Last time we looked at the second chapter of Luke’s gospel where the angel Gabriel tells Mary that she will conceive in her womb and bear a son (Luke 2:31). But what we didn’t look at was the second half of Gabriel’s message to Mary where he declares that Jesus will also be king:
“He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end” (Luke 2:32-33).
When we examine the gospel accounts, we find that very few people had issue with Jesus as a prophet. In John chapter three, Nicodemus tells Jesus: “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God” (John 3:2). When Jesus reveals to the woman at the well her sin in John chapter four, she responds: “Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet” (John 4:19). And in the sixteenth chapter of Matthew’s gospel:
Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, ‘Who do people say that the Son of Man is?’ And they said, ‘Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.’ (Matthew 16:13-14)
What is harder to find are declarations and confessions of Jesus as king. The most familiar one is probably when Jesus enters Jerusalem on a donkey with the people shouting:
“Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David! Hosanna in the highest!” (Mark 11:9b-10)
While we do find a couple accounts of people declaring Jesus to be the son of David, we do not hear the religious leaders and chief priests of Israel declare him as king. Sadly, they kill Him for His claim to the throne:
“[Pilate] said to the Jews, ‘Behold your King!’ They cried out, ‘Away with him, away with him, crucify him!’ Pilate said to them, ‘Shall I crucify your King?’ The chief priests answered, ‘We have no king but Caesar.’ So he delivered him over to them to be crucified.” (John 19:14c-16)
Although Pilate referred to Jesus as king of the Jews, it was a mockery, because there had not been a king in Israel since the exile of the kingdom of Judah into Babylon. The legitimacy of Jesus’ claim to the throne rests upon matters of parentage. We know from the Old Testament that only a descendent of David could sit on the throne of Israel:
“Now, therefore, thus you shall say to my servant David, ‘Thus says the LORD of hosts, I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep, that you should be prince over my people Israel […] Moreover, the LORD declares to you that the LORD will make you a house. When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. He shaAll build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.” (2 Samuel 7:8; 11b-13)
This prophecy refers to David’s son Solomon and the temporal kingdom ruled by David’s family, but it also refers to a greater eternal kingdom which will be ruled by David’s greater son of another nature. This is why Gabriel declared to Mary that God would give Jesus the throne of his father David and his kingdom shall never end.
As was stated before, there is still an issue Jesus must address if he is to lay claim to the throne of David. At the time of his birth there was no kingdom, and there was no king! We already know there hadn’t been a king in Judah since the exile to Babylon. Why hadn’t the Jews reestablished the throne? They rebuilt Jerusalem and, eventually, the temple — but why not the throne? Were all the king’s descendants killed by the Babylonians? No. So then perhaps the Babylonians destroyed all the records and no one knew who the descendants of Solomon were? No, the roadblock wasn’t caused by the Babylonians, or the Romans. The roadblock to the throne was caused by God.
Coniah was the Grandson of king Josiah, but unlike Josiah, he was a very wicked king. God was so angry with Coniah’s wickedness that he sent the prophet Jeremiah to pronounce a curse upon him:
“‘As I live, declares the LORD, though Coniah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, were the signet ring on my right hand, yet I would tear you off and give you into the hand of those whom seek your life, into the hand of those of whom you are afraid, even into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon’ […] Thus says the LORD: ‘Write this man down as childless, a man who shall not succeed in his days, for none of his offspring shall succeed in sitting on the throne of David and ruling again in Judah.’” (Jeremiah 22:24-25; 30)
Now we can begin to understand why so few Jews in Jesus’ time took his claim as king seriously. God’s curse made it impossible for any of Solomon’s descendants to fulfill the covenant God had made with David. So how could Jesus lay claim to the throne? The answer lies in the nature of the virgin birth.
In the gospel of Matthew, we find the genealogy of Joseph (Matthew 1:1-16). Joseph was a direct descendant of Solomon and Coniah. This means Joseph was the representative of the royal house of David and held the legal right to the throne, but he also was under God’s curse. Because he was an offspring of Coniah he, nor anyone born from his seed, could ever rule the kingdom. This is where the importance of the virgin birth comes into play. Joseph was betrothed to Mary, but Joseph could not take part in the conception of Jesus because if he had, Jesus would have become a blood descendant of Coniah, thus inheriting the curse. Instead of conceiving Jesus as his son, Joseph would adopt him legally. Dr. Kevin Bauder explains, saying:
“By completing his marriage covenant with Mary, Joseph legally claimed Jesus as his own. As the eldest son, Jesus would inherit all the rights, honors, and privileges of the Solomonic line. Since he was not an actual biological descendent of Joseph, however, He did not come under the curse of Coniah. Jesus stood legally in Solomon’s dynasty and inherited the right to the throne and the kingdom, yet He was not barred from these privileges by the curse on Coniah.”[1]
Through Joseph, Jesus has legal claim to the Solomonic line, but because of the curse of Coniah he cannot be an actual biological descendant. This leaves us with one last hurdle to clear because, as we will recall in 2 Samuel, God promised David that an actual biological descendant would establish the kingdom forever. Jesus still needs to be a biological descendant of David.
The solution to our conundrum lies with his mother Mary. Matthew shows us Jesus’ legal genealogy through Joseph, but Luke traces his biological genealogy through Mary (Luke 3:23-38). Luke shows us that Mary was also a biological descendant of David through his son Nathan, and not through Solomon. This means Jesus is both the legal heir to the throne through Solomon, and the biological descendant of David through Nathan. Thus, Jesus is the rightful king of Israel, negating the curse, and the fulfillment of God’s covenant with David as a true son of his flesh.
None of this would be possible without the virgin birth. Through this miraculous event God delivers on His word to David, while simultaneously not violating the curse of Coniah. God’s integrity, righteousness, and justice are fulfilled through the virgin birth.
Without the virgin birth, Jesus could not be the Christ. He would not be able to claim the throne of David if Joseph were his biological father, thus he would not be our perfect king. He also would not be able to call himself the son of God, therefore he would not be our perfect priest. But! We can rejoice in the truth that Jesus is our perfect priest, our perfect king, and our perfect redeemer. He is without a doubt the Messiah.
As the great hymnist Charles Wesley wrote:
Hark! the herald angels sing,
“Glory to the newborn King:
peace on earth, and mercy mild,
God and sinners reconciled!”
Joyful, all ye nations, rise,
join the triumph of the skies;
with th’angelic hosts proclaim,
“Christ is born in Bethlehem!”Christ, by highest heaven adored,
Christ, the everlasting Lord,
late in time behold him come,
offspring of the Virgin’s womb:
veiled in flesh the Godhead see;
hail th’incarnate Deity,
pleased with us in flesh to dwell,
Jesus, our Immanuel.
[1] https://centralseminary.edu/why-the-virgin-birth/; Kevin Bauder, December 4, 2020