Today’s Passage: 2 Samuel 7:12-13
When your days are fulfilled … I will raise up your offspring after you … and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. — 2 Samuel 7:12-13
Do you ever wonder what your life legacy will be? The Bible tells us that life is a vapor so it is natural for us to consider our “bucket list.” We want to make life count. King David had a strong desire to do something big with his life for God. He was a man of war and after many years in battle, God brought peace to Israel and crowned David as King over the entire kingdom. David lived in a magnificent palace in Jerusalem so he determined that he would build God a magnificent house as well. The ark of the covenant currently resided in the tabernacle, a temporary dwelling consisting of curtains and tents. David wanted to build God a permanent home. He had such grand plans! God had even grander plans for David.
God responds with arguably the most important promise in the entire Old Testament. He promises to build an eternal kingship through David’s line. David’s physical lineage would live on through his son Solomon and his descendants. Even more, God promised to establish an eternal throne through his line. This was the only promise of its kind to a king in Israel. The coming Son of God would be a son of David (Luke 2:4). If you’re talking about leaving a legacy, you could not dream of a higher honor than this! His descendant Jesus Christ lived the perfect life we could not and paved the way to eternal life with His death and resurrection.
The truth is that our eternal legacy can also be unified with Christ. If our faith is found in Christ, then each moment of our lives is tied to Him. Our eternal destiny is also found in Christ. God’s grace is so rich and amazing! He blesses His children far above all that we could ask or think in His Son. We think that we can achieve great things for Him (like building a temple) when really the greatest gift is to have His presence in our lives. This Christmas, let’s celebrate our Messiah and His grace in our lives. Christmas isn’t about the biggest gift around the tree. Let’s focus on the gift that brings an everlasting legacy: the abiding presence of Christ in our hearts and in our families. Merry Christmas!
Prayer
Father, thank You for richly blessing us so far above what we can imagine. In Jesus’s name, amen.