Originally posted: 5/25/2020

Yet the Lord was not willing to destroy the house of David because of the covenant which He had made with David, and since He had promised to give a lamp to him and his sons forever, (21:7).

Once again, we see God’s faithfulness to His Covenant with David as He spares the life of one so deserving retribution…

Now when Jehoram had taken over the kingdom of his father and made himself secure, he killed all his brothers with the sword, and some of the rulers of Israel also. ⁵ Jehoram was thirty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned eight years in Jerusalem. ⁶ He walked in the way of the kings of Israel, just as the house of Ahab did (for Ahab’s daughter was his wife), and he did evil in the sight of the Lord, (21:4-6).

…because He promised.

Yet the Lord was not willing to destroy the house of David because of the covenant which He had made with David, and since He had promised to give a lamp to him and his sons forever, (21:7).

Out of his love and adoration for his God, perhaps desiring in some way to give something back to the One Who had given him so much, David planned to build a house for the Lord. But the Lord clarified and redirected David’s plans; the Lord would be the One Who would do the building.

Thus says the Lord, “Are you the one who should build Me a house to dwell in? ⁶ For I have not dwelt in a house since the day I brought up the sons of Israel from Egypt, even to this day; but I have been moving about in a tent, even in a tabernacle. ⁷ Wherever I have gone with all the sons of Israel, did I speak a word with one of the tribes of Israel, which I commanded to shepherd My people Israel, saying, ‘Why have you not built Me a house of cedar?’”’ (2 Samuel 7:5-7).

God had never asked for, or expected, a house to be built for Him. Rather, it was His intent to build a kingdom of committed hearts to be His dwelling place.

“The Lord also declares to you that the Lord will make a house for you,” (2 Samuel 7:11).

Consider His Covenant with David

Today, we will revisit the day God sent His prophet, Nathan, to disclose His plan, not for a physical house, but for His Covenant; His Covenant with David, established by Him, and by which we too have been given so much.

• His Covenant with David, established by His Choosing
  • “Now therefore, thus you shall say to My servant David, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, “I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep, to be ruler over My people Israel,” (2 Samuel 7:8).

• His Covenant with David, established by His Powerful Presence
  • “I have been with you wherever you have gone and have cut off all your enemies from before you; and I will make you a great name, like the names of the great men who are on the earth,” (2 Samuel 7:9).

• His Covenant with David, established in His Planting Place
  • “I will also appoint a place for My people Israel and will plant them, that they may live in their own place and not be disturbed again, nor will the wicked afflict them any more as formerly,” (2 Samuel 7:10).

• His Covenant with David, established in His Rest
  • “even from the day that I commanded judges to be over My people Israel; and I will give you rest from all your enemies,” (2 Samuel 7:11).

• His Covenant with David, established by His Work
  • “…The Lord also declares to you that the Lord will make a house for you, ¹² When your days are complete and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your descendant after you, who will come forth from you, and I will establish his kingdom. ¹³ He shall build a house for My name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever,” (2 Samuel 7:11-13).

• His Covenant with David, established in His Discipline and Lovingkindness
  • “I will be a father to him and he will be a son to Me; when he commits iniquity, I will correct him with the rod of men and the strokes of the sons of men, ¹⁵ but My lovingkindness shall not depart from him, as I took it away from Saul, whom I removed from before you,” (2 Samuel 7:14-15).

• His Covenant with David, established for all Eternity
  • “Your house and your kingdom shall endure before Me forever; your throne shall be established forever,” (2 Samuel 7:16).

How do we respond to His Covenant with David?

It is when we place our faith in His Covenant with David, His Promised Lamp, that we are saved. Shouldn’t our faith and trust soar as we consider that we too have been spared the retribution we deserve?

Yet the Lord was not willing to destroy the house of David because of the covenant which He had made with David, and since He had promised to give a lamp to him and his sons forever, (21:7).

In place of His Divine Wrath, He has chosen us to be His… for all eternity. It is His work, not ours. And because He promised… it is so; fulfilled in Jesus Christ, our Savior, the Light of the World.

Then Jesus again spoke to them, saying, “I am the Light of the world; he who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life,” (John 8:12).

• His Covenant with David, fulfilled in Jesus Christ, established by His Choosing
  • Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, ⁴ just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him, (Ephesians 1:3-4).

• His Covenant with David, fulfilled in Jesus Christ, established by His Powerful Presence
  • “…and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age,” (Matthew 28:20).

• His Covenant with David, fulfilled in Jesus Christ, established in His Planting Place
  • Therefore as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, ⁷ having been firmly rooted and now being built up in Him and established in your faith, just as you were instructed, and overflowing with gratitude, (Colossians 2:6-7).

• His Covenant with David, fulfilled in Jesus Christ, established in His Rest
  • “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest,” (Matthew 11:28).

• His Covenant with David, fulfilled in Jesus Christ, established by His Work
  • For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; ⁹ not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. ¹⁰ For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them, (Ephesians 2:8-10).

• His Covenant with David, fulfilled in Jesus Christ, established in His Discipline and Lovingkindness
  • Fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God… ⁷ It is for discipline that you endure; God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom his father does not discipline? ⁸ But if you are without discipline, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. ⁹ Furthermore, we had earthly fathers to discipline us, and we respected them; shall we not much rather be subject to the Father of spirits, and live? ¹⁰ For they disciplined us for a short time as seemed best to them, but He disciplines us for our good, so that we may share His holiness. ¹¹ All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness, (Hebrews 12:2, 7-11).

• His Covenant with David, fulfilled in Jesus Christ, established for all Eternity
  • Behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to render to every man according to what he has done. ¹³ I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end. ¹⁴ Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter by the gates into the city… ¹⁶ “I, Jesus, have sent My angel to testify to you these things for the churches. I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star,” (Revelation 22:12-14, 16).

Today, as we consider His Covenant with David, fulfilled in Jesus Christ, may our faith and trust soar. Because He promised, we can rest in the strength of His assurance for our days on earth and our eternity established in Christ.

Yet those who wait for the Lord
Will gain new strength;
They will mount up with wings like eagles,
They will run and not get tired,
They will walk and not become weary, (Isaiah 40:31).

May our faith and hope soar today, that every day we would never get over how He has chosen us and saved us. May we choose today, and every day, to humbly offer Him our gratitude, praise and worship for His Covenant with David, fulfilled in Jesus Christ our Savior.

But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared, ⁵ He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, ⁶ whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, ⁷ so that being justified by His grace we would be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life, (Titus 3:4-7).

Let’s Grow Together!