Today we’re going to skip forward to 2 Samuel 7:11-12, known as the “Davidic covenant.”

“‘The LORD declares to you that the LORD himself will establish a house for you: When your days are over and you rest with your fathers,
I will raise up your offspring to succeed you,
who will come from your own body,
and I will establish his kingdom.
He is the one who will build a house for my Name,
and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.’”

This links directly back to the Seed promise in Genesis 3! Remember, the One we’ve been looking for! In Genesis 3, we knew that the Seed, the One who would conquer the serpent and win back the scepter, would come from Eve’s offspring. In Genesis 12, we were given more clues about the coming Seed’s identity: He would be from the line of Abraham, and through Him the whole world would be blessed. In Genesis 49, we were told that the Seed would be from the line of Judah. Now, we are given another layer to the promise: The Seed would come from the line of David.

Now, you may be thinking, “Wait a minute. This passage refers to the offspring of David. Clearly, that would be Solomon.” You might be even more convinced of this conclusion if you look at 2 Samuel 7:14-15.

“I will be his father, and he will be my son. When he does wrong, I will punish him with the rod of men, with floggings inflicted by men. But my love will never be taken away from him, as I took it away from Saul, whom I removed from before you.”

Like many prophetic passages, this refers to two things simultaneously. John MacArthur addresses this passage in his Bible commentary and says, “As a human father disciplines his sons, so the Lord would discipline the seed, if he committed iniquity. This has reference to the intermediary seed until Messiah’s arrival (any king of David’s line from Solomon on). However, the ultimate Seed of David will not be a sinner like David and his descendants were…”

In other words, as the prophet Nathan speaks these words, they apply both to Solomon and the other “seeds” from David’s line who would reign from David’s household, and also to Jesus Christ, the promised Seed. The part about God’s discipline doesn’t refer to Christ [but the books of Samuel and Kings clearly show the failure of the kings to follow God, which resulted in God's discipline - the exile of Israel and Judah], and the full completion of this promise doesn’t occur in anyone BUT Jesus Christ.

Let’s think about the particulars of this promise.
*One of David’s physical descendants
*Will build a temple
*Will reign and will never lose the throne

Solomon almost fits – he is a physical descendant, and he even builds a magnificent temple for the Lord! However, although he was a powerful king over Israel, he doesn’t reign forever.

Zerubbabel might be someone’s guess – he is a physical descendant of David, and Zerubbabel is the one who comes back after the exile and rebuilds the temple (out of the rubbabel.) – his story is found in the book of Ezra. But, Zerubbabel never sits on a throne at all!

Jesus is the only one who fits – He is a physical descendant (which is why so much emphasis is placed on his geneology in the book of Matthew), His throne will be established forever… what about the temple? In John 2:19-21, Jesus refers to His own body as the temple that would be torn down and rebuilt in three days. Revelation 21 says that there is no temple in heaven – The Lamb is the temple! A physical building as a temple is unnecessary in heaven – The glory of God will dwell among us, and there will be no need for a barrier between a holy God and mankind.

At this point in Biblical history, they’re still very much in the dark about how God’s plan will unfold. They have clues – they’ve know about the Seed since Genesis 3, and now they know He will be a king from the line of David who will build a temple. However, they still have no idea how grand the plan of God really would be: God the Son, in flesh, offering Himself as a sacrifice for the sin of man, reigning over the earth, and obliterating the separation between God and the people He loved enough to die for.

It’s a glorious thing, friends – and some day, if you are a believer in Jesus Christ, we will see this fully fulfilled. I pray that it will be soon! Come, Lord Jesus!

I did not see a temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp.
Revelation 21:22-23