II Samuel 7:5-29
KING DAVID was grateful that God enabled him to capture Jerusalem and strike down the Philistines when they tried to attack the city. He then proceeded to bring the ark of God back to the city.
After having settled down in his palace, he just doesn't feel right to be living in a palace of cedar while the ark of God is still sitting in a tent. So, he wants to build a temple for the Lord.
But lo and behold, God tells him through the Prophet Nathan that he is not to do so. Nathan's remark and David's response are both recorded in II Samuel 7. From them, we can find insights into the nature of the only house that God indwells, and how that truth should impact every believer.
God Wants Nothing from Us
God begins His discourse by reminding David in verses 8,9 that He has richly blessed the king in the past and it was all by His grace:
I took thee from the sheepcote, from following the sheep, to be ruler over my people, over Israel: And I was with thee whithersoever thou wentest, and have cut off all thine enemies out of thy sight, and have made thee a great name, like unto the name of the great men that are in the earth.
In verses 10 and 11, He speaks of additional grace that He would bestow:
Moreover I will appoint a place for my people Israel, and will plant them, that they may dwell in a place of their own, and move no more; neither shall the children of wickedness afflict them any more, as beforetime, And as since the time that I commanded judges to be over my people Israel, and have caused thee to rest from all thine enemies. Also the Lord telleth thee that he will make thee an house.
Spiritually, the place for God's people refers to the Kingdom of Christ into which believers are translated when they are delivered from the power of darkness. Once we become born again, the children of wickedness can no longer harm us, and in Christ we find rest from all spiritual enemies.
The house that God promised David alludes to the body of Christ in which God the Holy Spirit dwells.. We read, for example, in Zechariah 12:10: "And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced."
No Human Is Qualified
One reason why God didn't want David to build His temple is found in I Chronicles 22:8. There, David tells Solomon: "But the word of the Lord came to me, saying, Thou hast shed blood abundantly, and hast made great wars: thou shalt not build an house unto my name, because thou hast shed much blood upon the earth in my sight."
In the historical sense, God indeed kept David from building His house because he was a warrior. But that proscription has farther-reaching implications. Jesus says "Whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment" (Matt. 5:22). Effectively, therefore, every human being is by nature a murderer in God's eyes and is therefore disqualified from building the House of God.
Moreover, God stresses in verses 5-7 that He doesn't really dwell in any man-made structure:
Shalt thou build me an house for me to dwell in? Whereas I have not dwelt in any house since the time that I brought up the children of Israel out of Egypt, even to this day, but have walked in a tent and in a tabernacle. In all the places wherein I have walked with all the children of Israel spake I a word with any of the tribes of Israel, whom I commanded to feed my people Israel, saying, Why build ye not me an house of cedar?
Even Solomon, who would later build the physical temple in Jerusalem, understands that truth. In his dedication, he says:
But will God indeed dwell on the earth? behold, the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain thee; how much less this house that I have builded? (I Kings 8:27)
Eternal throne. In verses 12,13 and 16, God reveals that while the one to build God's house would be a seed of David, he would not be Solomon, because His kingdom would be everlasting :
And when thy days be fulfilled, and thou shalt sleep with thy fathers, I will set up thy seed after thee, which shall proceed out of thy bowels, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build an house for my name, and I will stablish the throne of his kingdom for ever. And thine house and thy kingdom shall be established for ever before thee: thy throne shall be established for ever.
The Seed. In the first half of verse 14, God identifies the specific person He has in mind, saying: "I will be his father, and he shall be my son." He is referring, of course, to His Only Begotten Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.
We read in Isaiah 9:6, "For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace." Especially pertinent to our discussion here is the last term, "The Prince of Peace." Not only did Jesus bring peace between God and believers, He is the only human being that is absolutely peaceful, never having shed any blood other than His own.
Sin substitute. But what does God mean by the second half of verse 14?
If he commit iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men, and with the stripes of the children of men:
The phrase "If he commit iniquity" is from a single Hebrew word hwe that could simply be translated "iniquity". We find that word, for instance, in Psalm 106:6, "We have sinned with our fathers, we have committed iniquity (hwe), we have done wickedly." In this context, a more appropriate translation would be "For iniquity".
Christ, of course, never committed iniquity, but as II Corinthians 5:21 declares, "For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him." It was for our sin that our Lord was chasten with the rod and the stripes of those men whom God used to bring Him to the Cross.
Victory. Thankfully, this builder of the house of God would survive God's chastisement. God promises is verse 15:
But my mercy shall not depart away from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away before thee.
Christ Himself speaks of this mercy in the messianic Psalm 22. We read in verses 18-22:
They part my garments among them, and cast lots upon my vesture. But be not thou far from me, O Lord: O my strength, haste thee to help me. Deliver my soul from the sword; my darling from the power of the dog. Save me from the lion's mouth: for thou hast heard me from the horns of the unicorns. I will declare thy name unto my brethren: in the midst of the congregation will I praise thee.
Exemplary Response
David has no problem understanding the spiritual meaning of Nathan's message, and he was inspired by the Holy Spirit to respond with a heartfelt prayer.
1. Acknowledging his unworthiness
To start with, David acknowledges that he is not worthy to enjoy God's blessing, saying in verses 18-20:
Who am I, O Lord God? and what is my house, that thou hast brought me hitherto? And this was yet a small thing in thy sight, O Lord God; but thou hast spoken also of thy servant's house for a great while to come. And is this the manner of man, O Lord God? And what can David say more unto thee? for thou, Lord God, knowest thy servant.
In other words: Who am I to deserve your blessings. I was a nobody and I came from a nothing family. But you have made me the king of Israel and let me dwell in a house of cedar. Even so, you look upon all that you have given me as though they are hardly anything, and now you even talk about giving me a house that will last forever. O Lord God, how can this happen to a lowly man like me? My gratitude is beyond words. What more can I say? Thankfully, you know my heart; you know how grateful I really am.
In Psalm 8, David expresses his wonderment a little more fully. Here are its first five verses:
O Lord our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth! who hast set thy glory above the heavens. Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast thou ordained strength because of thine enemies, that thou mightest still the enemy and the avenger. When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained; What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him? For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour.
This, then, is how our initial reaction to God's mercy and grace ought to beÑacknowledging our own littleness and expressing our amazement at God's mercy and grace.
2. Offering his thanksgiving
In verses 21,22, David then praises God for having given him the ear to hear:
For thy word's sake, and according to thine own heart, hast thou done all these great things, to make thy servant know them. Wherefore thou art great, O Lord God: for there is none like thee, neither is there any God beside thee, according to all that we have heard with our ears.
You see, had God not opened our spiritual ears and eyes, and given us a new heart and a resurrected soul, we could never understand the Gospel, let alone wanting to thank Him. This reality is so profound that David restates it in verse 27:
For thou, O Lord of hosts, God of Israel, hast revealed to thy servant, saying, I will build thee an house: therefore hath thy servant found in his heart to pray this prayer unto thee.
Next, David praises God for having chosen a people that He would call His own, and then redeeming them from their enslavement to sin and Satan. He says in verse 23:
And what one nation in the earth is like thy people, even like Israel, whom God went to redeem for a people to himself, and to make him a name, and to do for you great things and terrible, for thy land, before thy people, which thou redeemedst to thee from Egypt, from the nations and their gods?
Finally, in verse 24, he thanks God for reaffirming that the Israel of God will always be His people and that He will always be their God:
For thou hast confirmed to thyself thy people Israel to be a people unto thee for ever: and thou, Lord, art become their God.
3. Anticipating the completion of God's house
Relinquishing his own plan to build a house for God, David now looks forward to the day when God completes building His house, saying in verses 25,26:
And now, O Lord God, the word that thou hast spoken concerning thy servant, and concerning his house, establish it for ever, and do as thou hast said. And let thy name be magnified for ever, saying, The Lord of hosts is the God over Israel: and let the house of thy servant David be established before thee.
Especially for us believers living in these end-time days, we wait patiently for its completionÑthat is, for the last of God's Elect to become savedÑbecause after that, the Lord shall come back to gather us to heaven. Even more importantly than our own salvation, the final establishment of God's house will serve to magnify the name of the Lord in the heavenlies forever and ever.
4. Seeking God's blessings
In verses 28,29, David closes his prayer saying:
And now, O Lord God, thou art that God, and thy words be true, and thou hast promised this goodness unto thy servant: Therefore now let it please thee to bless the house of thy servant, that it may continue for ever before thee: for thou, O Lord God, hast spoken it: and with thy blessing let the house of thy servant be blessed for ever.
We believers need to acknowledge our own worthlessness, thank God for giving us salvation, and wait eagerly for the Lord to return to rapture us. But while we are living as strangers in this hostile world, we need the blessing of God every moment of our life. And so, David closes his prayer by asking God to bless him in everything he does, every step he takes, and even every thought that comes into his mind. Because we want our life to shine for Christ and bring glory to His name, that should be our prayer as well.