David's Throne, Christ's Reign

It’s great to be back with you again this morning. This is the final week of our series “Jesus, our Prophet, Priest, and King.” Each of the last 2 weeks we’ve looked at Old Testament/Hebrew pictures of Jesus. We saw Elijah the prophet, how his role as prophet points to the prophetic work of Christ in our lives; then we looked into the priestly/pastoral heart of Samuel, as evidenced in his farewell address. Each of these men do well in pointing to Christ, and we can be thankful to see the hope of Christ as we read through the Old Testament. Today, we open God’s Word to look into King David. David is perhaps the OT character with whom Jesus is most often connected, due in no small part to being a direct descendant from David in both Mary and Joseph’s lines. Jesus, as a descendant of David, would have the earthly right to the throne. As we well know, Jesus does not need the earthly right to the throne, but the fulfillment of the Davidic Covenant is a major part of the kingship of Christ. God made a promise to David that his line would last forever, and He fulfilled that promise by sending Christ to come through the line of David. One of the biggest problems that the Jews had when Jesus came was that their picture of the Messiah was that an earthly kingdom would be re-established in the name of David and the people of God would return to their former glory. Remember, the Temple still stood when Jesus was alive, so everyone thought that all that was needed was the rebirth of the kingdom through the Messiah in the line of David. However, this promise/covenant was so much broader and so much more important than any temporary kingdom. While Jesus will establish His kingdom on earth in the redeemed creation, the Kingdom of God is both already at hand and not yet fully realized on earth. After all of that, let’s dive into the text to see the covenant God made with David.

2 Samuel 7:11–16 ESV

from the time that I appointed judges over my people Israel. And I will give you rest from all your enemies. Moreover, the Lord declares to you that the Lord will make you a house. When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall 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. I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son. When he commits iniquity, I will discipline him with the rod of men, with the stripes of the sons of men, but my steadfast love will not depart from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away from before you. And your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me. Your throne shall be established forever.’ ”

In this promise, this covenant, we see God hitching His wagon to the House of David, further cementing the place of Israel in His plan and further evidencing His overall Kingship over creation. Jesus is the final King in the line of David. God used David because David was a “man after God’s own heart” yes. But really, God used David to show us that no matter how great any earthly king is or can be, it pales in comparison to being under Him as our King. So that leads us to the first question.

What is the problem with the earthly king?

In short, there’s nothing technically wrong with earthly kings. But let’s remember Samuel’s address to the people of Israel last week, how he grieved for the people of Israel that they begged and begged for a king when in reality, God had been their king all along. Let’s hear this exchange from Samuel and the Lord.

1 Samuel 12:6–7 ESV

And Samuel said to the people, “The Lord is witness, who appointed Moses and Aaron and brought your fathers up out of the land of Egypt. Now therefore stand still that I may plead with you before the Lord concerning all the righteous deeds of the Lord that he performed for you and for your fathers.

1 Samuel 8:6–7 ESV

But the thing displeased Samuel when they said, “Give us a king to judge us.” And Samuel prayed to the Lord. And the Lord said to Samuel, “Obey the voice of the people in all that they say to you, for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me from being king over them.

This was at the heart of the request. Now, this is I know not sticking with David, so as we address the problem with earthly kings, let’s look at David. David’s anointing is one of those stories we like to think of as special and beautiful, but the circumstances surrounding his anointing were extraordinary - and gruesome. What ensued after the blessing of Samuel on David as King was an all out Civil War, where Saul and David would vie for the hearts and minds of the people of Israel. David loved Saul and had served in his court before, so he was himself torn between the duty the Lord had placed on him and the loyalty he felt to the father of his best friend. All of this tension, war, and death resulted from the sin of earthly kings.

Speaking of the sin of earthly kings, there is the episode of King David and the woman Bathsheba. David’s warrior spirit was legendary, but even he got lazy from time to time. He didn’t go to battle with his troops, and spied on Bathsheba as she was bathing. Many of us know the rest of the story, David commits adultery with Bathsheba, then, upon learning of Bathsheba’s pregnancy, attempts to cover up his sin by bringing her husband home. When he fails in that cover up, he further attempts to cover up his sin by having Uriah killed.

There are numerous other stories (in the life of David specifically) that we could look to and see the problem with earthly kings. So what’s the problem with earthly kings?

Unlike Jesus, earthly kings could never live up to their role.

This is one of the most important aspects as we understand the kingship of Christ in our lives. Jesus is the King of Kings, and has always lived up to that role. Even in His sacrifice for us, He lived up to the role of King in loving His people well. When Jesus gave his life for the sins of His people (who did not deserve his unmerited favor), He exemplified the heart of the king perfectly. Earthly monarchs, presidents, governors, prime ministers, and any other ruler that is placed above us will always fail to live to that standard and will always, by virtue of their sin nature, let us down. What a joy it is to have a king that can never let us down and will always protect His people. He has protected His people, with His own life.

So what is the purpose of the earthly king?

I think the purpose of the earthly king is best answered in . The apostle Paul writes to the church in Rome, a church at the front line of the battle between the earthly king, Caesar, and their true King, Jesus Christ.

Romans 13:1–2 ESV

Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment.

What a fascinating about this passage is the clear language that is used. Just as David carried out injustice and sinned against the Lord, so much more so did Caesar, who was godless and unholy in all things he did. However, we see that God has instituted the rulers. What a tough thing to hear! David’s kingdom, however, was directly instituted by God when he was anointed by Samuel, in spite of all the wicked things David would eventually do. David was a polygamous, murderous, and adulterous liar - but he was called a man after God’s own heart.

The evidence presented to us in the Old and New Testament gives us 2 answers to the question of the earthly king’s purpose.

God gives us rulers to: work in accordance to His will and further show us the need to rely on Him as our King.

Simply, God has ordained the people above us to be above us. Now, that does not mean that God causes our leaders to sin, but it is through the imperfect means that God achieves his perfect ends. It was through the imperfect but humble King David that God began the eternal kingdom to be continued in Jesus. I think we often find it hard to believe that God ordains that some leaders be in charge (because they certainly wouldn’t be who I would have chosen), but we must not forget that it is not the will of God that people should sin. While God operates as sovereign over all things and is in control of all the outcomes, it is through the sin of mankind that the story weaves. Think of David once again; the heir to his throne was the richest king Israel ever had, the builder of the temple, and the author of the majority of the Proverbs. Solomon, David’s son, became king through God’s will and David’s sin. David had Solomon through his marriage to Bathsheba, with whom he committed adultery and married after having her first husband killed in battle. David surely regretted the sin but not the seed.

Through all of these mistakes we once again return to the heart of God’s leadership - He continually shows us how much better He is at running things! He shows us how much better of a king He is to Israel by giving them what they wanted - a King. How often do we as Christians seek to run our own lives or seek to do what we want yet return to the Scriptures and realize that God’s got this thing figured out? He’s got a plan that is so much bigger and better than we could have ever dreamt up!

Now what is our path under King Jesus?

In short, our path under King Jesus is to fulfill the wishes of the King. When we operate under the mentality that Jesus is King, we live out the commandment of the king here in

Matthew 6:33 ESV

But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

To seek the kingdom of God first is to put ourselves under the king first.

Live to honor the name of Christ as King

In our daily lives, our speech, our thoughts, etc., we have opportunity to live as subjects and let it spread throughout all things. We operate in life out of confidence, not out of fear. We vote in our government elections under the convictions we believe in, but fully trusting that God will be surprised by nothing that results from that vote. We take care of our planet not because we fear it’s going to burn up or we’re going to be out of a home, we take care of it because it’s our King’s creation and he has charged us with the appropriate care of it. We speak the truth in love about things like biblical sexuality, the sanctity of life, the deliverance of the oppressed, because the only repercussions we have to worry about are in view of God’s moral law as revealed in Scripture, not the court of public opinion. So we live to honor the name of Christ the King simply in the way we live. Free from worry, free to believe and live.

Pray for the people God has put ahead of us

1 Timothy 2

1 Timothy 2:1–2 ESV

First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way.

This is a challenging but important point. If we really are to see Christ as King, we ought to be accepting of His will. His will is maybe not what we might have chosen, but what He did choose. We, alongside this verse, honor and obey God’s chosen leadership for us, and seek to follow His law first. The law of God supersedes the law of man. Men are sinful, and leaders are corrupt. We therefore in following God’s law and bending knee to Him as our King, seek to honor His law by valuing everyone with whom we come into contact and seek to work for the justice and freedom of all people made in His image.