After the children of Israel came out of Egypt to the foot of Mount Sinai, God made a covenant with them. This is the old covenant. When the journey of the children of Israel in the wilderness came to an end, God made another covenant with them in the land of Moab before they entered Canaan. This is recorded in Deuteronomy 28 through 30. Deuteronomy 29:1 explicitly says that this covenant was not included in the covenant enacted at Mount Horeb, which is Mount Sinai; it was a covenant alongside of the covenant that He made with them at Mount Horeb. This covenant can be summed up in three points.
First, God said that the children of Israel would be blessed if they did according to God’s law. They would be blessed in their coming in, and they would be blessed in their going out. They would be blessed in their eating, and they would be blessed in their clothing. They would be blessed in their dwellings, and they would be blessed in their journeys. They would be blessed in the city, and they would be blessed outside the city. They would be blessed everywhere and in everything, and they would be able to overcome all enemies and dwell peacefully in the good land, Canaan, which God promised to their fathers.
Second, God said that they would be cursed if they disobeyed His law, forsook Him, and followed the customs of the nations, going after their idols. They would be cursed in their coming in, and they would be cursed in their going out. They would be cursed everywhere and in everything, and they would be overcome by their enemies and carried away to all the nations.
Third, He said that if they would repent and turn back to Him after they had been carried away to the nations, He would gather them and bring them back from the nations, causing them to multiply in number, and bless them.
This covenant is not related to us; it altogether concerns whether or not the Israelites would live peacefully in the land of Canaan.
This covenant, recorded in 2 Samuel 7:5-16 and Psalm 89:19-37, is an orthodox covenant and is included in the covenant God made with Abraham. This covenant is a supplement to Abraham’s covenant, particularly in the kingdom aspect. We will look at four points.
God’s promise to make a house for David relates to David having a seed. There is a background for this covenant which God made with David. At first David wanted to build a house for God. After he was king, having conquered most of the enemies around the borders, David built a palace in which to dwell. However, he did not feel peaceful inwardly because even though he had settled down, the Ark of God, which is God Himself, did not have a dwelling place. Therefore, he wanted to build a temple for God, to build a house for God. His desire pleased God, but God would not let him do so because God first needed to make a house for David so that David could then build a house for God. God did not want David to act before Him. David also frequently went to war, shed blood abundantly, and some of his enemies were not yet conquered. Therefore, God seemed to be saying, “You are a man of war and are not fit for building My house. After I have built a house for you and you have begotten a seed from that house, that seed will build Me a house.”
Not only did God make David a house, He also promised to enlarge this house into a kingdom that would be an eternal kingdom which would extend all the way to the Lord Jesus.
God promised David that He would never take the throne of the kingdom away from his seed; He would keep this throne and the kingship for the seed of David forever. We know that this throne and kingship extended all the way to the Lord Jesus. The beginning of the Gospel of Luke tells us that the One who was both God and man, who was born of Mary, would inherit the throne and the kingship of David because the Lord Jesus was the seed of David.
This covenant has four items: the house, the kingdom, the throne, and the temple. The kingdom is for God’s reign, the temple is for God’s presence, and the house is for the mingling of God and man. From this house a man is born, who is the seed of David. He sits on the throne, reigning for God and bringing in God’s presence.
In this covenant, the Lord Jesus has a very particular position. Every point of this covenant refers to the Lord Jesus. The Lord Jesus is the real seed of David; He is the Son of David. He is the true Solomon. He is the One who is the mingling of God and man; He is Emmanuel brought forth through God’s entering into man and becoming flesh (Matt. 1:23). He inherited the throne of David His father. He brought in the kingdom of God and reigned for God; and He built the temple of God so that God could be with man and dwell with man. These points are clearly spoken of in the following Scriptures: Micah 5:2, Isaiah 9:6-7, Jeremiah 23:5-6, 33:15-16, Luke 1:31-33, and Acts 2:29-36.