Psalm 132:11–12: “The LORD has sworn in truth to David; / He will not turn from it: / ‘I will set upon your throne the fruit of your body. / If your sons will keep My covenant / And My testimony which I shall teach them, / Their sons also shall sit upon your throne forevermore.'”

May 17th, 2024 by Pastor Ed in devotional

David made an oath to God that he would not rest until he had built a dwelling place for the Ark of the Covenant. God responded to David’s oath by promising that if David’s sons followed God, then they would sit on David’s throne forever. Although God’s covenant with David has an eternal, unconditional promise, we see here that within it there was also a conditional element. The occupation of David’s earthly throne by a mortal could be interrupted by sin, but that would not invalidate God’s promise that David’s son would reign as king forever. How could both possibly be true since we do not see a descendant of David currently sitting on a throne in Israel? Jesus Christ’s human lineage is traced for us, in the Gospel of Luke, back to the house of David through Mary. But Jesus is of course also God the Son; therefore, He will remain on the throne for eternity.

King David could not see down through the corridors of time, as we can, to grasp this great truth, but he nevertheless believed it and wrote this song about it 1000 years before it happened. David’s faith in God challenges us to trust Him 3000 years later. Pastor J. Wilbur Chapman wrote of a man who stood and gave the following testimony many years ago in Philadelphia:

I got off at the Pennsylvania depot as a tramp, and for a year I begged on the streets for a living. One day I touched a man on the shoulder and said, “Mister, please give me a dime.” As soon as I saw his face I recognized my father. “Father, don’t you know me?” I asked. Throwing his arms around me, he cried, “I have found you, all I have is yours!” . . . I, a tramp, stood begging my father for ten cents, when for eighteen years he had been looking for me to give me all he was worth!

Likewise, the heavenly Father waits for any person to humble themselves, repent, and receive the gift of eternal life through David’s Son, who is ruling and reigning in human hearts today.

“LORD, reign in our hearts this day, in Jesus name.”