Through much adversity David had been led onward and upward to his present position of supremacy. Enthroned now all over Israel in the royal City of Jerusalem, the Lord having “given him rest round about from all his enemies” (2 Sam. 7. 1), a bright vision of stability and permanence was replacing the vanishing mists of insecurity and strife. Within his stately “house of cedar” David thought upon the ark of God, deposited “within curtains”. For more than four hundred years the ark had been moving intermittently from place to place, even falling at times into the hands of alien peoples. The tabernacle itself, though of specific and significant pattern, was yet a flimsy structure, suited to the early needs of the roving nation. It could be readily dismantled, transported manually to another site, and there re-assembled.
But now, surely, Israel’s wandering days were over; at least, so David fondly hoped and believed. Why not a more abiding edifice to encompass the ark of God—a temple of unparalleled splendour, befitting the purpose it would serve as the national centre of worship and sacrifice. It became the pinnacle of David’s ambition to advance the glory of God in this way. He disclosed his commendable resolve to the prophet Nathan, who promptly encouraged him to proceed with its fulfillment.
But that night God spoke to the prophet. It was a message for the king; it held vital information. The text of the communication is on record in 2 Samuel 7. 5-16. Nathan delivered it precisely. For David himself it was a blend of cloud and sunshine, of disappointment and hope. There was a negative side to it, but this was immediately swallowed up by something gloriously positive. Man proposes, God disposes, yet sometimes offers new “proposals” far transcending mortal dreams. So it was now.
David’s desire was not to be fulfilled. Though he was given credit for his good intentions (1 Kings 8. 17, 18), he was made to understand that he ruled by God’s appointment, and the power he now wielded was from Him who had taken him “from the sheepcote . . . to be ruler over Israel” (v. 8). God emphasized the fact that the great name acquired by David was attributable to His own omnipotent support: “I was with thee whithersoever thou wentest.” And now he, David, the mighty king of Israel, had a plan. But “the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords”, who had created and named Israel for his own glory (Is. 43. 7), also had a plan. And His eternal purpose took precedence over all the schemes of men, however sincerely motivated they were. That purpose was being worked out in David and the people, and David’s personal role was strictly limited.
Yet, before the prophet had finished speaking, David had become the receiving party to a firm and solemn covenant, laden with rich promises. Though nearly thirty years of his reign were yet to elapse, the setting of the covenant was pitched far beyond the ambit of David’s present life. “When thy days be fulfilled, and thou shalt sleep with thy fathers, I will selt up thy seed after thee . . . I will establish his kingdom. I will be his father, and he shall be my son.” Under the able sceptre of this promised seed, David’s throne and kingdom would endure for evermore.
But the “berith” (covenant) concerned also a “bayith” (house). So far from David himself building a house for God, the prophet said: “Also the Lord telleth thee that he will make thee an house.” Of His own Son, David’s seed, Yahweh added: “He shall build an house for my name.” The resplendent temple of Solomon, “exceeding magnifical, of fame and of glory throughout all countries”, and for which David himself made such abundant provision before his death (1 Chron. 22. 5), would fade into a pale shadow in comparison with this house, to be constructed by “great David”s greater Son”.
If David’s death was implied in the covenant, so also was his resurrection. Though he would never see the temple his son Solomon would build, he would behold eternally the house to be built by the Son of the covenant: “Thine house and thy kingdom shall be established for ever before thee.”
So David adjusted his sights. His horizons were extended. Beyond the sunset of his transient life he saw “a morning without clouds”, whose dawning would be announced by the coming in power of the covenanted seed. “He shall be as the light of the morning, when the sun ariseth.” The last, words of David concerned that distant day. His last thoughts were of the infallible promise: “Although my house be not so with God; yet he hath made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things, and sure: for this is all my salvation, and all my desire” (2 Sam. 23. 1-5).
The Messianic hope in Israel was given vigorous impetus by these promises to David. “The hope which gladdened David’s heart” was kept alive by a succession of prophets, even through the dark days of national eclipse and humiliation. Later again, elaborated by the Son of David himself and his chosen apostles, the Hope of Israel was presented as the hope of the gospel—indeed, as the only hope for the world. God, through his prophet, had graciously called to all mankind, perishing through lack of the water of Life (Rev. 22. 17; John 4. 14): “Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters. . . . Incline your ear, and come unto me . . . and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David” (Is. 55. 1-3) .
To a favoured virgin in Nazareth, God’s angel divulged the identity of the covenant seed, thus clarifying the mystical element of the promise. Her son—David’s son—whose name was to be Jesus, would be also the Son of God. He would gloriously occupy the throne of his father David for evermore (Luke 1. 31-35). Being not the son of the Nazareth carpenter, but rather of the Eternal Builder in heaven (Heb. 3. 4), he would erect the royal House of David.
Obedient unto death, he rose again, to be invested with immortality, thus becoming qualified to fully implement the covenant. Listen to Peter, addressing his compatriots at Jerusalem, linking David’s prophetic utterances with the resurrection and Messiahship of his promised son, the Christ (Acts 2). See Paul, at Antioch in Pisidia, doing likewise (Acts 13). Hear Stephen, just before his martyrdom, charging the stiff necked nation with the murder of “the Just One”. A few minutes earlier he had spoken of David and his desire to build a house for God. And his comment was: “Howbeit the Most High dwelleth not in temples made with hands” (e.g. those of Solomon, Zerubbabel and Herod), “as saith the prophet (Is. 66. 1), “Heaven is my throne, and earth is my footstool: what house will ye build unto me? saith the Lord” ” (Acts 7. 48, 49).
What, then, is the house in which ‘the Lord of hosts’ (2 Sam. 7. 8) will dwell? It is that edifice of which God spoke to David; of which Jesus said to his disciples: “In my Father”s house are many abiding places. . . . I go to prepare a place for you” (John 14. 2). It is that building of which Paul wrote to “the faithful in Christ Jesus” at Ephesus: “Ye are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone; in whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord: in whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit” (2, 20-22).
The royal House of David, then—God’s true and lasting dwelling-place—is not constituted of inanimate wood and stone, but of living, sentient, responsive materials; of regenerated beings; “the Israel of God”; “living stones, built up a spiritual house” (1 Peter 2. 5), and subsequently perpetuated by incorruptibility.
That “precious corner stone”—”a tried stone”—”chosen of God” (Is. 28. 16; 1 Peter 2. 4) exhibits the required architectural style and sets the alignment for the house. The stone for Solomon’s temple was made ready before it was brought thither” ( 1 Kings 6. 7). So with the living counterparts. Probation is the process whereby the shapeless rock, taken raw from the quarry, is hewn into the similitude of that “elect and precious” stone, already “made perfect”.
By a beautiful fusion of metaphor, Christ is both builder, corner-stone, and “sure foundation”. So, too, when Paul says: “We are labourers together with God” he adds: “Ye are God’s husbandry, ye are God’s building” (1 Cor. 3. 9). It is our honour to be participants in the grand arrangement, building and being built. It is no passive role. We work with God, or court rejection.
The doctrine of Deity-manifestation, embracing the concept of plurality in unity, of a redeemed host partaking of the divine nature (2 Peter 1. 4), entwines itself with the Davidic covenant, as with the Abrahamic: one glorified House of many chosen stones; a singular and multitudinous seed. It requires that more than one shall be found “after God’s own heart”. “Holiness becometh thine house, O Lord, for ever” (Ps. 93. 5).
Reflections on the Potter and the Clay