Who Am I, O Lord God?
INTRODUCTION
King David’s response to God’s incredible promise in 2 Samuel 7 is one of awe, humility, and worship. God promised that David’s throne would be established forever, but that promise pointed far beyond David himself. Centuries later, Matthew would identify Jesus as “the son of David,” revealing the fulfillment of God’s covenant in the coming of the true and eternal King.
The life of David reminds us that God’s purposes are sovereign, His promises are trustworthy, and His grace is greater than the failures of His people. David, who God said was “a man after my heart”, was still a flawed man, yet God used his life and lineage to point forward to Jesus Christ. In Christ, we see the King that David could only foreshadow—the One whose kingdom will never end and whose grace is our only hope.
In this post we will read God’s promise to David and David’s response, and a moving sermon by Paul Tripp as to the significance of this covenant promise and its fulfillment in Christ. Although the words below answer the question, “What can we learn from David?” they also answer the more important question, “Where does David’s story lead us?” And the answer is it leads us to Jesus.
“Brethren and sisters in Christ, the mercies which God has shown to us are as great as those which He manifested to His servant David, and if the Spirit of God has opened our eyes to see and understand them may we this morning ardently wish to do precisely what David did. Let us have boldness to enter into the nearest possible fellowship with God—yea, let us go where David could not go, within the veil, and there, where Christ has opened up the way through His rent body, let us sit down in a restful, waiting, happy spirit, and give full play to all those divine emotions which ought to be aroused by reflecting upon the lovingkindness of the Lord.”
2 Samuel Chapter 7 (ESV)
The LORD’s Covenant Promise to David
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.
Then King David went in and sat before the LORD and said, “Who am I, O Lord GOD, and what is my house, that you have brought me thus far? And yet this was a small thing in your eyes, O Lord GOD. You have spoken also of your servant’s house for a great while to come, and this is instruction for mankind, O Lord GOD! And what more can David say to you? For you know your servant, O Lord GOD! Because of your promise, and according to your own heart, you have brought about all this greatness, to make your servant know it. Therefore you are great, O Lord GOD. For there is none like you, and there is no God besides you, according to all that we have heard with our ears. And who is like your people Israel, the one nation on earth whom God went to redeem to be his people, making himself a name and doing for them great and awesome things by driving out before your people, whom you redeemed for yourself from Egypt, a nation and its gods? And you established for yourself your people Israel to be your people forever. And you, O LORD, became their God. And now, O LORD God, confirm forever the word that you have spoken concerning your servant and concerning his house, and do as you have spoken. And your name will be magnified forever, saying, ‘The LORD of hosts is God over Israel,’ and the house of your servant David will be established before you. For you, O LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, have made this revelation to your servant, saying, ‘I will build you a house.’ Therefore your servant has found courage to pray this prayer to you. And now, O Lord GOD, you are God, and your words are true, and you have promised this good thing to your servant. Now therefore may it please you to bless the house of your servant, so that it may continue forever before you. For you, O Lord GOD, have spoken, and with your blessing shall the house of your servant be blessed forever.”
David and Jesus Christ: The Last King of Israel
Sermon by Paul Tripp
Well, who could have ever penned a story like the one we've considered over the last several months? The life of David. A shepherd boy who becomes an unlikely king. We've watched him move from the pasture to the throne. From the throne to the cave, fleeing the sedition of his own son. We watched him fight great battles. Watched that young man walk down into the valley of Elah dressed as a shepherd with little more than a sling. You can almost hear the timpani rumble as he takes those steps. We've screamed in our hearts as he's about to commit adultery with Bathsheba, no, no, no, don't do this. We've celebrated moments of victory, great faith, as even in exile he rests because he knows his security is in the Lord. We mourned as He's now an old man in his bed saying his last words to his son. Who could write such a story?
I must admit, I was a bit sad this week. It was for me like saying goodbye to a dear friend. I didn't really want to leave David. I wanted to say to David, couldn't you teach me a few more things? Praise God for all the ink that is given in Scripture to the life of this man. But I am convinced that you can't end a series on David in 1 Kings. You must end a series on David in Matthew. And although we read from 2 Samuel 7 in our order of worship, I would like you to do what I don't normally ask you to do on Sunday evenings.
Get your church Bible and turn with me to Matthew 1. I really want to just read a very brief but significant passage to you from Matthew 1. Very brief, but very significant. It is the way to understand everything that we have considered as we thought of the life of David. I've said to you that this life is meant to be three things to you. First, it's meant to be a light that shines with clarity for us, helping us to understand the harsh realities of life in a fallen world. You can't read the story of David without concluding this world that we live in is a horribly broken place. You see that brokenness in the heart of even this man of faith. He's not a perfect man. David sinned and he sinned boldly. You see the brokenness in his family. How could it be that his own son would turn against him and want what God had planned for his father? You see it in political intrigue and political deception. You see it in war. You see it in the ravages of old age. You should recognize the world of David because it's the world in which you live, broken. The story of David ought to make everyone cry out. Even so, Lord Jesus, come quickly.
We need, this world needs, your restoration, your renewal. The story is also meant to be a mirror in which you can look and you can see yourself with accuracy. David's struggle is our struggle. We have fickle hearts. We are susceptible to temptation. It doesn't take much, does it? You can have a heart filled with praise one moment and very quickly that heart changes to a heart of anger. You can be serving someone one moment and the next moment you're cursing them because they're in the way of what you want. You're good at covering your sin like David is. And so we want to look into this mirror. I've tried to help you to do that. That we would say, not just, God be merciful to David, but God be merciful to me, a sinner. I have one hope. It is your mercy. And then not just a light, and not just a mirror, This story is to be for you a finger that points again and again and again to the King, the Lord Jesus Christ. Everything in the life of David points to him, points to the need of him, points to the hope that can only be found in him.
Well, let's read. You follow as I read just this first verse, “the book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham”. Perhaps the shortest passage I've ever preached from here at this pulpit. But this is a passage that is incredibly significant and incredibly packed with things that we need to know and understand. And I would just like this evening to stand back from this passage and say, what is the content of these words? Why was it so important for Matthew to start his gospel saying this, “Jesus Christ, the Son of David”?
Well, the first thing these words do is they preach to us the unshakable plan and purpose of a sovereign God. Let your eyes course down to the genealogy that follows. Forty-one generations from Abraham through David to the coming of Jesus. And I would like you just for a moment to let your mind loose, to look at these very specific names and think how powerful must a God be who could control 41 generations, every event, every location, every relationship, every decision, every conversation, every word, to guarantee that out of these 41 generations, the Messiah would come. You right now should be saying yours is the glory.
I sat this afternoon on my couch. and prayed, holding my Bible before the Lord, blown away by this genealogy, saying, Lord, I don't have the words to summarize this glory. This is your God. I love what Daniel says. He rules over the host of heaven. and the inhabitants of earth, no one can stop his hand or say to him, what have you done? I don't know what else to do, but beckon you as your pastor this evening, let this glory roll over you right now. Because you see what you do and I do? We pick up our lives again. We toss them over in our hands. We wonder how this physical issue is going to work out, how this financial issue is going to work out, how this relationship is going to work out. We give ourselves to worry and anxiety once again. We forget that our Lord is Lord of heaven and earth. And I love what it says in Ephesians, “He rules over all things for the sake of His body, the church”. This God is your Lord. He's your friend, your Father, your Savior. Your security will never be in figuring it out. You won't figure it out. Life will confuse you. Your security is not in understanding. Your security is in a person. the one who is both David's father and David's son.
Surely that leads to a second thing that these words preach to us. It's the utter reliability of God's promises. Look in your order of worship on page six. Look at the strength of verse 16. “Your house and your kingdom will endure forever before me; your throne will be established forever.” You see in Matthew 1:1 that promise being fulfilled in Jesus of Nazareth, born in Bethlehem of the house of David, to establish his kingdom forever. Now hear this. The reason that all of the promises that God makes to His children are reliable is because He is King and Lord and Sovereign. He rules over all the conditions that need to be necessary in order for His promises to be fulfilled.
Here's the truth. Unless God is absolutely Sovereign, His promises aren't faithful. If there's some place in this world where you can matriculate and get outside of the sovereignty of God, then His promises cannot be fulfilled for you. He must rule in order that He can deliver what He's promised. Am I excited? Right down to my toes. Because I was confronted again this week in my own sin and my own failure that my hope isn't me. My hope is in the promises of my Lord for me. And what He has promised. He is not only willing, He is able to deliver.
Oh, we're not done. There's a third thing these brief words display for you. It's the glory of the gospel. It's the splendor of God's grace. Think of the two men in verse one, Abraham and David. These were not untarnished heroes. Abraham, although called the father of faithful, when the heat was on, was capable of lying to attempt get himself out of difficulty. Abraham was also impatient while waiting for God’s promise of a son, took the promise in his own hands and had his servant girl bear him a son.
David, anointed king of Israel, committed adultery and then covering it by an act of murder. If you would course your way down this genealogy, you would find the name of Rahab, a prostitute. Incredible. What's the message? The message is the forgiving rescuing, accepting, transforming grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. Our God is a God of grace. Our hope is not our righteousness. Our hope is not in our theological knowledge. Our hope is not in our programs. Our hope is not in our biblical literacy. We have one hope. And when we are ten million years into eternity, we will still stand in eternity based on one hope, the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ, the grace of God. You will never graduate from the school of grace. I fear that we sometimes come to the point where we think that maybe we don't need to rely on grace as much as we once did. You can only explain this motley group of imperfect people who would be in the line of the Son of David, the Lord Jesus Christ, by grace.
There's a fourth thing. I think this is very, very important. You find in this brief verse a powerful argument for the reliability and the trustworthiness of the Word of God. This is not a mystical book of wise and pithy sayings that you can better your life by. If that's all it is, we're in trouble. Hear this. If every promise, if every perspective, If every principle of Scripture, if everything that God says and God offers you is not rooted in the specificity of the details of actual history, this book is not worth the pages it was printed on. We believe that our hope is rooted in historical acts of redemption. That these historical figures were actual people. called by God to actual situations and locations. And that was part of the narrative of the coming of the actual Messiah whose feet actually touched earth, who actually spoke and breathed and suffered and died. You see, this genealogy puts the real dust of earth on the gospel. And if the history of Scripture is not true, then the promises of Scripture are not reliable. And that's why Matthew, who wants to argue for the kingship of Jesus starts with history because he wants you to know that these things that are going to be declared by this gospel are rooted in history. Because of that, because this is not just a God who has spoken, but this is a God who has acted, we can trust his word.
There's a fifth thing. That in these words, you get a powerful argument for the identity of Jesus. This Jesus of Nazareth, born that ignoble birth in that manger, son of a carpenter, is in fact the promised King, the Son of David, the Christ Emmanuel, Son of God. And again, history of redemption balances. There needed to be this perfect man who would come, but he needed to be fully God and fully man. Matthew wants you to understand that. This is the God-man, Jesus Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, Son of David, Messiah. And then these words confirm your identity. You see, if you're in Christ, you are an heir of the promises to Abraham. The covenant promises are for you. They're fulfilled in you and through you, if you are in Christ. You have now been welcomed out of the kingdom of darkness into the eternal kingdom of His dear Son. Paul very powerfully argues in 1 Corinthians 15 that if Christianity doesn't have a forever, if Christianity isn't, in fact, an eternal kingdom, then we are, of all people, most miserable. But it does, because Jesus, that eternal king, came as promised, established his eternal kingdom, and welcomed you by grace out of darkness into the kingdom of light.
Were you anxious this week? Fearful? Did your mind go to some if only's, if only then my life would be? Were you proud of everything you did this week? Proud of every word you said? Proud of your attitudes, your thoughts, your motives, desires? When you reached out for hope this week, where did you reach? To a person, to a thing? Did you try to deny difficulty? Sort of like that person who gets a bill in the mail and doesn't open it for three days? You know what's in there. But you're going to bask in the denial for a few days. Or is your life a picture of the humility, the courage, and the hope that comes from what's displayed by these simple words, “the book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham”. Are you living in that hope? Oh, I don't mean on Sunday evening when your eyes are drawn to that hope. I mean on Monday morning, Tuesday afternoon. Wednesday night, in your relationships, in your marriage, in your parenting, in your personal life, at your work, at your university. Do you embrace this truth spoken so sweetly by Jesus, recorded in Luke, “Fear not little flock. Your heavenly father is pleased to give you the kingdom.”
Let's pray. O Lord, how glorious is your plan! How powerful is your love! How sweet is Your grace. Oh, may we live in the humility and the courage and the hope of the gospel of the last King of Israel, the Son of David, the Messiah, the Christ, Jesus. Amen.
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