The Son of David

Jesus is the Son of David and heir to the Messianic Throne, the beloved Son of God, and the Suffering Servant of Yahweh.

The Gospel of Matthew declares Jesus to be the promised “Son of David.” This same Jesus demonstrated what it means to be the King of Israel, especially through his sacrificial death. Traditionally and scripturally, the hoped-for ideal king was linked to the House of David. With the arrival of the Nazarene, that understanding was forever altered.

The True and Greater “Son of David” is more than the chief ruler of Israel or God’s appointed king over the nations. He is God’s “Anointed One,” but a Messiah of a radically different kind, and this is emphasized by his identification as the “Servant of Yahweh.”

[Morning Stars - Photo by Martin Jernberg on Unsplash]

Scriptural citations and verbal allusions are applied by the Gospel of Matthew to establish Christ’s messianic status and Davidic credentials even though he was destined to die by crucifixion.

For example, at his baptism, the Spirit descended on Jesus “like a dove,” and the voice from Heaven declared, “This is my Son, the beloved, in whom I delight.” The description combines words and images from several messianic passages and predictions about the Servant of the Lord who would bear the guilt of his people’s sins.

• “And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending as a dove, and coming upon him. And behold, a voice out of the heavens, saying, This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased” - (Matthew 3:17).

• “Yet I have set my king upon my holy hill of Zion. I will tell of the decree: Yahweh said to me, You are my son! This day, I have begotten you. Ask of me, and I will give you the nations for your inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for your possession” – (Psalm 2:6-8).

• “Behold, my servant, whom I uphold; my chosen, in whom My soul delights. I have put my Spirit upon him. He will bring justice to the nations” - (Isaiah 42:1).

• “The Son of man came not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many” – (Matthew 20:28, alluding to Isaiah 53:13 – “Because he poured out his soul unto death, and he was numbered with the transgressors. Yet he carried the sin of many, and interceded for the transgressors”).

In the birth narratives of the Gospel of Luke we also find the Messiah associated with God’s promises to the household of King David:

• “And the angel said to her, Fear not, Mary, for you have found favour with God. And behold, you will conceive and bring forth a son, and you will call his name Jesus.  He will be great, and he will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to 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 1:30-32).

• “And his father Zacharias was filled with the Holy Spirit, and prophesied, saying, Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, for he has visited and wrought redemption for his people. And He has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David” – (Luke 1:68-69).

After his Death and Resurrection, we read how the Church continued to connect Jesus with David. The Apostle Paul, for example, proclaimed Christ’s descent from David in the synagogue of Pisidian Antioch:

• “And we bring you good tidings of the promise made to the fathers, that God has fulfilled the same for our children, in that he raised up Jesus; as also it is written in the Second Psalm, you are my Son. This day, I have begotten you. And as concerning that he raised him up from the dead, now no more to return to corruption, he has spoken thusly, I will give you the holy and sure blessings of David. Because he declares also in another psalm, You will not give your Holy One to see corruption. For David, after he had in his own generation served the counsel of God, fell asleep, and was laid to his fathers, and saw corruption. But he whom God raised up saw no corruption“ - (Acts 13:32-37).

The New Testament presents a Messiah who fulfills the roles of the Davidic King opposed by the nations and of the suffering Servant of Yahweh who was “cut off out of the land of the living for the transgression of My people” – (Isaiah 53:8).

• “One of the elders said to me, Weep not! Behold, the lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David, has overcome to open the scroll and its seven seals. And I saw in the midst of the throne and of the four living creatures, and in the midst of the elders, a Lamb, standing as though slain” – (Revelation 5:5-6).

One role cannot be understood apart from the other. Though they appear incompatible, they are inextricably linked. It is the Suffering Servant whom God appointed King. Jesus is the King of Israel, the conquering Lion of Judah, but he fulfills that role as the “sacrificial Lamb.” God appointed Christ king because he submitted to death by crucifixion and thereby gave his life to redeem Israel and the nations:

• “Let all the house of Israel know that God has made him both Lord and Christ, even the same Jesus whom you crucified!” – (Acts 2:36).

• “And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, becoming obedient unto death, yea, the death of the cross. Wherefore also God highly exalted him and gave him the name which is above every name, that in the name of Jesus, every knee should bow, of things in heaven and things on earth and things under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord” – (Philippians 2:8-11).

• “And they sing a new song, saying, You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and purchased for God with your blood men from every tribe, and tongue, and people, and nation” – (Revelation 5:9).

THE ROYAL ROAD

The Second Psalm is applied by the writers of the New Testament to Jesus in his present role as the Anointed One who reigns from God’s throne, but he attained this exalted position through the humiliation of the Cross.

The Nazarene endured the conspiracy to overthrow God’s Son and King as prophesied by the Psalmist when the religious leaders of Israel plotted to destroy him - The “chief priests and the whole council sought false witness against Jesus that they might put him to death” - (Matthew 26:59, 27:1).

This is how the early church interpreted the Second Psalm. After enduring threats from the priests and Sadducees, for example, Peter prayed:

• “O Lord, you made the heaven and the earth and the sea, and all that in them is, who by the Holy Spirit, by the mouth of our father David your servant, said, Why did the nations rage, and the peoples imagine vain things? The kings of the earth set themselves in array, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord and against his Christ. For of a truth in this city, against your holy Servant Jesus, whom You anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the nations and the people of Israel, were gathered to do whatever your hand and your council foreordained to come to pass” - (Acts 4:24-28).

In the preceding passage, Peter combines the image of the Suffering Servant with that of the royal figure from the Second Psalm. It was not just the nations that raged against God’s Anointed, but also, and especially, the religious leaders of Israel. Since they conspired to murder their own Messiah, they were no better than the pagan nations.

Jesus was the heir of David, but first, he endured persecution and death for his people as the Suffering Servant of Yahweh. He was exalted and given “all power in Heaven and on Earth” but only after his Death and Resurrection. Paradoxically, he conquered his enemies by enduring an unjust death for them rather than slaying them.

The final act of the Gospel of Matthew is the “commissioning” of the disciples. The picture is not of a political revolutionary or dictator dispatching his armies to destroy his opponents and otherwise seek revenge, but of an already ruling monarch sending his heralds throughout his domain to announce his victory over sin and death, and his consequent sovereignty.

• “All authority, in heaven and on earth, has been given to me. Therefore, go and disciple all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you” – (Matthew 28:18-20).

Jesus is the heir to the throne of David, but before his installation as King, he became the “Servant of Yahweh” who suffered and “gave his life as a ransom for many.” The Royal Road to Mount Zion must pass through Golgotha.

[PDF Copy]

SEE ALSO:

• The Salvation of Yahweh - (Jesus means ‘Yahweh saves.’ In this Man of Nazareth, the Salvation promised by the God of Abraham and Israel has arrived for all men)

• The Royal Servant - (Following his baptism in the Jordan River, the Voice from Heaven identified Jesus as the Son of God and the Servant of the LORD)

• The Voice in the Wilderness - (John the Baptist prepared the way for the Messiah’s arrival, the herald of the Good News of the Kingdom of God – Mark 1:4-8)

• In the Wilderness - (After his baptism, the Spirit drove Jesus into the wilderness where he was tested by the Devil. The Messiah succeeded where Israel failed)