Who is on the Throne of David, Today?
Yahweh, the God of the Bible is a God of covenant promises. His covenant people are the beneficiaries of those promises. There is only one faithful covenant partner in all of history. It is God who is faithful. For Him to be found faithful, there should be evidence that God fulfills His promises. For as many as are the promises of God, in Him (Jesus Christ) they are yes (2 Cor 1:20a)!
Readers of the Bible are witnesses to the covenant of grace and its many promises to different biblical characters. Grace is what God does for His chosen people that they could not do themselves. In other words, grace is God’s work to fulfill His covenant promises to His elect, which is ultimately their salvation.
Central to these promises is the person and work of Jesus Christ, the Son of God and Son of Man. When God promised to Adam and Eve that the seed of the woman would crush the head of the serpent, He was talking about Jesus (Gen 3:15). When God promised offspring to the elderly Abraham and Sarah, which would lead to descendants numbering as the sand of the seashore or stars of the heavens, the seed God spoke of that would bless the nations was Jesus Christ (Gen 22:17; Gal 3:16).
When God promised David that one from His line would sit on the throne, forever, He was promising Jesus Christ (2 Sam 7:8–17). Luke recorded the angel Gabriel’s message to the Virgin Mary, regarding the Christ child, “He will be great, and He will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David; and He will reign over the house of Jacob, forever, and His kingdom will have no end (Lk 1:32–33).”
David, the successor to the throne of Judah and Israel, followed Saul of Benjamin (1051–1011 B.C.). David was of Jesse the Bethlehemite of Judah. The family line of Jesus Christ links him back to David, Abraham, and all the way to Adam (Mt 1; Lk 3).
In no uncertain terms, Jesus Christ is the King of Israel, as Nathanael declared at their first meeting (Jn 1:49) and as the people of Jerusalem suspected (Jn 12:13). In fact, Jesus is the Head of His church (Col 1:18), His body of people, who the Apostle Paul called, “the Israel of God (Gal 6:16).” It is the Christian who says, “We have no king but Christ.” Moreover, Jesus is the King of kings and Lord of lords (1 Tim 6:15; Rev 19:11).
We search the Scriptures, and we learn from David that Yahweh reigns (Ps 96:10). We also learn that there is one sitting at Yahweh’s right hand upon the throne (Ps 110:1). Kings sit on thrones, and they reign over their kingdoms. If Jesus is King, then we must inquire about His throne and His kingdom.
When the victorious warrior, Jesus, King of Israel, was raised from the dead with His glorified body, He ascended into heaven for His enthronement in glory (Ps 110:1; Jn 3:13; 20:17; Acts 2:34; 7:56; Eph 4:8–10).
The city of God has a name. New Jerusalem is that heavenly city where Christ the King has sat down at the center of the throne (Rev 7:17), having been given all authority in heaven and on earth (Mt 28:18).
Kings have kingdoms and Jesus is no exception. He rules and reigns, and His kingdom is forever (2 Sam 7:13, 16; Ps 45:6; Is 9:7; Dan 2:44; 4:34; 6:26; 7:18; Lk 1:33; 2 Tim 4:18; Heb 1:8; Rev 1:6; 11:15). Wherever the reign of the king reaches, there is the kingdom. With Jesus Christ, the Son of David, now sitting in His rightful place at the right hand of Majesty (Heb 1:3; 8:1), we inquire about His kingdom and its reach.
As the Creator of the universe, our Triune God has claim upon the entire creation including the heavens and the earth. Jesus is Lord of all (Acts 10:36). As the architect and builder of it all (Heb 3:4; 11:10), all of it belongs to our Maker. The earth and all that is in it belongs to the Lord, and Jesus Christ is Lord (Ps 24:1; 53:1; Phil 2:11).
Today, in the dispensation of the New Testament, it is the Spirit of Christ, that is, the Holy Spirit who has been sent into the world from God the Father and God the Son (Jn 14:26; 15:26). The multifaceted tasks of the Spirit of God include convicting the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment (Jn 16:8). He is also gathering in the flock of Christ, the Good Shepherd of His sheep (Ps 23; Jn 10).
By indwelling every generation of God’s elect redeemed people, the Spirit also fills called men of God to go into all the world and preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ (Lk 4:18; Rom 15:19; 1 Cor 2:4). In proclaiming Christ and Him crucified the preacher is heralding the Gospel of the kingdom (Mt 4:23; 9:35; 24:14; Mk 1:15; Lk 16:16). Many hear the news that God sent His only begotten Son to be the sinless Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world (Jn 1:29; 3:16). In His death on the cross, Jesus offered Himself to God as the acceptable substitute sacrifice for the sins of His beloved bride for whom He laid down His life (Jn 10:11, 15; Eph 5:25), a ransom for many from every nation, tribe, and tongue (Mt 20:28; Mk 10:45; Rev 5:9).
He saved us (Titus 3:5) and made us a kingdom and priests to our God (Rev 1:6; 5:10). We offer up the sacrifice of thanksgiving for the great things He has done in granting us so great a salvation (Heb 2:3). Today, on the earth, the kingdom of Christ the King is joy, righteousness, and peace in the Spirit (Rom 14:17). In other words, the kingdom of God’s Son, the Son of David, is where His Spirit is occupying His people (kingdom/priests) and where the fruit of the Spirit is being produced (Gal 5:22–23). That is the church of Jesus Christ, King of Israel (Jn 1:49; 12:13; Gal 6:16).
It is true that Adam’s rebellious sons have not been fully brought into submission to the reign of Christ, but the reprobate do not belong to the kingdom of God’s beloved Son (1 Cor 3:23; Col 1:13). They are simply waiting for the Day of Judgment (Mt 24–25; Mk 13; Lk 21), having already been condemned (Jn 3:18). The whole creation groans in wait for the revelation of the sons of God (Rom 8:22). In other words, we are waiting for the last elect soul to be born into a human body and for that person to be saved by the Spirit of Christ (Eph 2:5; Col 2:13; 1 Pet 1:3), through the preaching of the Gospel of God (Mt 24:14; Mk 16:15).
When the full number of the saints is brought into Christ, His kingdom, which is His church here, then the end will come (Dan 7:18). King Jesus, who sits on His throne as the Son of David, will return in glory to judge the living and the dead (Acts 10:42; 2 Tim 4:1; 1 Pet 4:5). His kingdom that is growing, today, with each added saint, will include the union of resurrected bodies and saved souls who come with their King on the last day (2 Thess 1:10). In the glorious resurrection to life, body and soul (Jn 5:28–29; 1 Cor 15), the saints will rise and be caught up together with their King to judge and to reign with Him (1 Cor 6:3; 1 Thess 4:17; 2 Tim 2:12; Rev 20:6).
The judgment will include the destruction of the heavens and the earth by fire (2 Pet 3:10–12). In the new heavens and new earth (Is 65–66; Rev 21–22), the kingdom of God (God’s people), forever, will be with their King as the city of God. The people of His pasture will live forever in eternal bliss in the city that comes down from heaven and is established forever upon the new earth (Rev 3:12).
The promise of God to His chosen people, from every nation tribe and tongue (Rev 5:9), is the righteous reign of the righteous King. We know He is the second Adam, and the elect, redeemed, regenerate, and resurrected saints will be His beloved bride, forever and ever.
In conclusion, we know the promise made to David (2 Sam 7:8–17). We know the covenant people to whom the promise was made (Jer 31:33; 32:38; Rom 9:6; 2 Cor 6:16; Heb 8:10). We know the exact Son of David to whom the covenant promise was fulfilled (Mt 9:27; 12:23; 15:22; 20:30–31; 21:9; 22:42; Rom 1:3; et al). He is the King of glory (Ps 24; Lk 19:38). It is Jesus Christ, the victor Victorious, who is, today, seated on the throne of David over the house of Jacob/Israel/Church, by the covenant promise fulfilled, by His enthronement to the throne of God, where He can be found in glory, now and forever.
As ambassadors of Christ the King (2 Cor 5:20), having been called into His kingdom and glory (1 Thess 2:12), let us serve Him in the days appointed for us. Let us bear witness of His kingdom that others may know of God’s covenant love and faithfulness, to give us a King we can truly believe in, for the covenant promise to David is fulfilled in Jesus Christ (Lk 1:33; Rev 11:15), the King of His eternal kingdom (2 Pet 1:11). He reigns on the throne of David, today and forevermore.
David Norczyk
Hillsboro, Oregon
August 25, 2021
