18. Christ the Son of David
18
Christ the Son of David1
Have mercy on me, O Lord, thou son of David.
—Matthew 15:22
Consider why Christ is called the son of David, never the son of Adam or the son of Abraham. It is true that He is frequently called the Son of Man, but never when anyone prays to Him. He is reckoned, in His genealogy, as David’s son, Abraham’s son, the son of Adam. But “son of David” is His ordinary title when prayers are directed to Him in the days of His flesh. The reasons are these:
1. Christ had a special relation to Abraham, being His seed, but more special to David because the covenant was established in a special manner with David as king. He was the first king in whose hand God entrusted the feeding of the church, God’s own flock, as God’s deposit and pawn laid down.2 The Lord established the covenant of grace with David and his son Solomon, who was to build Him a house. God promised to David an eternal kingdom, grace, and perseverance in grace, and all of that was promised by a sure covenant, “the sure mercies of David” (Isa. 55:3; see also 2 Sam. 7:8–16; 1 Chron. 22:9–10). “Yet he hath made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things, and sure: for this is all my salvation, and all my desire” (2 Sam. 23:5). “I have made a covenant with my chosen, I have sworn unto David my servant, thy seed will I establish for ever, and build up thy throne to all generations” (Ps. 89:3–4; see also vv. 21–37). Gabriel, the angel, speaks the same to Zacharias (Luke 1:32–33; see also vv. 68–69; Acts 2:30; 13:34–37). It was necessary, then, that Christ the Messiah should lineally descend from a king: Abraham was not a king; Adam was not formally a king by covenant, as David was.
2. Christ changes names with David as He never did with any other man. Christ is never called Abraham, but He is called David: “My servant David [will be] a prince among them” (Ezek. 34:23–24). “[They shall] seek the LORD their God, and David their king” (Hos. 3:5).
David took a typical throne opposed by the hearts of Jew and Gentile (Ps. 2:1–2), and so did Christ (Acts 4:25–26). David fed the people of God in the midst of many enemies (Ps. 110:1–2), and so did Christ (Acts 2:34–36). This was not so with Abraham; he was a befriended man in a strange land.
1. Trial and Triumph, sermon 7, 73–74.
2. A deposit, in this case, is a contract by which a subject (the church) that belongs to one person (here, God) is entrusted to the care of another (David), to be redelivered on demand. A pawn is a pledge or surety. Rutherford is emphasizing the sureness of God’s covenant with David.