The Everlasting Kingdom

The Everlasting Kingdom

1 Chronicles 17:10b-14 (NKJV)

 

 "Furthermore I tell you that the Lord will build you a house.  11 And it shall be, when your days are fulfilled, when you must go to be with your fathers, that I will set up your seed after you, who will be of your sons; and I will establish his kingdom. 12 He shall build Me a house, and I will establish his throne forever. 13 I will be his Father, and he shall be My son; and I will not take My mercy away from him, as I took it from him who was before you. 14 And I will establish him in My house and in My kingdom forever; and his throne shall be established forever."

If there is one thing we know about King David it is this: He LOVED the Lord!  He believed in his God.  From his valor as a youth, refusing to let the giant Goliath defy His God to the beautiful psalms that he wrote he truly was "a man after God's own heart.  

 

When the Lord tore the kingdom away from King Saul (see 1 Samuel 15:28) and handed it to King David, the Lord blessed him and he grew more and more powerful.  He conquered enemies, reunited the people of Israel built up Jerusalem, the City of David and through the gifts of a neighboring king, a palace was built for him to live in.  David, loving God as He did wanted the worship of Him to be right and  he got it in his heart to bring the ark of the Covenant back to Jerusalem from Abinadab's house where it had been.  David prepared a place for the ark of God and pitched a tent for it.  Then he gathered the Levites to carry it and assembled all Israel in Jerusalem to bring it to the place he had prepared for it.  With much music and singing and dancing, a great celebration took place.  The ark of God was set inside the tent that David had pitched for it and burnt offerings and fellowship offerings were presented before the Lord.  The King gave gifts to the people and blessed them in the Name of the Lord.  He set up priests to perform all the various duties of the tabernacle and, after all the people went home, King David blessed his own family.

 

What a beautiful day and glorious day that must have been.  But as the noise died down and the dust settled, King David also settled into his palace; and when he did, his heart began to grieve.  He went to the prophet Nathan and said, “Here I am, living in a house of cedar, while the ark of the covenant of the Lord is under a tent.” His love for his Lord spurred him on to desire to build a House for Him to dwell in.  While Nathan thought this was a good idea, the Lord Himself overruled it.  The Lord reminded the King through the prophet that it had pleased Him to tabernacle among His people, dwelling among them in the same way they had dwelt.  He had not from the time of His delivering them up out of Egypt ever commanded that a house be built for Him. This is representative of our Lord Jesus Christ "who being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped but made  himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. (Philippians 2:6-7)"  Our lord was pleased to become flesh and dwell (tabernacle) among us (see John 1:14).

 

The Lord was pleased however with David's heart and promised to continue to bless him and the people He called His own.  It was the heart of worship that the Lord loved.  In reality what could the human efforts of even a great King like David ever really offer that would be expressive of the greatness and sovereignty of the Lord?  And while the Lord would honor David's heart through his son Solomon by allowing him to build a temple of God, He turned the worship of the King into a blessing for the King.  God said, "I will build a house for you!"  This is our God!  We love Him but He loves us more.  In fact 1 John 4:10 says, "This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins."  Friend, God loves us ridiculously!  Do not let the enemy bring you under condemnation by making you wonder if you love God enough ("after all," he says, "aren't you supposed to love God with all your heart?  Look how you fail Him...is that love?"), receive God's unconditional, unmerited, unearned and unlimited love!  Stand and rest in the Niagra Falls type waterfall of His love, GRACE and Favor and you will not be able to help falling deeper and deeper in love with Him.

 

The blessing went much deeper though as the prophecy continued.  The Lord said that when David's days were "over and he went to be with his fathers, He would raise up his seed and establish his kingdom.  He will be the one to build a house for me and I will establish his throne forever.  I will be his father and he will be my son.  I will never take my love away from him...I will set him over my house and my kingdom forever; his throne will be established forever."  David's great legacy would be carried on by one of his own son's.  David had the great joy of seeing Solomon succeed him on the throne and take over the kingdom.  What honor he must have felt knowing that he was the head of an everlasting kingdom.  This prophecy would be fulfilled in Solomon as he would build the temple and establish a great kingdom.  But the greater fulfillment would be through a much later seed.  The seed that was promised from the garden that would crush the head of evil had found its way to King David and much later would come from his line making him a seed of David.  Long after David's days were done, the Lord raised up the Son of David and established His Kingdom.  He is the one who builds the House of God, not a building of brick and mortar but of living stones.  His throne is established forever and of His Kingdom there shall be no end.  When Jesus came up out of the waters of baptism, a voice was heard saying, "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. (Matthew 3:17)". The beloved Son, the Darling of Heaven, truly God will never take His love from Him.  Jesus Christ has been set over the living temple and eternal Kingdom of God and His throne is established forever!  "Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:9-11)"  Praise His Holy Name!

Grace and Peace, 

Pastor Tony

Freedom Church, USA