Trusting God’s Promises

KEY VERSE: “Thine house and thy kingdom shall be established forever before thee: thy throne shall be established forever.” —II Samuel 7:16

SELECTED SCRIPTURE: II Samuel 7:4-16

GOD MADE A COVENANT with David that under no circumstances would the kingdom be wrested, even from his descendants. This covenant is referred to as the “sure mercies of David”— sure mercies because mercy would be required in order to carry it out. (Isa. 55:3) This was not how God dealt with Saul, from whose line he removed the kingdom.

God said to David through Nathan, the prophet, “When thy days be fulfilled, and thou shalt sleep with thy fathers, I will set up thy seed after thee, which proceed out of thy bowels, and I will establish his [Solomon’s] kingdom. He shall build an house for my name, and I will stablish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be his father, and he shall be my son. If he commit iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men. … But my mercy shall not depart away from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away before thee. And thine house and thy kingdom shall be established forever before thee: thy throne shall be established forever.”—vss. 12-16

Saul had not been shown mercy by God, but David had. God exalted the kingdom of Israel in his hands and had made him a great king. And now God had covenanted to preserve the kingdom within David’s family “forever,” even though his descendants, including his son, Solomon, who would succeed him on the throne, would transgress his laws. David was greatly impressed by this, and replied to God: “Who am I, O Lord God? And what is my house, that thou hast brought me hitherto? And this was yet a small thing in thy sight, O Lord God.”—vss. 18,19

David speaks again of that covenant: “I [God] have said, Mercy shall be built up forever; thy faithfulness shalt thou establish in the very heavens. I have made a covenant with my chosen, I have sworn unto David my servant, Thy seed will I establish forever, and build up thy throne to all generations.” (Ps. 89:2-4) “My mercy will I keep for him forevermore, and my covenant shall stand fast with him. His seed also will I make to endure forever, and his throne as the days of heaven.”—vss. 28,29

The full understanding of this covenant with David is possible only through recognition of the fact that David’s throne was typical of the messianic kingdom throne, on which Jesus sits as king. However, God’s providences in protecting the typical throne in the hands of David’s natural descendants are remarkable, as will be seen by a study of the experiences of the Davidic kings down to the overthrow of the last one, Zedekiah, when the nation was taken captive to Babylon.

Here the typical kingdom of David ceased, but God’s covenant was not broken. Ezekiel (Ezek. 21:27) did not say merely that the kingdom should be “no more,” for this would have implied a broken covenant. Instead he explained that it would be no more “until he come whose right it is.” In other words, the active operation of the covenant was merely suspended until the rightful king appeared.

The birth is foretold of this one “whose right it is” to occupy forever the throne of David: “Unto us a child is born, unto us a Son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder. … Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even forever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.”—Isa. 9:6,7

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