(Bible Reading)
Peter Explains How David Understood His Prophecy.
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In my previous post, I posed several questions about the apparent of failure of God's promise in King David's reign and that of his successors. The sworn promise of an everlasting kingdom stretching from the Mediterranean Sea to the Euphrates River is yet to materialise until today.
Where is David's kingdom today? And who is his chosen seed?
The answer is found in the testimony of Peter on the Day of Pentecost as he addressed a large crowd of Jews from various regions around the Mediterranean.
Read Acts 2: 29 - 36 (NASB and LXX Brenton will be used in this article).
Let us look closely at Peter's testimony.
In verse 29, Peter addressed the Jews, his fellow countrymen, as "brothers", saying that he wanted to speak to them plainly about their ancestor King David. Peter began by drawing attention to the significance of the following facts about the renowned King David:
King David had died.
King David was buried.
And his grave was with them to that very day.
Peter than pointed out that David was not only a king. He was also a prophet! (verse 30). As such, David knew exactly what God had promised him - alluding to the prophecies recorded in 2 Samuel 7: 12-13 and Psalm 132:11.
Psalm 132:11, 12 NASB
The Lord has sworn to David
A truth from which He will not turn back:
“Of the fruit of your body I will set upon your throne.
“If your sons will keep My covenant
And My testimony which I will teach them,
Their sons also shall sit upon your throne forever.”
Psalm 132:11 LXX
11 The Lord sware in truth to David, and he will not annul it, saying, Of the fruit of thy body will I set a king upon thy throne.
12 If thy children will keep my covenant, and these my testimonies which I shall teach them, their children also shall sit upon thy throne for ever.
2 Samuel 7:12-13 NASB
When your days are complete and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your descendant after you, who will come forth from you, and I will establish his kingdom.
He shall build a house for My name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.
2 Samuel 7:12-13 LXX
And it shall come to pass when thy days shall have been fulfilled, and thou shalt sleep with thy fathers, that I will raise up thy seed after thee, even thine own issue, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build for me a house to my name, and I will set up his throne even for ever.
A survey of the first passage shows us that:
God has made a solemn promise, He has sworn, and He will not turn back from it.
God swore that He will make on of David's sons as King. (Psalm 132:11).
David's dynasty will continue forever if his successors remain faithful to God's covenant. (Psalm 132:12)
Similarly, in 2 Samuel 7: 12-16, God promised to make sure that David's dynasty will continue forever.
2 Samuel 7:16 NASB
Your house and your kingdom shall endure before Me forever;
your throne shall be established forever.
2 Samuel 7:16 LXX
And his house shall be made sure, and his kingdom for ever before me,
and his throne shall be set up for ever.
Coming back to the passage in Acts chapter 2, Peter explains in verse 30b that David, being a prophet, understood this sworn promise as something that God was going to do in the distant future rather than something that would happen immediately after his own reign. See verse 31a.
It is because of David's prophetic understanding of this Messianic promise in 2 Samuel 7, later recorded in Psalm 132, he spoke about the resurrection of the Messiah in Psalm 16.
Psalm 16:10 LXX
because thou wilt not leave my soul in hell,
neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.
(Quoted by Peter in Acts 2: 27 and 31)
In other words, David's prophetic, messianic understanding of God's solemn promise of a son who would reign after him and whose kingdom would last forever is expressed in his prophetic statement in Psalm 16:10 that this successor is the everlasting Messiah whose body would not be left to rot in the grave.
Now, Peter points out, neither King David nor any of his descendants lived forever. Remember Acts 2: 29b which was stated earlier, that David's corrupted body remained in the grave until that very day. Clearly, the prophecy of the everlasting Messiah was not fulfilled in David's life.
Instead, this prophecy was fulfilled by the Jesus (Yeshua). Peter testifies in verses 32-33 that God had raised Jesus from death and this was witnessed by the apostles themselves.
Not only that, Peter also added one more point: after God had raised Jesus from the dead, Jesus had ascended to the right hand of God. (verse 33). Yes, the Messiah sits at the right hand of YHWH today.
In verses 34-35, referring to one more messianic promise from Psalm 110, Peter stressed the fact that it was not King David who ascended to God's right hand in heaven. Instead, David wrote of another, one whom David himself called Adoni (my Master).
Psalm 110:1 NASB
The LORD says to my Lord:
“Sit at My right hand
Until I make Your enemies a footstool for Your feet.”
Psalm 110:1 LXX
The LORD said to my Lord,
Sit thou on my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool.
Who is David's master (Lord)? Which descendant of David sits at the right hand of God Almighty today?
Peter gives the answer emphatically in Acts 2: 36 (NASB):
"Therefore let all the house of Israel know for certain that God has made Him both Lord and Christ—this Jesus whom you crucified."
