It was the day of Pentecost (Feast of Weeks), and the disciples were publicly revealed to the assembled Jews and proselytes in Jerusalem. After the appearance of the tongues of fire and the miraculous witnessing of the apostles, Peter rose up to speak. In preaching Christ to the people, he reminded them of God’s covenant with David (Acts 2:14-36).
First, David had prophesied in Psalm 16:10-11 that the Messiah would not be left in hell (sheol) to see corruption but would be raised from the dead and ascend to God’s right hand. Then there was the specific promise to King David — God had, in fact, sworn with an oath -”that of the fruit of [David’s] loins, according to the flesh, he would raise up Christ to sit on his throne” (Acts 2:30).
And finally, quoting Psalm 110:1, “The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool.” The promised son of David was the same Christ Jesus, who will fulfill the covenant God made with his servant David.
Peter’s speech was powerful and moving, and it led to the conversion of many of those who heard his words.
Covenants of promise
God has, in His dealings with men, entered into several covenants of significance. The two covenants which are especially important and everlasting are those He made with Abraham and David. The Mosaic covenant was of limited duration; it would be superseded by the “new covenant.” “In that he saith, A new covenant, he hath made the first old. Now that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away” (Heb. 8:13).
The new covenant, which is the gospel of Christ, consists of those promises God made to Abraham and David. “Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made…to thy seed, which is Christ. And this I say, that the covenant, that was confirmed before of God in Christ, the law [of Moses]…cannot disannul, that it should make the promise of none effect” (Gal. 3:16-17).
A covenant (Heb. berith, Gr. diatheke) in scripture is from a root meaning “to bind,” and the term can apply to agreements between men or between God and man. We are concerned with the latter, and we know that when God makes a promise its fulfillment is certain. “[The Lord] hath made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things, and sure” (David in II Sam. 23:5).
The Abrahamic covenant
David rejoiced in the covenant the Lord had made with his forebear Abraham. It was his hope, as it is ours. His people Israel were “the people of the God of Abraham” (Psa. 47:9). When the ark of the covenant was brought up to Jerusalem, David commemorated the occasion with Psalm 105, reminding his people of the Abrahamic covenant.
“0 ye seed of Abraham his servant, ye children of Jacob his chosen. He hath remembered his covenant for ever, the word which he commanded to a thousand generations. Which covenant he made with Abraham, and his oath unto Isaac; and confirmed the same unto Jacob for a law, and to Israel for an everlasting covenant: saying, Unto thee will I give the land of Canaan, the lot of your inheritance: when they were but a few men in number, yea, very few, and strangers in it” (Psa. 105:6,8-12).
The covenant with David
“…I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David” (Isa. 55:3).
David rejoiced in the covenants of promise: the promises to Abraham and the covenant God made with David himself. The seed promised to Abraham would be his own heir as well.
“The God of Israel said, the Rock of Israel spake to me, he that ruleth over men must be just, ruling in the fear of God. 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. 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…” (II Sam. 23:3-5).
David knew that the covenant referred to a descendant of his who would reign in righteousness. He also believed that he would be present to see the ultimate fulfillment of these promises. The many Messianic references in the Psalms compose a full picture of the work of Christ in its various aspects. They also show the mind of David and his understanding of those things the Spirit of God revealed to him.
Psalm 72
The 72nd psalm, according to its superscription, is written “for Solomon.” David hoped that the reign of his son would provide a foretaste of Messiah’s kingdom, as in many respects it did. Neither the kingdom of David nor that of Solomon, however, would fully fit the description of the psalm. The reign of Christ, as both David and Solomon understood, will be the perfect fulfillment of this wonderful picture of the future kingdom of God, ruled over by the greater son of David.
“Give the king thy judgments, O God, and thy righteousness unto the king’ s son. He shall judge thy people with righteousness, and thy poor with judgment. The mountains shall bring peace to the people, and the little hills, by righteousness. He shall judge the poor of the people, he shall save the children of the needy, and shall break in pieces the oppressor. They shall fear thee as long as the sun and moon endure, throughout all generations” (Psa. 72:1-5).
Psalm 89
“I have made a covenant with my chosen, I have sworn unto David my servant, thy seed will I establish for ever, and build up thy throne to all generations” (Psa. 89:3-4).
The 89th psalm beautifully expresses the terms of the covenant the Lord made with David. Like the one with Abraham, these promises are now certain; the men to whom God made these covenants have already shown themselves faithful.
“I have found David my servant; with my holy oil have I anointed him: with whom my hand shall be established: mine arm also shall strengthen him. The enemy shall not exact upon him; nor the son of wickedness afflict him. And I will beat down his foes before his face, and plague them that hate him. But my faithfulness and my mercy shall be with him…and my covenant shall stand fast with him. His seed also will I make to endure for ever, and his throne as the days of heaven” (vs. 20-29).
Paul at Antioch
Early in his first missionary journey, the apostle Paul was called upon to speak in the synagogue at Antioch in Pisidia. He used the occasion to proclaim that the Davidic covenant related to the work of Christ. David, whom God made king over His people, was “a man after mine own heart, which shall fulfill all my will.” Furthermore, Paul declared, “Of this man’s seed hath God according to his promise raised unto Israel a Saviour, Jesus…And we declare unto you glad tidings [the gospel], how that the promise which was made unto the fathers, God hath fulfilled the same unto us their children, in that he hath raised up Jesus again; as it is also written in the second psalm, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee. And as concerning that he raised him up from the dead, now no more to return to corruption, he said on this wise, I will give you the sure mercies of David” (Acts 13:22-34).
The apostle Paul goes to the Psalms (16:10) to show that David had foretold the resurrection of Christ. “Wherefore he saith also in another psalm, Thou shalt not suffer thine Holy One to see corruption” (Acts 13:35).
In the preaching of the apostles, the covenants of promise are vital elements of the saving gospel. One cannot properly understand these covenants apart from their fulfillment in Christ. Neither can the gospel of Christ be understood apart from the covenants of promise.
Christ and the covenant
The angel’s announcement to Mary related her son to the Davidic promise. “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: and he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end” (Luke 1:32,33).
Jesus himself acknowledged this, and he promised his apostles that they would rule with him when he takes his place on the throne of his father David. “Verily I say unto you, that ye which have followed me, in the regeneration when the Son of man shall sit in the throne of his glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel” (Matt 19:28).
The covenant and the kingdom
“There are, as we have seen, two everlasting covenants of promise upon which the kingdom of God is based – the one made with Abraham, and the other with David. The former gives the land of Canaan to their Seed for ever; the latter, the kingdom and throne established upon it, as long as the moon endures…David’s kingdom, however, is also ‘the kingdom of God and of his Anointed,’…” (John Thomas, Elpis Israel, p. 304).
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One