| Christian Life and Doctrine | October 1987 |
The Throne of David
“Say unto my servant David … I will set up thy seed after thee. … Thine house and thy kingdom shall be established forever before thee: thy throne shall be established forever:” —II Samuel 7:8,12,16
DAVID was a man after God’s own heart. God made promises to him concerning his seed, kingdom, and throne. All these promises will be fulfilled through the “son of David,” who will accomplish more than David ever imagined!
God promised that David’s throne and kingdom would continue long after David fell asleep in death. Many Israelites thought this promise would be fulfilled in Solomon, one of David’s sons. But Solomon and his descendents through King Zedekiah represented only the typical kingdom of God. With the overthrow of Zedekiah that typical kingdom came to an end.
The words spoken by the Prophet Nathan in our theme scripture, tell us that David was to have a seed; that seed would build a house; and that the line of David would be the royal line of the kingdom of God. It also speaks of a throne, although the prophecy does not concern a literal throne of wood or stone. The word is used as a symbol of sovereign power: the right to rule would always belong to one of David’s seed.
This theme continues to unfold in other Old Testament prophecies. Notice Isaiah’s words: “Unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The Mighty God, The Everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David and upon his kingdom … forever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.” (Isa. 9:6,7) This prophecy tells us not only about blessings of the kingdom, but also of the one who will bring those blessings. And that one, of course, is Jesus Christ.
Notice how Matthew recounts the genealogy of Jesus: “The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.” (Matt. 1:1) David is mentioned before Abraham, the friend of God, because prominence was being given to the kingly line of David.
When the angel announced to Mary the wonderful thing that would happen to her, he said: “Thou shalt bring forth a son and shalt call his name Jesus. He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David … and of his kingdom there shall be no end.”—Luke 1:31-33
This proclamation tells us that the promises to David have their fulfillment in Jesus who will forever have the ‘right to rule’ as signified in David’s throne. What this scripture does not tell us is when he will actually begin to exercise that right. Certainly Jesus did not rule in any sense of the word at his first advent, when he died as a ransom for Adam and the entire human race. But the prophecy concerning his role as king upon a throne will be fulfilled during Christ’s thousand-year kingdom.
Two Thrones
Consider these encouraging words directed to the faithful of God: “To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne even as I also overcame and am set down with my Father in his throne.”—Rev. 3:21
Two thrones are mentioned: the Father’s and Christ’s. During the past two thousand years of this Gospel Age, our Lord and his father have been jointly sitting in the Father’s throne. His activity since his resurrection has been as Jehovah’s representative. But the time is coming when he will sit on his own throne. When he does, faithful overcomers will be granted the right to sit with him as joint-inheritors in the kingdom.
Jesus said, “When the Son of man shall come in his glory and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory.” (Matt. 25:31) Peter said, “God … raised up Christ to sit on his [David’s] throne.” (Acts 2:30) The Matthew text associates the faithful overcomers with Christ in the throne of his glory, which Peter calls David’s throne. We might term this Christ’s ‘millennial throne’, because when he is on that throne, “Before him shall be gathered all nations and he shall separate them one from another as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats.”—Matt. 25:32
The Scriptures contain numerous promises that the faithful footstep followers of Jesus will share in reigning with him in the kingdom. “They shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.” (Rev. 20:6) “If we suffer, we shall also reign with him.” (II Tim. 2:12) But, of course, these promises have yet to be fulfilled.
When Will Christ Sit on David’s Throne?
In Revelation, the Lord said he had sat down in his Father’s throne. That throne is not, of course, David’s throne. Christ sits down on David’s throne when the entire church has been glorified and is with him. Because God is still accepting new members of the church who make a covenant by sacrifice to serve him, the time for reigning from David’s throne is yet future.
When Peter, Paul, and Barnabas talked about how God had begun to deal with Gentiles, the elders at Jerusalem met to discuss it. At the end of this discussion, James spoke: “Simeon [Peter] hath declared how God at the first [for the first time] did visit the Gentiles to take out of them a people for his name. And to this agree the words of the prophets;, as it is written, After this I will return, and will build again the tabernacle of David, which is fallen down; and I will build again the ruins thereof, and I will set it up: that the residue of men might seek after the Lord, and all the Gentiles, upon whom my name is called, saith the Lord, who doeth all these things.”—Acts 15:14-17
Under the influence of the Holy Spirit, James stated that Christ as Jehovah’s agency returns to set up the tabernacle (tent or habitation) of David—David’s throne—after the work of selecting a people for his name. David’s son and David’s Lord, together with a people for his name, will jointly be responsible for blessing all the families of the earth.
Christ is not now on David’s throne bringing the blessings spoken of by all the holy prophets. He is still in the Father’s throne. The disciples asked Jesus after his resurrection, “Wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?” (Acts 1:6) They were really asking about the reestablishment of David’s kingdom. They had been promised that they would sit with him judging the twelve tribes of Israel. (Matt. 19:28) They did not know their kingdom hope would be postponed for nearly two thousand years as the truth was preached throughout the world and others, like themselves, would be gathered as ripe wheat in time of harvest.
The beauty and holiness of the coming kingdom is described in some of the last words of our Bible: “I, Jesus, have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things in the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, and the bright and morning star. And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.”—Rev. 22:16,17
In this text, our Lord says he is the offspring of David. Jeremiah said, “In those days and at that time will I cause the Branch of righteousness to grow up unto David; and he shall execute judgment and righteousness in the land.” (Jer. 33:15) The faithful followers of the Lord are collectively called the ‘bride’. The Lord, the bride, and the Holy Spirit work together to bring the water of life to a thirsty world.
So let us thank God for the throne of David. The Lord has done great things for us whereof we are glad. He promised that if we are faithful, we will have a share in blessing all the world of mankind. The first blessing the world will receive is a resurrection from death. What a wonderful privilege is ours: “When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory.”—Col. 3:4