6 Minute Read + Scripture readings

Today’s Bible Reading:

2 Samuel 7
2 Corinthians 1
Ezekiel 15
Psalms 56-57

Today’s Bible Verse(s):

2 Samuel 7:12–13 (CSB): “When your time comes and you rest with your ancestors, I will raise up after you your descendant, who will come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. He is the one who will build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.”

Reflections on Today’s Bible Verse(s):

As we read through 2 Samuel, we get to listen as the prophet Nathan gives King David the go-ahead to build the temple. Yet, that night, Nathan had a dream in which God gave clarity. God made it clear that David would not build the Jerusalem Temple. Instead, his descendant would construct it.

2 Samuel 7:12-13 (CSB): “When your time comes and you rest with your ancestors, I will raise up after you your descendant, who will come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. He is the one who will build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.”

From our vantage point, 2,000 years after Jesus came, we hear so much more in those words than David heard. David was overwhelmed that one of his descendants would build the Temple and his dynasty would never end. King David probably eventually thought that Solomon was the fulfillment of this prophecy.

Yet, when we read those words, we don’t simply see Solomon. We see Jesus! Let’s look briefly at what God told Nathan and briefly comment (to keep this article from getting too long).

2 Samuel 7:12 (CSB): “When your time comes and you rest with your ancestors, I will raise up after you your descendant, who will come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom.”

As we read the previous words, we simply hear the Lord promise that after David died, God would raise up a descendant whose kingdom would last a long time because God would establish it.

2 Samuel 7:13 (CSB): “He is the one who will build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.”

This unnamed descendant would build a house for God’s name. So far, Solomon is in view.

Then, the Lord said that He would “establish the throne of his kingdom forever.” Forever?! That wasn’t Solomon. In fact, we realize that the Davidic dynasty came to a screeching halt when God cursed King Jeconiah (Jeremiah 22:28–30) and said that he would never, ever have a descendant who would sit on the throne of his “father,” King David.

This cursed king, Jeconiah, appears in Jesus’ genealogy in Matthew 1:11-12. To see how God worked it out so that a descendant of Jeconiah could reign as King of kings and Lord of lords without inheriting the curse, read an article I wrote entitled “Curses, Genealogies, the Virgin Birth, and a King.”

2 Samuel 7:14 (CSB): “I will be his father, and he will be my son. When he does wrong, I will discipline him with a rod of men and blows from mortals.”

We see Jesus in these words. He was God’s Son (John 3:16), since God said He “will be his father, and he will be my son.”

Further, we understand the final part of 2 Samuel 7:14 to speak of the moment Jesus was wearing our sins and God punished Him, through the beatings He received from the Roman soldiers, as if He truly was the guilty one.

2 Samuel 7:15 (CSB): “But my faithful love will never leave him as it did when I removed it from Saul, whom I removed from before you.”

For a time, while Jesus was on the cross, God’s displeasure was obvious as He turned His back on His own Son because Jesus was wearing our sins.

Yet, God demonstrated His pleasure in His Son as He rose from the dead and now has resumed His place in Heaven. The faithful love that the Trinity has for each person in the Trinity will never, ever end.

2 Samuel 7:16 (CSB): “Your house and kingdom will endure before me forever, and your throne will be established forever.”

So, how does this happen? How is David’s throne established … forever?

Well, tomorrow evening at First Baptist Church of Polk City, Florida, I’m going to teach through the whole book of Revelation in 45-50 minutes. Instead of taking a long time to look at each verse, we’re just going to fly through the book to get a clearer sense of the flow.

As we do, we will fly over Revelation 5:5 where Jesus is called “the Root of David.” As we continue to journey through Revelation, we will see how this descendant of King David will demonstrate great power and authority to bring earth to judgment and under His control. In Revelation 20:4-6, we will see Jesus finally reigning as King over this earth for 1,000 years. Then, we will read in Revelation 21-22 that Jesus creates a brand New Earth (Heaven!) in which He will reign forever and ever … a fulfillment of the prophecy Nathan gave to King David in 2 Samuel 7.

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Lord Jesus, thank You for Your amazing Word. I thank You for the written Word that I hold in my hands and for the living Word that resides in my heart. Help me to take my Bible and Jesus more seriously, to pursue a deeper knowledge of them so that I can enjoy them and live a life worthy of what Jesus has done for me. I pray this in Jesus’ Name, Amen.

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