God's Promise

We are in a crucial time in our history. I do not mean we as a Church, I do not mean we as Americans, but I mean we as in humanity. The world is under attack, yet we seem to have no clue as to why! I have heard many people say that America is to blame for the rise in terrorism because of our immoral behavior and our extravagant ways, because of our granting women equal rights and our refusal to subject women to a demeaning position within the society. While those may be things that are counter to most of the cultures of the world, I do not believe these are the reason. The reason, and it is not one you will usually hear on radio or TV is simply this: we are despised because of our God.

You see, the world sees us, meaning Americans and even Europeans as Christians. Although that is far from the truth in most of Europe and much of America, there can still be little doubt that we are a culture that has been formed by Christianity and Christian values. Although those values have largely been distorted and perverted, nonetheless, they are fundamentally different from most other cultures in the world. You may disagree with me, and that’s okay, because our culture allows us to disagree. We believe that people have certain unalienable rights, among them is life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Where do we get these ideas from? The Bible! We believe that people have the right to life because God has breathed life into every individual. Not only that, but we know that Jesus came to give us life, in fact he declares that he is the life! We also believe that Christ came to give us freedom, liberty. The Bible says that where the spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. Jesus himself says, “What the son has set free is free indeed!” He has given us the right to freedom. Of course the Bible is full of passages that depict happiness that God has in store for his people. He knows the plans he has for us, plans for us to prosper, plans of hope and a future. Jesus came that we might have life more abundantly. And of course the promise of heaven is a promise of happiness.

However, not all cultures have this same ideology. Although many people try to claim that every religion points to the same God, it simply is not true. Allah is not the same as the God of the Bible! Apparently, Allah does not have a problem devaluing life, but the God of the Bible values life! Allah does not approve of foreigners, but the God of the Bible takes special care of foreigners. Allah seems to be a God of war, yet the God of the Bible is the Prince of Peace. The only thing they have in common is that they are both credited with being the creator.

The issue is a very complicated one that unfortunately we really can’t unpack this morning except to say that we are dealing with different worldviews. The Muslims simply do not think the same way about the world, life, God and the universe as we do, because they have a distorted view of God.

The bottom line is this: Muslim cultures hate Israel and everything they stand for, especially their God. Why is this important to us, since we are Christians and not JEWS? Very simply, the God of the Old Testament is still the God of the New Testament. If they hate the God of the Old Testament, they hate our God and that is why they hate us. Because we are inextricably linked to Israel. I have heard many people question why we support Israel, and today we are going to try to understand one of the reasons why… because it was to Israel that God gave the promise. What promise? The promise that allows us to declare that Jesus is our King. Let’s look at this as we continue our study of David by turning to 2 Samuel chapter 7.

We know that David has already been declared the King of all Israel and that he has led the parade into the city with the ark of the covenant, the physical representation of God. He has put the ark into the tent as per the regulations from Leviticus for when the Israelites were moving across the desert to the promised land. However, David now starts to think that the physical representation of God should have a little better place to reside than in a tent. "After all," David thinks, "I have this nice house here because the Lord has been so good to me, and yet the ark is still in a tent." So he decides that he wants to do something for God, he wants to build him a house, a temple we call it.

At first the prophet Nathan agrees, but then God speaks to him with a message for David that begins, and I am paraphrasing, “What makes you think you can build a house for me? I have been traveling in this tent for a long time and have I ever complained? Did I ever ask for a house? This ark has never been about me, it was for you, for the people, so that they could know I was in their midst!” We then pick up with this special message to David in verse 8

8Now therefore thus you shall say to my servant David: Thus says the LORD of hosts: I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep to be prince over my people Israel; He reminds David that it was God who chose him, this redneck farm boy to be the ruler of Israel. Notice he reminds David several different ways that God is still the one looking after this nation. He refers to David as prince instead of king, because God is the king. He calls Israel “my people” instead of your people because God is the King, and aside from reminding David that God allowed him to ascend to the throne, he refers to him as “my servant David.” I do not think David had any issue with pride, especially since that was the issue that had left Saul excluded, still God was surely reminding David that he was the one invested in these people. He then continues

9and I have been with you wherever you went, and have cut off all your enemies from before you; and I will make for you a great name, like the name of the great ones of the earth.

He also reminds David that he has never left him but has been the source of all his victories and all his accolades. And in fact God desired for David to have these. He desired for David to be great, like the great ones of the earth. Indeed, to this day David is still the pinnacle of leadership for the nation of Israel. His name is still the great one for the Jews. But here begins the promise…

10And I will appoint a place for my people Israel and will plant them, so that they may live in their own place, and be disturbed no more; and evildoers shall afflict them no more, as formerly, 11from the time that I appointed judges over my people Israel; and I will give you rest from all your enemies. Moreover, the LORD declares to you that the LORD will make you a house.

God has declared that he will make a place for Israel where they may live in peace, where evildoers shall afflict them no more as they did in the time of the judges, and God will give rest from all their enemies. This is a very interesting point to me for many reasons. One is that I see so many people harassing them! I do not see them living in peace. Does that mean that God did not keep his promise? No, not exactly. Although this promise did not have any conditions on it, most of the promises to bless Israel include a stipulation that they must continue to follow in the ways of God and the law of Moses. History and the Bible both reveal that that did not happen. Also, God actually did fulfill this promise, for there is no mention of an eternal peace, just peace. In fact, there was peace from outsiders for much of David’s reign and all of Solomon’s reign. It was during Solomon’s reign, after the nation had been established and peace reigned that God allowed a house to be built for him just as he says.

12When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your ancestors, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come forth from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. 13He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom for ever.

Nathan is clearly talking about Solomon at this point, for as I said, Solomon, one of David’s sons who was not even conceived of at this point was to be the one who would build God’s Temple. However, this part of the promise includes the idea of an eternal kingdom. We will get back to that in a second.

14I will be a father to him, and he shall be a son to me. When he commits iniquity, I will punish him with a rod such as mortals use, with blows inflicted by human beings. Of course all of this prophecy applies to Solomon and the continued line of succession from David. However, there can be no doubt that this imagery of Father and son and the punishment with rods also applies the prophecy to Jesus who the New Testament takes great care to show was also in the lineage of David. While Solomon certainly fits the immediate context of the prophecy, there are some limitations on his fulfilling the entire prophecy. As it continues in verse 16…
16Your house and your kingdom shall be made sure for ever before me; your throne shall be established for ever.

The problem with seeing this promise as fulfilled in Solomon is simple, Solomon did not live forever. Neither did any one individual. It may be possible though to trace the lineage of the king of Israel forever to the line of David, except that the kingdom was destroyed around 586 BC. It would appear as though God did not fulfill his promise. However, there is one person who is in the line of David, as it says in both Matthew and Luke and who does live forever, Jesus the Christ. He is the fulfillment of the prophecy. That is why he was called by the children and the crowds, “Jesus, Son of David,” because they recognized him as the fulfillment of the promise. God’s promise was to Israel, to David and it was fulfilled in Christ. Therefore we are the beneficiaries of God’s covenant with Israel. Christ is the king who will reign forever.

We have the fulfillment of the promise as our King, Jesus the Christ. Yet this promise was not made to Christians, it was made to Israel. So how does this apply? Did God give up on Israel because they crucified Christ? Did he turn his back on them when they rejected his son. Was the destruction of the temple in 70 AD supposed to be the end of Israel and we should have never reinstated it as a nation after WWII? Some people would like us to think that, But I keep coming back to the fact that God is the same yesterday today and forever. I also am called back by what Paul says in Romans 11:1ff I ask, then, has God rejected his people? By no means! I myself am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, a member of the tribe of Benjamin. He goes on to say how “All Israel will be saved.” Indeed there is a special place in God’s heart for Israel, and the New Testament, not just the Old Testament bears witness to this.

SO the promise is fulfilled in Christ and we stand as beneficiaries! Thanks be to God. We have a great and mighty King who sits on the throne. That means regardless of all the stuff that goes on in the world, Jesus is still on His throne. He is still taking care of his people. He has not left us without hope. While the world is in a crucial time, we must remain steadfast with God. He will keep his promises… We need to keep ours.