Lakewood Blog

NT Connect: Luke 1:26-33

Weekly Reading: 2 Samuel 7-12

Covenant with David

This week began with David feeling pretty good about life. God had brought him from being a lowly shepherd boy to the king of the nation of Israel. With God’s help, David had defeated his enemies. Last week, we read that David brought the Ark of the Covenant back to Israel. 

In the Old Testament, God’s presence was in the Tabernacle, specifically in the Ark of the Covenant. As David looked around and saw the palace that was his home he decided to build a house for the Ark – a beautiful place for the Lord to dwell. When he told the prophet Nathan his plan, God spoke through Nathan to let David know that He had a different plan.  David wanted to build a house for God, but God was building his house, an eternal kingdom, through David’s family. In 2 Samuel 7:16 we read God’s words to David, “Your house and your kingdom will continue before me for all time, and your throne will be secure forever” (NLT).

God had been building the nation of Israel since the days of Abraham, and he was continuing this kingdom through David’s family. This covenant with David, like the covenant with Abraham was unconditional. It was not based on what David or his family could do or accomplish but based on God’s unconditional love and his ability to bring about his purposes. The promise of an everlasting kingdom is a hope found through the rest of the Old Testament and is the beginning of messianic hope in Israel.

How does David respond? In complete wonder that God would show such favor toward him.

Later this week, we read of David’s great sin with Bathsheba. As certainly as God knew that the King for his eternal throne would come David’s family, he knew the sins David would commit. The promise was not dependent on David, but on God who is always faithful. David may have failed but God’s promise would not. 

Our NT Connect this week is in Luke 1. When Gabriel visits Mary he tells her that Jesus “will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David,  and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end” (Luke 1:32-33 NIV) Jesus, who came from the lineage of David, is the fulfillment of God’s promise to David! Jesus is the one who will sit on the throne of God’s kingdom for eternity.

The presence of God was in the Ark in the Old Testament, but in the New Testament the very presence of God dwells in Jesus Christ. The same grace and favor that God showed David he has shown us by sending Jesus and allowing us to be a part of this same everlasting kingdom. Let us respond in the same way David did, with wonder and awe of this grace and love from our Almighty King.


Joy Willis