Tim Maas Retired Quality Assurance Specialist with the U.S. Army

David, the second man chosen by God to be king of Israel in the Old Testament, was known for his devotion to God. After he became king, he was upset at the fact that he was dwelling in a palace made of cedar wood, whereas the Ark of God (the elaborate ceremonial container that held (among other things) the stone tablets on which the Ten Commandments that God had given to Israel through Moses had been written by God Himself) continued to be stored in the Tabernacle (the portable tent-like structure that had been fabricated at God's direction to be the main location for Israel's national worship of God ever since the time that Israel had made its exodus from its former slavery in Egypt). David therefore said that he planned to build a permanent temple for that purpose to replace the tabernacle.

God was pleased that David wanted to do this, but sent the prophet Nathan to him in 2 Samuel 7 in the Old Testament to tell David that he was not the one whom God wanted to build the temple. Instead, God told David that He would give David a son who would be the one to build the temple. (This was fulfilled when David's son Solomon succeeded him as king, and then built the temple in Jerusalem.)

Even though David was not the one to build the temple, God was so pleased with David for having wanted to do so that He also told David that the throne of Israel would belong to his descendants forever.

The ongoing fulfillment of this prophecy ultimately led down through history to Jesus (who was biologically descended from David through His mother Mary, as indicated in Luke 3:23-38, as well as royally descended from David through the ancestry of His earthly foster father Joseph, as indicated in Matthew 1:1-17).

Aside from the fact that Jesus was a "son" of David as a result of His ancestry, the specific title "Son of David" was also used by the Israelites to designate Jesus as the Messiah that God had promised to ultimately send to Israel. (However, Jesus was not sent as the type of military deliverer that David had been, and that many in Israel expected the Messiah to be with respect to Israel's subjugation to the Romans that was in effect during Jesus' earthly life, but instead as the One who would redeem not only Israel but all of humanity from the judgment of God against its sin by living a sinless life, dying a substitutionary death in their place, and then rising from the dead as proof that His atoning death had been sufficient in God's sight for that purpose of redemption and for the granting of eternal life in God's presence to those who would place their faith in Him, rather than in their own works, for salvation.)

December 16 2020 • 0 responses • Vote Up • Share • Report

Grant Abbott Child of Father, Follower of Son, Student of Spirit

God's covenant with David is recorded in 2 Samuel 7:13-16 and 1 Chronicles 17:11-14.

2 Samuel 7:12-16
"When your days are over and you rest with your ancestors, I will raise up your offspring to succeed you, your own flesh and blood, and I will establish his kingdom. He is the one who will build a house for my Name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be his father, and he will be my son. When he does wrong, I will punish him with a rod wielded by men, with floggings inflicted by human hands. But my love will never be taken away from him, as I took it away from Saul, whom I removed from before you. Your house and your kingdom will endure forever before me; your throne will be established forever."

1 Chronicles 17:13-17
"When your days are over and you go to be with your ancestors, I will raise up your offspring to succeed you, one of your own sons, and I will establish his kingdom. He is the one who will build a house for me, and I will establish his throne forever. I will be his father, and he will be my son. I will never take my love away from him, as I took it away from your predecessor. I will set him over my house and my kingdom forever; his throne will be established forever."

The apostle Matthew confirms that Jesus as a "Son of Man" is a human being descended from David, with the genealogy list presented in Matthew 1:6-16.

The message delivered by the angel to Mary confirms that this human baby to be born through her will also be "the Son of the Most High God" as recorded in 

Luke 1:31-33.
"You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. 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, and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.”

The apostle Paul gives us a clear picture of Jesus the "Son of God" willingly becoming a "Son of Man" a human being in:

Philippians 2:5-11
"In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross! Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."

The apostle John reminds us that this Son of Man, a descendant of David, the Lamb that was slain, is also the Son of God whose kingdom will have no end in the book of Revelation.

Revelation 1:12-18 
"I turned around to see the voice that was speaking to me. And when I turned I saw seven golden lampstands, and among the lampstands was someone like a son of man, dressed in a robe reaching down to his feet and with a golden sash around his chest. The hair on his head was white like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes were like blazing fire. His feet were like bronze glowing in a furnace, and his voice was like the sound of rushing waters. In his right hand he held seven stars, and coming out of his mouth was a sharp, double-edged sword. His face was like the sun shining in all its brilliance. When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. Then he placed his right hand on me and said: “Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last. I am the Living One; I was dead, and now look, I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades."

Jesus, the Son of Man, a descendant of David, is also Christ, the Son of God, who holds the keys to eternal life in his hands and is welcoming every human being to enter his eternal kingdom. This is the eternal covenant given to David.

December 26 2020 • 0 responses • Vote Up • Share • Report