2 Samuel 7:12-16 And when your days be fulfilled, and you shall sleep with your fathers, I will set up your seed after you… These words relate, first, to Solomon; then to successive generations of David's posterity; and, finally, to the Christ. They promise that David's son should be God's son, and should build the house for God which David had desired to build. They promise also that the rule over Israel should continue in the line of David's posterity, and that his house and kingdom should be established forever. They were partly fulfilled in the long continuance of the reign of David's descendants. They receive their most ample and splendid fulfilment in the eternal kingdom of the greatest Son of David, our Lord and Saviour - a fulfilment beyond all that David could ask or think. I. THE GREAT KING. 1. Is David's son. He is much more than this; but he is this. A man is at the head of God's kingdom! 2. Is God's Son. (Ver. 14; comp. Hebrews 1:5 and Romans 1:3, 4.) Both as to his human and his Divine natures, Jesus Christ is the Son of God as none other - "the only begotten Son of God." This shows his greatness, and accounts for his triumphs. The Eternal and Almighty Father recognizes and proclaims him as his Son; declares by the miracles accompanying the personal mission of Jesus, by his Word, Spirit, providence, through the ages, "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased: hear ye him." 3. And this illustrious person is King. King over God's people, his true Israel; King of men; "King of kings, Lord of lords;" King of angels, King over all things in heaven and earth. The kingdom of David has expanded till it extends over the universe. II. THE PERPETUITY OF HIS REIGN. It shall be literally eternal. "He shall reign forever and ever" (Revelation 11:15). It is surely more than a coincidence that a system of dominion over men, originating in a Man who had sprung from the reduced family of David, and was accepted by many of his fellow Jews as the Son of David, the Messiah foretold by the prophets - a system proclaimed at the first as the kingdom of God - should have taken root in the world, have spread so widely and lasted so long; that it should have proved to be the system in and through which especially the best influences of Heaven operate, and the divinest principles rule the hearts and lives of those who receive it; and that it should today be more extensively prevalent than ever, and that amongst the most enlightened and powerful nations (to whose enlightenment and power it has largely contributed), and giving promise of becoming the ruling power everywhere. It is a veritable kingdom, uniting all who belong to it as one "holy nation" which acknowledges Jesus of Nazareth as its King, and submits to his rule. It has continued nearly nineteen centuries, and gives no sign of decay. In all this the Christian recognizes the fulfilment of the promise made to David and repeated so frequently afterwards by the prophets; and through his faith in that promise he anticipates the everlasting duration of the reign of Christ, the eternity of the King, and the eternity of his reign. We are sure that he must reign forever; and our assurance rests on: 1. The promises of God. The "God who cannot lie," and who has power to fulfil all his Word, and subdue all that opposes. 2. The nature of the kingdom. "A kingdom which cannot be moved" (Hebrews 12:28). It is spiritual, and cannot be put down by the material forces which destroy other reigns. It is the reign of Divine truth, righteousness, and love; and we cannot doubt but that these will triumph and be perpetuated. 3. The nature of the King. "The First, and the Last, and the Living One," who, though he "was dead," is "alive forevermore" (Revelation 1:17, 18, Revised Version). This King literally "lives forever." He is Divine as well as human. His reign is the reign of the Almighty God, which cannot be destroyed. 4. Past experience. The kingdom of Jesus Christ has survived in spite of all opposition. All possible hostile powers have done their utmost, and have failed. Christianity has outlived many kingdoms, which to human appearance promised to survive it. It has been assailed by brute force in a variety of forms, and by the forces of intellectual subtlety, of Political power, and of spiritual error, and it has conquered. It has seemed to be seriously endangered by the folly and wickedness of its professed friends, but still it survives and flourishes. In a word, the prince of this world has used all arts and energies at his command to crush the power of Christ, but in vain. "He that sitteth in the heavens laughs" at all that opposes his Son, saying, "Yet have I set my King on my holy hill of Zion" (Psalm 2:4, 6). And in the everlasting future this kingdom will continue. A great change is, indeed, predicted in 1 Corinthians 15:24. But as the kingdom of the Son is the kingdom of the Father, so the kingdom of the Father will still be that of the Son. Let, then, all the loyal subjects of Christ cast away fear for his kingdom, whatever forms opposition to it may take, and however formidable they may appear. And let all be concerned to be his loyal subjects. III. THE GREAT WORK HE WOULD EFFECT. "He shall build a house for my Name" (ver. 13). The words may be taken as applicable not only to the temple which Solomon built, but to the nobler structure which our Lord is rearing, of which he is the chief Cornerstone (1 Peter 2:4-6) - "the temple of the living God" (2 Corinthians 6:16), built of "living stones" quickened and consecrated by the Holy Spirit - "the habitation of God through the Spirit" (Ephesians 2:20-22). From age to age the work of erecting this spiritual temple goes on in the conversion of men to Christ, and their addition to his Church; and, when completed, the building will be for the everlasting honour of the Builder. May we all have a place in it! - G.W. Parallel Verses KJV: 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. |
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