Coming to Sit on David’s Throne 

When the angel of the Lord appeared to the Mary and told her of the marvelous favor God had bestowed upon her, she was understandably alarmed. For he told her that she would bear a child who would fulfill all the hopes and dreams of her people. She would give birth to the One who would sit on David’s throne and fulfill the ancient promise. 

Luke 1:30-33:  “But the angel said to her, ‘Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. 31 You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. 32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, 33 and he will reign over the house of Jacob for ever; his kingdom will never end.’” 

Mary knew exactly to whom the angel referred. Had not Isaiah and Micah spoken of a descendant of David, who would be a human child, yet more than human?  The angel calls Him “the Son of the Most High,” clearly a divine person. Yet He was to be born of Mary, a mortal woman. Notice the divine and human aspects of the “child” Isaiah spoke of in chapter 9.  

Is. 9:6-7: “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. 7 Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the LORD Almighty will accomplish this.” 

He will be born a human child; yet He will be called Mighty God and Everlasting Father, and His kingdom will last forever. In the same way Micah predicts the coming of a Divine-Human person, who would rule over Israel. 

Micah 5:2 “But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from days of eternity.” 

He is a human child, born of woman; yet his origin is from the days of eternity. His reign will last forever; He will be called “Mighty God.” 

During the first year of David’s reign over the combined kingdom of Judah and Israel, David suggested that he build the LORD a temple. The LORD refused David the privilege, but promised David that his dynasty would last forever, that he would always have a son to sit on his throne. 

II Sam. 7:10-16:  “And I will provide a place for my people Israel and will plant them so that they can have a home of their own and no longer be disturbed. Wicked people shall not oppress them anymore, as they did at the beginning 11 and have done ever since the time I appointed leaders [that is, judges] over my people Israel. I will also give you rest from all your enemies. The LORD declares to you that the LORD himself will establish a house [that is, a dynasty] for you: 12 When your days are over and you rest with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring to succeed you, who will come from your own body, and I will establish his kingdom. 13 He is the one who will build a house for my Name [Solomon], and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. 14 I will be his father, and he shall be my son. When he does wrong, I will punish him with the rod of men, with floggings inflicted by men. 15 But my love will never be taken away from him, as I took it away from Saul, whom I removed from before you. 16 Your house and your kingdom shall endure forever before Me; your throne shall be established forever.” 

The Jewish people remembered the promise and took it literally. Yet there were conditions. Although God would never permanently take the dynasty away from David, as He had done to Saul, there would be times—even long periods—when there was no king over Israel and Judah, much less a son of David. There was a hint of this fact in the initial promise: “When he does wrong, I will punish him with the rod of men, with floggings inflicted by men.” But, God says, “My love will never be taken away from him.” Thus we see that at any given time in history the promise was conditioned by circumstances, by the obedience of God’s people; but as to the final promise, it was unconditional; it was certain. 

II Chron. 7:18-22: “I will establish your royal throne, as I covenanted with David your father when I said, ‘You shall never fail to have a man to rule over Israel.’ 19 But if you [The Hebrew is plural, signifying you and your children after you.] turn away and forsake the decrees and commands I have given you and go off to serve other gods and worship them, 20 then I will uproot Israel from my land, which I have given them, and will reject this temple which I have consecrated for my Name. I will make it a byword and an object of ridicule among all peoples. 21 And though this temple is now so imposing, all who pass by will be appalled and say, ‘Why has the LORD done such a thing to this land and to this temple?’ 22 People will answer, ‘Because they have forsaken the LORD, the God of their fathers, who brought them out of Egypt, and have embraced other gods, worshipping and serving them — that is why he brought all this disaster on them.’” 

We know from the history of the dynasty that the kingdom of David was divided, and the ten northern tribes revolted and set up the Kingdom of Israel, leaving Judah and Benjamin to constitute the Kingdom of Judah. Judah was ruled by descendants of David until the Babylonian exile, and never again after that. The dynasty came to an end with Zedekiah in 587 B.C. 

Jer. 36:30:  “Therefore, this is what the LORD says about Jehoiakim king of Judah: He will have no one to sit on the throne of David; his body will be thrown out and exposed to the heat by day and the frost by night.” 

The dynasty as it passed through Jehoiakim ended with him; Zedekiah, the last king of Israel, was a son of Josiah, not Jehoiakim. Since the Babylonian captivity no son of David has ruled over an independent nation of Judah or Israel.  

Significantly, the genealogy of Jesus recorded in Matthew (1:1-16) is generally believed to be Joseph’s line traced through Jeconiah (Jehoiakim). Thus Jesus was legally in line for David’s throne through his adoptive father though He could not have inherited David’s throne through Jehoiakim because of the promise in Jeremiah that no physical descendant would reign on David’s throne. However,  the genealogy recorded in Luke (3:23-38) is Mary’s genealogy and  is counted through Nathan, another son of David. Thus Jesus was a descendant of David through his mother and through his adoptive father as well. 

God had said that David would not lack a descendent to sit on His throne. Every Jew understood that that must mean that finally a son of David would arise and rule over a restored, united, and independent nation of Israel. Thus throughout the Old Testament prophets prophesied of the coming Son of David. 

Isaiah 11:1-5: “A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit. 2 The Spirit of the LORD will rest on him — the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the Spirit of counsel and of power, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD — 3 and he will delight in the fear of the LORD. He will not judge by what he sees with his eyes, or decide by what he hears with his ears; 4 but with righteousness he will judge the needy, with justice he will give decisions for the poor of the earth. He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth; with the breath of his lips he will slay the wicked. 5 Righteousness will be his belt and faithfulness the sash round his waist.” 

Isaiah 16:5:  In love a throne will be established; in faithfulness a man will sit on it — one from the house of David — one who in judging seeks justice and speeds the cause of righteousness.”  Nothing like this has yet occurred. 

Jer. 23:5:  “’The days are coming,’ declares the LORD, ‘when I will raise up to David [Or up from David’s line] a righteous Branch, a King who will reign wisely and do what is just and right in the land. 6 In his days Judah will be saved and Israel will live in safety. This is the name by which he will be called: The LORD Our Righteousness.’”  This can only be fulfilled when Christ returns.

Referring back to God’s original promise Jeremiah looks forward to its ultimate fulfillment. 

Jer. 33:14-17:  “‘The days are coming,’ declares the LORD, ‘when I will fulfill the gracious promise I made to the house of Israel and to the house of Judah. 15 In those days and at that time I will make a righteous Branch sprout from David’s line; he will do what is just and right in the land. 16 In those days Judah will be saved and Jerusalem will live in safety. This is the name by which it [Or He] will be called: The LORD Our Righteousness.’ 17 For this is what the LORD says: ‘David will never fail to have a man to sit on the throne of the house of Israel’...” 

Ezekiel. 37:19-25: “say to them, ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: I am going to take the stick of Joseph — which is in Ephraim’s hand — and of the Israelite tribes associated with him, and join it to Judah’s stick, making them a single stick of wood, and they will become one in my hand.’ 20 Hold before their eyes the sticks you have written on 21 and say to them, ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: I will take the Israelites out of the nations where they have gone. I will gather them from all around and bring them back into their own land. 22 I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel. There will be one king over all of them and they will never again be two nations or be divided into two kingdoms. 23 They will no longer defile themselves with their idols and vile images or with any of their offences, for I will save them from all their sinful backsliding, and I will cleanse them. They will be my people, and I will be their God. My servant David will be king over them, and they will all have one shepherd. They will follow my laws and be careful to keep my decrees. 25 They will live in the land I gave to my servant Jacob, the land where your fathers lived. They and their children and their children’s children will live there for ever, and David my servant will be their prince for ever.” 

We can learn a valuable lesson from the promise to David. Any promise of God may be long in coming, and it may not come exactly as we expect. But it will come. “The Scripture cannot be broken.”  Since 587 B.C. no king has rules in Israel. In fact, for long centuries, until 1948, no state existed.  But when Jesus returns to earth THE Son of David will rule in Israel on David’s throne.