Who Am I?

This transcript was generated automatically. Its accuracy may vary

Short Summary
The discourse explores King David’s prayer in response to God’s promise regarding the establishment of his house and kingdom, emphasizing that while David desired to build a physical temple, God revealed a greater plan involving the Messiah, Jesus Christ, who would build a spiritual house—the church—as God’s dwelling place. It highlights the fulfillment of God’s covenant through Jesus, who as the “righteous branch” will reign eternally, subdue enemies, and bring blessings to Israel and all humanity. The message calls for humility, faithfulness, and active participation in God’s spiritual house, encouraging believers to live in praise and obedience to God’s word.

Long Summary
Detailed Summary of the Discourse on “The Open Wings of a Prayer” Based on David’s Prayer and God’s Promise

Theme and Context
– The discourse centers on a prayer of King David in response to a divine promise made to him and the nation of Israel.
– The key scriptural foundation is found in 1 Chronicles 17 and 2 Samuel 7, which record David’s desire to build a house for God and God’s subsequent promise regarding David’s lineage and kingdom.
– The promise extends beyond a physical temple to a spiritual kingdom fulfilled in Jesus Christ, the “righteous branch” from David’s line.

David’s Situation and Desire
– David was king over all Israel, having defeated enemies including the Philistines, and the Ark of the Covenant was in Jerusalem but not housed in a permanent temple.
– David wished to build a permanent house (temple) for God, motivated by reverence and a desire to honor God (1 Chronicles 17:1-2; Psalm 132:2-5).
– Nathan the prophet initially approved David’s plan but later received a divine message that David was not to build the temple.

God’s Response to David’s Plan
– God explained through Nathan that He had never asked for a permanent house because His presence moved with Israel in the tabernacle (1 Chronicles 17:5-6; Exodus 25:22).
– Building a permanent temple before Israel was fully settled in the promised land would have been premature.
– God reminded David of how He had chosen him from humble beginnings as a shepherd to lead Israel (Psalm 78:70-71).

Lessons from David’s Experience
– Reverent intentions do not guarantee divine approval; God’s will must be sought (Reprint 3258).
– Believers today are likened to David, taken from “following the sheep” to privileged positions in God’s family through Christ.

God’s Promise to David and Israel
– God promised to establish David’s name and subdue his enemies (1 Chronicles 17:8-10; 2 Samuel 7:11).
– God assured David that He would build a “house” for him—not a physical building but a lasting dynastic kingdom extending forever (1 Chronicles 17:11-14).
– This “house” symbolizes the royal lineage culminating in the Messiah, who would reign eternally.

The Righteous Branch – Jesus Christ
– Old Testament prophecies identify the “righteous branch” from David’s line who will reign wisely and justly (Jeremiah 23:5-6; Isaiah 11:1-5).
– Jesus is the fulfillment of this prophecy, the one who will build the spiritual temple and establish God’s kingdom.
– He is both priest and king, “a priest after the order of Melchizedek” (Zechariah 6:12-13).
– Jesus’ resurrection and exaltation affirm His divine sonship and eternal kingship (Psalm 2:7; Acts 2:33-36).

The Spiritual Temple – God’s House
– Solomon built the physical temple in Jerusalem as David’s son, but this was only a shadow of the greater spiritual house that Jesus builds—the church, the body of Christ (Ephesians 2:19-22; Hebrews 12:22-23).
– The spiritual temple is the dwelling place of God through His Spirit, a holy temple composed of believers.
– The church is the fulfillment of God’s promise to build a house for David’s lineage.

David’s Prayer of Humility and Praise
– Upon receiving God’s message, David humbled himself, acknowledging his insignificant status and God’s overwhelming blessings and promises (1 Chronicles 17:16-18).
– David praised God for His uniqueness and faithfulness in redeeming Israel and establishing His people (1 Chronicles 17:20-22).
– He prayed for the establishment of God’s word, name, and house forever (1 Chronicles 17:23-24).

Application for Believers Today
– Like David, believers must walk humbly, acknowledging God’s grace in elevating them from spiritual “sheep” to members of His family (1 John 3:1; 1 Peter 5:6; Matthew 18:4).
– Believers are called to live lives of praise and obedience, cooperating with God to establish His kingdom on earth (Hebrews 13:15; Colossians 2:6-7).
– Faithfulness and humility are prerequisites to being part of God’s spiritual house (1 Peter 2:5; 1 Peter 4:17).

Final Blessings and Hope
– David closed his prayer acknowledging God’s blessings on his household and expressing hope that the promise would endure forever (1 Chronicles 17:26-27).
– This reflects the Christian hope of an imperishable inheritance through resurrection in Christ (1 Peter 1:3-4).
– The discourse ends with a prayer that believers remain faithful to this great opportunity of being part of God’s eternal family.

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Key Bible Verses Referenced

David’s Prayer and God’s Promise
– 1 Chronicles 17:16-27
– 2 Samuel 7:1-17
– Psalm 132:2-5, 11-14
– Jeremiah 23:5-7
– Isaiah 11:1-5; 9:6-7
– Zechariah 6:12-13
– Psalm 2:6-9
– Psalm 110:1-2
– Acts 2:33-36; Acts 7:46-47
– Hebrews 12:22-23
– Ephesians 2:19-22
– 1 Peter 2:5; 1 Peter 4:17
– 1 John 3:1
– Hebrews 13:15
– Colossians 2:6-7
– Matthew 18:4

Supporting Old Testament Context
– Exodus 25:22
– Psalm 78:70-71
– 2 Samuel 22:49-51

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Summary Insights

– David’s initial desire to build a physical temple was a sincere expression of love for God but was superseded by God’s greater plan.
– God’s promise to David is ultimately fulfilled in Jesus Christ, the eternal king who establishes a spiritual house—His church.
– Believers today are invited to be part of this spiritual house, living humbly and faithfully in praise and obedience to God.
– The promise extends blessings not only to Israel but to all mankind through Christ’s kingdom.
– The discourse encourages believers to reflect on their privileged position and live in a manner worthy of this calling.

Transcript

Our title is the open wings of a prayer made by King David to God as a result of a great promise that God made to him and the nation of Israel. Brother Rick in his lesson this morning spoke about that promise, but we find the title in First Corinthians. Excuse me, first Chronicles the 17th chapter and verse 16. Then David the king went in and sat before the Lord and said, who am I, O Lord God, and what is my house that you have brought me this far? You know God’s promise to David.

And David’s response is found in two chapters in the Bible, first Chronicles 17 and second Samuel, chapter seven. So if you want to follow along, follow along in First Chronicles 17, and also you and I are pictured in this experience. So as we go through the Scriptures and David’s response, put yourself in David’s shoes and think about how this interchange should affect you. So let’s start by going to the second Samuel account, verse one, for the context.

Now, it came about when the king lived in his house, and the Lord had given him rest on every side from his enemies. David was now king over all of Israel. He and Israel had defeated the Philistines, and the Ark of the Covenant was firmly resting in Jerusalem.

Now, in a quiet time, David’s thoughts turned to the Lord, as we’re told in 1st Chronicles 17, verses 1 and 2, and it came about when David dwelt in his house. David said to Nathan the prophet, behold, I’m dwelling in a house of cedar, but the Ark of the Covenant is under curtains, and then Nathan said to David, do all that is in your heart, for the Lord is with you. While David was living in his own house, the Ark of the Covenant was still in the tabernacle arrangement.

And that seemed wrong to David. Other nations, like the Philistines, had built temples for their gods. Perhaps this influenced David’s thinkings. Whatever the case, Nathan the prophet told David, do all that is in your heart, for God is with you. Turned out that was not the right answer.

You know, First Chronicles 17 doesn’t express David’s great desire to build a house for God. But we find it in 132nd Psalm and beginning with verse two, and David swore. He made an oath to the Lord and vowed to the Mighty One of Jacob, surely I will not enter my house, nor lie on my bed. I will not give sleep to my eyes, nor slumber to my eyelids, until I find a place for the Lord, a dwelling place for the Mighty One of Jacob.

You know, we go to the New Testament. Stephen confirms this great Desire that David had. Acts 7, verse 46 and 47. David found favor in God’s sight and asked that he might find a dwelling place for the God of Jacob. But it was Solomon who actually built the house.

You know, David’s desire to build a house for God reminds us of the mana Comet for February 9, which is where our thoughts should go in moments of leisure, we read. The Christian’s habit of thought is also an index of his spiritual state, and good habits of thought need to be carefully cultivated. By habit of thought, we mean the normal condition where the mind goes in the moments of mental leisure, when the strain of labor and care is lifted for a time. The established havoc of thought, like a needle to the pole, should quickly return to its rest in God.

And that is what happened to David, and that is what should happen to us in moments of our rest.

Now, to help us track what’s taking place in the experience, we’ve created a little table to show what David planned, how God responded to David’s plan, and what part is pictured in God’s plan of salvation. We see the day.

You know, unbeknownst to David, at this point, the building of the temple for an ark was going to picture something much bigger in God’s plan, and so the individual who would build that literal temple would not be David.

God’s response doesn’t just stop with saying no. He goes on to explain and have this conversation with David through Nathan the prophet. Reading in verse 5 from 1st Chronicles 17, God says, For I have not dwelt in a house since the day I brought Israel to this day, but I have gone from tent to dent, and from one dwelling place to another. You know, God’s presence with Israel was represented in the ark of the Covenant and particularly the Shekinah light. As we’re told in Exodus 25 and verse 22, There I will meet with you.

And from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubim which are upon the ark of the testimony, I will speak to you about all that I will give you in commandment for the sons of Israel, and so the ark was placed in the tabernacle, and as Israel moved in the wilderness, and eventually into the promised land, from place to place, the tabernacle, and hence the ark, and God’s presence moved with it. But the ark had no permanent resting place.

But had God ever asked Israel to build him a permanent home? In verse 6 of 1st Chronicles 17, God says, In all the places where I have walked with all Israel, have I ever spoken a word with any of the judges of Israel who I commanded to shepherd my people, saying, why have you not built me a house of cedar? Why had God never asked them to build him a permanent house? Because the building of a house would have meant that was the place where Israel was to dwell permanently, and Israel was to dwell permanently in Canaan, the land the land promised to the fathers, as Moses was told in Exodus 6. 8.

There God says, I will bring you into a land. The land that I swore to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob was the land of Canaan, and I will give it to you for possession, for I am the Lord. Therefore it would have been wrong to build a permanent house for God before Israel had returned to the promised land.

But now God, in his extended answer to David’s desire, says in 1st Chronicles 17:7, he starts to talk about the relationship that he had with David. Now therefore, he tells Nathan, you shall say to my servant David. Thus says the Lord of hosts, I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep to be leader over my people Israel, because it was God who selected David to be the next king of Israel. We learn about this in Psalms 78, 70:71 and it says, and so he chose David his servant and took him from the sheepfolds, from the care of youths with the suckling lambs. He brought him to shepherd Jacob his people and Israel his inheritance.

You know, we can learn a couple of lessons from this experience, and Brother Russell explains one of them in reprint 3258. He says, we are not to conclude that because our plans are reverential and designed for the glory of God, that they must have divine approval. We need to always make sure we’re doing God’s will and not our own, no matter how reverent our ideas and our plans might be, and the second lesson is, aren’t we a little like David?

Hasn’t God taking us from following the sheep in our day and put us in a very privileged position and relationship with him as a member of Christ’s body? Keep that thought in mind as we go through the rest of this experience.

Now God reminds this conversation continues. God reminds David, of course, all the things he had done for him. 1st Chronicles 17:8 and I have been with you wherever you have gone, and have cut off all of your enemies from before you, and I will make your name like the name of the great ones who are in the earth. You know, the Lord had been with David throughout his entire life in the days of Samuel. Read in 1 Samuel 18:14 David was prospering in all his ways, for the Lord was with him.

And we also read in 2 Samuel 8:6 and the Lord helped David wherever he went.

We particularly like how David expressed God’s protection and overruling in his life. In 2nd Samuel 22 verses 49 and 51 he said, it was God who brings me out from my enemies. It was God who lifted me up above those who rise against me. He wrecked, he rescued him from violent men. He is the tower of deliverance to his king.

He shows loving kindness to his anointed to David and his descendants forever. Think about it. David’s position and success as king of Israel was all due to the Lord’s intervention on his behalf. If God did not intervene, David would have spent his life as a shepherd following the sheep. But God intervened and brought him in this very privileged relationship.

And think about the application of that personal in your life.

On our table we add the following. You know David’s plan was to build a physical home for the ark. However well intentioned that might have been, that was in complete harmony with God’s plan. Similarly, we must look for divine direction in our lives, for the approval of our pans, no matter how well intentioned they might be before we proceed, and additionally, just as God prospered and protected David, he will prosper and protect us as long as we make our faith, maintain our faith in and our obedience to it.

Now God, in this conversation that Nathan is going to repeat to David, expands his response to David to include the entire nation of Israel. Why did he do that? Because David’s reign and success was for the benefit not just for David and his family, but for God’s inheritance, the nation of Israel. Chronicles 1:17 verses 9 and 10 For I will appoint a place for my people Israel, and I will plant them so they may dwell in their own place and not be moved again, and the wicked will not waste them anymore.

As formerly, even from the day I commanded my judges to be over my people Israel, you know at this point, when God is having this conversation ultimately with David, you know Israel is already in the promised land. But God is looking prophetically down the stream of time when Israel would be regathered to this promised land following their lack of faith in their diaspora, and God promised this future blessing by many of the Old Testament prophets. One of them was Jeremiah, and we find it in Jeremiah 32, 40, 41, and this ties up with brother Rick’s lesson this morning about everlasting covenants.

For I, God, will make an everlasting covenant with them that I will not turn away from them to do them good and I will put my fear in them, in their hearts, so that they will not turn away from them them I will joyce over them to do them good and will faithfully plant them in this land with all my heart and all my soul. Think about the commitment God is making in that promise to the nation of Israel.

It Israel out of the land of Egypt.

But as the Lord lives who brought us, brought the sons of Israel from the land of the north and from all the countries that he had banished them for I will restore them to their own land which I gave to their fathers.

This future deliverance of Israel which we are actually seeing progress during our day will be so much greater than God’s liberation of Israel from Egyptian bondage through Jeremiah. God tells us that it will be one of David’s descendants who will be used to accomplish this deliverance in verses that brother Rick read this morning and we repeat Jeremiah 23 beginning with verse 5 behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I’ll raise up to David a righteous branch, and he will reign as king and act wisely, and do justice and righteousness in the land, and in his days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell securely, and this is his name, by which he would be called the Lord our righteousness. But who is this righteous branch? We’ll come back to that question in a moment, continuing with verse seven.

Therefore, behold, the days are coming, declares the lord, when I will no longer say, as the LORD lives, who brought up the sons of Israel from the land of Egypt. But the LORD lives, who brought up and led back the descendants of the household of Israel from the land of the north and from all the countries where I had driven them. Then they will live on their own soil.

Who is the righteous branch that will accomplish this great deliverance? Well, I know you know all of the all know the answer. But the prophet Isaiah tells us about this in Isaiah 11, beginning with verse 1. Then a shoot will come out of the stem of Jesse, who was David’s father, and the Spirit of the Lord will rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and strength, the Spirit of knowledge and fear of the Lord and he will delight in the fear of the Lord. He will not judge by what his eyes see, nor make a decision by what his ears hear but with righteousness he will judge the poor, and decide with fairness for the afflicted of the earth and he will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips, he will slay the wicked.

That branch is none other than our risen Lord Jesus Christ.

But the confirmation of the Old Testament prophets about Jesus being the branch doesn’t stop there. Jeremiah tells us in Jeremiah 33:14, behold, the days are coming when I will fulfill the good word that I have spoken concerning the house of Israel and the house of Judah. But what was that? Good work continuing in verse 15 in those days, and at that time I will cause a righteous branch of David to spring forth, and he shall execute justice and judge and righteousness in the earth.

In those days Judah will be saved, Jerusalem would dwell sweetly, and this is the name by which she shall be called the Lord our righteousness. For thus says the Lord, David will never lack for a man to sit on the throne of the house of Israel. He’s really talking about the same time and the same blessings that God is mentioning in his conversation with David and telling us that the branch, our Lord, the one who is referred to as Lord our righteousness, is the one that will fulfill these promises, lest we still not make the connection that our risen Lord is the branch. The prophet Isaiah sort of seals the connection for us in that prophecy we read every time near this time of the year, Isaiah 9, 6, 7. For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us, and the government will rest upon his shoulders.

And there will be no end to the increase of his government or his peace on the throne of David and over his kingdom. But it is not just Isaiah as well. The prophet Zechariah links our Lord as the branch and then links it to the building of the temple. In chapter 6 and verses 12 and 13, then the Lord of hosts, behold a man. Then says the Lord of hosts, behold a man whose name is the branch.

For he will branch out from where he is, and he will build the temple of the Lord. Yes, it is he who who will build the temple of the Lord, and he will bear the honor and sit and rule upon his throne. Thus he will be a priest on his throne, and the council of peace will be between the two offices.

You know, Christ sits as a priest upon his throne, a priest after the order of Melchizedek, and it is he that will build the temple of the Lord God’s house.

So coming back to our table, we add the following. It is David’s descendant, named the righteous branch, who will build the spiritual temple promised in the plan of God. He will be a priest upon his throne, a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. He will save and regather Israel to their land formally promised to them by God, and he will be a king over Israel and the entire earth.

And he will shepherd Israel and all mankind back into harmony with God. The motivation for this effort would his love for God and his desire to fulfill God’s plan, and this arrangement will bring blessings first to natural Israel under that new covenant, but to all mankind and fulfill the promises that God has made to all of these individuals, including Abraham, to raise up a seed that would bless all the families of the earth.

Returning to God’s answer to David’s request in 1st Chronicles 17, God now brings the promise back to David, 1st Chronicles 17 and verse 10 and I will subdue all your enemies. The record in 2 Samuel 7:11 says, I will give you rest from all your enemies. Now we see up to this point, God has already subdued David’s enemies, Goliath and Saul and the Philistines. But David confirms the validity of God helping subdue all his enemies in 2 Samuel 22. 1 and David spoke the words that the Lord delivered him from the hand of his enemies and also from the hand of Saul.

Indeed, God had protected David.

Then in God’s conversation with David, he gets to the kernel of his message in 1 Chronicles 17:10 moreover, I tell you that the Lord will build you a house.

Brother Russell suggests in reprint 4260 what God meant.

The Lord assures David that he would build a house for him, that is to say, he would not cut off his family from the throne, as in the case of Saul, and the house of David was indeed perpetuated through Solomon, continued its dominance in Judah for several centuries. But this would not completely fulfill the Lord’s promise, which, although not understood by David, was evidently meant to refer expressly to Messiah and his kingdom. David had started out planning to build a physical house for God. God responds by promising to build for David a family that would remain on Israel’s throne forever.

And this is exactly what God means when he goes into the next verse of 1st Chronicles 17, verse 11 when your days are fulfilled, you must go to be with your fathers. Then I will set up one of your descendants after you, who will be one of your sons, and I will establish his kingdom. In Psalms God calls this promise a contract. Psalms 83 excuse me, Psalms 89, verses 3 and 4 and I have made a covenant with my chosen I have sworn to David my servant, that I will establish your seed forever and build up your throne to all generations.

And later, in the same 89th Psalm, God repeats this, the everlasting nature of this contract, of this covenant. Psalms 89, verses 29 and 36, and so I will establish David’s descendants forever, and his throne as the days of heaven, his descendants shall endure forever his throne as the sun before me. God’s promise to David was that one of his descendants would sit on Israel’s throne forever.

And then God mentions that this descendant will be God’s agent, building David and building God a house. First Chronicles 17, verse 12, and he shall build for me a house, and I will establish his throne forever.

But what kind of house was God’s agent going to build? You know, Stephen partially answers this question for us in his response to the Jews in Acts the seventh chapter when he quotes these words from the old Testament, Acts 7:48. However, the Most High does not dwell in houses built with human hands. As the prophet says. Heaven is my throne, earth is my footstool.

What kind of house will you build for me? Says the Lord. What kind of place is there for my repose? Was it not my hand that made all these things? Says the Lord.

Now, the house that David’s son was going to build from God is actually the same as that temple that the prophet Zechariah referred to in Zechariah, the sixth chapter. But it is not a terrestrial structure.

Now, it was David’s son Solomon, who actually built a physical house for God, the one that David initially aspired to build, and Solomon mentioned this when the temple was dedicated, as recorded in 2nd Chronicles 6, beginning with verse 17. This is Solomon speaking. Now, it was in the heart of my father David to build a house for the name of the Lord, the God of Israel. But the Lord said to my father David, because it was in your heart to build a house for my name, you did well.

That was in your heart. Nevertheless, you shall not build a house, but your son, who will be born to you. He will build a house for my name.

Continuing in verse 20, now the Lord has fulfilled the word which he spoke. For I have risen in place of my father David and sit on the throne of Israel, as the Lord promised, and I have built the house for the name of the Lord, the God of Israel. There I have set a place for the ark, in which it is the covenant of the Lord which he made with our fathers when he brought them out of the land of Egypt, and so Solomon had followed David his father, and built this physical house.

But was the physical house the only house that God was talking about when he was responding to David’s initial Desire.

If we go to the 132nd Psalm, verses 11 to 14 explain what house God was really talking about when he was talking about building a house for David. Psalms 132, beginning with verse 11. For the Lord has sworn to David a truth from which he will not turn back. Of the fruit of your body, I will sit upon your throne. This is the righteous branch, the one that God will use to build himself and David a house.

Verse 13. For the Lord has chosen Zion. He is a he has desired it for his habitation. This is the house that the branch is going to build for God. This is my resting place forever, for here where I dwell, for I have desired it.

God’s resting place, his habitation. The house that is going to be built is Zion, and the Apostle Paul explains to us in Hebrews the 12th chapter and verse 22 and 23 what Zion represents. He says to us, he says to you, you have come to Mount Zion and the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to the general assembly and church of the first room whose names are enrolled. Heaven Zion is a picture here of the spiritual phase of God’s kingdom, the Christ head and body.

This is the house, this is the temple. This is the structure that the righteous branch will build all down through the gospel age.

In Ephesians the second chapter, Apostle Paul explains how the church, how the Christ, including his body members, become God’s dwelling place. Ephesians 2, beginning with verse 19, and you are fellow citizens with the saints and are of God’s household. The church will be God’s house, having been built on the foundation of the apostles, the prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone. Jesus is our role model.

He is the example that we are to be conformed to, in whom the whole building, being fitly fitted together, grows into a holy temple of the Lord, the Christ head and body. This is the holy temple. This is the family of God that the righteous branch is creating. Verse 22. In whom you are also being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit.

God, through his holy Spirit, will dwell in this temple, his family, his spiritual house, Zion, the spiritual phase of the kingdom. This is the house of God.

That brings us back to our table again. Now we find that Solomon is finally identified as David’s son who would build the physical temple. But this would take place after David’s lifetime, and this place would literally be a place for the ark and hence God to dwell for the nation of Israel, and this building would express Solomon and Israel’s desire and their love for God and their thanksgiving to the Heavenly Father for all his blessings to them and would be a blessing to the nation of Israel. It would give them a place to come and worship their God.

But that’s not where it ends. It would picture the building of a greater house, a spiritual house, the Christ, and this is the spiritual house that our Lord, as the righteous branch, builds during the Gospel age to be a dwelling place for the Heavenly Father, and this will be arrangement that will not just bring blessings to the followers of Jesus, but also blessings to all the family of the earth and in the fulfillment of the Abrahamic promise returning to 1st Chronicles 17, God gives us a little bit more information about who is this angel? Who is this agent who will build God’s house?

1st Chronicles 17:13 and I will be his Father, and he shall be my son, and I will not take my loving kindness away from him, as I took it from him who was before you. You know, this reminds us of the second Psalm and verses six and seven where we’re told, but as for me, and this is God speaking, I have installed my king upon Zion, my holy mountain. I will surely tell of the degree the Lord has said to me, you are my son. Today I have forgotten you or brought you to the birth. This king, this son, is no one other than our Lord Jesus Christ.

But I think the NLT translation of this verse gives us a little clearer understanding for the reader. Psalms 2:7 from the NLT the Lord said to me, you are my son today I have become your father.

God became our Lord’s Father by giving him the Divine nature when he resurrected him from the dead.

Continuing in verses eight and nine of the second Psalm, our Lord’s future work as a king, sitting on that throne after the order of Melchizedek is described. Psalms 2, verses 8 and 9 Ask of me. God says to him, and I surely will give you the nations as your inheritance, and the very ends of the earth as your prevent. As your possession you shall break them with a rod of iron you shall shatter them like earthenware. It will be our Lord’s work to subdue the nations and the peoples and the kings of the earth, that then he might extend to them the blessings promised to God through the Abrahamic promise.

In the 110th Psalm, David confirms that our resurrected Lord is being set upon Zion as a king to rule and subdue the nations under his earthly kingdom. Psalms 1:10, beginning with verse 1 and 2 and the Lord says unto my Lord, sit at my right hand until I make your Enemies, a footstool for you, your feet for the Lord will stretch forth your strong scepter from Zion, saying, rule in the midst of your enemies.

It was on the day of Pentecost that the apostle Peter applied this promise to the resident to the risen Lord, beginning in Acts chapter two and verse three, and so, because David was a prophet and knew that God had sworn to him an oath to seat one of his descendants upon his throne, David looked ahead prophetically and spoke of the resurrection of the Christ, that he was neither abandoned to Hades nor did his flesh suffer decay. This Lord God raised him up again, to which we are all witnesses.

Continuing in verse 33 of Acts 2, Peter refers back to the 110th Psalm and concludes that all these Old Testament prophecies about a descendant sitting on David’s throne pointed to the resurrected Jesus. Therefore, having been exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured this forth which you both see and hear. For it was not David who ascended into heaven, but he says himself, the Lord said unto my Lord, sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet, and then finally Peter concludes in Acts 2, verse 36, then let all the house of Israel know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you have crucified.

In his sermon, Peter was answering actually a question Jesus had posed to the Pharisees just before his death. Do you remember the question? Matthew 22:42. Jesus said to them, what do you think? Whose son is he?

They said of him, he posed the question, which is, what do you think about Christ? Who Whose son is he? And they said to him, the son of David. So then he said to them, so then how does David in spirit call him Lord? Saying, the Lord said unto my Lord, sit at my right hand until I put your enemies before your feet.

If David calls him Lord, how is he his son?

The Pharisees couldn’t answer the question. But Peter, on the day of Pentecost, enlightened by the Holy Spirit, explained it to his audience. It was the man Christ Jesus, who was David’s son or descendant according to the flesh. But it was the resurrected Lord who would become David’s Lord and ultimately David’s life giver.

Returning back to 1st Chronicles 17, God now explains the relationship that will be between our Lord and the house that he builds. 1st Chronicles 17, verse 14 But I will settle him in my house and in my kingdom forever, and his throne shall be established forever.

Notice the one when our Lord builds the house, whose house is it? It’s God’s house. It’s God’s family, and the Apostle Paul confirms that we as members of the church are the house being described, Hebrews 3:6. But Christ was faithful as a son over his house, whose house we are, if we hold fast our confidence and the boast of our hope, firm unto the end.

And the apostle Peter confirms this in 1st Peter 2. 5. He says, you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house for a holy priesthood. You know our Lord is building the church as this temple, as this house of God, of this dwelling place for God’s Spirit and our Lord’s zeal. Building this house is described in John 2, verse 17, where his disciples remembered that the zeal for God’s house would consume him.

But for us, if we want to be part of this house, we must be judged faithful, as Peter says in 1st Peter 4:17. For he says, for it is time for judgment to begin with the household of God speaking of this same house, and if it begins with us, what will be the outcome of those who do not obey the gospel of God? So we must become obedient to that Gospel message if we want to become part of that house.

This concluded the message that God wanted Nathan to give to David. As we read in 1st Chronicles 17:15. According to all these words and and according to all of this vision, Nathan communicated this message back to David.

What a message.

To our table we add the Our Lord became God’s Son, a divine being possessing life within himself, so that he could become that everlasting Father, that life giving spirit in his kingdom. His zeal for building the Lord’s house, God’s house, consumed him, leading him to humble himself even unto the death of a cross, and we have the opportunity and we’ll become part of this spiritual house, this house that our Lord is building, but only if we are conformed to the image of God’s dear Son, to this great promise. David Response begins in First Chronicles 17:16 Then David went in and sat before the Lord and said, who am I?

Who am I, O Lord God, and what is my house that you had brought me this far? You know God’s promises to David humbled him greatly.

Verse 17 this is a small thing in your lives, O God. But you have spoken of your servant’s house for a great while to come and have regarded me according to the standard of a man of high degree.

What more can David say to you concerning the honor that you have bestowed upon your servant. For you know your servant, O Lord, for your servant’s sake, and according to your own heart, you have wrought all this greatness to make known all of these great things. David is overwhelmed.

What about us?

Have we been humbled by the great promises God has made to us? To be impited, to be invited, to be part of his family, to be part of this spiritual house?

Apostle John writes in First John 3:1 See how great the love the Father has bestowed upon us, that we would be called the children of God. Such we are. You know, the great love God has poured upon us in giving this opportunity should really bring us to great humility, for it’s not something we’ve done or earned ourselves. Peter says in 1st Peter 5:6, he says, clothe yourselves with humility for one another, for God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble. Therefore humble yourself under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in the proper time, as our Lord said in Matthew 18:4 whoever humbles himself as a child, he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

Then David’s prayer shifts into praise for God, particularly for what he has done for the nation of Israel, going back to 1st Chronicles 17, verse 20 O Lord, there is none like you, nor is there any God beside you, according to all that we have heard with our ears and what one nation in the earth is like your people Israel, whom God went to redeem for himself as a people to make your make you a name by great and terrible things in driving out nations from before your people who you redeemed from Egypt for your people Israel, you have made your own people forever, and you, O Lord, became their God.

You know, just like all the great things God has done fleshly Israel, the offspring of his good friend Abraham, God has done great things for his spiritual inheritance, the Christ head and body, and just as David did, let us live a life praising God for his goodness to us, as Paul writes in Hebrews 13:15. Through him, then let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God that is the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to his name for the great blessing and great love he has shown to each one of us, and he will ultimately show to the entire human family.

David’s prayer continues with the desire that may God’s word, his promises, and his name be established, and that God would do as he has spoken.

Verse 23, First Chronicles 17 and now, O Lord, let the word that you have spoken concerning your servant and concerning his house be established forever and two, as you have spoken, let your name be established and magnified forever. For the Lord of hosts is the God of Israel, even a God to Israel, and the house of David, your servant, is established before you. For you, O my God, have revealed to your servant that you will build for him a house. Therefore your servant has found the courage to pray to you or before you.

Let us do all we can, as sort of David expressed in his words, in our thoughts, in our words and actions, to cooperate with this effort of God to establish his word, to establish his name, and to build this house, as the apostle Paul writes in Colossians 2, 6, 7. Therefore, if you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, having been firmly rooted and now being built up in him and established in your faith. Because if we do that, we will become part, an everlasting part of this house.

To our table we add the to become part of God’s house we must be clothed with humility, as David was such an apt demonstration. We must live a life of praise to God, and we must live to establish God’s word, his name, and his house throughout, whatever we can do in the rest of our Christian walk.

Finally, David closes his prayer with the words of verses 26 and 27, and now, O Lord, you are God, and you have promised this good thing to your servant, and now it has pleased you to bless the house of your servant, that it may continue forever before you. For you, O Lord, have blessed and it is blessed forever. You know, this reminds us in closing of the words of the apostle Peter.

First Peter 1, verses 3 and 4. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who, according to his great mercy, has caused us to be begotten again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled, and will not fade away, preserved in heaven for you.

Who are we that God has taken us from following the sheep and blessed us with this overwhelming promise? It is our prayer that we might all be faithful in receiving this opportunity and be part of this house, and may the Lord had his blessing.

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