Click this link to hear an audio version of the below text narrated by SOTH member Jerry Rhinehart:
2 Samuel 7:8-16 (NIV)
8 “Now then, tell my servant David, ‘This is what the Lord Almighty says: I took you from the pasture, from tending the flock, and appointed you ruler over my people Israel. 9 I have been with you wherever you have gone, and I have cut off all your enemies from before you. Now I will make your name great, like the names of the greatest men on earth. 10 And I will provide a place for my people Israel and will plant them so that they can have a home of their own and no longer be disturbed. Wicked people will not oppress them anymore, as they did at the beginning 11 and have done ever since the time I appointed leaders over my people Israel. I will also give you rest from all your enemies. “‘The Lord declares to you that the Lord himself will establish a house for you: 12 When your days are over and you rest with your ancestors, I will raise up your offspring to succeed you, your own flesh and blood, and I will establish his kingdom. 13 He is the one who will build a house for my Name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. 14 I will be his father, and he will be my son. When he does wrong, I will punish him with a rod wielded by men, with floggings inflicted by human hands. 15 But my love will never be taken away from him, as I took it away from Saul, whom I removed from before you. 16 Your house and your kingdom will endure forever before me; your throne will be established forever.’”
This passage is one of the most important in the Bible! In these few verses God chooses to make a covenant with David that will last forever. David did not, nor is he able, to make this happen. The promise came from God and only God can fulfill it. God points out that He took the kingdom away from Saul and gave it to David. David did not even choose to become king, it was a gift from God. David and everyone else thought this covenant was merely political in scope, but Jesus makes this covenant universal and cosmic! God has chosen to make David’s kingdom last forever through the power and reign of a loving, gracious, merciful king, filled with righteousness and justice unlike the world has ever seen. Are we devoted in faithfulness to the promised King? That is what Advent is all about; taking time to prepare and devote our hearts to the risen King of Israel.