THRONE OF DAVID

God promised 'the sceptre shall not depart from Judah.' David, as the grandfather of Rehoboam, the first king in a long line of rulers over the southern kingdom, was given an unconditional promise from God
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2Sa 23:4 And he shall be as the light of the morning, when the sun riseth, even a morning without clouds; as the tender grass springing out of the earth by clear shining after rain.
2Sa 23:5 Although my house be not so with God; yet he hath made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things, and sure: for this is all my salvation, and all my desire, although he make it not to grow.
2Sa 7:12 And when thy days be fulfilled, and thou shalt sleep with thy fathers, I will set up thy seed after thee, which shall proceed out of thy bowels, and I will establish his kingdom.
2Sa 7:13 He shall build an house for my name, and I will stablish the throne of his kingdom for ever.
2Sa 7:14 I will be his father, and he shall be my son. If he commit iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men, and with the stripes of the children of men:
2Sa 7:15 But my mercy shall not depart away from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away before thee.
2Sa 7:16 And thine house and thy kingdom shall be established for ever before thee: thy throne shall be established for ever.
2Sa 7:17 According to all these words, and according to all this vision, so did Nathan speak unto David.
1 David's throne was set up and established with Solomon, David's son
2 The throne- David's throne (verse 16)- was established FOREVER in Solomon (verse 13). Observe that this nowhere says that when Christ comes, God will establish it in Him forever. It says it was to be established forever in Solomon
3 verses 14-15 plainly say that is they commit iniquity God will chasten them with the rod of men, but will NOT break this covenant. The throne shall go on forever just the same!
4 since God did firmly establish this throne with David and with Solomon, if David's throne ceased from existence, even for the length of one generation, could we say it had been established forever as God promised?
The history of the Bible records a line of kings, all descendants of David in continuous dynasty, down to King Zedekiah. But in the year 585 BC this last recorded king ever to sit on this throne was captured by the armies of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, his eyes were put out, he was taken to Babylon, and there died in a dungeon!
Also all of his sons were slain...all the nobles of Judah who were not already imprisoned or enslaved at Babylon at that time were killed, so that none could remain to sit on the throne of David! The Chaldeans destroyed Jerusalem,...There is certainly no record of any king of the line of David ruling over Judah from that day to this. However, the line of Jehoiakin to Jesus survived in Babylonish captivity- so Jesus was a descendant of David.
Some will say,that this throne is established today in Christ. But Christ himself has not yet taken over this throne! He pictured himself as the noble man (Luke 19:12) who went to a far country to get for himself a kingdom and , who after receiving the right to the kingdom would return. Jesus will not sit upon the throne of David until his second coming to earth...
But what about the nearly 600 years between king Zedekiah and the birth of Christ? Who was reigning over the Israelites and sitting on David's throne during those generations? If no one, then we must conclude God broke his Word, or the scripture has been broken!
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2Ch 13:4 And Abijah stood up upon mount Zemaraim, which is in mount Ephraim, and said, Hear me, thou Jeroboam, and all Israel;
2Ch 13:5 Ought ye not to know that the LORD God of Israel gave the kingdom over Israel to David for ever, even to him and to his sons by a covenant of salt?
this scripture ends all speculation as the when this throne was established...perpetual covenant=covenant of salt(margin)
This shows the establishing of the throne was then in the past! God did give, this kingdom to David and his sons---not his Son... Christ, but his sons, plural-continuously forever.
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Psa 89:3 I have made a covenant with my chosen, I have sworn unto David my servant,
Psa 89:4 Thy seed will I establish for ever, and build up thy throne to all generations. Selah.
note: this throne , established forever, was built up to all generations..God did establish that throne, beginning with David and Solomon. We have a record of it for a number of generations- as far as King Zedikiah
It was established to all generations, continuously, perpetually, FOREVER!
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Psa 89:28 My mercy will I keep for him for evermore, and my covenant shall stand fast with him.
Psa 89:29 His seed also will I make to endure for ever, and his throne as the days of heaven.
seed= Moffatt translates- "dynasty"
RSV translates-"his [David's] line
Psa 89:30 If his children forsake my law, and walk not in my judgments;
Psa 89:31 If they break my statutes, and keep not my commandments;
Psa 89:32 Then will I visit their transgression with the rod, and their iniquity with stripes.
Psa 89:33 Nevertheless my lovingkindness will I not utterly take from him, nor suffer my faithfulness to fail.
Psa 89:34 My covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips.
Psa 89:35 Once have I sworn by my holiness that I will not lie unto David.
Psa 89:36 His seed shall endure for ever, and his throne as the sun before me.
Psa 89:37 It shall be established for ever as the moon, and as a faithful witness in heaven. Selah.
This shows that the covenant is unconditional...its says that if the children of Israel transgress they will be punished for their transgression- but not be the breaking of God's unconditional covenant with David!
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Some think Christ took over the throne. But He didn't. Instead He was crucified, resurrected, and ascended to heaven. He shall come, to sit upon that throne as the King of kings and Lord of lords...But how could Christ, when He returns to earth, take over and sit upon a throne that long ago ceased to exist?
Luk 1:31 And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS.
Luk 1:32 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:
The glorified King of kings is coming to sit on an existing throne

Note..It does not say David shall not, finally, after 2,500 years without a man on the throne, want for one. It says David shall NEVER -at any time_ through all generations- want for a descendant to remain sitting on this throne!
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The throne was, at the time God revealed this prophecy to Jeremiah, being rooted out of Judah. During these 2,500 years between then and Christ's coming, it was to be the throne of the house of Israel!
Jer 33:20 Thus saith the LORD; If ye can break my covenant of the day, and my covenant of the night, and that there should not be day and night in their season;
Jer 33:21 Then may also my covenant be broken with David my servant, that he should not have a son to reign upon his throne; and with the Levites the priests, my ministers.
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Jer 33:24 Considerest thou not what this people have spoken, saying, The two families which the LORD hath chosen, he hath even cast them off? thus they have despised my people, that they should be no more a nation before them.
This is what people say...as they were prophesied to say...
They say the Jews were scattered among many if not all nations. And the Ten Tribes were supposed to have been "lost", or to have gone out of existence, or to be just part of the Jews!
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God says different...
Jer 33:25 Thus saith the LORD; If my covenant be not with day and night, and if I have not appointed the ordinances of heaven and earth;
Jer 33:26 Then will I cast away the seed of Jacob, and David my servant, so that I will not take any of his seed to be rulers over the seed of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob: for I will cause their captivity to return, and have mercy on them.
Unless you can stop the earth from turing on its axis and remove the sun, moon, and stars...the Almighty says you cannot prevent Him from keeping His covenant to maintain continuously, through all generations, FOREVER, from the time of David and Solomon, a descendant of David in one continuous dynasty on that throne!
Notice: it says rulers...speaking of multiple rulers over the Israelites...not one Ruler coming to sit on a throne that 2,500 years before had ceased to exist!
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The sceptre promise. which includes this line of kings until it culminates in Christ at His second coming....
Gen 49:10 The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be.
Has the sceptre departed from Judah? Has the throne ceased? Or does it as God promised, exist today so that Christ can take over and sit upon a functioning, continuous throne when He comes?
[The infallibility of the Bible is at stake! God's Word is at stake!]
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Luk 1:32 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:
Luk 1:33 And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end
This scripture tells you that the throne of David will still remain as a viable throne- meaning a position of rulership over a nation-right up until the second coming of Christ!
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The house of Israel is not Jewish...
After David's death, his son Solomon succeeded him to the throne over Israel. Solomon taxed the people excessively...He also married Gentile wives from outside nations. Because of them, he burned incense and sacrificed to Moloch and other idols. As a result of this.....
1Ki 11:11 Wherefore the LORD said unto Solomon, Forasmuch as this is done of thee, and thou hast not kept my covenant and my statutes, which I have commanded thee, I will surely rend the kingdom from thee, and will give it to thy servant.
1Ki 11:12 Notwithstanding in thy days I will not do it for David thy father's sake: but I will rend it out of the hand of thy son.
1Ki 11:13 Howbeit I will not rend away all the kingdom; but will give one tribe to thy son for David my servant's sake, and for Jerusalem's sake which I have chosen.
Note: It is the "Kingdom", not part of it, which is to be rent away. It is the part, which is to reaming. Tho Solomon himself deserved to have it rent away, God will leave one tribe, not because of leniency toward Solomon, but "for David's sake"!
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In I Kings 11:26 you read of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat. and Ephrathite, or Ephraimite...He was made ruler over the "house of Joseph"- or Ephraim and Manasseh.
Speaking to Jeroboam through Ahijah the prophet, the Eternal says...
1Ki 11:31 And he said to Jeroboam, Take thee ten pieces: for thus saith the LORD, the God of Israel, Behold, I will rend the kingdom out of the hand of Solomon, and will give ten tribes to thee:
1Ki 11:32 (But he shall have one tribe for my servant David's sake, and for Jerusalem's sake, the city which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel:)
1Ki 11:33 Because that they have forsaken me, and have worshipped Ashtoreth the goddess of the Zidonians, Chemosh the god of the Moabites, and Milcom the god of the children of Ammon, and have not walked in my ways, to do that which is right in mine eyes, and to keep my statutes and my judgments, as did David his father.
1Ki 11:34 Howbeit I will not take the whole kingdom out of his hand: but I will make him prince all the days of his life for David my servant's sake, whom I chose, because he kept my commandments and my statutes:
1Ki 11:35 But I will take the kingdom out of his son's hand, and will give it unto thee, even ten tribes.
1Ki 11:36 And unto his son will I give one tribe, that David my servant may have a light alway before me in Jerusalem, the city which I have chosen me to put my name there.
1Ki 11:37 And I will take thee, and thou shalt reign according to all that thy soul desireth, and shalt be king over Israel.
These words make plain two facts: The nation Israel is to be taken away from Solomon's son and given to Jeroboam. It is not just a tribe, or a few tribes, but the nation called by the title Israel which this Jeroboam, of the tribe of Ephraim, is to rule.
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God had promised that 'the sceptre shall not depart from Judah." He did not break that promise. The ten tribes, rent away are called by the title "Israel", and that the one tribe remaining under Rehoboam, Solomon's son, is merely called "Judah" or the "House of Judah". They go by their tribal name, while the ten-tribe kingdom continues to carry the national name "Israel".
The kingdom split...and immediately on becoming king over the house of Israel, Jeroboam (tribe of Ephraim) set up two golden calves, introducing idol worship in the kingdom (I Kings 12: 28-33).
1Ki 12:28 Whereupon the king took counsel, and made two calves of gold, and said unto them, It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem: behold thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.
1Ki 12:29 And he set the one in Bethel, and the other put he in Dan.
1Ki 12:30 And this thing became a sin: for the people went to worship before the one, even unto Dan.
1Ki 12:31 And he made an house of high places, and made priests of the lowest of the people, which were not of the sons of Levi.
1Ki 12:32 And Jeroboam ordained a feast in the eighth month, on the fifteenth day of the month, like unto the feast that is in Judah, and he offered upon the altar. So did he in Bethel, sacrificing unto the calves that he had made: and he placed in Bethel the priests of the high places which he had made.
1Ki 12:33 So he offered upon the altar which he had made in Bethel the fifteenth day of the eighth month, even in the month which he had devised of his own heart; and ordained a feast unto the children of Israel: and he offered upon the altar, and burnt incense.
This idolatry with sabbath -breaking...
Eze 20:10 Wherefore I caused them to go forth out of the land of Egypt, and brought them into the wilderness.
Eze 20:11 And I gave them my statutes, and shewed them my judgments, which if a man do, he shall even live in them.
Eze 20:12 Moreover also I gave them my sabbaths, to be a sign between me and them, that they might know that I am the LORD that sanctify them.
Eze 20:13 But the house of Israel rebelled against me in the wilderness: they walked not in my statutes, and they despised my judgments, which if a man do, he shall even live in them; and my sabbaths they greatly polluted: then I said, I would pour out my fury upon them in the wilderness, to consume them.
Eze 20:14 But I wrought for my name's sake, that it should not be polluted before the heathen, in whose sight I brought them out.
Eze 20:15 Yet also I lifted up my hand unto them in the wilderness, that I would not bring them into the land which I had given them, flowing with milk and honey, which is the glory of all lands;
Eze 20:16 Because they despised my judgments, and walked not in my statutes, but polluted my sabbaths: for their heart went after their idols.
Eze 20:17 Nevertheless mine eye spared them from destroying them, neither did I make an end of them in the wilderness.
Eze 20:18 But I said unto their children in the wilderness, Walk ye not in the statutes of your fathers, neither observe their judgments, nor defile yourselves with their idols:
Eze 20:19 I am the LORD your God; walk in my statutes, and keep my judgments, and do them;
Eze 20:20 And hallow my sabbaths; and they shall be a sign between me and you, that ye may know that I am the LORD your God.
Eze 20:21 Notwithstanding the children rebelled against me: they walked not in my statutes, neither kept my judgments to do them, which if a man do, he shall even live in them; they polluted my sabbaths: then I said, I would pour out my fury upon them, to accomplish my anger against them in the wilderness.
Eze 20:22 Nevertheless I withdrew mine hand, and wrought for my name's sake, that it should not be polluted in the sight of the heathen, in whose sight I brought them forth.
Eze 20:23 I lifted up mine hand unto them also in the wilderness, that I would scatter them among the heathen, and disperse them through the countries;
Eze 20:24 Because they had not executed my judgments, but had despised my statutes, and had polluted my sabbaths, and their eyes were after their fathers' idols.
... was the great national sin which became such a curse to Israel. God pleaded with the house of Israel to turn from this- and to return to keeping God's commandments. But through nine dynasties under 19 kings, Israel continued these national sins- sins so great that God finally caused them to become conquered, a captive nation.
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1Ki 14:15 For the LORD shall smite Israel, as a reed is shaken in the water, and he shall root up Israel out of this good land, which he gave to their fathers, and shall scatter them beyond the river, because they have made their groves, provoking the LORD to anger.
1Ki 14:16 And he shall give Israel up because of the sins of Jeroboam, who did sin, and who made Israel to sin.
This is dealing specifically with the result of Jeroboam's idol worship in Israel-in the northern ten-tribe kingdom which possessed the birthright promises. It is these people who were to be rooted up and scattered beyond the river. Not the Jews.
The people which this passage says shall be rooted up and scattered beyond the river were never called Jews. They were the people headed by Ephraim and Manasseh, possessors of the unconditional promises of becoming a great nation and a company of nations- becoming so numerous they would number into the hundreds of millions.
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The house of Israel did not return to Palestine with the jews in the days of Ezra and Nehemiah, as some erroneously believe.
1 In 721-728 BC Israel began to be 'carried away out of their own land to Assyria'
2Ki 17:23 Until the LORD removed Israel out of his sight, as he had said by all his servants the prophets. So was Israel carried away out of their own land to Assyria unto this day.
They were soon all removed- completely.
2Ki 17:18 Therefore the LORD was very angry with Israel, and removed them out of his sight: there was none left but the tribe of Judah only.
2 More than 130 years later, Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon carried the Jews-Judah- who only remained in Palestine away to Babylon. So none of the house of Israel dwelt in Palestine at the time of this captivity of Judah.
3 Those who returned to Palestine to rebuild the Temple and restore worship 70 years after Judah's captivity were all of the house of Judah- all those whom Nebuchadnezzar had carried away. They returned again
Ezr 2:1 Now these are the children of the province that went up out of the captivity, of those which had been carried away, whom Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon had carried away unto Babylon, and came again unto Jerusalem and Judah, every one unto his city;
Only those of the tribe of Judah, together with remnants of Benjamin and Levi returned at that time
Ezr 1:5 Then rose up the chief of the fathers of Judah and Benjamin, and the priests, and the Levites, with all them whose spirit God had raised, to go up to build the house of the LORD which is in Jerusalem.


Isa 9:7 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