PROPER 11B 2009

David desires to build a temple for God

Text: 2 Samuel 7:1-14

We are again, this morning, continuing our series looking at the life of King David. Last week we saw how David loved to worship, and how he was a musician and poet. The week before we discussed David as a warrior. This week we are going to wander a little bit.

I had a great time in my preparation for this sermon this week. As I read and studied, I was led down several different tracks, and as I sat down to write this sermon, I really didn’t know where I was going to go. What follows are some of the insights I had while preparing this message.

In 2 Samuel chapter seven, and also in 1 Chronicles 17, we read this:

2 Samuel 7:2-3 ( NRSV ) 2the king said to the prophet Nathan, “See now, I am living in a house of cedar, but the ark of God stays in a tent.” 3Nathan said to the king, “Go, do all that you have in mind; for the LORD is with you.”

After David built himself a very nice place to live, he looks at the dwelling place of the Ark, which literally was a tent, sometimes called the tabernacle, and he thinks, the ark should be kept in something more fitting, something nicer than a tent. One could say first that David is like many of us.. we take care of our own needs before we think about the things of God. On the other hand, we could admire David for even caring about the things of God, especially with all the other concerns he would have as the King. Another insight we get into David’s character is that he wanted to do more, he wanted to give more, to the God he served and worshipped. This is a characteristic that we can admire and hope to emulate.

But the answer David receives from God is not what he expected. He is told that he is not the one to build a new house for God. The reason why is very interesting. Listen again to these verses.

2 Samuel 7:5-7 ( NRSV ) 5Go and tell my servant David: Thus says the LORD: Are you the one to build me a house to live in? 6I 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 and a tabernacle. 7Wherever I have moved about among all the people of Israel, did I ever speak a word with any of the tribal leaders of Israel, whom I commanded to shepherd my people Israel, saying, “Why have you not built me a house of cedar?”

In essence God is saying, I don’t need a nice house, or temple to dwell in. As I was thinking about this answer, I began thinking about the concept of God dwelling with, or being with, humanity, and the manner in which God does this.

In the book of Exodus we read about the building of the tent, or tabernacle, which is going to house the Ark of God. Now remember the ark is the symbol of the presence of God among the people. The tent was composed of an outer wall, and then an inner tent which housed the ark. The whole tent was movable, being carried around on poles. Now think for a moment where the tribes of Israel had been for 400 years before they walked around in the wilderness with the tabernacle and ark of God. They had been in Egypt, one of the great civilizations of the world. And they had built, and had seen, the incredible pyramids built to honor the pharaohs, who were considered gods. And now, for the Israelites, instead of great buildings or monuments, they had a tent. The contrast could not be greater, nor could this be an accident. This house, or dwelling place was to teach us, and the Israelites, something about the nature of the God they worshipped. There is in this God a humility and even weakness which becomes ever more clear in the coming of Jesus into the world. The angel says to Joseph that one name for Jesus will be Emmanuel, which means God with us. In the tabernacle, the ark represented the dwelling of God among the people. In Jesus, God comes to live with humanity.

Now lets go back to the answer God gives to David. First he says, no, you will not build me a house. I don’t really need one right now. And then he goes on to say that instead of David building Him a house, God will build David’s house. Listen to this:

2 Samuel 7:12-13 ( NRSV ) 12When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your ancestors, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come forth from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. 13He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.

Now listen again to these verses from Psalm 89. speaking of the David.

Psalms 89:28-29 ( NRSV ) 28 Forever I will keep my steadfast love for him, and my covenant with him will stand firm.

29 I will establish his line forever,

and his throne as long as the heavens endure.

David was promised that his Son would sit upon the throne, and this was fulfilled in Solomon, and for almost 500 there was a King from David’s family. But the language of the promise, with his throne being established for ever, is more lofty…. and while one could say it was simply poetic exaggeration, the early Jewish believers began to look for a messiah who would come from the family of David. Listen to this verse from Luke chapter 1.

The angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. ³¹And now, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus. ³²He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor David. 

Jesus, throughout the gospels, is called the Son of David. Here are some examples from Matthew.

Matthew 12:23 ( NRSV ) 23All the crowds were amazed and said, “Can this be the Son of David?”

Matthew 15:22 ( NRSV ) 22Just then a Canaanite woman from that region came out and started shouting, “Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David; my daughter is tormented by a demon.”

And listen to Peter in his first sermon on the day of Pentecost:

Acts 2:29-30 ( NRSV ) 29“Fellow Israelites, I may say to you confidently of our ancestor David that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. 30Since he was a prophet, he knew that God had sworn with an oath to him that he would put one of his descendants on his throne.

In these and many other passages we can see how important David is in God’s plan of salvation.

Now let me return to the concept of God dwelling with us, and the image of God dwelling in a house. This image is continued in the New Testament, as we see in our lesson from Ephesians chapter two. Ephesians is a great book, containing only 6 chapters, and is well worth you time to read and study. In our lesson today we read about how the plan of God is to bring all people together in Jesus. Paul says that Gentiles and Jews become members of the “household” of God. He then says that Christians are to “grow into a holy temple in the Lord” and are being built together spiritually into a dwelling place for God.”

So here again we see the image of a house, a temple, a place where God dwells. Peter also says that Christians are being built into a “spiritual house” because each person is a “living stone”.

Christians are living stones because they have the very Spirit of God dwelling in them.

1 Cor. 3:16 says:

1 Corinthians 3:16 ( NRSV ) 16Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?

Jesus said this about the Spirit:

John 14:17 ( NRSV ) 17This is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, because he abides with you, and he will be in you.

If we step back and see the Bible as a whole, and look at the big picture, we can see a pattern and a plan in this image of a house for God, or a place where God dwells. God dwelt in the tabernacle, then in the Temple, then in Jesus, and now through His Spirit, in the church through the lives of God’s people. The Bible ends with this image in Revelation chapter 21:

Revelation 21:3-4 ( NRSV ) 3And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying,

“See, the home of God is among mortals.

He will dwell with them;

they will be his peoples,

God himself will be with them;

4 he will wipe every tear from their eyes.

Death will be no more;

mourning and crying and pain will be no more,

for the first things have passed away.”

In this passage we again see the image of God dwelling among humanity. From beginning to end in the bible, we see this thread. While the Bible can be confusing at times, it also does have some very powerful and beautiful themes which are not so confusing or difficult to interpret if we look at the Bible as a whole.

I know that I have been rambling a bit, and I have not talked about David that much, but I hope you can see that by reading about David, a whole lot of interesting material can be discovered. Just in this passage I thought of giving to God, having our will thwarted by God as David’s was, but then receiving more than we ever imagined; of David as the ancestor of Jesus and the Messiah, of the theme of God dwelling with us, and of the image of the house, or temple of God. You too can discover these things and much more with a little time and effort.

Next week we will talk about that infamous episode in David’s life-- his falling for Bathsheba. The story is as good as any Romance novel today, or any cop movie on TV, where the bad guy tries to cover his crime by another crime. So don’t miss it!