The Forever House God Promised to Build

The dancing in the streets was over, and the ark of God sat in a tent in Jerusalem.

King David lived just up the hill, in a brand-new palace made of cedar. (Cedar was the finest wood there was. It smelled sweet, and bugs would not eat it.) God had given David rest from all his enemies. For the first time in years, no army was chasing him.

One evening David looked from the tent to his own shining walls and sent for Nathan the prophet.

"Look at this," said David. "I live in a house of cedar, and the ark of God lives in a tent. That isn't right! I want to build God a house."

"Go and do it!" said Nathan. "The LORD is with you."

(Nathan said yes before he had asked God. Even prophets get carried away.)

That same night God spoke to Nathan.

"Go and tell my servant David this. Are you going to build me a house? From the day I brought my people out of Egypt until now, I have been moving from place to place in a tent. In all that time, did I ever once ask anyone, 'Why haven't you built me a house of cedar?'

"I took you from the fields, where you followed the sheep, and I made you king over my people. And now I tell you this: I, the LORD, will build a house for you."

God did not mean a house of wood. He meant a family: sons and grandsons and great-great-grandsons, a line of kings.

"When your life is over and you die," God said, "I will raise up one of your own sons to be king after you. He will build a house for my name. I will be his father, and he will be my son. I will never take my love away from him, the way I took it from Saul. Your house and your kingdom will stand forever. Your throne will last forever."

(God did not say how many great-greats it would take.)

In the morning Nathan told David every word.

David went into the tent where the ark was, and he sat down in front of the LORD.

"Who am I, Lord GOD? Who is my family, that you have brought me this far? And now you are talking about my family for years and years to come!

"What more can I say? There is no one like you, and there is no God but you. Your words are true. Please do what you have promised."

David had come to give God a present, and God had given David forever instead. (It is a bit like offering to bake your father a birthday cake and having him hand you the keys to the whole bakery.)

David's son Solomon did build God a house, a temple of cedar and gold. But Solomon grew old and died, and years later an enemy army burned his temple down. The kings of David's family died one after another, and at last an enemy carried the last king far away. David's throne stood empty.

The people kept counting David's grandsons, waiting for the son whose throne would never sit empty.

At last an angel came to a young woman in Nazareth engaged to a man from David's family. "God will give your son the throne of his father David," the angel said, "and his kingdom will never end."

He would be another son of David, and God's own Son for real. He was born in Bethlehem, David's town, and shepherds left their sheep to come and see him. His name was Jesus, and no king will ever take his place on David's throne.