David; for Mary his mother was of the posterity of David by Nathan, as may be seen in Luke's genealogy:* but Joseph, the reputed and legal father of Christ, was naturally descended from Solomon and his successors, as we have an account in Matthew's genealogy. Jesus Christ, though he was not the natural son of Joseph, yet by the law and constitution of the Jews he was Joseph's lawful heir; he was the lawful son of Joseph's lawful wife, conceived while she was his legally espoused wife. The Holy Ghost raised up seed to him. A person by the law of Moses might be the legal son and heir of another whose natural son he was not; as sometimes a man raised up seed to his brother: a brother in some cases was to build up a brother's house; so the Holy Ghost built up Joseph's house. And Joseph being in the direct line of the kings of Judah, the house of David, he was the legal heir to the crown of David; and Christ being legally his first born son, he was his heir; and so Christ, by the law, was the proper heir of the crown of David, and is therefore said to sit upon the throne of his father David."+ The grant of sovereignty, therefore, which was entailed upon the house of David, is thus graciously accepted, in his person as God-man Mediator, by him who conferred it, and who is at once the root as well as the offspring of David. When we reflect on this great and infinite condescension, we shall not be surprised that David, who as a prophet well * Luke iv. 23-38. † Edwards on Redemption. knew the import of the blessing that was conferred upon him, should exclaim in overpowering gratitude: "Who am I, O Lord God? and what is my house, that thou hast brought me hitherto? And this was yet a small thing in thy sight, O Lord God; but thou hast spoken also of thy servant's house for a great while to come. And is this the manner of man, O Lord God? ... For thou hast confirmed to thyself thy people Israel, to be a people unto thee for ever : and thou, Lord, art become their God. And now, O Lord God, the word that thou has spoken concernng thy servant, and concerning his house, establish it for ever, and do as thou hast said. And let thy name be magnified for ever, saying, The Lord of hosts is the God over Israel: and let the house of hy servant David be established before thee."* The original language expresses much more fully than our translation, the idea that David's chief joy arose in this acknowledgment, from his knowledge of its being the Messiah, the promised Saviour, that was to sit upon his throne; accordingly Peter says, Acts ii. 30: "Therefore being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him, that of the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh, he would raise up CHRIST to sit on his throne." Though there may be, and undoubtedly are, as appears from Zech. xii. 12, some of the royal house of David yet in existence-they being there mentioned as among the first remnant of those that shall 2 Sam. vii. 18, 19, 24-26. be settled at Jerusalem-yet as Christ, the eternal Son of God, in condescending to be born, and taking our nature, made himself the true and rightful heir to David's throne, there appears to be no reason, when we remember the deep humiliation to which he subjected himself at his first coming, why the express language used by the angel Gabriel in announcing his birth should not be understood literally. It runs thus: "Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favour with God. And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name Jesus. He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest and the Lord God shall give unto him THE THRONE OF HIS FATHER DAVID: and he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end." * In fact, it is much more analogous to the general course of the Divine procedure, that Christ, in thus making himself the heir of David, did intend to take possession of David's throne, and to make himself literally—what he is and always was virtually-king in Zion. And from a passage in Ezekiel, it is difficult to understand any thing else but that it is his intention to do so. "Thus saith the Lord God; Remove the diadem, and take off the crown: this shall not be the same: exalt him that is low, and abase him that is high. I will overturn, overturn, overturn it; and it shall be no more, until He *Luke i. 30-33. come WHOSE RIGHT IT IS ; him." * and I will give it Besides, the comparatively short time that the house of David hath yet reigned, but ill comports with the language of this splendid grant. The present royal family of France has actually possessed the throne of that kingdom, in its direct and collateral branches, nearly double the length of time that the throne of Judah has yet been in possession of the house of David. The plea which the Lord puts into the mouth of his people, in supplicating for his mercy, as it regards their future restoration, may equally be applied to the sovereignty as it is to the land: "Return for thy servants' sake, the tribes of thine inheritance. The people of thy holiness have possessed it but a LITTLE WHILE: our adversaries have trodden down thy sanctuary. We are thine : thou never bearest rule over them; they were not called by thy name."+ David certainly understood from the language of this grant, as any one else would also understand, something more than the temporary enjoyment of the throne; and that chiefly over only two out of the Twelve Tribes. The delight with which he often dwells upon the subject in the Psalms appears to place it beyond a question, that he saw, through the long vista of ages, Christ, as his descendant after the flesh, reigning in Jerusalem with a splendour and * Chap. xxi. 26, 27. + Isaiah lxiii. 17—19. glory of which nothing that the world has ever yet In the case of Christ, it is no objection, as it would be to a mere created being, that he has passed through the territories of the grave. Death had no power over him; for, after being under its dominion a part of three days only, he rose, leading captivity captive, and his flesh saw no corruption. He carried with him our nature, united to his own Divine nature, into Heaven; where he now appears, clothed in that body in the presence of God, for us. This argument, as if the Psalmist had foreseen the * Psalms cxxxii. 13-18. + Idem. lxxii. 7, 8, 10, 11. |