God’s Plans Are Salvation Promises!

4th Sunday in Advent, 12/24/23 2 Samuel 7:8-16 God’s Plans Are Salvation Promises! I. God declined David’s plans. II. God revealed his plans for David. III. God’s saving plans culminated in David’s Son. What are your plans for today? Wow! That’s a loaded question, isn’t it? Sure, this is a Sunday morning and, on most Sundays, since you likely aren’t working, you plan to do things you ordinarily wouldn’t. If the weather is nice, you might plan to spend some of the day outdoors. Perhaps your plans for the day include a family outing or activity. From April to October, you might plan to spend some of the day doing yard work. During the colder months of the year, perhaps you plan to spend an hour or two just relaxing, taking an afternoon nap, reading a few chapters of a good book, or spending some time doing a project you’ve been wanting to get at for some time. But not today. I imagine that, for most of us, there will be little time for relaxing. If your day is anything like mine, there are more things that need to get done than there’s time left to do them. It’s Christmas Eve, after all. It’s one of the biggest family-time days of the year. Your plans for the rest of the day include enjoying good things to eat and drink (and perhaps you still need to prepare them). Your plans likely include some time spent around a gorgeous Christmas tree that took a good deal of time and effort on your part to decorate. There will be presents to unwrap and briefly enjoy (and maybe some that still need to be wrapped). And then there’s tomorrow, Christmas Day, when it seems as if the whole world slows down a bit so that families can spend the day together. But that takes planning, too. Where will you spend your day? What will you do? What will you eat? And perhaps as soon as tomorrow evening or certainly on Tuesday morning, you’ll spend a few moments reflecting on your celebration of Christmas 2023. Did it go as you planned? Was it enjoyable for the most part? Or was all your planning and effort a waste of time? I hope not, but that’s always a possibility. It’s always a possibility because, as much as we might think we can plan and then make those plans a reality, we really have very little control. For all our efforts, some things remain out of our control. Even when our plans involve celebrating Christmas. And that can be frustrating. But our God doesn’t share that frustration. When he plans for something to occur, it always turns out as he planned it. He not only knows the future perfectly, he also has the almighty power to make it happen. And we see that this morning in this text from 2 Samuel 7. These words came from the Lord to his prophet Nathan who was then given the command to share them with King David. And those plans blew David’s mind, because those plans not only involved him, they also involved the salvation of the world. And God’s plans are salvation promises! As we pause once more to prepare our hearts for the celebration of Jesus’ birth, let’s ponder that amazing truth. God’s plans are salvation promises. I. As busy as you’ll likely be for the next 36 hours, I imagine you might take a little time for reflection. What I mean is this: If your Christmas is the blessed event you hope and plan it to be, then you’ll pause for a few minutes, to reflect on how blessed you are by your God—spiritually and in every other way. King David was doing that very thing. That’s the background to this text. 2 Samuel 7 opens with David reflecting on how the Lord had given him rest from all his enemies (and David had literally been hounded to death) and how he was now living in a palace of cedar. He was on top of the world, and he realized how good the Lord had been to him. And it occurred to him that the Ark of the Covenant, the most sacred worship object among the Jews, was housed in a tent-like structure. No permanent home. Nothing glorious. Not even a structure people might make an effort to see and enjoy. And so David announced his plans to Nathan. He planned to build a house for the Lord. A glorious place of worship for God’s people. A permanent home for the Ark of the Covenant. But within hours of the announcement of David’s plans, the Lord politely declined. Through Nathan he told David that the Lord did not want David to build a house for him. It wasn’t that David’s plans were sinful in any way. It wasn’t that David’s plans for building a temple were distasteful to the Lord. It was simply this: The Lord’s plans for David did not include David building a house for the Lord. Plain and simple, the Lord told David, “That’s not what I want you to do for me.” II. David might have been more than a little insulted by this news, if it weren’t for the fact that, immediately after telling David that the Lord didn’t want David to build a house for him the Lord informed David that he wanted to build a house for David. Listen again to his words, “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 ancestors, I will raise up your offspring to succeed you, your own flesh and blood, and I will establish his kingdom. He is the one who will build a house for my Name.” You don’t have to be a king to be concerned about your legacy. I’m sure you considered it. What will happen to all the hard work you put in to accomplish success? How can you make sure your legacy lives on? We don’t have any biblical information that David was concerned about this, but I think it’s only natural to assume he was. You see, this whole king-thing was relatively new to the Jews. They had been ruled by a king named Saul, but that went tragic quickly. In short order, the Lord replaced Saul with David. Saul’s royal line would end. But how about David’s? Would David establish a dynasty in Israel that would continue to be a blessing to God’s people? David wouldn’t; but the Lord would, and he did. For the first time in Israel’s history a king’s son would follow him on Israel’s throne. We know that son to be Solomon, who would become one of the wisest men in the history of the world. There would be a peaceful transition of power from father to son. And it would be that son who would build a house for the Lord. That was the Lord’s plan. But that didn’t mean everything would be rosy. The Lord spoke to David about his son’s sins and the trouble they would bring. The royal fabric of the kingdom that David had woven would begin to unravel. His son’s idolatry would cause the Lord to discipline him. III. But, in spite of that son’s sinful ways, the Lord’s ultimate plans would not be deterred. They would happen right on time just as God planned. Listen to the Lord announce his plan to David, “I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever…Your house and your kingdom will endure forever before me; your throne will be established forever.” How those words must have blown David’s mind! David was a firm believer in the Lord’s promise of a Savior. That promise had been made to David’s ancestor, Judah, nearly 1,000 years earlier. From Judah, that promise then spread throughout hundreds of thousands of Judah’s descendants. And on this day in the life of King David, the Lord narrowed that promise down once again to one human being. The Lord would give David a descendant who would rule forever. David knew that to be the promise of the Savior. And that’s what happened. We heard it in this morning’s Gospel reading. The angel Gabriel appeared to Mary, who was a descendant of King David, and informed her that she would be the mother of the Savior. Gabriel later informed Joseph to name him Jesus. And this evening and tomorrow, we’ll gather to celebrate that miraculous birth once again. What grace upon grace! The Lord not only brings us to faith in Jesus as that Savior, he also allows us the opportunity to gather with our sisters and brothers in Christ to praise him for keeping his promise, for sending his Son into the world to be our Savior from sin. It happened just as God planned it. God’s plans are salvation promises. As I mentioned, it’s likely that you’ll spend some time in the next 36 hours reflecting on how blessed you are. And, as a Christian, your thoughts will naturally include the eternal blessings that the Child of Bethlehem won for you. God’s plans for you are certain in your Savior, Jesus Christ, and you’re overjoyed to be able to praise him for it this Christmas. But how long will those grateful thoughts and that joyful spirit last? How soon will it be before you view your life from the vantage point of disappointment? Of regret? Of self-pity? How much time will elapse before your grateful focus on all the gifts your God has given you, chiefly his Son, your Savior, turns to a jealous focus on what he has given others? How long before the Christmas joy you’re feeling now withers under the heat of daily life? Are we really that fickle? Be honest. I know I am. How about you? So, what can we do? Focus again on God’s plans which are his salvation promises. That’s what God’s people do. Recall that, shortly after God made this amazing promise to David, David’s life began to unravel due to his sins of adultery and murder. His family life from that point on was a string of heartaches and disappointments. But God didn’t change his plans. He announced his forgiveness to David, and David lived and died full of faith in that forgiveness which his son, God’s Son, would win for him. God has that same plan, that same promise, for your life, too. Your celebration of Christmas will not put a halt on sin and its effects in your life. But that doesn’t mean Christmas is a failure. God’s saving plans and promise for you still stand. Yes, the Savior came into this world for you, just as God planned. He lived, died, and rose again just as God planned. God’s plan for you was to bring you to faith in Jesus as your Savior and promise you eternal life with him in heaven. That’s God’s plan. That’s God saving promise. Hold to that promise by faith and never let it go! And then have a blessed celebration of the birth of that Savior, Jesus Christ! Amen.