Jesus would receive "the throne of David his father"
Daily Scripture
2 Samuel 7:8-11, 16, Luke 1:26-33
2 Samuel 7
8 So then, say this to my servant David: This is what the LORD of heavenly forces says: I took you from the pasture, from following the flock, to be leader over my people Israel. 9 I’ve been with you wherever you’ve gone, and I’ve eliminated all your enemies before you. Now I will make your name great—like the name of the greatest people on earth. 10 I’m going to provide a place for my people Israel, and plant them so that they may live there and no longer be disturbed. Cruel people will no longer trouble them, as they had been earlier, 11 when I appointed leaders over my people Israel. And I will give you rest from all your enemies.
And the LORD declares to you that the LORD will make a dynasty for you.
16 Your dynasty and your kingdom will be secured forever before me. Your throne will be established forever.
Luke 1
26 When Elizabeth was six months pregnant, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a city in Galilee, 27 to a virgin who was engaged to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David’s house. The virgin’s name was Mary. 28 When the angel came to her, he said, “Rejoice, favored one! The Lord is with you!” 29 She was confused by these words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. 30 The angel said, “Don’t be afraid, Mary. God is honoring you. 31 Look! You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you will name him Jesus. 32 He will be great and he will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of David his father. 33 He will rule over Jacob’s house forever, and there will be no end to his kingdom.”
Daily Reflection & Prayer
The prophet Nathan gave David God’s covenant promise in 2 Samuel 7. People at first saw the promise as about David’s immediate descendants. But roughly 400 years later, the Babylonian exile broke the line of Davidic kings. Even without the Babylonians, no human king(s) could completely fulfil God’s “forever” promise. Christians proclaimed that Jesus could and did (cf. Matthew 1:1, Acts 13:34, 2 Timothy 2:8).
- To human eyes, God’s promise to David failed when Babylon’s armies snapped the line of Davidic kings in 587 B.C.E. But that didn’t stymie God. Centuries later in Nazareth, an angel told Mary that her unique God-given son would in the end reign on “the throne of David his father.” Jesus the Messiah (“anointed one”) descended from David and would reign forever (cf. Isaiah 9:6-7). In what ways can it deepen your trust to know that, across centuries, God held to his promise to David?
- Ancient Egypt and Rome, as well as many later European nations, claimed that their kings were divine. But Nathan’s message to King David gave God the glory, telling David, “I took you from the pasture” (verse 8). (Ancient Israel didn’t give shepherds high social status.) How was the promise rooted in God’s unchanging faithfulness, which climaxed in Jesus, not David’s sometimes variable human allegiance (and that of any of his descendants)?
Prayer
Lord Jesus, to our unknowing human eyes you looked like a powerless rabbi. But in fact you embodied God’s promise of “vast authority and endless peace.” My heart bows before you. Amen.
GPS Insights
Emily Stirewalt
This past weekend, I was in in Branson, Missouri with about a thousand other United Methodists, clergy and lay leaders in our annual conference gathered for the business we had to do for the upcoming year. We also worshipped and prayed together. We laughed and cried. We were the best of who we are for those moments. Missouri Methodism formed me, and I am grateful to serve here at Church of the Resurrection but still be welcomed home to my closest colleagues and friends.
One of those dearest friends is named Rev. Karen Hayden and we have always marveled together at how our lives are paralleled. She has been a mentor and dear friend. She served communion at my wedding. And on Sunday morning, in the back of the conference center, she held my daughter’s foot and told her, “I have been waiting a long time to hold this foot.” We both wept. Karen was a young, single clergywoman about ten years before I was. She walked with me through so many feelings. Karen and her husband have been blessed by foster parenting and adoption. My spouse and I have followed in those footsteps as well. And finally, Karen knows what it is like to have a long-yearned for baby that she can biologically bring into this world. In that moment, I was touched by God’s faithfulness to me over the years. My adopted daughter, Elliott, is a long-promised miracle. And so is Marlowe, my biological child. One day, I hope I can explain to them just how much they BOTH represent God’s faithfulness.
It seemed like God had given up on God’s promises to David when the Babylonian army won. But God. Every time, God is faithful. I am thinking a lot about God’s faithfulness this week, and how David was blessed by it. And how I am as well.
