Second Samuel 7:8

The Bible says in Second Samuel 7:8-9, “Now therefore so shalt thou say unto my servant David, Thus saith the LORD of hosts, I took thee from the sheepcote, from following the sheep, to be ruler over my people, over Israel:[9] And I was with thee whithersoever thou wentest, and have cut off all thine enemies out of thy sight, and have made thee a great name, like unto the name of the great men that are in the earth.” God lifts up one, and casts down another. God decides who becomes the leader of a country. The nation of Israel was blessed because they were given David to lead them. God prepared David to be a leader starting in his childhood. God has a plan for each life. Make sure that you find God’s plan for you. In verse nine the Lord gets a little more specific about the things that He did for David. God said to David, “I was with thee whithersoever thou wentest.” That is a great benefit, and every Christian has that same benefit. At the judgment we will be shown even more clearly how the Lord did that for everyone. If you succeed at anything in this world with all of the problems and opposition that can happen any day, it is because God gave you that success. God fought for you. God held back the enemies of your life and of your soul. He gave you the opportunity and He made the opportunity work out well. In the case of David, God made David “a great name.” Most of us have a small name in this life. That is the way God wants it. Be glad that you have an opportunity to be humble. The only thing that matters is that you become the person that God wants you to be, whether great or small in the eyes of men.

The Bible says in Second Samuel 7:10-13, “Moreover I will appoint a place for my people Israel, and will plant them, that they may dwell in a place of their own, and move no more; neither shall the children of wickedness afflict them any more, as beforetime,[11] And as since the time that I commanded judges to be over my people Israel, and have caused thee to rest from all thine enemies. Also the LORD telleth thee that he will make thee an house.[12] And when thy days be fulfilled, and thou shalt sleep with thy fathers, I will set up thy seed after thee, which shall proceed out of thy bowels, and I will establish his kingdom.[13] He shall build an house for my name, and I will stablish the throne of his kingdom for ever.” Why does the nation of Israel exist: because God created that nation. In verse ten God called them, “my people Israel.” And once they came into the Promised Land, they would “move no more.” Of course, the Israelites failed the Lord and they were scattered. But God is good at fixing the failures of man. God preserved the Jewish people, insured they would survive the holocaust, and recently brought them back into their land.

Notice the word “judges” in verse eleven. When Israel first came into the land, they had no king. They had judges to rule them. Judges rule our nation to a great degree because so many issues are finally decided by the courts. Our government is divided into three branches: legislative, executive, and judicial; and so the judicial branch has a lot of power. What happens if the judges are corrupt?

Of course, in Israel God replaced the judges with a king. The kings did not do very well either. The first king was a mess. But the second king, David, was a man after God’s own heart. And God said in verse eleven to David, “Also the LORD telleth thee that he will make thee an house.” In other words, David’s descendants would continue to reign. In other words, God had a plan for the “house” of David.

There are two important things said in verse thirteen. In the first phrase God said, “He shall build an house for my name.” Solomon would build the temple. David’s son, Solomon, is the “he” of this phrase. In the second phrase of verse thirteen God said, “I will stablish the throne of his kingdom for ever.” This is referring to the Messiah, and thus to the Lord Jesus Christ. Only Jesus will have a kingdom that lasts forever. That is why Jesus told us to pray, “Thy kingdom come.” The Kingdom of God is the kingdom that we need, and Jesus will establish it when He returns.

The Bible says in Second Samuel 7:14-17, “I will be his father, and he shall be my son. If he commit iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men, and with the stripes of the children of men:[15] But my mercy shall not depart away from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away before thee.[16] And thine house and thy kingdom shall be established for ever before thee: thy throne shall be established for ever.[17] According to all these words, and according to all this vision, so did Nathan speak unto David.” The relationship that God promised to David’s son and the rest of David’s descendants is very similar to the Christian life that we enjoy through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. The fact is that true Christianity is a relationship and not a religion. Once a person comes to know Jesus as Savior, that person is given a relationship with God the Father and with Jesus Christ the Son and with the Holy Spirit. No wonder that Jesus told us to pray, “Our Father which art in heaven…”

The second part of verse fourteen tells us an important aspect of the Christian life. Once we are born again through faith in the Lord Jesus, we do not become perfect. We can grow in Christ and improve to being a mature Christian, but we still sin. We do not become perfect in this life. The Apostle John includes himself and says in First John 1:8, “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.” Thankfully, we have the same promise of forgiveness that was given to David. It says in First John 1:9, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” But if we do not confess our sins daily, the Lord will chastise us in order wake us up so that we will confess and get back in fellowship with Jesus. If you have unconfessed sin and do not get chastised by the Lord, then that is strong evidence that you are not a child of God and have not been truly born again. But the emphasis to this passage in Second Samuel is that God is very merciful to His children. You can always count on God’s mercy. Jesus’ mercy is always there ready to be extended to you no matter what you have done, if you will only ask for it.

In verse sixteen God said to David, “thy kingdom shall be established for ever.” This will be fulfilled in the Lord Jesus Christ who came in the lineage of David. That is why the New Testament starts with a verse that points to this very promise connecting Jesus to the lineage of David. It says in Matthew 1:1, “The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.”

The Bible says in Second Samuel 7:18-19, “Then went king David in, and sat before the LORD, and he said, Who am I, O Lord GOD? and what is my house, that thou hast brought me hitherto?[19] And this was yet a small thing in thy sight, O Lord GOD; but thou hast spoken also of thy servant's house for a great while to come. And is this the manner of man, O Lord GOD?” David was humble, which means that he knew that he did not deserve such a great blessing and promise from God. David asked three questions that show that he knew how undeserving he was of this great honor that God had given to him. In verse eighteen David asked, “Who am I?” And he also asked, “what is my house?” In verse nineteen David asked, “is this the manner of man.” The answer is” No, it is not the manner of men to be given such a great honor from God. Most live simple and even frustrated lives. But if God gives you a great promise that will last into eternity and forever, you will be just like David: blessed beyond your imagination. God has given to each of us just such a promise. We have the promise that we will reign with Jesus forever because we believe in Him.

The Bible says in Second Samuel 7:20, “And what can David say more unto thee? for thou, Lord GOD, knowest thy servant.” This is true about all of us. When we talk to God, we are not telling Him anything that He does not already know. He knows the end from the beginning. He knows what we have need of before we ask. He knows us better than we know ourselves. When we confess, we are just admitting to Him what He already knows.

The Bible says in Second Samuel 7:21, “For thy word's sake, and according to thine own heart, hast thou done all these great things, to make thy servant know them.” We can never emphasize the importance of God’s Word too much. God gave us the Bible without error. The Bible points us to Jesus. The Bible tells us how to live. The Bible tells us how to get to heaven through faith in Christ. The Bible tells us God’s will. The Bible is the truth. The Bible is our spiritual food. The Bible tells us about God’s love and mercy. We cannot live and we must not live without the Bible.

In the second phrase of verse twenty-one David said that God does things “according to thine own heart.” God has a plan, and He is working on that plan. He does not ask us for advice. His thoughts are not our thoughts. God is going to do what He wants to do with His world and with all the people in the world. Whatever happens is what God has allowed to happen and what God has chosen to happen. Make sure that you react accordingly.

The Bible says in Second Samuel 7:22, “Wherefore thou art great, O LORD God: for there is none like thee, neither is there any God beside thee, according to all that we have heard with our ears.” David said, “thou art great, O LORD God.” It is good to think about the greatness of God. God is the greatest of all beings. He is good, He is love, He is true. He is powerful too. None can compare to the great and mighty God of the universe. Believe in Him, serve Him, and praise Him for who He is.

The Bible says in Second Samuel 7:23-24, “And what one nation in the earth is like thy people, even like Israel, whom God went to redeem for a people to himself, and to make him a name, and to do for you great things and terrible, for thy land, before thy people, which thou redeemedst to thee from Egypt, from the nations and their gods?[24] For thou hast confirmed to thyself thy people Israel to be a people unto thee for ever: and thou, LORD, art become their God.” The greatness of God is shown by what He did for the people of Israel. God delivered them out of Egypt and He made of them a great and marvelous nation. These verses also tell why God created Israel. Notice the phrase in verse twenty-three that says that God wanted “a people to himself,” and in verse twenty-four, “to be a people unto thee for ever.” God loves people. God wants to have a people that belongs to Him and that loves Him back. God attempted to do it with the nation of Israel, and He is attempting to do it now in the age in which we live. Jesus is calling souls to come to Him and to become a part of His people.

The Bible says in Second Samuel 7:25-29, “And now, O LORD God, the word that thou hast spoken concerning thy servant, and concerning his house, establish it for ever, and do as thou hast said.[26] And let thy name be magnified for ever, saying, The LORD of hosts is the God over Israel: and let the house of thy servant David be established before thee.[27] For thou, O LORD of hosts, God of Israel, hast revealed to thy servant, saying, I will build thee an house: therefore hath thy servant found in his heart to pray this prayer unto thee.[28] And now, O Lord GOD, thou art that God, and thy words be true, and thou hast promised this goodness unto thy servant:[29] Therefore now let it please thee to bless the house of thy servant, that it may continue for ever before thee: for thou, O Lord GOD, hast spoken it: and with thy blessing let the house of thy servant be blessed for ever.” David praised God for the honor that God gave to him. How did David know that these things would happen? David only had the Word of God. But once God said it, David knew that it would happen. We have the same opportunity to believe. We have the written Word of God. As it says in verse twenty-nine, “O Lord GOD, hast spoken it.” We need to make sure that we are in the Word of God enough and that we are believing it, so that we can enjoy the promises the way that David did.

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