The
first checkpoint of 2 Samuel 7:14 is set in the context of God establishing the Abrahamic Covenant with
David as recorded in 2 Samuel 7:8-17.
In that Covenant, God
Promised to:
1. Make the name of David great;
2. Appoint and plant Israel in a place of her own where she would not be
disturbed by the wicked;
3. Give David rest from all his enemies;
4. Make David a royal dynasty;
5. Raise up a descendant after
David and establish his kingdom;
6. Let that descendant build a
house for His name and establish the throne of his kingdom forever;
7. Be the Father of that descendant
and he His Son;
8. Discipline that descendant
with the rod of men and with the strokes of the sons of man when he commits
iniquity;
9. Not let His lovingkindness depart from that descendant; and
10. Establish the kingdom of David forever.
The above are the ten clauses of the
Covenant. References were made to that
“descendant” five times with “five” being the biblical number for grace. From John 1:17, we learn that “Grace and Truth came in the Person of Jesus
Christ”.
David
was an Old Testament character with a New Testament mindset as evident from Acts 13:22. We learn from Acts 2:30-32 that David was a
prophet who foresaw and spoke of the resurrection of Christ. It can be said that David is a picture of
believers under the New Covenant inaugurated by Christ Jesus.
Notice that the word
“descendant” is in the singular. The immediate thought that flashed through the
mind was that it pointed to Jesus of Nazareth.
But are there any scriptural proof?
To
begin with, the sixth clause of the Covenant brings to mind John 2:19-21. In that passage of scripture, Jesus referred
to the Temple of God as His own physical Body.
When
I checked with my study buddy, Mr. Google, I was led
to a similar account of God establishing the Abrahamic Covenant with David in 1 Chronicles 17:7-14. When we read the footnote to 1 Chronicles 17:14, we learn that
Solomon was a type of Christ. Solomon
built a physical temple made with hands.
Christ Jesus builds the spiritual house of God with the living stones of
believers with Himself as the Chief Cornerstone (1 Corinthians 3:16, Ephesians 2:19-22, 1 Peter 2:4-6). Hence, it
would not be erroneous to infer that the “descendant” in the 6th covenantal
clause was pointing to Christ Jesus.
Coming back to 2
Samuel 7:14, it calls to remembrance Matthew 3:15. Back there,
Jesus said that His water baptism was to fulfill all righteousness. When we read the footnote to the verse, we
see that “The
act of baptism identified Jesus with sinners whose sins He would ultimately
bear, and to whom His righteousness would be imparted”. When the beloved Son of God in
the flesh as Jesus of Nazareth assumed the identity of a sinner, He became the
Son Who was treated as One Who committed iniquity and hence would be punished.
In view of this, the
thrust of 2 Samuel 7:14 is:
The foreshadowing of
the suffering and crucifixion of Jesus Christ
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