Jan 23, 2024
(2Sm.7:4-17; Ps.89:4-5,27-30; Mk.4:1-20)
“Your house and your kingdom shall endure forever before me;
your throne shall stand firm forever.”
David seems intent on establishing the Lord’s presence forever by building a permanent house in which He might dwell, but how well our God answers the great king’s thoughts with the promise of making “his posterity endure forever.” It is the Lord who establishes all, and so He states, “I will fix a place for my people Israel; I will plant them so that they may dwell in their place without further disturbance,” to show that He thinks of us and loves us first. Though He approves and blesses our desires to care for Him and make Him known, as He shows by revealing to David that his son “shall build a house to [His] name,” He cannot be outdone in His love for us.
Solomon will build the temple of the Lord, yes, and it will be a great house in which all shall worship God and through which all shall find blessing from God. But the true Son of David upon whom the Lord’s favor rests eternally is Jesus Himself. It is His kingdom which truly “stands firm” forever. It is through Him the Lord will “destroy all [our] enemies” and grant us peace round about. He is the seed of David come to full growth, the promise of the king come to fulfillment. This is He whom the Israelites truly sought when first they asked for a king – this is God’s blessed answer to their request for one of their own to rule them.
It is clear that David is as the seed “sown on good soil” which “yield[s] thirty- and sixty- and a hundredfold.” Satan shall not come to carry off what is sown through him, nor shall he “wither for lack of roots” or be choked off by the cares of this world. For as the Lord says of him, “I have been with you wherever you went”; and so His nourishment, the Spirit of the Lord which rushed upon David from his first anointing, remains, too, upon this chosen king. And though he shall sin, and though his sons shall turn away from worship of the true God, yet the Lord’s blessing remains. And in the enduring of the Lord’s correction “with the rod of men and human chastisements,” Jesus, the Son of David, the Son of God, by His crucifixion and death opens the way for all children of David, all children blessed by God, to return to the Lord of all and remain with Him forever. The kingdom of Jesus is now established; let us come to this Temple and be saved.
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O LORD, let us take to heart your Word
and align ourselves with your will
that we might reign forever with your Son.
YHWH, a House you make for us in the Person of your Son. His throne endures forever, and we with Him.
O LORD, make us fruitful in your NAME, in the flesh and blood of Jesus. We are worth nothing without your grace, without your blessing upon our race – without your help all our words and deeds would fall to dust. Maintain your kindness toward us, keep the teaching of your Son in our hearts, or we shall be cast from your presence.
How shall we hear the Word you wish to impart to poor souls? How shall we learn the lesson of obedience and realize it is you who establish us, who give us a House in which to dwell? You are our Father, our God, our Rock and Savior. In your Son we are made your children and so endure forever in the light of your face. Be with us now and remain with your faithful. Let us be good soil and produce fruit for you.