Advent Day 11: The Son of David

Today, we light the Green Candle, the Black Candle, and the Blue Candle. The Green Candle represents life and all that Father God created in Christ, Good and Whole. The Black Candle represents the Evil and Corruption of Sin that entered our World through our rebellion. The Blue candle represents the Hope that comes from the Promises of a future Savior and King.

2 Samuel 7:12–13
“…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.”

After the wandering of Israel in the Wilderness for 40 years, the LORD raises up Joshua to lead the New Generation back into the Land of Canaan that had been promised to Abraham. The name Joshua is significant. It means “The Lord Saves,” a reminder of all The Lord has promised and will fulfill. Perhaps even more significantly, it is another Hebrew form of the name Jesus – a Name at the center of all God is doing in Israel’s history. It is yet another reminder that, from the first page to the last, the Scriptures point us to Jesus.

Joshua leads the people of Israel well. By the end of his life, the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob have taken possession of most of the Land. The Story looks like it will have a Happy Ending. God’s promises are being fulfilled. Israel will live in the Land that God promised, and there will be Peace. But then the plot takes a turn…

Joshua dies, and the people of Israel begin to spiral downward in confusion, sin and rebellion. They forget the faithfulness of God. They forget to look with Hopeful Expectation for what The Lord has promised. At the end of the book of Judges, there is a statement that is repeated four times – “In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes” (Judges 17:6; 18:1; 19:1; 21:25). Instead of following the Lord—Yahweh—who was already Israel’s King, His people fall away. They no longer respond to Him as King. They reject His leadership. They do what is “right in [their] own eyes.” It is a dark, dark period in Israel’s history. But the Lord’s promises are more powerful than the people’s sin.

Then the Lord raises up Samuel – the last of the judges and the first of the Prophets who would come. The people have now decided that they want God to give them a king. This way, they could be like all the other nations. This is yet another rejection of God as their King and another rejection of His plans for them.

So the Lord gives the people what they want. Samuel anoints Saul as king, a man who is tall and handsome, who has all the outward markings of a ruler… and it is an unmitigated failure. Saul proves to be a faithless disaster and leads Israel to the brink of ruin.

In the background of this chaos, God makes His Choice. He chooses a young shepherd boy named David to replace Saul as King. David, the rustic farm boy, is about the last person anyone would choose to be king. However, God does not look at outward appearances, but at what is in the heart (see 1 Samuel 16:7). David, like his forefather Abraham, proves to be completely faithful to the Lord. He is very careful to listen to the voice of the Lord and do what he says. David finishes the work that Joshua had started and brings peace to the Land.

David decides to build a house for the Lord, a Temple where He can be worshipped. But the Lord tells him that is not for him to do. Instead, the Lord would build a “house” for David. The Lord reveals his plans and promises to David through the prophet Nathan:

2 Samuel 7:8–16
7:8 Now, therefore, thus you shall say to my servant David, ‘Thus says the LORD of hosts, I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep, that you should be prince over my people Israel. 7:9 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. 7:10 And I will appoint a place for my people Israel and 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, 7:11 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. 7:12 When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring {seed} after you, who shall come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. 7:13 He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. 7:14 I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son. When he commits iniquity, I will discipline him with the rod of men, with the stripes of the sons of men, 7:15 but my steadfast love will not depart from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away from before you. 7:16 And your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me. Your throne shall be established forever.”

First, the Lord promises to bring complete peace to Israel so that they will no longer be threatened by enemies again. The Lord also promises to raise up a Seed of David, a descendant through whom the Lord would establish David’s Throne and a Kingdom that would last forever.

At first glance it would seem that these promises are referring only to Solomon, David’s son. But Solomon would show that even though he had been blessed with great wisdom from the Lord, he would not be faithful like his father David. If the Throne of David and The Kingdom were to be established forever, someone greater and more faithful than Solomon would need to appear. The Lord is promising something far, far more.

In time, the promises given to David would shape not just the history and destiny of Israel, but the course of history for the whole world… A King is Coming!