THE DAVIDIC COVENANT

KEY VERSES: For thy servant David's sake turn not away the face of thine anointed. The Lord hath sworn in truth unto David; he will not turn from it; Of the fruit of thy body will I set upon thy throne. (Psalm 132:10-11)

  The Edenic Covenant promised a return to Paradise, the Noahic Covenant an eternal agreement, the Abrahamic Covenant the Way to Paradise, the Mosaic Covenant the Prescription for eternal existence, and then there is the Davidic Covenant. The Psalmist wrote of it in the key verses. That covenant was explicit; the Son of David shall be King of the Jews. The Psalm reiterates the Covenant that God made with David. 

  Before the Davidic Covenant is elaborated upon, before there was the Priestly Covenant. That agreement provided for the Aaronic priesthood. There is no definite genealogy that Jesus was of the line of Aaron, but evidence points that his maternal lineage is from Aaron. In that respect, Jesus is part of the promise of the Priestly Covenant. Jesus was a priest on the order of Melchizedek, so it seems that the Priestly Covenant was not sufficient. However, it remained a Covenant. Perhaps, the Covenant is, indeed, confirmed on Mary’s side by Hebrews chapter seven.

  On the other hand, perhaps God did revise the Priestly Covenant because the Law was revised: “If therefore perfection were by the Levitical priesthood, (for under it the people received the law,) what further need was there that another priest should rise after the order of Melchizedek, and not be called after the order of Aaron? For the priesthood being changed, there is made of necessity a change also of the law” (Heb 7:11-12). The Aaronic priests were teachers of the Law, and essentially preservationists for the Law. With the Law fulfilled by Jesus, he preserved it. 

  It looks as if the Priestly Covenant was revised because the Jews failed to understand that the Law was to be implemented through love, and not by decree! Therefore, no longer was a priest of Aaron (Levites) needed, because Jesus would assume his role as Royal Priest and King. Jesus was on the order of the priest, Melchizidek, King of “Peace,” and with that, Melchizedek, who had only spiritual lineage was pre-incarnate Jesus who came to clarify to Abraham the nature of the Law which would come with Moses.

  Now, let’s consider the Davidic Covenant further:

When thy days be fulfilled, and thou shalt sleep with thy fathers, I will set up thy seed after thee, which shall proceed out of thy bowels, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build an house for my name, and I will stablish the throne of his kingdom for ever. I will be his father, and he shall be my son. If he commit iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men, and with the stripes of the children of men: But my mercy shall not depart away from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away before thee. And thine house and thy kingdom shall be established for ever before thee: thy throne shall be established for ever. (2 Sam 7:12-16)

  The Covenant of Melchizedek replaced the Aaronic Covenant, but remained the Priestly Covenant. Just as the House of David changed priests from the House of Saul, the priesthood changed as well. Zadok was the Aaronic priest for David and Solomon. Saul’s priest was Ahimilech whom he murdered along with all his sons, but Ahimilech. Saul is responsible for breaking the Aaronic Priestly Covenant. Thus, with the Davidic Covenant, came a change in the Priestly Covenant, and it would remain changed until “Melchizedek” returned!

  The promise of an eternal King with an everlasting Kingdom was promised to David. God promised to establish His Kingdom from the seed of David. Jesus was not called, “Son of David” without a reason. He was a King from the House of David, and a Priest on the order of Melchizedek. Unlike David who was king, and had a priest, Jesus would be both King and Priest. Thus, the “wall” so to speak, “between Church and State” was torn down! Jesus would serve both functions. Jesus was not like David and Zadok, but as Melchizedek of whom it is written, “Melchizedek was king of Salem and priest of the Highest God” (Heb 7:1).

  The Davidic and Priestly Covenants were combined with Melchizedek, but not practiced until Jesus came to be both King and Priest! God’s intent all along was to have a Theocracy – A King Who would rule in righteousness:

“Melchizedek” means “King of Righteousness.” “Salem” means “Peace.” So, he is also “King of Peace.” Melchizedek towers out of the past—without record of family ties, no account of beginning or end. In this way he is like the Son of God, one huge priestly presence dominating the landscape always. (Heb 7:2-3)

  Jesus as Priest and King was the Covenant with David, and that the Kingdom of God would come from the Kingdom of David. David’s Kingdom was cut short of the promise to Abraham. It consisted of what is now called the “fertile crescent” for the most part, at least from the Sea to the Euphrates and from Egypt to Turkey. Perhaps by divine design, the crescent is the symbol of those whose “caliphate” (kingdom) is there at the present.

  I believe that the Garden of Eden equals the Kingdom of David, equals Paradise in Heaven. I also believe that the Fertile Crescent approximates the Garden of Eden as the fertile Garden.  Scripture points to that, but it can’t be validated until we are in Paradise!

  Part of the Davidic Covenant was that, “He shall build an house for my name.” That “House” was not a building at all, as Solomon’s Temple was for the Kingdom of David. The Davidic Covenant was not for Solomon to build for David a Temple for God, but that Jesus would! God’s “House” is the Church, and David built its foundation on, where else? The Foundation Stone! The Davidic Covenant was announced to be fulfilled by Paul who wrote, “Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints, and of the household of God; And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone. (Ephes 2:19-20. 

  The House of the Son of David are the individual “lively stones” (1 Pet 2:5) making up the “pillars” (Rev 3:12) of the Church. Those lively stones must make enduring pillars (ibid). It should be clear from scripture that David did not design a Temple and Kingdom for God, but the Son of David, Jesus by Name, did. The Davidic Covenant was an early version of the last and New Covenant that God would make – the Covenant of Grace! 

  The Covenant of Grace is called the “New Covenant” and it is the fruition of a New King and a New Priest, one higher than Aaron. Whereas Moses wrote much the Old Testament, Paul wrote much of the New. Below are a few examples of the New Covenant:

After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying, this cup is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me. (1 Cor 11:25)

Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life. (2 Cor 3:6)

Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. (2 Cor 5:17)

For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature. (Gal 6:15)

  All the Old Covenants became the New Covenant, and hopefully, the reader should see that the Old Covenants were merely different ways of presenting the New Covenant. Jesus himself, indicated that the New Covenant was fulfillment of the Old Covenants when he said:

Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. (Mat 5:17-19)

  God’s Will is immutable. Nothing changed from Old Testament times until the New except our understanding of what God was trying to do for us. The Word was Jesus in the beginning with Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, the Priests, and with David; and it still is in the New Covenant.

The Fetile Crescent (Wikipedia)