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king, God made with him a perpetua! covenant, uncon–
ditionally, which God cannot and will not break! This
covenant is even more amazing, and less understood,
than the unconditional covenant with Abraham!
T
want you now to plant firmly in mind the specific
nature and character of the covenant the Almighty made
with David. For it is a vital link in the purpose and
mission of Christ-an important
KEY
to Bible under–
standing!
In
IJ
Samuel 23: l , 5, we find: "Now these be the last
words of David.... God ... hath made with me
an ever–
lasling covenant,
ordered in all things, and
sure."
In
other words, a covenant that shall endure forever and
cannot fail1
Turn back to the seventh chapter of 11 Samuel for
more specific details. God gave David this covenant
promise ata time when David was much concerned over
the Ark of the Covenant dwell ing in a tent. David
wanted to build a great temple at Jerusalem.
"And it carne to pass that night, that the word of the
Lord carne unto Nathan, saying, Go and tell my servant
David, Thus saith the Lord, Shalt thou build me an
house for me to dwell in? ... When thy days be fulfilled ,
and thou shalt sleep with thy fathers, 1 will
s~t
up thy
seed after thee, which shall proceed out of thy bowels
[Solomon], and I will establish his kingdom. He shall
build an house for my name,
and
1
wi/1 establish the
throne ofhis kingdomJor ever.
I will be his father, and he
shall be my son. Ifhe commit iniquity,
1
will chasten him
wit~
the rod of men, and with the stripes of the children
of men: But my merey shall not depart away from him,
as 1 took it from Saul, whom 1 put away before thee.
And
thine house and thy kingdom sha/1 be establishedJor ever
before thee:
THY THRONE SHALL BE ESTABLISHED FOR
EVER"
(11 Sam. 7:4-5, 12- 16).
Polnta to Notlce
Notice carefully these points:
1) David's throne was set up and established with
Solomon, David's son.
2) The throne- David's throne (verse 16)- was estab–
lished
FOREVER
in Solomon (verse 13). Observe that this
nowhere says tha t when Christ comes, God will establish
it in
Him
forever.
lt
says it was to be established forever
in Solomon.
3) What if Solomon, or the children of Israel, dis–
obey? Would that cancel this covenant? Verses 14-15
plainly say that if they commit iniquity, God wiU chas–
ten them
with the rod of men,
but will
NOT
break this
covenant. The throne shall go on forever just the same!
4) Notice particularly, in case of disobedience, God
will
not
take the throne away as He took it from Saul.
How did He take it from Saul? Saul's dynasty ended! No
son of Saul ever sat on the throne. But Solomon's dy–
nasty would not end. The punishment for disobedience
would be chastening at the hands of
men.
The
PLAIN TRUTH January 1979
5) Since God did firmly establish this throne with
David and with Solomon, if David's throne ceased from
existence, even for the length of one generation, could
we say it had been established
Jorever
as God here
promised?
Here is the fact as little realized as any in the Bible!
Almighty God made an absolutely binding- just
how
binding we shall see!-covenant with David,
uncon–
ditionally
guaranteeing that there should never be a
single generation from that time forward when there
would not be a descendant of David in
UNBROKEN
DYNASTY
sitting on David's throne, ruling over children
of Israel!
lt
was the promise of a continuous, unbroken
dynasty-all generations
forever- that
was guaranteed.
This is hard to believe! Yet God promised and
un –
a/terably guaranteed
just that! There were no conditions.
Nothing that would happen could prevent it. The sins of
the people were not to change it. The promise stood
immutable!
The End of the Record
But where is that throne today?
The history of the Bible records a line of kings. all
descendants of David in continuous dynasty, down to
King Zedekiah. But in the year 585 B.C. this last re–
corded king ever to sit on this throne was captured by
the armies of King Nebuchadnezzar of BabyIon, his eyes
were put out , he was taken to Babylon, and there died in
a dungeon!
Moreover, all his sons were slain! All the nobles of
Judah who were not already imprisoned or enslaved at
Babylon at that time were killed, so that none could
remain to sit on the throne of David! The Chaldeans
destroyed Jerusalem, bumed the Temple and the king's
houses, took the Jews, a captive, slave people to Baby–
Ion. There is certainly no record of any king of the line
of David ruling over Judah from that day to this. How–
ever, the line of Jehoiakin to Jesus survived in Babylon–
ish captivity-so Jesus was a descendant ofDavid.
Sorne will say, however, that this throne is established
today in Christ. But Christ has not yet taken over this
throne! He pictured Himself as the nobleman (Luke
·19: 12) who went to a far country (heaven) to get for
Himself a Kingdom, and, who, after receiving the right
to the Kingdom,
would return.
Jesus Christ will not sit
upon the throne of David until His second coming to
earth, yet in the future!
But what of the nearly 600 years between King Zede–
kiah and the birth of Christ?
Who
was reigning over the
Israelites and sitting on David's throne during those
generations? If no one, then we must conclude God
broke His Word, or the Scripture has been broken!
The answer is a mystery more astounding than any
tale of fiction! The Bible reveals it, step by step.
But, then again, sorne will point to the expression " I
wi/1
establish"
(ll
Sam. 7: 13) and conclude that possibly
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