to a very famous, I think important text, a well-known text, and let's read it tonight. It's chapter 7 of 2 Samuel. I'm going to read the first 17 verses. This is the word of God, his infallible and inerrant word. So give your ear to the reading of it. Now when the king lived in his house and the Lord had given him rest from all of his surrounding enemies, the king said to Nathan the prophet, See now, I dwell in a house of cedar, but the ark of God dwells in a tent. And Nathan said to the king, go do all that is in your heart, for the Lord is with you. But that same night, the word of the Lord came to Nathan. Go and tell my servant David, thus says the Lord, would you build me a house to dwell in? I have not lived in a house since the day I brought up the people of Israel from Egypt to this day, but I have been moving about in a tent from my dwelling. In all places where I have moved with all the people of Israel did I speak a word with any of the judges of Israel whom I commanded to shepherd my people Israel saying, why have you not built me a house of cedar? Now 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, that you should be a prince over my people Israel. And 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. And I will appoint a place for my people Israel, and I will plant them so that they may dwell in their own place and be disturbed no more. And violent men shall afflict them no more, as formerly, from 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. When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you who shall come from your body and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be to him a father and he shall be to me a son. When he commits iniquity, I will discipline with a rod of men, with the stripes of the sons of men. but my steadfast love will not depart from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away from before you. And your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me. Your throne shall be established forever in accordance with all these words and in accordance with all this vision." Nathan spoke to David. Well, again, this is a well-known story, and I think that oftentimes when you read 2 Samuel 7, one of the things that you often do is you read it through a covenantal lens, and I think we're going to do some of that this evening. I think it's inevitable that we do. And I don't want to ignore that, but what I also want to do is I want us to try and look at the message as a whole. I want us to see the flow of thought and what's happening in the text. And so I want us to break this down into three segments. I want us to first of all look at the great idea that's captured here in the first three verses. And then we'll look at the great oracle that's captured from four to seven, four to, down to, well, most of the text. But it's when he goes to David in verse 8 that the new oracle begins. And that's when he promises David a great house. So a great idea, a great oracle, and a great house. So let's start looking at the great idea. Some time has passed since the end of Chapter 6, and certainly the whole event of the Civil War that we read about earlier. David's house is now built, and perhaps you'll remember that in Chapter 5, this is when Hiram, king of Tyre, sent David a note saying that he would build him a house of cedar. The house has been built. David is living comfortably in it. And then there's a new aspect here. There's a new character. Nathan the prophet is introduced to us. And this man is really a wonderful man. We're gonna see him appear at crucial times throughout the life of David. He is unflappable. And he is the kind of friend that you want in your corner when you do the kind of thing that David did or something similar to it. In other words, when you sin, as the prophecy says that the sons of David might, when you sin in the likeness of David, if you're a son of David, this man will come and call you to account. He will not let his friendship get in the way. He will not let it blur his vision. His gaze is steadfastly set upon the living God and his righteousness, and he will call you to account. That's the kind of person that Nathan is. That's the kind of friend that you want in your corner. You don't want a friend in your corner who is going to tell you that your sin is all right. Nathan is not that kind of person. Well, David and Nathan are sitting around one evening. And as they're sitting around talking, David has a great idea. David says, you know, I've been in this house of cedar, and well, the Lord, or at least the symbol of the presence of God, dwells in a curtain. Now you have to wonder a little why it is that David thought that. maybe David was motivated by a little guilt. I mean, if you really think about it, we love David. David is always said to be, and of course it's true, a man after God's own heart, but that doesn't mean that David was perfect. He was far from it. He was a man with many blemishes. He was a man with problems. He was a man who needed a Savior. And we see the problems even up to this very point in 2 Samuel. For instance, we're told, it's just dropped into the narrative, that David accumulated concubines and wives. Now, if David had been reading Deuteronomy, and especially 17, like a good king in Israel should, he would have understood that the accumulation of wives is not something that a king ought to be doing, certainly not the king in Israel. So one wonders why David has this motivation. Certainly it could be that he has this motivation out of the glory of God, and I think there is something to that, but I think we have to keep a right perspective on David. David is certainly an image, a foreshadowing of Jesus Christ, but he is not Jesus Christ, and he needs Christ just as much as any one of us. But he says to Nathan, he says, you know what? I've been dwelling in this cedar house, and God has been spending his time in a curtain, or at least the presence of God symbolized in the ark. Why don't we build him a house? And Nathan says, that's a great idea. That's a great idea. Now there's something interesting here, and I've been saying it, but I want to point it out to you. It's the language that David uses that's so striking here. There are two terms for a tent. Two terms for a tent. The first is ohel. The second is yarya. Now, those two terms could be used interchangeably. I mean, that's a given. They could be used interchangeably. However, they could be used separately. In other words, you could use the one term for a tent. And you could use the other term for curtains or the panels that make up the tent. And so diminish the idea that it's the tent. For instance, you know, it's sort of like when you're a kid and your dad asks you on a Saturday, what are you doing? And you say, I'm making a fort. And he says, oh, you mean you're taking some cardboard out in the woods, right? He's just diminished what you've been doing all afternoon. No, you've been making a fort. And one might get the sense that that's what's happening here. One might get the sense that David is diminishing the tent because David uses the ladder. He uses curtain. God, the presence of God in the ark has been sitting out there in the midst of curtain panels. when I dwell in a house." Now, Nathan likes the idea. He says, this is a great idea. Do whatever is in your heart to do. Now, I think this is interesting, and we ought to pause here. Because we shouldn't be too hasty. Just because it's an affiliate of David or a friend of David doesn't mean that the person is always right. Remember, we have this idea that David is this glowing and sort of giant figure, and he is in some ways, but again, he is not the Christ himself. But the affiliates of David, the friends of David, can be wrong. A couple of examples about this. Think about Eli as he's watching Hannah. And here's this woman and she is gripped with sorrow and she is devoted to her God and she is praying. And Eli says, here's a woman who's drunk. No, he couldn't have been more wrong. Or how about when Samuel is sent to anoint the king? And he goes to the sons of Jesse, where the sons of Jesse are, and he sees Eliab. And he looks at Eliab and he says, oh man, that's a tall, strapping, strong figure of a man. That has got to be the Lord's man. It's the runt who's not even here. He's wrong. And here is Nathan. Nathan says, oh, wonderful idea, do it, do it. And human wisdom gives way to divine wisdom. That night, Nathan receives a great oracle, and that's the second point I wanna share with you. Late that night, God talks to Nathan. It's an interesting oracle because it's one of the longer ones in the Old Testament. He tells Nathan he gave the wrong counsel. There are certain things about what God says to Nathan that we ought to pay attention to because they're absolutely fascinating, interesting. First, notice the oracle to David. The oracle that Nathan is to give to David. Now let me say this to you. He says, tell my servant, David. Now what's interesting about that is three times in the opening of this text he's been called King. King David. King David. King David. And God says, hey, tell my servant. I love that. And I think that there is something to that for Nathan himself. Because it helps Nathan to keep a balance in his head, doesn't it? It helps Nathan to understand that I serve and listen to the living God. I hear the living God and I speak to the king who happens to be the servant of this living God. I think that immensely helps Nathan when it comes time to face David down for his sin. But he says, go tell my servant David. That's the first thing that we notice in this text. The second thing that we notice in this oracle is this. It's the language. Whereas David called the tent a curtain, an ohel. God calls it a tent, a yeria. In fact, it's the word that is used in Exodus to describe the tabernacle. the tent of God's dwelling. You know, you have to wonder about this. You have to wonder about David's mindset. Has he forgotten the description of the Exodus that he's supposed to be reading about? I mean, David is supposed to be reading the law day by day. It's not a good sign that he talks about the tent as if it were just panels of a curtain. And it's not a good sign because just the previous story reminded us that he didn't know how to transport the ark. Hey, let's put that box on a wagon and let's get her to Jerusalem. And then Uriah gets struck dead and for three months David is angry and he's searching the scriptures and he realizes, oh, there's a way of carrying this thing. And one wonders, one wonders if David One wonders if he's been reading the section about the tabernacle. I mean, think about it, right? I mean, can I just, as the youth say, let's keep it real. When you get to chapter 25 in Exodus and it gives the description of the tabernacle, do you think that was any more stimulating for David than it is for you? I mean, David is a man of action. It just makes you wonder. There's a third thing. God reminds Nathan to remind David that I'll do the initiating. If there's a change to be made, I'll be the one doing it. And that leads us to the third point, it's the great house. God is absolutely gracious. He's absolutely gracious because in this oracle, one of the things that we realize is that David is a little presumptuous. He's a little presumptuous, and God could put him in his place, and in one sense does. Hey, you're my servant. If there's a change to be made, I'll be the one doing it. No, by the way, I'm calling it a tent. But God turns the tables, doesn't he? In this oracle, he says, now, here's what I want you to realize, David. You'll not be building me a house, I'll be building you a house. And make no mistake, I'll be the one doing the initiating of that process, and I'll be the one building it. And you see this, and just you see this in some really interesting ways. For instance, Hebrew is like Greek. One of the things that you realize is that you can find the subject in the verb. You don't have to use a pronoun, especially when you're using it, when you're using a pronoun in the verb. And yet, here in the Hebrew, there is, the first person pronoun being used inserted with emphasis. So you find I being used throughout. God says to David, he says, I took you from the pasture. from following the sheep. But it's, you see what we do in the English, listen to what we do in the English. I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep, that you would be prince over my peoples, and I have been with you wherever you went and have cut off your enemies. But I'll tell you what it is in Hebrew, it's I took, I was with, I cut off, and I will make. He's reminding him of his place, who he is. I did these things for you. And this is important for us because I think what God is saying to David, I think what he's saying to David, it's important to remember, David, that your son is not good enough. You weren't good enough. It was my grace that took you. It was my grace that protected you. And it was my grace that made you. You know, I think we see this, I think we see this, for instance, in Isaiah chapter seven, don't we? In Isaiah chapter seven, there's Ahaz, the son of David, and he's feeling threatened because Damascus and Israel in the north, they're feeling threatened by Assyria, and so they're forcing the southern kingdom, Ahaz's kingdom, the kingdom of David, they're forcing him to get into an alliance with them so that they can repel Assyria. But, you know, it's really interesting because in 2 Kings chapter 16, we find out why it is that Ahaz refused not only the help of Syria and Israel in the north, but also the help that Isaiah offered him that came from God himself, And we find out why he did that, because we have the letter that he sent to Tiglath-Pileser of Assyria. And you know what it says? It says this. It says, I am your servant and your son. And you say, what? You are a son of David. What are you thinking? And I'll tell you what he's thinking. He's thinking, I don't want to be a son of David anymore. I want to be the son of that guy who's got the power. I wanna be his son. And you really get a sense that, you really get a sense that David's son is not good enough because when God talks about this son of David who will sit on the throne, you discover pretty quickly that this is God's son. God is calling him my son. My son. And then when we move to the New Testament, we see some interesting things, don't we? We see some interesting moves. For instance, in Matthew 1-17, we find the genealogy, which is the genealogy of David. And then in 18-25, what do we see? We see Joseph, the son of David. David's Jesus, adopts Jesus. Why? Because God told him to. God said to Joseph, he says, you shall call his name Jesus. He's talking to Joseph. You, Joseph, son of David, shall call his name Jesus. You shall adopt him into the line of David. And then it comes around again. He called his name Jesus. Who did? Joseph called his name Jesus. But right in the middle of both of those statements given to Joseph, we read this. They shall call his name Emmanuel. because he is not a son of David. He is the son of God. And so really, prophetically, proleptically, we see that this text in 2 Samuel is really talking about not a flesh and blood son of David, but the flesh and blood son of God, who is both human and divine, and one person. It's this Jesus who tabernacled among us. He is the Son of God who came to take away the sins of the world. He's the one who came to unite Jew and Gentile into one body. He's the one who possesses all authority in heaven and on earth that all the nations, that all the nations might be blessed in him. That's the king who was promised And that's the King who's come, the Lord Jesus Christ. May God be praised. Father in heaven, we thank you and delight in you, for you indeed are good, and your mercy endures forever. We thank you and praise you for your son, the Lord Jesus Christ. And tonight, as we reflect upon this text, we bow before you and are thankful that indeed He has come and he has saved to the uttermost. Lord, we praise you as a result of him and give you thanks in his name, in Jesus' name, amen.