The Divine Covenants

The Davidic Covenant (Part 4)

Let me give you an example. Regarding the Lord’s Supper, the Roman Catholic Church insists that the bread of the table is literally “the body” of Jesus. The Protestant interpretation insists that the bread is a “symbol” of the body of Jesus.

So we need to be aware that the promises contained in the Davidic Covenant recorded in 2 Samuel 7:11-16 have both a “letter” and a “spirit” significance. I want to begin at the beginning of the 7th chapter of 2 Samuel because I think it will make more sense to you.

· 2 Sam 7:1-16, 1 After the king was settled in his palace and the LORD had given him rest from all his enemies around him, 2 he said to Nathan the prophet, "Here I am, living in a palace of cedar, while the ark of God remains in a tent." 3 Nathan replied to the king, "Whatever you have in mind, go ahead and do it, for the LORD is with you." 4 That night the word of the LORD came to Nathan, saying: 5 "Go and tell my servant David, 'This is what the LORD says: Are you the one to build me a house to dwell in? 6 I have not dwelt in a house from the day I brought the Israelites up out of Egypt to this day. I have been moving from place to place with a tent as my dwelling. 7 Wherever I have moved with all the Israelites, did I ever say to any of their rulers whom I commanded to shepherd my people Israel, "Why have you not built me a house of cedar?" ' 8 "Now then, tell my servant David, 'This is what the LORD Almighty says: I took you from the pasture and from following the flock to be ruler over my people Israel. 9 I have been with you wherever you have gone, and I have cut off all your enemies from before you. Now I will make your name great, like the names of the greatest men of the earth. 10 And I will provide a place for my people Israel and will plant them so that they can have a home of their own and no longer be disturbed. Wicked people will not oppress them anymore, as they did at the beginning 11 and have done ever since the time I appointed leaders over my people Israel. I will also give you rest from all your enemies. "'The LORD declares to you that the LORD himself will establish a house for you: 12 When your days are over and you rest with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring to succeed you, who will come from your own body, and I will establish his kingdom. 13 He is the one who will build a house for my Name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. 14 I will be his father, and he will be my son. When he does wrong, I will punish him with the rod of men, with floggings inflicted by men. 15 But my love will never be taken away from him, as I took it away from Saul, whom I removed from before you. 16 Your house and your kingdom will endure forever before me; your throne will be established forever.'"

Now what I want to suggest to you is that in this passage you look for the “primary and inferior” aspects of the promises as they regard Solomon and his successors, but in the ultimate and higher meaning as they looked forward to Jesus and His kingdom.

Now look at 1 Chron. 28:4-7.

· 1 Chron. 28:4-7 "Yet the LORD, the God of Israel, chose me from my whole family to be king over Israel forever. He chose Judah as leader, and from the house of Judah he chose my family, and from my father's sons he was pleased to make me king over all Israel. 5 Of all my sons-and the LORD has given me many-he has chosen my son Solomon to sit on the throne of the kingdom of the LORD over Israel. 6 He said to me: 'Solomon your son is the one who will build my house and my courts, for I have chosen him to be my son, and I will be his father. 7 I will establish his kingdom forever if he is unswerving in carrying out my commands and laws, as is being done at this time.'

Look specifically at verse 6, the words God had for David.

Now look at Heb. 1:5.

· Heb. 1:5 For to which of the angels did God ever say, "You are my Son; today I have become your Father"? Or again, "I will be his Father, and he will be my Son"?

Do you sense a deeper spiritual meaning in the Hebrew passage? Notice that the same thing is said in both passages? The passages have both a literal and a spiritual interpretation.

Now back to the 7th chapter of 2 Samuel: The three times that “forever” is used in verses 13 and 16 obligates us to look beyond the natural descendants of David for the ultimate accomplishments of those promises. God did indeed put the carnal seed of David on the throne of Israel and established his kingdom, though certainly not for all generations. There are those who contend that the covenant of royalty guaranteed to David the occupancy of his throne by one of his descendants until the coming of the Messiah. This is a position that is impossible to defend. History itself denies it. After David came Solomon, David’s son; then Rehoboam, David’s grandson. But there the family reign ends.

Rehoboam was a cruel king and ten of the tribes of Israel revolted against him. So the reign of David’s family over all of Israel lasted approximately one century. Over Judah alone, his descendants continued to rule for another two centuries until Nebuchadnezzar invaded and conquered the nation, destroying Jerusalem, burning the temple, carrying away the people into captivity and desolating the whole land. This ended the reign of David even over Judah. This was six centuries before the birth of Jesus! David’s literal throne exists no more! So history refutes the interpretation of the Davidic Covenant that it was promised to David that his natural descendants would reign on his literal throne until Jesus came. So we have to look for another interpretation.

What we are to see here is the Messianic prophecy in the Davidic Covenant being presented pretty much in the mold of the typical history of Israel. So we should understand that any prediction that Jesus was to sit on the throne of David was to be taken figuratively and symbolically. The throne He sits on and the kingdom over which He reigns is infinitely higher than any that David or Solomon ever occupied. We need to be careful to avoid degrading the King of kings to the level of human kings.    

As we have said earlier, we need to keep in mind that the Davidic Covenant has both a “letter” and “spirit” significance. To miss this would cause us to miss the very significance of these Old Testament stories. In the 2 Samuel passage of the 7th chapter we find a primary and inferior aspect of the promises with regard to Solomon and his successors, but in their higher and ultimate meaning, they looked forward to Jesus and His kingdom.

· 2 Sam 7:18-25 Then King David went in and sat before the LORD, and he said: "Who am I, O Sovereign LORD, and what is my family, that you have brought me this far? 19 And as if this were not enough in your sight, O Sovereign LORD, you have also spoken about the future of the house of your servant. Is this your usual way of dealing with man, O Sovereign LORD?  20 "What more can David say to you? For you know your servant, O Sovereign LORD. 21 For the sake of your word and according to your will, you have done this great thing and made it known to your servant. 22 "How great you are, O Sovereign LORD! There is no one like you, and there is no God but you, as we have heard with our own ears. 23 And who is like your people Israel-the one nation on earth that God went out to redeem as a people for himself, and to make a name for himself, and to perform great and awesome wonders by driving out nations and their gods from before your people, whom you redeemed from Egypt?   24 You have established your people Israel as your very own forever, and you, O LORD, have become their God. 25 "And now, LORD God, keep forever the promise you have made concerning your servant and his house. Do as you promised.

It does seem clear from this passage that David understood the higher meaning of the promises that had been spoken to him by Nathan in the preceding verses. Notice how David just poured his heart out to “his sovereign Lord”. Notice too that much of his prayer is by way of questions. The essence of this is “how is it that you have chosen me and my house to be the one through which this great future event will come?”

Frederick W. Krummacher, in his book “David and the Godman”, interprets David’s mind this way: “He beheld in spirit another Son than Solomon, another temple than one built of stones and cedar, another Kingdom than the earthly one, on whose throne he sat. He perceived a scepter and a crown of which his own on mount Zion were only feeble types.”  

Will you notice verse 21 “For the sake of your word and according to your will, you have done this great thing and made it known to your servant. He seems to understand that God is talking about something grander than the earthly throne. He speaks of “your word”, and “this great thing” and he seems overpowered that God has made His plans known to David. David was not referring to the spoken or written word, because nothing of this kind had been spoken to him before and certainly not the written word because no scriptures then existed regarding the “Word”. Many believe that later scripture references to the “Word” have their origin in this verse. (See John 1:1)

· John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

God certainly dealt with David in a special way. Listen to Psalm 89:1-4.  

· Psalm 89:1-4 I will sing of the LORD's great love forever; with my mouth I will make your faithfulness known through all generations. 2 I will declare that your love stands firm forever, that you established your faithfulness in heaven itself. 3 You said, "I have made a covenant with my chosen one, I have sworn to David my servant, 4'I will establish your line forever and make your throne firm through all generations.'"