A House Forever

A king walks through his new palace, running his hand along walls of sweet-smelling cedar wood. It is beautiful. It is peaceful. And it troubles him. Because across the city, the ark of God is still living in a tent.

The king is David, the shepherd boy from Bethlehem who killed Goliath, ran for his life from King Saul, and became king over all Israel. He has captured Jerusalem and made it his capital. He has brought the ark of the covenant, the sacred chest that stood for God's presence among his people, into the city with dancing and music. Now, at last, the Lord has given him rest from his enemies all around. For the first time in years, there is peace. And David begins to dream.

David calls for Nathan the prophet. “See now, I live in a house of cedar, but the ark of God dwells within curtains.” It doesn't seem right. Why should the king live in a palace while God's ark sits in a tent? David wants to build God a house, a temple. Nathan likes the idea. “Go, do all that is in your heart, for the Lord is with you.” It sounds like a happy ending. But that night, the word of the Lord came to Nathan.

God says: go and tell my servant David. Will you build me a house to live in? I have not lived in a house since the day I brought Israel up out of Egypt. I have moved about in a tent all this time. Did I ever ask anyone to build me a house of cedar? Then God reminds David who he is. “I took you from the sheep pen, from following the sheep, to be prince over my people Israel. I have been with you wherever you went, and have cut off all your enemies from before you. I will make you a great name.” David wanted to do something big for God. But God wants David to remember what God has already done for him.

And then comes the surprise. David wanted to build God a house. Instead, God says: I will build you a house. Not a building, but a family. A dynasty. “When your days are fulfilled, and you sleep with your fathers, I will set up your offspring after you, who will proceed out of your body, and I will establish his kingdom. He will build a house for my name.” That son would be Solomon, who did build the temple. But God keeps going. “I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be his father, and he will be my son.” Even when David's sons go wrong, God says, my loving kindness will not depart from him. “Your house and your kingdom will be made sure forever before you. Your throne will be established forever.” Forever. Kings would come and go. The kingdom would one day fall. But a thousand years later, an angel would tell a young woman in Nazareth that her son would be given the throne of his father David, and of his kingdom there would be no end.

Was there really a house of David? In nineteen ninety-three, archaeologists at Tel Dan, in the far north of Israel, found pieces of a broken stone monument written in Aramaic. It was set up by an enemy king, probably Hazael of Damascus, about a hundred and fifty years after David's time. He boasts of defeating the king of Israel and the king of the house of David. It is the earliest known mention of David's family outside the Bible.

A house forever. You'll find it in Second Samuel chapter seven, verses one to seventeen. David wanted to give God a house, and God gave David a promise that would lead all the way to Bethlehem. So here is a question to carry with you. Before you think about what you can do for God, have you stopped to remember what God has done for you?