Gracious Lord and Heavenly Father, I am a man of unclean lips,
and we are people of unclean lips.
I pray, Father, that you might sanctify my words this morning,
make them yours.
Ultimately, we pray, Father, that through this morning,
our knees will be bowing to the Lord Jesus, the Son of David,
and all glory and power and honour will go to him,
and that your rule might be extended in our hearts,
in our community, and in all the world.
And we pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.
One of the things I think annoys my wife to no...
Is she here? No? Good.
To no end is we'll be having this conversation,
and she'll say something, and there'll be some words that she mentioned,
and I'll seize upon those words, and I think I know what she's saying.
And then, you know, and I'll react to it,
and that annoys her to no end.
Because that's not what she wanted to say to you.
That's not, I just haven't taken the time to hear what she's saying.
And I think that this is something that we do to God.
We read the Bible, and there'll be certain words that are really important to us,
and we'll take those words, and we start thinking,
right, you know, this is what the Bible is saying to me.
I wonder if God is as annoyed as Jan is when I do it to her.
I want to suggest to you that there are three, there are four,
there's some things that we can do to actually guard us against that.
There are four questions that we can ask when we approach the Bible,
particularly the Old Testament.
And let me outline those questions for you.
The first question is, what is the story so far?
In the first week of the series,
I've suggested that the Bible is not just some random selection of material
and wise sayings and principles,
but rather it is a story, a narrative, an unfolding story.
And so when we approach the Bible from any part,
we have to ask, where does it fit in the unfolding story of God?
And we'll get to that in a sec.
The second question that we need to ask is,
okay, given that this is where the story is, the episode,
what is this particular episode about?
And it is a question of comprehension.
If you like, the first two questions
describe what the text that we are reading tells us.
The third question is more analytic,
is really asking the question, well, what does it mean?
The Bible claims to be the Word of God,
and so when we read the Bible,
we have to ask the question,
well, what does this tell us about God?
And about the way He works in the world,
and as we know God, we know ourselves,
what does this passage tell us about us and our world?
And the last question is,
what difference does Jesus make?
We're reading the Bible as Christians.
The Bible claims that Jesus is where you find God.
In fact, Jesus Himself says
that the whole of the Bible ought to take us to Him.
And so the fourth question we ask is,
well, what difference does Jesus make
to our understanding of this particular part of the Bible?
And what does this particular part of the Bible
help us to understand Jesus?
Okay, so four questions.
Where does it fit in the story?
What is this episode about?
What does this tell us about God?
And lastly, what difference does Jesus make?
Is that good?
Okay.
And what I propose to do
is to apply that method to Samuel 7.
And hopefully we can see how this method could work.
Well, the first question is,
what's the story so far?
I have some props,
and I just feel that we didn't have enough time.
So what I'm going to do
is I'm going to invite you
to open your Bible to the contents page.
So grab your Bible in front of you.
Hopefully this will...
And, you know,
if the person next to you
look a little bit lost,
help them to find a contents page.
This is where we'll start from,
the contents page of the Bible.
Okay, how are we doing?
Yeah?
All found a contents page?
Okay.
Now, we started our story from Genesis.
Okay?
It's...
Your Bible is more or less chronological,
as in the follows time.
And the Bible begins, really,
at the beginning of the universe.
The Christian religion involves not just us
who are Christians and believers,
but it involves a whole world.
And if you go to Genesis 1,
it tells the beginning of a story of God and us.
And it is a story of a kingdom, you recall.
Genesis 1 is a story of how God created a people,
Adam and Eve,
his people living in his land,
in the Garden of Eden,
under his good rule.
So that sets the frame,
the background to our story.
And, of course, you know,
immediately the story doesn't make sense
because that's not the world that we live in.
It's not a world of harmony.
It is a world of floods,
of wars,
of divorce,
of...
Well, why is that?
Again, stay in Genesis.
If you move the story from Genesis 1 to 3,
it tells us the source,
the beginning of all our problems.
Okay, whatever problem that you have,
that our society have,
the Bible says this is the ultimate source.
And the source is sin.
Okay, that's the Bible word
for the source of all our problems.
And sin, of course,
is more than just eating chocolate
when you're on a diet.
Sin,
sin,
as the Bible explain it,
in the context and frame of the kingdom,
is a regime change.
It is rebellion.
It is people
who have no right to rule
decide to rise up
against the one who has the right to rule.
Sin is taking the right
to be God
onto ourselves.
Sin is deciding
that we are the one
who can decide
what is good and what is bad,
what is right and wrong.
Sin is,
as you're driving here this morning
and you see a big sign saying 50,
and you decide,
I'm late for church,
so I'm just going to ignore that
because I am the king of my car.
So I can drive whatever speed
that I think is convenient
and right for me.
That is sin.
And what the Bible says is,
again, in Genesis 3,
tracing in the contents,
sin leads to curse.
God is still the king
of the universe.
And so,
everything in this world
is cursed.
The land is cursed.
This is why,
for those of you
who have a lawn,
every week you go out there
and you've got to pluck
those darn weeds.
You know,
our lawn is cursed.
Our work is cursed.
Our family are cursed.
Our marriage,
everything is cursed
as a result of our rebellion.
Sin wrecks everything.
And again,
saying in Genesis,
if you read from chapter 4
to chapter 11,
it sort of traced
the spread of sin
from one family,
you know,
Cain and Abel,
just faticide,
to mass murder,
to violence and chaos,
something that characterizes
our whole world.
But God is still God.
He has not abandoned us
or the world.
And when you go through
the story to Genesis 12,
you see that God has revealed
that He has a plan
to reverse sin,
to undo sin
and curse in the world.
So if you get to Genesis 12,
you will see that God
makes a promise
that He would undo
Genesis 3
through one man
and His descendant.
Through that one person,
a new human race
will be created.
A human race
that would,
the new race of people
who will once again
be blessed
by being the people of God,
living in the security
of His place
and being blessed
by being ruled by Him.
And through this one race
of people,
the whole world
will be blessed,
we read Genesis 12.
Again,
if you look at the contents page,
you keep going
from Genesis
to Exodus.
See,
the plan
is promised
in Genesis 12.
and we see
the working out
of that plan.
And last week
you saw
we came to
Exodus 19.
Another covenant,
a new dimension
is introduced.
God will reverse sin,
bless the world,
save the human race
and the universe
and the environment
through the descendants
of Abraham.
And we are told
in Genesis,
sorry,
Exodus 19,
that the way
God would do it
is calling,
saving a people
to Himself
and making them
into a kingdom
of priests.
You remember that phrase,
a holy nation,
a people who will declare
the glory of God.
The way
God will save the world,
bless the world,
is by having
a bunch of people
who are different
to the rest of the world.
They will live
under the kingship
of God
in God's land.
The way
they're different
to the rest
of the world
is that they
will wholeheartedly
love God
and they
will love
their neighbors
as themselves.
How different
is that
to the rest
of the human race?
That is how
God will choose
to save the world,
to bless the nations.
But again,
looking at the
contents page,
that's the promise
of Exodus 19.
you keep going
to the end
of Deuteronomy,
the first five books
of the Bible,
there is a promise
but there is no land.
There is no place
to call home.
There is a people
and so we begin
the book of Joshua
and the beginning
of the conquest
of the land.
So there's the kingdom
of God,
the people of God
living under his rule
in his place
and here God
is delivering
on his promise,
the beginning
of the conquest
of the land.
There were decisive
victories,
for example,
the conquest
of Jericho
but victories
and conquests
were slow
and hard
and there are
two main reasons
for it.
One was the
enemies from
without,
the enemies
of God's people,
the Hivites,
the Amorites,
the Canaanites,
the Hittites,
the Perizzites,
the Jebusites.
They're like this
malignant cancer
in the land
like all those
who oppose
the good rule
of God.
We become a cancer
to the environment.
You just can't
get rid of them
but as you trace
through Joshua
and then to the
book of Judges
you will find
that the will
of divine justice
grinds slowly
but it grinds
exceedingly
small
for you see
that the land
progressively
was conquered
and one
by one
the Hivite
and Amorite
and Canaanite
and Hittite
and Perizzite
and Jebusites
they disappeared
into the ether
of history.
I assume
that walking
down Chesswood,
multicultural
Chesswood,
you have never
met an Amorite.
So the promises
of God
is being fulfilled
but they're not
the problem.
See,
we tend to think
that the problem
is outside.
You know,
it's the Mardi Gras,
it's the gay people
or the atheists.
The real problem
as you trace
through the history
that is being
unfolded
is actually
the enemy
from within.
The real problem
were the Israelites.
See,
the way that God
would reverse
the curse
on the world
is by having
a nation of priests,
a royal priesthood,
they were anything
but priestly.
They didn't bring
blessing to the nations
because when they
went into the land
you couldn't tell
the difference
between an Israelite
and a Perizzite.
They were just like
everybody else.
They didn't love God
with their whole heart
and they certainly
didn't love
the neighbours
as themselves.
And so
the biggest problem
you see,
God could get rid
of the Perizzites.
There was no promise
made to them.
But
he is his people.
He's made a promise
that through these people
the world will be blessed.
What's he going to do?
They themselves
are the ones
who threaten
to undo
God's plan,
to make God
into a liar
as it were.
And if you keep
travelling,
you know,
there's Joshua,
the book of Judges
and he's Samuel.
By Samuel's time,
the problem
is still there.
There were
the external threat,
the nation of the day
was the Philistines.
There were people
with superior military power.
But the problem
of the Israelites
themselves persists.
And if you begin
the book of Samuel,
1 Samuel,
we get the story
of Eli,
the priest
and his two sons
who were ripping off
the worshippers,
exploiting
the young girls
in the temple,
they were terrible.
And 1 Samuel 4,
Israel went into battle
with the Philistines.
They thought
we couldn't lose
because God
is on our side.
So what they did
was they took
the Ark of the Covenant,
the symbol,
the guarantee
as it were
in their mind
of the presence
and the approval
of God
into battle
with the Philistines.
And what happened?
They got absolutely smashed.
They had to run away,
tails between their legs
and worst of all,
the Ark itself
was taken
by the Philistines.
And from 1 Samuel 6,
any mention of the Ark
was gone
from Israel.
And what was
Israel's solution
to a problem?
Again,
tracing through the history,
we're up to
1 Samuel 8,
if you look
at the contents page.
Their solution
to that problem
and the solution
that we,
I think,
often go to
is we've got a problem,
what we need
is a new rector.
Sorry, Steve.
A new rector,
which is, of course,
from the Latin
to rule.
What they thought
they needed
is a leader,
a new leader,
a strong leader,
a visionary leader,
a wise leader.
That was the problem,
wasn't it?
They didn't have
that sort of leader.
And so,
they found themselves
a king.
And if you trace
through Samuel,
he couldn't do
what, well,
they needed.
Couldn't beat
the Philistines.
By the beginning
of 2 Samuel 1,
the people's king
was dead,
and so were his sons.
They were killed
in battle.
And the question
remains,
here's the problem
of sin and curse.
Here's the promise
of God
to fix it all.
To bless the world
through his people.
How is God
going to do that?
How is he going
to save the world,
reverse the curse
and sin,
bless the nations,
keep the promise,
given the way
witness
of his own people?
Can you feel
the tension?
And here we are
at 2 Samuel 7.
So this is where
the story
has led us so far.
Right?
The next question
we ask is,
what is this episode
about?
Okay?
So cast your eyes
down,
broadly,
possibly two parts
to this passage.
2 Samuel 7
is where we are.
What is 2 Samuel 7?
Well,
there are two parts.
The first part,
verses 1,
2,
3,
you will see
that political power
and military power
is now consolidated
in one person,
David.
Okay?
There is now
a leader,
a rector,
a new rector.
And he was able
to beat the Philistines,
something that
the people of God
under Saul
couldn't do.
And the other thing
is the mention
of the ark,
which disappears
since 1 Samuel 7,
has now reappeared.
David has now
taken the ark,
the symbol of God's
presence and approval,
he's taken the ark
into his city.
Everything is working
out just fine.
God has blessed David
and David thought,
first three verses,
God's done something
nice for me,
I'm going to have to
do something nice
back to God.
So what I'm going
to do is I'm going
to build a great
big temple for God.
That's what I can do
for God.
So first part.
Second part is
from verse 4 onward.
You see God's response.
And it's quite remarkable.
God is essentially
saying to David,
well, nice plan,
good plan,
don't need a house.
I'll tell you what,
I'll give you another plan.
I'll tell you my plan,
verses 5 to 9.
And when you look
at this plan,
it just takes
your breath away.
And I want to draw out
some of the details
of this plan.
You see that this plan
involves another promise.
Hopefully you can see
that every high point
in the unfolding history
of the Bible
involves some sort
of promise.
Genesis 12,
Exodus 19,
and now 2,
Samuel 7.
And now the promise,
well, what is that promise?
The promise,
chapter 7,
verse 9b,
the promise is that
David's name
will be great.
Reminds us,
of course,
a little bit of
Genesis 12.
Just like Abram,
David's name
will be great.
I don't know,
I'll just mention
this really quickly.
We don't think much
of names
or importance of names.
Of course,
they are important.
That's what we associate
ourselves with.
That's what branding
is about.
Why do we drive
Mercedes-Benz?
Why do we think
they're good quality?
That's what a name is.
Having a bad name
is the opposite.
It's a matter of identity,
of endurance,
in a world of change.
David will have
a great name.
And just like
Genesis 12,
him having a great name
means blessing
will flow.
Verse 10,
Israel,
this is in the context
of war and harassment,
in the context of that,
Israel would have
a home
and they will have
peace.
They will have peace
so that they can enjoy
the good of the land
and the fruit
of the labor.
is a recasting
of Genesis 1
and the promises
of Genesis 12
and 19.
They will be blessed
once again
to be living
under God's rule
in his land
as the people of God.
Well,
what is new
in 2 Samuel 7?
What is new?
All these promises
God has made
and he's essentially
promising the same thing,
that God's kingdom
will come.
What is new?
Well,
the new bid
is in verses 11b to 16,
I want to suggest.
The new bid
is the promise
of the one
who will execute
the plan.
I think this is
the new bid.
The one who will bring
peace to Israel,
the one who will
destroy evil.
Well,
who is it
who will bring
all the promises
to reality?
the son of David.
The son of David.
God,
we are told,
will establish
his kingdom.
He, in turn,
will build a house,
a plan word,
could be a temple,
but it could be a family.
He, in turn,
will build
a people
for God.
Verse 14,
God will be
his father
and he will be
God's son.
Okay,
we read that
and we go,
what does that mean?
You know,
because we think
the son of God
is a reference
to deity.
Right?
It's God.
But that's not
what it is talking about
and incidentally,
every time you read
the phrase,
the son of God,
this is what
it's talking about.
It's not talking
about the deity
of the son of David,
rather,
it's talking about
the kingship,
the kingship
of the son of David.
We don't get it
because we don't live
in an agrarian society
anymore.
The father and son thing
is a functional reference.
You know,
if you were living
in an agrarian society,
sons do,
what fathers do,
did,
do.
So your dad's a farmer,
you're going to be a farmer.
You know,
in that society,
you can't decide,
I'm going to be a musician.
That's just,
no.
Dad and sons,
the sons do
what the fathers do.
And so the son of God
is a king
because God
is the king.
The son of David
will become a king
and exercise
the kingly rule
of God.
That's what the promise is.
Of course,
what does this remind you of
in terms of the
unfolding story
so far?
It reminds us of
Genesis 1.
When the human race
was created,
what were they supposed to do?
What was the brief?
What was the instruction?
They were to
rule
the world
as God's
agents.
But that was all
undone
in Genesis 3.
But here it is,
God's promising
once again
that
a man,
a human
will once again
rule the earth
as he had planned.
Not just any man,
but
the son
of
David.
And it's
breathtaking
for three reasons.
One is,
when you read
the terms
of the promise,
the kingdom
of God,
which seems to be
what the story
of the Bible
is about,
seems to be
coterminous
with the kingdom
of the son
of David.
They're almost
used interchangeably.
You know,
God will establish
his kingdom.
You see,
the kingdom
of the son
of David
is the same
as the kingdom
of God.
That's amazing,
isn't it?
To think of a man
whose rule
will be
like that
of God.
But more than that,
did you notice
in verse 13
and 15,
this one,
his kingdom,
his rule
will be
forever.
I mean,
is that
just ancient
talk for a long
time?
Or do you
think he really
meant forever?
You know,
it raises that
question.
What about
Genesis 3
and the curse
of death?
Surely,
if he is
the son
of Adam,
he could not
rule forever
because death
will strike him
down like
every other
man.
Could it be
true?
And there's
another problem,
another
breathtaking
aspect to this
promise?
And it is
the problem
of hereditary
rule.
See,
there is
salvation for
the Australian
Labour Party.
If they
did have a bad
leader,
she or he,
could eventually
be replaced
by a vote.
That's what we do
in a democracy.
But you
know what is
not available
in a monarchy?
A vote.
You're stuck.
If there
is a king,
you are stuck.
That's the
problem of
hereditary rule.
And the
problem of
hereditary rule
is clearly
apparent in the
book of Samuel.
You know,
at the beginning
of Samuel,
there's Eli
and his two
no-good sons.
Imagine if they
had...
And then Samuel
himself,
one of the
last great
judges of
Israel,
his sons
turned out to
be a real
red bag as
well too.
And then there
is Saul,
the king.
What if he...
The problem
of hereditary
rule.
And now God
is promising
that the son
of David
will have
absolute
power.
It's wonderful,
of course,
because in this
world,
righteousness
and justice
and peace
could only
be brought
about through
absolute power.
But the
problem for
us is who
will we give
that power
to?
A new
rector?
See,
God is
promising
something that
is enormous
and breathtaking.
He's saying
the son of
David is the
one that I'm
going to give
absolute power
and glory
and honour
to him
forever.
He would
have to be
a very
different person
to us,
wouldn't he?
Well,
third question.
What does this
episode tell us
about God
and us
and the world?
The very first
thing that
strikes us,
which is picked
up in John 2,
and again
in the speech
of Stephen
just before
he was
martyred,
is that
where does
he dwell?
He's David
wanting to
create a
temple for
God,
and God
is saying,
I don't
need a
temple.
The whole
world is
mine.
By the time
we got to
Stephen,
and people
were accusing
Stephen of
preaching against
the temple,
they had the
same problem.
They thought
God is,
well,
is there,
is here.
God does
not dwell
in temple
built by
human hands.
But the
new element,
I think,
in showing
us how
God works
in the
world,
particularly
in 2
Samuel 7,
is that
God has
promised that
he will
create a
new human
race.
He hasn't
given up on
the nations,
he will
bless the
nations,
he will
save the
world from
the ravages
of sin
and curse,
and here,
the new
element is
he will
do it
through one
person.
The whole
human history
will be
centered on
this one
person,
and it's
not,
well,
it is the
son of
David,
the son
of God.
In the
Old Testament,
in the time
of David,
the way you
recognize the
king is by
putting oil
on his
head,
is a
process called
anointing.
And the
Hebrew word
for the
anointed one,
the son of
David,
the son of
God,
is the
word
Messiah.
In Greek,
it's the
word
Christ.
The one
who will
bring about
peace and
the redemption
of the world
is through
the Messiah,
the Christ
of God.
One of the
nations,
you know,
there's a lot
of promises
here about
Israel.
You know,
Israel will
have peace.
What about
the nations?
Where's the
blessings to
the nation?
Where's the
mention?
And here,
I want to
just very
quickly take
you to
Psalm 2.
And I
apologize for
the length
that this
is taking.
Psalm 2.
It's worth
just reading
that.
And I'm
just going to
read it
very quickly.
This is a
coronation
psalm.
So every
time a
descendant
of David
goes to
the throne,
this is
sung or
read.
Why do
the nations
conspire and
the people
plot in vain?
The kings
of the earth
take their
stand and
the rulers
gather together
against the
Lord and
against his
anointed.
Let us
break the
chains,
they say,
and throw
off their
feathers.
This is a
way of
saying,
when I'm
driving down
a 50 stone,
I want to
decide how
fast I
want to
drive.
This is
what they're
saying to
God.
Except God
in response
says this,
in verse 4,
the one
unphoned in
heaven laughs.
Puny.
He scoffs
at them.
And then he
bilks them in
his anger and
terrifies them in
his worth,
saying,
you know,
you aren't
really ruling
the world.
And you're not
even ruling
yourself.
And I'm
going to
show you
how you
can know
that you
are not
the king
of the
earth.
And this
is what he
says in
verse 4,
I have
installed
my king
on Sion,
my holy
hill.
The way
you know
that God
is still
in control,
that he's
still king,
is because
he will
put his
king into
your life
and this
world.
Verse
7,
this is what
the son
says,
I will
proclaim
the decree
of the
Lord.
He said
to me,
you are
my son
today,
I become
your father,
ask of
me and
I will
make the
nations
your
inheritance,
the ends
of the
earth,
your
possession,
you will
rule them
with an
iron
scepter,
you will
dash them
to pieces
like
pottery,
therefore
you kings
of St.
Paul's,
be wise,
be warned,
you rulers
of Chesswood,
serve the
Lord with
fear and
rejoice with
trampling,
kiss the
son,
lest he be
angry and
you will be
destroyed in
your way,
for his
wrath can
flare up
in the
moment,
blessed are
all who
take refuge
in him.
Where are
the nations
in 2 Samuel
7?
There they
are,
there they
are.
You see,
there are two
responses to
this son of
David,
the son of
God.
You can
either run
away from
him in
rebellion or
you can
run to
him in
refuge.
The way
that the
son will
bring about
justice and
peace in
the world
is by
destroying
evil.
He will
smash evil
in this
world like
pottery.
But there
is escape,
there is
mercy.
Run to
him.
Last
question,
what difference
does Jesus
make?
See,
we're still
staying in
the Old
Testament.
We're not
even up to
the New
Testament.
What
difference
does Jesus
make?
Romans 1.
Okay,
don't read it
up.
Romans 1
summarizes
for us the
gospel of
Jesus.
And do you
know what it
says?
Jesus is the
son of
David.
And then
it goes on
to say,
declare to
be the
son of
God.
Jesus
declared to
be the
son of
God.
The king
of God,
how?
By the
spirit at
the
resurrection.
How do you
know that our
God is still
in control of
the world?
How do you
know that he
will bring all
to account and
that he will
destroy evil and
bring about
justice and
righteousness in
this world and
peace for all?
Because he
raised Jesus
from the
dead.
And by
doing so,
he crowned
him as
the king.
Death has
no place
in his
kingdom because
he's defeated
it.
This is what
Paul is
talking about.
This is the
one 2 Samuel
7 is talking
about.
This is the
one who
will execute
the plan to
reverse curse
and sin to
bless the
nations to
save the
world and
he will do
it with
justice and
righteousness.
His kingdom
will be
established.
And the
question that
will be asked
of us is,
well, what
difference does
Jesus make?
How will you
and I respond
to this son
today?
A little bit
of religion in
our world,
in your life,
is just not
good enough.
The very
heart of
Christianity is
the person
of Jesus.
And there
are only two
responses.
You either flee
from him and
be smashed like
pottery or you
run to him in
safety and for
mercy.
This is what
2 Samuel leads
us to.
I wonder how
you would
respond to
the son.
Amen.