Advent IV
II Samuel 7:8-11
There are some phrases that just come across better in one language than another. Take our sermon theme for instance. “My house is your house.” It isn’t hard to catch the meaning of that phrase, but it really doesn’t quite have the ring to it as it would in Spanish, “Mi Casa, Su Casa!”
We just read through this text a few weeks ago in our Bible studies. And to give you the context, King David had won over the House of King Saul. David was the undisputed king over the entire nation of Israel. Then David went and captured Jerusalem, a strategic city in the middle of the land. He made Jerusalem his capital, he built his palace there…but there was something wrong. It just didn’t seem right to David that he was living in the lap of luxury while the Ark of the Covenant was spending its days tucked away in closets or stored in flimsy tents. David’s grand plan was to build a house for this Ark.
God came to David through a prophet named Nathan. The Lord wanted to talk to David about his plan to build a house. And had David been a Spanish speaker, God might very well have said to him, “Hey David, Mi Casa, Su Casa!” “How about this, David? Instead of you building me a house, I’m going to build you one. My house is your house, David!” The Lord was not going to let David construct a house for him, but instead, God was going to give David a double house: one house would be an earthly kingdom, ruled by David’s descendants. The second house would be an everlasting kingdom, ruled by David’s greatest descendant, Jesus Christ.
Part I
If you remember, King Saul, the man who ruled before David, really looked like a king. Saul stood head and shoulders above the rest of his countrymen. When they Israelites thought of the word “king” they thought of a guy like Saul, a lofty, well-built, regal-looking person. But Saul’s successor David didn’t really have the qualities that gave him the look of a king. To put it in basketball terms, King Saul would have been a towering Center. By contrast, David was much more like a scrappy Point-Guard. And what of David’s education? We don’t know of any that he had. He learned from someone how to read and write, but as far as kingdom administration, foreign policy, or military instruction, David had no formal training in any of these. And David wasn’t a born-leader. He was the youngest of 7 sons. And in fact, when Samuel came to anoint one of Jesse’s sons to be the next king of Israel, no one even thought to invite David. They let him watch the sheep out in the field while the rest of the family conducted the “important” business with Samuel. That shows us how little his own family thought of David’s potential to be any sort of leader.
There is a popular phrase in our day that goes, “leaders are made, not born.” A person isn’t born with all their leadership skills; they have to be honed by years of managing. A person isn’t born with their leadership position, it has to be given to them. David wasn’t born a leader, but he was made one by God. Our text says, “Now then, tell my servant David, ‘This is what the LORD Almighty says: I took you from the pasture and from following the flock to be ruler over my people Israel.”
The Lord could have chosen anyone to be king over Israel. Now Saul turned out to be a really rotten ruler, but God had plenty of options to replace him. King Saul’s son Jonathan would have been an excellent choice to be king; he had many of the same noble qualities that we see in David. Plus, Jonathan would have been better trained as a warrior and as an administrator. So why didn’t God choose Jonathan, and instead choose David? It’s because the Lord had in mind to build a house for David. God says to David in our text, “Now I will make your name great, like the names of the greatest men on earth.”
I want you to look for something as we read through the Books of Kings and Chronicles in these next few weeks of our Bible readings: look how many times David is referred to as the “ideal king.” We are going to see that good kings are going to be described as “walking in the way of their father David,” while it will say of wicked kings, “unlike David his father, he did not do what was right in the eyes of the LORD.” In building a house for David, God promised David that his name would be great. God fulfilled that promise by making David the standard by which all other kings over God’s people would be judged. The high honor that God gave David is in this: good kings were compared to David, evil kings were contrasted with David.
God also did another thing to honor David’s name and build him a house. David’s descendants would sit on the throne for almost 500 years after David. That would be like if we had made George Washington our first king instead of our first president, his descendants would not even be half-way through their 500-year rule of our nation. God gave to David 20 of his descendants to be kings after him.
Application
Well, it’s been a nice story so far, but what does it have to do with us? I mean, we are all happy the way that the Lord followed through on his promise to bless David by building him an earthly house, but how does this apply to our lives? Didn’t Jesus promise to take care of our earthly needs as well? One of the petitions of his Lord’s Prayer deals with just that, “Give us this day our daily bread.” And if you think about it, God sure hasn’t stopped blessing us by just giving us daily bread. God treats you and me like kings. Now I know none of us have a country to rule over as King David did. But in so many ways, you and I live far better than David and his king descendants. Which of David and the kings following him lived in houses where with the turn of the dial, the temperature is made cooler in the summer and warmer in the winter? David didn’t have that blessing, but we do. Which of David and the kings following him had a chariot that wasn’t attached to a horse, but instead moved by simply inserting a key into an ignition switch and turning it? David didn’t have that blessing, but we do. Which of David and the kings following him were able to walk into a store any day they wanted, and find refrigerated and preserved food from all over the globe? David didn’t have that blessing, but we do. It’s doesn’t take long to look at the way that we live before we see that God does treat us like kings, even better. He has built us comfortable earthly houses and lives, at a standard of which the world has never seen before.
Part II
Sometimes we people get the chance to choose what gifts we want. Many parents like getting Christmas lists from their children so that they have an idea of what types of things they’d enjoy for Christmas. Even spouses drop little hints to each other about that one thing that they’d really like for Christmas.
David made it no secret what he wanted. He wanted to be the one to build the Temple of God. But God had a different Christmas gift in mind for David. God was going to give David something that he didn’t ask for, but something that was far better: a Savior.
King David’s house has long since collapsed. No longer do his descendants rule over Israel. But God built David a better house, a permanent one. The Lord promised David a descendant who would sit on the throne forever! In fact, that’s what the Angel Gabriel said to Mary as he announced the birth of the Christ, “You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end.”
Application
This second house that the Lord built for David is the house that you and I are really looking forward to. Yes, it’s nice that God gives us so many nice things in our lives, but the trinkets of this world just don’t last. I don’t want to burst anyone’s bubble, but how many of the gifts that we give each other this next week are going to be in your house in 10 years? How many gifts do you remember from Christmas 5 years ago?
God knew how the things of this world are. And so he gave us a better gift than the world could offer, a permanent gift that you are always going to have. This present is of course Jesus, your Savior who bore your sin and opened the door for you to heaven. When you made out your wish lists these past few weeks for this things that you wanted for Christmas, you might not have put a Savior on your list. Maybe you didn’t do that because it slipped your mind. Maybe you didn’t do that because you know that you already have this most precious gift.
Whatever the case, as we look forward to Christmas, remember that Christmas is really nothing without Christ. Had he not come down to earth to build a permanent home, we wouldn’t have any reason to decorate trees and go to parties and exchange gifts. But in these last few days before Christmas, don’t forget that the greatest present isn’t going to come in the mail or be found underneath your tree. Your greatest present his right here, in your heart, the faith that looks up to that everlasting kingdom that Jesus established and that you are going to be a part of. May the Lord help us all to be truly thankful for this gift. Because through the merits of Christ, the Lord is able to say to forgiven sinner like us, “Hey! Mi Casa, Su Casa! My House is Your House…forever!” Amen.
sdg
