The Divine Covenants

The Davidic Covenant (Part 5)

And Peter on the day of Pentecost spoke the following by the leading of the Holy Spirit:

· Acts 2:29-31 29 "Brothers, I can tell you confidently that the patriarch David died and was buried, and his tomb is here to this day. 30 But he was a prophet and knew that God had promised him on oath that he would place one of his descendants on his throne. 31 Seeing what was ahead, he spoke of the resurrection of the Christ,

This would seem to indicate clearly that not David’s son Solomon but Jesus was in view here and that it was Jesus that was alluded to in 2 Samuel 7:11-16. David fully understood this.

The 11th chapter of Hebrews is the “faith” chapter in the Bible where many people are listed and remembered for their faith.

· Heb 11:13, All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance. These holy people of old and the faithful in all generations before the coming of Jesus, all lived in the assurances of the promises made by God to them regarding the future Mediator. Their faith gave them as great an assurance of the reality of God’s promises as though they lived in the days when God’s Son became incarnate and lived among them.

Charles Spurgeon called the 2nd Psalm “The Psalm of Messiah the Prince”. It is divided into four sections of three verses each. The first three tell of the widespread opposition to the kingdom and government of Jesus; the second section refers to God’s contempt of those who would try to thwart His purpose; the third declares the Son’s sovereign rights; and the fourth section warns all leaders to be wise and worship the Son.

· Ps 2:1-12, Why do the nations conspire and the peoples plot in vain? 2 The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers gather together against the LORD and against his Anointed One.   3 "Let us break their chains," they say, “and throw off their fetters." 4 The One enthroned in heaven laughs; the Lord scoffs at them. 5 Then he rebukes them in his anger and terrifies them in his wrath, saying, 6 "I have installed my King on Zion, my holy hill." 7 I will proclaim the decree of the LORD: He said to me, "You are my Son; today I have become your Father.   8 Ask of me, and I will make the nations your inheritance, the ends of the earth your possession. 9 You will rule them with an iron scepter; you will dash them to pieces like pottery." 10 Therefore, you kings, be wise; be warned, you rulers of the earth. 11 Serve the LORD with fear and rejoice with trembling. 12 Kiss the Son, lest he be angry and you be destroyed in your way, for his wrath can flare up in a moment. Blessed are all who take refuge in him.

We see in this Psalm the vision of the purpose of God to exalt His Son and the ultimate reign of that Son. And finally, the ultimate triumph of Jesus over His enemies.  

As we have pointed out on several earlier occasions, the various covenants which God entered into with men hinted at the different features of the Everlasting Covenant He made with Jesus, the Mediator, before time began. The Davidic Covenant is somewhat more difficult because the terms of the covenant are not as readily apparent as in the other covenants. This is especially true of the understanding of the “letter” of the covenant. Here in the last of the Old Testament covenants the type merges with the antitype in such a way that we are required to think carefully about what is before us. To do that we will look at other passages that bear on the subject.

The 89th psalm is one example, a few verses of which we have already used.

· Ps 89:38-52, 38 But you have rejected, you have spurned, you have been very angry with your anointed one. 39 You have renounced the covenant with your servant and have defiled his crown in the dust. 40 You have broken through all his walls and reduced his strongholds to ruins. 41 All who pass by have plundered him; he has become the scorn of his neighbors. 42 You have exalted the right hand of his foes; you have made all his enemies rejoice. 43 You have turned back the edge of his sword and have not supported him in battle. 44 You have put an end to his splendor and cast his throne to the ground. 45 You have cut short the days of his youth; you have covered him with a mantle of shame. Selah  · 46 How long, O LORD? Will you hide yourself forever? How long will your wrath burn like fire? 47 Remember how fleeting is my life. For what futility you have created all men! 48 What man can live and not see death, or save himself from the power of the grave? Selah  49 O Lord, where is your former great love, which in your faithfulness you swore to David? 50 Remember, Lord, how your servant has been mocked, how I bear in my heart the taunts of all the nations, 51 the taunts with which your enemies have mocked, O LORD, with which they have mocked every step of your anointed one. 52 Praise be to the LORD forever! Amen and Amen.

In these closing verses of the psalm we see that the fortunes of David’s family had sunk to a new low as he pours out his heart to God. He was clearly agitated. It looked as if the Divine promises had failed. But this provided the opportunity for David’s faith to ignore the difficulties and for him to renew his faith, as we see him in verses 1-4 of this 89th psalm:

· Ps 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.'"

Verses 3 and 4 can only refer to Jesus. God has made a covenant with His Chosen One and with David, and He has sworn to David that He will establish his line forever.

Augustus Toplady, the author of the hymn, “Rock of Ages”, comments that here we have David spoken of as a type and forerunner of Jesus. The whole of this 89th psalm is said to be a “vision”, in which God speaks of His Son. Notice verse 4; David’s line was to be established forever. Well, we know that David’s ‘physical’ line on the throne was broken. So did God lie? Of course not. But the line was and is continuing forever in Jesus as his successor. Jesus is on the throne as the Son of David and as the Son of God.

The great bible commentator Matthew Henry said this about the covenant God made with David:

“The covenant is made with David, the covenant of royalty is made with him, as the father of his family, and all his seed through him, and for his sake, representing the Covenant of Grace made with Jesus as Head of the Church, and with all believers in Him…..The blessings of the covenant were not only secured to David himself, but were entailed on his family. It was promised that his family should continue—‘thy seed will I establish forever so that David shall not want a son to reign’. And that it should continue a royal family: ‘I will build up his throne to all generations’. This has its accomplishment only in Christ”. 

David was God’s elect and He made a covenant with him which continued with David’s line until the final fulfillment occurred in Jesus, the Son of David. Verse 4 assures us that David must always have a seed and Jesus was the true fulfillment of that promise.

But what if David’s seed should prove unworthy of the covenant promise? Would God cast them out of His covenant? No way, this is why verses 30 and 31 began with “If”. These two verses are far more important than they might at first appear. They deal with the question of Christian losing their salvation, which is an Armenian position. Notice:

· Ps 89:30-34, 30 "If his sons forsake my law and do not follow my statutes, 31 if they violate my decrees and fail to keep my commands, 32 I will punish their sin with the rod, their iniquity with flogging; 33 but I will not take my love from him, nor will I ever betray my faithfulness. 34 I will not violate my covenant or alter what my lips have uttered. God will punish the Christian for his sins but He does not withhold His love and the salvation which he received as a believer.

The basic question we face in this study of the Davidic Covenant is: ‘Is the seed promised to David in 2 Samuel 7:12 a carnal or a mystical one? Is His kingdom in verse 12 an earthly or a heavenly one? Is His house and throne a material or a spiritual one? If one of these questions can be definitely and finally settled, then the others will be because the passage must be consistently dealt with.

The answer to the first question is clearly answered in:

· Gal.3:7,16 Understand, then, that those who believe are children of Abraham.  16 The promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed.

The Scripture does not say "and to seeds," meaning many people, but "and to your seed," meaning one person, who is Christ.

Now we must understand that “seed” is to be interpreted not only in Jesus personally, but also in Jesus “mystically”. Jesus mystically includes all true believers in Jesus. This may help us understand why we are said to be “in Jesus”. We are members of His body, the Church of which He is the head. Now having said that let’s revisit a curious part of 2 Samuel 7:12-14.

· 2 Samuel 7:12-14 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.

Look at verses14 and 15. This cannot apply to Jesus personally, but it refers to the members of His body. So the seed of David is Jesus and His children. So the Redeemer and the redeemed are inseparably linked because together they form the mystical body. This fact distinguishes the Davidic Covenant from those covenants that had been made earlier. Both Adam in Eden and Israel in Canaan forfeited their inheritance because of disobedience, but the inheritance that Jesus secured for His people was permanent.

· Psalm 89:29 I will establish his line forever, his throne as long as the heavens endure.

The New King James Version of the Bible says:

· 29 His seed also I will make to endure forever, And his throne as the days of heaven.

Now if His “seed” is the church, the mystical Jesus, then the believers will endure forever. Again affirming that once we have been saved by Jesus we are eternally saved