God made clear in the Book of Samuel that David was a man after His own heart. That was because he was a man who, while he undoubtedly sometimes failed, and even committed gross sin, was honest and open with God and with men, and knew how to repent of his sin. This was because, once he became aware of it, he loathed it. He hated displeasing God. That is why God had set him apart to be king over Israel.

In 2 Samuel 7.8-16 we find that God promised him that, whatever happened in the future one, who was descended from him would be recognised as ruler over His people, resulting finally in a glorious reign over an everlasting Kingdom, As He said, ‘I will establish the throne of His kingly rule for ever --- your house and your kingly rule will be made sure for ever before you, your throne will be established for ever’ (2 Samuel 7.13, 16). As a result the belief became rooted in Israel that one day a son of David would arise who would bring about the everlasting kingdom. This belief is found in many of the prophets and in the Psalms.

Thus in Psalm 2 we have the picture of one to whom God would not only give the kingship but would also make world-wide ruler, ‘ask of Me and I will give you the nations for your inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for your possession’, while in Psalm 89.27 it is promised that ‘I will make him my firstborn, overlord of the kings of the earth’.

Hosea’s promise was that, whilst Israel would go astray, ‘afterwards the children of Israel will return and seek the Lord their God and David their king, and will come with fear to the Lord and to His goodness in the latter days’ (Hosea 3.5)

Amos confirms this when he reveals God as saying, ‘in that day I will raise up the dwellingplace of David which has fallen down, and close up its breaches’ (Amos 9.11) with the idea being that God would re-establish David’s people, and he adds that ‘they will possess the remnant of Edom.’. And this verse is taken up in the New Testament in the Septuagint Greek translation which reads, ‘after these things I will return and I will build again the dwellingplace of David which is fallen --- that the remnant of men may seek after the Lord, and all the Gentiles on whom My Name is called’ (Acts 15.16-17), in order to demonstrate that non-Jews will also be gathered in by God into a new relationship (Acts 15.16-18). They too will have their part in David.

But it was Isaiah who took up the idea and gave it greater substance. He declared that the coming son of David would be born of a virgin, because God had rejected the house of Ahaz (7.14). For, He said, ‘to us a child is born, and to us a son is given, and His name will called, Wonderful, Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace, of the increase of His government and peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and on His kingly power, to establish and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness, from now on even for EVERMORE’ (Isaiah 9.5-6).

This coming king would ‘come forth as a shoot out of the stock of Jesse (David’s father), and a branch out of his roots will bear fruit, and the Spirit of the Lord will rest on Him, --- His delight will be in the fear of the Lord, --- and with righteousness will He judge the poor, and reprove with equity on behalf of the meek of the earth, and He will smite the earth with the rod of His mouth, and with the breath of His mouth will He slay the wicked’ (Isaiah 11.1-4). And he adds, ‘and it will come about in that day that the root of Jesse who stands as an ensign of the peoples, to Him will the nations seek, and His resting place will be glorious’ (Isaiah 11.10). But parallel with this would grow the idea of the Messiah Who would ‘be cut off and would have nothing’ (Daniel 9.26) prior to His final triumph, thus linking the coming King with the coming Servant of the Lord who would suffer and die on our behalf before finally being exalted (Isaiah 52.13-53.12).

Both Jeremiah and Ezekiel take up the idea of the Son of David. Jeremiah declares, ‘Behold the days come, says the Lord, when I will raise up to David a Righteous Shoot and He will reign as king and do wisely, and will execute justice and judgment in the earth’ (Jeremiah 23.5), while Ezekiel speaks of Him coming as a shepherd of His people. ‘I will set up one shepherd over them, and He will lead them, even My servant David, He will feed them and He will be their shepherd. And I the Lord will be their God, and My servant David prince among them, I the Lord have spoken it’ (Ezekiel 34.23-24). And he later says, ‘and My servant David will be king over them, and they will all have one shepherd, --- and they will dwell in the land which I have given to Jacob My servant --- and David will their prince FOR EVER --- when My sanctuary will be in the midst of them FOR EVERMORE’ (Ezekiel 37.24-28).

Note the continual emphasis on the everlastingness of the kingdom and the Sanctuary. This necessarily prevents us from seeing it as an earthly kingdom and sanctuary, and that is also why the writer to the Hebrews emphasised that the promises of the land to Abraham would be fulfilled in ‘a better country, that is a heavenly’ (Hebrews 11.10-14). It will be in the new Heaven and the new earth in which dwells righteousness’ (2 Peter 3.13) when this earth has passed away.

In the days of the prophets it would have been unwise to speak of a heavenly kingdom because the ideas of a heavenly kingdom in those days were connected with the world of the gods and it would have been totally misunderstood, and misrepresented. It would actually have propagated idolatry. Thus the prophets presented their vision in terms of this world, an idea which in the teaching of Jesus and of the New Testament was transferred into a heavenly kingly rule.

The New Testament makes clear that these promises were fulfilled in the coming of Jesus, first as He walked on earth as King, and then when He was exalted to the throne of Heaven. At His birth the angels announced, ‘He will be great and will be called the Son of the Highest, and the Lord God will give to Him the throne of His father David, and He will reign over the house of Jacob FOR EVER, and of His Kingly Rule there will be NO END’ (this latter giving ‘for ever’ its full meaning).

Zacharias adds, ‘He has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of His servant David, as He spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets which have been since the world began’ (Luke 1.69-70). And the message of the angels to the shepherds was, ‘there is born to you this day in the city of David a Saviour Who is Christ the Lord’ (Luke 2.11). That was why after His resurrection Jesus declared that ‘all authority has been given to Me in Heaven and on earth’ (Matthew 28.18), while Peter declares, ‘let all the house of Israel know that He is both Lord and Messiah’ (Acts 2.36). That heavenly Kingly Rule then began at the resurrection (having suffered the Son of Man came to the Father to receive His kingdom - Daniel 7.13-14), and will finally be visibly established at His Second Coming when all men are called to judgment (Revelation 19.11-21; Matthew 25.31-46), and His own are raised or transformed so as to be with Him for ever (1 Thessalonians 4.13-18;1 Corinthians 15.52). But nowhere in the New Testament is it ever stated that there will be an earthly kingdom after His Second Coming. And before that whenever He is seen as reigning it is from Heaven, along with His saints (Revelation 20.4).

However, He made clear that even while He was here on earth the Kingly Rule of God was here in Him (Matthew 12.38), although not as an earthly kingdom, for when Jesus stood before Pilate He said ‘My Kingly Rule IS NOT OF THIS WORLD’ (John 18.36). It was the Kingly Rule of Heaven and of God. In consequence after His resurrection the Apostles went out proclaiming that the Kingly Rule of God had come with power (Mark 9.1), and this Kingly Rule was the message concerning Jesus (Acts 28.23, 31).

That was why Paul spoke, ‘concerning His Son, Who was born of the seed of David according to the flesh, and declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the Spirit of holiness by the resurrection of the dead, even Jesus Christ our Lord’ (Romans 1.4), thus connecting His Davidic kingship with His heavenly rule. It was at the throne of God that the Son of Man received His heavenly throne in Daniel 7.13-14. That too was not an earthly kingship. So as the son of David our Lord Jesus Christ rules from Heaven, at present ‘over the earth’, and after His Second Coming over His people in the new Heaven and the new earth.