41-CHAPTER XXXXV CHRIST’S PRESENT SPIRITUAL KINGDOM AND OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECIES OF A DAVIDIC KIN...

CHAPTER XXXXV CHRIST’S PRESENT SPIRITUAL KINGDOM AND OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECIES OF A DAVIDIC KINGDOM

"The kingship of Christ on the ‘throne of David’ will not begin first at His appearing in glory but began already at His ascension, and thus not first at the end of the present age of the gospel but at its commencement. This applies also to the building again of ‘the tabernacle of David which is fallen’ (Acts 15:16) and Christ’s royal rule over the nations as the ‘shoot out of the root of Jesse’" (Romans 15:12; Isaiah 11:10).

We do not underestimate the importance of this objection "Thou shalt call his name Jesus. He shall be great and shall be called the Son of the Most High: 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" (Luke 1:32-33).

"After these things I will return,

"And I will build again the tabernacle of David, which is fallen; . . . that the residue of man may seek after the Lord, "And all the Gentiles upon whom my name is called, saith the Lord" (Amos 9:12; Acts 15:16-18).

"There shall be the root of Jesse, " And he that ariseth to rule over the Gentiles " (Romans 15:12; Isaiah 11:10).

Two opposing explanations of these New Testament passages are current.

According to the one the rule (kingship) of Messiah will begin only at the setting up of His kingdom in glory at His return in the End time.

According to the other the Davidic kingship of Messiah began at the ascension and exaltation of the Divine Son of David to the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens. The two explanations agree that the expressions "throne of David" and "tabernacle of David" are not to be taken literally but figuratively. They agree further that the Davidic kingship will experience an extension in area and glory through the Davidic, Messianic God-King. The principal difference is threefold;

First, as to the degree of this extension, that is, as to its circumference, as regards what persons and lands are included, to what extent Israel, to what extent the other nations.

Then as to the form of this rule, whether it will be only inward and spiritual, or, in addition, visible and external, indeed, even historical and political. And third, as to the dating of this Davidic kingship of the Son of David, whether its commencement is to be placed at the ascension and Pentecost or only at the future parousia and epiphany.

Within the scope of our present task, that is, in answering the question as to the Biblical warrant for expecting a visible kingdom of God on this earth, the most decisive factor is that it is easy to show that both explanations can well agree in expecting such a Millennium, in the sense that the one teaches it directly and the other by no means necessarily contradicts it but can fit harmoniously into it. Here again however both sides must guard against extremes and from drawing inferences which the Bible itself does not draw. Our only task here is to show this as regards both explanations. To take an exact and positive attitude to the numerous separate questions involved is here not required, indeed would go beyond the scope of our work. Our present object is not detail exegesis but answering the question as to the Biblical warrant for the original Christian hope of a visible earthly kingdom of God, and replying to certain objections raised by believing expositors of Scripture.

It is perfectly clear that the expression "throne of David" as it regards the rule of the Messiah is not meant literally. No one asserts—not even the most extreme defender of belief in a Millennial kingdom—that it will be the same actual throne upon which David sat a thousand years before Christ. So that in any case the term "throne of David" is to be taken figuratively of the royal rule of Messiah as a descendant of David and as heir to his kingdom. At the gathering in Jerusalem, James cited the prophecy of Amos:" In that day will I raise up the tabernacle of David that is fallen, and close up the breaches thereof, and I will raise up its ruins, and I will build it as in the days of old" (Acts 15:13-16; Amos 9:11). What is meant by this "tabernacle of David?"

Doubtless not a literal structure which David in his day may have owned or occupied, but this term also is to be understood figuratively. It is certainly not to be taken as meaning simply the earthly national political "State" over which David ruled, but it points to his "house," his "royal house," his "royal dynasty," as we speak of the "house" of Windsor, or of Haps- burg, or of Hohenzollern. Thus God had made known to David through the prophet Nathan that "Jehovah will build thee a house," which in the immediate context is explained as "royal house," meaning "royal dynasty":"And it shall come to pass ... I will set up thy seed after thee . . . and I will establish his kingdom . . . and I will establish his throne forever" (1 Chronicles 17:10-14).

After the collapse of the Jewish State (586 B.C.) this royal house of David, formerly so mighty, had become a ruined hut.¹ David’s family itself had sunk into poor and socially humble circumstances, so that when Christ appeared He was reared as a member of an artisan family descended from David. But now the prophecy announces that God will build again this royal house. He will revive the former brilliance of David’s royal dynasty. This will come to pass through the coming Son of David, Christ the Messiah king; and the kingdom which this Son of David will receive will be far wider and more glorious than ever was that of His ancestor David. As to this last point also there is full agreement among Bible teachers. To this everyone will agree who refers the spiritual kingship of Christ to this age of the church. For it is a fact that, in addition to the believing from Israel, there are now the thousands of thousands, indeed ten thousands of ten thousands of all people and tongues who, through the Holy Spirit, call Christ their royal Lord (1 Corinthians 12:3), so that the scope of this spiritual kingdom of the Messiah is far wider and includes far more of our race than the limited kingdom of the original David.

Moreover, all who connect the kingdom promises given to David solely with the future, the Millennium, will affirm this mighty extension of the kingdom of David’s Son beyond that of His ancestor. For it is precisely in the literal Millennium that the rule of Messiah on the throne of David will likewise embrace a wider area than the former kingdom of David, because when He then sits on the throne of David He will be the Arbiter between the nations and Divine King of all mankind (Isaiah 2:4; Zephaniah 3:9; Zechariah 14:9). Moreover, because the church will have been raised bodily from the dead before the beginning of the thousand years (1 Thessalonians 4:14-17), the first resurrection having taken place immediately before the Millennial kingdom (Revelation 20:4-6), therefore the rule of Messiah will include not only the general unglorified inhabitants of the earth but also men risen from the dead. As Himself raised bodily from the dead and glorified in heaven He will rule at the same time over the raised and glorified.

Thus in any case the royal rule of Messiah on "David’s throne" will extend beyond that of the original David and his original kingdom. "Christ on David’s throne" embraces much more than "David on David’s throne" embraced. With the exaltation of the Heir to David’s throne there is connected a glorifying of David’s throne. In all other instances the antitype is greater than its type. Every fulfillment surpasses its promise. The "body" always exceeds its "shadow" (Colossians 2:17); the New Testament reality excels its prior Old Testament representation. In infinite degree this is the case with Christ. As the "Lord" of his ancestor He surpasses him in incomparable degree as to both His person and sovereignty (Matthew 22:42-45). In what period and in what manner will the Messiah build again the "fallen tabernacle" of David, that is, restore the former glory of David’s house and his kingly rule? As proof that the conversion of the nations was in harmony with the word of God, James, at that meeting in Jerusalem, referred to the word quoted from the prophet Amos. Through his account of the events in the house of Cornelius Peter had given the proof from experience, and James then added the proof from Scripture:"To this [that is, the conversion of the Gentiles] agree the words of the prophets; as it is written, After these things I will return, and I will build again the tabernacle of David, which is fallen . . . that the residue of men may seek after the Lord, and all the Gentiles, upon whom My name is called, saith the Lord" (Acts 15:15-18). By this argument James shows that the conversion of the Gentiles fitsin to the general scheme of historical events as an­nounced by the prophets. The prophesying of Scripture, including its Davidic kingdom prophecies, leftroom for the period of the preaching of the good news among the nations. In the meaning of the prophet himself the expression "rebuild [the royal rule of] the house of David" was doubtless connected with the restoration of Israel as a people and its kingdom after the time of judgment. This will take place "after this," that is, after the destruction of the sinful kingdom of Israel from off the face of the earth, with the sifting of the house of Israel among the nations, and the death by the sword of all the sinners among them who say, "The evil shall not overtake nor prevent [come upon] us," of which events the prophet had immediatelybefore spoken (Amos 9:8-10). In this context the announcement of the prophet that "in that day," "after this," the fallen tabernacle of David will be rebuilt is without question to be understood of Israel in the End time. It is further beyond dispute that the application by James of this word of the prophecy would in no degree change or deny this original and plain meaning. From this point of view, and in conjunction with the period of New Testament evangelizing, there are five successive stages of events:

In this sense this whole passage becomes a testimony for the setting up in the End time of a visible kingdom of God em­bracing Israel and all mankind. But according to the explanation of many other Bible teachers, James goes beyond this to a direct application of this passage in Amos concerning the rebuilding of the tabernacle of David to the present age of the gospel, and in the events in the house of Cornelius he sees a certain measure of fulfillment of this Old Testament passage. After Peter had given his account of the first conversion of persons entirely Gentile James says:"Simeon hath rehearsed how first God did visit the Gentiles, to take out of them a people for His name. And to this agree the words of the prophets":that is, the words of the prophets agree with this visitation of the nations of which Peter has now spoken, and so with the taking out a people for His name from among the peoples in this present dispensation. The words of the prophets in view were especially those from Amos 9:8-10 :"After these things I will return, and I will build again the tabernacle of David . . . that the residue of men may seek the Lord." Jesus the Son of Mary, the humble maiden out of the impoverished race (tabernacle) of David, is at the same time the Savior of the world. " Salvation comes from the Jews " (John 4:22). Christ, the Messiah of Israel, Who comes from the royal house of David, is the Redeemer upon Whom the believing Gentiles trust. In this connection James says not that the Old Testament prophets only silently "leave room" for a period for the conversion of the Gentiles, to precede the rebuilding’ of the tabernacle of David, of which period they themselves, however, say nothing, but that they "agree" therewith, and therefore of it they speak. Were it otherwise the words of the prophets, of which James cites Amos as a chief example, would indeed have had no reference at all to the present events directly in question, for which however James wished just then to give proof from Scripture. Thus he combines the restoration of the kingdom, coming out of the house of David, with the saving activity of the Lord Jesus Christ as the Redeemer of the world in the present age of the gospel.

Paul similarly applies a prophecy as to the Root of Jesse to the present age of the church and the conversion of the heathen (Romans 15:12). His exhortation that in the present age of the ¹ church Jewish and Gentile Christians should mutually receive one another he bases upon the fact, among other things, that Jesus, the Root of Jesse, has set the Gentile Christians also under His kingly rule:"Receive ye one another, even as Christ also received you ... a minister of the circumcision . . . that the Gentiles might glorify God for His mercy; as it is written . . . There shall be the Root of Jesse, and He that ariseth to rule over the Gentiles; on Him shall the Gentiles hope" (Romans 15:7-9; Romans 15:12; Isaiah 11:10). This form of argument by the apostle was only possible if he applied this kingly rule of Jesus, as the Root of Jesse, the ancestor of David, already to the present age of the church. In Antioch the same apostle declared "that God raised Him [Christ] up from the dead ... He hath thus [in this manner] spoken, ‘I will give you the holy and sure blessings of David’", that is, the inviolable mercies promised to David (Acts 13:34; Isaiah 55:3). Here also he unites the fundamental fulfillment of this prophecy concerning the "sure mercies of David" not at all first with the return of the Lord in glory at the beginning of His second appearing but with His resurrection at the close of His first coming. He had done the same immediately before in the same address at Antioch with a word from David’s psalm (Acts 4:25):"We bring you good tidings of the promise made unto the fathers, how that God hath fulfilled the same unto our children, in that He raised up Jesus; as also it is written in the second psalm, Thou art My Son, this day have I begotten Thee" (Acts 13:32-33; Psalms 2:7). But in reality, as regards the question of the Millennium, these two explanations of the words of James are not at all irreconcilable. No one disputes that an application of Old Testament, including the Davidic, prophecies to the present age is justifiable, that indeed the dispensation of the gospel brings in a certain sense a fulfillment of not a few prophecies of the old covenant. For the present period of salvation is at once an introduction to and a preliminary spiritual exhibition of the coming Perfecting, and the conversion of individual Gentiles in this present period is at the same time a prophecy of the yet greater conversion of Gentiles in the Millennium, so that in a certain sense they belong together. And is it not clearly to be recognized in other places also in the Prophets that they have not merely a single but a double, and at times indeed a threefold fulfillment? Are there not other prophetic sayings also, which in the meaning of the prophet doubtless refer to the Messianic kingdom of glory, similarly applied in the New Testament to the period of the church, without thereby opposing their literal application to the End time? Therefore if James perhaps regards the conversion of Gentiles in the age of the church as a pre-fulfillment of the prophecy of Amos, there is strictly no more a denial of their future complete fulfillment in the End time, as meant by the prophet himself, than in these other similar applications in the New Testament of other words of Old Testament prophecy. We refer the reader to our former discussion of the spiritualizing method of the New Testament; pp. 165 f.

If Christ, as the One come out of the seed of David and, as Paul further testifies, as the Root of Jesse (Romans 1:3; 2 Timothy 2:8), already throughtheHolySpirit rules over the individual believers from Israel and the nations (Romans 15:12), because these are even today translated out of the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom [basileia, comp, basileus king] of the Son of God’s love (Colossians 1:13), how is it thereby denied that a time will come when He will establish His sovereignty on the "throne of David" over all Israel and over all nations, not only spiritually but visibly, and thereby the promise to rebuild the tabernacle of David also be fulfilled visibly?

How shall here the one exclude the other? Has the throne of David not been on earth, but in heaven? How shall a prior spiritual fulfillment serve to prove that a final complete fulfillment is no more to be expected? Is it not wholly incontestable that, even if these promises can have a prior spiritual fulfillment in the period of the New Testament church, the Old Testament prophets themselves, on the ground of the inspired wording of their prophecies, expected a literal fulfillment in a renewed Israel and in saved nations in a visible kingdom of God, and that therefore they cannot be disappointed by God?

No, here the second belongs to the first, and is indeed the conclusion and perfection of the first. The kingly rule of the highly exalted Son of David shall embrace not only the realm of the spiritual and moral, but shall also permeate the outward and visible. This universality belongs to a true complete exercise of His Davidic kingly rule. The earthly and visible is also God’s creative work. And in general it belongs to the completeness and full vigour of everything inward which is really strong and true, that it never remains restricted to the spiritual and invisible, but advances from this, so to speak, as from "above," till it fills and transfigures the outward and lower also.

Quite irrespective, therefore, of whether James applied the fulfillment of the promise as to the conversion of the residue of mankind, connected with the rebuilding of the tabernacle (house, royal dynasty, kingly rule) of David, simply to the End time or to the present age of the gospel also, proof is given above that in no case is there a denial of a coming visible kingdom of God. But with this breaks down the objection to the Millennium which is raised from this aspect. And for our present discussion this is again the essential matter.

Butinadditiontoallthisitmustbeexpresslydeclaredthat these figurative forms of speech, such as "tabernacle of David" are in no wise the decisive ground for expecting a Millennial kingdom. Fundamentaltothisare:

1. The definite statements of the prophets concerning a future national reuniting of the two-tribed and ten-tribed kingdoms in the time of Messiah. (Ezekiel 37:15-24; Hosea 1:11; Jeremiah 3:18; Zechariah 10:6).

2. The definite testimony of the prophets that in the time of Messiah Israel will again dwell in the land of their fathers (Jeremiah 16:15), in theirown land (Ezekiel 28:25), in this land (Jeremiah 32:41), in the land of Gilead and on the Lebanon (Zechariah 10:10).

3. The equally clear announcement that this will be effected only by its being associated with the glorious appearing of Messiah (Zechariah 14:4; Daniel 7:13-14; Matthew 26:24; Matthew 24:30; Revelation 1:7) and with the inward renewing of Israel (Hosea 3:5; Isaiah 4:4; Isaiah 11:9; Ezekiel 36:26; Zechariah 13:1).

4. The announcement, equally beyond misunderstanding, that in connection with this inward and outward renewing of Israel there will be a conversion and renewal of the other nations. (Isaiah 2:3-4; Isaiah 19:23-25; Zephaniah 3:9; Zechariah 14:9; Mai. 1:11).

5. The God-given inspired interpretation of the dream visions in the book of Daniel. Speaking of the "kingdom of the Son of man," which follows the four Wild Beast empires of man’s previous history, it says (Daniel 7:27):"Then will the kingdom and the authority and the dominion over the kingdoms underthewholeheaven be given to the people of the saints of the Most High." Also the dream vision of Nebuchadnezzar declares that the stone which shatters the feet of the imperial image finally becomes a great mountain which "fills the whole earth" so that the kingdom of God occupies the whole area which the kingdoms of the world together had formerly occupied (Daniel 2:35; Daniel 2:38-39) To this is to be added from the New Testament:

6. The unmistakable answer of the Lord Jesus to His disciples when they asked, "Lord, dost thou at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?" (Acts 1:6). He did not reprove them for earthly or even fleshly conceptions, nor deny the coming of a visible kingdom of God such as they had in mind, but said only, "It is not for you to know the times and seasons, which the Father has set in his own authority." Thus He did not reject their expectation of a visible earthly kingdom but only their curiosity and impatience in this expectation. By this His pro­phetic term "times or seasons" the Lord Himself testified that in due time the kingdom of Israel will in fact be established.

Because we are here giving a summary we give one final further reference:

7. The testimony of the Revelation of John. It is wholly incontestable that here there is mention of a Millennial kingdom which is placed after the return of Christ in glory and before the destruction of the universe (Revelation 19:11-21; Revelation 20:4-6; Revelation 20:9-11), which therefore—this is the unmistakable meaning of the sacred writer himself—will be set up in the End time as an intermediate kingdom, between the parousia and world transfiguration, and on the theatre of this old earth. The conclusion and perfecting of this royal and wondrous work will then be the descent of the heavenly Jerusalem to the new earth. This is the eternal home of the Perfected, out of Israel as well as the church. It is the transfiguring of the Israelitic Old Testament Holy of Holies (comp, the cube), the prototype and the perfecting of ancient Israel. Therefore the names of the twelve tribes of Israel stand on its gates (Revelation 21:12). For "salvation is from the Jews" (John 4:22), and therefore He who testifies concerning all these things, including the con­summation, is called "the root and the offspring of David, the bright, the morning star" (Revelation 22:16). But this all comes to pass not for the honor of Israel but for God and His glory. "Thus saith the Lord Jehovah:‘I do not this for your sake, O house of Israel, but for mine holy name’" (Ezekiel 36:22). The spring of salvation is heavenly, yet the ocean into which its stream merges is worldwide, embracing all mankind. In this Israel is both the receiver and the channel of blessing. Therefore all praise belongs to God alone.

Notes

¹The word here used for "tabernacle" has nothing to do with the tabernacle of Moses. The same word is found in Isaiah 1:8 in the sense of a simple hut in a vineyard.