It is only necessary to read the promises to David to see that they deal with the coming of the Messiah, the promised Seed. “I have made a covenant with my chosen, I have sworn unto David my servant, thy seed will I establish forever, and build up thy throne to all generations.” “I have found David my servant; with my holy oil have I anointed him: . . . his seed also will I make to endure forever, and his throne as the days of heaven.” “One thing have I sworn by my holiness: I will not lie unto David: his seed shall endure forever, and his throne as the sun before me.” Ps. 89:4, 5, 20, 29, 35, 36. David’s purpose to build a house for the Lord opened the way for the making of these promises. After he had made known his desire to the prophet Nathan, the Lord sent the following message6to him: “Thus saith Jehovah of hosts, I took thee from the sheepcote, from following the sheep, that thou shouldest be prince over my people, over Israel; and I have been with thee whithersoever thou wentest, and have cut off all thine enemies from before thee; and I will make thee a great name, like unto the name of the great ones that are in the earth. And I will appoint a place for my people Israel, and will plant them, that they may dwell in their own place, and be moved no more; neither shall the children of wickedness afflict them any more, as at the first, and as from the day that I commanded judges to be over my people Israel; and I will cause thee to rest from all thine enemies. Moreover Jehovah telleth thee that Jehovah will make thee a house. When thy days are fulfilled, and thou shalt sleep with thy fathers, I will set up thy seed after thee, that shall proceed out of thy bowels, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. . . . And thy house and thy kingdom shall be made sure forever before thee: thy throne shall be established forever.” 2 Sam. 7:8-16. David’s response to this message from the Lord is the clearest commentary upon its true meaning. “And now, O Jehovah God, the word that thou hast spoken concerning thy servant, and concerning his house, confirm thou it forever, and do as thou hast spoken. And let thy name be magnified forever, saying, Jehovah of hosts is God over Israel; and the house of thy servant David shall be established before thee. For thou, O Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel, hast revealed to thy servant, saying, I will build thee a house: therefore hath thy servant found in his heart to pray this prayer unto thee. And now, O Lord Jehovah, thou art God, and thy words are truth, and thou hast promised this good thing unto thy servant: now therefore let it please thee to bless the house of thy servant, that it may continue forever before thee; for thou, O Lord Jehovah, hast spoken it: and with thy blessing let the house of thy servant be blessed forever.” 2 Sam. 7:25-29. It is perfectly clear that the blessing which was to come upon the house of David so that it should continue forever was the blessing of salvation from sin and death through the gift of the eternal Son, “who was born of the seed of David according to the flesh.” This was the Seed which would endure forever, and through whom the house of David would continue forever. Only by the coming of this Seed could the promises to David be fulfilled, and to the coming of this Seed they definitely pointed. He was the King by whose reign of righteousness the throne of David would be established forever. All this is emphasized repeatedly in what is said of Jesus of Nazareth, the promised Messiah, the Seed who according to the original promise would bruise the serpent’s head. Note what was said to Mary concerning the birth of Jesus: “Thou shalt . . . bring forth a son, and shalt call his name Jesus. He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Most High: 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.” So well were these promises to David understood by the people at the time of the first advent, that they commonly referred to Jesus as “the son of David.” Thus the blind men said, “Have mercy on us, thou son of David.” The Canaanitish woman cried, “Have mercy on me, O Lord, thou son of David.” At the time of the triumphal entry into Jerusalem the multitude raised their voices in a great chorus, saying, “Hosanna to the son of David: Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.” Even the Pharisees understood that this promised son of David was the Messiah, and so when “Jesus asked them a question saying, What think ye of the Christ [the anointed one, the Messiah]? whose son is he? They say unto him, The son of David.” And when Jesus had given that gracious invitation to the multitude “on the last day, the great day of the feast,” such a conviction of his Messiahship rested upon his hearers that “some of the multitude therefore, when they heard these words, said, This is of a truth the prophet. Others said, This is the Christ. But some said, What, doth the Christ come out of Galilee? Hath not the Scripture said that the Christ cometh of the seed of David, and from Bethlehem, the village where David was?” The apostle Paul bore witness to the same truth when he declared to the people assembled in the synagogue in Antioch of Pisidia that in David the Lord found a man after his own heart, and that “of this man’s seed hath God according to promise brought unto Israel a Saviour, Jesus.” And in holy vision that same Saviour said unto John, and through him unto us, “I Jesus have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things for the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, the bright, the morning star.” But only in the second coming of Jesus and the establishment of the everlasting kingdom of peace and righteousness in the earth will the fulness of the promises to David be realized. And the promises to David involve the resurrection of the dead and the life everlasting just as surely as did the promises to Abraham. In the same way, we who are Christ’s are heirs to David’s throne, just as we are heirs to the new earth by virtue of the promises to Abraham. Thus we, with the faithful of all ages, must wait for the coming of the Seed to whom the promise was made that in him and through him we may enjoy all that was promised. When the Seed shall come as the Lord of glory, we shall be glorified with him.