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BIBLE
The Crowning of the King by Dr. Darryl Allen
The promise that a descendent of David would sit on his throne and rule over Israel was very prominent in the minds of the Jewish people, and they expected that when the Messiah came He would lead them in overthrowing the Roman government, ascend to the throne of David to rule over Israel and return them to a position of prominence and power. However, “it was always God’s highest will that God himself should be king over Israel, and when at last the earthly kings of Israel failed from their thrones in Jerusalem, God himself restored the kingdom in its spiritual sense by placing it in the hands of the Lord Jesus Christ, David’s greatest son.”
The Gospel writers clearly identify Jesus as “David’s greatest Son.” Matthew 1:1-17 does so by recording the genealogy of Christ that clearly connects him to David. Luke does the same as he relates the message spoken to Mary by the angel Gabriel. Luke 1:32-33, “He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David. And He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end” (NKJV).
Clearly, the Gospel writers correctly identify Christ as “David’s greatest Son” Who was the fulfillment of the promise of the Davidic Covenant. The Scriptures reveal that the majority of the Jews rejected Christ as the promised Messiah/King Who had been prophesied about in the writings of Samuel and Isaiah because Christ came proclaiming a message of a different kingdom, a spiritual kingdom rather than a literal kingdom. The reason they rejected Christ as the Messiah/King is that they misunderstood or misinterpreted what God meant when He spoke through the prophets of the throne of David.
Unfortunately, dispensational premillennial teachers have made the same mistake as well. Both these teachers and the Jews have always given a literal interpretation to any reference in the prophecies or the rest of Scripture to the meaning of the throne of David. Therefore, to their minds, Christ failed to fulfill the promise of God in the Davidic Covenant at His first coming and will have to return to earth at some future time and set up an earthly kingdom so He can rule and reign as they understand and interpret the prophecies.
According to C.E. Brown, “The throne of David is not a symbol of Jewish, carnal rule, but the symbol of the rule of Christ in His saving and sanctifying power” (136). According to 1 Samuel 8:6-9, God never intended to set up Israel like the rest of the kingdoms of the world with an earthly king to rule over them; He wanted to rule over them. Israel, however, went to Samuel and demanded that he give them “a king to judge” them. This displeased Samuel and God and, as a result, God noted Israel’s rebellion and gave His consent to Samuel to appoint them a king. As noted above, God’s promise to David was the means whereby He would “restore His kingdom in its spiritual sense by placing it in the hands of the Lord Jesus Christ, David’s greatest Son.”
On the Day of Pentecost, God sent a definite and demonstrative sign that confirmed without question the promise He made in the Davidic Covenant had been fulfilled in the resurrection and ascension of Christ. As Christ ascended back to heaven He was crowned the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords and took His place at the right hand of the Father and began His reign and would reign until the end of time when He would deliver His Kingdom to the Father.
That is the explanation given by Peter in his sermonic response to those who were amazed and perplexed by what they witnessed in the followers of Christ who had been filled with the Holy Spirit and were speaking in unknown languages as the Spirit gave them utterance and asked, “Whatever could this mean?” (Acts 2:12b, NKJV).
Peter explains to them by using the clear teaching of the Scriptures that what they were witnessing was the evidence “that the eternal kingdom promised to David’s son was finally realized in the resurrection of Jesus.” And he used the very words of David himself from Psalms 16:8-11, 68:18, and 110:1 to make his case. In these prophetic passages God speaks through David to reveal that “His greatest Son” would be identified in the fact that He would rise from the dead, conquering humanity’s greatest foe, death, and He would ascend back to the right hand of the Father to rule and to reign forevermore.
After presenting these facts Peter concludes his sermon with this declaration: “Therefore, let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified both Lord and Christ [in other words, Messiah and King]” (Acts 2:36 NKJV). “It was in Christ’s resurrection and ascension, therefore, that God fulfilled his promise that David’s greatest Son would rule the nations with an everlasting kingdom. That is why His kingdom is everlasting and why He is both Lord and Christ,” or Messiah and King.
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Dr. Darryl Allen Lead Pastor Cedar Creek Church of God Greenville, TN |
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In the Davidic Covenant, God promised David that he would establish the Kingdom of his son forever. 2 Samuel 7:12-13, “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” (NKJV).
This is not an isolated prophetic message, but God restated it in the prophecy of Isaiah 9:7, “Of the increase of His government and peace there will be no end, upon the throne of David and over His kingdom, to order it and establish it with judgment and justice from that time forward, even forever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this” (NKJV). |