Sermon for the 4th Sunday Advent, December 18, 2011 "Jesus, Son of David" (II Samuel 7:1-11, 16)

“The Lord declares to you that the Lord Himself will establish a house for you. … Your house and your kingdom will endure forever before me; Your throne will be established forever.” (vv. 11, 16)

Sometimes it happens that you run into certain people who look vaguely familiar, but whose identity you don’t know. You see them every once in a while at the grocery store or at a ballgame. You’re not sure who they are or what they do. You wonder who they are. Yet, they are somewhat familiar to you.

King David of the Bible is a person like that for many of us. He makes frequent appearances in the Old Testament of course. But quite often he also appears in the New Testament. Would you believe he is mentioned 58 times in the New Testament?! We also encounter David many times in the hymns and carols of Advent and Christmas. In these hymns, Bethlehem is called the City of David.

Yes, we hear about David relatively often, but like that somewhat familiar person at the store or the game you sort of recognize, you may wonder exactly who this David is we are talking about today.

What’s important in this whole discussion about David is that the promised Savior who was to come – and who has arrived in the Bethlehem stable – had to be related to this David, otherwise God has not honored His Word and we have no Savior in Jesus Christ.

Let’s trace this out a bit more – David and his relationship to the Christ. David was a hero to the people of God both in Old Testament and New Testament times. You may recall that David, the youngest of Jesse’s eight sons, was the shepherd boy chosen by the prophet Samuel, at God’s direction, to be the king of Israel. For 40 years David ruled as king and was a general of the armies. Under his leadership a palace was built, enemies were conquered, Israel’s boundaries were enlarged, trade routes were restored, the material prosperity of Israel greatly increased. Everything was going great! Peace and prosperity permeated life in Palestine.

Not that everything was perfect. David himself was far from perfect. He had his faults. Especially memorable was his dark sin with the lovely Bathsheba, whom he had taken as his own wife after arranging the death of her husband Uriah. He had other faults as well, but the lesson for us as we think about David’s life is the great grace of God, as God confronted David with his sin and overwhelmed the king with His free forgiveness. David experienced the love of God, even as you and I do. And David worshiped the Lord with all his heart and soul, as we see in the many psalms he composed.

So, what does this have to do with Jesus? And, what does this have to do with Advent and Christmas? The answer is found in the Christmas story. There the connection between David and Jesus is stated so simply. Today’s Gospel reading said: “In the sixth month, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. The angel went to her and said, ‘Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.’ … Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. But the angel said to her, ‘Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give Him the name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the son of the Most High. The Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David, and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever; His kingdom will never end.’”

In these words we hear that Joseph is a descendant of David, and David is called the father of Jesus (that is, a direct ancestor of Jesus). And, by the way, we learn from another Gospel, that Mary herself is also a descendant of David. And then in the Book of Revelation, Jesus says of Himself in the 22nd chapter: “I am the root and offspring of David.”

What does this have to do with Christmas? This: the man who was to be the Messiah—God’s chosen Savior—had to be related to David. If a man claimed to be the Messiah-Savior but was not a descendant of David, that man was a fraud! Jesus Christ was, as St. Paul says, “Descended from David according to the flesh.” Therefore Jesus is the Messiah; He is the Savior. He is no fraud. That’s why people with blindness would cry out, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on us!” Here was God in human flesh. He could help, this one descended from David.

Our lesson from today from 2nd Samuel contains the very early promise of God that the Messiah would come through David. The One anointed to be the Redeemer would have to be one of David’s offspring. With David, then, a new movement toward God’s future and final saving of His people had occurred. The seed of the woman in the Garden of Eden, the seed of Abraham, would also, without a doubt, be the seed of David. That is what we learn in the Old Testament reading for today.

But this promise did not come without surprises for David. Remember, those were prosperous times for David and the Israelites. Times were good and David knew why they were good: God had blessed His people. Now, to show his appreciation and praise, David wanted to construct a great temple in which to worship God. He said: I live in a palace of cedar, while the ark of God remains in a tent. I want to build a temple!

But God had other plans, other surprises, for David. Isn’t that the way it is with God, also in our relationship with Him? We pray for and hope for certain blessings from God, but He has other, better plans for us. We might pray for good health and healing; God may well give us that, but He might also give a rich, spiritually healing encounter with His Word. In the process, we get to know Him better, and He heals our spirit.

Something similar happened in the life of David. He had an earthly temple in mind for the Lord. The Lord had something much grander and much more important in mind for David. God said to David, in effect, “You want to make a house for me? I don’t need one, not yet.” Then God goes on to say, “The Lord declares to you that the Lord Himself will establish a house for you: … Your house and your kingdom will endure forever before Me; your throne (David) will be established forever.” God’s promise was that David’s line, his household or family, would rule forever and ever.

Did it happen? Not as David expected, perhaps. There came a time, because of the disobedience of David’s sons and grandsons, that there was a pause in the rule of David’s family. But a little later God again picks up the promise and keeps it in a special way. The angel brought news of its fulfillment when he said to Mary: “Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David, and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever; His kingdom will never end.”

Yes, Jesus is the King of kings, descended from David. That’s why we sing, “Glory to the newborn King.” Oh, He didn’t look like a king as He was nestled there in the manger. But He was.

And as He grew up most people would not accept Him as the king, descended from David. They nailed this king to the cross, with a crown of thorns on His head, not a crown of gold. Above Him on that splintery cross were the sarcastic, but ironically true, words: THE KING OF THE JEWS.

Yes, how ironical was the sign! Here was “the only Sovereign, the King of kings, the Lord of lords.” Here was the king who didn’t arrogantly demand sacrifices from His people, but who allowed Himself to be sacrificed for His people for the forgiveness of all their sins. His sacrifice would count for all people because it was not the sacrifice of something perishable like gold or silver, but of the very lifeblood of God the Son, a sacrifice pure and holy.

This is our King, whose kingship was promised hundreds of years prior to His humble advent at Bethlehem to His great ancestor David. Jesus Christ, our King, rules today. The Gospel is His power, the Holy Spirit is His Royal Messenger, and the forgiveness of sins and eternal life in His kingdom is His royal decree for those who believe. No wonder we sing “glorias” to the newborn King on Christmas.

This Christmas let’s sing them loudly and gladly, for the Son of David is our King, our Savior. Amen.