SON OF DAVID

It is interesting to note that the New Testament does not start with a miracle, a proverb, a poem, a psalm or a story but with a genealogy. A genealogy is what every person has. The New Testament gospel is not a fable of folklore nor a legend of culture or proverbial wisdom but is about a real person.

The person of the New Testament, Jesus the Christ, has the required legal history to establish His credentials. God, in the Old Testament Scriptures, promised that the Saviour and King for Israel would be of the Semitic line of Abraham, through the Jewish line of Jacob (or Israel), and of the royal line of king David, Gen. 12. 3; 28.14; Isa. 9. 6, 7. The first chapter of the New Testament gives the Lord’s legality before it ever discusses His teachings, miracles, or death. Without an objective legal claim from God’s Holy Word all else becomes subjective. Thus, the Lord Jesus Christ is indeed Israel’s eternal king, as the angel Gabriel told Mary, ‘the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David: And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever’, Luke 1. 32-33.

In Matthew 15. 21-28, it is a Gentile woman who called Jesus the ‘Son of David’, acknowledging His rightful kingship and authority. In Matthew 14 it was a mother and daughter who influenced king Herod to change his mind and do evil. In chapter 15 we read of a mother and daughter who influenced the King’s mind to do good. This Gentile woman, in need of a healing miracle for her daughter, was reminded by the Son of David that His ministry was to the children of Israel and not to the dogs, or unclean Gentiles. Yet this woman humbled herself and acknowledged her undeserving position as a dog, claming that even dogs get the scraps the children don’t want. The Son of David acknowledged her great faith and by His authority made her daughter whole.

Those who have humbled themselves and placed faith in the Son of David, as Saviour and coming king, are promised by the Lord that they will reign with Him. As He says in the last chapter of the Bible, ‘I am the root and the offspring of David’, Rev. 22. 16.