The Lord's Covenant with David

 

                                           1 Chronicle 17:1-15

 

                                                March 18, 2023

 

The Lord's Covenant with David

Now when David lived in his house, David said to Nathan the prophet, “Behold, I dwell in a house of cedar, but the ark of the covenant of the Lord is under a tent.”  And Nathan said to David, “Do all that is in your heart, for God 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: It is not you who will build me a house to dwell in.  For I have not lived in a house since the day I brought up Israel to this day, but I have gone from tent to tent and from dwelling to dwelling.  In all places where I have moved with all Israel, did I speak a word with any of the judges of Israel, whom I commanded to shepherd my people, saying, “Why have you not built me a house of cedar?”’  Now, therefore, thus shall you say to my servant David, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep, to be prince over my people Israel, and I have been with you wherever you have gone and have cut off all your enemies from before you. And I will make for you a 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, that they may dwell in their own place and be disturbed no more. And violent men shall waste them no more, as formerly, from the time that I appointed judges over my people Israel. And I will subdue all your enemies. Moreover, I declare to you that the Lord will build you a house.  When your days are fulfilled to walk with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, one of your own sons, and I will establish his kingdom.  He shall build a house for me, and I will establish his throne forever.  I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son. I will not take my steadfast love from him, as I took it from him who was before you, but I will confirm him in my house and in my kingdom forever, and his throne shall be established forever.’”  In accordance with all these words, and in accordance with all this vision, Nathan spoke to David.

What does the Lord's Covenant with David bring to your mind?

That we serve a Covenant God! And He is all about Relationships, such as He had with David.

From Benjamin Spalink 

When preachers talk about a “personal relationship with God” they’re obviously using a metaphor to talk about something else.  Anybody who’s majored in English knows that metaphors are useful, but that if you stretch it too far it stops working.  I left out a lot Ben had to say, you can look it up, yes words mean things, but it is clear that we serve a Covenant and Relationship with God, as you will see as you read.

Having said that, I admit that the phrase has some value and conveys in a simple way one of the great truths of the Gospel - that former rebels, sinful prodigals like you and me, are given access to the Holy of Holies.  The temple curtain has been town in two and sinners are made clean and welcomed into God’s presence.  We are personally allowed to enter into his presence without fear and talk to God like a father.  It truly is a relationship.  It involves relating, talking, asking for things, worshipping, and sharing space and time together. God opens himself up to us and enables us to know his character, his methods, his humor, even.  And, as one grows in faith over a lifetime, one gets to know God better.  Over the years, my desire to personally meet Jesus has grown as I’ve experienced him time and time again.  When I meet him in person, I suspect it will be like seeing an old friend, and I’ll have a kind of giddy excitement to see what he’s really like up close.  

 

My experience is that when I came to the end of myself, and in a hotel room in Victoria, Texas, open the hotel Bible and it opened to Romans 10, and my eyes went to verses 9-10, and this is what I read; ^“If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.  For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.”  That very moment I got on my knees and with the faith God gave me I asked for forgiveness for my sin of wanting to be in charge Jesus' blood covered my sin and by faith, I entered into Christ and He entered into me.  

 

Now let me be very clear, I had no understanding of what had taken place, but I knew I had peace that I was in right standing with God.  As I grew in my relationship, I came across verses in the Bible like 2 Corinthians 13:5, “Or do you not realize about yourselves that Christ is in you?” Romans 8:10, “But if Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, the spirit is life because of righteousness.”  My mentor Ken Ryan introduced me to Galatians 2:20, I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

And then I came to have a much better understanding of Colossians 1:27, “To whom God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.”  Please understand that the Christ life is not based on your circumstance or feeling, it is a relationship with Jesus, who is the Creator, and Redeemer of your soul.

I have placed great value on Relationships, if you are my friend, you have great value to me, and did you know that Jesus calls you who are in Christ and He is in you, His friend?  You will find that in John Gospel, 15:5 “I no longer call you servants because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.”  Now if that is not a relationship, I have no understanding of the Word.  The dictionary defines a relationship in this way; “a strong, deep, or close association or acquaintance between two or more people.”  

My prayer is that is what you have with Jesus.  And let us be clear on the new Covenant we have entered with Christ, it is found in Hebrews 9:15, “Therefore he is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance since a death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant.”

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice