But I will settle him in mine house and in my kingdom for ever: and his throne shall be established for evermore.
The verse stands in God's answer through Nathan to David's plan to build a house worthy of the divine majesty, for David first conceived the design and opened his mind to the prophet, God accepted his good intentions but refused him the honor of building, and the temple was afterward laid, completed and dedicated by his son Solomon. The promise reaches beyond Solomon to Christ's future rule on David's throne, since Solomon is the immediate son who would build the temple and be disciplined for wrongdoing, while the promise of a throne established forever is fulfilled through Christ. It reaches David himself, his seed who is Christ the heir to the throne, and Israel over whom Christ is appointed to reign.
The house and throne promised are heavenly, for Christ's throne is in the Father's house, where he now sits on the Father's throne, and the earthly Jerusalem was rejected, so the promise is not fulfilled in the house of Jerusalem that then existed. Christ's throne is settled forever in God's own house and in God's own kingdom because as Son of God as well as son of David his throne belongs in the house and city of God. His reign rightly begins in heaven, at his capital the New Jerusalem, and there is no inconsistency in his commencing his reign where David never reigned, since David's right was secondary and held by sufferance while God's right is first and original. The verse places Christ's reign in God's house and city, identified with the New Jerusalem, whose location determines the kingdom's seat of power, so that Christ begins his reign in heaven, and the duration of his reign there depends on when the New Jerusalem descends to earth.
"Establish" can mean setting up a kingdom or confirming it. The Father's work is to give the kingdom and invest the Son with royal authority, and the Son's work is to order and rule the kingdom he receives, and the kingdom is given to Christ in heaven before his return. "Establish" means set up as in Daniel 2:44, where the God of heaven, the Father and not the Son, sets up the kingdom. Establishing is ascribed to both Father and Son, but their works are different: the Father sets the kingdom up and settles the Son in it by giving him the throne and kingdom and putting his enemies under him, and that conferring is accomplished in heaven before the second advent, while the Son orders it and establishes it with judgment and justice and does all the ruling, breaking, dashing, and destroying of his enemies in what he has received from his Father.
The final fulfillment is certain because Christ, both Son of God and son of David, Son of God and Son of man and both son and Lord of David, overcame the enemy's power, temptation, and sin where a merely human son like Solomon failed. For its human subjects the promise is conditional on obedience, and obedience to God's law is the means of securing an interest in the kingdom promises. Disobedience could bring punishment and temporarily overturn the kingdom, but it would not make God unfaithful to his promise. The same law that underlies the promise to Abraham underlies this promise to David, for Christ is both the seed of Abraham and the son of David and heir to David's throne, and people become partakers of both sets of promises by the same means and on the same conditions of obedience.
The verse stands in God's answer through Nathan to David's plan to build a house worthy of the divine majesty, for David first conceived the design and opened his mind to the prophet, God accepted his good intentions but refused him the honor of building, and the temple was afterward laid, completed and dedicated by his son Solomon. The promise reaches beyond Solomon to Christ's future rule on David's throne, since Solomon is the immediate son who would build the temple and be disciplined for wrongdoing, while the promise of a throne established forever is fulfilled through Christ. It reaches David himself, his seed who is Christ the heir to the throne, and Israel over whom Christ is appointed to reign.
The house and throne promised are heavenly, for Christ's throne is in the Father's house, where he now sits on the Father's throne, and the earthly Jerusalem was rejected, so the promise is not fulfilled in the house of Jerusalem that then existed. Christ's throne is settled forever in God's own house and in God's own kingdom because as Son of God as well as son of David his throne belongs in the house and city of God. His reign rightly begins in heaven, at his capital the New Jerusalem, and there is no inconsistency in his commencing his reign where David never reigned, since David's right was secondary and held by sufferance while God's right is first and original. The verse places Christ's reign in God's house and city, identified with the New Jerusalem, whose location determines the kingdom's seat of power, so that Christ begins his reign in heaven, and the duration of his reign there depends on when the New Jerusalem descends to earth.
"Establish" can mean setting up a kingdom or confirming it. The Father's work is to give the kingdom and invest the Son with royal authority, and the Son's work is to order and rule the kingdom he receives, and the kingdom is given to Christ in heaven before his return. "Establish" means set up as in Daniel 2:44, where the God of heaven, the Father and not the Son, sets up the kingdom. Establishing is ascribed to both Father and Son, but their works are different: the Father sets the kingdom up and settles the Son in it by giving him the throne and kingdom and putting his enemies under him, and that conferring is accomplished in heaven before the second advent, while the Son orders it and establishes it with judgment and justice and does all the ruling, breaking, dashing, and destroying of his enemies in what he has received from his Father.
The final fulfillment is certain because Christ, both Son of God and son of David, Son of God and Son of man and both son and Lord of David, overcame the enemy's power, temptation, and sin where a merely human son like Solomon failed. For its human subjects the promise is conditional on obedience, and obedience to God's law is the means of securing an interest in the kingdom promises. Disobedience could bring punishment and temporarily overturn the kingdom, but it would not make God unfaithful to his promise. The same law that underlies the promise to Abraham underlies this promise to David, for Christ is both the seed of Abraham and the son of David and heir to David's throne, and people become partakers of both sets of promises by the same means and on the same conditions of obedience.