The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. 

-Matthew 1:1 

In my last post, I talked about how Jesus is a prophet and priest. In this post, I will talk about how Jesus is also a king. 

In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus is referred to as the Son of David eight times. 

The idea is important because the coming Christ was said to be from the line of David, the king who’s dynasty ruled Israel’s southern kingdom from Jerusalem before the fall of Jerusalem in 586 B.C. 

In the Old Testament, we see prophecies of one who would come from David’s line. 

Messianic prophecies 

In 2 Samuel 7, it was promised that one of David’s descendants would establish an unending kingdom. 

2 Samuel 7:12-14: I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. ¹³ He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. ¹⁴ I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son. 

We also see this thinking in Psalm 89:3-4: 

³ You have said, “I have made a covenant with my chosen one; I have sworn to David my servant: 

⁴ ‘I will establish your offspring forever, and build your throne for all generations.’ 

One more, and perhaps the most well known comes from Isaiah 9. 

A popular Christmas time passage, it says: 

Verse 6: 

⁶ For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. 

So it’s describing a child who will be born and it’s giving descriptions of him, and the next verse says: 

⁷ Of the increase of his government and of peace 

there will be no end, 

on the throne of David and over his kingdom, 

to establish it and to uphold it 

with justice and with righteousness 

from this time forth and forevermore. 

And so it’s pointing to the Christ as the Son of David and Matthew 1 is saying that  Jesus is the promised one from the Davidic line to establish an everlasting kingdom. 

Kingdom of heaven

Jesus is the prophesied Messiah who has come from the line of David. But he didn’t quite do things in the way people would have expected. 

In Jesus’ time, there were various expectations for what the Son of David would be like. Some expected a great military leader or a great king who would liberate Israel from Roman tyranny. 

Jesus is a great king. He’s the king of kings!

But the biggest problem with the Messianic expectations of the first century was that their ideas about Jesus were too small. 

He’s the king of the universe, who sits on the throne, at the right hand of God and rules and reigns in heaven.

He was the the liberator who would liberate people from the tyranny of sin. 

He did have a kingdom, but it was not just about a kingdom in Israel. Jesus came to preach the good news of the Kingdom of Heaven. His rule and reign in the world would extend beyond Israel to every corner of the earth, to people of every tribe, and tongue, and nation. 

And the kingdom of heaven idea in Matthew is that Jesus came from heaven to preach the good news of the kingdom of heaven to a fallen world. We will one day be in his presence in the literal kingdom of heaven.

As people from days of old longed for the day of seeing the coming Messiah in the world, our hope and promise is for the final and ultimate realization and consummation of his kingdom. 

They waited for a savior to come into the world. Our hope and promise today is for that same savior to come again. To set all things right. To bring forth his kingdom. 

But while we wait,  as the people of Christ in the fallen world, we have an opportunity to live today for the kingdom.

On earth as it is heaven 

To live as kingdom people. 

Jesus preached “repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matthew 4:17). 

Jesus begins and ends the beatitudes by talking about the ethics of the kingdom of heaven. He taught the values of heaven in a sinful world. 

In the Lord’s prayer, he teaches us to pray to God “your kingdom come, your will be done.” 

Jesus tells us not to worry, but to instead seek first the kingdom of God. 

Jesus will compare the Kingdom of Heaven to the pearl of great price, worth everything a man has. This kingdom is compared to a mustard seed that starts small but grows, like a net that’s cast into the sea and catches fish of every kind. 

And as followers of Jesus, he calls us to live on earth as it is in heaven. 

To love the Lord our God with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength. To love our neighbor as ourself. To make disciples of all nations, to be salt and to live as light in a dark world. Jesus calls us to treat others as we wish to be treated and to store up treasures in heaven. 

Jesus is the king who ushered in this kingdom. 

Descendant of the line of David. The Christ had to be. And that is why Matthew’s gospel will immediately go into a genealogy which will link Jesus to David and also to Abrhaam.

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