KING DAVID had gone from shepherd boy to king of Israel by way of a journey filled with decades of warfare. “After the king was settled in his palace and the Lord had given him rest from all his enemies around him, he said to Nathan the prophet, ‘Here I am, living in a house of cedar, while the ark of God remains in a tent.’” (2 Sam. 7:1-2) His thought is towards building a glorious temple for his God. Nathan responds to David out of his knowledge of Israel’s recent history and his experiences as a trusted advisor to his earthly king. “Whatever you have in mind, go ahead and do it, for the Lord is with you.” (2 Sam. 7:3) But Nathan had not gone before the LORD with this.
Nathan left the palace, and “that night the word of the Lord came to Nathan.” (2 Sam. 7:4) God shifted Nathan the man into his primary assignment as Nathan the prophet. Perhaps he inspired a dream in Nathan, or maybe he shook him awake and imposed a vision on his spirit. But clearly, God has his own message for David, and it’s not the one that Nathan gave him earlier that day. “This is what the Lord says: Are you the one to build me a house to dwell in?” (2 Sam. 7:5) And God points out that “I have not dwelt in a house from the day I brought the Israelites up out of Egypt to this day.” (2 Sam. 7:6) He has a reminder for the king. “I took you from tending the flock, and appointed you ruler over my people Israel.” (2 Sam. 7:8)
Then the message through Nathan takes on a dramatic new context. No longer is this to be a king building his own concept of a temple, perhaps a symbol of empire. Instead, The King of Heaven says, “The Lord himself will establish a house for you: When your days are over, I will raise up your offspring to succeed you, your own flesh and blood, and I will establish his kingdom. He is the one who will build a house for my Name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.” (2 Sam. 7:12-13) It is David’s son, yet to be born, who will build a house for God.
God has added a dimension to this conversation beyond David’s times and place—in fact, it is from and about another realm, a different kingdom, and a different king. “Your house and your kingdom will endure forever before me; your throne will be established forever.” (2 Sam. 7:16)
This is the message that God is correcting in Nathan and clarifying for David. “Nathan reported to David all the words of this entire revelation.” (2 Sam. 7:17) We notice that neither Nathan nor David began this idea of building a house for God from an inspired perspective. But that has changed now, and both Nathan and David are seeing this undertaking far differently now.
After speaking with Nathan that next day, David, sensing an inner movement of great magnitude, gives homage to his God. “Who am I, Sovereign Lord, and what is my family, that you have brought me this far? And as if this were not enough in your sight, Sovereign Lord, you have also spoken about the future of the house of your servant—and this decree, Sovereign Lord, is for a mere human!” (2 Sam. 7:18) His inner eye is progressively opened. “How great you are, Sovereign Lord! There is no one like you, and there is no God but you.” (2 Sam. 7:22)
David thinks back to all the ways that God has faithfully revealed his covenant-keeping presence to Israel (cf. 2 Sam. 7:23-24). Sweeping his gaze across history past and towards future promise, perhaps much further than he himself realizes in this moment, he says “And now, Lord God, keep forever the promise you have made concerning your servant and his house. Do as you promised, so that your name will be great forever.” (2 Sam. 7:25-26a)
David develops a more complex understanding of these matters later in life, as reflected upon in his psalms. He is overwhelmed by being in the house of God—even though it is not physically built in his lifetime. He says, “Lord, I love the house where you live, the place where your glory dwells.” (Psa. 26:8) He desires this place of God’s presence more than all the trappings of his earthly kingdom: “One thing I ask from the Lord, this only do I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze on the beauty of the Lord and to seek him in his temple.” (Psa. 27:4)
Looking backward through the lens of time that has established orthodox Christian worldview, we understand that this story of Nathan and David reveals complex prophecy about the Messiah, Jesus, who will come first as Lord and Savior, and who will come again as the king who rules forever over the house of God. We, like David, understand and know the presence of God, but we understand it from the perspective of the revelation of a new covenant revealed in and by Jesus. It is he who instructs us, “The kingdom of God is within you.” (Luke 17:21, NKJV) Paul also says, “Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in your midst?” (1 Cor. 3:16)
Q. How is my house doing—good foundation, no roof leaks, swept clean?
Leave a Reply