Prophecy isn’t the same as seeing the future. When God says that something will happen, it’s not because He’s a fortune teller who can see what will happen. Instead, He is the sovereign ruler of the universe, and prophecies are His declarations of what He has decreed will happen. This can often be overwhelming to think about, but it also gives us great peace and hope in the promises God makes His people.
Christ in the Old Testament
But to his son I will give one tribe, so that My servant David may always have a lamp before Me in Jerusalem, the city where I have chosen for Myself to put My name. (1 Kings 11:36)
There will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace
On the throne of David and over his kingdom,
To establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness
From then on and forevermore.
The zeal of the Lord of armies will accomplish this. (Isaiah 9:7)
In 1 Kings, we see a promise that David’s lineage would always sit on the throne. At the time, it would have been easy to imagine that David’s family would simply never be dethroned. But in Isaiah, we see that this will be completely fulfilled in the coming Messiah. David’s family line won’t just continually add new kings to the throne, but through his family the final, true, and eternal King would come.
Fulfilled in the New Testament
He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David; and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and His kingdom will have no end.” (Luke 1:32-33)
At the announcement of His coming birth, the angel Gabriel told Mary something exciting and overwhelming about her child. This child would not only be a miracle, but He would be the one to fulfill God’s promise to Israel. In 9 months, the promise made a thousand years ago would be fulfilled, and the child she would hold in her arms would be the Savior of the world.
There are several ways we can be in awe at this announcement. One worth remembering is how completely God was fulfilling the promise and prophecy. God didn’t just make a promise of what was happening tomorrow, nor did Isaiah’s prophecy deal with something he would see in his own lifetime. God declared that something would happened, and there was never any doubt that He would do what He said.
And if we really think about that, we can realize how all-powerful our God truly is. In human terms, a hundreds of thousands of things could have gone wrong and prevented the line of David from continuing. Famine, sickness, rebellions, wars, assassinations, changes in government, infertility… the royal line of David had no guarantee that it would never end. But that’s only when we think in human terms.
When we remember that our God had decreed that the Messiah would come from this family, we realize that nothing in Heaven or Earth could have interfered with God’s plans. The promise was clearly there – David’s family held the key to God’s promise. If this family line could have been cut off, God would have failed. Yet what could possibly stand in the way of God and His plans?
For the Lord of hosts has planned, and who can frustrate it? And as for His stretched-out hand, who can turn it back? (Isaiah 14:27)
When God sets out to do something, it will happen. Not because He’s good at planning, nor because He gazes into His crystal ball and sees events He can’t stop. Jesus came from David because God said that it would happen. God spoke, and nothing can stand against His will.
And the same God who guaranteed the birth of the Messiah is the same one we place our absolute faith in.
Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly I say to you, everyone who commits sin is a slave of sin. Now the slave does not remain in the house forever; the son does remain forever. So if the Son sets you free, you really will be free. (John 8:34-36)
Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ (Romans 5:1)
Through the blood of Jesus Christ, God has declared our sins forgiven. Because Christ took our punishment, God has set us free from our debts. Christ was treated as the enemy of God so that the Father could call us His children.
If our God is powerful enough to make all of history obey His will for the coming of Jesus Christ, we can trust Him to be powerful enough to maintain our salvation. And we praise Him for that every day, because trusting even 1% of our salvation to us would mean that every single one of us would lose it.
Thus, we can rest in the power of God for our salvation. No matter how much we fail, and no matter what our hearts tell us, we can trust that if God has declared us forgiven, we are truly forgiven. If He has said that Jesus is sufficient for our salvation, then we know there is nothing we can do to add or take away from it. If God declares us free, then we are free indeed.
