The Davidic Covenant

We're continuing our journey through covenant. As you may remember, and if you haven't been following it, there's always the Internet on our website. You can listen to all these sermons. We've worked through the covenant of works with Adam and Eve through to Noah, the covenant of common grace, to Abraham's covenant, the covenant of specific grace, God's saving grace, the covenant of obedience to God's law with Moses and the Israelites at Mount Sinai, and today we come to the Davidic covenant. It's been about five hundred years since that time with Moses and Israel, five hundred years after that covenant at Mount Sinai.

And from this time of Moses right through to David, hundreds of years passed. A lot happens in this time. By this time, obviously, Moses has died and just before he does die and Israel enters the promised land, remember, as part of the covenant, God will create a place for his people. Just before they enter the promised land led by Moses' protege Joshua, they enter and they hear again God's law, God's covenant saying, remember me as you come into this new land. Obey me.

Love me. Joshua leads them into a period which is called the conquest and it's fairly successful. They are quite obedient to God in this time and they drive out the other smaller tribes in the land of Canaan, the promised land. Now following this period, we find in the Bible a book called the book of Judges which gives a historical account of a few hundred years of these earliest days in the promised land, the book of Judges. We don't know who writes the book of Judges but whoever it is paints a pretty grim picture.

A repeated line, if you have read the book of Judges, is this: in those days, in the time of the judges, everyone did what was right in his own eyes. There was no king in Israel. That line is repeated over and over again, like in Judges 21:25. On the whole, if you read Judges, this period is shown to be one of covenant breaking for God's holy special people. Far from loving God, far from obeying his will, everyone does what is right in their own eyes.

Time and time again, therefore, enemies attack Israel. They overthrow Israel's rule. They push Israel back. People die. And then every now and then, over these hundreds of years, God will raise up judges.

God in his grace raises up a few good judges, rulers, the likes of Deborah, Samson, remember, mighty strong Samson as a judge, Gideon with a fleece, Ehud, the left-handed warrior. Every now and then, Israel reclaims back some of the faithfulness to God that they had promised him in the covenants before. But these judges, these tribal leaders prove again and again to be weak. And so when we get to 1 Samuel 8:5, the people, Israel, come to a holy man called Samuel. He's the first big prophet in the Old Testament apart from Moses, I'd say.

And they say to Samuel, we want a king. We want a king to rule over us like the nations around us have. Israel are fed up with these weak judges, these chieftains, these tribal leaders. They want someone that is strong, a person that can rule a kingdom, someone capable, someone with authority. Now amazingly, if they were to look back again at the time of Moses, they'd find in Deuteronomy 17 that God actually outlines a fairly good criteria for someone who was to reign in this way, a king if they were to choose.

God outlines this by saying that the king must lead his people in worship. If you have a king, God says, he must be someone that leads people to God. Leads them, God says, in knowledge of the law and the scriptures. This king must be morally upright. He must seek justice.

He must avoid three things God outlines in Deuteronomy 17, storing up wealth, three w's: wealth, weaponry, and women. These kings are to be moral. They are to be ethical champions. They are to be prime examples of true worshippers to God. So the people come to Samuel to say, we want a king.

And Samuel says, okay, let us find a king. And they find a man called Saul. Saul is an obvious choice for a king. The Bible says that he is tall, ahead and above everyone else. He is handsome.

He is a fierce warrior. He is a charming speaker, a charismatic leader by all accounts. And Saul leads for a couple of good years, but the wheels start falling off pretty soon. Why? Because he doesn't take heed of God's word, like Deuteronomy 17 says.

He doesn't listen to when even God sends Samuel to correct Saul. Throughout the book of 1 Samuel, we see Saul continually fails God and so eventually and dramatically, Saul is removed from the kingdom. Saul is removed from the throne and he is replaced by a shepherd's boy named David. David has no royal pedigree. When we first meet him, he is out in the fields looking after sheep.

The Bible says beautifully that the eye of the Lord scours the land, penetrates the hearts of every man in the country and his eyes rest on David. The Bible says he is a man after His own heart. Now this David will lead Israel but it takes several years before David gets there. In this process, and like I said, it's a dramatic process as Saul is dethroned and replaced by David. Through this process, David shows signs of a gracious faithful soul who does love God above all else.

This is the man that Israel needs to be king. It's a time that God makes another covenant with Israel then when David comes to the throne. And you'll see it is simply the continuation of the same old covenant of grace again. We turn to 2 Samuel 7 from verse 8. Listen to these beautiful words promised and spoken to David.

Thus says the Lord of hosts through Samuel, I took you from the pasture, from the field, from the paddock, 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, a place for my people Israel and I 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.

Moreover, the Lord declares to you that the Lord will make you a house. When your days are filled 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. He shall build a house for my name and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. Can you see the familiar themes? It's even the same words.

Once again, we see a promise that God will create a people, protect a people for himself, that He will give them a place which is paradise, free from enemies. And later in the chapter, God promises His presence. In fact, He does here, doesn't He? He shall build a house, your descendant. After you shall build a house for my name, a dwelling place for God.

God's presence will be there. God will no longer dwell therefore in the tent of the tabernacles, as has been happening for hundreds of years. God will dwell in a grand temple that David's son will build. People, place and presence. But again, just like every single time before, with Noah or Abraham or Moses, the promise is the same.

The blessings will be the same or similar, but there we also see a progression. It's a different person that God is promising these things to and there's a sharpening. There's a focus starting to happen as well. With Abraham, we saw that this covenant had something to do with faith. That Abraham believed God when God made these promises and God said that faith is righteousness in my eyes.

You are made right with me through this faith. Then with Moses, given the law, we see that this law is in part keeping with the covenant, but the law really is a revelation of the heart. It really shows us whether we truly love this God who has invited us into relationship with Him. The law is important because it shows the heart, but now something else is emphasised and that is that the destiny of God's people will forever be interwoven with the destiny of one family, David's family. It's the same covenant with a new emphasis that there must be a covenant king, a covenant leader which will bring everyone else into this relationship with God.

Well, like we've said in the past as well, previous session, with covenants there has to be curses and blessings. This is an agreement that God makes with people and there are conditions to this contract. What are they? Well, Psalm 132 points it out, summarises it for us in this way. Verse 11, the Lord swore to David a sure oath from which He will never turn back, He will not turn back.

One of the sons of your body I will set on your throne. If your sons keep my covenant and my testimonies that I shall teach them, their sons also forever shall sit on your throne. If your sons keep the covenant, they shall reign forever, God says. That's the condition. Love me.

Love me. Let me be your God. Be my people. The word testimony is actually referred there in verse 12. Most likely refers to the law of Moses. Those are the testimonies of God.

And so in order for the covenant to be kept, they must make God, like the covenant of Moses did or highlighted, make God saviour and lord. Saviour, God rescued Israel out of Egypt. He did it out of grace. And then He said, now that you are safe, love me. Make me lord of your life.

And if they do this, the sons of David, they will keep the throne. If not, the throne will be taken from them. The throne will be taken away. Now the great thing is David rules and he pushes back and he's a man after God's own heart and he establishes this amazing kingdom. And then his son, Solomon, comes and extends it even further and this is the golden era.

This is the pinnacle of Israel's history. Even if you were to speak to a Jewish person today, they will say this was the greatest time in our history. David and King Solomon's reign. All is well, we see in 1 Kings 4:20 and 21. Judah and Israel were as many as the sand by the sea.

They ate and drank and were happy. What a wonderful little verse. They ate and drank and they were happy. The fullness of contentment. Solomon ruled over all the kingdoms from the Euphrates to the land of the Philistines and to the border of Egypt.

These nations brought tribute and served Solomon all the days of his life. Can you see the blessings of the covenant? They've taken shape. They've come true. The people are as many as the sand by the sea.

This is the promise God made to Abraham. Your descendants will be as many as the stars in the sky or the sand in the sea by the sea. They are living in a land that God had also promised them. From the Euphrates in the north down to Egypt in the south. That whole area is theirs.

Solomon, David's son, is ruling over them. People, place. What about presence? Well, the chapters of 1 Kings, the ones following this, tell us of Solomon's greatest project ever undertaken, and that was building the temple of God, which is today still considered to be one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. We have no idea really what it looked like.

There's nothing remaining of it, but it was so majestic. It was ranked up there with whatever the Greeks had built and whatever the Babylonians had built themselves, these great power houses of that time. One of the great ancient wonders of the world. David builds it and it is a dwelling place for God. 1 Kings 8:10-11 tells us that one day the temple, when it was dedicated, when it was opened, this is what happened. A cloud filled the house of the Lord so much so that the priest could not stand to minister because of the cloud, it says.

For the glory of the Lord filled the house of the Lord. That is presence. God is keeping His covenant because Israel is faithful. God is pouring out His blessing. But as we read on, we see that this is about to change.

God's kingdom is not going to be found in Solomon. It doesn't seem it's going to be found in his descendants either because unfortunately, all the warnings of Deuteronomy 17 have not been heeded. All the things that the king should avoid, gold, guns, and girls, they're forgotten. They're ignored. Solomon, we read, imports horses and chariots from Egypt.

The American superpower of the world with tanks and guns. He holds wealth as the world comes to him and we see in that thing with tributes. They honour him. They bring gold. They bring the finest of gifts to this great kingdom.

And then he marries 700 wives and takes another 300 concubines on top of that. Weaponry, women, and wealth, and all of it Solomon sets his heart on. And Psalm 132's condition is not kept. Solomon has not kept the testimonies of the Lord his God. God had been faithful to His unchanging word.

God, in front of their eyes, had given them all that He had promised. And so God, in disappointment, appears to Solomon one final time in 1 Kings 11. And it says, the Lord said to Solomon, since this has been your practice and you have not kept my covenant and my statutes that I have commanded you, I will surely tear the kingdom from you and will give it to your servant. Yet for the sake of David, your father, I will not do it in your days, but I will tear it out of the hand of your son. However, I will not tear away all the kingdom, but I will give one tribe to your son for the sake of David my servant and for the sake of Jerusalem that I have chosen.

We see this happens after Solomon. Rehoboam, his son, takes the throne and from this moment, a split happens and the kingdom is split in two. Rehoboam keeps the city of Jerusalem, which was the capital and he rules over two tribes of Israel, Benjamin and Judah. The ten northern tribes, the rest, rebel and they form a breakaway state. This northern kingdom is unfortunately called Israel because now it gets confusing. They are Israel and this is Judah down here.

But the northern states, in a sign of their utter rebellion and as a sign of this curse that would befall them, kings who don't worship God. They elect kings that are not in the line of David. A completely new kingdom and monarchy is created and the consequences are clear. These kings consistently break God's laws and they lead everyone else away from God. Even with the prophets of Israel, rather Isaiah and Amos and Uzziah, that God sends, and you can read about them.

God sends these people to the northern tribes to bring them back. They don't listen. They don't listen. Every king of every generation does not follow God. In the south, it's a little bit better.

Every now and then, there's a good king and then there's a bad king, and then there's a good king again and then there's a bad king. But eventually, both kingdoms, the north and the south, are toppled. And we know that they are taken into exile. Remember the Assyrian exile and the Babylonian exile. Thousands of people carried off by conquerors.

They lose their place, their people, as their kingdom is destroyed and broken up, and the temple, the worst of all, gets destroyed. The Babylonians tear it down brick by brick. Everything is lost. People, place, and presence. Now that's your history lesson for today.

And I just want to pause here because we need to reflect on this, I think. We've spent this time recapping hundreds of years of history and God's continuing covenant of grace throughout it all, but I think there is a point to be made here. And that is we need a king. We need a king. We need someone to rule over us.

I want to say it's one of our generation's greatest challenges. You know, we're talking even about the, you know, breaking away from the monarchy at the moment. I'm not talking about that king or monarchy at all. But I don't actually believe that it is just our generation's greatest challenge. It seems to be every generation's greatest challenge.

It is utterly human to reject godly rule and yet we need a king. Let me explain. You may think that you are happier with independence. You may think that, and you may never admit this, but the rejection of God, the temptation to fall into sin comes into our life actually because we think we know better. Though you may never articulate it this way, where you are failing to live the life that God has called you to, whether you are a Christian or not, it comes down to this: I know better.

As a pastor, I've counselled in so many various circumstances people who have been caught in the grips of massive sin. And in their repentance or unrepentance rather, they've said things which beggars belief. Things like remaining celibate before marriage is a fine thing for people when they're young. But now that I've been married and I've been through a divorce or I've lost a husband or a wife to cancer, somehow God's express will for marriage does not apply to me. I've heard other Christians say, why are we so dogmatic about this or that particular area?

It is not the nineteen fifties anymore. As if sin changes from one generation to the next. As if God's commands change based on societal fads and what psychologists think is right. As if we're becoming nicer, as if we're becoming better people as the years roll on, as we're somehow figuring things out. As if the horrible consequences of sins in the nineteen fifties or the eighteen hundreds or even the one thousands BC of Solomon's time is somehow today flipped on its head and is different.

Somehow the consequences of sin today are blessings, not curses. But I think if we stood still for a second, we would see that the world is not nicer. The world is not better. You see the lie we believe because we want to believe it is that we make better decisions than God and therefore we don't let God rule over us. Somehow God's express will may apply to the majority of people, but not all people and not me because I belong to that minority.

I'm the special few. You may never admit this but the real reason you sin, and friends, the real reason I sin, the real reason people walk out of our church in order to pursue the world is because we think we know better. But I wanna assure you friends, the reason we suffer such great frustration in our lives, the reason we are wracked with frustration and guilt and shame, the reason even after we've given up on the so-called burden of Christianity and tried to shrug it off is because we think we have a better alternative but the consequences are always the same. But the Bible says the solution to this frustration, the solution to this frustration is not less authority. The solution is actually gladly submitting ourselves to an authority we've come to recognise as good.

A good authority. The solution is an authority, therefore, that is pure. An authority that is simple. An authority that is sweet, an authority that is life-giving and preserving. We've just had a vote in Ireland about abortion.

That just this week has said we can kill unborn humans in the womb. We have not become better. The solution to our guilt and shame is therefore not great self-governance. The solution is having a good king. We need to come to the point of realising that we have a good king.

We have a wise king whose royal decrees we can trust with our lives. And only then, when we submit ourselves to that authority, only then will we find the freedom we want. The freedom we long for. The peace that we so desperately yearn for. And David and his sons, they fail to be these kings.

There's glimmers of hope surely. When they submit themselves to God's kingly reign, there's glimmers of hope. From time to time, we see how beautiful this life could be under God's reign. But they fail. Why?

Because they're sinful like us. They're inconsistent like us and yet that story keeps showing us we need a king. We need a king. So the question we ask after all of that, after this story is, has God's promises failed? He promises a forever kingdom.

He promises prosperity and peace and justice for His kingdom and His people. Has God's promises failed? But there's something new that He instigates. There's something new that happens. Even as Jerusalem's walls are being torn down, at the same time, as the temple is being desecrated by the Babylonians, even as Israel's kings are being put to the sword, godly words are preached in the streets.

Godly words go throughout the countryside, words like this found in Isaiah 11. Out of the stump of David's family will grow a shoot. Yes, a new branch bearing fruit from even that old root. And the spirit of the Lord will rest on him. The spirit of wisdom and understanding.

The spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and fear of the Lord. Oh, friends, listen to this. He will delight in obeying the Lord. He will not judge by appearance. He will not make a decision based on hearsay.

He will give justice to the poor. He will make fair decisions for the exploited. The earth will shake at the force of his words and one breath from his mouth will destroy the wicked. He will wear righteousness like a belt and truth like an undergarment. In that day, the wolf and the lamb will lie together.

In that day, the leopard will lie down with the baby goat. The calf and the yearling will be safe with the lion. And a little child will lead them all. The cow will graze near the bear. The cub and the calf will lie down together.

The lion will eat hay like a cow. The baby will play safely near the hole of a cobra. Yes, a little child will put his hand in the nest of deadly snakes without harm. God says nothing will hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain. For as the waters fill the sea, so the earth will be filled with people who know the Lord.

A king is coming. As Jerusalem is descending into chaos, we need a king. And friends, my special privilege this morning is to tell you there is a good king. This king prophesied by Isaiah, by many other prophets, we see as a king who obeys the word of the Lord. He's a king who rules with justice and righteousness.

He's not twisted by gold or women. A king who is wise and rules not through war but through peace. A king who will rule over a kingdom where every person who follows him will know the Lord. This king we know is Jesus. And Jesus we see is the one who came from the tribe of David, from the tribe of Judah.

He won a kingly battle not by killing his enemies however, but by dying in their place. This king died on a cross not with a crown of gold but one of thorns. His people will see life. His people will see peace and justice because in death he overcame the greatest enemies which are sin and eternal death. And today by His Spirit, He leads every one of us, everyone who will put their trust, their obedience, their hope in Him as king and ruler and He will lead us into all good things.

If only you will obey. If you will let Him rule in your life, let Him do that. And you will experience this justice, and you will experience this righteousness. We need Him to be king. Let's pray.

Father, we thank you for this beautiful image again. Over hundreds of years unfolding once again, creating this sense of expectation and desire. Lord, we see our failure. We see that we cannot live this life, this calling that you have called us to. Even the Davids and the Solomons will fail.

And yet Lord, all along, your eye is on Jesus. Your covenant, the blessings, these things don't change. Your heart that is set on your elect people, your special people, that does not change. And though we are blown here and there like ships without a rudder, ships without a sail, in our own self-governance, in the authority that we want to take up for ourselves. God, you do not change.

You remain faithful. And Lord, you are a God who does surprising things. Out of the stump of Jesse, out of the stump of David's family, a shoot will come up. One who will lead as you've always intended. The one who will be the true king.

And so Father, we thank you. We thank you, Lord, that we may know this king. We thank you, Lord, that because of Jesus coming to earth, we have seen Him. We thank you that we have received this news and Lord I pray for everyone here that has not. That at this stage does not believe it.

Who does not live a life in accordance to this great great news. I pray Lord that they may also know you in this way. That they may also give their lives to you one hundred per cent because your rule is light. Your burden is not heavy. There is peace in that holy kingdom of yours.

And as the waters fill the sea, so the earth will be filled with the people who know the Lord. Lord, keep working in our hearts to bring us to that place. Remind us, Lord, of how much we need you and how much we need to live our lives in your kingdom. We pray in Jesus' name for the strength we need for that. Amen.