“Go and tell my servant David, ‘This is what the LORD has declared: Are you the one to build a house for me to live in? I have never lived in a house, from the day I brought the Israelites out of Egypt until this very day. I have always moved from one place to another with a tent and a Tabernacle as my dwelling.
Yet no matter where I have gone with the Israelites, I have never once complained to Israel’s tribal leaders, the shepherds of my people Israel. I have never asked them, “Why haven’t you built me a beautiful cedar house?” 2 Samuel 7:5-7 NLT
“‘Furthermore, the LORD declares that he will make a house for you — a dynasty of kings! For when you die and are buried with your ancestors, I will raise up one of your descendants, your own offspring, and I will make his kingdom strong. He is the one who will build a house — a temple — for my name. And I will secure his royal throne forever. I will be his father, and he will be my son. 2 Samuel 7:11b-14a NLT
David, like all successful kings in the ancient Near East, wanted to build a “house,” a temple, for his God to celebrate his success. But shockingly, God said, “No.” I like the way God framed his response: “I have been living in a tent all these years, and it has been fine. We can go on that way for awhile. But I’ll tell you what I would like to do. I would like to build a “house,” a family for you. I don’t want you to glorify yourself by building me a grand building. Rather, I would like to glorify myself through the family I create out of you.” But then Yahweh said that a representative of David’s family, his son, could build a temple for him. What’s going on?
When we look at the books of Kings we see these two themes running side by side: the house in Jerusalem and the house of David. I suggest that the point is this: God does indeed want to live in a gorgeous house, but not the one in Jerusalem. It is the believing heart, on the model of David’s, in which he wants to take up residence, something that is only possible through the incarnation of Yahweh’ Son as the son of David. What a lovely, intricately crafted truth. Glory!
Called To Be Transformed 