1 Chronicles Chapter 17

The Lord's Covenant with David

1Chronicles 17:1 Now it came to pass, as David sat in his house, that David said to Nathan the prophet, Lo, I dwell in an house of cedars, but the ark of the covenant of the LORD remaineth under curtains.
2 Then Nathan said unto David, Do all that is in thine heart; for God is with thee.

This is a good thought of David's but the time isn't yet. Nathan encouraged him to do what was in his heart but that was before God spoke to Nathan about building a house for the ark of God and for the presence of God to dwell within.

1Chronicles 17:3 And it came to pass the same night, that the word of God came to Nathan, saying,
4 Go and tell David my servant, Thus saith the LORD, Thou shalt not build me an house to dwell in:

The reason God gave for not allowing David to build a house is in 1 Chronicles 22:8. David was a man of war. God allowed Solomon to build the house but if we read these scriptures closely, we will see that the real one to build the house will be the Messiah, the one we know now as Jesus the Son of God; but Jesus is also the son of David through his son Nathan from which Mary came and the son of Solomon from which Joseph came. Although Joseph was only a step father, Joseph coming from the line of kings qualified Jesus to be the king of Israel in the latter times.

Jesus was with God in the beginning and was eternal but became a human man to pay the price of sin. A human man Adam, brought sin into the human race. The curse of death came with that sin. Death meaning physically and spiritually. We still have that physical death that one day will be abolished. Jesus had to come as a perfect human that never sinned even once. When He was killed, it was not for His own sin which He did not have but for ours. To inherit that eternal life with a new body that cannot ever die or suffer pain, we have to receive this and believe in Jesus (Yeshua) for our salvation by repenting (turning away from) sin and receiving Jesus into our lives.

We then become born a second time by the Holy Spirit. The first birth was natural the second birth is spiritual. We are changed by the power of God in other words. We still have the power to choose good from evil but we have God within us to help us along the way.

Here God is speaking to Nathan

1Chronicles 17:5 For I have not dwelt in an house since the day that I brought up Israel unto this day; but have gone from tent to tent, and from one tabernacle to another.
6 Wheresoever I have walked with all Israel, spake I a word to any of the judges of Israel, whom I commanded to feed my people, saying, Why have ye not built me an house of cedars?

God never once asked for a building to dwell in and never once needed one. He did allow David's son Solomon to build one and God honored that but I believe and this is my speculation, that it symbolized the one the Jesus will build in the latter days for the 1000 year reign we read about in Revelation. This occurs in until the final end of all sins and the building of the new heaven and earth in which there will be no need of any temple. We can read more about this awesome time in the last two chapters of Revelation.

1Chronicles 17:7 Now therefore thus shalt thou say unto my servant David, Thus saith the LORD of hosts, I took thee from the sheepcote, even from following the sheep, that thou shouldest be ruler over my people Israel:
8 And I have been with thee whithersoever thou hast walked, and have cut off all thine enemies from before thee, and have made thee a name like the name of the great men that are in the earth.
9 Also I will ordain a place for my people Israel, and will plant them, and they shall dwell in their place, and shall be moved no more; neither shall the children of wickedness waste them any more, as at the beginning,
10 And since the time that I commanded judges to be over my people Israel. Moreover I will subdue all thine enemies. Furthermore I tell thee that the LORD will build thee an house.
11 And it shall come to pass, when thy days be expired that thou must go to be with thy fathers, that I will raise up thy seed after thee, which shall be of thy sons; and I will establish his kingdom.
12 He shall build me an house, and I will stablish his throne for ever.

This prophecy is yet to be fulfilled. It will be fulfilled at the second return of Jesus to the earth.

1Chronicles 17:13 I will be his father, and he shall be my son: and I will not take my mercy away from him, as I took it from him that was before thee:
14 But I will settle him in mine house and in my kingdom for ever: and his throne shall be established for evermore.

What a day that will be. The rejoicing and presence of God that happens when Solomon builds the house of the Lord was glorious but it was not the final one. That one was torn down after Babylon took the nation of Judah into captivity.

1Chronicles 17:15 According to all these words, and according to all this vision, so did Nathan speak unto David.

There was a house built by Solomon later by the will of the Lord. I'm thinking that even though it wasn't the final one that was to come in the future but it is just like our God to allow a temporary one to be built by Solomon. It gave them a revival of joy and worship for a season. It was a glimpse of what it will be like when Jesus returns after the great tribulation. Sin and falling away from God caused Solomon's temple to be destroyed but all Israel will be restored in the latter days. These things happen more than once until Jesus returns and destroys all the enemies of Israel. This of course only happens when Israel discovers that Jesus whom their ancestors had rejected. Jesus is in fact the real Son of God and Messiah sent from God. He came the first time to save us from sin and the second time to establish an everlasting kingdom with no end.

David's Prayer

1Chronicle 17:16 And David the king came and sat before the LORD, and said, Who am I, O LORD God, and what is mine house, that thou hast brought me hitherto?
17 And yet this was a small thing in thine eyes, O God; for thou hast also spoken of thy servant's house for a great while to come, and hast regarded me according to the estate of a man of high degree, O LORD God.
18 What can David speak more to thee for the honour of thy servant? for thou knowest thy servant.
19 O LORD, for thy servant's sake, and according to thine own heart, hast thou done all this greatness, in making known all these great things.
20 O LORD, there is none like thee, neither is there any God beside thee, according to all that we have heard with our ears.
21 And what one nation in the earth is like thy people Israel, whom God went to redeem to be his own people, to make thee a name of greatness and terribleness, by driving out nations from before thy people, whom thou hast redeemed out of Egypt?
22 For thy people Israel didst thou make thine own people for ever; and thou, LORD, becamest their God.
23 Therefore now, LORD, let the thing that thou hast spoken concerning thy servant and concerning his house be established for ever, and do as thou hast said.
24 Let it even be established, that thy name may be magnified for ever, saying, The LORD of hosts is the God of Israel, even a God to Israel: and let the house of David thy servant be established before thee.
25 For thou, O my God, hast told thy servant that thou wilt build him an house: therefore thy servant hath found in his heart to pray before thee.
26 And now, LORD, thou art God, and hast promised this goodness unto thy servant:
27 Now therefore let it please thee to bless the house of thy servant, that it may be before thee for ever: for thou blessest, O LORD, and it shall be blessed for ever.

David was humbled and blessed to be the one God chose to lead Israel after God rejected Saul. God chose the line of David to bring His own Son into the world. Israel is now surrounded by enemies that want to wipe them off the map but they will not be able to do that. Egypt tried under a Pharoah that didn't know Joseph. Babylon tried by bringing them into captivity, the Romans tried when they invaded the country in 70 AD after Israel rejected Jesus Christ. Many others tried to reject and wipe the Jews off the face of the earth. Spain, England and other nations persecuted them. Germany did the worse during the Holocaust when Hitler tried to destroy them by the millions.

For 2000 years there was no nation of Israel until the prophetic timeclock began again in 1948 when Israel became a nation again. Now they are surrounded by armies again here in April 2025.
However, I can say that they never will be able to defeat Israel. All nations that come against Israel will be destroyed permanently by the coming of Jesus Christ to set up His kingdom. He will rule from Israel and the nation of Israel will recognize who the Messiah really is. The one that came the first time to pay the price for the sins of both Jews and Gentiles is the Messiah, the Son of God and the final king of kings and lord of lords. Even so come Lord Jesus.

1 Chronicles Chapter 18