The Promise to David
2 Samuel 7

Over Advent we’re looking at some of the promises God made to people in the Old Testament that help us understand what’s going at Christmas.

So, today, we are going back in time. Jesus was born 2000 years ago. But we’re going back to 1000 years before that, to when David was king of Israel.

And David loved God and wanted to build God a house, a magnificent temple, like a giant cathedral.

But what do you think God said? Do you think he said ‘yes’ or ‘no’? ‘Yes I really want you to build me a house’, or ‘No, I don’t want you to build me a house.’

In fact, God said, ‘No, David, you won’t be building me a house.’ Instead, God does something strange. He reminds David of what David used to be before he became king.

What was David before he became king? Was he a fireman? Or an astronaut? Or a shepherd?

God says to David, ‘Before I took you and made you king you were just an ordinary shepherd, David.’

So, before God made David king, was David rich? No. Was he a famous sportstar, or the Cristiano Renaldo of shepherding? No. David was just very ordinary.

But God chose David and made David very great.

So, when David says ‘I want to do something for you God. I want to build you a great big temple’. God could have said, ‘Well about time, David, cos you owe me, you need to pay me back for all the good things I’ve done to you’.

But God doesn’t say that.

Instead God says, ‘I have already given you so much David, but now I’m promising to give you even more. You want to make me a house, but instead, David, I’m going to build you a house.’

But he doesn’t mean he’s going to build David a big palace. He means a royal house, a line of kings that come from David; sons and grandsons and great grandsons who will be kings after David, until one Son comes who will be king for ever and ever.

Now, can anyone tell me who that ultimate Son of David is, the king who reigns forever, is?

Jesus! It’s not King Kong. It’s not even King Charles! It’s King Jesus.

It’s why before Jesus was born, the angel Gabriel told Mary, “You will have a son - and you shall call him Jesus. He will be great… And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David… and his kingdom will never end.” (Luke 1:30-33).

And so from very ordinary David, God brought an extraordinary king - Jesus.

But when people like the shepherds came to find the new born king, where did they find him? In a big city - like Jerusalem? No… in a small village called Bethlehem. And where did they find him? Was he on a super yacht with the rich and famous? Or in an expensive ski chalet on the slopes of Gstaad? Or in a beautiful big palace? No!

Where did they find him? In a stable. With all the animals. And his bed wasn’t a lovely warm cot, it was the animals’ feeding trough.

You see Jesus is no ordinary king. Instead, the angel Gabriel said to Mary that Jesus wasn’t just the Son of David, but the “Son of the Most High”, the Son of God. So, this king in a manger is extraordinary.

And yet, he became very ordinary for us. In fact, the Bible says he became a servant.

Now if you stay in a very expensive hotel, there are servants who carry your bags for you. So if Jesus came as a servant, does he carry bags full of our clothing? No - he carries something much heavier.

You see, there are lots of things wrong with our world. There are all the bad things we do and say. And people hurt each other and argue with each other. But Jesus came to carry away all the hurt and all the wrong. And at the cross he removed them all from us so that, just like he blessed David even though David had done nothing to earn it, so he might bless us with his undeserved grace.

You see, God kept his promise to David. And Jesus is the extraordinary king who became ordinary. So that, in place of all that’s wrong with us, we can have his extraordinary love.