An Eternal Kingdom
King David had a tumultuous journey from the pasture to the palace. His ascension to the throne was an unorthodox one, because although he was not by blood in line to be a ruler, he was chosen by God to succeed Saul as king of Israel.
For 20 years, he fought for his life, and the Lord protected him the entire way. When he was finally at rest, and all of his enemies defeated, he surveyed all that God had done for him, and felt inspired to show his gratitude by building God a temple to dwell in.
2 Samuel 7 shows us God’s response to David’s gesture. While he revealed to David that he would not be the one to build him a temple, he did promise him that his bloodline would reign over Israel forever.
“...Your house and your kingdom will endure forever before me; your throne will be established forever.”
2 Kings 25 lets us know that this earthly temple was not meant to last forever. Over 400 years later, after a Babylonian invasion, the temple was destroyed and the kingdom dispersed. Because we know God is a God who keeps His word, His promise of a “forever kingdom” was always meant for more.
While Solomon was a fulfillment of God’s promise to David, he was only a shadow of the fullness of the promise God was making to mankind through David.
The word “house” used in 2 Samuel was not a house of cedar, but posterity–descendants, a lineage that would continue and provide an eternal King.
A king, who after 42 generations, would miraculously leave Heaven to be birthed into the world to dwell among his people, and free them from the bondage of sin, once and for all.
A feat that he felt was worth leaving perfection, putting on flesh, and living out a human life as our perfect example. Many of us would be hard pressed to put on filthy clothes to live among those less fortunate on the street, but when compared to glory– Jesus’ sacrifice of living out his 33 years on earth is far from a comparable equivalent.
What Jesus accomplished is the greatest gift any of us will ever receive in this lifetime and the next. Even still, we know that until we see Heaven, this life is promised to be full of trials.
But like the people of God before us, we have a hope in the coming of our Messiah. Revelation 22:12-16 promises us that Jesus will fulfill his promise to return, just as he came before.
That promise is our greatest hope in this life. There is nothing that we could look to on this earth that could hold us, satisfy us, or keep us the way that our eternal hope will.
So while the excitement of Christmas buzzes around us, we know that we don’t have to wait for the 25th to experience joy. Our joy is ever-present, and available right now!
We have the privilege of carrying the hope represented in this season with us through every season of life, and the opportunity to share that with whoever we come into contact with.