2 Samuel 7
David wants to build God’s house, God build’s David’s “house.”
“If you want to hear God laugh, tell Him your plans”
David’s good desire to build a temple
We come to the point of David’s story where Saul and most of His family are dead; David was anointed as king of Judah first, then, after a brief civil war, king over all of Israel. He claims Jerusalem as his capital, and has the symbol of God’s presence, the Ark of the Covenant, brought to the Capital to make it the centre of religious worship as well as political capital.
David’s power is consolidated both inside his boarders and beyond – “the Lord had given him rest from all his enemies around him.”
It gives David time to think, and what he thinks is “"Here I am, living in a house of cedar, while the ark of God remains in a tent." He gets the dream to build a temple for God – a house for the Ark that would replace the Tabernacle.
David does very little without asking God if it is a good idea, So he asks the prophet Nathan if he thinks it’s a good idea. For Nathan, It’s a no-brainer, of course it’s a good idea! What could be wrong with blessing God with a temple!
"Whatever you have in mind, go ahead and do it, for the LORD is with you."
Nathan’s yes, God’s no
Nathan goes home, and God speaks to him, this is what he says: Read 5-17
God basically says, “What do I need a house for? Have I ever asked for a house?
He says the same thing through the Prophet Isaiah hundreds of years later in Isaiah 66:
1 This is what the LORD says:
"Heaven is my throne,
and the earth is my footstool.
Where is the house you will build for me?
Where will my resting place be?
2 Has not my hand made all these things,
and so they came into being?"
declares the LORD.
"These are the ones I look on with favor:
those who are humble and contrite in spirit,
and who tremble at my word.
God never says that David’s plan is morally wrong – maybe a little wrong-headed, but not “evil.” Nathan even thought it was a good idea!
David was not wrong – God just had a different plan
Peterson thinks that David is walking down a slippery slope to self-reliance rather than God reliance, that might be true, but it does not say that here.
Later David says that God said no because of his violence; but here there is no talk of that.
God says to David, you want to build me a house, but I’m going to build your “house.”
It seams that every leader is concerned with the legacy that he will leave – it may be that David was hoping that this temple that he would build would be a legacy monument – “David’s Temple” rather than “Solomon’s Temple,” or “Herod’s Temple.” God tells him that he is going to build a legacy much greater than a building in Jerusalem.
1. Peace
2. A Son who will build the Temple
3. A Son who will live in close relationship with God
4. A Son who will be disciplined, but not removed
5. A dynasty and a kingdom that will never end
This prophesy is fulfilled mostly in David’s son Solomon. It is God’s sheer grace that he was born out of David’s relationship with Bathsheba that began as adultery and murder!
Solomon’s reign was one of great peace and prosperity
Solomon built the temple – David amassed much of the materials for it before his death
Solomon was known for his Godly wisdom, he lived in close relationship for much of his reign – things went bad at the end, but God did not remove him.
The Kingdom did not last forever – the nation was split under Solomon’s son, Rehoboam. Even over Judah, the line of David did not last as kings.
But like most prophesies that we find in the OT, they have levels of fulfillment.
It is partially fulfilled in David’s son Solomon, and in the earthly kingdom of Israel. But it points to a greater fulfillment in Jesus.
This is why it is so important for the Gospel writers to show that Jesus was a descendant of David – to demonstrate to the early Christians that Jesus fulfilled the promises made to David so many years ago.
In Jesus, the statement “I will be his father, and he will be my son” will not just be symbolic.
Jesus builds a new temple
In John’s Gospel after Jesus drives the moneychangers out of the temple, the rulers are a little ticked, and they ask him;
"What sign can you show us to prove your authority to do all this?"
Jesus answered them, "Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days."
They replied, "It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and you are going to raise it in three days?" But the temple he had spoken of was his body. After he was raised from the dead, his disciples recalled what he had said. Then they believed the scripture and the words that Jesus had spoken.
- John 2:19-22
Jesus will take in his own body the sacrificial system of forgiveness that went with the temple.
Jesus would not just be a symbol of the presence of God; he would be God come in human flesh!
Jesus would extend the purpose of the temple to include us, so that the presence of God, by His Holy Spirit would come top abide within us, so that the temple is not just some building in a far off land, you, and we, are the temple of God, because you have the Spirit living with in you.
Even so, we haven’t seen the complete fulfillment of this promise to David – but we know that it is still coming – that one day, God will completely establish his kingdom here on earth – that there will be complete peace, and as John writes in his Revelation, “there is no temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp. The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their splendour into it.” – Revelation 21:22f
David had a plan, it was a good plan, but it didn’t fit into God’s plan, which was better by far.
David hears God’s plan, and although he probably doesn’t understand the complete fulfillment of the plan, he can see that it is above and beyond his plan! When compared with what God wants to do for him, the building he wants to build for God doesn’t sound so amazing.
I don’t know about you, but when my plans get thwarted, (even by a much better plan) I have to go off and sulk a little, because it was a good plan, and it was mine! Not David – he doesn’t say “well, alright then, and then do to his room to mourn the loss of another great plan, no he goes right down to the tent that houses the Ark of the Covenant (the one he was dis’ing in his plan) and he rejoices before God!
This is what David prays: 2Samuel 7:18-29
Do you have big plans?
It is not wrong to have big plans – there are many times in scripture when some has big plans, they take them to God, and God says, “Yes, that fits right in to the big picture!
Where we go wrong is when we think that every good plan is God’s will – we are just using God’s name to back up our ideas – I think that this is more taking God’s name in vain than any curse word.
We can go wrong when we make our plans without regard to God’s plan. James says, “Now listen, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money." Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, "If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that." As it is, you boast in your arrogant schemes. All such boasting is evil.” – James 4:13-16
We can also go wrong if we hold on to our own plans to tightly. We need to be like David and recognize a better plan when we hear it.
We can make plans, but we need to hold them lightly in our hands, because if God’s plan is different and better, it’s best if he doesn’t have to pry our hands open to get us to give up our plans and take on his.
Like God’s plan for David, God’s plans for us are good. The promise that we have in Jeremiah is, “For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. 12 Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. 13 You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. 14 I will be found by you," declares the LORD,” - Jeremiah 29:11-14
And like David, we need to be able to give up our plans and accept God’s greater plans for us with rejoicing.
