The following is a transcribed Video Q&A, so the text may not read as an edited article would.
The Divine Representative
When God establishes the covenant with the nation of Israel, he establishes himself as king. Israel is to have no other king other than God. But in the law itself, God makes provision for the day in which they will have a human king, a king who would not replace God, but represent God to the people. That comes to fulfillment with King David. Of course there’s a first attempt when Israel asks for a king, but they don’t want God’s king. They want a king like the nations because they want to be like the nations. So, God gives them a king like the nations, Saul, who turns out to be much more like a Gentile king than the king after God’s own heart.
God judges Saul and puts David on the throne, and God makes a covenant with David. This is, in many ways a continuation of the covenant with Abraham. It’s a gracious covenant. God makes unilateral promises. Just as God had promised to Abraham that it would be through a seed, a son of Abraham that the promise would flow, so now we learn that that seed, that son is going to be a king. It’s going to be David and finally it’s going to be a son of David. God promises David that he will have a son to sit on his throne forever, and that that son will be God’s son, God’s king, God’s representative, and that that son will deliver God’s people.
Pictured Below: King David of Israel
Of course, as the history goes on, many of David’s sons prove to be quite unfaithful. Generation after generation, the people find themselves looking and wondering, is this the one? Is this going to be the faithful son of David who finally and fully rescues God’s people? It doesn’t happen, until finally there’s no king on the throne and the monarchy seems to have failed altogether. Finally, in the fullness of God’s grace and the fullness of time, God reveals the son of David who will be that perfect son, that great king, and it’s God himself in the flesh, Jesus Christ, a son of David, a son of God, the Son of God, who rescues God’s people forever.