Biblical Vision 3: Kingdom (2 Samuel 7:1-17)

The LORD to David, “Your house and your kingdom shall endure forever before me; your throne shall be established forever.” (2 Samuel 7:16)

We continue our series on Biblical Visions. This week we look at God’s vision for David’s kingdom.

As recorded at St. Luke’s

Biblical Vision 3: Kingdom (2 Samuel 7:1-17)

Why doesn’t God answer my prayers?

One of the big questions Christians often ask is, “Why doesn’t God always answer my prayers?” Often, we see amazing answers to prayers, even on occasion miraculous healings. At other times, it feels like God is deaf to our appeals.

The truth is that God does always hear our prayers. Sometimes he says, ‘Yes’ to them, but often he says, ‘No’ or ‘Not yet.’

Why is that? Because we often pray for what we think would be the best thing to happen. We ask God to honour our plans for the future, but too often our plans are not in line with his plan!

We think life would be much better if only:

• I had more money
• I was healthier
• I could find the perfect husband or wife
• I could get a job

Sometimes those things are true, but sometimes God has other plans!

Years ago, I was in a small Bible Study group, with someone who was really worried he was going to lose his job, because he worked for a London borough and some cut backs were looming. He was really anxious about this and we would often pray in the group that he would keep his job. But God said, ‘No!’ to that prayer. And when the cut backs came he was made redundant.

But, God’s plans are better than our plans. Once he was finally made redundant this man was a lot happier. He even started running a group at the church for other unemployed people and became a real blessing to many others.

We think we know the best plans and we pray that God would fulfil them, but God knows better

What does God say to my plans?

We’re in the midst of the Year of Discernment. Yesterday, some of us from both St. Luke’s and St. George’s PCC met together to discuss some possible plans for the next few years. We had a good  natured and positive meeting, sharing some big ideas and being honest about hopes and fears. No consensus was reached and more work needs to be done, before we can share plans, but it was a good step forward.

Our main prayer, though is that the plan we come up with is God’s plan not ours. Because after all, God knows better than us.

David’s Plan

In our passage for today, the third in our series on Biblical Vision, we focus on King David. He is one of the most important Bible characters and this is a crucial passage, to help us understand the story of the whole Bible.

As the story begins, David is established as king over Israel. All the enemies that had been a big threat to Israel for centuries have been defeated and the land seems secure. David has also established Jerusalem as the new capital city and is now living in a smart new palace.

But the ark of the covenant, the symbol of God’s presence with Israel is still in a tent. So, David comes up with a plan. He calls in Nathan, the prophet and says to him, “It can’t be right! I am living in a house, but God is still symbolically in a tent. We need to build a house for God.” Nathan was a wise prophet and thought it sounded like a great idea and told David, so.

But, God had other ideas. He came to Nathan that night, with a clear answer to David’s plan to build him a house. The answer, was , ‘No!’

But why?

God says, ‘No’

• It’s God’s plan not man’s – vs. 4-7

In verses 4-7, God’s answer seems to be:

This is not something I have asked for or suggested to anyone. So why suggest it now?

Perhaps you have experienced other people, say something to you like, “What you really need is such and such…” and you think, “No, I am quite happy without that thank you!” Maybe you have even been a bit annoyed at such people trying to tell you how to live your life.

That seems to be what God is saying to David. You think my ark needs a house to live in? Why? I told Moses to build a tent, not a temple and I’ve moved with the people. That’s worked fine for hundreds of years, why do I need a temple built from wood? Are you trying to tell God what to do, David?

Jesus teaches us not to tell God what we think should happen. He teaches us to pray, “Your will be done!”

• It’s about what God does for us, not what we do for God – vs. 8-11a

Then, God goes on to remind David of his and Israel’s story.

JFK famously said, “Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country.”

People sometimes treat God in the same way. They come to church eager to volunteer and prove to the church and God that they can do stuff. But that is to seek our value and worth in our work, skills and gifts.

That is kind of what David is doing. He wants to do something for God, to build him a house. Especially now he is securely established as a king.

But in verses 8-9, God reminds David, that he owes his position as king, completely to God. God raised him from being a lowly shepherd, to become the leader of his special people, fulfilling a key purpose in the

fulfilment of God’s plans and promises to Abraham to make his family into a great nation so they can bless all nations.

Last week we saw how part of God’s plan was to rescue them from slavery in Egypt, to enter into a special relationship with them and to bring them into the promised land. God had done all of that hundreds of years before David, but they were still not a great nation, because they were unable to defend themselves from the peoples around who would plunder, invade and oppress them. Now, however, with David as king, the nation was securely planted in the land and at rest from all their enemies. Now they truly could be a great nation.

The point of what God is saying is: it’s not about what Israel or David could do for God, but what God had done for Israel!

So, when David says, God I think I should do this for you. I should build you a house! God, says, “No!” That’s not the way it works David, I do things for you, you don’t need to do things for me.

God says, ‘Not yet’

But God’s answer to David’s plan is not really a ‘No!’ It is a ‘Not yet!’ A house will be built for God in Jerusalem, but not until God has done something more for David.

• God builds David’s house first

The key word in this whole passage is the word, ‘House’. It occurs eight times in our verses and fourteen in chapter 7 as a whole.

But the passage plays on the word ‘house.’ Sometimes it refers to David’s house and some Bibles translate it as ‘Palace.’

At other times it refers to a ‘house for God’ and you could translate as ‘temple.’

But in verses 11 and 16, it refers to David’s family or dynasty. A kingdom is ruled over by a king, and his successors, all being well come from his family or house.

David offers to build God a house, but God says, “Not until I have established your house.”

And God did that. David’s family remained on the throne in Jerusalem for around four hundred years until the Babylonians destroyed Jerusalem.

But, even when they no longer had a king, because Israel had become part of big empires, the Jews remembered God’s promise and plan to have one of David’s descendants on the throne. When the New Testament talks about a hoped-for Christ or Messiah, it is referring to this promise to David. The Jews believed God would fulfil this plan and so they prayed for a Messiah.

And God sent Jesus, a son of David, who would be established eternally as king. He wasn’t the kind of king they expected. He was a better king. He would rule not on a throne in Jerusalem, but at the right hand of God. Not until he died, but from when he was resurrected.

Jesus is the ultimate fulfilment of God’s plan to establish David’s house.

• David’s son will build God’s house

So, God promises that he will first, establish David’s house. But then when that has happened, God will allow David’s son to build a house for God.

And that is what happened. Solomon, David’s son became king and built a house or a temple for God in Jerusalem, that would stand for 400 years, until the Babylonians came, and would be rebuilt twice after that and stand in Jerusalem until its destruction in AD 70.

David’s plan would come about. Not by his timing, but by God’s timing.

But again, this is another promise, that Jesus as David’s greater Son fulfils in an unexpected way.

Jesus also comes as the Son of David, to build God’s house. It is not a house of dead stones, but living stones. It is not contained in one place, but is dispersed across the world. Jesus said to Peter,

“And I tell you that you are Peter, {Peter means rock.} and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades {Or hell} will not overcome it.” (Matthew 16:18)

Peter as the first to realise that Jesus was the Christ, becomes the starting point for the new temple, the building.  Peter will later describe the dispersed church as a temple built with living stones with Christ as the cornerstone.

But notice again, that it is not Peter who does the building, but Christ, the Son of David, the Son of God who builds the church.

What about our plans?

So, what has this to say about our plans and our year of discernment?

• God’s grace not human plans

Firstly, we need to focus on God’s grace and not human plans. Successful churches can fall into a trap of celebrating their great achievements and forget that what we are meant to be about is celebrating God’s achievements despite us!

When we focus on God’s grace as primary, we can sit more loosely to our plans. Our faith, our hope is not on the success of any plan we may dream up, it is on what God has done already for us in Christ. We can be confident and at peace.

• Establish people before buildings

Secondly, we need to note that God was more interested in establishing David’s family, his house, before wanting to build a special house for himself.

We also need to note that the New Testament focuses on building a house made up of living stones, that is people not bricks.

Here in Ramsgate, we have big buildings and they can take a lot of effort and time. But, our focus needs to be on establishing a family of Christians in a strong community of faith. If we forget about the people and focus on buildings, then we have lost track of God’s vision. It is more important to maintain a strong family of Christians than to keep the church buildings open.

• Buildings for God’s name

But, thirdly, buildings do have a place in God’s plans. In the passage, God talks about David’s son, building a house for his name. Many of our church buildings have foundation stones, that say simply, ‘to the glory of God.’

The fact that previous generations built such magnificent buildings for the worship of God in Ramsgate is their ongoing witness to God’s glory and their desire to provide a place for future generations of Christians to gather.

Our buildings say something about God’s name to the world around, and by their presence bring glory to God.

We live with a conundrum. How can we respect the witness of these old buildings and the vision of those who built them, without losing that priority focus on the people of God or allowing the maintenance of the buildings to distract from the growth of the church? Have the buildings had their time in God’s plan? Or are they still a crucial part of the future vision? Let’s pray for God’s guidance!