Would turn to second Samuel chapter seven. So, second Samuel seven. After many years of being on the run, David is finally king. The Lord is blessing him. And as he is honoring the Lord, the Lord blesses those who honor him indeed.

Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you. And the things that we need are maybe a little different than the things that David needed. He was king, so his things were a little bit different than our, things. But, God blessed him and God blesses us most of all in the things that are eternal. But in other ways, he provides for us as well because he loves us.

He cares for us. We are his children. Believe it or not, God wants you to be happy. He wants you to be filled with joy and peace in your heart, not because every circumstance of life is is happy and joyful, so to speak, but because despite the difficulties of life which will come, he is with us, he takes care of us, and he he is there to remind us of who we are in Christ Jesus and and what is ours most of all heaven. At this time in the Old Testament, their their eyes were particularly not on kingdom of heaven but on a kingdom on earth and called Israel and David was the king of Israel.

God had put him there through much difficulty at least from David's point of view. It wasn't so difficult for God But but he was now king. He was honoring God. God was blessing him. And he decided that he wanted to build a house for God.

Sounds like a good thing. Sounds like something God would go, oh, yeah. Go. Go for it. Build me build me a place.

But let's let's see what happens here. So we start out in chapter seven in verse one. It came to pass when the king sat in his house. When you see the king sat in his house, think palace. Okay?

Nice house. The king sat in his house and the Lord had, and the Lord had given him rest about from all his enemies. When he came to power, he had an enemy called the Philistines that was particularly a thorn in Israel's side. But God quickly gave him victory over the Philistines, puts pushed them back into their territory, which just happens to be today basically what we call the Gaza Strip by the way. So, if you think Philistines think Gaza Strip.

Not the same people live there today but it is the same area that the Philistines were. So, David forced them back quite quickly out of Israel's land back into Philistia and then God God gave him victory over many others as well in chapter eight. It lists, we won't take time to read but God gave him victory over the Philistines in eight one in verse two over Moab which was on the other side of the Jordan to their West over the the Moabites to the Syrians to the North. Syria's in the news. If you haven't noticed, right at the moment.

Even mentions the city of Damascus in chapter five, which was just taken by the rebels there. Not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing. But it just it is at the moment. God gave him victory over Syria and made those kings subservient to David and they had, as it mentions here in chapter seven, rest. They had rest.

That means there was a a lull in the wars. There was a time of of peace in Israel because they had conquered their territory under David. They had made their enemies either their friends or their servants around about and so there wasn't there weren't any big armies attack in Israel. There wasn't any territory Israel at that time particularly needed to take and so they had rest and as they were resting, As God had given them victory over their neighbors, David thought, what what shall I do now? I've conquered my I've conquered my enemies.

God's given me victory over them. So what will I do? And and and David recognized that who had given him that victory? God had. And so, it seemed fitting for David to make the request that we see in verse two.

So, first of all, we see David's military success followed by David's request in verse two. The king said unto Nathan, the prophet, see now I dwell in a house of cedar, but the ark of God dwelleth within curtains, within a a tent. And Nathan said to the king, go, do all that is in thy heart for the Lord is with thee. So, David makes this request. He comes to Nathan who is a prophet of God.

God often talked to David through prophets and priests. So David often went to God directly, but also went to them to seek the Lord's will also. He wasn't himself particularly a prophet or a priest. He was the king. But God provided him with others around him, that would give him the answer that he needed, to know what God's will was if he made request of the Lord.

Now, we saw in the past, there were times David didn't learn his lesson and David didn't make request to the Lord and it got him into a bad spot. Okay? But he goes to Nathan as he should and he asked Nathan, can I do this for the Lord? Nathan's response, Nathan's initial response was what? Sure.

Go ahead. The Lord is with you. This must have been his initial reaction because he knew God was with David and he surmised David's request to be in line with God's will. Well, that makes sense. God God would be honored by David making him a house.

Dave, God has made David a help to make David a a palace. Now, that that seems good. Sure. God is with you. Go ahead.

Do whatever you want. But Nathan spoke a little bit out of hand. He assumed. Sometimes we make assumptions and sometimes our assumptions are not correct. Sometimes what seems to be rational to us, to be reasonable, is not always God's will.

When the Israelites came into the promised land and they came up to the city of Jericho, I doubt they had started out in their minds thinking, okay, the way to defeat the city of Jericho is to walk around the city 13 times, make the people scratch their head as to what in the world are we doing and then at the end of the thirteenth time, praise the Lord and the walls would all fall down and we defeat them, that probably was not their military strategy. But it was whose? It was God's. And so they had to alter their military strategy to be in line with gods. Thus, the Bible says, trust in the Lord with all thine heart, lean not into thine own understanding.

In all thy ways acknowledge him and he shall direct thy path. So when God's directing your path, you're in good shape, aren't you? Well, sure you are. But sometimes even pastors and people, godly people make false make assumptions based upon what they would seem to be the right decision. And if we're willing to listen to the Lord, if the Lord wants something else, he will direct our what?

Pass. And sometimes we just hold our hands over our ears and go, no. No. I got it. I got it.

Don't do that. Don't do that. Listen to the Lord. He knows best. He has his reasons.

Sometimes we don't quite know or understand at the time his reasons, but but he knows best. And so Nathan kind of jumped ahead of God a little bit. And Nathan had to humbly admit when we get to verse four here to David that that he had he jumped ahead and he was willing to change his answer in accordance with God. So, that brings us to verse four which is God's response. It came to pass that night that the word of the Lord came unto Nathan saying, go and tell my servant thus saith the Lord, shalt thou bid me a house for me to dwell in?

Whereas, I have not dwelt in any house since the time I brought up the children of Israel out of Egypt even to this day but have walked in a tent and in a tabernacle. So, God's answer to Nathan and thus to David is, have I needed a house thus far? Have I not been content to be in the tent, the tabernacle that who instructed them to build? God did. Okay?

We're studying that in Sunday school. That was God's direction. So God says to to David via Nathan, I I have not made such a a request. I'm and he goes on. Verse seven, in all the places wherein I have walked with 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 you not me an house of cedar?

So, have I ever complained? No. The answer is God had never complained that he did not have his own house made of cedar like David's house. So, verse eight, now therefore, so shalt thou say unto my servant David. Thus saith the Lord of hosts, I took thee from the sheep coat and from following the sheep to be ruler over my people over Israel.

In other words, I took you from being a shepherd in the field to being the king and the ruler of my people according to to my will. He went on in verse nine, and I was with thee whithersoever, wherever thou went 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. 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 anymore as before time. 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.

Okay? So let's let's stop there for just a moment. So what was God's God's answer? Well, God's answer is basically this. Go tell David the answer at this time is what?

No. Do not build me a house. I did not ask you to build me a house. I do not need a house. So that's basically the answer.

So Nathan has to kind of eat crow. He has to go back to David and say, David, oops, I was wrong. God said this. So it was good of Nathan to humble himself and go back and tell David, no. The answer I gave you was my assumption and here is what what God has said.

And the answer is basically no. God said, the conclusion at the verse 11, is he has not requested that Israel make him a house, but he says, the Lord telleth thee that he will make thee a house. Okay? So the gist of it this is David came to God and say, God, I wanna build you a house. And God said, no.

I don't need one, but I will build you a house. Now David already had a house, didn't he? He already made a house cedar. That wasn't the house that God was talking about. It was a greater house heritage that God wanted to build for David than just, you know, one made out of cedar that was going to rot eventually and fall down.

God wanted to build David an everlasting house, and he's going to explain that in just a moment. In John chapter four, the woman at the well remember Jesus went through Samaria and talked to the woman at the well, and the woman at the well said that that the Samaritans and the Israelites, they disagreed on where the house was, the place was, that they were to worship the Lord. She said, we say it's here in in Samaria and you say it's down there in Jerusalem. And what did Jesus say? He said, God is a spirit and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.

It's not about the what? It's not about the house, okay? A matter of fact, today, we find out in the New Testament that since Jesus has died and rose from the dead, he sent the spirit, the promise of the father, and we have become the what? We become the house. K?

We are the tabernacle. We are the temple of the holy ghost where God resides. This is not his temple. This is not his tabernacle that we're sitting in. It's just a place that God has provided, to make it comfortable for us to gather together and to worship and to praise his name.

But you are but you are the temple of the holy spirit. For God does not require a house. Now, it was convenient for Israel for them to have a tabernacle where God's glory could rest over the holy of holies, where they could worship him. It was for their good. It was for their provision that they might have this connection to God in a manner in which they could see and understand.

But God does not require a house. God has a house, so to speak, in where? In heaven. Okay? He has a throne in heaven.

He is ruler of the house of the universe. Okay? He is the supreme Lord. So, he doesn't need a house necessarily. God has chosen, he said, to make a name for himself not through a house, physical house, but through the exaltation of who?

Of David. David had glorified himself not in the building of a a a incredible, beautiful building. But he had glorified himself, first of all, in David. What had he done? Well, he had taken David from being a little unknown, nobody shepherd boy to making him the king of Israel, one of the most powerful nations in the world in that day and one of the richest.

God had done that and God was magnified in the person of David and what God had done for him. He had made David victorious over his enemies. He had given David a name, meaning that he had made him famous and renowned in all that area of the world. And in that David was connected with the Lord God of Israel, David's name being well known also resulted in whose name? God's name being glorified as well.

God had appointed a permanent place for Israel. He had led them out of Egypt as this this ragtag group of slaves. He had parted the Red Sea for them. He had destroyed Pharaoh's army. He had provided for them in the wilderness.

He conquered their enemies. In Canaan and he had given the land to them If they had not turned away from him to worship idols, they would have never been scattered from it, but they were. But nonetheless, as we will see later on, it's still theirs in the mind of God and he will restore them to it one day. They're not exactly restored to it today. Yes, They're back in the land, but they are not back with God because as a nation, they have not received their Messiah.

But one day, that will happen too. And one day, the king will return and I'm getting ahead of myself. Okay? So, he had appointed them a permanent place for Israel and he was going to make David a house. It was the house of Israel which was the glory of God, the nation of Israel, the the the kingship, the kingdom of David, not a house of stone that would bring glory to God.

Over in first Peter chapter two verse four, Peter writes of us to whom coming as unto a living stone, coming unto Christ as a living stone, disallowed indeed of men but chosen of God and precious, he also are lively or living stones are built up a spiritual house and holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. Wherefore also it is contained in the scripture, behold, I lay in Zion a chief cornerstone, elect precious, he that believeth on him shall not be confounded. Unto you therefore which believe he is precious. Unto them which would be disobedient, the stone which the builders disallowed, the same is made the head of the corner. And a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense, even to them which stumble at the word being obedient whereunto also they are appointed.

But ye and this today is us. But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people that you should show forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous to his marvelous light. God seeks glory today not in what's what's that building out the the Crystal Cathedral, okay, or any building like that? God desires to be glorified in a building made up of living stones, and that living stones are are us. In the Old Testament, those living stones were the nation of Israel.

And one day, those two will merge together as what? As one. As one. And have to appoint already in the church. So this God is saying to David, but he is not done yet.

So let's pick back up in verse 12. So verse 12. He is God is now expanding on the idea that he is going to make a house for David. Okay? 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 a house for my name. Again, that would be who? That would be Solomon. And as we'll see later on, Solomon will be granted by God the opportunity to build the temple. But that is not God's priority.

Okay? God's priority is building David a house. So he continues on, a heritage. He shall build a house for my name. I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.

I will be his father. He shall be my son. If he commit iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men and with the stripes of the children of men but my mercy shall not depart away from him as I took it from Saul, whom I put away before me. And thine house and thy kingdom shall be established forever before thee. Thy throne shall be established forever.

According to all these words and according to all this vision, so did Nathan speak unto David. This we also call the Davidic covenant. This was a covenant made, a promise made by God to David. A promise that his throne, his reign, the reign of his descendants, his seed would last how long? Forever.

It wouldn't end and be cut off like he cut off Saul's. Now the assumption would have been that once Saul became king, that Saul's eldest son would become the next king. Right? That's just the way normally that is passed down in a monarchy. The eldest son was a good guy.

The eldest son was who? Was Jonathan. But God did not grant Jonathan to be the next king. He prematurely announced that Saul's throne would end and his family would not continue, that God had chosen a man after God's own heart to be David. And so God tells David here, I'm not going to do with you what I did with with Saul.

Okay? Your throne will be established forever. Now, he's speaking here of Solomon. Yes. But did Solomon live forever?

The answer is no. Okay? Solomon had a son. His name was Rehoboam. Okay?

Rehoboam became the next king. The kingdom was divided at that time and Rehoboam just was king in the South in Judah while Jeroboam, a non relative of David, ruled over the North. But David's line continued until Babylon came in and destroyed the kingdom. Nonetheless, did David's line end? The answer to that is no.

No. Just a couple generations later, the Israelites, some of them go back to Judah to rebuild Jerusalem sent by king Cyrus and they went back with Joshua, obviously a different Joshua, the high priest in that day, and Zerubbabel. Anybody who knows Zerubbabel is? Well, he's the grandson of the last king of Israel. He is a deceit, a descendant of David.

He is called the signet in one of the minor prophets. And if you go through both of the genealogies in Matthew and Luke, they cross. Mary's and Joshua Joseph's genealogies cross at Zerubbabel. They're both descended from David through Nathan and Solomon, and then they cross at at Zerubbabel. And so his his line does not end, does it?

No. His line continues till we get down to who? Till we get down to Jesus. So, just a few thoughts here. God promises unconditionally these things to David after his death as Abraham following his.

So this is what we call an unconditional covenant that is after David has already responded in faith to God, God makes a promise to David that will come to pass even after David's what? David's death. God promised it to David it will happen. God will see that it happens. Is he able to do that?

Sure he is. He's able to do that. And David's throne via his seed, one of his descendants, will rule forever on the throne of David. Now, that son will not be Solomon. Solomon did sin.

God did chasten him, but he didn't take the throne away, or the line away, from Solomon as his son continued in his stead. But the ultimate fulfillment of this is not in Solomon. It's not in Rehoboam. It's not in Hezekiah or Uzziah or it's not in Zerubbabel. It's in it's in Jesus Christ.

In Isaiah nine, six, and seven, in a time when Israel was in pretty bad straits where they had rebelled against God, where Isaiah had preached of the coming judgment of God upon Israel. I'll reread this passage in the midst of that. For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called wonderful, counselor, the mighty God, the everlasting father, the prince of peace. By the way, those are all names or titles for who? For Jesus, is the child that is to be born.

Anybody should say, well, he is not God. Well, either this passage is talking about Jesus or it's not, and if it is, well, calls him right here the mighty what? The mighty God. So you have a problem with God and his description there. If you don't believe that Jesus is God.

Of the increase of his government and peace, there shall be no end upon the throne of David, upon his kingdom to order it and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even forever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this. Now, Israel had tried to perform this again and again and again and each case, Israel had what? Failed. But would God fail?

No. What God had promised to David, he is going to see that the promises he has made will be kept. Any descendant of David will rule forever. A child would be born. He would be different though he is of the seed of David and thus qualified to sit on David's throne, humanly speaking.

He is also the God of heaven and even more qualified to sit on that throne. And he would rule forever and ever. This is a promise God gave to David. In Luke chapter one verses 31 through 33, we read this and behold, this is Gabriel speaking to Mary. Behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb and bring forth a son and shall call his name Jesus.

He shall be great and he shall be called the son of the highest. The highest there is a reference to God. It's another way of saying God, the supreme one and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father, David. Okay, this links this all together and these are not the words of a man. This is the words of an angelic messenger from heaven, Gabriel to Mary.

He shall give unto him the throne of his father, David, and he shall reign over the house of Jacob, another name for Israel forever and of his kingdom there shall be no end. So there's a little tie in here to our celebration of Christmas, so to speak. Our celebration of the incarnation of the son of God, who came not to continue forever to be a baby in a manger, but to grow up to be the savior of the world and who is returning one day to take his rightful place. A side note, why did he have to die the first time? Because he needed people to be part of his kingdom.

And until he died on the cross and paid the price for our sins, were we part of his kingdom? The answer is no. We were part of whose kingdom? Satan's kingdom. But Jesus redeemed us from the hand of Satan that we might be the citizens of a new kingdom, of his kingdom, which one day he will return to rule for a thousand years and then into eternity.

This is God's promise to David. This is the house that God is speaking of, which is much greater than a house made of cedar that David lived in. This was the house that God was going to build for David. And by the way, David is still around. He is not around here.

He's up there. But one day, he's coming back with Jesus, and he's going to be part of that as well. This brings us to verse 18 in David's response. So we conclude this evening with David's response. Then went king David in and sat before the Lord and he said, 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, oh Lord God. In other words, it's not hard for God, is it? Notice notice as we're reading through here, if you've got King James at least, you'll see that Lord is capital l and little o r d, lowercase, and then but God is what? Is capital g, capital o, capital d.

Anytime you see Lord or God in all caps, that's God's personal name. That is unique to him. There are others that are called gods, though they are not. There are other lords, thus masters, but there is only one, Lord, all caps, Jehovah, Yahweh, however it it was to be pronounced, the personal name of God. There's only one God with that name.

And in this construction here, when you see Lord God written this way, the first Lord is Adonai, which means master, and then Jehovah is what is translated God. So it is master or Lord Jehovah. Okay? That is the construction in in the Hebrew. And it's somewhat rare.

It's used in Ezekiel quite a bit, but isn't the normal construction we see for the name of God. And verse 19 again, 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 this is the manner of man, o Lord God. And what can David say more unto thee? For thou, Lord God, knowest thy servant. Every time he says, Lord God, he's emphasizing the the master part.

The Lord is his why. He has made him king, but the king has a master. And the king's master is who? Is God. And God will do as God pleases to do.

And David is thankful that day that God is on David's side. And David is pleased obviously to do this for him. Verse 21, for thy word's sake and according to thine own heart hast thou done all these great things to make thy servant know them. It is wonderful not only what God had done for David and taking him from the from the shepherd's field to the palace but telling him what what he's going to do in the future. What a blessing for David.

His house, his his lineage, it's special. It's special. Why is it so special? Was there something in their genes that was different? No.

It was chosen. He was chosen. They were chosen by God to be the lineage of who? The Messiah, Jesus Christ. Was there anything special in the genes of Mary?

Is she part divine? The answer to that is no. Because she was special. She was blessed. Why?

Because she was chosen by who? By God to be the mother of Jesus' humanity. Continuing on. I'm I'm going to get too far afield off here and we'll never get done. Wherefore, verse 22, thou art great, oh 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.

There's not there's not another one like that he is he's the only one. And one 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 redeemest to thee from Egypt and from the nations and their gods. For thou hast confirmed to thyself thy people Israel to be a people unto thee forever, and thou, Lord, art become their God. What makes Israel special? God chose them.

That's what makes them special. Has he chose us in Christ Jesus, the church? Has he will rule and reign from the city that he has chosen one day when he returns. The city of David, the city of Jerusalem. Moving on.

Verse 25. And now, oh Lord God, the word that thou hast spoken concerning thy servant and concerning his house, establish it forever and do as thou hast said. David says, I'm fine with this. This is good for me. I'll I'll go along with it.

I trust you. I'm I'm kind of being a little bit facetious there, but, I don't know if that's the right word. But you get the idea. David's saying, let it be, Lord. I trust you.

I believe you. For thou, oh Lord of hosts, God of Israel has revealed to thy servants saying, I will build thee a house, therefore hath thy servant found in his heart to pray this prayer unto thee. And now, oh 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 forever before thee. For thou, oh Lord God, has spoken it in thy blessing, let the house and with thy blessing, let the house of thy servant be blessed forever.

Now, David couldn't foresee what the ups and downs of his house would be, but David trusted God. And in Jesus Christ, God will fulfill every part of that promise that he has made to David. And his people, despite their disobedience and rebellion, still remain today while the people of Moab and the people of Ammon and the people Edom are no more, but not so the people of Israel. So we see here in closing David's gratitude expressed, David's faith expressed to the Lord God, his master, in humility and in awe. God is great and mighty and has done as he pleased.

God is one. There is only one. Israel is unique and indeed it is. And so is the church, by the way. We are a peculiar people in Christ Jesus in a good way.

And number four, God keeps his promises. And on this, David could be sure. No matter what happened to David, As God pointed out, David wasn't going to live in this that body corrupted by sin forever, and you know that's kind of a good thing. Who wants to be stuck in this body forever? I want to get a better one.

Without sin, without pain, and with hair, and top of my head. So and and I don't know how all that's going to go from now to then, but you know something? My Lord God is in control and he has made promises to me. And guess what? He's going to keep them.

Jesus will return to this Earth to set up his kingdom and we'll rule and reign with him for a thousand years and then dwell with him in the new Jerusalem. Forever. Isn't our God wonderful? And as we celebrate this time of the year and the birth of Jesus Christ, we celebrate a part of that fulfillment in the incarnation and death and burial and resurrection of Christ, and we look forward to the day when he returns and finishes what he started, which we can be assured as he has done in the past so he will do in the future. Let's pray.

Dear heavenly father, thank you Lord for your word. Thank you for the promises we find therein. Thank you Lord for David. Thank you for Jesus Christ, our savior. And Lord, in faith, we look forward to the rapture of your church and the return of Christ.

To this Earth to take his rightful place. And the peace that he will bring. Lord, thank you for saving our soul and giving us the opportunity to be part of that promise. For building a house today made of living stones of all who come to you in faith, Jew and Gentile alike, to make a name for yourself on this earth. May we be better representatives, Lord, than we at times are.

May others see Christ in us, and may you be glorified in your temple, your people today. In Jesus' precious name, we do pray. Amen.