From the Millennial Harbinger.
THE THRONE OF DAVID.
An opinion has been occasionally propagated at different periods of the Christian Church, that the conversion of the Jews would be effected at once in a national way, and that by a personal and literal return of the Messiah to the literal and earthly Jerusalem in Judea, where our Lord was crucified. This opinion has again been revived in connexion with other kindred notions, propagated also at different periods of the Christian Church concerning the state of the dead, of which I cannot now speak particularly. But the recent attempts to revive the oft alleged, and as often refuted, notions of the personal and literal return to Jerusalem of the Messiah to sit upon the literal throne of David, and thus to convert the Jews by sight rather than by faith, demands a passing notice at our hands, and more especially as it has now been presented to our consideration by our much esteemed brother Anderson, of Kentucky. At present we can do little more than exhibit an induction of what is said in Holy Writ, on the subject of the Throne of David. And first, then, we shall place before the reader what the scriptures say on this subject.
1. Abner’s oath runs in these words:
“As Jehovah hath sworn to David even so do I to him—to transfer the kingdom from the house of Israel, and to set up the throne of David over Israel and over Judah from Dan even to Beersheba.”—(2 Samuel 3: 9-10).
Thus we are first introduced to the throne of David.
Jehovah’s oath, or covenant to David, runs in these words:
“And” (David) “when thy days be fulfilled, and thou shalt lie down with thy fathers, I will raise up thy seed after thee,” (Solomon) “who shall proceed from thee, and I will establish his kingdom; he shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom for ever.”—“And” (David) “thy house and thy kingdom shall be steadfast for ever before thee, thy throne shall be established forever.”—(2 Samuel 7: 12-16).
And David in response said:
“O, Lord Jehovah, thou hast also spoken of thy servant’s house for a great while to come,” (verse 19) “Therefore now let it please thee to bless the house of thy servant that it may continue for ever before thee: for thou, O Lord Jehovah, hast spoken it: and with thy blessing let the house of thy servant be blessed for ever.” (verse 29).
This Throne of David was by himself sworn, or covenanted to his son Solomon as his successor. Nathan the prophet commanded Bathsheba to put the following words to David: —
“Didst not thou, my lord, O king, swear to thy handmaid, saying, Assuredly, Solomon, thy son shall reign after me, and he shall sit upon my throne?”
And what did David respond?
“As Jehovah liveth that hath delivered me out of all my distress, even as I swore to thee by Jehovah God of Israel, saying, Assuredly, Solomon, thy son shall reign after me, and he shall sit upon my throne in my stead, even so will I certainly do this day.”—(1 Kings 1: 13, 29-30).
“Thus Solomon sat on the throne of David his father.”—(1 Kings 2: 12).
The throne of David is frequently called “the throne of Israel.”—(1 Kings 2: 4; 8: 25; 9: 5; 2 Chronicles 6:16; Jeremiah 33: 17).
“David,” saith Jehovah, “shall never want a man to sit on the throne of Israel.”
This name was given to the throne of David, before the nation was divided into two sovereignties—that of Judah, and that of Israel.
This covenant is again alluded to in the Psalms 89: 3-4. —
“I have sworn a covenant with my chosen, I have sworn to David my servant, Thy seed will I establish for ever, and build up thy throne to all generations.”
Again, Psalms 132: 11. —
“Jehovah has sworn in truth to David: he will not turn from it. Of the fruit of thy body will I set on thy throne.”
Before the birth of Jesus 740 years, Isaiah says, chapter 9: 7,
“Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end upon the throne of David and upon his kingdom, and to establish it with judgment and with justice, from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of Jehovah of hosts will perform this.”
During the captivity, Jeremiah prophesied, chapter 17: 25, that on certain conditions,
“There shall enter into the gates of Jerusalem kings and princes sitting upon the throne of David, riding in chariots and on horses, they and their princes: and this city shall remain for ever.”
This promise is repeated, Jeremiah 20: 4. This throne of David is again alluded to, but with no reference to our present subject, Jeremiah 22: 2; 29: 16; 36: 30. Such is a full induction of all the allusions in the Old Testament to the “throne of David,” bearing on the covenant concerning David and his seed as sitting on that throne.
In the New Testament, Luke, chapter 1: 32, an angel announces, that the son promised Mary “shall be called the son of the highest, that the Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and that he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there shall be no end.” Such are the prophecies and promises concerning the throne of David, in the Old and New Testaments.
But it is proper here to inquire, —Did, or did not, the Lord Jesus Christ obtain a throne in heaven, on his ascension, and if so, what throne is it? We propose the question for the sake of form, and to give to our minds a proper direction, rather than as insinuating any doubt as to the fact of his coronation. It will be, I presume, admitted by every Bible student, that the Lord Jesus Christ, “born to be a king,” but not on earth, did, on entering the heavens, ascend to a throne, a crown, and a kingdom. Let us turn over again the leaves of the Old Testament prophecies.
David foretold that his son would be a king and sit upon his throne, —not on earth, but in the heavens. Psalm 2—
“Why do the heathen rage and the people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth array themselves, (Herod and Pontius Pilate—Caesar’s representatives and vicegerents,) and the princes take counsel together against Jehovah and his ANOINTED; saying—let us break their bands asunder and cast away their cords from us. He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh, Jehovah will deride them. Then will he speak to them in his wrath and humble them in his fury—yet have I set my king upon my holy mountain, Zion. Ask of me and I will give them the heathen for thine inheritance and the utmost parts of the earth for thy possession. Thou shalt break them with a sceptre of iron, thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel,” &c.
We have here the authority of the whole Jerusalem church, with all its spiritual gifts for interpreting this passage and for applying it to Jesus as Jehovah’s anointed king in the heavenly Zion, the proper antitype of the city and throne of David. Despite of Caesar in his representatives—Herod and Pontius Pilate—Jehovah placed his king upon the holy hill of Zion. And who is this king but David’s son and David’s sovereign? Now, according to the angelic annunciation, (Luke 1: 32,) did not Jehovah, the God of Israel, at this time give to him the throne of his father David? —!
But we have other documents in the Jewish writings as explicit, and, perhaps more direct and striking than even these. What diligent student of the official grandeur of the Lord Jesus does not ponder with delight upon the 110th Psalm? —
“Jehovah said to my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand until I make thine enemies thy foot stool. Jehovah shall send the sceptre of thy strength from Zion: rule thou in the midst of thine enemies. Thy people shall be willing (volunteers) in the day of thy power—(gubernatorial authority.) In the beauty of holiness from (more than) the womb of the morning, thou hast the dew of thy youth. Jehovah hath sworn and will not repent, —thou art a priest forever after the order of Melchisedec. The Lord at thy right hand shall crush kings in the day of his wrath. He shall judge among the heathen. He shall fill the places with the dead bodies. He shall crush the heads over many countries”—or the sovereigns of great nations.
Was not Melchisedec a priest upon a throne, and is not our high priest of that order; now king of kings, as well as priest of the most High God?
Nay, we are constrained to admit that Jesus is now constituted Lord of all. Peter, on Pentecost, assured the fleshly Israel that God had anointed or made Jesus supreme over all. And Paul also indicates the same when he says, (Hebrews 8: 1.)
“We have such an high priest who is seated on the right hand of the majesty in the heavens.”
Even so speaks the Lord Jesus himself. He went from earth in quest of a kingdom and a throne, and found one, for he says—
“As I have overcome and am set down with the Father on his throne, so he that overcometh shall sit down with me on my throne.”
In all the visions of our ascended Lord, he appears invested with regal glory, “a prince and saviour,” exalted to a throne and a kingdom, having “all authority in heaven and on earth, —Lord of Lords and King of Kings.”
With this induction of all the passages that speak of the throne of David, and all that is said of the anointing or coronation of the Lord Jesus, can any one find a vestige of authority for the assumption that Jesus Christ will descend from the throne of God in the heavens, to sit upon any thing called a throne of David, in the literal Jerusalem; and thus, in the form of a man, reign as a prince and priest over one nation and people, for any national, temporal, or spiritual purpose!
But the emphasis recently laid upon this assumption, is such as to call for a still farther exposition of its baseless character. From the passages quoted we note the significant fact, that the throne of David is once and again said to be “established forever.” Now, that it continued till the birth of “David’s son and Lord,” would certainly be implied in the fact that it was “established forever.” That “the sceptre should not depart from Judah till Shiloh come,” I need scarcely say, is relied on by the so called Christian world universally, as a strong proof of the Messiah ship of Jesus of Nazareth: for till he came that throne or sceptre of Judah ceased not. But after his death, Jerusalem and the nation fell into ruins; and, according to Hosea, they have ever since been “without a king and without a prince, and without a sacrifice, and without a pillar, and without an image, and without Teraphim.”—Hosea 3: 4. Now, unless Jesus be king, and the throne of David be raised to heaven, how can it be said that the throne of David was established forever! For eighteen hundred years that throne has fallen down and been without a king, unless in the person of Jesus of Nazareth! !
Still there is a stronger argument, or, at least, one more explicit, than even this. It is as flat as a negation of this neophyte assumption as I can imagine. It is that cited from Isaiah 33: 17—
“For thus saith Jehovah, David shall never want a man to sit upon the throne of the house of Israel.”
I own it may be translated—“There shall not be cut off a man from David before me,” i.e. He will always have a representative. Now, according to the oracle, so explicit, so definite, and so intelligible, David’s son and David’s Lord reigns upon his throne, as his royal representative.
But one fact is seen by those neophytes who assume so much on this subject. It is this, that David’s throne was originally the throne of God, and David was but his representative. Jehovah himself was king of Israel, and when Israel repudiated him, he gave them in his anger what they sought, i.e. “a king like other nations,” but he would merely deputise him and authorise him by an unction in his name, thereby constituting him “the Lord’s anointed.” This is the mystery which none of these theological adventurers have yet been taught. * (See next page).
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* I would refer all doubtful minds to the reperusal and reconsideration of the call and consecration of Saul and David. Let them read with care 1 Samuel, 8th, 9th, and 10th chapters in which they will find the call, consecration, and inspiration of Saul, as the Lord’s anointed. Then let them read 1 Samuel, 18th chapter, in which are the same significant preliminaries to the call of David, and the same solemn accompaniment of his consecration as the vicary or vicegerent of Jehovah. The Kings of Judah were as much in need of inspiration in order to sit upon the throne of God, as were the Apostles of Christ, to give them authority. But when they became wicked the spirit of God forsook them, and this circumstance called for prophets to instruct, reform and admonish them. Hence, prophets became a necessary appendage to the kings who acted for God.
These are matters not properly weighed nor understood in all their amplitude, by many who choose both to preach and write on such lofty themes.
The kings of Europe and the Pope are yet hugging a kindred delusion. They suppose that the Pope’s Chrism is the holy oil; and that the kings of Europe are severally the Lord’s anointed. A few lessons to priests and modern kings, and even to his grace of Canterbury, on this subject, might do them no harm. But as certainly as Aaron was God’s high priest, alone and exclusively, so David and his sons were God’s only anointed kings, and just as exclusively and alone, as Jesus of Nazareth is his only begotten son and heir of the throne in the heavens—therefore with literal and exact truth after his resurrection, he said, all sacerdotal, political, regal, and divine authority, in heaven and earth, were his, and only his, and his forever. God reigned on earth in the persons of Judah’s kings on David’s throne. But after the Jews said, —“This is the heir, come let us kill him and seize the inheritance,” he translated the throne of David to heaven and placed his son upon it, and there it will continue as the seat of the Lord Jesus Christ till all his enemies fall before him.
And here we shall pause for the present.
A.C.
(The following article was written at the request of a friend in Glasgow, and published in the Gospel Banner. It is a brief review of Mr. Campbell’s remarks on Mr. Anderson’s letter; and it is reproduced in this place for the information of the readers of the Herald. —Ed.)
