2 Samuel 7:12-16. 12 When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. 13 He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. 14 I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son. When he commits iniquity, I will discipline him with the rod of men, with the stripes of the sons of men, 15 but my steadfast love will not depart from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away from before you. 16 And your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me. Your throne shall be established forever.’”
Do you ever think about your legacy? What you will leave behind? How you will be remembered? Maybe, like David, you want to do something great for God. Build a temple. Write a book. Start a ministry. Or maybe you want to leave behind a family legacy. Children that have what you never had or can do what you never did.
But chasing legacies is like chasing the wind. Like life itself, legacies are fleeting. Can you even name your great-grandparents? The culture tells us to do something great, to follow our dreams, to change the world. But the reality is that we are all going to die and soon be forgotten. And let’s be honest, do we really deserve to be remembered after we’re gone? Has our good really outweighed our bad? When the sum total of our life is revealed do any of us deserve that monument?
In 2 Samuel 7, God offers David a legacy. We call it the Davidic Covenant. David wanted to build a house for God, the temple, but instead God promises to build the “House of David.” God will give David an eternal kingdom, and a throne forever. The greatest of all legacies. But not through David’s earthly son, Solomon, as we might think, but, rather, through the eternal son of God who became the son of David, Jesus Christ.
I will raise up your offspring after you – Jesus is the eternal offspring of David, raised up by God to save the world.
He shall build a house for my name – Jesus will build the eternal indestructible house of God, the church.
I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son – Jesus is the eternal son of God, inheriting all that is the Father’s and sharing it with all his adopted brothers and sisters who are in him.
When he commits iniquity, I will discipline him with the rod of men, with the stripes of the sons of men – Jesus will not sin, yet he will carry the eternal weight of humanity’s sin on the cross. He will bear the rod of men and suffer the stripes of humanity’s evil.
but my steadfast love will not depart from him – Jesus also is eternally loved by the Father and joins us to the Father’s steadfast love by the New Covenant.
your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me. Your throne shall be established forever – Jesus shall reign forever and ever!
David didn’t create his own legacy by his own greatness. Quite the opposite. God invited David into Jesus’ legacy of greatness in spite of David’s great sin and failure.
Are you desperately grasping to build a legacy for yourself? There’s only one person whose legacy is worth remembering. Only one life who’s sum total is pure goodness. Only one who deserves eternal glory and honor. It’s not David. It’s not Solomon. And it’s definitely not you or me. It’s Jesus. And his legacy is already established; it has been since before the foundation of the world. And through our union with Christ we are invited to share the legacy of “to live is Christ.”
You
What legacy are you trying to create for yourself?
You in Christ
In Christ his legacy becomes your legacy. How does this idea bring purpose to your life?
Christ in you
How can you promote Christ’s legacy today? How can you make him famous where you are? At home? At work? In the neighborhood?
***
Playlist: Christ Our Legacy.
Click Here to listen to this playlist on Spotify!
***
To see today’s post from the TLIC Family blog –> Click Here
To Live is Christ 