THE THRONE OF DAVID
The Old Testament predicted that someone in the future would reign on David’s throne. Ezekiel even called him “David” (Ezekiel 37:25). But how is the throne of David to be understood? Let us examine this.
“So shall their [Abner and Amasa] blood return upon the head of Joab, and upon the head of his seed forever: but to David, and to his descendants, and to his house, and to his throne, shall there be peace forever from Jehovah” (1 Kings 2:33). Several things are of note in this prophecy.
This statement speaks of the saving work of Jesus the Christ who was to come later. No matter where you look in the Bible, you will always find Jesus (Luke 24:44-47; John 5:39). The reference to “David and his descendants” finds its fulfillment in Christ and his followers.
The true “descendants” of David, like those who are true descendants of Abraham, are such because of their spiritual dedication to Christ rather than through fleshly Jewish origin (Rom. 4:1-12; Gal. 3:14-29). Therefore, Solomon’s prediction was of the ministry of Christ, for “The LORD has sworn in truth to David; he will not turn from it: I will set upon your throne the fruit of your body” (Psa. 132:11).
God said that he would place a descendant of David on David’s throne. This “descendant” was “Jesus Christ the son of David” (Matt. 1:1), whose mother was a virgin pledged to be married “to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David” (Luke 1:27) who “belonged to the house and line of David” (Luke 2:4).
Zechariah prophesied concerning the birth of Jesus that God had “raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David” (Lk. 1:69). To Mary, the angelic messenger promised that “the Lord God” would give Jesus “the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; of his kingdom there will be no end” (Luke 1:32-33). Paul would later tell Timothy to remember Jesus Christ who descended from David (2 Tim. 2:8).
This “descendant of David” would in turn have spiritual “descendants” who are the “brothers” of Christ (Heb. 2:11-12) and the “sons of God” (John 1:12). God said these “descendants of David” his servant—the disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ—would be as countless as the stars of the sky and the sand on the seashore. “As the host of heaven cannot be numbered, nor the sand of the sea measured, so will I multiply the descendants of David my servant” (Jer. 33:22).
The descendants of David represent the progression of the descendants of Abraham. This was the fulfillment of the “everlasting covenant” to David. “Incline your ear, and come to me. Hear, and your soul shall live; and I will make an everlasting covenant with you—the sure mercies of David” (Isa. 55:3). It was of Christ that Isaiah said, “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” (Isa. 9:7).
According to Solomon’s prophecy, the reign of Jesus would be one of “peace forever from the Lord” (1 Kings 2:33). God would later declare through the prophet Jeremiah that he would raise up to David a descendant who would be the King over his people during days of peace and safety. “Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, That I will raise to David a Branch of righteousness; a King shall reign and prosper, and execute judgment and righteousness in the earth. In his days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell safely; now this is his name by which he will be called: THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS” (Jer. 23:5-6). Because Jesus is our righteousness, we have “peace forever” and we walk in spiritual “safety.”
This “peace forever” would come as the result of “David” shepherding his people. “I will establish one shepherd over them, and he shall feed them—my servant David. He shall feed them and be their shepherd. And I, the LORD, will be their God, and my servant David a prince among them; I, the LORD, have spoken. I will make a covenant of peace with them, and cause wild beasts to cease from the land; and they will dwell safely in the wilderness and sleep in the woods” (Ezekiel 34:23-25). Christ is the Shepherd here considered, called David because of what that name signified to the people at that time.
Christ, who is “prince among” us (Ezek. 34:24), is the “Prince of peace” (Isa. 9:6). Ezekiel’s revelation of God’s promise of a covenant of peace with Christ’s followers, in which he would rid the land of “wild beasts” so that they may “dwell safely” in the wilderness and in the woods (Ezek. 34:25), speaks symbolically of the peace with which Christ would encompass his people.
An important reason for the peace that we have is because the Lord is our Shepherd (Ps. 23:1). This is the kind of peace that David knew—and therefore that pointed to Christ: “The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me to lie down in green pastures; he leads me beside the still waters. He restores my soul; he leads me in the paths of righteousness for His name's sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for You are with me; your rod and Your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup runs over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life; and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever” (Ps. 23:1-6).
Isaiah likewise gave a description in prophetic language about the peace that Jesus would bring with righteousness and faithfulness as his belt (Isa. 11:5). This peaceful advent of Christ would see the wolf living with the lamb, the leopard lying down with the goat, the cow feeding with the bear, the infant playing near the hole of the cobra, and the young child putting his hand into the viper’s nest (Isa. 11:6-8).
Such is symbolic imagery. The peace brought about by the Savior’s reign would be the reason they would “neither hurt nor destroy on all my holy mountain” (Isa. 11:9). This symbolism predicted what the angel announced in plain language at the birth of Christ: “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill toward men!” (Lk. 2:14).
The kingdom of peace that Solomon prophesied was fulfilled in Christ, “the Root of David” (Rev. 5:5), “the Offspring of David” (Rev. 22:16), whose coming has guided our feet into the path of peace (Luke 1:79). “The word which God sent to the children of Israel, preaching peace through Jesus Christ—he is Lord of all” (Acts 10:36). The promised peace was eternally achieved through Christ when he reconciled all things to himself—things on earth and things in heaven—giving us “peace through his blood” shed at the cross (Col. 1:20). Because of his cross, when we are “justified by faith” we “have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Rom. 5:1). And we serve our Lord Jesus Christ, who is the King who reigns over the church—God’s people—on David’s throne.
Dewayne Dunaway
