DECEMBER 2
10Moreover, I declare to you that the Lord will build you a house. 11When your days are fulfilled to go to be with your ancestors, I will raise up your offspring after you, one of your own sons, and I will establish his kingdom. 12He shall build a house for me, and I will establish his throne forever.
I Chronicles 17:10-12
King David was troubled and couldn’t sleep. He kept going over and over in his mind how he lived in a fine house of cedar while the Lord God had no house in which he was worshipped. This weighed hard upon David, until finally he sent for the prophet Nathan and laid before him his dream of building a house for the Lord and his worship.
But that same night, the word of the Lord came to Nathan, and instructed him to return to David with a promise from God. Rather than David building a house for the Lord, the Lord promised to build a house for David! The Lord declared that he would raise up “offspring” from David who would rule over his house. One of David’s “own sons” would establish his throne and kingdom, “forever.”
The New Testament is actually the unfolding of this very promise that God made to David ten centuries earlier. Beginning on the first page of the New Testament we see God keeping his promise to David to raise up a son who would establish his throne and kingdom forever.
Not surprisingly, the New Testament opens with the words, “This is the genealogy of Jesus, the son of David” (Matthew 1:1). Then Matthew’s Gospel proceeds to carefully trace Jesus’ genealogy all the way back to David. Throughout his Gospel, Matthew demonstrates how this Jesus, born of Mary, is that “offspring” of David, the promised Son who fulfills God’s word to David.
The priests and scribes in Jerusalem’s temple had memorized and studied David’s family tree. David’s royal genealogy was public record and carefully watched by a waiting public. Each generation hoped and prayed that they might be the ones blessed to see David’s Son. Even the Roman occupying forces recognized Jesus’ royal lineage as they required Joseph and Mary to make the long journey to their ancestral home in Bethlehem, the “City of David.” They were required to go to Bethlehem, we are told, because they were of the “house of and family of David” (Luke 2:4). Jesus royal ancestry was acknowledged by all.
In Jesus’ final days, in his triumphal entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, a frenzied crowd welcomed him, crying out, “Hosanna (Save us!) Son of David!” (Matthew 21:9). The people knew that Jesus was the long expected and hoped for Son of David, who would bring salvation.
Eight centuries before this promised Son was revealed to the world the prophet Isaiah foretold his blessed coming:
For a child has been born for us,
a son given to us;
authority rests upon his shoulders;
and he is named
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
7His authority shall grow continually,
and there shall be endless peace
for the throne of David and his kingdom.
He will establish and uphold it
with justice and with righteousness
from this time onwards and for evermore.
Isaiah 9:6-7
Ponder and let yourself be in awe – the Child that has been born for us, the Son given to us, is the fulfillment of God’s promise to David. God always, always keeps his word to people!
PONDER
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Read, Reflect, Respond, and Rest with today’s scripture text,
I Chronicles 17:10-12, and devotional.