The Lord will build you a house. And it shall be, when your days are fulfilled … that I will set up your seed after you … and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build Me a house, and I will establish his throne forever. I will be his Father, and he shall be My son; and I will not take My mercy away from him … I will establish him in My house and in My kingdom forever; and his throne shall be established forever. 1 Chronicles 17:10–14 NKJV
King David had long wanted to build a temple to house the ark of the covenant. The prophet Nathan initially encouraged him to do what was in his heart, but God sent him back to tell David that he was not to do this. God had a different plan, greater and more wonderful: He would build David a house!
God’s plan was not to build David a palace, a house constructed by human hands with ingredients of costly raw materials. God was looking on to the future, as we see in that often-repeated word, forever. He would set up David’s seed, his son Solomon (1 Chr. 22:9), after him to build Him the house David was not to build.
But while this prophecy referred immediately to Solomon, God had far more in view. Many scriptural prophecies have a short-range, or immediate fulfillment in view, and a long-range fulfillment by our Lord Jesus in a day still to come. This prophecy assured that, after David’s death, Solomon would build the temple. Yet its real focus is Jesus Christ, legally descended from David and Solomon (Mt. 1:6). Since Pentecost He has been building what is today the house of God, the Church of the Living God, the pillar and ground of the truth (Mt. 16:18; 1 Tim. 3:15; Heb. 3:6).
Solomon had thousands of workers laboring together under him to build the temple. Are you serving the Lord, working with others to spread the gospel and teach the Word, building with gold, silver, and precious stones, while it is still the day of grace?