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"The Davidic Covenant, Pt.2" • 11.22.15 •
Calvary Christian Fellowship, Sunday Morning Service
Intro
- We concluded our last service upon one of the
great peaks of scripture. King David had a desire to build a house for the ark
of God, but instead received a prophetic word from God.
- He, God, would build David a
"house," a ruling dynasty that would extend beyond his life into
eternity, signaling the reign of the Messiah Jesus Christ as the ultimate
fulfillment.
- Theologians call this the "Davidic
Covenant." The word "covenant" refers to a binding agreement
between two parties who are held to certain commitments.
- For those who have been through the Bible
with us up to this point, you won't be surprised by this phrase and should have
at least a cursory understanding of the concept.
- Depending on who you read, there are as many
as six covenants prior to this one. As we've gone along in our study of the
Bible, we've at least mentioned them in passing.
- For your edification, I'd like you to be
aware of all six and will briefly summarize them here.
- The first covenant that is found in scripture
is called the "The Edenic Covenant,"
which may also be referred to as "The
Covenant of Works."
- This a covenant that God made with Adam,
representing mankind, who are given the task of multiplying and taking dominion
over the Earth. (Genesis 1:28-30)
- The implicit reward is the eventual access to
the Tree of Life and the explicit consequence of death on the occasion of
trespassing at one forbidden tree, according to Genesis 2:16,17.
- The second covenant that we find in scripture
is "The Adamic Covenant."
- After Adam and Eve stole from the Tree of the
Knowledge Of God And Evil, God pronounces that they will now live in a world
riddled with a cursed condition.
- The woman will endure increased labor pains
and will consistently long to lead her husband, while the Man will suffer from
frustrating work conditions. (Genesis
3:14-9)
- Personally, I prefer to lump both of these
into one covenant, but suffice it to say, the best part of this is God's
promise to eventually raise up a "seed" from Eve, who will crush the
Serpent's head!
- The third covenant in scripture is "The Noahic Covenant." After the
flood waters receded, God again tasks Noah and his descendants with repopulating
the Earth.
- God promises a regulated, seasonal cycle for
the Earth, including a promise never to flood the Earth in the same
catastrophic way a second time, the rainbow serving as a sign of fidelity.
- The fourth of the Biblical covenants is
"The Abrahamic Covenant."
God calls Abram to leave the pagan culture of the Ur of the Chaldees to follow
Him.
- In doing so, he will become a great nation
and from or through him, all the families of the Earth will be blessed! (Genesis 12:1-3) This particular
agreement is very important.
- Abram has no children. I believe that you can
see him attempting to adopt an heir, first by looking at Lot and then by
looking at the slave that was born in his house.
- When both of them are endangered in Abram's
raid against the Sodomite Kings at the end of Genesis 14, Abram is swimming in a great deal of doubt.
- In Genesis
15, God repeats His promise to Abram, elaborating on His initial promise,
repeating the statement of numerous descendants and adding the land promise.
- Abraham believed. God accounted him
righteousness and then God confirmed the covenant by walking alone through the
pieces of cut up animal that Abram had prepared.
- The fifth covenant in the Bible is "The Mosaic Covenant" which you can
find in Exodus 20-23, restated to
the "New" generation in Deuteronomy.
- This agreement is between God's nation,
Abraham's physical descendants and is unique in a few ways.
- First, while there are conditional elements
implied in the other covenants, this is the most obedience dependant agreement
between God and His people.
- Second, this covenant was specifically meant
for a community of people for a period of time. Israel, the nation, received
these commands and laws and they were fulfilled by Jesus Christ.
- Nine of the ten commandments beside the law
of the Sabbath is repeated in the New Testament. Our obedience as Christians is
a loving response to the Lord God and His Christ.
- The sixth agreement made in scripture is called
"The Israel Land Covenant"
which is spelled out in Deuteronomy
30:1-10. This covenant is again heavily conditioned upon obedience.
- The people of God were to ratify this once
they came into the land by setting themselves by tribes on opposing mountain
tops, for all intents and purposes, yelling out their agreement.
- This story can be seen in Joshua 8 on the mountains of Ebal and
Gerazim. Finally, we come back to where we started and the 7th covenant in scripture,
"The Davidic Covenant."
- Before we move into our text, there are a few
things that are left to clear up. First, while there are new covenant
agreements made, they never replace past agreements.
- I had made the statement that the Abrahamic covenant
was significant in that it reveals how one can be declared or accounted
righteous by God. The Mosaic covenant then cannot nullify that!
- Second, these covenant agreements reveal that
God bases His relationship to Man upon conditions that He obligates Himself to
fulfill, because God must be true, though every man be a liar!
- When God tells Abraham that his descendants
will be more numerous than the stars in the sky and thay they will be a source
of blessing to all the families of the Earth, it must take place!
- When He promises that one of David's
descendants will rule for eternity, it must happen!
- God initiates these covenants and agrees to
perform based upon His promise. David is now the latest recipient. How does he
respond?
- Last week, we looked at David's Request in verses 1 through 3 and God's Response in verses 4 through 17. Today, we have David's Reaction from verse 18 through
29. Verse 18.
Text
•
II Samuel 7:18-21 : "Then King David went in and sat
before the Lord; and he said: 'Who am I, O Lord God? And what is my house, that You
have brought me this far? And yet this was a small thing in Your sight, O Lord God; and You have also spoken of Your
servant’s house for a great while to come. Is this the manner of man, O Lord God? Now what more can David say to You?
For You, Lord God, know Your servant. For Your word’s sake, and according
to Your own heart, You have done all these great things, to make Your servant
know them." : Can you see David walk silently
into the other room and just plop down on the couch in silent amazement!
-
I see his eyes glazed over but wide with wonder as he considers the initial
implications of God's word to Him. His mouth is agape and his body is limp as
he positions himself before the Lord.
-
What promises from God! It just simply humbles him. "Who am I that these
things should be true of me!" David owns what God has said. He was a
nothing from a politically insignificant family.
-
He had crossed a tremendous divide, but while this was a great feat to David it
was a small accomplishment for God! Truly, it was nothing to God!
-
That amazing record of David's past fuels his belief that God can bring the
rest of his story in the distant future to pass. This should be a mark of
reflection for our life.
-
God has been faithful to bring us as far as He has. For some of us, a great
distance has been traversed! He has saved some from great wickedness and
perversity.
-
When you and I look at how far we have yet to go, there is a tendency to become
overwhelmed. Take David's cue. "My past wasn't a problem for you. My
future is in good hands!"
-
God has promised to preserve an heir for all eternity. This was far beyond
human achievement, but would be a simple thing for God to effect! What more
could be said?
-
What could David claim? As he looks back over his life, he doesn't see a moment
that engendered a response from God. He doesn't make sense of God's choice of
Him.
-
David simply agrees with God's Word and His heart or desire to perform these
things and it moves him to praise. "For Your word's sake and according to
Your own heart!"
-
In this case, the "word" refers to God's decree or promise. He did
this for the sake of His own word to David.
-
I can't help but go back into my mind and consider the first chapter of Genesis
when God said, "Let there be light" and there was light!
-
God has acted here according to His own word and according to His own heart or
desire.
-
In reply to the question, "Why did God save me?" get used to
answering, "Because He wanted to!" That is the biblical answer.
Anything more is beyond scripture and is human conjecture.
-
God brought David into the Kingdom for the same reason that He brought you and
I into it! It pleased Him! His heart wanted it to be so!
-
David can't help but consider God's greatness not only for doing these things,
but for making them known to him! God neither needs to choose anyone nor tell
them about it. He tells His servants!
•
II Samuel 7:22 : "Therefore You are great, O Lord God. For there is none like You, nor
is there any God besides You, according to all that we have heard with our
ears." : Because God has been the Lord of
our past. Because He will bring a joyous and wonderful future to pass. Because
He has done this according to His word and heart, He is great!
-
Great is often translated elsewhere "magnified." There is a sense in
which David is appreciating the scope and the immensity of God in a way that he
hasn't before.
-
He is focused on the facts of God's interaction with his life and in the
process, David has understood the vast power of God to a greater degree.
-
God is and will always be greater than we can imagine. Eternity is required for
God to manifest all of Himself to us.
-
However, like David, when we examine the facts and discover the power and
faithfulness of God toward us, we are forced to acknowledge His vastness in a
more profound way.
-
Part of God's glory is that He stands alone. There is none like You, nor is
there any God besides You. David isn't espousing a belief in other gods.
-
The nations that surrounded Israel were often polytheistic. Their gods
existence however was a figment of the pagan imagination. There has never been
another God!
-
David is saying that God cannot be lumped in the same category with the false
gods of the nations, a colloquial equivalent to the English phrase, "Not
in the same league!"
-
God stood and stands alone because of all that they had heard with their ears.
They have understood and considered all of the acts of God, His interaction on
their behalf in history!
-
Where had they heard of him with their ears? From the law, the Word of God and
from the testimony of the saints! This leads David to consider the theme of his
own nation. Verse 23.
•
II Samuel 7:23,24 : "And who is like Your people, like
Israel, the one nation on the earth whom God went to redeem for Himself as a
people, to make for Himself a name—and to do for Yourself great and awesome
deeds for Your land—before Your people whom You redeemed for Yourself from
Egypt, the nations, and their gods? For You have made Your people Israel Your very own people
forever; and You, Lord, have become their God." : What physical nation on earth could claim such a close
relationship to God?
-
There is no other nation that has ever existed which can claim that God
initiated a covenant relationship with them. For those who call America a
"Christian nation," let us please agree together.
-
Several of the founding Fathers were indeed Christian men, though many affirmed
theologically diverse views that we would differ with today.
-
A few were Deists, who acknowledge God as the first cause, but deny His
continuing and authoritative presence over human affairs.
-
That being the case, the Judeo-Christian ethic permeates our founding articles
and to the extent that God's Word and principles have been honored, God has
blessed this nation.
-
But please don't mistakenly believe that America is an equivalent nation in the
eyes of God to the nation of Israel. Israel is unique by virtue of the fact
that God redeemed them personally!
-
God bought Israel from the slave market for His own sake, to make Himself a
Name. The idea is that God redeemed Israel to promote His own reputation as a
redeemer!
-
The redeemed are living advertisements! The redeemed are living proof of their
Redeemer's credibility! Do you understand that this is His reason for redeeming
you?
-
He is still promoting His own reputation through the changed lives of His
people! He is doing this in the eyes of the world and in the eyes of His
people!
God
took them for Himself from Egypt in a mighty deliverance. Each of the ten
plagues were judgments upon the gods of Egypt, who God overthrew.
-
God had redeemed Israel from the nations, the Ammonites, the Canaanites and the
Philistines. David was likely thinking of all the Philistine gods that were
left behind in Rephaim!
-
Listen to David's words here in verse 24
and note them well. God has made Israel His own people forever! That is the
teaching of scripture, so please do not get confused.
-
This is why I have taken the time to list the covenants to you. There is a
force of obligation that God has imposed upon Himself and David acknowledges
that reality here.
-
David recognized a covenant but would never affirm the teaching of
"Covenant Theologians" who spiritualize the promises made to National
Israel, veritably replacing them with the church!
-
David disagrees vehemently! God has promised to make Israel His people forever!
-
You will say, "But national Israel is largely comprised of unbelievers
today." That is true.
-
The nation of Israel is largely secular and those who are of Israeli descent
who believe in their Messiah, are Christians, part of the church and happen to
be Jewish!
-
According to Paul's words in Romans 11:4,5,
those who believe upon Christ are part of a remnant of the Jewish nation that
He has reserved for Himself!
-
Later on in that same chapter, the Apostle Paul hints at a restoration of the
nation of Israel, noting that their grafting back into their own tree would be
a simple action. (Romans 11:23,24)
-
And then, Paul goes even further. Turn to Romans
11. Verse 25.
•
Romans 11:25-29 : "For I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of
this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own opinion, that blindness in
part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. And
so all Israel will be saved, as it is written: 'The Deliverer will come out of
Zion, And He will turn away ungodliness from Jacob; For this
is My covenant with them, When I take away their sins.' Concerning the gospel they are
enemies for your sake, but concerning the election they are beloved for the
sake of the fathers. For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable." : God will save His people. One day, a remnant from the Nation of
Israel will rise to represent God on Earth again!
-
I have made no attempt to hide my endorsement of the fact that one day soon,
God will remove His ambassadors from planet Earth and will then pour out His
wrath upon His enemies.
-
When He does so, even then He is gracious, allowing 144,000 nationally Jewish
representatives to speak forth His gospel of grace!
-
God's promises to Israel will stand and He will show Himself to be their God!
The only way a person can avoid coming this conclusion is to spiritualize the
scriptural promises of God to Israel.
•
II Samuel 7:25-29 : "Now, O Lord God, the word which You have spoken concerning Your
servant and concerning his house, establish it forever and do as You have said.
So let Your name be magnified forever, saying, ‘The Lord of hosts is the God
over Israel.’ And let the house of Your servant David be established before
You. For You, O Lord of hosts, God of Israel, have revealed this to Your
servant, saying, ‘I will build you a house.’ Therefore Your servant has found
it in his heart to pray this prayer to You. 'And now, O Lord God, You are God,
and Your words are true, and You have promised this goodness to Your servant.
Now therefore, let it please You to bless the house of Your servant, that
it may continue before You forever; for You, O Lord God, have spoken it, and
with Your blessing let the house of Your servant be blessed forever.'" : I love David's heart here. There isn't any false humility in
his prayer to God.
-
He doesn't negate God's promise in any way. He boldly says, "Do all that
you have said!" What an example to us!
-
"I can't be forgiven even though God promises that my confession brings it
and cleanses me." Why are you so special? When God says He'll do
something, take it from David and affirm it as truth!
-
David says, "Do what you have said for me and do what you have said for
the people of Israel!"
Conclusion
- David is tied up in thanksgiving and praise
because God has made Him a promise that He by virtue of His character, must
keep!
- Consider our reaction then to the words, the
promise of Christ that we recite when taking communion and that we reflect upon
here as New Covenant citizens.
• Matthew
26:27-29 : "Then He took the
cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, 'Drink from it, all of you. For this is My blood of the
new
covenant,
which is shed for many for the remission of sins. But I say to you, I will not
drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new
with you in My Father’s kingdom.'"
: How should we react? Lord, who are we that you would do this for us? But
since you desire to do it, we pray that you would do it!
- If there is anything to be thankful for this
week, may this be at the top of your list: Jesus Christ has promised that if I
will enter into His promise, that I will be with Him in heaven!
- That is enough to praise Him for eternity!
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