King | 2 Samuel 7:1-17

May 10, 2026 - Living the Story - 

Jerell Carper looks at the character, covenant, and surprising suffering of Israel's king. When the faithful king rules, the kingdom of God takes root on earth. This theme of "king" is the strongest theme throughout the whole story of the Bible, from Genesis to Revelation. 

/// Sixth Sunday of Eastertide ///

The Story of God: Part 12

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So I wanna I wonder if you happen to be live in a monarchy, in a kingdom, imagine, what type of king would you want? So imagine you just live in like a different context. Take yourself out of now, different time period, another part of the world, another planet, I don't care. Um, don't read modern times into this reality, but you live in a community, in a city, and in this world you live in a monarchy. So there's a there's a king. Um, and this king figure is the ruling authority. He sets the tone for ethics, the decisions affect the culture, the values of the community. He handles economics, resources, judiciary decisions, social structures, the general welfare, morale, and safety of the community. So here's the question: what do you want this person to be like? Another way to ask that is of all the people you know in your life, who would you pick to be in that role? And why? Well, today we're gonna look at how I think God answers that question. We're gonna find that God's representative king is faithful, eternal, and sacrificial. Faithful, eternal, and sacrificial. So looking at this theme of king and kingdom throughout the Bible, um, we might not notice how prevalent this theme is, but a lot of the books that kind of trace the whole story of the Bible center everything around this idea of king and kingdom. Um, we come across this ancient book that's filled with king and kingdom in imagery. We have books that are named kings, we have people called kings, we have words like rule, royal, reign, authority, lord, judge, throne, anointing, kingdom, and right hand. So if you're somewhat biblically literate, those words would be like, yeah, I know places where the Bible says those words. Great. It even begins where Adam and Eve are kind of pictured as these vice regents over creation. We discover actual kings like Saul, David, and Solomon, and then this whole story comes to fruition in this king we call Jesus, who speaks a lot about this thing called the kingdom of God. And then his birth and his death are just absolutely saturated with kingdom imagery: a crown, a robe, a royal birth, royal declarations. And then the story ends with God kind of ruling over creation from this cosmic throne. So a lot to cover here. Are you ready? I've simplified it. You don't look ready. All right, Logan's ready. You don't need to chow. You don't need to chow. Okay. So we're gonna look at this theme of king, and I'm gonna we're gonna look at three key texts. I after all reading a bunch of stuff, I was like, I hear the three biblical texts I want you guys to know when we talk about king. Okay. The opening lines of the Bible present God as this cosmic king over his people over all of creation. He speaks them into existence, and then he governs them, governs over them. From the very beginning, this God who is king wants to invite mediators of his rule through these under kings or vice regents called humans. The initial charge is that humans would rule over creation. This is a king language. They would guard the garden, they have a royal status. And this story progresses, which we've been covering through different types of leaders that God's people have had: prophets who are spokespeople for God, priests who mediate God's presence, and then eventually kings who govern justice. Some of the key figures that take on this somewhat type of kingly leadership role early on are people like Abraham, Moses, and Joshua. And they're generally positive expressions. Like most of their stories are good. They do fumble the ball a little bit, they mistrust God in really palm-to-face ways, right? And then we get to this book of Judges, and we talked about this when we when we're going through Ruth, how the book of Judges is just this absolute downward spiral of leaders that get worse and worse and worse. The stories get longer, the scenes get worse. Almost at the end, it's it's almost unreadable. It's like rated R or worse. And four times throughout this book of Judges, we hear this phrase, which goes like this In those days there was no king in Israel. All the people did what was right in their own eyes. So judges, this downward spiral of ethics and morality within God's people. There's no king. Everyone was just doing whatever they felt was right in their own from their own perspective. So what that phrase should tell us is we will we need someone, right? We need someone to help God's people not just do what is right in their eyes, but do what is right in God's eyes. So what is the point of this king? And in our context, we don't have kings. Uh we live in a democratic republic or a constitutional federal republic. Adam knows these things. He's a smart lawyer guy. And so I just, what do you picture when you think of a king? Like, what is the king supposed to do? Um, who are you picturing? Mufasa, maybe? King Tut, he's a king. King Henry VIII, interesting guy. Arthur, King of the Britons from Monty Python. Anyone? I'm a millennial. We watched Monty Python growing up. There's this scene in that in that movie where they they reach this bridge they have to go through, and someone's guarding the bridge, and they ask what what your name is and then what your quest is. Anyone? What is your quest? I seek the grill. And so that's an interesting question that I think we should ask. Well, what is the quest of Israel's king? Like, what is this king just supposed to expand the empire? Is it are we colonizing other countries? Are we stealing people's resources? Are we gaining money and power? Are we just trying to honor the family legacy? Well, what like what is your quest, king of Israel? What type of person should this be? And the first text I want to look at is randomly in Deuteronomy, Deuteronomy chapter 17, verses 14 through 20. So if you're familiar with the Bible, Deuteronomy is the last book of this first part we call the Torah or the Pentateuch. All right, here we go. You're stealing my thunder. That's great. And um, Moses is giving these speeches to God's people before they enter into this land of abundance. And there's this weird time where God is speaking through Moses and saying, Hey, you're gonna go into the land, you're gonna look around, everyone else is gonna have kings, and you're gonna say, We want a king too. And so here's what type of king you should ask for. Here's kind of the job description of the king. I'm just gonna read Deuteronomy 17, 14 to 20. When you enter the land the Lord your God has given you, and have taken possession of it and settled in it, and you say, Let us set a king over us like all the nations around us, be sure to appoint over you a king the Lord chooses first. God should choose this king. He must be from among your fellow Israelites, do not place a foreigner over you. Great, he's one of us, one who is not an Israelite. Okay. The king, moreover, must not acquire a great number of horses for himself. Okay, that's interesting. Or make the people return to Egypt to get more horses. Don't go, don't get horses. Uh the Lord has told you you're not to go back that way again. He must not take many wives, or his heart will be led astray. He must not accumulate large amounts of silver or gold. So I dug into some of my Bible dictionaries, found this ancient depiction of a king's shirt which says, No horses, no wives, and no gold. I just picture David wearing this every day. And so what's interesting is um God said some really interesting things here. Okay, what's up with this? Well, first, not a lot of horses. You know, this isn't like the Kentucky Derby or a hobby horse. You just like to ride a horse in your stable and you're a prairie woman or something. Um, this is about military victory. A horse and a chariot are military weapons to win military victories. And so at the very the very first thing God says is, Don't trust in horses and chariots for your victories. Trust in me, I am still the king. So you get this phrase throughout the Bible, Psalm 20, verse 7, some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God. Isaiah 31, Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help, who rely on horses but don't look to the Holy One of Israel. And then Micah kind of has this judgment to Israel, I will cut off your horses from among you and destroy your chariots. So the king would be tempted to think that they could win by having lots of horses and chariots, and God's like, Don't trust in your military strategy, trust in me. And then not a lot of wives. Um, this isn't romance or adultery, this is about political alliances. You marry from other countries to have an alliance with this nation to get protection and support. If you've read about Israel's kings, you will know that a lot of them often did this, right? So this should like this should kind of trigger you as you're reading through the Old Testament. They ended up um syncretizing with their gods and didn't go well. Um and then finally, not a lot of silver and gold. So this is just financial security. Um, when God is putting his people through the test in the desert to enter the promised land, he's trying to reiterate to them, you can trust me to provide what you need. You don't have food, I will provide it. You don't have water, I will provide it. Don't save up more than you need for the day because tomorrow I'm gonna come and I'm gonna provide it for you. And there's this, there's this like um they were put through the fire of God will provide what you need. He is the king. You don't need to build up a bunch of wealth and build up a bunch of storehouses of silver and gold, or your heart will be led astray. And so what's interesting is that these are about the leader's character. These aren't about prominence and power and strategy and political experience. This is about someone who trusts God and trusts that God will fulfill his side of the covenant, which is to provide protection and provide for their needs. And so as we read through the story of the Bible, we're gonna find leader after leader who, for the most part, absolutely fails at this. They go, they marry, they they they create political marriages, they store up gold, they store up chariots, and they're trying to do this kingdom on their own strength. Because the point of the king is to be someone who represents the character and the heart of God, to trust God and to lead God's people into being people who also trust God. That's just interesting. So if you think about a king, what are we looking for here? The fundamental piece of this king is his character and his ability to trust that God will do God's side of the covenant. But Deuteronomy 17 goes on and listen to this. This is like his um, all right, you're you're qualified. Here's like your day one job description. Um, when he takes the throne of his kingdom, he is to write for himself on a scroll a copy of this whole law taken from the Levitical priests. It is to be with him, and he is to read it all the days of his life, so that he may learn to revere the Lord his God and follow carefully all the words of this law and these degrees, and not consider himself better than his fellow Israelites, and turn from the law to the left or to the right, then he and his descendants will reign a long time over his kingdom in Israel. So here's here's the entry assignment. It's all this should sound weird for as a king. Okay, your first assignment is to write down a copy of this covenant contract with God, like by hand, all the priests are like looking over you. It's expensive to write things, it takes very long amount of time. But the the primary point of this king is to know God's instructions. Carry it with you, read it every day of your life, and follow it carefully. The king is supposed to be someone who trusts God and lives faithfully to the covenant and then creates a culture of people that does the same. This is just a covenant faithfulness leader. It's the lead faithful person. Follow me as I trust in God. And the tools of this king are not money or swords or horses or wives or strategy, but he is to be the one who mediates God's instruction, leads with humility. Notice he doesn't think he's better than someone else, and reveres the true king. This is a humble, strong character, faithful to God person. And he's not just special, he's just a true human. This is what all people are supposed to be. This is what Adam and Eve are supposed to be. And so this is kind of like our blueprint for the king. So the story continues. We get to this guy named Samuel and Saul, and the people want a king. So it's like, aha, you see the other nations, you want a king. They choose, they choose this guy named Saul. Tall, dark, handsome. He's their giant, he's their military leader. He should be a king to provide safety and security, to build the army, to fight military battles. And Saul is just an absolute character, faithfulness, train wreck. He goes to battle out of sorts. He does not fall, he's not a Deuteronomy 17 king, and it just falls to pieces. It is an absolute train wreck. Rather than trust God to be the king and rule as his under king, Saul tries to become the king and rule on his own terms. Because the whole story of the Bible is always about trust and it's always about faith. So Saul is not a Deuteronomy 17 king. Very clear. We get to the second text, which is what Sidney read, 2 Samuel 7. We meet this guy, David. You ready for David? Alright. He killed Goliath. Pretty good guy. So 2 Samuel 7, if you were to kind of like, hey, top top 10 important Old Testament verses or text to know, this is the Davidic covenant. So this is this is really, really important to know, have as a reference point in your brain. You might even want to memorize it. So it's the last in this progression of covenants. Um as we read this narrative, we see this really strong contrast between David, who's like um God's choice, and then Saul, who's the people's choice. If you just read that set, especially the story of David and Goliath, I mean, Saul is their giant, he's supposed to fight the Philistines, he's supposed to trust God. David steps in his place. It's like it's really good literature, and you should see the contrast. So just go read it. He's a man according to God's heart, which we know is important from Deuteronomy 17. He's patient, he trusts God, he defeats the Philistines, brings the Ark of the Covenant back. Maybe David is this Deuteronomy 17 king. And in this text, 2 Samuel 7, God makes some really bold promises to David. So David is sitting around, he's like, All right, I'm here in this house of wood made of cedar, but God is still living in this tabernacle in this tent. I feel bad about that, which is a really cool contrast because later on, Solomon, when he builds the temple, he's gonna spend significantly more time and resources building his palace than he did God's temple. And that's you should like see that. David was concerned that his house was cooler than God's. Solomon went out and intentionally built a cooler house than God's. So, anyways, just a nerd out moment. Okay. So Nathan's like, okay, build God a house. That sounds great. God comes to Nathan. No, don't do that. And basically in this covenant, God plays off this word house and basically says, all right, David wants to build me a house. We're not gonna do that. That's for later on. I am actually gonna build David a house. And not as in a literal house, but a household. So this word can go two ways. So as if a king has his household, it's really the king's dynasty, his descendants who will rule. And so what's interesting is that God is God is saying, All right, you want to build me a house? No, I will build you a household. Um, and then secondly, he says, the nature of this household, it's gonna endure forever. So if you caught what Sidney was reading at the end, um in verse 13, God says, I will establish the throne of this kingdom forever. And in verse 16, God says, Your house and your kingdom will endure forever. Before me, your throne will be established forever. And it's dependent somewhat on the faithfulness of the king and of God's people, which we know never really lands. But this is the Davidic covenant that there will be a David-like king on the throne, ruling as God's faithful representative forever. It's just really interesting. I mean, we're not that far into the story. We've had one really bad example. David seems to be going well. It's just it's just an interesting promise to make. I am gonna contract this with you that there will be someone in your household who will rule faithfully forever. This is the Davidic covenant, and it's dependent on their faithfulness of the king. This is someone who is going to reach beyond David in Israel and is himself eternal. Okay, so we've looked at the character of the king, which is really cool. No horses, no wives, no gold t-shirts. We could get them for citizens. I don't think we'd be popular walking around. Eugene and 2 Samuel 7, which was just a really, really quick look at the Davidic covenant. You should know that. Um, there's this interesting thing that happens when leaders in the Bible are chosen, and they are this thing happens called an anointing. They are anointed. And what being anointed means is that you're set apart, oil is poured on your head. And it's a symbol of the outpouring of God's spirit and empowerment for your leadership office. And so the anointed one is this kind of primary leader. It becomes synonymous with this anticipated Davidic king. So um we're waiting for the anointed one, not just an anointed one, but this anointed one who fulfills 2 Samuel 7. And since I know you all know Biblical Hebrew, I will remind you that this verb to anoint is mashak, and the noun is mashiach, and that's what we translate messiah. We transliterate the Hebrew word for anointing, anointed one, into Messiah, and the Greek is Christos, which where we get Christ. And so in the New Testament, when people are, are you the Messiah? Are you the Christ? Are you the anointed one? They're asking if Jesus is this person, this 2 Samuel 7 king. And we bear this in our name. I don't know if you, you know, if you use the word Christian to describe yourself, but if you do, that's one of the ways you could describe yourself if you follow Jesus. That word Christ is the anointed one. It's all traced back to this king who's going to rule faithfully. And so we're looking for this Messiah. When will the 2nd Samuel 7 king rule faithfully as the Deuteronomy 17 faithful king? You know, it's just like we're kind of nerding right now, and I'm so sorry. Um actually, I'm not apologizing, but I don't have cool stories yet. I'll find one in my brain. So, in review, God's people are supposed to follow his life-giving instruction. Um, this God's king, and he and he is supposed to bear responsibility for everyone else being faithful. Your job as king is to lead God's people into covenant faithfulness by yourself being the example of covenant faithfulness, which is knowing God's law, living humbly, and living faithfully, and trusting God. And hopefully, if this happens, the result is that God's people will live righteously, and they will become this Eden like oasis of justice and abundance in the wilderness, and all nations will be drawn to this community to belong to God. God and find abundant life in his presence, and David's lineage will accomplish this. This is the gospel. This is the good news. When the faithful king rules, the kingdom of God takes root on earth. When the faithful king rules, the kingdom of God takes root on earth. The character of the king correlates with the condition of the domain. Part three. The messianic hope. We've got Deuteronomy 17. You're gonna know these by heart. We have 2 Samuel 7. So the story progresses. We go through David, Solomon, the kingdom divides, and it is just an absolute, a secondary, just downward, downward spiral of unfaithful leaders, bad decisions, a few like good moments here and there, but it's like it is not going well. This is not going well. And so we wonder God's people are asking, is there a son of David out there somewhere who can clean up the mess we've made, stand against our enemies, and speak up for the voiceless? And so after years, these these kingdoms are assimilated into Assyria and Babylon, the temple is destroyed, the nation of Israel has fallen apart. We do not have this one anointed king. But about almost 200 years, 150 years before the southern kingdom of Judah is exiled, we meet this guy named Isaiah. We have this book in our Bible called Isaiah. And it along with the Psalms are the most quote is the most quoted by our New Testament authors. So Psalms could arguably be first and then Isaiah. So when we're reading our New Testament, the most quote like the most quoted place is Isaiah. They're constantly going back to this book to interpret Jesus. So it should, we should understand what this means. So Isaiah is speaking to the southern kingdom called Judah. The northern kingdom is under threat of the Assyrians. They're also kind of under the threat. And he's looking ahead to a king who would lead like David and have radical faith to save Israel. And here's what he says about this king in chapter 9. This king will be a wonderful counselor, a mighty God, an eternal father, and a prince of peace. There will be no end to the increase of his government or of peace or the throne of David over his kingdom. He will uphold it with justice and righteousness. In chapter 11, he talks about this new king, a new David, who will rule Israel and all nations with perfect justice. And then he starts talking about this king named Hezekiah. And Hezekiah starts to rule justly and faithfully in the book of Isaiah. And as the reader, we're like, he's our guy. This is it. Hezekiah is the anointed Messiah, the one we're longing for. And then we turn the page, and these leaders of Babylon come down and they're like, hey, Hezekiah, do you want to make an alliance? Do you want to make a political alliance with us and we can protect each other? And Hezekiah's like, Yes, I do. And you're like, no, as a reader, you're like, no, it can't be him. Okay, he's broken. He's not Deuteronomy 17. This is bad. And then Isaiah gets to the middle of his book, and we turn the chapter from page 30, from chapter 39 to 40, and there's this tone shift. And when all seems hopeless, when it seems like Hezekiah is not the guy, Hezekiah is not the Gaia. I just thought about that. No. He says in chapter 40, a new day has dawned. God announces comfort for his people, clear the way for the Lord in the wilderness, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. The Lord will come with might and with his ruling arm. He will, like a shepherd, will tend his flock. In his arms he will gather the lambs, carry them in the fold of his robe. He will gently lead the nursing ewes. We talked about this in Advent in our Advent series. Later on, who is this king? He starts calling this king a servant. And he will bring a message of good news and justice to all nations. This servant. Are those our kids? Oh, nice. Yes. Contextualization. All right. This servant will be rejected by his fellow Israelites, but God is going to fulfill his promises through him and bring his kingdom over all nations, anyways. And so how is this going to happen? How is this servant king going to bring God's justice for all nations and save Israel, even though they cause him to suffer? Isaiah says that this servant king is going to suffer and die on behalf of Israel's sin. His death will play the role as a sacrificial guilt offering, and this is this famous Isaiah 53 text that we know, and we read every Go Friday. This is introduced as good news. He has borne our iniquity and carried our diseases. This is where the New Testament gets the word gospel, Ewangelion. This is the good news that this servant king is actually going to suffer and die for the sins of his people at their own hands, and through that will bring justice and righteousness for all nations who trust in him. This is the gospel of Isaiah. So I have a Superman meme with who's this guy? Spider-Man. Spider-Man, yeah. Okay, what's this guy? Peter Parker. Peter Parker, yeah. So if you have you guys seen this meme? Uh you're gonna make fun of me for this. Anyways, you've seen this meme before, right? Oh my goodness. Okay. Well, this is not gonna land. Um if you're listening online, the thousands, thousands of you listening online, um, the first picture is he's looking for the anointed king and ruler of 2 Samuel 7, and then he puts his glasses on and he sees that it is in fact the suffering servant of Isaiah 53. You can thank me later. I how am I the only one? There's not and what we find, what Isaiah is trying to communicate, that this there is someone who has the character of Deuteronomy 17.

unknown 28:45

That's the t-shirt.

SPEAKER_00 28:46

That's the t-shirt? No one's gonna understand that. Like, what church do you go to? Because I am not going to that church. Bumper stickers, the next citizen stickers? All right. There is someone who has Deuteronomy 17 character, there is someone who fulfills the covenant of 2 Samuel 7, there is someone who suffers and dies as the suffering servant of Isaiah 53. That person is Jesus of Nazareth. This is the gospel, this is the good news. It saturates the themes and movements of the old covenants, and if you're paying attention, it's going to lay the foundation for a full and beautiful and biblically coherent picture of Jesus, the anointed one, the Messiah, the Christ. So, how is this good news for you and I today on Mother's Day? But no correlation to Mother's Day. Uh, first is this I I want to rekindle your passion for the Bible. It's a really old collection of books that often is strange. But like any good thing, it's difficult and it takes work. And when you see how the story fits together, your daily readings can come alive. It would take you about seven hours to sit down and read first and second Kings and first first, second Samuel, first and second Kings. That's an hour or night for a week. I guarantee you, if you just read that much of the Bible in a concentrated time, like light bulbs would go off. You would connect themes and you would see things that you otherwise wouldn't have. I think we're gonna study the book of Isaiah next year in about a six-week series. We're gonna just gonna jump into Isaiah. Um, I want to learn more about that, and I want to carry us into that. Um, it's a this is a beautifully composed and well-written book, and when we can kind of trace these themes, we will see more clearly how to read it on a daily level. Secondly, I just want you to trust God. I want you to trust God. Like the first humans, like God's covenant partners in the Old Testament, like the disciples in the New Testament, we all stand between two trees. Will we trust God or will we rely on something else? Ourselves, our money, our position, our power. The story of the Bible is a story about God's steadfast love. He never breaks his promises, except I would argue, when he's even just exceedingly more patient than we would ever realize. And not only that, but he's willing to stand in our place and fulfill our side of the covenant and bear the consequences of our mistrust. And so, even just to be raw with you guys, as I was writing this sermon, I had this moment where I was like, I need to remember how to trust God again. Like I'm reading these stories and I'm encountering God's faithfulness and just drill right here, right now, with this church, with my money, with my kids and family, with just the trajectory of my life. My job is not to control that product through my wisdom or my money or my planning, but to live as a faithful person who trusts in God and trust, actually trust Him. And then finally, Jesus is a big deal. When we read only the New Testament, and when we only read Jesus through maybe one particular lens or one picture of salvation or one kind of image of what it means that he is the Savior, I think we might make a much smaller deal of Jesus than he really is. The space between Genesis 3 and Romans 3 is massive, and it creates a foundation and an inertia that points to and lifts up Jesus. And so we're gonna take a little break from the story of God. We're gonna jump back into the first sermon on Christ. And what I want to do is, I'm gonna work really hard to do this, but show how the whole movement of the Bible lands and is fulfilled in Jesus. And I want to make him as big and cool and awesome as possible. So we're gonna try to do that. The story of God is the story about God's kingdom coming to earth, and it has and will through the righteous king who is Jesus. Let's trust him.