When Lili and I moved into the neighborhood where we now live, one of the first things we were a part of was a party thrown in the neighborhood for our neighbor, whose name is Jackie. Tables were set up right in front of our yard, people from all over the neighborhood came walking up with food to contribute, and there were patriotic displays everywhere. Had Lili and I simply walked upon this party right as we were moving in the neighborhood we might have thought that this is simply a neighborhood that likes to reward good neighbors. After all, Jackie is the nicest of men, keeps his yard mowed, and offers goods from his garden to anyone who might have need.

But Lili and I had been given information that led us to see that this was more than just a “neighbor of the month” party. Jackie had just moved back into his house after spending a year away from his family, serving his country as a soldier in Iraq. Thus, Lili and I saw this as much more than a party that we might get to join in every month or so but a celebration of Jackie’s service, his coming home, and most importantly God’s gracious protection of his life throughout the previous year.

What could have been viewed as a simple party was seen as much more because we knew what had transpired in leading up to this party. It is a good reminder that such things can lose their significance if we don’t know what has transpired in leading up to such occasions.

The same is true with Christmas. Throughout any retail store you can overhear songs about Christmas, even declaring the birth of Jesus, proclaiming that Jesus is the “newborn king.” Yet we all know that hundreds, thousands, and even millions of people will celebrate this day, sing those songs, and completely miss what Christmas is about because they realize nothing of why Christ came and who he was. Their ignorance will cause them to miss the significance of this day.

At the same time, however, we ourselves are in danger of missing the significance of this day. We’ll celebrate the fact that our Savior was born of a virgin and came to die for our sins, but if we are ignorant of the Old Testament promises that looked forward to this day we’ll miss much of the significance of the birth of that baby in Bethlehem, Jesus of Nazareth.

2 Samuel 5-8 is helpful for us in this way. In fact, as I’ve thought ahead for a while now to this text which we would look at one this significant day, I’ve often thought that we could not have arrived at a greater text for such an occasion. Therefore, this morning, I want us to do a few things. First, we will walk through the text, looking at the events and making sure we understand what God is doing in David’s life as he establishes him as king. Second, I want us to put these events in context of what has come before David, looking all the way back to Abraham, so that we might understand the significance of the events of 2 Samuel 5-8. Then, finally, I want us to look ahead at house the events of 2 Samuel 5-8 ultimately point us forward to a person, the one to whom the events of 2 Samuel 5-8 should point us.

The text itself breaks down pretty cleanly into four sections with the chapter breakdowns. Thus, we can look at chapters 5-8, each separately as we seek to understand what is transpiring in our story. With that said, let us first turn to chapter 5.

God establishes David as king in Jerusalem and grants him victory over his enemies (5:1-25)

The first five verses of chapter 5 record for us the fulfillment of the promise God made to David that he would be king. For many chapters now we have walked with David, awaiting the coming of this day. It is now given to us in a short five verses. As the chapter begins, we read, “Then all the tribes of Israel came to David at Hebron and said, \"Behold, we are your bone and flesh. In times past, when Saul was king over us, it was you who led out and brought in Israel. And the Lord said to you, 'You shall be shepherd of my people Israel, and you shall be prince over Israel.' So all the elders of Israel came to the king at Hebron, and King David made a covenant with them at Hebron before the Lord, and they anointed David king over Israel. David was thirty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned forty years. At Hebron he reigned over Judah seven years and six months, and at Jerusalem he reigned over all Israel and Judah thirty-three years” (5:1-5). David is now king over Israel.

But the problem was that he really had no base from which to serve as king. Hebron would not work, for it would seem to suggest that David had greater allegiance to the southern tribes, especially his own tribe. Therefore, David decided to make Jerusalem his base. It was centrally located and was occupied by the Jebusites. If David made Jerusalem his base, not only would it mean that he would have a great location but that he could claim land for Israel that rightly belonged to them. David, therefore, took his men and “took the stronghold of Zion, that is, the city of David” (5:7), and David became greater and greater. Verse 12 reads, “David knew that the Lord had established him king over Israel, and that he had exalted his kingdom for the sake of his people Israel.”

David had been made king so that God might care for his people. And now the king had been given a territory from which to reign and was having numerous children. The only other task was to subdue those enemies around him who might challenge Israel. That, we find is David’s next action as we read in 5:17-25 that twice David thwarted the Philistines’ attempt to challenge him by inquiring of the Lord for guidance and then striking them down.

Clearly the Lord’s presence was with David as he had given him Jerusalem. But really both of these things foreshadow what’s to come. For though God had given him Jerusalem and his presence was with him, David longed for the ark to come to a permanent dwelling place. He wanted the ark to come to the city of the king so that God’s presence might clearly dwell in that place. That leads us to the events of chapter 6.

God blesses David with his presence by allowing him to move the ark to Jerusalem (6:1-23)

According to 1 Samuel 7:2, the ark was at Kiriath-jearim (or Baale-judah) for “a long time.” However, now that David had a city to be the center of the kingdom, it is only fitting that Jerusalem also become the central place for worship. Therefore, David gathered 30,000 men and went to get the ark. They got a new cart (6:3), oxen to pull it, and two men, Uzzah and Ahio to drive the cart. Everything seemed to be perfect.

As they got the ark and beginning bringing it to Jerusalem, it was like a party. According to 6:5 they were singing, playing instruments, and making merry before the Lord. However, all of the sudden, the music stopped as the people all gathered around Uzzah. He was lying on the ground – dead. One of the oxen had stumbled, and out of fear that the ark might fall, Uzzah reached up to balance it. But touching the ark had been forbidden by God, so as soon as Uzzah’s hand touched the ark, Uzzah’s life left his body. They had not been carrying the ark as commanded by God, and this was the result. Needless to say, the party came to a screeching halt.

According to verses 8-9, David was angry and afraid. He did not like that Uzzah had died and yet was fearful to resume the trip. Therefore, he placed the ark in the house of Obed-edom until he could discern what to do next. However, reports then began to come to David that the Lord was blessing Obed-edo and his household because of the ark. David then realized that it wasn’t that the Lord was out to get them. He longed to bless them. However, he is not a God to be trifled with.

Therefore, they resumed the trip for the ark, this time carrying it the right way we should assume. And after they had only taken a few steps, they stopped sacrificed and worshiped before the Lord. Then the celebration began again. We read in 6:14-15, “And David danced before the Lord with all his might. And David was wearing a linen ephod. So David and all the house of Israel brought up the ark of the Lord with shouting and with the sound of the horn.”

Yet, as they came to Jerusalem, there was one person not celebrating – Michal, Saul’s daughter and David’s wife. She felt that David was degrading himself by this celebration. But David pointed out to her that his goal was not to look dignified before men but to serve the Lord, which will be honorable before those who have eyes to see. Then the author tells us that Michal had no child, which shows us that Saul’s line would have no part of the Davidic dynasty to come.

In 2 Samuel 6, not only had God allowed David to settle in Jerusalem, finally conquering those occupying the land, but he also gave him the gift of his presence in the ark. The greatest gift God could have given his king, and anyone for that matter is his presence, and that’s what we find God doing in chapter 6. Yet, we soon find that bringing the ark to Jerusalem left David wanting something else. He wanted to build a house for the Lord, a temple. And so we turn to chapter 7.

God promises to establish David’s kingdom forever through his Son (7:1-29)

It is not an overstatement to say that 2 Samuel 7 could be the most important chapter in the whole Old Testament. The chapter begins with David looking around and realizing he is in a great position. He has rest from his enemies and dwells in a nice house in Jerusalem as king. However, he also notes that the ark, symbolizing God’s presence, was simply dwelling in a tent. Therefore, thinking that the Lord should not dwell in a tent if David gets to live in a house, David decides to build a house for the Lord – a temple. He tells Nathan, and he responds, “God, do all that is in your heart, for the Lord is with you” (7:3).

That night, however, the Lord speaks to Nathan instructing him to tell David not to build a temple. He points out that the Lord has not lived in a house since he brought the Israelites out of Egypt and has never commanded anyone to build him a house. Then, the word takes a turn you might not expect. Instead of David making a name for the Lord by building him a house, the Lord tells David that he will make David a name by building him a house (i.e. a dynasty). We read the promise in verses 8-17.

“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, that you should be prince over my people Israel. And I have been with you wherever you went and have cut off all your enemies from before you. And I will make for you a great name, like the name of the great ones of the earth. And I will appoint a place for my people Israel and will plant them, so that they may dwell in their own place and be disturbed no more. And violent men shall afflict them no more, as formerly, from the time that I appointed judges over my people Israel. And I will give you rest from all your enemies. Moreover, the Lord declares to you that the Lord will make you a house. When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son. When he commits iniquity, I will discipline him with the rod of men, with the stripes of the sons of men, but my steadfast love will not depart from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away from before you. And your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me. Your throne shall be established forever.' \" In accordance with all these words, and in accordance with all this vision, Nathan spoke to David.”

Whereas David had intended on exalting the Lord’s name in building God declares that he will exalt David’s name by building him a dynasty. He declares to David that he will give him rest from his enemies and raise up a son from David who shall reign over the throne of his kingdom forever. Should David fear that the Lord will take his Spirit from his son as he had seen with Saul, God points out that he will discipline David’s son when he sins, but he will not take his steadfast love from him as he had taken it from Saul.

In fact, God declares that David’s house and kingdom “shall be made sure forever before me.” Now the only way that this promise could be fulfilled is if David had a son who reigned as king, who had a son who reigned as king, and so on and so on, world without end. That would allow David’s kingdom to be made sure forever. The only other way this promise could be made sure is if David had a son who was declared to be king and lived forever. There are simply no other possibilities for the fulfilling of this promise. Therefore, I think we feel the weight of this promise.

And David felt it as well. In fact, 7:18-29 is full of David’s prayer of gratitude. He asks God who he is that he has been blessed as he has (7:18), and this is followed by praise for God’s greatness. The Lord promises to give David offspring through whom he will establish the throne of his kingdom forever and shall make David’s house and kingdom sure forever before him.

And already by chapter 8 we see these promises beginning to take shape.

God gives David victory over his enemies and a great name as king over Israel (8:1-18)

Chapter 8 is basically a summary of David’s reign. Throughout David’s life, God indeed grants him rest from his enemies by granting him the ability to subdue them. The text points out that David defeats the Philistines and every other enemy that he has. Then we read in verses 13-15, “And David made a name for himself when he returned from striking down 18,000 Edomites in the Valley of Salt. Then he put garrisons in Edom; throughout all Edom he put garrisons, and all the Edomites became David’s servants. And the Lord gave victory to David wherever he went. So David reigned over all Israel. And David administered justice and equity to all his people.” God is fulfilling the promise already, even giving David a great name.

Now, I have not pressed to show application along the way though I think there is much here. We could point out that though we are invited to worship God, we must not trifle with him. We could point out that God always keeps his promises. Or we could point out that God working to exalt himself and edify his people is one in the same. And I think all of those are legitimate points to be seen in our text.

However, if we ask the question, “What is it that the author would want his readers to see as they read over these four chapters in 2 Samuel?” I don’t think these things should be first on our list of points made by the author. Rather, I will simply ask us, “What do we think when we see that David is granted land, God’s presence (by which God shows himself to be David’s God), and is promised offspring and a great name? No doubt we begin to think of the covenant God made with Abraham, to give him land, offspring, to be his God, and to make his name great. Then we are to realize that the promises God made to Abraham are coming to David. He is given land, God’s presence, the promise of enduring offspring, and a great name. I think that is the main point the author wants us to see in the text, that the promises to Abraham are coming to the king of Israel. But why?

This coming week I am going to spend time at my parents’ house in Paducah, KY. My sisters, their husbands, and their children will be there as well. So, it will be a lively time. Kids will be running around, my nieces will be fighting to hold Marie, and things will be loud. And inevitably this scenario will take place at some point during the week. My son will be calling out to me, “Daddy, Daddy, Daddy,” and in the midst of all of noise I will not hear him. However, someone else will. So the individual who hears my son constantly saying, “Daddy, Daddy, Daddy” will yell, “Lee” so that I will turn to them and given them my attention. However, they will not have gotten my attention because they wanted me to focus on them and listen to what I had to say. They will have directed my attention to them just so that they could then focus my attention on another – my son.

I think this is why the author focuses us on David in this text. He wants us to see that the promises to Abraham are coming to the king of Israel. But then I would argue that it is not simply so that we might focus on David but so that David might point us to another – Jesus of Nazareth, for all of these promises are fulfilled ultimately in him.

Making Jerusalem the capital of the kingdom is crucial for the storyline of Scripture because Jerusalem becomes that place where God is gathering his people together.

In Isaiah 27:13, we read, “And in that day a great trumpet will be blown, and those who were lost in the land of Assyria and those who were driven out to the land of Egypt will come and worship the Lord on the holy mountain at Jerusalem.” Then, in Isaiah 66:18-20 the Lord declares, “For I know their works and their thoughts, and the time is coming to gather all nations and tongues. And they shall come and shall see my glory, and I will set a sign among them. And from them I will send survivors to the nations, to Tarshish, Pul, and Lud, who draw the bow, to Tubal and Javan, to the coastlands afar off, that have not heard my fame or seen my glory. And they shall declare my glory among the nations. And they shall bring all your brothers from all the nations as an offering to the Lord, on horses and in chariots and in litters and on mules and on dromedaries, to my holy mountain Jerusalem, says the Lord, just as the Israelites bring their grain offering in a clean vessel to the house of the Lord.”

Therefore, is God’s plan to save people from every nation to bring them to Jerusalem? Is our task to make sure people from all over the world eventually make it to Jerusalem and come there to worship in a temple? Are we to labor for the building of a temple in Jerusalem? Is God summing up all things in Jerusalem?

No. Rather, according to Ephesians 1:10, God is summing up all things in Christ. And God will bring people together from all over the world so that he might have one people not by bringing them to a temple in Jerusalem but by bringing them together in Christ and making them the place of his dwelling.

Paul writes in Ephesians 2:11-22, “Therefore remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh, called \"the uncircumcision\" by what is called the circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands – remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments and ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility. And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.”

The place where God’s people were to find rest was never first and foremost a land but it was his Son. That’s why Jesus can invite us to come to him and find rest. Yes, one day those in Christ will dwell in the land, in a new earth forever, but only those who are in Christ will be among those.

At the same time, bringing the ark to Jerusalem is crucial because it meant that God’s presence is among his people.

However, the ark itself was only pointing us to a greater reality when God himself might dwell with us. And that happened in the coming of Jesus of Nazareth. Matthew tells us that he was called “Immanuel” meaning, “God with us” because his presence meant nothing less than that. In fact, John writes, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. … And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:1, 14). God’s presence most fully dwelt among us in the person of Jesus of Nazareth, whose birth we celebrate this day.

In addition, the promise for David’s kingdom to be established forever before the Lord can only be fulfilled in Jesus of Nazareth.

Yes, we said that one option for God to fulfill that promise was for David to have a son who reigned as king, whose son reigned as king, whose son reigned as king, and so on world without end. Or, he could have a son made king who would live forever. Well, in 587 BC when the kingdom was conquered and David no longer had a son reigning on the throne, the only way this promise could be fulfilled is by one of David’s sons raising up, being declared king and living forever.

Isaiah declared this would come. He declared in Isaiah 9:6-7, “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.” Isaiah continues to declare the promise will be fulfilled.

“But what about the Davidic dynasty?”, we might ask. After all, with Judah being conquered by Babylon in 587, Jesse’s line (i.e. David’s father) had been cut down like the stump of a dead tree that had once been great. Isaiah addresses this as well, writing, “There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit” (Is. 11:1). Isaiah declares that David’s Son will come, even though David’s line looks to have been cut down to a stump.

However, for over 580 years no descendant of David was declared to be king. What the whole Old Testament from 2 Samuel 7 had looked for had no answer. Then, however, Matthew begins his gospel with the genealogy of a man from Nazareth named Jesus. The very first words of the New Testament are, “The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham” (Matthew 1:1).

Could he be the one that God promised in 2 Samuel 7? Could he be the one who would be anointed king and lived forever? Well, there was a point at which a sign hung over his head declaring, “This is Jesus, the King of the Jews.” However, it hung there as he was hanging on a cross, being killed. Indeed, the death of Christ looked to confirm that he could not be the promised son of David. It looked like God was abandoning his king, if the sign hanging over his head was even perceived to be true. And it appeared that he died under the curse of God, hanging on a tree.

However, we know something that could not have been seen with mere eyes, namely, that what Isaiah declared was true, as he wrote, “But he was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes we are healed” (Is. 53:5). The chastisement God promised to come to David’s descendant indeed came to him, as he was beaten with the rod and with the stripes of men, but it was chastisement we deserved.

Nevertheless, we might point out, “But he did die!” And this is a big deal since David must have a son appointed king who would live forever. This is why the resurrection is so crucial to our hope.

And Peter knew it. For after Jesus had been raised from the dead, on the day of Pentecost he pointed out that Jesus had indeed fulfilled the promise to David, declaring, “Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves know – this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it. For David says concerning him, 'I saw the Lord always before me, for he is at my right hand that I may not be shaken; therefore my heart was glad, and my tongue rejoiced; my flesh also will dwell in hope. For you will not abandon my soul to Hades, or let your Holy One see corruption. You have made known to me the paths of life; you will make me full of gladness with your presence.' \"Brothers, I may say to you with confidence about the patriarch David that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. Being therefore a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that he would set one of his descendants on his throne, he foresaw and spoke about the resurrection of the Christ, that he was not abandoned to Hades, nor did his flesh see corruption. This Jesus God raised up, and of that we all are witnesses” (Acts 2:22-32).

But what about the Spirit? Had the Father given Jesus the Spirit to further show he was the anointed King? Indeed, Peter points out, “Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this that you yourselves are seeing and hearing” (Acts 2:33). He was exalted as king and had been anointed to such a degree with the Spirit that he himself had now poured out the Spirit on his people. Jesus is indeed the promised Son of David.

And, finally, even as David’s name became great, his great name was only to point us to another.

For Paul declares in Philippians 2:6-11 that though Jesus was in the form of God, he “did not count equality with God a thing to be [exploited], but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

The name above every name is not Abraham or David, it is Jesus of Nazareth. He is the one in whom we are saved. He is God himself. He is the promised Son of David who reigns as King forever. And he is the one whose name will cause all men to bow and worship him. This is the one whose birth we celebrate this day. He is the one who fulfills the promise to David and everything to which David’s life pointed. Therefore, may we declare our allegiance to him as our king even as we come to the table in worship to him this day. Amen.

THE DAVIDIC KING HAS COME

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