The words of Jehovah’s oath to David with its lone condition contain four cardinal truths that deserve closer examination. Psalm 132:11-12 explains the oath and its terms as follows: “The Lord has sworn in truth to David; He will not turn from it: ‘I will set upon your throne the fruit of your body. If your sons will keep My covenant and My testimony which I shall teach them, their sons also shall sit upon your throne forevermore.’” Note the following timeless truths found in this passage:
- The resurrection of Christ. In addressing this very point on the Day of Pentecost, the inspired apostle Peter declared, “Men and brethren, let me speak freely to you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. Therefore, being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that of the fruit of his body, according to the flesh, He would raise up the Christ to sit on his throne, he, foreseeing this, spoke concerning the resurrection of the Christ, that His soul was not left in Hades, nor did His flesh see corruption. This Jesus God has raised up, of which we are all witnesses” (Acts 2:29-32). To fulfill His word, Jehovah had to resurrect Jesus the Christ “who was born of the seed of David according to the flesh” (Romans 1:3).
- The coronation of Jesus. Although Jesus was mockingly tried and crucified for being the King of the Jews, heaven’s response to His coronation immediately after His ascension (Daniel 7:13) was one of great reverence and joy (Psalm 24:7-10) when the fruit of David’s body was set upon his throne. When the mighty victor over sin, death, and Hades ascended, “then to Him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion which shall not pass away, and His kingdom the one which shall not be destroyed” (Daniel 7:14).
- The sinlessness of Christ. This oath of God contained one condition—there had to be the keeping of God’s covenant and testimony. Not one of the twenty descendants in David’s dynasty met the terms of the oath. It was not until Jesus fulfilled every jot and tittle of the Law that Jehovah seated Him on David’s throne. Because of God’s omniscience, He alone would know whether Jesus truly was sinless. By resurrecting and coronating Him, we have divine, infallible proof that Jesus was without sin. The Lamb of God was completely sinless; thus, our redemption is possible!
- The faithfulness of God to His word. About a thousand years elapsed between the day of God’s promise to David and the day of Jesus’ coronation in heaven. The passage of a millennium did not erode God’s faithfulness to his word. “Beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slack concerning His promise” (2 Peter 3:8-9); He never is.
The resurrection and coronation of Jesus, the sinlessness of Christ, and the faithfulness of God to His word are immutable truths, essential to a faith that is steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the Lord’s work. (1 Corinthians 15:58).
