Sermon Idea: The Davidic Covenant develops God’s holy nation into a kingdom dynasty, governed by God’s law, through whom God will bring about the seed of the woman —a son of David —who will fulfill all of God’s promises.
Introduction: William Golding’s debut novel was published in 1954, about a group of young boys stranded on an island after a plane crash. No adults are present, so these young boys have to govern themselves. There is no righteous moral authority, no righteous moral leadership—just the boys doing what is right in their own eyes.
Ralph tries to lead with the help of a young boy named Piggy, but the other boys challenge Ralph at every turn. Piggy is eventually killed, and Simon, another young boy, is murdered after warning the group that the supposed “beast” they all fear on the island is the wickedness in themselves as they turn against each other. At the end of the book, Ralph is on the run for his life, but is saved by the arrival of a naval officer who spotted smoke and fire coming from the deserted island.
The Lord of the Flies is a dark tale forced upon many high school students, which reflects on the fallenness of human nature and the chaos that ensues when the moral leadership and societal structures are removed.
Israel’s history after the Exodus and the giving of the law is one of both faithfulness and failure. The faithfulness comes from God, who fulfills his promise to bring Israel into the land of promise. The book of Joshua tells the story of the conquest of Canaan and then the allotment of the land among the twelve tribes of Israel.
It does not take long, however, for a new generation of Israelites to forget their history and ignore God’s law. Rather than being a light to the nations, they became like the nations.
The book of Judges narrates the same sad cycle: Israel sins, God disciplines them by allowing a foreign power to oppress them, the people cry out for mercy, God in covenant faithfulness raises a judge to deliver them, and once saved, the people start disobeying all over again.
Samuel Renihan captures the essence of the problem well: “There is no centrality, no leadership, no cohesion to the nation. And there is a very important statement in Judges, mentioned a few times throughout the book, including the last verse of the entire book. “In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in their own eyes (Judges 21:25).
All of this and more is the context of the covenant God makes with David. Israel needs not only a king, but also a God-chosen, righteous king who can rule and reign faithfully over God’s people.
The Abrahamic Covenant set apart a particular people through whom God would bring the promised seed of the woman, Jesus Christ, who would fulfill all of God’s promises.
The Mosaic Covenant develops God’s set-apart people into a holy nation, governed by God’s law through whom God will bring the promised seed of the woman, Jesus Christ.
The Davidic Covenant develops God’s holy nation into a kingdom dynasty, governed by God’s law, through whom God will bring about the seed of the woman —a son of David —who will fulfill all of God’s promises.
Before we can appreciate the Davidic covenant, we need to remember that he was not the first king of Israel. This brings us to our first point: the need for a faithful king is the context of the covenant.
I.) The need for a faithful king is the context of the covenant (1 Samuel 8-16)
God had given Samuel as a judge over Israel, and he is faithful to his task with one exception. In his old age, he fails to discipline his sons appropriately when they become judges of Israel after him. The Bible tells us they did not follow the way of Samuel, but they took bribes and perverted justice. (1 Samuel 8:3)
This leads to Israel asking Samuel to appoint a king over Israel.
Then all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah and said to him, “Behold, you are old and your sons do not walk in your ways. Now appoint for us a king to judge us like all the nations.” But the thing displeased Samuel when they said, “Give us a king to judge us.” And Samuel prayed to the LORD. And the LORD said to Samuel, “Obey the voice of the people in all that they say to you, for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me from being king over them (1 Sa 8:4-7)
It will be helpful for us to remember that God reiterated to Israel numerous times that kings would come from them. First to Abraham in Genesis 17:6, then again to Jacob in Genesis 35:14, to Judah as Jacob blesses his sons in Genesis 49:10, and in the laws to Israel in Deuteronomy 17. In doing so, there were essential particulars that accompanied that promise.
The first particular was that the king of Israel would be from the tribe of Judah.
The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, until tribute comes to him; and to him shall be the obedience of the peoples. (Ge 49:10)
God will give Israel a king, but that king will come from the tribe of Judah.
The second particular is found in Deuteronomy 17, in the law to Israel about kings.
“When you come to the land that the LORD your God is giving you, and you possess it and dwell in it and then say, ‘I will set a king over me, like all the nations that are around me,’ you may indeed set a king over you whom the LORD your God will choose. (Dt 17:14–15)
Can Israel ask for a king? Yes, but it will be a king that the Lord chooses from the tribe of Judah.
Israel has no interest in waiting on the Lord, nor do they care if their king is from the tribe of Judah. They want a king like the nations, and even after Samuel warns them against demanding a king in this way, they ignore his warning and again demand a king like the nations.
Saul became the first king of Israel, and it was a failure. Saul proved to be prideful and disobedient to the Lord in numerous ways (1 Samuel 13-15).
Are there not several lessons for us here? It is always better to wait on God, rather than taking matters into our own hands. You can pursue the right thing in all the wrong ways. How might we avoid this mistake? The best way to do that is to know the Bible well. God had given clear instructions about kings in the law. Israel disregarded those instructions and lived to see the consequences of that disobedience. Fundamental to living faithfully before God is to know His Word and to trust that his commands are for our good.
The need for a faithful king is the context for God’s choosing of David and the covenant that God makes with David.
Ultimately, the Lord rejects Saul and raises a shepherd after God’s own heart, David from the tribe of Judah, to be the king of Israel.
The LORD said to Samuel, “How long will you grieve over Saul, since I have rejected him from being king over Israel? Fill your horn with oil, and go. I will send you to Jesse the Bethlehemite, for I have provided for myself a king among his sons.” (1 Sa 16:1)
Think with me for a moment about the mercy, grace, and faithfulness of God. Israel does not deserve a king after God’s own heart, but that is what God gives them in David, even as Israel rejects the LORD by demanding a king of their choosing, God remains faithful in bringing about all of his promises.
Israel immediately feels God’s kindness and mercy after God chooses David, who stands in for Israel, as a giant Philistine, Goliath threatens the people of Israel. The language used to describe David’s defeat of Goliath echoes not so subtly God’s gospel promise in Genesis 3:15.
And David put his hand in his bag and took out a stone and slung it and struck the Philistine on his forehead. The stone sank into his forehead, and he fell on his face to the ground. (1 Sa 17:49)
Could this be the one? Has God fulfilled his promise to the seed of the woman in a king from Judah?
David, like Noah, Abraham, and Moses before him, will prove to be a godly but imperfect man. David is not the promised seed of the woman, but the covenant God makes with David promises that the seed of the woman will be a son of David, and that’s no small thing.
God is revealing his one, eternal redemptive plan through his covenants. This brings us to our second point: an established throne and the promise of God’s presence are the blessings of the covenant.
II.) An established throne and the promise of God’s presence are the blessings of the covenant (2 Samuel 7:1-13)
In 2 Samuel 7, David desires to build a house, or a temple, for the Lord. David is unsettled by the fact that he lives in a house of Cedar, while the ark of the Lord dwells in a tent, a reference to the tabernacle.
As good as David’s motives appear to be, it is essential to remember that you cannot outdo the Lord. We can serve him, worship him, and praise him, but we cannot out-bless him.
In response to David’s plan, the Lord makes several covenant promises to David in 2 Samuel 7:8-16. Some of these promises will be realized in David’s lifetime: his name will be made great, an established place for the kingdom of Israel, and rest from Israel’s enemies.
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. (2 Sa 7:8–11)
God fulfills these promises. David’s name is made great, the kingdom is established under his rule in the land, and Israel experiences rest from their enemies.
David’s son Solomon later would reflect on God’s faithfulness and testify that not one word of God failed. “Blessed be the LORD who has given rest to his people Israel, according to all that he promised. Not one word has failed of all his good promise, which he spoke by Moses his servant. (1 Ki 8:56)
We cannot afford to miss, however, that God makes several promises to be fulfilled beyond David’s lifetime in 2 Samuel 7:11-13, 16: God promises David an eternal throne, an eternal kingdom, and a descendant who will sit on David’s throne forever.
Moreover, the LORD declares to you that the LORD will make you a house. 12 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. 13 He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. (2 Sa 7:11–13)
And your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me. Your throne shall be established forever (2 Sa 7:16)
What puts kingdoms in jeopardy is the uncertainty of childbirth. Human beings have little control over the sex of their children. The continuance of a royal throne is dependent upon the continual birth of a son, who can inherit the throne.
The covenant that God makes with David promises that his kingdom will be eternally established. David and his descendants will have sons to inherit the throne, or perhaps a descendant who will live and never die.
The eternal nature of these promises means they are unconditional. God will be faithful to his covenant promises and be true to his word. However, just as we have seen with the Abrahamic covenant and the Mosaic covenant, there is still a condition.
All of God’s covenant promises will be fulfilled, but they will be fulfilled in one, obedient descendant of David.
III.) Keeping God’s law is the condition of the covenant (2 Samuel 7:14-17)
In between the unconditional promises of God is a condition that gets to the heart of the gospel first promised in Genesis 3:15.
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. (2 Sa 7:14–15)
The covenant leaves open the possibility that any given king of Israel can be disobedient, covenantally unfaithful, evoking the discipline of the Lord.
In Deuteronomy 17, the law makes it clear that Israel’s ability to stay in the land experiencing God’s covenant blessings is dependent on the obedience of the king.
“And when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, he shall write for himself in a book a copy of this law, approved by the Levitical priests. And it shall be with him, and he shall read in it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the LORD his God by keeping all the words of this law and these statutes, and doing them, that his heart may not be lifted up above his brothers, and that he may not turn aside from the commandment, either to the right hand or to the left, so that he may continue long in his kingdom, he and his children, in Israel. (Dt 17:18–20)
Unfortunately, Israel experienced the consequences of unfaithful, disobedient kings throughout its history. Israel experiences God’s discipline as they were exiled from the land not once, but twice. The Old Testament leaves readers longing for a faithful king.
The covenant promises are unconditional in one respect, but conditional in another respect.
The condition of the covenant is that it will be fulfilled not only by a faithful father but by an obedient son!
The New Testament makes it clear that Jesus of Nazareth, born to Mary and Joseph in Bethlehem, the son of David, who now sits on David’s throne, is that faithful and obedient son.
The book of Matthew opens very purposefully with a genealogy of Jesus, “The book of genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.” (Matthew 1:1)
It is this son of David that God declares, “This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.” (Matthew 3:17)
Unlike David, who fell with Bathsheba, unlike Solomon, seduced by the gods of the nations, and unlike every sinful king after them, Jesus always did what pleased the Father.
And he who sent me is with me. He has not left me alone, for I always do the things that are pleasing to him.” (Jn 8:29)
Jesus is the faithful and obedient son of David, the promised seed of the woman in whom all of God’s promises are fulfilled.
God’s people forever have a righteous king, so that the church never has to settle for doing what is right in our own eyes.
The best example of how to respond to a sermon like this is given to us by the Apostle Peter, who in Acts 2 preached that the resurrection of Jesus proves that God has made him both Lord and Christ.
36 Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.”
37 Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?” 38 And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. (Ac 2:36–38)
God has kept his promise through his faithful, obedient. That son now sits on the throne of an eternal kingdom. Will you share in its blessings? Will you be among his people?
Nathaniel R. Martin 