2 Samuel 7: The Family Tree
In this chapter we meet a new person- Nathan. He is first introduced to us as a prophet. In the previous chapter we saw David and Israel enter a new era. It is interesting the oxen pulling the cart which held the Ark of the Covenant stumbled when they crossed the threshold. Threshold is an interesting word. It is used to described the elevated or raised portion of floor beneath the door or entry way. We sometimes use this word to describe entering a new era, as in, ‘we have crossed a threshold of a new age.’ Perhaps you are entering a new era, crossing a threshold in your life where you have not ventured before. Sometimes God causes us to stumble in order direct our steps.
David had stumbled because he did not inquire first of the Lord: how can the Ark of the Lord come to me? As we open this chapter in this new home of David’s we see the Lord has given David a season of rest from all his enemies. God knows how much we can stand and will never place more on us that we can bear, but will provide us with rest. Jesus calls to those of us who are weary and heavy laden to come to Him and He will give us rest. God knows we will stumble. We stumble when we sin. Sometimes we stumble even when we do not sin and are trying to do something honorable for Lord. In either case when we stumble the Lord upholds us with His right hand. He wants to direct our steps. He wants to steady us on the path. But He keeps us from falling. Paul was forbidden by the Holy Spirit of preaching the Word in Asia. And also from going into Bithynia. God had a better plan and a different time schedule.
Now Nathan is there with King David in his new home built with fine cedars and David in his rest is thinking what can I do for the Lord. We might call this meeting- a “brainstorming meeting”, where ideas are explored. David as he sits with Nathan in his new palatial home, wonders, perhaps with some guilt: ‘why should I dwell in a house of cedar, but the Ark of God dwells inside tent curtains?’ Good question. David wants to glorify God, wants to honor God.
Nathan, as we will see is not a “yes-man” but he does encourage David to explore this idea. Nathan tells David: “Go, do all that is in your heart, for the Lord is with you.” Now we are told in Hebrews 1, God in the past spoke through His prophets. And when Nathan gets home that very night God speaks to him and tells him to go tell David he is not going to build a house for him, but his seed, Solomon will build the temple. What follows is referred to as the Davidic Covenant, a covenant God made with the house of David which built on the covenant God made with Abraham.
THE DAVIDIC COVENANT
David is not denied the building of the temple because of sin, or because it is not God’s will. It was God’s will that David, the shepherd boy, would be the ruler over the people. When God takes away something, a dream we have, and tells us NO, it is because He has something better. The Lord giveth, and the Lord taketh, blessed be the name of the Lord. He tells David through Nathan, this is not my plan for you. David had no motive but to glorify God. This was a noble purpose and David wanted to exalt the name of God in building God a magnificent house.
It is not that a temple for the Lord will not be built, but it will not be built by David. It will be built by his son Solomon. This covenant with David was as follows: “ 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; nor shall the sons of wickedness oppress them anymore as previously, since the time I commanded judges to be over My people Israel, and have caused you to rest from all your enemies. Also the Lord tells you He will make you a house. When your days are fulfilled and you rest with your fathers, I will set up your seed after you, who will 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. “(2 Samuel 7: 10-13) God did not just have a better plan for David, He had the best plan for David and his kingdom.
Have you ever dreamed a dream which you wanted to accomplish? Where it seemed to be a good thing for God and something you wanted to do to honor Him? And God says no to you, like he did to David’s request. For God’s ways are higher than our ways, and His plans are always for the achieving the most good for the most people for the longest period of time, (in this case forever) by the best possible method.
This builds on the Abrahamic covenant, which actually begins with the interesting word, seed, all the way back in Genesis 3.
Now before we begin this journey, let me say David received God’s no with great humility. He said ‘who am I, Lord that you have brought me thus far? I can certainly identify with David’s words here. I can look back at my life and see where the Lord had brought me and what I have learned and only say what David says to the Lord- “ How great thou Art!” How good you have been to me. You lifted me out of the miry pit of sin; out of darkness into your marvelous light. You kept me from falling and presented me faultless before the presence of His Glory with exceeding joy, to God our Savior, who alone is wise, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and forever. Amen! (Jude: 24&25) David counted his blessings and before you get angry or disappointed with God because He has said no- you and I should do the same.
THE SEED
Early in the creation account in Genesis 1, we are told God devised the plan of procreation and reproduction. “Then God said let the earth bring forth grass, the herb that yields seed and the fruit tree that yields fruit, whose seed is in itself according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.” (Genesis 1: 12) God did this also with the animals of earth, the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea. His instructions were the same to all- be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and the seas and skies. Then God created man and woman. Man was made in God’s own image. Man was given dominion over the earth and was instructed by God to “Be fruitful and multiply, fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air and over every living thing on earth.”
We know the story of the fall. Adam and Eve disobeyed God and sin and death entered by the one man, the first Adam. In dealing with their sin, God made a cover for them from the skins of an innocent animal. Then in dealing with Adam and Eve and what they lost in the fall, God also deals with the fallen angel, Lucifer, now known as the Serpent of Old, the Dragon, Satan- our adversary. God speaking to Satan: “I will put enmity between you and the woman. And between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head and you shall bruise His heel. “Now Adam and Eve would be banished from the Garden of Eden, the Spirit of God departed from them and they now possessed sinful natures. The law of procreation which God had decreed meant they would reproduce after their own kind. All mankind would be born with a sinful nature.
Now follow the Seed of the woman for this is what the enemy of God has been doing since the Fall in the Garden.
In Genesis 12 and 15 we see the call of Abraham and the Abrahamic covenant in which God will bless all the nations of the earth and make his name great through his seed, his offspring. Isaac will be the only begotten son of Abraham and Sarah. This is an important term for us to understand- only begotten. Remember in Genesis three the Seed of the woman is capitalized. Paul calls attention to this fact, this detail in Galatians 3: 16, we read: “Now to Abraham and his Seed were the promises made. He does not say, ‘and to your seeds, as of many, but as of one, “And to your Seed”, who is Christ.
THE ONLY BEGOTTEN
This term, only begotten, used in John 3: 16 is translated from the Greek word, “monogenes”. The definition reads: “pertaining to being the one and only of its kind within a specific relationship.’ Abraham had more than one son, but Isaac was the one and only son, Abraham and Sarah had together. Jesus was God the Son from eternity past, He was never created. He entered into time as the prophesized Seed of the Woman. The Word of God, became flesh, born of the seed of the woman, a virgin. This mean he was fully man but without a sinful nature because of the Virgin Birth. Thus for this reason, the Seed was implanted in a virgin woman who had never known a man. He was sinless, He was perfect and His blood was not ever tainted by sin, although tempted like the first Adam who had a perfect nature from creation, but the Last Adam, The Seed was different as He is the one and only begotten Son of God. “For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily;” (Colossians 2: 9). Fully God and Fully man. Never less than God, never more than man. The Virgin Birth is very important part of the story of the Seed. So the seed of Abraham and Sarah is Isaac, the Son of Promise. We then follow the line of the Messiah through Isaac then, through Jacob. Jacob would have 12 sons; his name would be changed to Israel. His 12 sons became the 12 tribes of Israel. Before we leave the book of Genesis, we see the scepter will not depart from Judah. This will be the line of David and now we are told the Seed will come through David. The Seed, the Messiah, will be born in Bethlehem, the city in which David was born. He will be born of a virgin as prophesized in Isaiah. The government will be on His shoulders.
Dr. Luke gives us some interesting information regarding the birth of John the Baptist and of Jesus. The angel Gabriel tells Mary, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give to Him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; and of his kingdom there will be no end. Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I have no husband?” And the angel said to her, “the Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of he Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born to you will be called Holy, the Son of God. And behold, your kinswoman Elizabeth in her old age has conceived a son; and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren. For with God nothing is impossible. In Luke 9, Jesus faces a man known as the Gadarene demoniac who is filled with 2000 demons. Listen to what they said to Jesus, “What have you to do with us, Jesus, Son of the Most High God?”
John tells us in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God. All things are created by Him and for Him and held together by Him. John then tells us the Word became flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld His glory, the glory of the one and only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. Jesus came to let us see God the Father. He was the Lamb of God, Messiah, the Good Shepherd, the Seed of the Woman. John, Peter and James beheld His glory on the Mound of Transfiguration, where they were eyewitnesses to the Glory of God whose exact image was declared in His Son. It was revealed to Peter by God the Father, that this Jesus was the Messiah the Son of the Living God. Immanuel, God with us. The one and only begotten Son of Almighty God. When you beget, you beget something of the same kind as yourself. A man begets a human being. A bird begets birds. A dog begets puppies, baby dogs. WHEN GOD BEGETS OR FATHERS JESUS, HE BEGETS GOD. In Jesus dwelt all the fullness of the deity of God in His body.
Jesus is the Seed. He is the Word who became flesh. Guess how we are born again? We are born again by in the incorruptible Seed, the Word of God.
How can this be? The Holy Spirit will come upon you. And you will be born again, not of the flesh, but of the Spirit.
Jesus has now ascended to his throne, the throne of the universe. He sits at the right hand of God and all authority and power and in heaven and on earth are His. He rules and reigns as the Son of the Most High God. He is the One and Only Begotten Son of God.
Gabriel told Mary He will be great. He is the greatest of all.
Now perhaps God has said no to a dream of yours or a prayer request. Perhaps the no is simply a part of God’s greater plan to redirect your life.
If what you want to do for God is honor Him and glorify Him and build a house for Him. Begin building in your own family. We will see David will pass on this desire to His son, Solomon. He gathers building materials and draws up a plan to pass on to his son, Solomon. But the most important thing David passes on is the desire to glorify God. For the chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever. How does one glorify God? Jesus said, “By this is my Father glorified that you bear much fruit.
Fruit is produced from the SEED. The SEED is cultivated and is pruned by the Vinedresser, the Owner of the Vineyard is God. The Vine is the God the Son, the Seed whose vine produces the fruit of the Spirit. Just as the sap brings life to the branch and fruit, so it is the Spirit which indwells us produces the life-giving, fruit which we bear as a branch engrafted into the vine. Apart from Him, the True Vine we can do nothing.
God wants to plant a garden in your life. He wants to water it and cultivate it. He is a constant gardener Who comes to the garden each day, just as He did in the Garden of Eden. To walk with you and talk with you. And tell you- you are His own.