What is The Davidic Covenant? The Feast of Tabernacles is the climax of the Jewish year. In Israel it is a time of great rejoicing when the Jewish people remember God's faithfulness to them even when they lived in tents and booths in the desert. During this feast, they also look forward to an even greater time of blessing - the Messianic Age when the Messiah, Son of David will be their King. In this way it anticipates the fulfillment of the Davidic Covenant.
The Davidic Covenant is a series of promises that God made with David promising that His dynasty would last forever. These promises are recorded throughout the Bible but especially in 2 Samuel 7.8-29; 1 Chron. 17:10-14; Psalm 89. Through Nathan the prophet God said to David: "And it shall be, when your days are fulfilled, when you must go to be with your fathers, that I will set up Your seed after you, who will be of your sons; and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build Me a house, and I will establish his throne forever. I will be his Falher, and he shall be My son; and I will not take mercy away from him, as I took it from him who was before you. la And I will establish him in My house and in My kingdom FOREVER; and HIS (DAVID'S SON) THRONE SHALL BE ESTABLISHED forever. " (1 Chronicles 1 7.10-14) (It is evident that this prophecy was not fulfilled by David's son, King Solomon who reigned for only forty years and not forever.) God had made a solemn promise to David that one of his descendants would be the King of Israel forever. This descendant of David would be the anointed King (The Messiah) appointed by God to restore the Kingdom of Judah. From that time on the future glorious reign of David's greater Son becomes a major theme of all the prophets from Isaiah to Zechariah.
The Davidic Covenant & The Book of Luke The Book of Luke begins with Mary receiving a message from the angel Gabriel announcing that her son would be THE PROMISED HEIR TO THE THRONE OF DAVID. "You will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son and shall call His name Yeshua. He will be great, end will be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God will give Him THE THRONE OF HIS FATHER DAVID. And He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end." (Luke 1.31-33) So we see that the restoration of David’s throne is a central theme of the Book of Luke and the gospel message.
By the time Mary received this message the throne of David had ceased to function for over 580 years!! Yet God had promised that the dynasty of David would last forever. He can never forget His promise. Now, Mary is being informed that her Son, Yeshua is the Anointed one who will reign over the house of David forever. Mary, Elizabeth, and all the early disciples understood that Jesus was the promised Messiah, King of Israel and King of the whole world. They clearly understood He was the one who will restore the throne of David and fulfill the Davidic Covenant. Yet in Christianity we have generally neglected to pay attention to Yeshua’s assignment to be KING OF ISRAEL AND KING OF THE WHOLE WORLD.
Most believers receive little teaching about the Davidic Covenant from one end of the year to the other. This causes many to be ignorant of the place of Israel in the economy of God. Though they look forward to the Second Coming of Messiah Jesus, they do not see His coming in its context of fulfilling the Davidic Covenant and restoring the throne of David. God has promised that He will be the literal King of Israel and King over all the earth. (Zechariah 12.9)
As Jesus was ascending into heaven His disciples wanted to know when He would come to take the throne of David and He indicated that it was something that will definitely happen in God's time. (Acts 1.8) "Therefore, when they had come together, they asked Him, saying, 'Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?' And He said to them, 'It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority. .... Now when He had spoken these things, while they watched, He was taken up, and a cloud received Him out of their sight."
His disciples were asking Him "When are you going to restore the throne of David as promised." Jesus knew (from to the prophets) that the time for Him to sit on the throne of David was not to be until Israel was first scattered and then regathered. The prophetic scriptures clearly show that the time for the Messiah to take the throne of David and reign as King of Israel and King of eh world can only after Israel is regathered from all the nations. Ezekiel for example shows that only after Israel is regathered from the nations will then the throne of David will be restored. “Surely I will take the children of Israel from among the nations, wherever they have gone, and will gather them from every side and bring them into their own land; 22 and I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel; and one king shall be king over them all... David My servant shall be king over them, and they shall all have one shepherd; they shall also walk in My judgments and observe My statutes, and do them. 25 Then they shall dwell in the land that I have given to Jacob My servant, where your fathers dwelt; and they shall dwell there, they, their children, and their children’s children, forever; and My servant David shall be their prince forever. (Ezekiel 37.21,22,24,25) "David" here refers not to David himself but to 'The Son of David." David was not promised that he himself, would reign over the house of David forever but that one of his descendants would reign over it forever.
The Second Coming of Jesus is not something that happens in a vacuum. It will be God fulfilling His promise to restore the Dynasty of David and to establish David's greater descendant, Yeshua, as forever King of Israel. At His Second coming He will come to claim the Throne of David and to be King of Israel and King over all the earth. The Second Coming can never be separated from the promises of the Davidic Covenant or from the restoration of Israel.
Acknowledging Jesus as Messiah The word "Messiah" is usually translated as "Christ." We call Jesus "Christ" so routinely that it means almost nothing. Recently, we spoke with a man from India man and asked if knew anything about Jesus. He said: "You mean the Jesus whose surname is Christ?" The word Christ has become a mere surname of Jesus rather than a description of His majestic identity as THE MESSIAH, King of Israel and King of the whole world. The word 'Messiah' is a Hebrew word associated with Israel’s coming King and therefore with Isreal destiny. To call Jesus "Christ" is to call Him "King of Israel" To call Him King of Israel you must acknowledge the uniqueness of Israel.
When we acknowledge Yeshua as Messiah we are implicitly acknowledging Him as the King over the Jewish people. When He comes to reign on the Throne of David as King of Israel, He will also reign as King of the whole world. So the destiny of all nations is tied to Israel's destiny. It would better if we ceased to use the Greek word "Christ" and used the Hebrew word "Messiah" instead. Since the restoration of the Jewish people to their land is the essential precursor of the Rule of King Yeshua, it impossible to sincerely acknowledge Jesus as the Messiah and be opposed to the regathering of Israel!! It is also impossible for any real Christian to call Jesus "Messiah" and at the same time support those who call for the annihilation of Israel. The word Messiah elevates our perception of Yeshua from seeing Him as a mere religious figure to seeing Him as the Giant of History for all time and for all nations that He really is. When Jesus returns He will complete His mission to be the Messiah King of Israel and King of the whole world - Savior of Israel and Savior of the world.
Comments
There are no comments yet. Be the first to add a comment by using the form below.
