Apostle Peter’s interpretation of the prophecy of the throne of David

Study of the Apostle Peter’s Sermon in Jerusalem

<Act2:30-32> But he was a prophet and knew that God had promised him on oath that he would place one of his descendants on his throne. Seeing what was ahead, he spoke of the resurrection of the Christ, that he was not abandoned to the grave, nor did his body see decay. God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of the fact.

The apostle Peter’s sermon above is based on a quote from two Old Testament prophecies:

<2Sam7:12-13> When your days are over and you rest with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring to succeed you, who will come from your own body, and I will establish his kingdom. He is the one who will build a house for my Name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.

<Psalms16:9-10> Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; my body also will rest secure, because you will not abandon me to the grave, nor will you let your Holy One see decay.

Using the prophecies from the two verses above, we can rewrite the sermons of the apostle Peter to make them easier to understand as follows.

① God promised David, “I will raise up one of your descendants to sit on your throne” (2 Samuel 7:12).

② As a prophet, David foresaw that Christ would rise again from the dead after hearing that “the kingdom will be forever strong” (2 Samuel 7:13).

③ Why did David say “you will not abandon me to the grave, nor will you let your Holy One see decay”(Psalm 16:10). It was because he knew that the throne of David did not mean a 40-year throne of himself which would stop when he died. Therefore, we can say, David realized that the eternal throne that God promised meant the throne of Jesus Christ.

The prophecy of David’s throne, promised to be eternal, was fully fulfilled by Jesus’ resurrection. The apostles preached that the prophecy of David’s throne was fully fulfilled by Jesus’ resurrection. If Jesus died like a natural David and died in the tomb, the apostles would not believe that Jesus was the Christ.

Records Supporting the Apostle Peter’s Interpretation of Prophecy

1. Isaiah

<Isa9:6-7> For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the LORD Almighty will accomplish this.

Isaiah prophesied that Jesus would be given the throne of David and that his throne would be eternal. These words of Isaiah should be understood in connection with the words explained earlier (2 Sam. 7: 12–13; Ps. 16:10). Isaiah’s prophecy is that the physical throne of David ceased for 40 years, but the throne of Jesus is eternal.

2. Luke

<Luke1:32-33> He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David,

and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end.”

Before Jesus was born, an angel Gabriel appeared to her mother and shared the words of Isaiah’s prophecy. Jesus is “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29). If Jesus were to perish like the sinners, would he be able to sit on David’s throne and be the eternal king? Can he preserve his country forever in equity and justice?

The apostles’ interpretation of the prophecy of David’s throne is undoubtedly clear. The apostles believed that the prophecy could be fulfilled when Jesus was not left in the wild and the flesh was not rot, that is, when he was resurrected from the dead and resurrected into a spiritual body.

3. Act

<Act5:30-31> The God of our fathers raised Jesus from the dead–whom you had killed by hanging him on a tree. God exalted him to his own right hand as Prince and Savior that he might give repentance and forgiveness of sins to Israel.

The apostles said that God raised Jesus from the dead and raised him with his right hand (sitting on David) to make him king and Savior. The kingdom that Jesus received after His resurrection is not a nation of this world like the physical David. In Pilate’s court, Jesus said, “My kingdom is not of this world” (John 18:36).

4. Romans

<Rom1:2-4> the gospel he promised beforehand through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures regarding his Son, who as to his human nature was a descendant of David, and who through the Spirit of holiness was declared with power to be the Son of God by his resurrection from the dead: Jesus Christ our Lord.

To be spiritual David, two prophetic conditions must be fulfilled. ① He must be born of the natural lineage of David (2 Sam. 7:12). ② He must be resurrected and the throne must be eternal (Ps. 16:10). The apostle Paul wrote in Romans that Jesus was the Christ who fulfilled both of these prophetic conditions.

If Jesus had stayed in the fleshly David’s line, and if he was in the flesh to die, he would not have received the throne of David forever. Because anyone who has a body of blood that is bound to die is impossible to rule over or preserve the spiritual kingdom of David.

We must not forget another important fact in the prophecy of David’s throne. God promised to choose one of David’s physical offspring (Acts 2:30 vs. 2 Samuel 17:12). In other words, to receive the spiritual throne of David, one must be born of David’s physical lineage.

False Claims of the World Mission Society Church of God

WMSCOG honors Ahn Sang-hong as a spiritual David. However, their argument is a futile content that cannot be established as a biblical doctrine for several reasons as follows.

First, the throne of David was fully fulfilled by the resurrection of Jesus Christ, born of David’s physical lineage. Therefore, no further part of King David’s prophecy needs to be fulfilled after Jesus.

Second, if you are to fulfill David’s prophecy, you must be born physically of David. The logic that Ahn Sang-hong, a Korean, claims to be spiritual David cannot be established.

Third, it is only a joke to divide the 40 years of the physical throne of David into three and 37 years to fit into the life of Ahn Sang-hong. Such people stir up your interest with erratic ideas and then cause you to ignore the real serious problems in the throne of David. They focus your attention on the wrong place and make you confusing.