the Kingdom: what it is - part 3

the prophecies of the Kingdom: the Davidic Covenant

Have you ever taken a course that felt very disorganized or haphazard?  When you walk into class, it was like a box of chocolates, you never knew what you were gonna get.  Maybe study this, maybe that, maybe a pop quiz, who knows?  The content seemed random, tests seemed to come out of nowhere. 

But there are other classes with a teacher or professor who is extremely organized and well prepared and on the first day of class they give you a syllabus.

That syllabus tells you exactly what you can expect and when you can expect it.  You know that on day 1 you will have a lecture on this and on day 2 a lecture on that, then on day 3 a quiz over the material from day 1 & 2, and so on.  The syllabus tells you what to expect, so these things don’t come as a surprise to you.

God is like a good teacher.  He gave Israel a syllabus: the OT, and more specifically, the words of his prophets.  His prophets foretold the things that God would do in and through the nation, so they had an idea of what to expect.  Don’t press my analogy too far because it will break down as they all do, but I think it serves as a good illustration for where we will be over the next few weeks in studying the prophecies of the kingdom.

Today we are going to begin to take a look at this syllabus so that we can gain an understanding of what Israel expected in the coming kingdom.

Let’s turn in our Bibles to 2 Sam 7.   As you turn there, I’d like to set some context for this portion of our syllabus.

CONTEXT: TABERNACLE & REST FROM ENEMIES

Now remember that Israel had gone from slavery in Egypt to wandering in the wilderness on their way to the Promised Land.  There God made a covenant with them – the Mosaic covenant.  In the Law of Moses there were very specific instructions on building the tabernacle, the tent of meeting, which was a mobile sanctuary where the priests would minister before God, which contained a room called the Most Holy Place which is where God’s presence dwelt.

That was a very appropriate thing for a people who were essentially living nomadic lives in the desert.  They were living in tents and God was living in a tent. 

Eventually they conquered the Land and took possession of it.

They were supposed to kill all of the –ites when they conquered the land but they didn’t kill them all, so for some time, Israel had enemies rise up against them who waged war against them so there was a period in which Israel was engaged in warfare. 

For a few hundred years Israel had no king, but God raised up judges or leaders to deliver them out of the hands of these enemies.  Eventually, they asked God to give them a king, which was essentially rejecting God as king and so Samuel gives them a king, the first king Saul, followed by David.

David was a conquering king.  He had made a name for himself as a warrior and defeated all his enemies; God had, in a sense, put his enemies under his feet.  So Israel was seen by all her neighboring countries as the nation of nations, a glorious nation with a glorious king, not to be messed with; they were a world dominating super-power.  The kingdom of Israel was on top of the world.

Now dwelling securely in the Land they were no longer in tents, but were all now living in permanent dwellings.  They were living in houses of cedar.  I would imagine that David had a pretty nice house of cedar being king and all.

This is the background behind our text, which begins with a conversation between David and Nathan, the prophet.  Remember that prophets were those who spoke on behalf of God to the people, his mouthpiece.

Here in David’s conversation with Nathan, we get a glimpse into the heart of David.  It’s no wonder that David was known as a man after God’s own heart.  Listen to his heart:  Here I am, dwelling in a really nice house made of cedar and God, who is far greater than I am, is dwelling in a tent.  That’s not how it should be.  I should make a really nice dwelling for God because I love him and he deserves it.

Nathan replies to David, “Do it.”  God is clearly with you and you have favor with him.

But that night, God speaks to Nathan and gives him a message for David.  That’s where we pick up in the text.

2 sam 7:5ff  ⁵ “Go and tell my servant David, ‘This is what the Lord says: Are you the one to build me a house to dwell in? ⁶ I have not dwelt in a house from the day I brought the Israelites up out of Egypt to this day. I have been moving from place to place with a tent as my dwelling. ⁷ Wherever I have moved with all the Israelites, did I ever say to any of their rulers whom I commanded to shepherd my people Israel, “Why have you not built me a house of cedar? ”’

So God tells Nathan that while God did give dimensions and specifics for the Tabernacle he never requested a temple be built for him.  Not that David’s suggestion is a bad one, but God never required it.  God continues speaking with Nathan, telling him what to tell David:

⁸ “Now then, tell my servant David, ‘This is what the Lord Almighty says: I took you from the pasture, from tending the flock, and appointed you ruler over my people Israel.

David, you were a shepherd boy.  You were not of noble birth.  You weren’t the son of the king.  You have no relation to Saul; the throne was not lined up for you, but I took you from a lowly position and exalted you, put you on the throne, and made you King, ruler over my people.

⁹ I have been with you wherever you have gone, and I have cut off all your enemies from before you. Now I will make your name great, like the names of the greatest men on earth. ¹⁰ And I will provide a place for my people Israel and will plant them so that they can have a home of their own and no longer be disturbed. Wicked people will not oppress them anymore, as they did at the beginning ¹¹ and have done ever since the time I appointed leaders (footnote: judges) over my people Israel. I will also give you rest from all your enemies.

“‘The Lord declares to you that the Lord himself will establish a house for you:

This is a really neat thing here – an ironic reversal.  David had intended to do great things for God, but God is now talking about doing great things for his people and specifically for David.  David is proposing to build a house for God, but God says, no, I will build a house for you, o David.  David has in mind a physical abode, a structure made of wood and stone, but when God says, no I’ll build a house for you.  God doesn’t mean, no I’ll build a house of cedar for you to live in, when God says I will establish a house for you, David, he is referring to a dynasty, a lineage of royalty.  David, you want to build a house for me but I’m going to build a house for you.

Here is the meat of our syllabus: ¹² When your days are over and you rest with your ancestors, I will raise up your offspring to succeed you, your own flesh and blood, and I will establish his kingdom. ¹³ He is the one who will build a house for my Name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. ¹⁴ I will be his father, and he will be my son. When he does wrong, I will punish him with a rod wielded by men, with floggings inflicted by human hands. ¹⁵ But my love will never be taken away from him, as I took it away from Saul, whom I removed from before you. ¹⁶ Your house and your kingdom will endure forever before me; your throne will be established forever. ’” ¹⁷ Nathan reported to David all the words of this entire revelation.

So the syllabus tells us a few things: (bulletin)

2 Samuel 7:12-16 | the king will:

·         be the son of David (offspring)

·         build the Temple (a house for God)

·         be the son of God (God will be his father)

·         be loved by God

·         be punished by the hands of men

·         have a kingdom and throne that will endure forever

This promise is known as the Davidic Covenant.  

God, as a good teacher, is sharing in the syllabus that the king of the kingdom will be a descendant of David.

We can see this fulfilled literally in Solomon, the literal son of David, who literally sits on the throne, ruling over the kingdom, and who literally builds a literal house for God, the Temple out of wood and stone.  When Solomon did wrong, God did punish him with the hands of men by raising up adversaries (satans) against him; God never removes his love from Solomon – he loves Solomon as a son, and establishes his throne.  Even when Jeroboam tried to usurp the throne, God kept Rehoboam, the son of Solomon, on the throne in Jerusalem.  The kingdom divided, but David’s dynasty endured.

But after time passed, it appears that God failed to keep His promise.  Recall our survey of Israel’s history last week.  The kingdom was united (all 12 tribes) under Saul, David and Solomon, but after Solomon the kingdom divides and the  10 northern tribes install a king of their own – not from the lineage of David and the southern tribes (Judah) kept a descendent of David on the throne. 

Then, because of the wickedness of that northern kingdom, in 722 BC God destroyed the kingdom of Israel, the northern kingdom when Assyria came took them captive and dispersed them.  That kingdom came to an end.  But the southern kingdom of Judah remained with a descendent of David on the throne. 

The southern kingdom was like, see, you guys should have stayed with us.  You went off and worshipped the golden calf and now look atcha!  Hah!  But then, the southern kingdom of Judah, where David’s descendants were reigning, became even more wicked than the northern kingdom, so in 586 BC God brought Babylon to destroy the southern kingdom and destroy the glorious temple that Solomon built.  So that kingdom was no more. 

This event marks the end of the book of 2 Kings.  Throughout 1 & 2 Kings you read about all of the kings that ruled over these 2 kingdoms, but as you come to the end of 2 Kings, you read about the destruction of Judah by Babylon and done.  No more kings in Judah.

But God promised that David would always have a descendant on the throne.  So what now?  Did God forget about his promise?  Israel was once a glorious nation, a world-dominating superpower and now, here they were being destroyed and ruled by a gentile nation, once again serving in exile as slaves.  What happened to God’s promise about a kingdom that would endure forever under a descendant of David?  It appeared that God’s promises had failed.

It is at this time that God sent one of his messengers, a prophet to give them a message of hope, a message of restoration. 

Turn with me to Jer 33.

Jeremiah’s ministry was essentially the Babylonian siege and captivity.  As Jesus had the kingdom as the center of his message, Jeremiah had Babylon:  He was telling the people that God would destroy Jerusalem for her wickedness and nobody liked him.  Jeremiah was telling the last king, king Zedekiah, that God brought Babylon to destroy them for their wickedness, but the king didn’t want to hear that.  He got mad at Jeremiah and had him imprisoned, confined in the courtyard of the guard in the royal palace. 

During the siege, while Babylon was in the process of capturing Judah, Jeremiah received the word of the LORD.  That’s the context for Jeremiah’s prophecy – our next portion of the syllabus.

Jer 33:1ff While Jeremiah was still confined in the courtyard of the guard, the word of the Lord came to him a second time: ² “This is what the Lord says, he who made the earth, the Lord who formed it and established it—the Lord is his name: ³ ‘Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.’ ⁴ For this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says about the houses in this city and the royal palaces of Judah that have been torn down to be used against the siege ramps and the sword ⁵ in the fight with the Babylonians: ‘They will be filled with the dead bodies of the men I will slay in my anger and wrath. I will hide my face from this city because of all its wickedness.

God is not happy with you, Jews; he is going to use Babylon to lay waste to Jerusalem and fill it with dead bodies.

⁶ “‘Nevertheless, I will bring health and healing to it; I will heal my people and will let them enjoy abundant peace and security. ⁷ I will bring Judah and Israel back from captivity and will rebuild them as they were before. ⁸ I will cleanse them from all the sin they have committed against me and will forgive all their sins of rebellion against me. ⁹ Then this city will bring me renown, joy, praise and honor before all nations on earth that hear of all the good things I do for it; and they will be in awe and will tremble at the abundant prosperity and peace I provide for it.’

Yes, right now, I am destroying Jerusalem and killing the Jews.  But in the future, I will bring them back from captivity, cleanse them from sin, and give them peace and prosperity.  I will restore them to glory.

¹⁰ “This is what the Lord says: ‘You say about this place, “It is a desolate waste, without men or animals.” Yet in the towns of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem that are deserted, inhabited by neither men nor animals, there will be heard once more ¹¹ the sounds of joy and gladness, the voices of bride and bridegroom, and the voices of those who bring thank offerings to the house of the Lord, saying,

“Give thanks to the Lord Almighty, for the Lord is good; his love endures forever.”

Right now: death, mourning, crying, pain.  But in the future, I will rebuild Jerusalem gloriously and in this New Jerusalem there will be no more death, mourning, crying, pain but instead: joy and gladness and praise.

For I will restore the fortunes of the land as they were before,’ says the Lord.

So here in our syllabus, we have a promise of a future restoration.  God will restore their fortunes.  They were once a glorious nation with peace and prosperity under David and Solomon, but now they were coming to nothing.  In the future, God promises, their former glory will be restored.

¹² “This is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘In this place, desolate and without men or animals —in all its towns there will again be pastures for shepherds to rest their flocks. ¹³ In the towns of the hill country, of the western foothills and of the Negev, in the territory of Benjamin, in the villages around Jerusalem and in the towns of Judah, flocks will again pass under the hand of the one who counts them,’ says the Lord.

¹⁴ “‘The days are coming,’ declares the Lord, ‘when I will fulfill the gracious promise I made to the house of Israel and to the house of Judah.

In their future God would restore Israel and fulfill the gracious promise.  His promise hadn’t failed.  We see that his promise wasn’t ultimately going to be fulfilled in that earthly kingdom.  That was only a type; there were better things yet to come.

¹⁵ “‘In those days and at that time I will make a righteous Branch sprout from David’s line; he will do what is just and right in the land.¹⁶ In those days Judah will be saved and Jerusalem will live in safety. This is the name by which it (the branch) will be called: The Lord Our Righteousness.’

This restoration will involve a descendant of David, the Branch.  This branch will be called by the name: the LORD our righteousness.  LORD = Jehovah.  So right here, we see a connection.

The syllabus tells us that in the restoration of Israel’s Kingdom, he will raise up a descendant of David who will be called Jehovah.  This helps us connect dots here.  Recall that in week 1 we said the kingdom is the kingdom of God, literally the reign of God, meaning that in the kingdom, God reigns as king, but this morning we have been saying that a descendant of David will reign as king.  Which is it?  God or the Son of David?  The answer is YES.  It’s BOTH.  It is a descendant of David a branch from David’s line, which will be called Jehovah, our righteousness.

¹⁷ For this is what the Lord says: ‘David will never fail to have a man to sit on the throne of the house of Israel, ¹⁸ nor will the priests, who are Levites, ever fail to have a man to stand before me continually to offer burnt offerings, to burn grain offerings and to present sacrifices. ’”

¹⁹ The word of the Lord came to Jeremiah: ²⁰ “This is what the Lord says: ‘If you can break my covenant with the day and my covenant with the night, so that day and night no longer come at their appointed time, ²¹ then my covenant with David my servant—and my covenant with the Levites who are priests ministering before me—can be broken and David will no longer have a descendant to reign on his throne. ²² I will make the descendants of David my servant and the Levites who minister before me as countless as the stars of the sky and as measureless as the sand on the seashore.’”

²³ The word of the Lord came to Jeremiah: ²⁴ “Have you not noticed that these people are saying, ‘The Lord has rejected the two kingdoms he chose’? So they despise my people and no longer regard them as a nation. ²⁵ This is what the Lord says: ‘If I have not established my covenant with day and night and the fixed laws of heaven and earth, ²⁶ then I will reject the descendants of Jacob and David my servant and will not choose one of his sons to rule over the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. For I will restore their fortunes and have compassion on them.’”

So during the Babylonian siege, when all hope is lost, when it seems like God forgot all about his promise because the king on the throne of David was about to be removed, we have a word from God through Jeremiah promising the restoration of Israel under a Davidic King; God did not forget his promise.  He would fulfill it in the branch from the line of David called Jehovah our righteousness.

Babylon was eventually conquered by the Medes and Persians and the Persians let the Jews go back to the land and even paid for the rebuilding of the Temple.  This was a glimmer of hope.  This was, in a sense, restoration for Israel, but this certainly wasn’t the glorious restoration they expected – as the peaceful prosperous superpower they once were; the gentiles were still the rule of the day.  Eventually, the Medes and Persians fell to the Greek empire which gave way for the Roman Empire, all the while Israel subservient to these gentile nations. 

The Romans put a man on the throne over Israel that they had chosen: King Herod.  Ironically, Herod was reconstructing the Temple in Jerusalem – is Herod the one to restore Israel?  Not even close.

Israel knew that Herod on the throne wasn’t the restored Kingdom that God promised.  Not only was he not a descendent of David, but he wasn’t even an Israelite.  So Israel was looking elsewhere; they expected God to restore their glorious kingdom with a king who would be the son of David and also Jehovah himself.

How exactly does that work?  How is the king of the restored Kingdom to be both a descendant of David AND Jehovah?  In Christ!  The two meet magnificently in Christ the king.

Recall our definition of the kingdom as the antitype of OC Israel dwelling in the Promised Land.  OC Israel served as a type and shadow of new covenant saints dwelling in the heavenly kingdom.  The syllabus as laid out in 2 Sam 7 is fulfilled immediately in the Kingdom of Israel under Solomon, but this is only a foreshadowing of the restored Kingdom of Israel under Christ.  Jesus Christ is the ultimate subject of this prophecy and it is in Jesus that we have both a descendent of David and Jehovah Himself.

Let’s see how Jesus follows the course as laid out in the syllabus.

According to the syllabus (bulletin), the king will:

·         be the son of David (offspring)

·         build the Temple (a house for God)

·         be the son of God (God will be his father)

·         be loved by God

·         be punished by the hands of men

·         have a kingdom and throne that will endure forever

Syllabus says that the king will be the son of David. Is Jesus the son of David?

The first verse of the NT.  Matthew 1:1  A record of the genealogy of Jesus Christ the son of David, the son of Abraham.

Matt 12:22-23 ²² Then they brought him a demon-possessed man who was blind and mute, and Jesus healed him, so that he could both talk and see. ²³ All the people were astonished and said, “Could this be the Son of David?”

Why would they ask that?  They had the syllabus.  They were expecting a descendent of David to restore the kingdom.  They ask, “could this be THE son of David?

Matthew 22:42  “What do you think about the Christ ? Whose son is he?” “The son of David,” they replied.  Jesus asks a very generic question: whose son is the Messiah?  Christ.  The son of David.  They were expecting the messiah to be the son of David.

Why did they expect this?  Because they had the syllabus!!!

So while Solomon was the literal son of David, we see that Jesus is the Son of David, the descendant of David ultimately foretold by this prophecy.

The syllabus also said that the king would build a house for the name of the Lord, a temple.  Did Jesus do that?  Indeed. (don’t know if Herod was stunting or what?)

But the temple Jesus built is not a Temple built with hands, made out of wood and stone, literally; the temple Jesus built was the church, in which God’s presence dwells.

Matt 16: 13-18 ¹³ When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?”

 ¹⁴ They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”

   ¹⁵ “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?”

 ¹⁶ Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”

 ¹⁷ Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven. ¹⁸ And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.

Jesus is the builder of his church.  His church is the temple.  What is the foundation for this temple?  A rock.  You don’t want to build a structure on sand.  How is this rock identified?  Peter.  A human being.  This isn’t a literal temple.  It is a spiritual reality.  God’s church is the temple, built not with human hands, but by Jesus himself.  Jesus is the builder of the Temple.

Eph 2:19-22 ¹⁹ Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God’s people and members of God’s household, ²⁰built on the foundation of the apostles (on this rock apostle Peter I will build my church – the temple) and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. ²¹ In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. ²² And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.

Just as Solomon was the son of David who built the literal temple, Jesus is the son of David who builds the heavenly temple of the restored kingdom of Israel.

Syllabus says that the king will be the son of God and will be loved by God.  Was Jesus the son of God and loved by God?  Oh, yes.

Matt 3:16-17  ¹⁶ As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. ¹⁷ And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.”

Syllabus says that the king will be punished and inflicted by the hands of men.  Was Jesus punished and inflicted by the hands of men?  YES!  We see this in the account of the crucifixion. 

Matthew 27:26  Then he (Pilate) released Barabbas to them. But he had Jesus flogged, and handed him over to be crucified.

Interestingly enough, Nathan’s prophecy said that the king would be punished with floggings inflicted by human hands, and part of Jesus’ punishment was floggings inflicted by human hands.

Syllabus says that the king will have a kingdom and throne that would be established forever.  Is this true of Jesus?

Luke 1:26-33  ²⁶ In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, ²⁷ to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. ²⁸ The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.”

²⁹ Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. ³⁰ But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God. ³¹ You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. ³² He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, ³³ and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.”

So we see that Jesus is the Son of God, that he will reign of the throne of David, his father, and that his kingdom will never end.  Who will he reign over?  Jacob’s descendents.  That’s Israel.  The kingdom is a restored Kingdom of Israel ruled by a descendant of David.  THAT’S US!

We are the restored Kingdom of Israel and Christ is our King.

Now, for you and I in the 21st century, at this point in redemptive history, the course is completed and the diploma has been granted.  Everything written in the syllabus has been accomplished as it should.  We are in a great position, because now as citizens in the Kingdom they anticipated, we can look back on the syllabus given and we can see how the course did indeed follow the syllabus.  We see that the syllabus foretold that the kingdom would be a restored kingdom of Israel with a descendent of David on the throne and we can look back on the course and see that God did raise up Jesus, a descendent of David to sit on the throne.  We will explore more of the syllabus in weeks to come, and in looking back on the course of history with the NT serving as our transcript we can see how God, did, indeed, follow the syllabus in bringing the promised kingdom.

Our God is a promise keeper, a trustworthy God.  We can look at what God promised centuries ago about the kingdom that was to come and specifically about the king and we can see how God kept his promises and fulfilled them in Jesus, the descendant of David, ruling over a restored Kingdom of Israel.

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