End Times - Week 14Thursday Evening Bible Study Series: the End Times – Bible prophecy about future events and periods
Teaching Summary for Week 14
The Kingdom and the Covenants
Part 4. The Davidic Covenant
The Davidic Covenant is an unconditional, eternal, literal covenant whereby the Lord re-affirms the seed promises of the Abrahamic Covenant.
There is a further provision: the seed promises to Abraham will now attach permanently to the historic house and succession of David.
Recall the seed promises to Abraham:
Gen 17:6-7 6 "I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make nations of you, and kings will come forth from you. 7 "I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your descendants after you. NASU
Jacob prophesied that the royal house would come from the line of Judah:
Gen 49:10 10 " The scepter shall not depart from Judah, Nor the ruler's staff from between his feet, Until Shiloh comes, And to him shall be the obedience of the peoples.
The Lord made His covenant with David in 2Sa 7:12-16.
2Sa 7:8-17 8 "Now therefore, thus you shall say to My servant David, 'Thus says the Lord of hosts, " I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep, to be ruler over My people Israel. 9 " I have been with you wherever you have gone and have cut off all your enemies from before you; and I will make you a great name, like the names of the great men who are on the earth. 10 "I will also appoint a place for My people Israel and will plant them, that they may live in their own place and not be disturbed again, nor will the wicked afflict them any more as formerly, 11 even from the day that I commanded judges to be over My people Israel; and I will give you rest from all your enemies. The Lord also declares to you that the Lord will make a house for you. 12 " When your days are complete and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your descendant after you, who will come forth from you, and I will establish his kingdom. 13 " He shall build a house for My name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. 14 " I will be a father to him (Solomon) and he will be a son to Me; when he commits iniquity, I will correct him with the rod of men and the strokes of the sons of men, 15 but My lovingkindness shall not depart from him, as I took it away from Saul, whom I removed from before you. 16 " Your house and your kingdom shall endure before Me forever; your throne shall be established forever."'" 17 In accordance with all these words and all this vision, so Nathan spoke to David.
Note that there are three aspects to this Davidic covenant: his house, his kingdom, and his throne.
Recall how at the beginning of this series on the End Times, we learned the definition of a kingdom?
A Kingdom consists of three essential elements:
This corresponds precisely with what the Lord promised David.
HOUSE = RULER (David’s descendent – the King) KINGDOM = REALM (the nation of Israel) THRONE = RULERSHIP (the right to rule, the authority as King)
By God’s grace, these rights, even if historically interrupted for a season, will at last, in a FUTURE KINGDOM, be restored to the nation and to the line of David in perpetuity (forever), with no further possibility of interruption.
16 " Your house and your kingdom shall endure before Me forever; your throne shall be established forever."'"
David was a prophet himself, and this is what he prophesied at the end of his life:
2Sa 23:1-5 1 Now these are the last words of David. David the son of Jesse declares, The man who was raised on high declares, The anointed of the God of Jacob, And the sweet psalmist of Israel, 2 " The Spirit of the Lord spoke by me, And His word was on my tongue. 3 "The God of Israel said, The Rock of Israel spoke to me, ' He who rules over men righteously, Who rules in the fear of God, 4 Is as the light of the morning when the sun rises, A morning without clouds, When the tender grass springs out of the earth, Through sunshine after rain.' 5 "Truly is not my house so with God? For He has made an everlasting covenant with me, Ordered in all things, and secured; For all my salvation and all my desire, Will He not indeed make it grow?
The Davidic Covenant is unconditional and irrevocable. This gave Israel hope in the face of national failure and disaster.
Psa 89:19-36 19 Once You spoke in vision to Your godly ones, And said, "I have given help to one who is mighty ;I have exalted one chosen from the people. 20 "I have found David My servant; With My holy oil I have anointed him, 21 With whom My hand will be established; My arm also will strengthen him. 22 "The enemy will not deceive him, Nor the son of wickedness afflict him. 23 "But I shall crush his adversaries before him, And strike those who hate him. 24 "My faithfulness and My lovingkindness will be with him ,And in My name his horn will be exalted. 25 "I shall also set his hand on the sea And his right hand on the rivers. 26 "He will cry to Me, 'You are my Father, My God, and the rock of my salvation.' 27 "I also shall make him My firstborn, The highest of the kings of the earth. 28 "My lovingkindness I will keep for him forever, And My covenant shall be confirmed to him. 29 "So I will establish his descendants forever And his throne as the days of heaven.
30 "If his sons forsake My law And do not walk in My judgments, 31 If they violate My statutes And do not keep My commandments, 32 Then I will punish their transgression with the rod And their iniquity with stripes. 33 "But I will not break off My lovingkindness from him, Nor deal falsely in My faithfulness. 34 "My covenant I will not violate, Nor will I alter the utterance of My lips. 35 " Once I have sworn by My holiness; I will not lie to David. 36 "His descendants shall endure forever And his throne as the sun before Me. 37 "It shall be established forever like the moon, And the witness in the sky is faithful." Selah.
Jer 31:35-37 35 Thus says the Lord, Who gives the sun for light by day And the fixed order of the moon and the stars for light by night, Who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar; The Lord of hosts is His name: 36 " If this fixed order departs From before Me," declares the Lord, "Then the offspring of Israel also will cease From being a nation before Me forever."
Jer 33:14-26 14 'Behold, days are coming,' declares the Lord, 'when I will fulfill the good word which I have spoken concerning the house of Israel and the house of Judah. 15 'In those days and at that time I will cause a righteous Branch of David to spring forth; and He shall execute justice and righteousness on the earth. 16 'In those days Judah will be saved and Jerusalem will dwell in safety; and this is the name by which she will be called: the Lord is our righteousness.' 17 "For thus says the Lord, ' David shall never lack a man to sit on the throne of the house of Israel; 18 and the Levitical priests shall never lack a man before Me to offer burnt offerings, to burn grain offerings and to prepare sacrifices continually.'"
19 The word of the Lord came to Jeremiah, saying, 20 "Thus says the Lord, 'If you can break My covenant for the day and My covenant for the night, so that day and night will not be at their appointed time, 21 then My covenant may also be broken with David My servant so that he will not have a son to reign on his throne, and with the Levitical priests, My ministers. 22 'As the host of heaven cannot be counted and the sand of the sea cannot be measured, so I will multiply the descendants of David My servant and the Levites who minister to Me.'"
23 And the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah, saying, 24 "Have you not observed what this people have spoken, saying, 'The two families which the Lord chose, He has rejected them'? Thus they despise My people, no longer are they as a nation in their sight.
25 "Thus says the Lord, 'If My covenant for day and night stand not, and the fixed patterns of heaven and earth I have not established, 26 then I would reject the descendants of Jacob and David My servant, not taking from his descendants rulers over the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. But I will restore their fortunes and will have mercy on them.'"
Isa 55:1-3 1"Ho! Every one who thirsts, come to the waters; And you who have no money come, buy and eat. Come, buy wine and milk Without money and without cost. 2 "Why do you spend money for what is not bread, And your wages for what does not satisfy? Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good, And delight yourself in abundance. 3 " Incline your ear and come to Me. Listen, that you may live; And I will make an everlasting covenant with you, According to the faithful mercies shown to David.
Let’s now return to 2Sa 7:12-16.
Provisions
Confirmed
The Davidic covenant is restated and reconfirmed in the following passages as well:
Isa 9:6-7; Jer 23:5-8, 30:1-10; Eze 37:21-28; Dan 7:13-14; Hos 3:4-5; Amo 9:11-12; Zec 14:4-16
Messianic Significance
The Davidic covenant points forward to our Lord Jesus Christ. He is the promised Messiah (anointed King) for the nation of Israel.
The prophets connect the Davidic Covenant with the promised Messiah, our Lord Jesus Christ. They point forward to Christ, and how He will fulfill the Davidic Covenant in the future. They also make it clear that He will be both God and man. His throne and kingdom will last forever.
Scriptures:
Isa 9:6-7 6 For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; And the government will rest on His shoulders; And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace. 7 There will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace, On the throne of David and over his kingdom, To establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness From then on and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will accomplish this.
Jer 23:5-8 5 "Behold, the days are coming," declares the Lord, "When I will raise up for David a righteous Branch; And He will reign as king and act wisely And do justice and righteousness in the land. 6 "In His days Judah will be saved, And Israel will dwell securely; And this is His name by which He will be called, 'The Lord [Yahweh] our righteousness.'
7 " Therefore behold, the days are coming," declares the Lord, "when they will no longer say, 'As the Lord lives, who brought up the sons of Israel from the land of Egypt,' 8 but, 'As the Lord lives, who brought up and led back the descendants of the household of Israel from the north land and from all the countries where I had driven them.' Then they will live on their own soil."
Zec 14:3-4 Then the Lord will go forth and fight against those nations, as when He fights on a day of battle. 4 In that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, which is in front of Jerusalem on the east; and the Mount of Olives will be split in its middle from east to west by a very large valley, so that half of the mountain will move toward the north and the other half toward the south.
Zec 14:9 9 And the Lord will be king over all the earth; in that day the Lord will be the only one, and His name the only one.
Zec 14:16 16 Then it will come about that any who are left of all the nations that went against Jerusalem will go up from year to year to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, and to celebrate the Feast of Booths.
Also: Isa 7:14; Psa 45; Psa 72; Psa 110; Amo 9:11-15; Mic 5:2-9;
The New Testament reveals how Christ is the promised descendant of David. The New Testament also reveals that the Davidic Covenant will be fulfilled at the Second Coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Scriptures:
Mat 19:28 28 And Jesus said to them, "Truly I say to you, that you who have followed Me, in the regeneration when the Son of Man will sit on His glorious throne, you also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. NASU
Luk 1:30-33 30 The angel said to her, " Do not be afraid, Mary; for you have found favor with God. 31 "And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name Him Jesus. 32 "He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David; 33 and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and His kingdom will have no end."
Luk 24:25-27 25 And He said to them, "O foolish men and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken! 26 " Was it not necessary for the Christ to suffer these things and to enter into His glory?" 27 Then beginning with Moses and with all the prophets, He explained to them the things concerning Himself in all the Scriptures.
Also: Matthew 11:3-5 [with Isaiah 35:5-6; 61:1-4;] Matthew 22:41-46 [with Psalm 110:1]; Acts 2:22-36; Act 13:22-39; Act 15:15-18 [with Amos 9:11-12]; Hebrews 1:6-8 [with Psalm 45]; Revelation 5:5 [with Genesis 49:10 and Isaiah 11:1]; Revelation 22:16.
Importance for Eschatology
The establishment and confirmation of the Davidic Covenant in the Bible answers several crucial end times questions, including:
Let’s discuss these together, making sure to cite specific scriptures to support our answers.
Prophetic implications of the Davidic Covenant
The Bible foresees a future literal fulfillment of the Davidic Covenant. This guarantees certain things about Israel’s future:
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