All right, well, good morning. It's a bright sunny day. All right, well, what I hope to do this morning is move on, move on, and we're gonna talk today about the Davidic covenant. We've spent enough time criticizing Kleinian republication than last week, the kissing cousin to what's now called Two Kingdoms. I don't want to spend too much time being polemical, that is, arguing against what we think certain things are teaching. There's a place for that, but we also need to talk about what we're for, what we believe. So hopefully we're going to have a bit better balance at this point. Not that anybody criticized what we were doing, but I don't want us to just constantly harp on what's wrong with everybody else. So let's move on to the Davidic Covenant. And this, of course, deals with David. So let's turn to 2 Samuel chapter 7. 2 Samuel chapter 7. You see it there, the ESV, right there in the heading. The Lord's Covenant with David. We can thank the publishers for that. Makes it easy to find, right? Now when the king lived in his house and the Lord had given him rest from all his surrounding enemies, the king said to Nathan the prophet, see now I dwell in a house of cedar, but the ark of God dwells in a tent. And Nathan said to the king, go, do all that is in your heart for the Lord is with you. But that same night the word of the Lord came to Nathan, go and tell my servant David, thus says the Lord, would you build me a house to dwell in? I have not lived in a house since the day I brought up the people of Israel from Egypt to this day, but I have been moving about in a tent for my dwelling. In all places where I have moved with all the people of Israel, did I speak a word with any of the judges of Israel, whom I commanded to shepherd my people Israel, saying, Why have you not built me a house of cedar? 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. All right, so here we are. We've moved on to David, finally. We're familiar with David. Of course, you know, every Sunday school class at one time or another, in kids' class, they talk about David and Goliath and things like that. And that's certainly true. Shepherd David and so forth. Let me just ask this first, and this is kind of a odd question to kind of start things out. In the passage that we read, did anybody notice something missing? The word covenant, somebody's already been thinking about this. And so here you have the ESV and the publishers of the ESV having the Lord's covenant with David as a heading right there at the beginning of 2 Samuel 7. And the word covenant's not even in the text. Okay, so that kind of gives us a bit of an issue. Not really. The ESV's right, even though their words are not inspired. It is accurate that this is a covenant. which I hope to bring out with other passages, but just some things to keep in mind. And this, some of what I'm talking about really does come from J. Ligon Duncan's lectures on covenant theology. So, I mean, a lot of other people say the same things, but I looked at his and he had some good stuff to say. And this is an exact quote from him. This passage offers one of the most significant moments in God's dealing with his people under the old covenant, because the establishment of the house of David is an integral part in God's master plan to crush the head of the serpent. So you see how Duncan portrays the Davidic covenant as being an aspect of the promise, really the threat, made to Satan in the garden. This covenant helps to establish that there will be a king that will crush the head of the serpent. If you would turn to Psalm 78, because Duncan does mention this, and this is good. Psalm 78 is a lengthy psalm. As far as I remember, it is the second longest psalm, and it is very much a historical. And for those that are a bit more picky, an historical, okay. Psalm 78, and in particular verses 67 to 72. He rejected the tent of Joseph. He did not choose the tribe of Ephraim, but he chose the tribe of Judah. Mount Zion, which he loves, he built his sanctuary like the high heavens, like the earth, which he has founded forever. He chose David, his servant, and took him from the sheepfolds. From following the nursing ewes, he brought him to shepherd Jacob, his people, Israel, his inheritance. With upright heart, he shepherded them and guided them with his skillful hand." So clearly, the psalmist, in Psalm 78 there, sees David as being a fulfillment. This is a blessing to God's people, that David was to be a blessing. So given the fact that Psalm 78 is itself a redemptive historical psalm, you can read through it. You can see the history of Israel. It climaxes in this psalm with David. So that's the significance. Establishment of David to be one who would uphold and rule in a godly manner. Now, some context, if we think back to 2 Samuel 7, some simple context to keep in mind. The civil war between Saul's family, now Saul, of course, was already dead, and David had just ended. David was established as king over both, not just Judah, but also the other 10 tribes, so all of Israel. You may remember after Saul's death, Judah made David king. But the northern tribes, now, they still had the house of Saul. And there was civil war for seven years, and eventually came to the point where Israel wrapped things up and said, no, David, you're the guy. After seven years of civil war, that's kind of interesting. I always found that fascinating. So that's over. The other significant thing is that you see this really, a lot of this in chapter five and six, that David had captured Jerusalem and made it his capital. When Israel entered into the promised land, they did not take Jerusalem, Salem, the Jebusites. And so 400 years while in the promised land through the time of the judges, Jerusalem was not theirs. David took it. Another significant event. David brings the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem. And what's the Ark signify? Presence of God. Particularly, especially as we think about the Ark of the Covenant and the seraphim, he is seated between the seraphim. We talk about the mercy seat, but it is also his throne. It symbolizes his throne. So it's God's rule, and that's significant. And then of course, you look at chapter seven, verse one, God gave David rest from all his enemies. These are the significant things, the background that helps us to see the significance of right here, right now, the establishment of the Davidic covenant. Now, as was already mentioned, we do not see the word covenant take place. And you can think way back to when we first started talking about, for instance, the covenant of works, however many months ago that was. that the word covenant was not there, and that has led some to believe, well, there really wasn't a covenant with Adam in creation, because the word's not used, and we talked about how Hosea 8 specifically says covenant with Adam, and even talked about some of the controversy of the translation there. So the word itself does not necessarily have to be there. It's sort of a variation of the word concept fallacy, that if the word is not there, then the concept must not be there. That's kind of nonsense. Well, we have a similar situation. If you would turn to Psalm 89, And I mean, this sounds obvious, but Psalm 89 follows Psalm 88. Well, of course it does. That's how numbers work. But you think about Psalm 88 and Psalm 88 is a dark Psalm. That is a man who is in deep, deep distress. And then you come to Psalm 89. Right at the beginning, I will sing of the steadfast love of the Lord forever. With my mouth, I will make known your faithfulness to all generations. For I said, steadfast love will be built up forever. In heaven, you will establish your faithfulness. "'You have said, "'I have made a covenant with my chosen one. "'I have sworn to David my servant.'" And he goes on after that. And notice in verse four, the heart of it, which we're gonna look at in 2 Samuel 7, "'I will establish your offspring forever "'and build your throne for all generations.'" Okay, so you see Psalm 89, Now you think back, I alluded to this, but think back to way when we talked about the covenant of works and the lack of the word there and Hosea talking about the covenant which they broke, covenant made with Adam. And there are technically some things to consider as to why some might say it's in Adam, the place Adam, as opposed to the person Adam. I think that's a pretty weak argument. And also instead of the person Adam, just mankind in general, that's another interpretation. But in this text in Psalm 89, you don't have that issue. That issue's not there at all. There is no debate that I have seen anywhere, not that I've been all over, as to what this text is saying. God established a covenant with David, full stop. And you can even look to Psalm 132, Among the last, it's the longest of the Psalms of ascent. Verses 11 and 12. The Lord swore to David a sure oath from which he will not turn back. One of the sons of your body I will set on your throne. If your sons keep my covenant and my testimonies that I shall teach them, their sons also forever shall sit on your throne." Notice the language there, covenant. Now, the focus in Psalm 132 is the offspring of David, but nevertheless, it's the same promise. So covenant is clear. So though the word covenant does not occur in 2 Samuel 7, the rest of Scripture clearly sees that when God came through Nathan the prophet to David, that a covenant was established. Jonathan, did you have a question? basically the first half. Uh-huh. I would say that that is a legitimate inference, particularly when you read what Paul says in Ephesians about Christ being exalted and we are seated in the heavenlies with him, in him. So there is something to that. I wasn't quite going to go there, but you're definitely not wrong. Conrad? Yeah. That's true. That's true. That's the one side that some have made it a bit difficult and maybe this is some sort of different type of thing. This is where dispensationalists love this kind of stuff. Correct, absolutely. And even with Moses. So, for instance, let's turn to Deuteronomy chapter 17. Deuteronomy chapter 17, beginning at verse 14. And by the way, as you're turning there, this is where biblical criticism, whether it's higher criticism, textual criticism, criticize this, criticize that, whatever. They look at passages like this in Deuteronomy 17, the second half, and you see the ESV has a heading there, Laws Concerning Israel's Kings. Well, some redactor put that in there later. That's because they don't believe in prophecy. They don't believe in the supernatural working of God. And they do that with much of Deuteronomy. So anyway, be that as it may, when you come, this is verse 14, when you come to the land that the Lord your God is giving you and you possess it and dwell in it and then say, I will set a king over me like all the nations that are around me, you may indeed set a king over you whom the Lord your God will choose. one from among your brothers you shall set as king over you. You may not put a foreigner over you who is not your brother, only he must not acquire many horses for himself or cause a people to return to Egypt in order to acquire many horses, since the Lord has said to you, you shall never return that way again. And he shall not acquire many wives for himself, lest his heart turn away, nor shall he acquire for himself excessive silver and gold. And when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, he shall write for himself a book, in a book, a copy of this law approved by the Levitical priests. and it shall be with him, and he shall read it in all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the Lord his God by keeping all the words of this law and these statutes and doing them, that his heart may not be lifted up above his brothers, and that he may not turn aside from the commandment, either to the right or to the left, so that he may continue long in his kingdom, he and his children in Israel. So here you have, even in Moses, rules for a king. And you see how connected all of this is. It is quite remarkable. It's almost as if God planned it that way. I'm sorry, I'm being a bit facetious, I realize. So you have in Deuteronomy 17, the kind of king that God's people need. They do set them to, hey, give us a king like the other nations. And you think about that when you read that in 1 Samuel and the leading up to Saul. And we always talk about how, yep, God heard what they said and he gave it to them. But I wonder sometimes, and I don't have any proof of this, if Deuteronomy 17 was going through the minds of some of the people. I mean, because they do ask in a similar fashion to what Deuteronomy 17 says, I will put a king over me as the other nations. Well, God kind of took that, turned it around and said, okay, I'll give you another king just like the other nations. And of course, I got Saul. Before I continue and start picking apart 2 Samuel 7, any questions or comments so far? Chris? Yeah, actually Duncan in his lecture does talk about that a bit. He touches on the reality that Nathan comes and he just said, hey, go do what you want. The Lord's with you. Now part of that was accurate. Obviously the Lord was with him because he gave him rest from all his enemies. He established a kingdom, et cetera, et cetera. But then the word of the Lord comes to Nathan. Now it's interesting because God didn't send another prophet. He sent Nathan back so that David knew two things, that Nathan still is a prophet and that really Nathan kind of jumped the gun with what he said. That's kind of the short of it. So God in his mercy really upholds Nathan's integrity, if you think about it, by sending him back with the word of the Lord. So, and David doesn't object, David doesn't say, hey, but you told me, he just says, he just obeys, he recognizes it. And he probably recognized that Nathan jumped the gun, the word of the Lord comes and then that's that. All right, so we think about 2 Samuel 7, he's got rest on all sides and David notices, I've got this house of cedar, Must have smelled nice, right? No moths, right. They didn't have a moth problem, that's for sure. And he sees that the Ark of the Covenant, the thing that represents God's throne is in a tent. And you think about that and you're just like, well, I kind of feel for David. I would agree with that. I'm here, I've got this nice place, but somebody who's better than me is in a tent. And so he decides he's going to build a house for the Lord. Now, I would also say that about the only thing wrong with what David is wishing for here is being a bit impulsive. He's drawing an unnecessary conclusion. But I think his motive was good. He understood, and in fact, he realized, I'm not worthy to be in this house of cedar. Why would God's throne be in a tent if I'm in this house? And so he wants to build a house for Lord. Now, At this point, you notice in verse two, and even with verse three, David doesn't explicitly say it in these verses that I wanna build a house, but clearly that's the implication. God's throne is in a tent, I'm in a house of cedar. Nathan, hey, go do what your heart desires. So the word of the Lord comes. And you look through, God rehashes what he did for David, And it really, it's when you get down to verse 12 in particular, but not just verse 12, there's a few different places. Duncan brings out the point that what you see where David was concerned to build a house for God, God turns it around with a play on words and says he's going to build for David a house. Now it's the same word in the Hebrew and it's kind of humorous if I can go off on a slight tangent. I can remember taking Hebrew in seminary, and one of the ways to help me remember, and others, the Hebrew word for house, general word for house, it's bayet. And so you see a house you like, you buy it. You see, you get that, little tricks. Well, that's why, and you go through 2 Samuel 7, you look at the Hebrew word there, there it is, all throughout. And so God is wonderful at language. He's doing a play on words. You intended to build me a house, David, but I'm gonna build you into a house. Now house is a broad word in Hebrew. It can refer to the physical structure, but it can also refer to a temple. It could refer to a palace. But what else could it refer to? Lineage. What are some other words for lineage? Family, okay. Like the house of Jacob. Now, we're talking in general terms, but think king. What's a good word for all of this? Think royalty. There you go, dynasty. He's establishing a dynasty with David's house, pun intended. So God uses this play on words. You wanted to build me a house. No, I'm going to build you into a house. So that's the key thing with respect to this covenant. Yeah, Conrad. That's correct. That's correct. And that's a key point. And when we think about the tent and the tabernacle and even the temple, the whole point was to show in a picture fashion, if you will, that God dwells in the midst of his people. That's the point. Where his people go, God goes. And of course, we know that's fulfilled in Christ. Where his church is, that's where Christ is. And we'll talk about that more to be sure. But there are other things. In terms of building a dynasty for royalty, what's required? Offspring. Yeah. Well, duh. Well, right. Sometimes things are the obvious answer. If you're going to have a dynasty, there's got to be children that come along, offspring. Anybody want to guess? Think back on all that we've talked about throughout this with covenant theology. What word is used for offspring? What's the literal translation of the word? Seed. And that is the case here. Your seed, that is a key word. We hearken that all the way back to Genesis 3. The seed of a woman that will crush the head of the serpent. So God to David through Nathan, that this offspring who will be on the throne will be from his own flesh and blood, his offspring, his seed. This heir will fulfill David's desire by building a house for God. And it's just fascinating, this play on words, because we know that Solomon, as the immediate successor to David, did accomplish that in time and space. But the truth of the matter is God accomplished it all throughout redemptive history in the person and work of Jesus Christ. Everybody see that? Okay, just make it sure the caffeine's kicked in for everybody. So this heir will fulfill David's desire by building a house for God. There's a unique relationship. The language that is used here of David's seed, I will be his father and he shall be my son. That's actually much more focused than what we see in the promise given to Abraham. I will be your God and you will be my people. Now it's focused on an individual. I will be his father and he shall be my son. And you think about that and how it is true in the person of Solomon, but how that is ultimately true in Jesus Christ. Jonathan? Yep. Well, it is the house that comes out of Christ. And then, but we also need to understand and remember David or Christ is, according to his human nature, a descendant of David. And that's the issue. And as you think this through, and you start unpacking all this, and it's all those who are in Christ. Now, even if you think in terms, well, we're all Gentiles, and this is a particular area where you got this dispensational mindset, which is unfortunate. But even in the Old Testament, Gentiles could become Israelites. How? There was a set way of thinking. Paul in Ephesians chapter two, we love Ephesians two because that's where we get our Calvinistic doctrine, but it's the second half of Ephesians two that's really important here. We are a part of the one people of God. There are not two peoples. There's one person, one body, same covenant. Same promises to the Gentiles. We are brought into the commonwealth of Israel. That's Paul's language there in the second half of Ephesians 2. Plus what Paul argues in Romans 11 about Gentiles being grafted in. We're not a separate tree. So we really do become true Israelites by virtue of our adoption because of what Christ has accomplished. Conrad? Correct. Right. No, it can't. But there is a sense where it can refer to Christ. In the imputation of our sin to him. He is reckoned as one who sins. And what happens? He's disciplined. on the day in which he sinned, he died. Yeah. All right, so other things with respect to David. I talked about his own flesh and blood, the seed, the heir will build the house, this unique relationship that is even more focused and intimate than what the words were to Abraham. It's this promise, and this we take from the perspective of Solomon. He may experience punishment for sin, but not cast off as Saul was. not cast off as Saul was. And then finally, David's kingdom will last forever. Now the prophets later interpreted all of this, and the Psalms too, as being fulfilled in the person of the Messiah. And of course, we know the Messiah as our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. The New Testament sees this, even at Pentecost. Back when I kind of going back, but as we see in Pentecost, Peter expounding and interpreting the events of the spirit being poured out and everybody sees what's going on. He uses Joel chapter 2. He refers to the Abrahamic covenant and he refers to the Davidic covenant as all of this lumped together. And so the fulfillment is found ultimately in Christ. Now, here's my question for you. What's the sign of this covenant? Okay, the crown or the throne, you can put it one for the other. If you would turn to second, or excuse me, not second, 1 Chronicles. Now the word here is not specifically used, but it is a fascinating piece of wording that we see here in 1 Chronicles 29, particularly really the second half of verse 22. which the ESV has broken up there with that Solomon anointed king. That second half there of verse 22. And they made Solomon the son of David king the second time and they anointed him as prince for the Lord and Zadok as priest. Then Solomon sat on the throne of the Lord as king. in place of David, his father. And David's throne is ultimately the throne of the Lord, and that's the point. That's really the point. And actually, the Psalms do this. They do this same thing, where they have the emerging, if you will, in Palmer Robertson, not in his book, The Christ and the Covenants, but in his book, The Flow of the Psalms, which the men's study did that some years ago. And that's what sparked me preaching through the Psalms in the evening. So you can think, that was a long time ago. Yeah, it was. I would commend that book. Now, if I take a step back, let me just give a caveat to that book. As some of you know, I used to be a math teacher. So my mind is always logical, deductive reasoning. Palmer Robertson in his book is very inductive, but he does make a good case. See, I'm of the sort, inductive reasoning doesn't really prove anything. It just shows patterns. Now inductive reasoning is helpful to disprove a proposition, but ultimately it doesn't prove something. So Palmer Robertson's book on the flow of the Psalms, it's very inductive. There's some deductive stuff too, but he sees some rather interesting patterns as you run through the Psalms. And I think I've told the men who have been part of that study that are here now are gonna hear me say something I said back then. So you can fall asleep for a few minutes if you want, that's okay. But what Palmer Robertson did in this book was truly astounding. He was able to show that there really is a purpose in the order of all the books, all of the Psalms. Now, as I said, pretty inductive, observations, patterns, references to other things in scripture. But one of the things with respect to the Davidic covenant that he does try to establish is clearly in the Psalms, they see the Messiah as the one who descends from David. And there's this merging of the Davidic throne, the throne of Messiah, with God's throne. And notice what we see here in 1 Chronicles 29. Solomon is seated, not on the throne of David, although that's true, he's seated on the throne of the Lord, Jehovah. That's a foreshadow of who the Messiah really is. The one who is both David's son and David's Lord. This is Psalm 110. The Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand. That's the place of authority. And so the Davidic covenant is establishing for us the principle that one person will rule the kingdom and that will be the Messiah. That's really what this is all driving at. Thoughts, comments, questions? Jake? That's correct. Right. And it doesn't even matter if you're circumcised. Yeah. Well, yeah, they had a they had a hard problem. Even the Judaizers who tried to claim Christ, that was their issue. But Paul in Galatians tells us that Abraham is our father. And so there is a connection with Abraham. The fact that Paul in Ephesians 2, this is the language that Paul uses, Ephesians 2 verse 12, remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, meaning before they became Christians. You were separated from Christ. alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise. And so Paul is making it clear that the connection of all of it and really what the Judaizers and really all Jews should have recognized is that the key aspect is the Messiah. That's where it lies. That's who it lies in. And so, but he still uses this language, commonwealth of Israel. He still uses this language, covenants of promise, having no hope without God in the world. But now, so in contrast to the way they once were, to what they are now, now in Christ Jesus, you who were once far off, far off from what? The Commonwealth of Israel, the covenants of promise. You 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 expressed in 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 continues about the language of the two being brought near. And so all of this is truly fulfilled in Christ and the language of nation. We're still part of the Commonwealth of Israel, truly, because it is Christ Jesus who reigns on the throne of David. the throne of Jehovah, the throne of the Lord. We are children of Abraham through faith. Trish? Right, right. Conrad? Correct, and that's really the point of Hebrews 11. We turn to the beginning of Hebrews 12, since we're surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses, and those witnesses are what you see in Hebrews 11, the wall of faith, the hall of faith. The point there, yeah, it's true. You can look through the names listed in that hall of faith in Hebrews chapter 11 to help encourage your faith. Look at these examples of faith, and that's true. But it goes so much deeper. All of those Old Testament names, They are described as not having received what was promised because they were looking forward. They were looking forward to Christ. That includes David. That's why David could say in Psalm 110, Jehovah said to my Lord, And this is David's son. How could David's son be David's Lord? Well, it's because Jesus Christ is both human and divine. He's the appointed one who builds the house, and he builds the house through Jesus Christ. That's what the physical temple pointed to. That's what the tabernacle pointed to. We're kind of past time, so I hate to do that to all of you. All right, we gotta close. We'll try to pick up and maybe polish this off some more next week. So let's close in prayer. Our Father in God and heaven, we do thank you that our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ does indeed fulfill all of the covenant promises you made all throughout redemptive history. And we thank you that you have fulfilled the promise that one would sit on your throne forever descending from David, none other than, again, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. And so, Lord, we pray, prepare our hearts and minds as we're about to come into your presence to worship and adore you. We pray all this in Christ's name, amen.