As we traced the promises of God made to Abraham over the past few articles, the trail of the promises came to rest upon Jacob, who was renamed Israel by God Himself. So far it can be clearly seen that, rather than the promises of God to Abraham being the direct inheritance of all his physical offspring, instead the covenant promise was passed down through a specific lineage of Abraham’s offspring; namely from Abraham, through Isaac, through to Jacob, who we can identify as Israel in the flesh.
Before continuing, it’s worth reiterating the promise God made directly with Jacob at this point:
“And God said to him, “Your name is Jacob; no longer shall your name be called Jacob, but Israel shall be your name.” So he called his name Israel. And God said to him, “I am God Almighty: be fruitful and multiply. A nation and a company of nations shall come from you, and kings shall come from your own body. The land that I gave to Abraham and Isaac I will give to you, and I will give the land to your offspring after you.” [Genesis 35:10-12 ESV]
During his lifetime Jacob had twelve sons [Gen 35:23-26], who in turn became the fathers of the twelve tribes of Israel, and it will be these we will focus on a little in this article, to show how the covenant promise was carried onwards chronologically. More specifically, from this point on I would like focus on two of Jacob’s sons; Judah and Joseph. I believe these are key to begin to show how we can see Christ Himself being pointed towards as the true Heir of all the promises, and His Gospel being the proclamation of those promises being fulfilled for those found in Him [Gal 3:22].
To keep things relatively short, I’ll begin by taking a look at Judah, who came to inherit the rights of pre-eminance that should rightfully belong to the first born son. Because of the sexual sinfulness of Reuben, and the violence of Simeon and Levi, who were the first three of Jacob’s sons with his wife Leah, the leadership rights of these were instead passed onto Judah, who was his fourth son with Leah. This is the blessing spoken over him by Jacob:
“Judah, your brothers shall praise you; your hand shall be on the neck of your enemies; your father’s sons shall bow down before you. Judah is a lion’s cub; from the prey, my son, you have gone up. He stooped down; he crouched as a lion and as a lioness; who dares rouse him? The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, until tribute comes to him; and to him shall be the obedience of the peoples. [Genesis 49:8-10 ESV]
It is from the lineage of Judah that we can trace down to king David, who God then establishes an everlasting covenant with, regarding the Kingship of Israel.
When your days are fulfilled to walk with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, one of your own sons, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for me, and I will establish his throne forever.[1 Chronicles 17:11-12 ESV]
This covenant that God made with David is often used as the proof text for those holding to a premillenial doctrine, stating that because of the eternal nature of the promise, at some point Jesus Christ must be seated upon the throne in a rebuilt earthly temple. What we must ask however, is does the Bible text itself allow us to claim that God is speaking of the throne Solomon would establish? I believe the answer is clearly a resounding no!
Whilst it can be said that David’s son Solomon did go on to build the temple, and God did establish his kingdom, it was only a foreshadow of that which Christ His true Son would build. Whereas Solomon built a temple made with hands, his throne was not established forever, and in fact in later life Solomon’s sins snared him as he began to serve the foreign gods of the wives God had told him not to marry [1 Kings 11:2-8].
It should be understood clearly that right from this point in history, the earthly throne established under the reign of Solomon became directly accursed of God, for these words were clearly spoken previously to Solomon by God Himself, just after finishing the temple:
And the LORD said to him, “I have heard your prayer and your plea, which you have made before me. I have consecrated this house that you have built, by putting my name there forever. My eyes and my heart will be there for all time. And as for you, if you will walk before me, as David your father walked, with integrity of heart and uprightness, doing according to all that I have commanded you, and keeping my statutes and my rules, then I will establish your royal throne over Israel forever, as I promised David your father, saying, ‘You shall not lack a man on the throne of Israel.’ But if you turn aside from following me, you or your children, and do not keep my commandments and my statutes that I have set before you, but go and serve other gods and worship them, then I will cut off Israel from the land that I have given them, and the house that I have consecrated for my name I will cast out of my sight, and Israel will become a proverb and a byword among all peoples. And this house will become a heap of ruins. Everyone passing by it will be astonished and will hiss, and they will say, ‘Why has the LORD done thus to this land and to this house?’ Then they will say, ‘Because they abandoned the LORD their God who brought their fathers out of the land of Egypt and laid hold on other gods and worshiped them and served them. Therefore the LORD has brought all this disaster on them.’” [1 Kings 9:1-9 ESV]
It’s worth noting that the kingdoms of Judah and Israel that were united under the reign of king David, were divided again after the reign of Solomon. This remained so permanently, and all the kings of Israel recorded were noted as evil in the eyes of God, whilst a small number of the kings of Judah were noted as God fearing. This continued until the fall of Israel, when they were taken into captivity by Assyria [2 Kings 17:6]. These tribes became known as the lost ten tribes of Israel, and never rose in power again. These northern tribes are often referred to as Israel or Ephraim in the Bible, whereas the southern tribes of Judah and Benjamin are usually referred to as Judah. The large majority of the northern tribes of Israel were dissipated throughout the nations of the earth, whilst the southern nations known as Judah returned to Jerusalem after the Babylonian captivity. These are whom we now recognise as “Jews”.
Now after recognising some of the mess and chaos directly following the reign of Solomon, it’s worth returning to the Bible text where God makes an everlasting covenant with king David. As we have already seen, the everlasting nature of the covenant cannot possibly belong to Solomon. And in fact, the only direct descendant from David who this can be applied to is actually Jesus Himself, who is both legally recognised as direct descendant of David [Matt 1:16-17 & Luke 3:23,31] , and also testified to by God Himself as His own Son [Matt 3:17 & Mark 9:7]. What is more, Jesus Christ is the One to whom the prophet Isaiah testified:
For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this. [Isaiah 9:6-7 ESV]
Even the most ardent premillenialist would not argue against the fact that Jesus Christ is to occupy the eternal throne spoken of by God to David, so the only question remains is whether or not this applies to the earthly throne that was built by Solomon, and is to be somehow rebuilt in the future at some point? To answer this I will return to the text where God makes His covenant with David, and compare it with New Testament revelation that has been given to us by Christ and His apostles.
When your days are fulfilled to walk with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, one of your own sons, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for me, and I will establish his throne forever. I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son. I will not take my steadfast love from him, as I took it from him who was before you, but I will confirm him in my house and in my kingdom forever, and his throne shall be established forever.’” [1 Chronicles 17:11-14 ESV]
God was not ultimately talking of Solomon, but of Jesus Christ when He said “He shall build a house for me”:
And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. [Matthew 16:18 ESV]
“We heard him say, ‘I will destroy this temple that is made with hands, and in three days I will build another, not made with hands.’” [Mark 14:58 ESV]
The temple Christ promised to build, He promised to build within three days of His death. He was speaking of His own Body, which is now recognised as His Church.
Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it. [1 Corinthians 12:27 ESV]
And speaking of the Church, the Word of God clearly identifies her as His temple.
What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; as God said, “I will make my dwelling among them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. [2 Corinthians 6:16 ESV]
There will never again be an earthly temple that God will bless by seating His Son within it, for He dwells within the hearts of His people by His Spirit [1 Cor 3:16]. And the true city of Zion from where He shall reign is not found on this earth, but it is an eternal place whose maker is God Himself [Heb 11:10]. Even Solomon himself, who built the temple with his own hands, recognised that it was nothing but a pale reflection of an eternal reality [1 Kings 8:27].
Finally I ask you to consider His throne for a moment. Or more to the point, ask yourself what possible explanation remain that this throne resides in a city of this earth? God said; “I will confirm/establish Him in my house and in my Kingdom forever, and His throne shall be established forever” [1 Chron 17:14]. Jesus said “My Kingdom is not of this world” [John 18:36]. So why on earth would His throne be located in a different place entirely?
He also said the following;
In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. [John 14:2-3 ESV]
He did not say He would again come back to usbe where we are, but He would “take you to Myself, that where I am you may be also”.
I will end this article with the words of Peter addressed to the Jews on the day of Pentecost, that eyes may be opened to the fact that Christ is already enthroned in His Kingdom, on His Throne, and will one day return to judge the living and the dead. And at that time He will receive His own unto Himself, and take us to be with Him forevermore in the place that He has prepared for us.
“Brothers, I may say to you with confidence about the patriarch David that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. Being therefore a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that he would set one of his descendants on his throne, he foresaw and spoke about the resurrection of the Christ, that he was not abandoned to Hades, nor did his flesh see corruption. This Jesus God raised up, and of that we all are witnesses. Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this that you yourselves are seeing and hearing. For David did not ascend into the heavens, but he himself says, “‘The Lord said to my Lord, Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool.’ Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.” [Acts 2:29-36 ESV]
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