. But what's interesting about this promise is that it's fulfilled in two ways.

It has a near fulfillment and it has a distant, more perfect fulfillment. The near fulfillment was in Solomon, who was David's descendant and actually built him a house, built the Lord a house, a temple unto his name.

But the ultimate fulfillment was in the ultimate descendant of David. That is Jesus Christ, the son of David, who, by the way, built God a great house as well. Do you know what house that Jesus Christ is building unto God the Father right now?

It's us. The Bible says we are his house. He's building us together, fitting us together as in a great temple. And that's exactly how we are. You know, every brick that's being built up in this great temple of God's people unto the Lord.

Every brick is individual, but it's all joined together in a common structure. And that's just how you are. You're an individual. You have your own place and your own contribution. Yet you're built and mortared together into a larger structure, the body of Christ as a whole.

And so this great prophecy has a near fulfillment in Solomon. It has an ultimate fulfillment in Jesus Christ, who was the son of David. And it said very specifically, I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.

And that wasn't really fulfilled in Solomon, that was fulfilled in Jesus. You see, out of that great promise that he made to Jesus, that was the promise that was on the lips of the angel Gabriel when he brought this angelic announcement to Mary, where it says, and behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a son and shall call his name Jesus.

He will be great and be called son of the highest. And the Lord God will give him the throne of his father, David, and he'll reign over the house of Jacob forever and of his kingdom. There will be no end.

So there was a partial, immediate fulfillment in Solomon. There was a complete and more glorious, distant fulfillment in Jesus Christ. What a great promise. I mean, here, David, you want to build me a house?

Oh, thanks. Gosh, I appreciate it. But I'll tell you what I'm going to do instead. I'm going to bring the Messiah from you. You're going to be the ancestor of the Messiah. And what a glorious thing this was, because, you know, one of the great titles of Jesus, we've talked about a lot through 2 Samuel.

Jesus as the Son of David

Jesus was a descendant of Adam. He was a descendant of Noah. He was a descendant of Abraham. He was a descendant of Isaac and of Jacob. He was a descendant of Solomon. But Jesus isn't called the son of Adam.

He's not called the son of Abraham. He's not called the son of Isaac or Jacob or the son of Judah or the son of Solomon. But he is called many, many times in the New Testament, the son of David. This is the great ancestor of Jesus that God wanted his son to be most identified with.

What a blessing for David. I'm going to attach your name and your lineage to the Messiah forever. So what would you do if you were David? I think you'd start praying. Look at verse 18. Then King David went in and sat before the Lord and he said, Who am I?

Oh, Lord God. And what's my house that you've brought me this far? Oh, isn't it great to have such a humble, humble heart before God? When David receives this great blessing, he doesn't come before the Lord.

You know, Lord, it's about time you saw the potential that's within me. I'm glad you finally warmed up to this God. No, he comes before the Lord and he knows who he is. He says, Who am I? Oh, Lord God.

And what is my house that you've brought me thus far? And yet this was a small thing in your sight. Oh, Lord God. And you have also spoken of your servant's house for a great while to come. Is this the manner of man?

Oh, Lord God. Now, what more can David say to you? For you, Lord God, know your servant for your word's sake. And according to your own heart, you've done all these great things to make your servant know them.

Therefore, you are great, oh, Lord God, for there's none like you, nor is there any God beside you, according to all that we've heard with our ears. And who is like your people, like Israel, the one nation on the earth whom God went to redeem for himself as a people to make for himself a name and to do for yourself great and awesome deeds for your land before your people whom you redeemed for yourself from Egypt, the nations and their gods.

For you've made your people Israel, your very own people forever. And you, Lord, have become their God. David sees that it's the greatness of God in this promise, not the greatness of David. His attitude wasn't, well, you know, I am so great that even God blesses me this way.

No, his attitude is God is so great that he blesses even me this way. Folks, that's something we need to get deep down into our hearts. Look, I'm sure you're a fine person, great neighbor, good person at work and at home and all those things.

I'm sure you're a fine human being. God does not love you because you're a fine human being. His love for you doesn't reflect on your greatness. His love for you reflects on his greatness. Because God is so great that he loves us.

We're just his servants. And see how David humbled himself before the Lord in this. Your servant, your servant. In that little section I just read right there, he calls himself your servant ten times.

Your servant, your servant, your servant. It also shows David's humility in accepting the word of the Lord. Now, let's not slight this. God just said no to David. He said it's so sweet. We almost missed it, but it's still saying no.

Right. And sometimes the Lord just says no to us. He says it really sweet. He knows how to say it, but he says no. And he very humbly accepted it. You know, some of us, if we wanted to do a great thing for God out of the best intention of our heart, no wicked motive, no evil motive.

We really wanted to do it for the Lord. And God said to us, no, we'd soak away and get angry with God. Well, God, I guess you don't love me and all this stuff. David says, no, no, no. Look at how he responded two ways.

Responding Faithfully When God Says No

First of all, he prayed. Isn't that great? He said, well, Lord, you know, you say no to me. I'm just going to pray and thank you for all your goodness to me. Secondly, you know what David did? He prepared.

David was so shrewd. He said, well, God, you said I'm not the one to build the temple. Fine. I can live with that. But you never said that I couldn't prepare everything for the building of the temple.

And so David amassed all the supplies, all the gold, all the marble, all the incredible things that they would need to build the temple. David amassed just as much as he could put in a big warehouse and had it waiting for Solomon.

And so when I die, I use this stuff and build a temple. Isn't that great? David said, God, you don't want me to be a part of this directly, but I'm going to be a part of it indirectly. That's a great way to respond when God says no.

All right, God, I'm going to prepare. Excuse me. I'm going to pray first and then I'm going to just get in line with this project any way that you will allow me to. Well, I wonder, I wonder if there's not some folks that I'm looking at right here this morning and when you were young, you thought I want to be a missionary.

That's what I want. I'm giving my heart to God as a missionary. I'm going to go out. And you know what? It was a great intention of your heart. And that's all that you wanted to do. And the Lord has said you at least thus far in your life.

No. I want you to know that God heard that promise of yours. He heard that desire of yours and his heart was cherished by him. He loved it. But it doesn't mean that God wants you to give up on the mission field any more than God wanted David to give up on the temple.

Just you're not the one to go. Well, but you can still pray and you can still support. You can still amass resources to go out and bless on the mission field, just like David did for the temple. Or maybe that has to do with somebody.

You were young and you thought God was going to call you to be a pastor. And in whatever way, for whatever reason, God said, no, oh, God loved it when you wanted to be a pastor. He saw that in your heart and he said, oh, my child, that's not my plan for you.

But but listen, it's great. I love your heart and wanting to give that to me. Can you still pray? Can you still find a way to support and to get behind ministry in another way? And that's exactly what David did.

Claiming God's Promises in Prayer

What a great way to respond when God says no. All right, let's look here to the end of the chapter and and this glorious thing that David does. We're starting at verse twenty five. And now, oh, Lord God, the word which you have spoken concerning your servant and concerning his house, establish it for ever and do as you have said.

So let your name be magnified forever, saying the Lord of hosts is the God over Israel and let the house of your servant David be established before you. For you, oh, Lord of hosts, God of Israel have revealed this to your servant, saying, I will build you a house.

Therefore, your servant has found it in his heart to pray this prayer to you. And now, oh, Lord God, you are God and your words are true and you've promised this goodness to your servant. Now, therefore, let it please you to bless the house of your servant, that it may continue forever before you.

For you, oh, Lord God, have spoken it. And with your blessing, let the house of your servant be blessed forever. Folks, do you see what David basically prays in verses twenty five to twenty nine? It's a glorious prayer.

Can I just boil it down to a one sentence? God, you said it. Now do it. God promised it. And now David comes before the Lord and so to speak, he shakes the promise before God. You said this. Now do it.

Now, in a way, that almost seems crazy to us. David, don't say that to God. He'll get annoyed. He knows he said it. You have to remind him of his promise. Friends, I want you to grab a hold of this with both hands.

God loves it when we do that. When we take his promise right before him and say, Lord, you promised it. Now do it. A matter of fact, there are many, many promises of God that could be real in your life today.

If you grabbed hold of them and said, Lord, this is your promise for me. Would you perform it now? Satan wants to make you all passive in your Christian life. Satan wants you to live that Christian life.

Well, Lord, whatever you want to do. You know, Lord, if you want to forgive my sins, fine. If you don't, well, then I guess whatever, God. God doesn't respond to that kind of heart. God wants the kind of heart where he says, Lord, you promised that you forgave my sins.

You promised that if I confess my sins, you're faithful and just to forgive me from all of my sins and to cleanse me from all unrighteousness. That's what it says in your word. In 1 John 1 9, Lord, I call upon you now to fulfill your promise.

I confess my sins before you. I'm doing what you said. Now, Lord, you do what you said. God loves it when we do that. It shows that we believe his word. It shows that we trust him to do what he said. So what promise do you need from the Lord this morning?

Do you need that promise for forgiveness? Do you need the promise of peace? Jesus said peace. I leave with you my peace. I give to you. He's giving it to you. So you come before the Lord and say, Lord, I don't have any peace in my life right now, but you said you'd give it to me.

You promised it. I want to receive it right now. Lord, bring it to me. Forgiveness, peace, guidance, growth, help. God promises these things to you. Bring his promise before him and do just what David did.

Lord, you promised now give it. I wonder about that. I wonder if if you can come before the Lord and really do that. If you can say, oh, God, you've promised to meet my need now, here is your promise.

It takes some action. It takes some forwardness on your part. Not this passive spiritual life that maybe you've been lulled into sleeping. Don't be passive on that. You come forth with some boldness before God and say, Lord, this is your word.

You have promised it right now. Can I show you one more thing before we wrap up here this morning? Look at it here in verse 20. Oh, boy, I'm missing it here. Oh, verse 27. At the end of it, it says, therefore, your servant found it in his heart to pray this prayer to you.

That's what you have to do when you come before the Lord. If you're going to pray, you have to pray prayer. That's our trouble. A lot of times we don't pray prayer. We say prayers. We recite prayers. We just just off the top of our head prayers.

No thought, no feeling. David says, I'm coming. I'm praying this prayer before you. If you will come and pray prayer before God, pleading his promises before him, God will meet your need in a powerful and great way.

Closing Prayer and Communion

Let me pray and then we'll we'll get ready to have communion here this morning. Father, we thank you for this great promise that you made, David. Lord, we understand that it's our salvation that's bound up in this promise because you promised that that you'd bring a descendant of David to build a great house unto you.

And Lord, we believe that we're part of that house because of the salvation that we have in Jesus Christ. Thank you for this promise to David. And Lord, I pray that you'd give new hope and new inspiration to everybody who's wanted to do something before you, Lord, whether it's a small thing or a great thing.

And you said no. Lord, just give assurance to hearts this morning that you weren't angry, that you were pleased by what they wanted to do. And your no, Lord, isn't a denial of heart or intent. Lord, you're just redirecting them into more effective service.

Father, bless. Father, I pray that you'd speak to hearts right now this morning. The people would long to get right with you, would long to cling to your promise. In Jesus name. Amen.