What would you do if God told you, “Nope. You are not to do that,” after you presented a great idea? Would you be mad? Would you be disappointed? David was neither. He was grateful, hopeful even joyful. Why? God gave him a powerful promise. What can we learn from this? Let’s dig in…
1 Chronicles 17 – The Lord’s Covenant Promise to David
When David was settled in his palace, he summoned Nathan the prophet. “Look,” David said, “I am living in a beautiful cedar palace, but the Ark of the Lord’s Covenant is out there under a tent!”
2 Nathan replied to David, “Do whatever you have in mind, for God is with you.”
3 But that same night God said to Nathan,
4 “Go and tell my servant David, ‘This is what the Lord has declared: You are not the one to build a house for me to live in. 5 I have never lived in a house, from the day I brought the Israelites out of Egypt until this very day. My home has always been a tent, moving from one place to another in a Tabernacle. 6 Yet no matter where I have gone with the Israelites, I have never once complained to Israel’s leaders, the shepherds of my people. I have never asked them, “Why haven’t you built me a beautiful cedar house?”’
7 “Now go and say to my servant David, ‘This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies has declared: I took you from tending sheep in the pasture and selected you to be the leader of my people Israel. 8 I have been with you wherever you have gone, and I have destroyed all your enemies before your eyes. Now I will make your name as famous as anyone who has ever lived on the earth! 9 And I will provide a homeland for my people Israel, planting them in a secure place where they will never be disturbed. Evil nations won’t oppress them as they’ve done in the past, 10 starting from the time I appointed judges to rule my people Israel. And I will defeat all your enemies.
“‘Furthermore, I declare that the Lord will build a house for you—a dynasty of kings! 11 For when you die and join your ancestors, I will raise up one of your descendants, one of your sons, and I will make his kingdom strong. 12 He is the one who will build a house—a temple—for me. And I will secure his throne forever. 13 I will be his father, and he will be my son. I will never take my favor from him as I took it from the one who ruled before you. 14 I will confirm him as king over my house and my kingdom for all time, and his throne will be secure forever.’”
15 So Nathan went back to David and told him everything the Lord had said in this vision.
David’s Prayer of Thanks
16 Then King David went in and sat before the Lord and prayed,
“Who am I, O Lord God, and what is my family, that you have brought me this far? 17 And now, O God, in addition to everything else, you speak of giving your servant a lasting dynasty! You speak as though I were someone very great, O Lord God!
18 “What more can I say to you about the way you have honored me? You know what your servant is really like. 19 For the sake of your servant, O Lord, and according to your will, you have done all these great things and have made them known.
20 “O Lord, there is no one like you. We have never even heard of another God like you! 21 What other nation on earth is like your people Israel? What other nation, O God, have you redeemed from slavery to be your own people? You made a great name for yourself when you redeemed your people from Egypt. You performed awesome miracles and drove out the nations that stood in their way. 22 You chose Israel to be your very own people forever, and you, O Lord, became their God.
23 “And now, O Lord, I am your servant; do as you have promised concerning me and my family. May it be a promise that will last forever. 24 And may your name be established and honored forever so that everyone will say, ‘The Lord of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel, is Israel’s God!’ And may the house of your servant David continue before you forever.
25 “O my God, I have been bold enough to pray to you because you have revealed to your servant that you will build a house for him—a dynasty of kings! 26 For you are God, O Lord. And you have promised these good things to your servant. 27 And now, it has pleased you to bless the house of your servant, so that it will continue forever before you. For when you grant a blessing, O Lord, it is an eternal blessing!”
1 Chronicles 17 NLT
A Powerful, Eternal Promise for David and Us!
“Instead of allowing David to build a physical structure for the Lord, God promised to build a dynasty for David.”
Preparation: A Study in 1 Chronicles:
https://www.bible.com/en/reading-plans/29492
That’s God for you! Many times He’ll say no to what you want now only because He has something better planned for your future. That something better will be awesome. Here’s a summary of God’s Powerful Promises and why. Remember, God keeps His promises!
- At that point, God’s had lived in a tent since the Exodus — 600 years! He doesn’t mind staying in a tent a little while longer.
- Fulfilled: He made David’s name “as famous as anyone who has ever lived on the earth!” (v. 8)
- Being fulfilled: a Homeland for His people Israel.
- He will defeat ALL of Israel’s enemies. So, far, so good!
- Fulfilled: God will give David a “dynasty of kings”.
- Fulfilled: His son, Solomon will build the temple.
- There will be another descendant who will build the final temple. That’s yet to be fulfilled.
- Jesus will always have the favor of Father God. Not like God took away Saul’s favor because he disobeyed God.
Pastor Sandy Adams comments…
The right to rule was stripped from Saul and given to David… but not so with David’s heir. His throne and authority will be established forever.
David’s son, Solomon, became heir to David’s throne, but only partially fulfilled God’s promises to David. Yes, Solomon built a temple. But his throne didn’t last forever. Babylon dethroned Solomon’s final successor, Zedekiah, in 586 BC.
God is promising David a descendant who will establish an eternal kingdom…
He will be established forever. This is the part of God’s promise that has ignited hope in the hearts of Jewish people throughout their history… A king will sit on the throne for all eternity.
Here’s the entire promise, “A forever king will sit on a forever throne and rule over a forever kingdom.” Obviously, the scope of this prophecy looked beyond Solomon to a future ruler – a Jewish king who came to be called “Messiah.”
The rabbis have always seen in God’s covenant with David, a dual-prophecy – partially fulfilled by Solomon, but ultimately pointing to the King of kings. In fact, much of the rest of the Old Testament is dedicated to identifying this king. Isaiah tells us how He’ll be born of a virgin. Daniel communicates when He’ll be born – after 69 weeks. Micah says where He’ll be born – in Bethlehem.
The rest of the Old Testament points to the heir to the Davidic Covenant.
And this is why the New Testament writers, Matthew and Luke, go to such extremes to trace the genealogy of Jesus all the way back to King David. Jesus was this promised son of David. Anyone who claims to be a “Savior”, or a “Messiah”, and cannot trace his lineage back to David, is an imposter. It’s interesting, that shortly after Jesus ascended to Heaven the temple was burned by the Romans. The Jewish genealogical records were turned the ashes. God cut down the family trees because they were no longer needed. Messiah had already come. Jesus proved his Davidic ancestry as Israel’s Messiah.
Sandy Adams
The God of Israel’s Powerful Promise of a Messiah
God is the God of Israel. He is Israel’s God. He is our God too! Not just in name, not just a statue or a crucifix, but the people — we — are to treat Him as the Eternal, Almighty God. He really is OUR GOD. David praises God for His eternal covenant between Him and Israel. Jesus Messiah came to fulfill the Davidic covenant and start a new covenant for the Jew first, then the Gentiles. He’s not leaving us out. Jesus’ new covenant is eternal, everlasting, infinite, forever!
How long is forever?
You might think that’s a silly question, but for us mortal humans, eternity is hard to fathom. Nevertheless, God lives in eternity. He’s been around forever and he’ll be around forever.
Jesus gave us a powerful promise of eternity…
8 “I am the Alpha and the Omega—the beginning and the end,” says the Lord God. “I am the one who is, who always was, and who is still to come—the Almighty One.”
Revelation 1:8 NLT
16 “For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.
John 3:16 NLT
Our souls are eternal. Where you spend eternity is a choice you need to make now while you’re alive and coherent. You have ONLY 2 choices: Heaven or hell.
If you’re not sure if you’re saved or not, if you truly want to be born again and have the assurance of salvation, receive the Holy Spirit, feel His Shalom — a peace that surpasses all understanding, and get a 1-way, non-stop ticket to Heaven after you die, or that you won’t be left behind at the Rapture, which can happen at any moment, this is what you have to do…
