This chapter was written and
contributed to this work by Geo. L. Cole. 1899
Most all the teachers of the Millennium
heresy find it necessary, in order to hold their position, to
claim that Christ is not sitting on the throne of David in
this dispensation, and therefore there must be another
dispensation —a Millennium of a thousand years—in which
Christ will sit upon the throne of David. But if the word of
God is against their theory, it must fall. May we not find in
the prophecies sufficient evidence or proof, as to whether it
is this dispensation or another, in which Christ sits upon
David's throne? If we find clear evidence that it is this
dispensation, then why look for another in which to accomplish
that which is being fulfilled in this present one? Let us turn
to the prophecy. Ps. 132 :11—"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." The 17th verse
reads, "There will I make the horn of David to bud: I
have ordained a lamp for mine anointed." Paul speaks,
"Concerning his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made
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 from the dead."—Rom. 1:3,
4. It is evident the prophet was speaking directly of Christ
when he said, "Of the fruit of thy body will I set upon
thy throne." For this purpose Christ came into the world.
The fulfillment of this scripture, as I mentioned in the
second chapter of Acts, clearly evidences I the fact that it
was in this dispensation that Christ was to sit upon David's
throne. But we turn to Isaiah 9 :5-7—"For every battle
of the warrior is with confused noise, and garments rolled in
blood, but this shall be with burning and fuel of fire. For
unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given; and the
government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be
called Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty God, The everlasting
Father, The Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government
and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and
upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with
judgment and with justice from henceforth forever. The zeal of
the Lord of hosts will perform this." The government is
to rest on Christ's shoulder while he sits upon the throne of
David, and upon his throne in his kingdom from hence forth
even forever, or from this time forth.
But when is the fulfillment? at the
beginning of the Christian dispensation, or at the beginning
of the supposed Millennium dispensation? It was when a child
was born unto us, when a son was given. This is clearly
evident, that the beginning of the reign of Jesus Christ on
the throne of David was fulfilled in the days of his
incarnation. As this was to be "with burning and fuel of
fire," we ask, When does this burning begin ? John the
Baptist said, "I indeed baptize you with water unto
repentance; but he that cometh after me is mightier than I,
whose shoes I am not worthy to bear; he shall baptize you with
the Holy Ghost and with fire; whose fan is in his hand, and he
will thoroughly purge his floor, and gather his wheat into the
garner, but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable
fire." Any New Testament student can easily observe this
to be a fulfillment of Isaiah's prophecy, while it is clearly
evident again that it is in this dispensation that Christ sits
upon David's throne, while the government rests upon his
shoulder, and rules his kingdom with judgment and with justice
from henceforth even forever. Isa. 16 :5— "And in mercy
shall the throne be established, and he shall sit upon it in
truth in the tabernacle of David, judging, and seeking
judgment, and hasting righteousness." Has he not been
doing this through this dispensation? If he has, he is sitting
upon the throne of David now. In Luke 1:31-33 is a prophecy
which was from the mouth of an angel who said unto the virgin:
"Fear not, Mary; for thou hast found favor with God. And,
behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a
son, and shalt call his name JESUS. He shall be great, and
shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall
give unto him the throne of his father David: and he shall
reign over the house of Jacob forever; and of his kingdom
there shall be no end." Do we have presented before us in
this prophecy two dispensations? Not by any means. The birth
of Christ, his name, his origin, his throne and reign, are all
connected and must be in one dispensation—that is the
present one.
Amos 9:11, 12—"In that day will
I raise up the tabernacle of David that is fallen, and close
up the breaches thereof; and I will raise up his ruins, and I
will build it as in the days of old: that they may possess the
remnant of Edom, and of all the heathen, which are called by
my name, saith the Lord that doeth this." This scripture
is quoted by the apostle James in Acts 15:13-17, which reads
exactly with the Septuagint version. We learn in Isa. 16:5
that the throne and tabernacle of David are identical;
therefore if the raising up of the tabernacle of David can be
proved in this dispensation, the throne of David being
identical with it, will prove to be also in this dispensation.
Now let us turn to the New Testament fulfillment of these
prophecies.
FULFILLMENT.
Acts 2:30 says of David,
"Therefore being a prophet, and knowing that God had
sworn with an oath to him, that of the fruit of his loins,
according to the flesh, he would raise up Christ to sit on his
throne; he seeing this before spake of the resurrection of
Christ, that his soul was not left in hell, neither his flesh
did see corruption." David says that Christ was to be
crucified—put to death— but if he was not resurrected, he
could not sit upon his throne. Since he came sitting on the
throne of David during his incarnation, he must be resurrected
in order to continue upon the throne. The prophet seeing this
before, spoke of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was
not left in hell—hades—neither did his flesh see
corruption. Had his flesh seen corruption, then the prophecy
that Christ was to sit upon David's throne henceforth even
forever would have been nullified; but as his body did not see
corruption, he therefore continues to reign upon the throne of
David.
The apostle Peter here quotes the
language of David, as we observed above, in Psalm 132:11, and
he presents the same to us as having been, and being fulfilled
at that time, which gives us positive evidence that this
dispensation was the prophetic one in which Christ was to
reign upon David's throne. Let us read Acts
15:13-17—"After they had held their peace, James
answered, saying, Men and brethren, harken unto me: Simeon
hath declared how God at the first did visit the Gentiles, to
take out of them a people for his name. And to this agree the
words of the prophets; as it is written, After this I will
return, and will build again the tabernacle of David, which is
fallen down; and I will build again the ruins thereof, and I
will set it up: that the residue of men might seek after the
Lord, and all the Gentiles, upon whom my name is called, saith
the Lord, who doeth all these things."
The visiting of the Gentiles and
seeking out of them a people for his name was building the
tabernacle of David, 1 and, as we have observed before, the
throne of David was in the tabernacle of David. We then have
Christ sitting upon David's throne in this dispensation,
because it is in this dispensation that the Gentiles are
chosen as a people i for his name, "that the residue of
men might seek the Lord, and all the Gentiles upon whom my
name is called, saith I the Lord." Thus we find in the
Old Testament declare tion of prophecy and the clearness of
the language in which it is expressed, also in the New
Testament citation of its fulfillment, the clearest evidence
that could be desired by any one, that Christ now sits upon
David's throne.
DAVID IS A TITLE NAME FOR CHRIST.
As further proof that Christ now sits
upon David's throne, we will call your attention to the fact
that David is a title name for Christ in the following texts:
Jer. 30:9; Ezek. 34:23, 24; 37:24-28; Hos. 3:5; Heb. 4:7. If
Christ is called David, it then follows that if Christ sits
upon his throne, it must be David's throne, from the fact that
he is called David in these prophecies, and the same fulfilled
declare Christ upon his throne, and that it was David's
throne. But he could not sit upon his throne unless he were
king; therefore we examine
CHRIST AS KING.
We will notice first in prophecy Zech.
9:9, 10—"Rejoice greatly O daughter of Zion: shout. O
daughter of Jerusalem: behold, thy King cometh unto thee; he
is just, and having salvation: lowly, and sitting upon an ass,
and upon a colt the foal of an ass." Could we imagine
this to be in some future dispensation, when we find it is
already fulfilled during Christ's incarnation? Then Christ was
a king during his incarnation. If so, he must be a king yet;
but as to the extent of his kingdom we will now read the 10th
verse—"And I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim, and
the horse from Jerusalem, and the battlebow shall be cut off:
and he shall speak peace unto the heathen: and his dominion
shall be from sea even to sea and from the river even to the
ends of the earth." "Speak peace unto the
heathen" refers to the salvation of the Gentiles. These
two verses agree and each alike evidences the fact that it is
in this dispensation, and not a succeeding one, that Christ is
King, and his kingdom, or dominion, extends to the ends of the
earth.
Isaiah 33:22—"For the Lord is
our judge, the Lord is our Lawgiver, the Lord is our King; he
will save us." Millennium teachers admit that Christ is
Lord and Savior, but he is not a King as yet: but this
language declares him to be our King and our Lawgiver. The New
Testament is the law he has given us, which proves as a
discipline, ruling all the subjects of his kingdom on earth.
This prophecy we will now find to have been
DECLARED AS FULFILLED.
In Matt. 21:1-9 Christ as a King is
said to have come, riding into Jerusalem upon an ass, and this
is exactly what Zechariah said he would do. "And the
multitudes that went before, and that followed, cried, saying,
Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he that cometh in the
name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!" But this is
made plainer in Mark 11:10, where the people cried,
"Blessed be the kingdom of our father David, that cometh
in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest!" The
people believed then that Christ had come in the kingdom of
his father David.
Neither were they disappointed, because
Matthew says all this was done that it might be fulfilled
which was spoken by the prophet, saying, "Tell ye the
daughters of Sion, Behold, thy King cometh unto thee, meek and
sitting upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass."
"Jesus answered My kingdom is not of this world: if my
kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that
I should no be delivered to the Jews: but now is my kingdom
not from hence. Pilate therefore said unto him, Art thou a
King then? Jesus answered, Thou sayest that I am a King. To
this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world,
that I should bear witness unto the truth. Ever: one that is
of the truth heareth my voice."—John 18 :36, 31
Here Christ acknowledges himself to be
a king, to possess a kingdom, and his servants were the
subjects of the same. It might be perplexing to some if they
under stood David's kingdom to be of this world and Christ''
kingdom not of his world, how that Christ could be on David's
throne. The subjects of David's kingdom were the children of
God in that dispensation, while the children of God are the
subjects of Christ's kingdom in this dispensation. This solves
the mystery and adds another clear evidence to the fact that
this is the dispensation in which Christ was to reign as King
upon the throne of his father David, and there is not one
text, to my knowledge that speaks of Christ on David's throne
that could possibly refer to any other dispensation than the
present one.
We that are now translated into the
kingdom of his dear Son (Col. 1:13) know that his kingdom is
righteous-ness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost (Rom.
14:17), and a scepter of righteousness is the scepter of his
king. dom. Heb. 1:8. He reigns over us in Mount Zion and in
Jerusalem. Isa. 24 :23; Heb. 12:22. And he must reign
(continue) till he hath put all his enemies under his feet.
The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death 1 Cor. 15 :25,
26. This is accomplished at his second coming. Then the end,
when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the
Father. 1 Cor. 15:22-24 The time when Millenarians expect him
to begin his reign is the exact time that these texts declare
that he ceases to reign, having delivered the kingdom to the
Father. Hence if Christ does not reign over us in this
dispensation, he never will. May the deceived ones learn this
before the coming of the Lord. Amen.
