So the Davidic Covenant, it's about who? Easy question to begin with. Who? King David. It's about King David. So it's about monarchy. I think we as Americans don't really know how to understand or probably appreciate monarchy, at least for the most part, or for most of us. We can obsess over royal weddings and royal babies. We love that kind of stuff. But when it actually comes down to Understanding how monarchy works, we're kind of conditioned to dislike it, right? I mean, it's built into our nature, who we are as a people. We broke away from monarchy. It's in our nature. But we need to put that behind us for just 20 minutes here as we study this passage, or this covenant. Because if we are to fully appreciate the Vedic covenant, it's all about David's kingship. It's all about King David. And so while David is one of the most popular Characters in the Bible the question here is really how much do we know about him as King? What do we know about him as King? That's really all the biblical narrative is concerned about is David as King the first time once the first time we ever encounter David What's happening? Yeah, it's a little before that a little before Goliath good guess though, yeah A little before that He is a shepherd when we encounter him. Remember, Samuel comes to David for a particular reason. You guys remember? It has to do with his siblings and... Come on, somebody's got it. Yeah, to anoint him as king. That's the first time we encounter David is when Samuel goes and Jesse brings out all of his other sons, right? And Samuel's like, oh, it must be this one. And God's like, no, it's not that one. Oh, it must be this one. No, it's not that one. Well, there is one other guy, you know, he's out in the fields. He's a shepherd. But you can't mean him. Oh, no, that's who God meant. So the first time we see David is as he's being anointed as king. So truly, we only know David in his role as king in some form or another. So this Davidic covenant, it's the covenant that God enters into with David where he promises to establish, secure, and seal David's kingship forever. That's what it's about. And more than it being about David's kingdom, it's really about God's kingdom, isn't it? It's about God's plan for our eternity as believers. For indeed, Jesus is our king, is he not? Jesus is our king. He's a king who does not share his power. We're going to be subject to him for an eternity. So that's one of the reasons we don't like monarchy, right? Because it leads to tyranny, we think. But not when we're talking about King Jesus, that is the greatest monarchy possible, one who cares for his people and will always be with them. And that's what the Bible points us to. So the Davidic covenant is really the first major place where scripture talks about King Jesus and what his kingship will look like. And we see that it is one king over one kingdom. Or if you like, P words instead, one power over one people in one place permanently. It's the preacher. You have to do alliteration. So the Davidic Covenant, this is what one theologian says, it's God formally establishing the manner by which he shall rule among his people. Or another way we could say is this covenant is what guarantees that David's kingship will play, or that David's kingship will play the pivotal role in God's work of redeeming his people. So we see that in the Davidic Covenant, here's kind of what it all comes down to. In the Davidic Covenant, God establishes David's dynasty forever, thereby securing the coming of King Jesus. and instituting the way in which God will rule his people. So where do we find the Davidic Covenant? Where can we read about the Davidic Covenant? Well, take your Bibles. Sword drill time. 2 Samuel chapter 7. 2 Samuel chapter 7. This is kind of the main text for the Davidic Covenant. But before the scene plays out in 2 Samuel, which we'll look at here in a moment, several other things had to happen first to set the stage for the official ratification of God's kingdom through David. First, in chapter 5, David captures Jerusalem from the Jebusites, and he sets that up as the capital of his throne, the location of his throne. In chapter 6, he returns the ark into God's city. And finally, at the beginning of chapter 7, We see there in verse 1, when the king lived in the house of the Lord, he had given him rest from all his enemies. That's the third thing, that there was this widespread rest that was given to David from all of his enemies. Not that Israel had no more enemies and every enemy was annihilated, but they were granted a rest that was unknown until that time. It was so expansive that they had never before experienced it like it was here in 2 Samuel 7. So what we see is setting up this covenant is first a city, Jerusalem, God's presence with the Ark of the Covenant and rest from their enemies. And that correlates to our heavenly hope, right? We have a heavenly city where Christ reigns. That's where God is present and where there is an eternal rest given to us. It's about the heavenly Jerusalem. We see that there's a connection here between what's happening on earth with David and Israel and what is promised to us through Christ in heaven. But so to look here at 2 Samuel 7, to understand this text, We need to understand that there's a word play happening in the Hebrew that runs throughout the whole chapter, and you can probably pick it up even in the English as you go through, that there's this one word that is repeated. You see it there in verse 5. You see it in verse 6. You see it in verse 7. Anybody know what word I'm talking about? Anybody? House. Very good. House. This word house is used many times in different ways. It's a play on words here. It's meant to mean different things. Because what does David say? He says he wants to build God a house. So what does he mean when he says he wants to build God a house? What does he mean by that? A temple. Very good. Thank you, Sandra. He wants to build God a temple. He feels bad that he's living in this palace and God's presence, the Ark of the Covenant is going around in a tent, right? So he wants to build a house, meaning a temple. And God's response is startling. What does he say? You will not build me a house, I will build you a house. And here, this time, house is used to refer to dynasty, right? Your lineage, in that sense of a house. So, a play on words there. The promise that God is giving him is going to be realized through David's house, through David's dynasty. through his descendants, not through David himself, but through David's descendants. In the language of verse 15, we see that God is uniting himself in steadfast love, steadfast love that cannot fail. Like a father would love his son, you see that there in verse 15, my steadfast love will not depart from him as I took it from Saul. No, my steadfast love will remain with David forever, God says. So hence, this is another one of those unconditional covenants or a promise covenant, right? We talked about there's a difference. where there's things required of the people and other ones are unconditional where God promises everything. It's all given from God to God's people without them needing to require everything. That's what this covenant is. It's another covenant of promise. God says he's going to maintain David's kingdom and there will be nothing, nothing that David or anyone else could do to change that. Jeremiah 33 is another place that talks about this. Verses 20 through 21 of Jeremiah 33 says this, If you can break my covenant with the day and my covenant with the night so that the day and night will not come at their appointed times, then you could also break my covenant with David so that he shall not have a son to reign on his throne forever. So the correlation God's making is just as the sun will rise tomorrow morning, just as the moon will come up in the evening, so too is my promise with David that he will have an heir on the throne always. It's about David's house. descendants, David's dynasty. And we know that the greatest of David's children, the greatest of David's descendants is Jesus, right? So this promise is really about the coming of King Jesus. So, you know, when you read some boring genealogies in the Bible, like the beginning of Matthew 1 that gives the genealogy of Christ, don't take those for granted. Don't just kind of skim over those. This is packed with theological significance and great gospel truth for us. It's this. When we read those genealogies, We see God making good on his promises, don't we? Every one of those names you find at like the beginning of Matthew, it becomes evident as you scan that list of names just how miraculous it is that Jesus is even here in the first place, that he was even born in Bethlehem. Because all it would take is for one of those people to have been, you know, run over by a wild boar, or I don't know how people died accidentally back then, fall off a cliff, or to be, you know, impotent or infertile. All it would take is for one of those people not be able to continue that lineage any further and Jesus would not come. There's a really exciting story in 2 Kings 11. We find that there's this wicked queen of Judah who's ruling, Athaliah, and out of her greed and jealousy she murders the entire line of Judah because she wants to secure the throne for herself. She murders the entire royal line of Judah, every last little boy who would be king. That is, except for one. There was one. Now we read this, but Jehoshaphat, the daughter of King Joram, sister of Ahaziah, took Joash, the son of Ahaziah, and stole him away from among the king's sons who were being put to death. And she put him and his nurse in a bedroom, and thus they hid from Athaliah so that he was not put to death. You see, no matter what people try, no matter what circumstances come this line's way, this line will be secure. There will always be one ready to take the throne. God is orchestrating the entire thing. He will be unconditionally faithful to all generations. So there's this, it's an unconditional covenant we see, but there's also a conditional element, isn't there? There's a conditional element. Look at verse 13 of chapter 7. Verse 13, it says, He shall build a house for my name. and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever." So we see that David, or David's son, has to do something. There's something that he's called to do. He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. David's son must do something to have his throne founded. The son of David will, in fact, have to build the Lord a house, but it's not temple. Here we have another wordplay, right? Because Solomon does build a temple, right? David's son, Solomon, does build a temple, but this is not that meaning here. It's a third building. It's a third meeting. It's not a temple or a building. That was the first meeting. It's not a dynasty or people. That's the second or a family. I mean, that's the second meeting. This third meeting is a nation of people, not just relatives, but entire nation. The son that is able to build this nation, a faithful nation to Yahweh will be the one who will reign as king forever. And this is clear that that's what this passage means. If you want to look, you can write it down in your notes. 1 Kings 9 is where Solomon builds the temple. So it would seem that in a sense, this covenant had been fulfilled. If it only means to build a house, in a sense of building a temple for God. Solomon even thought this. He said, now the Lord has fulfilled his promise that he made. For I've risen in the place of my father, and I sit on the throne of Israel. And as the Lord promised, I've built a house for the name of the Lord, the God of Israel. So Solomon thinks the covenant's fulfilled. And at one level, it is. But as we read on, we see that this earthly level is not the true fulfillment. Building the temple is not what's in view here. Because look at what God commands Solomon in 1 Kings 9. You just listen. 1 Kings 9 verses 4 through 5. As for you, if you will walk before me as David your father walked, with integrity of heart and uprightness, doing according to all that I have commanded you, and keeping my statutes and my rules, then I will establish your royal throne over Israel forever, as I promised David your father. So you see there's this if clause. If you walk in my ways, if you keep my statutes, then you will be the king forever. So that's the conditional element of this covenant. So did Solomon fulfill that? Is Solomon king right now over in Israel? No, right? He did not fulfill that covenantal obligation. So it would seem like, What's happening here is God being unfaithful to the covenant then, because he removes Solomon from the throne. No, this is what really is at work here in the covenant. It's this. Due to the unconditional nature of the covenant, a Davidic son would always be on the throne, but only the obedient son will get the everlasting throne. So the unconditionality comes in the fact that it's always going to be one of David's sons. But within each of those kings, if they are not faithful, then they can be removed. God's still being faithful to his promise, though, because his promise is that David's son, a Davidic son, would remain on the throne. So what this shows us is that God will keep putting heirs of David on the throne, one after another. As soon as one is unfaithful, they're off the throne, and then he'll put another. And as soon as one's unfaithful, they're off the throne, he'll put another. That is, this pattern will continue until the righteous son, the righteous heir, is found to earn the everlasting throne, needing no more successors. We talk about this in the Psalms. If you want to turn to Psalm chapter 2, this is a royal psalm. It's an enthronement psalm that would have been sung when a king would take up the throne in Jerusalem. Look there at the, let's see, verse 6. As for me, I have set my king on Zion, my holy hill. God says he has set his king over his holy hill. He has set his king on Jerusalem. God's kingship is connected to David's kingship, right? It's my king, he says. This is my king. When I put a king on the throne, this is my king. It's my kingship. And there's this language of adoption also, just as in 2 Samuel 7, remember verse 12 there, kiss the sun. There's a sonship language that was similar to when God spoke to David saying that, I would love him like a father loves his son. I would chastise him like a father chastises his son. We have that same language here of adoption and sonship. Psalm 110 is another place, if you want to turn there. This is the most quoted psalm in the Bible, or in the New Testament. Also the most quoted psalm in the Bible. Psalm 110, the Lord says to my Lord, Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool. Here we see that David's reign will have a heavenly dimension to it, right? Sit at my right hand in heaven. Sit at my right hand. And furthermore, we see that David recognizes that he is not going to be the king. David writes the psalm, a psalm of David. And what does he say? What's the first line? The Lord says to me, what's it say? The Lord says to my Lord, he recognizes that this isn't all about him, that there must be another to fulfill this. He won't be the one who sits in heaven at the right hand of God the Father, who has this never-ending kingship. No, it will be his Lord. Now, David might have been thinking of his son Solomon, who knows, or maybe his grandson. But the point is still clear. David recognized that the horizons would have to be widened beyond his own reign. for the fulfillment of God's promise. Then we move into the New Testament, and we find that Israel, what do they want more than anything? The Jews, what do they want? They feel oppressed by the Romans, so they want a king, right? They want a king to come in and take care of business for them, to defeat their enemies and to establish his kingship. So you recognize how important the Davidic covenant was to the Israelites. They were clinging to God's promise that he would always keep a king on the throne, that this line would not be lost forever? Perhaps they're even starting to wonder, right, as things go by and as things get worse, what is going to happen, right? Had God abandoned them? Had God failed them? But he, of course, did not. This is what one author says about the Davidic covenant here in the New Testament. The centrality of the Davidic covenant in the Old Testament is the reason why It so monopolizes the New Testament in describing the person and work of Christ. It's because of the centrality of the Davidic covenant. This is important stuff. We need to understand if we want to understand our New Testament context as well. The centrality of the Davidic covenant in the Old Testament is the reason why it monopolizes the New Testament in describing the person and work of Christ. The very title of Christ, which also means that Christ is the Greek term. What's the Hebrew word for Christ? We say it a lot. Starts with an M. Messiah. Christ and Messiah mean the same thing. It means anointed one. Who was anointed in the Old Covenant? There were three offices that would be anointed. Prophet, priest, and king, right? Just as David was anointed. Remember, that was the first time we encountered David, is when he's anointed as king. So, the very title of Christ or Messiah means anointed one, which refers to the anointed son of David. getting around it. As we read the New Testament, as we encounter the New Testament, we are encountering the Davidic covenant. We have to come to terms with the fact that this is a huge promise that is going to shape the way we live as people and the ways we worship, the way that we worship our Lord and Savior. This is why the Jews were so excited during the triumphal entry. Isn't that funny? You know, a lot of Jesus' ministry, people just didn't, they didn't care for him and they kind of fed up with him and he never was really getting a A good rap by many people. But at the triumphal entry, I mean, they just loved him. He was their favorite person, right? Singing shouts of Hosanna and palm trees. I mean, this is a wonderful day, right? I'm sure he felt very special. They were missing the point. They thought, oh, this is it. He's come to defeat our enemies. They thought that the Romans would be ended. That's why they were soon disappointed, right? It went back to the way things used to be. And pretty soon the people were shouting, Hosanna, Hosanna, and were shouting, crucify him, crucify him, right? Because he wasn't the king that they wanted, but he was the king that God promised. That king who walked in the way of the Lord, who kept his statutes, who was obedient. It was that king who would rule forever. Jesus himself tells Pilate right before his crucifixion, my kingdom is not of this world. Yeah, I don't look like a king right now, but you don't know what's going on behind the scenes. This is massive stuff. This is big stuff. Because Jesus would be able to say that I am the one who fulfills that prophecy of Psalm 110. I am the Lord who sits at God's right hand. I am the one who the world is my footstool. That's me. I'm the one who will crush all my enemies. So that really should cause us to wake up. Are we one of his enemies that will be crushed? What does the catechism say about Christ as king? What does it mean that Christ is our king? That he rules and defends us, that he subdues us to himself, and that he conquers both his and our enemies. So we could be conquered or we could be protected. We could be conquerors in Christ. This Davidic covenant is of the utmost importance. For when we are in Christ, he is our king. That means he protects us and he defeats our enemies. Defeated that's one of the main takeaways. I think of understanding the Davidic Covenant Another thing is that it sets the stage for the coming of Christ That's that's one of the important connections between the Old Testament and the New Testament. How's this all fit together? Well in the Old Covenant God made this promise and he was planting the seeds. He was he was setting the stage He was making a path for his son the true king to come it also helps us understand who our Savior is and He is a king. He describes his person and work, that he came to be our ruler and defender, as I just said earlier. And it talks about his righteousness, too, if we understand the Davidic covenant, because he is the one who fulfilled that righteous requirement. Unlike any other king of ancient Israel, he's the only one who perfectly obeyed God and did what was pleasing in his sight. And that's why God has established his throne forever. And I quoted Mighty Fortress in the sermon. And I think about it now for this context, because what's the very last line of that hymn, I believe, is, his kingdom is forever. You're part of that kingdom if you bow to King Jesus. You are part of that forever kingdom, and you will reign with him in eternity.