Christ The Future World King, continued

It may be suggested that the New Testament interpretation throws another light upon the statements of the Old Testament, and deprives them of the warranty which they seem to afford to the Jewish doctrine of the Messiah's kingship. It is customary to assume that this is the case; but the result of an examination will prove that a more unfounded assumption could not be entertained, and that the New Testament unmistakably corroborates the teaching of the prophets on the subject. We are met on the very threshold by the message delivered by the angel Gabriel to Mary, in announcing the birth of Christ:

"And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son and shalt call his name JESUS. He shall be great, and shall be called the. Son of the Highest; and the Lord God shall GIVE UNTO HIM THE THRONE OF HIS FATHER DAVID, and he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his KINGDOM there shall be no end" (Luke 1v 31, 33).

Here is a distinct New Testament intimation that it is the purpose of God to give to Jesus "the throne of his father David." If we would apprehend the import of this statement, we must know what is the throne of David. Of David we know something. He was the most renowned of Israel's Godanointed kings holding sway over the twelve tribes of Israel in the Holy Land, and ruling many tributary nations. He was a mighty warrior, a distinguished prophet, and a poet of the highest type. He was the progenitor of Christ, through Mary, who was descended from the royal house; and was a fitting type of his illustrious son, whom he acknowledged as "My Lord" (Matt. 22v 43). But what of his throne? Peter said, in his address to the Jews, on the day of Pentecost:

"Therefore being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him, that of the fruit of his (David's) loins, according to the flesh, he would raise up Christ TO SIT ON HIS THRONE" (Acts 2v 30).

There is, therefore, a connection between Christ's mission and David's throne. Had David a throne? He had. In what did it consist? Not in the material structure which he occupied as a seat in dispensing justice; that has long ago crumbled into dust. The throne of a kingdom is not the literal seat occupied by royalty on state occasions. When we speak of the throne of England, we mean the office or position of monarch in this country. So with the throne of David; it is said of Solomon, on the occasion of his accession in the room of David (I Kings 2v 12), "Then sat Solomon on the throne of David his father." Yet we read in I Kings 10v 18, that "he made a great throne of ivory, and overlaid it with the best gold," so that while sitting on the throne of David his father in the political sense, Solomon really occupied a different royal seat. "The throne of David" points to something that pertained to Saul's successor. There is no getting away from this; and any explanation of the promise that ignores this as its fundamental element, must be rejected as unworthy.

Of this character is the view that Christ is now on David's throne. Christ is in heaven, and cannot now be sitting on that throne; for nothing that David ever possessed is in heaven. David himself is not there; for Peter said in his address on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2v 34), "David IS NOT ASCENDED INTO THE HEAVENS." When the time arrives, the throne of David will be set up again in the earth; and Jesus will share it with his faithful ones, as intimated in Rev. 3v 21. "In that day will I raise up the tabernacle of David that is fallen" (Amos 9v 11). That time he spake of when on earth. He said (Matt. 25v 31), "When the Son of Man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, THEN shall he sit upon the throne of his glory." Hence, before Jesus sits upon David's throne, he will return to earth, appear in Palestine, and assume the position which David occupied when he swayed the sceptre of Israel; that is, he will become king of the Jews.

Look at Ezekiel 11v 25-27. The prophet was sent to Zedekiah, an unworthy prince, who was the last to occupy David's throne. He was sent to tell him of coming retribution, and in the course of his prophecy, he uttered the following words:

"And thou, profane wicked prince of Israel, whose day is come, when iniquity shall have an end, Thus saith the Lord God: Remove the diadem and take off the crown; this shall not be the same: exalt him that is low, and abase him that is high. I will overturn, overturn, overturn it: and it shall be no more UNTIL HE COMES WHOSE RIGHT IT IS; and I will give it him."

Here was a diadem to be removed, a crown to be taken off, and a national polity to be completely abolished, as indicated in the triple repetition of the verb, "overturn," and as expressed by the phrase, "it shall be no more." The prediction related to things Jewish, even to the things which constitute the throne of David; and its fulfillment is notorious to every reader of Jewish history. About a year after its delivery, Zedekiah was uncrowned by Nebuchadnezzar. The nobles were put to death; the nation was partly massacred, and partly carried away captive, and the land given over to desolation. Seventy years after, a partial restoration took place under Ezra and Nehemiah, but not of the throne of David. The Jews existed as a vassal people thenceforward; and after varied political fortunes, were overtaken by a storm which swept away every vestige of their national existence.

The Romans, under Vespasian, invaded the country, and subdued its fortified places; and Vespasian having transferred the command to Titus, the latter laid siege to Jerusalem, which at that time was crowded with people from all parts of the country. The details of that awful siege are familiar to every one. The city was tediously beleaguered for months; famine arose among the inhabitants; civil dissensions divided their counsels, and led to mutual slaughter; and, finally, the place was sacked and given to the flames, and upwards of 1,000,000 of Jews perished. The remainder were sold as slaves, and scattered throughout the Roman empire as fugitives; and scattered they remain to this day. So awfully has the prophecy been fulfilled, that for the last twenty centuries, the throne of David has been a mere idle phrase - a tradition of the past; his kingdom has been overthrown, his land in desolation, and his people wandering as homeless exiles, unpitied and unpitying.

But is this condition of David's throne to be perpetual? Are the Gentiles for ever to exalt their proud horns over the fallen kingdom of the Lord? (See I Chron. 29v 23; II Chron.9v 8; 13v 8) which affirm the kingdom of Israel to have been the kingdom of God). Nay, saith the prophecy: desolation shall only continue UNTIL - until what? "Until HE COME whose right it is." Who is this? None other than Jesus Christ, to whom the throne pertains of right, both by lineal descent, and special divine bequest. Observe, then, what is distinctly proved, that the things overturned are the things to be given to Christ at his coming. Now, what things were those? The diadem, crown, throne, and Kingdom of David. Hence, when HE COMES whose right they are, he will enter into their possession in as real a sense as they were held by Zedekiah. He will become King of the Jews, and Lord of the whole earth. We thus perceive a striking significance in the words of the angel:

"The Lord God shall give unto Jesus THE THRONE OF HIS FATHER David, and he shall reign over THE HOUSE OF JACOB for ever; and of HIS KINGDOM there shall be no end."