2 Samuel 7:12-16. 12When 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. 13He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. 14I 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, 15but my steadfast love will not depart from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away from before you. 16And 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 will you leave behind? How will you 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, and 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 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 offspring of David.
He shall build a house for my name – Jesus will build the eternal house of God, the church.
I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son – Jesus, God the Son, became our brother.
When he commits iniquity, I will discipline him with the rod of men, with the stripes of the sons of men – Jesus, though sinless, will take the rod and stripes of humanity’s sin on the cross.
but my steadfast love will not depart from him – Jesus was resurrected by the Father’s love.
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 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 whose sum 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. Today, by 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?
To Live is Christ 