The Messiah Anna Longed For

2 Samuel 7:12-14a, 16 (NKJV)

“When your days are fulfilled and you rest with your fathers, I will set up your seed after you, who will come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom.  He shall build a house for My name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be his Father, and he shall be My son. ….  And your house and your kingdom shall be established forever before you. Your throne shall be established forever.”

This was spoken to David by the prophet Nathan, using God’s words and directions. While David knew that a son of his would build a temple for God, he also recognized that many of the prophecies could not be about a direct son. For instance, the heir would not come until after David rested with his fathers. Solomon, the son who would inherit and build the temple, took over the throne while David lived.

And there are those ‘forever’ points. Solomon’s temple did not last forever. During the early Babylonian captivity, it was destroyed. Solomon’s kingdom also disappeared. No one holds the throne in Israel today. Those who sat on the actual throne in the days of Anna, and of Jesus’ birth, weren’t of the house and lineage of David. In fact, they weren’t even Hebrew. Rather, they descended from the line of Jacob’s brother, Esau.

So forever, Anna knew, could only come with the Messiah. Forever, had to be a temple that she could not live in and that she could not see.

Rather, the throne will reside in the temple not made with hands. (Acts 17:24)

Anna lived in Herod’s temple. That too, would be destroyed in 70AD. But the temple not made with hands, which would hold the Messiah’s throne, would never be destroyed.

Though Anna physically lived in one, somewhere along the way, her spirit began to live in the other—the forever one.