ENTHRONEMENT and RESURRECTION

" . . . He would raise up Christ to sit on his throne. He seeing this before spake of the resurrection of Christ" (Acts 2:29-31)

DO NOT MISS THE POINT IN REFERENCE. It is God raising up a promised Seed to sit upon David's throne. David received this commitment from the Lord, and believed it! "And it shall come to pass . . . I will raise up thy seed after . . . and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build me an house, and I will stablish his throne for ever" (1 Chron 17:11-12). "The LORD hath sworn [in] truth unto David; He will not turn from it; Of the fruit of thy body will I set upon thy throne" (Psa 132:11).

PETER, UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT, who "searches all things, yea the deep things of God" (1 Cor 2:10), relates this prophecy to the resurrection of Christ. He does not associate the prophecy with a coming kingdom, a future golden age, or the removal of the church from the earth. Those are all human interpretations. They are all to be abandoned in favor of the exclusive commentary of the Holy Spirit. Neither, indeed, does He point to Solomon and the building of the temple as a fulfillment of the promise. He declared One that was "greater than Solomon." Thus, Jesus is called "the Seed of David"(John 7:42; Rom 1:3; 2 Tim 2:8).

ISAIAH ALSO PROPHESIED of the coming Seed that would be exalted to David's throne. He related it to the birth of a Child, not the coming of a glorified Christ. "For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given: and the government shall be upon His shoulder . . . Of the increase of His government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this" (Isa 9:7).

ISAIAH'S PROPHECY IS ASSOCIATED with Christ's incarnation, not when He appears "the second time," as some suppose. Scripture presents the enfleshment of Jesus as commencing with Him volunteering to "come" to do God's redemptive will (Heb 10:5-10). His exaltation to heaven effectualizes our salvation: i.e., we are being saved "by His life" (Rom 5:9-10). Peter relates this exaltation with the Davidic promise. Elsewhere, the Spirit relates it to the current intercession of Christ in heaven. "Wherefore He is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by Him, seeing He ever liveth to make intercession for them" (Heb 7:25).

THE THRONE TO WHICH JESUS WAS EXALTED is not upon earth. Thrones here cannot be forever, and God promised an eternal throne The Word of God is clear on this subject: Jesus is currently glorified, or exalted, and that exaltation is related to the promised Seed for David's throne! "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 . . . spake of the resurrection of Christ" (Acts 2:30-31). The promise given to David by the Holy Spirit was claimed by Jesus when He sat down on the right hand of God. "Therefore being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit . . . " (Acts 2:33).

PETER BOLDLY ANNOUNCES THAT JESUS is the fulfillment of the promised King and Seed of David. He, and He alone, is the exalted Ruler, and One appointed to execute the salvational purpose of God. "Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ" (Acts 2:36). How much clearer can it be said?

– Given O. Blakely