-- Luke 1:32-33
"I declare to you that the LORD will build a house for you (David): When your days are over and you go to be with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring to succeed you, one of your own sons, and I will establish His kingdom. He is the One who will build a house for Me, and I will establish His throne forever. I will be His Father, and He will be My Son. I will never take My love away from Him, as I took it away from your predecessor. I will set Him over My house and My kingdom forever; His throne will be established forever."
-- 1 Chronicles 17:10-14
"The days are coming," declares the Lord, "when I will raise up to David a righteous Branch, a king who will reign wisely and do what is just and right in the land. In His days Judah will be saved and Israel will live in safety. This is the name by which He will be called: The Lord Our Righteousness."
-- Jeremiah 23:5-6
David was Israel's greatest king, a man whom the Bible describes as having the very heart of God. So it may not be surprising that the New Testament both begins and ends with references to Jesus as the Son or Offspring of David. He is the One who fulfilled the promise of a coming King so beloved by God that His throne will endure forever.
Like David, Jesus was born in Bethlehem (the city of David). And like David, who established his kingdom by overcoming Israel's enemies and uniting God's people, Jesus would establish His kingdom by defeating the principalities and powers, making a way for us to become part of it as we confess our faith in Him. When you pray to Jesus as the Son of David, you are praying to the long-awaited King, human by virtue of His descent from David and divine by virtue of being God's only Son.
At the time of Christ's birth, the people of Israel longed for the Messiah, a descendant of the great King David, who would drive out Israel's persistent enemies and restore the nation to its former glory. When people cried out to Jesus as the "Son of David," they were expressing their faith that He was this long-promised Messiah.
But what the people didn't understand was that they needed not just another David but someone far greater. They dreamed of a military leader who would drive out their Roman overlords, not realizing they needed a Savior who would drive out their sins. They longed for political power to restore the kingdom of Israel to its former glory, never reflecting on the fact that Israel, even at its peak, had never been more than a very small nation, which had flourished as a united nation for only about a hundred and twenty years - equivalent to something like a millisecond in the scope of world history.
Nor did the people of Jesus' day understand that David's Son would exceed David in all things. He would inaugurate a kingdom that extended throughout the world and one in which every trace of sickness and death would eventually be driven out, a kingdom in which the lion and the lamb, the poor and the rich, the great and the small would lie down together perfectly and forever at peace.
Today as you read the headlines or watch the nightly news, remember that it is important to pray for our nation and our political leaders. We should regularly ask God for wise and humble leadership, for men and women who hunger for justice and who are eager to pursue peace. But remember too that we need more than good leadership. We need our sins forgiven, our relationships healed, our sicknesses overcome, our selfishness defeated. We need Jesus, the only King who is able to drive out our worst enemies and bring us together from every tribe and tongue and nation into a kingdom that will endure forever.
Discuss: What does it mean that Jesus was the Son of David? You might read Jesus actual genealogy in Matthew 1:1-16 (traces through his adoptive father Joseph) and Luke 3:23-38 (traces through his biological mother Mary).
Prayer: Jesus, Son of David, take up Your throne! Drive out Your enemies and be our protector. Then rule with Your wisdom and grace. Scatter the proud and raise up the lowly. Establish Your kingdom now and forever. Amen
Songs: Joseph’s Song, O Little Town of Bethlehem/It Came Upon a Midnight Clear by 4Him
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