Well, it was probably one of the best product names in modern culture. It expressed something that everybody, if they thought about it, would want-Windows! What a great name. A window is something you see through; a window gives you perspective; a window opens the world to you; a window brings in light; a window gives you insight. What a great name. Bill Gates was saying, "I've created a program that's going to give you a window on your world." God's Word is meant to do just that for us. It's meant to be a window on the world that we would never ever have in and of ourselves, the best window on what is the window of God's revelation.
The Window of David's Life
And we're going to spend the next few months looking out one of those windows. It's the window of the life of David--more biographical information penned about this man in Scripture than any other character other than the Messiah. Why so much material on David? His amazing life, but the Lord of David is also the son of David--the hope of Israel and our hope, and the house of David will be forever. And in this life, we see things that we would not see any other way. It's a wonderful window on the world that is.
I'd like you to turn again there in your 'Order of Service' or in your Bibles to II Samuel 7. You could argue that this is one of the most significant chapters in all of the Old Testament because this is God's covenant with David. This is God saying something shocking to David, something hard to take in, something hard for the mind of this king to embrace--that his house would never end. And that in the line of David would come a King who would establish justice, and righteousness, and peace, and wholeness forever.
Think about it, who wouldn't want that? This covenant defined the spiritual life of Israel. This covenant became the identity of Israel. This covenant was the hope of Israel. This covenant delineated the future of Israel. You couldn't have a passage more important than this, but the covenant and David's response to it, and the things surrounding it, providing a wonderful summary of the kind of windows that the life of this man gives us on 'what is' that are so important for us to have. First, you will notice that David's life gives us, if I could say it, a 'blood and guts' window on life in a fallen world.
Look at verse one, a wonderful little summary; it passes so quickly; you could miss its importance. "Now when the king lived in his house and the LORD had given him rest from all his surrounding enemies, the king said to Nathan the prophet. . ." and goes on...when the LORD had given him rest from all his surrounding enemies... Oh my goodness, what a life of war, and contention, and conflict this man lived, constant treachery, constant conspiracy, family treason, deceit all around. At times it's hard to know who is David's enemy and who is David's friend.
And as we walk through the life of David with all its shocking honesty, we're confronted with how utterly broken everything that touches us actually is. I would ask you this evening, "Is your view of life just that realistic?" Brothers and sisters, this is a broken world. We don't live as people in a world that sort of just needs to be tweaked. We don't live as people that just need a little bit of moral adjustment. We live in a world that's groaning, waiting for redemption. And we live as broken sinners in desperate need of help.
I'm afraid that we don't take the fall seriously. And because we don't take the fall seriously, we're unprepared for the things that we face. I'm afraid that often we marry, or we have children, or we develop friendships, or we get involved in ministry with unrealistic expectations, not understanding the brokenness that's all around us. I talk with parents who seem to be shocked that they've actually given birth to sinners-- children who will actually require disciplined, perseverant parenting--how did that ever happen?
I talk with husbands and wives who are shocked that they've married somebody who is less-than-perfect. It doesn't take very long to understand that--usually it's before the honeymoon is over that you realize you have, in fact, married a flawed human being. Some people even pick up their marriage license to make sure that it's a firm contract. We live in a broken world, and there's a way in which you and I should weep our way through the story of David. We should weep as we watch what sin does to politics.
Weep at What Sin Does
We should weep as we watch what sin does to spirituality. We should weep as we watch what sin does to the family. We should weep as we watch what sin does to loyalty and friendship. We should weep at what sin does to people's motivations, and their goals, and their purposes. We should cry as we go through the story of David, "Oh Redeemer, please come,"--because the world of David is a world that is broken. But there's a second thing. David's life gives us a wonderful window into the heart of a man.
Look what comes next. The king said to Nathan the prophet, 'See now, I dwell in a house of cedar, but the ark of God dwells in a tent.' And Nathan said to the king, 'Go, do all that is in your heart, for the LORD is with you.' What a sweet vignette; do you get it? David has now become king, and he's dwelling in a house of cedar. In case you don't know it, that means luxury--beautiful, expensive, fragrant wood. It was a sign of success. It was a sign of power. It was a sign of wealth, and this dear man, in love with his Lord, thought to himself, "It's wrong that I should be in a palace, and the God that I serve is still living like a pilgrim in a tent."
Now here's what this is meant to do: God would reveal to us the thoughts, and motives, and desires, and intentions, and attitudes, and purposes of this man's heart so that that would function for us as a mirror into our hearts. Now why is that necessary? Oh, hear me say this... because the Bible says, "The heart is deceitful," and guess who it deceives first? I can be so confused; I can be so blind; I can be so deceived about the condition of my own heart. And I can even participate in my own heart blindness.
Sometimes I'm blindly willful, but other times I'm willfully blind. And I was reading this week again and I thought, "Oh, God, that's not my heart. Oh, that I had this heart. Oh, that I would say to myself, 'It's wrong for me to live in the luxury that I live in while the church of Jesus Christ seems to struggle financially. It's wrong that I have so many moments of leisure when there's so much work to be done in the body of Christ. It's wrong for me to be so concerned with my own honor when the God of it all, the Lord of lords and the King of kings is so dishonored everywhere around me.
I should be dissatisfied. I should be concerned. I should be energized,'" but I would say to you, "Often I'm not." And often I prize my luxury, and my comfort, and my ease more than I prize the honor of my God and the success of His kingdom. Isn't it wonderful that as you look into the heart of this man, you're given insight into the struggles of your own heart? But there's a third thing. The real, the real character that's on center stage in the life of David, shockingly is not David. You would think that if you wrote a person's biography, they would probably be the central character.
But in this biography, the central character is actually not the person the biography is about. The central character in the story of David is not David. David is literally painted into the background although the story is about him; and foreground, center stage, with the spotlight on him is the Lord because the narrative of David is the narrative of the Lord of sovereign glory and redemptive mercy. And what God is actually doing is using the story of David to put Himself on center stage. And so, in the story of David, you get a window into the character of God.
Listen to these words, But that same night the word of the LORD came to Nathan, (verse 4) "Go and tell my servant David, 'Thus says the LORD: Would you build me a house to dwell in? I have not lived in a house since the day I brought up the people of Israel from Egypt to this day, but I have been moving about in a tent for my dwelling. In all the places where I have moved with all the people of Israel, did I speak a word with any of the judges of Israel, whom I commanded to shepherd my people of Israel saying, "Why have you not built me a house of cedar?"' (ESV)
The Condescending Love of God
What a gorgeous picture of the condescending love of God. It is an incredible miracle of grace that God would choose to dwell with the people of Israel. It is beyond imagination that the Lord of glory would be quite content to be a pilgrim in a tent for the sake of the redemption of His people. What an amazing thing! This is your God. This is love that I thought this week, there's no way that I'll be able to wrap my words around it. There's no way that I can marshal the kinds of adjectives I would love to marshal to characterize this love.
I just don't have the ability--that God comes to selfish and rebellious people--people who would rather have their own way rather than His way. And He makes His dwelling with them. And He makes His truth known to them. And He's willing to be a pilgrim in order for them to have hope and redemption. Well, you can't look at that character without thinking of the Lord Jesus Christ. "Foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of Man does not have a place to lay his head." Jesus was willing, literally, to be homeless for our sake, for our redemption.
Oh, what hope there is in knowing that our hope is in a God of this kind of magnificent love. But there's a fourth thing. This life of David gives us a window into the plan of God. This is a God of sovereign purpose. This is a God who is zealous to redeem. This is a God who understands how broken His world is, how broken people are. And so, in the words that follow, God makes it very clear that He's made David's name great, and He's established David's kingdom, not just for this moment, not just for the next few generations, but that from David would come a house that would remain forever.
Literally, the passage goes this way. "David, you've said you want to make a house for me? Well, let me tell you something, 'I'm going to build you a house. I'm going to do the building, thank you. And I'm going to build your kingdom, and I'm going to establish a house that will remain forever.'" Literally, that promise is a promise of Christ. Christ said, "Destroy this house, and in three days I will raise it up." He was talking about Himself. Peter alludes to this passage in his first Gospel sermon.
Oh sure, this promise of 'Kings to come' was Solomon and Solomon's descendants, but it points its finger at the Lord Jesus Christ. And there should be a shiver go down your spine as you hear God say, "Your throne shall be established forever." In that sentence is your hope and mine--what wonderful hope. And then, the life of David gives us a gorgeous window on the truth of God. Look, if you would, at verse 28 of this passage: 'And now, O Lord God, you are God, and your words are true, and you have promised this good thing to your servant.
Now therefore may it please you to bless the house of your servant, so that it may continue forever before you. For you, O Lord God, have spoken, and with your blessing shall the house of your servant be blessed forever.' Why do you have confidence in the truth of God? What would make a person build his life on this system of theology, on these propositions, on these promises, on these perspectives? Why would we build our existence based on these truths? Why would they become the basis of the way we think about marriage, and think about finances, and think about parenting, and think about identity, and think about meaning and purpose?
Why Have Confidence in God's Truth?
Why would we ever have confidence in God's truth? Is it just because it's logical? Is it just because it's wise? Is it just because it's ancient? Is it just because you line it up against the other philosophies of the world, and this one seems to cover more of the gaps than others? No, David gets it right here. He ends the passage by saying, "Your words are true." And the reason David has confidence in the truth of God is because he has confidence in the God behind the truth. Now, I love theology.
I love the gorgeous truths of the Word of God, but I understand my hope is not in abstractions. My hope is not actually in theology. My hope is in the Lord. And what you're confronted with in the life of David is this, praise God for this--the God who speaks is a God who acts, and because He acts, what He says is reliable. David says in these verses, "You're a great God. You do awesome things. You have exercised your power for the sake of your people; your name is great. Therefore, your words are true, and what you promised, will happen."
You see, our hope is in the Lord. He is a God of awesome power. He is a God of glorious grace. He is a God of unshakable purpose. He is your hope. Your hope is deeper than principles, and your hope is deeper than outlines, and your hope is deeper than printed wisdom. Praise God for His Word, but His Word is reliable because behind the Word of God stands the God of the Word. David is literally saying as he receives the covenant, "Because You stand behind Your Word, I know it will be true because You are great; You are gracious; You are powerful; You do awesome things for Your people--my hope is in You!"
And what we get to see, laid bare in the life of this man, is a God who has zeal to stand behind every one of His promises, who inhabits every one of His truths, who works so that what He says will be done. David's great because God has made him great because God has promised that in His greatness will be a throne that will remain forever, and God has the character and the power to do what He says. Wow! What a wonderful window the life of this man gives us. And all of those windows point to the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ, the King who would come and establish in His life, death, and resurrection--righteousness, and peace, and justice forever.
Leonardo da Vinci said there are only three classes of people--people who see, people who are shown and see, and people who never see. May God help us, through this story, to be people who see, people who see our world with accuracy and live with broken hearts, crying for redemption, wanting to be instruments of restoration, people who see with new insight into our hearts, longing for hearts that are owned by the Lord and the Lord alone--people who see, with more clarity, the character in the plan of God, and in God's character and His plan, have hope; and people who find joy in the truth of God because we understand that, behind that truth, stands a glorious God who has the desire and the power to do everything He's promised.
Maybe you already have begun to see; maybe you need to be shown; may none of us ever be people who do not see. May we see, and may that sightedness transform our hearts. Let's pray: Lord, how blind we can be, how thankful we are for the revelation of Your Word that is a window to us. Lord, we would pray that You would open our eyes and open our hearts as we walk through the life of this man. And Lord, I pray that we would see You on center stage, and we would have a fuller and deeper sense of the hope that can only be found in You.
And may that mobilize us to live, to work, to act as Your instruments of restoration and transformation in this broken world. We pray these things for Your honor and Your glory. In Jesus's name, Amen.
