The following blogpost is based on notes from the more developed arguments of Dr. Peter Goeman’s podcast episode on this topic. I also referenced Dr. Michael Vlach in his book called, “The Old in the New: Understanding How the New Testament Authors Quoted the Old Testament.“
Dr. Goeman points out that there are debates within the body of Christ as to the identity of David’s throne. We agree that Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, is the heir to David’s throne forever, but we debate about the nature of when and where and what this throne is. Is it separate from His throne at the right side of the father in Heaven?
Speaking myself, I hear from Covenantalists online who argue that Acts 2 is one of the most clear passages that makes all the prophecies about David’s throne fulfilled now. They say that this passage clearly connects Jesus’ ascension to his Heavenly throne to the Davidic throne. But is there a difference between His Davidic throne and His throne at the right hand of the Father? Setting that aside for a moment, Covenantalists also see, to varying degrees, Acts 2 as the inauguration of His “millennial reign” anticipated throughout the Old Testament. This era we live in now is the kingdom, even if its fullness awaits. Peter preaches to the crowd:
“Men, brothers, I may confidently say to you regarding the patriarch David that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. And so, because he was a prophet and knew that God had sworn to him with an oath to set one of the fruit of his body on his throne, he looked ahead and spoke of the resurrection of the Christ, that He was neither forsaken to Hades, nor did His flesh see corruption. This Jesus God raised up again, to which we are all witnesses. Therefore having been exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He has poured out this which you both see and hear. For David did not ascend into the heavens, but he himself says:
‘The Lord said to my Lord,
“Sit at My right hand,
Until I put Your enemies as a footstool for Your feet.”’Therefore let all the house of Israel know for certain that God has made Him both Lord and Christ—this Jesus whom you crucified.”
– Acts 2:29-36
Dr. Goeman points out that one introductory question we need to ask is: Was there a time when Jesus did not reign? No, He has always reigned. He has absolute authority over creation and always has. Dr. Vlach points out the following to address the belief that Acts 2 says that Jesus is currently on David’s throne. He writes,
Some believe Peter’s quotations of Psalm 132:11 (in Acts 2:30) and Psalm 110:1 (in Acts 2:34–35a) indicate a reinterpretation of the Davidic throne from an earthly to a heavenly reality. For example, concerning Peter’s understanding of Jesus’ ascension in Acts 2, George Ladd writes: “This involves a rather radical reinterpretation of the Old Testament prophecies, but no more so than the entire reinterpretation of God’s redemptive plan by the early church” (emphases mine).
The argument that Peter is reinterpreting David’s throne to be a heavenly reality in Acts 2:30–36 is sometimes linked with the fact that Jesus’ session in heaven coincides with Peter’s reference to David’s throne in Acts 2:30. This understanding seems to rely on the following logic:
The resurrected and ascended Jesus is now in heaven.
Peter quotes a passage involving the Davidic throne.
Therefore, Jesus must be sitting upon David’s throne in heaven.
This logic, though, does not accurately represent what Peter is saying. Peter is most likely making a cause-and-effect argument. Jesus’ ascension to heaven is a step in the process to Jesus reigning from David’s throne in the future, which is what Psalm 110:1–2 actually predicts. Thus, the correct link between Jesus, heaven, and David’s throne is this: the resurrected Jesus who currently is in heaven at the right hand of God is destined to reign upon David’s throne.
Notice that Peter does not say Jesus has been exalted to the throne of David in Acts 2:33. Instead, Peter says Jesus has been “exalted to the right of hand of God.” The Scripture consistently presents God’s throne as existing in heaven. Isaiah 66:1a states, “Heaven is my throne.” Psalm 11:4 declares, “the Lord’s throne is in heaven.” Yet, as mentioned earlier, David’s throne is consistently presented as an earthly reality involving Israel and the nations upon the earth (2 Sam. 3:10; 1 Kings 2:12; Jer. 17:25; Luke 1:32–33; Matt. 25:31).
Also, Peter is not emphasizing Jesus reigning in Acts 2:33b. Instead, Jesus is receiving and pouring forth the Holy Spirit. One would expect a statement about Jesus reigning if Peter connected the right hand of God with the Davidic throne. In addition, after Acts 2:30–36 there are thirteen statements that Jesus is at the “right hand” of God, but none say He is sitting upon the throne of David. The NT writers seem intentional about identifying Jesus as being at the right hand of God, but not on the throne of David.
Michael J. Vlach, The Old in the New: Understanding How the New Testament Authors Quoted the Old Testament (Woodlands, TX; Sun Valley, CA: Kress Biblical Resources; Master’s Seminary Press, 2021), 212–213.
But we need to reinforce this by taking in all that the scripture says about this topic (not entirely because there’s more). We have the following Old Testament teachings regarding David’s throne that harmonize with the New Testament descriptions of it. We can delineate the following.
2 Samuel 7 tells us that the Davidic throne is granted to David’s descendants. 2 Chronicales 17-18 says that faithful Dividic kings will rule from the Davidic Throne in Jerusalem. So this applies to each subsequent king. So, part of the issue is that Jesus is not the only fulfillment of the Davidic Covenant. God promised that if one of David’s sons sinned, He would punish him, so this is about more than Jesus. And in 2 Chronicles 7, Solomon – the immediate son of David – is granted the throne of David [click here for my blogpost on Solomon’s kingdom]. Yahweh says,
So now I have chosen and set this house apart as holy that My name may be there forever, and My eyes and My heart will be there perpetually. As for you, if you will walk before Me as your father David walked, even to do according to all that I have commanded you, and will keep My statutes and My judgments, then I will establish your royal throne as I cut a covenant with your father David, saying, ‘You shall not have a man cut off as ruler in Israel.’
— 2 Chronicles 7:16-18
Then, the Psalmist in Psalm 132, which is a Messianic Psalm, connects Zion, or Jerusalem, specifically as the location for the Davidic throne:
For the sake of David Your servant,
Do not turn away the face of Your anointed.
Yahweh has sworn to David
A truth from which He will not turn back:
“Of the fruit of your body I will set upon your throne.
If your sons keep My covenant
And My testimony which I will teach them,
Their sons also shall sit upon your throne forever.”For Yahweh has chosen Zion;
He has desired it for His habitation.
“This is My resting place forever;
Here I will inhabit, for I have desired it.
— Psalm 132:10-14
Psalm 132 makes it clear in the last verses that Zion is connected to the sprout for David. This is the lamp for God’s anointed. Again, Dr. Vlach writes a commentary on Psalm 132 in his book. I thought it best to camp out on this Psalm for a bit. Vlach writes,
Psalm 132 is a psalm of ascents where the psalmist pleads with God to remember David and the Davidic covenant (see 2 Sam. 7). As The Moody Bible Commentary states, “This psalm is the climax of the Psalms of Ascents. In it, the psalmist emphasizes that all of Israel’s future hopes are dependent upon the fulfillment of the Davidic covenant.” After noting the humility of David (vv. 1–9), the author of Psalm 132 states:
For the sake of David Your servant,
Do not turn away the face of Your anointed.
The Lord has sworn to David
A truth from which He will not turn back:
“Of the fruit of your body I will set upon your throne.
“If your sons will keep My covenant
And My testimony which I will teach them,
Their sons also shall sit upon your throne forever.” (vv. 10–12)
In Acts 2, Peter focuses mostly on Psalm 132:11 and its statement that God will set a descendant(s) upon David’s throne. The context of the Davidic covenant and Davidic throne is 2 Samuel 7 (cf. 1 Chron. 17). Second Samuel 7:16 states, “Your [David’s] house and your kingdom shall endure before Me forever; your throne shall be established forever.” Thus, Psalm 132:10–12 is reaffirming key aspects of the Davidic covenant first given in 2 Samuel 7.
An inductive study of various Bible passages reveals that the throne of David is related to both function and location. Functionally, it involves kingly authority and rule. Concerning location, it involves an earthly geographical realm. The one who functionally rules from David’s throne will do so from and over the land of Israel. These two aspects are found in Luke 1:32b–33 when the angel Gabriel told Mary:
The Lord God will give Him [Jesus] the throne of His father David; and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and His kingdom will have no end.” (Luke 1:32b–33, emphasis mine)
Thus:
Function: “He will reign”
Location: “over the house of Jacob”
On multiple occasions, the throne of David is linked geographically with Jerusalem and Israel. Second Samuel 3:10 speaks of “the throne of David over Israel and over Judah, from Dan even to Beersheba.” In 1 Kings 9:5, God told Solomon, “Then I will establish the throne of your kingdom over Israel forever, just as I promised to your father David, saying, ‘You shall not lack a man on the throne of Israel.’ ” Jeremiah 17:25 links the throne of David with “Judah” and “Jerusalem.” On nine occasions, David’s throne is called the “throne of Israel” (1 Kings 2:4; 8:20, 25; 9:5; 10:9; 2 Kings 10:30; 15:12; 2 Chron. 6:10, 16), emphasizing that this throne is earthly in location, involving Israel. It should also be noted that this throne in Israel will eventually impact the whole world. Psalm 72:8 indicates that the reign of the Messiah will extend throughout the whole earth:
May he also rule from sea to sea
And from the River to the ends of the earth.
This locational emphasis concerning David’s throne is important as it demonstrates that this throne involves location, not function alone. Both function and location are important.
Also, since the Davidic throne is established by God, it is called “the throne of the Lord” in 1 Chronicles 29:23. This indicates the throne of David has as its source the Lord. It is the Davidic throne that the Lord has established on earth. First Chronicles 29:23 is not a statement that the Lord’s throne in heaven is blurred into the Davidic throne so that there is no distinction between them.
Michael J. Vlach, The Old in the New: Understanding How the New Testament Authors Quoted the Old Testament (Woodlands, TX; Sun Valley, CA: Kress Biblical Resources; Master’s Seminary Press, 2021), 210–211.
Additionally, while there is no need to pay homage to New Testament priority (both testaments are on equal footing), but as we look into the New Testament, we find continuity, not only in Acts 2, but at other points as well. Luke 1:30-33, quoted above, says that Jesus will reign over Jerusalem and the city of David. Matt.19:28 says that when all things will be made new (the following translation refers to this as the “regeneration”) and the son of man sits on his “glorious throne,” then the disciples will sit on twelve thrones judging the twelve tribes when that happens:
“And Jesus said to them, “Truly I say to you, that you who have followed Me, in the regeneration when the Son of Man will sit on His glorious throne, you also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.”
— Matthew 19:28
Then, Matthew 25 is, according to every eschatological perspective, except full preterism, the second coming. It uses the same terminology as Matt 19, and says that the glorious throne, or the Davidic throne, will take place at His coming, not at Pentecost in the first century AD:
“But when the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne. And all the nations will be gathered before Him; and He will separate them from one another, as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats; and He will put the sheep on His right, and the goats on the left.
— Matthew 25:31-33
This makes sense because the Davidic King is given the rule and responsibly to succeed exactly where the first Adam failed. So his Davidic reign cannot be from Heaven.
Hebrews 2 references Ps. 8 (where david reflects on the tremendous responsibility of his descendants). But Hebrews 2 says that all things are not currently submitted to his feet:
“You have put all things in subjection under his feet.”
For in subjecting all things to him, He left nothing that is not subject to him. But now we do not yet see all things subjected to him.”
— Hebrews 2:8
Revelation 3:21 says that He will give others the right to reign on His throne just as He has sat on His father’s throne. But His own throne is seen as forthcoming. So then, as of that future time when He returns, He will be on His glorious throne, aka His Davidic throne (per Matthew chapters 19 and 25 previously mentioned).
But this tells us something else. Basically it shows us that Jesus is now seated on His Father’s throne. He shares the Father’s throne in Heaven, which is where He has reigned prior to His incarnation as well. But there is still a future time when Jesus will reign on His glorious throne, which is the fulfillment of the original mandate to Adam in the garden.
This takes us to the question of what does Adam’s reign mean? Many of the subsequent men and prophets and kings were shown to have reigned in line with Adam. This is very consistently attested to by various theologians. I think this could be a blog post for another day. But as a matter of fact, Solomon was one of the clearest examples of this (see my previously mentioned blogpost). His kingdom was the definition of biblical kingdom.
Again, Hebrews 2:5ff. references the Davidic Psalm 8, which waxes about the entailed role and responsibility of David’s descendants. Hebrews 2 also says that the full subjection of the world is forthcoming. Revelation describes that future event:
“He who overcomes, I will grant to him to sit down with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne.”
— Revelation 3:21
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