David - Dwelling With God Series

Dwelling with God is not a matter of me building a home for Him,

it is a matter of God building His home in me.

David wasn’t capable of building a house for God because nothing he could construct could possibly contain an infinite God. Knowing that, God had come to him and made a home in David’s life. He had chosen David to be king when there was nothing David had done to earn that privilege. God had been with David every step of the way and given him victory and success, not because David deserved it, but just because God is full of grace and mercy.

And that’s exactly what his offspring, Jesus, would do nearly 1,000 years later. He would come to dwell with us because we’re not capable of making a home for God through anything we can do. Again, it is only God’s mercy and grace, and not anything we can do. that makes it possible for us to dwell with God.

2. It promises a physical dwelling place for Israel

God promises David that one day Israel will have a physical place where they will live in peace. While Israel does have its own land again after it gained its independence in 1948, it certainly does not live in peace today. So that part of the covenant awaits a future fulfillment.

I won’t spend a whole lot more time here other than to say that there is no reason not to take what God says here literally. Unfortunately, there have been attempts by some so say that the church has now replaced Israel and therefore this promise applies to the church as a whole and not just the Israelites. But, in my opinion, that idea runs contrary to passages all throughout the Scriptures – Old and New Testament – where God does make promises that apply only to Israel and not to the entire church.

And others have tried to spiritualize this promise or treat it figuratively and claim that God isn’t speaking of an actual physical place here on earth. But again, that just doesn’t line up with the many places in the Bible that God promises to restore Israel to a physical land where they will live in peace.

3. It involves a Father-Son relationship

In verse 14, God reveals that David’s offspring will be like a son to Him. While that could certainly apply to Solomon to a degree, based on what we find in Hebrews 1, where the author quoted from this chapter, the more important Father-Son relationship is that between God the Father and His Son, Jesus:

For to which of the angels did God ever say,

“You are my Son,

today I have begotten you”?

Or again,

“I will be to him a father,

and he shall be to me a son”?

(Hebrews 1:5 ESV)

Since the author of Hebrews is clearly writing about Jesus in that chapter, we can conclude that God is primarily referring to Jesus here in 2 Samuel 7 when He calls Him a son.

It seems that God is also pointing ahead to the time when His Son, Jesus, will make it possible for all who have faith in Him to have an intimate relationship with the Father in which they become His sons and daughters.

We’ve only begun to scratch the surface here, but I hope that you’re beginning to see why so many have called this the most important chapter in the Old Testament. Here we have one of the clearest pictures in the entire Old Testament of Jesus.