God’s Promised King 

by Joshua Cleveland

In Jeremiah 23, YHWH speaks to His prophet of the coming judgment on the “shepherds of Israel” for their sinful living and refusal to speak the truth of His word to Israel. What becomes a lengthy rebuke of the prophets begins with a very clear promise of God’s love for His people and His faithfulness to His covenant with King David: “Behold, the days are coming,” declares the Lord, “When I will raise up for David a righteous Branch; And He will reign as king and act wisely And do justice and righteousness in the land.  In His days Judah will be saved, And Israel will dwell securely; And this is His name by which He will be called, ‘The Lord our righteousness.’” (Jer. 23:5-6 NASB)

What this prophecy teaches us about God’s promised “righteous Branch” is that he will reign as a wise, just, and righteous king, it will be in His day that Judah is saved, and He will allow Israel to dwell securely. These three great promises were not made to Israel because they were worthy of such a king. Far from it! God, through Jeremiah, consistently rebuked Judah for their rebellious, sinful living and spoke of coming judgment. So, why was God going to do these things for Judah and Israel? Because of King David and His covenant with him.

Note that God says He will raise  “for David a righteous Branch,” so it was not because of Judah that God would send the Branch, but for David. This is because of God’s promise to David in 2 Samuel 7:12-13. The Branch, the righteous king, would fulfill God’s promise to establish David’s throne forever. How would God fulfill this promise to David of an eternal throne?

Ultimately, it was in Jesus of Nazareth that God fulfilled His promise to David, Judah, and Israel. Peter preached in Acts 2 that Jesus was attested to by God’s power (Acts 2:22-24) and that David also prophesied about Jesus (Acts 2:25-35). Then he declared that Jesus, the righteous king, had been crucified by His people (Acts 2:36). All of this happened so that through the death of the Righteous One, God might exalt Him to His eternal throne in heaven (Eph. 1:3-14, 18-23), and thereby fulfill His promise to David of an eternal kingdom. One where all of God’s people, Jew and Gentile alike, can dwell in the righteousness, justice, wisdom, and salvation of the righteous Branch, Jesus the Christ. Jeremiah 23:5-6 was not just a reminder of God’s covenant with David; it was a message for God’s people of His loyal love, His covenant-keeping, and His grace that would forgive sins and remember them no more. These two verses should be a source of hope and joy for the saved, resulting in the offering of praise to God and His Righteous King.

The Rumors of Canaanite Destruction by Joshua Cleveland

In 2017, the Internet was flooded by news reports that greatly exaggerated the results of a study.  The remains of 4 Canaanite bodies, some 3,700 years old, were shown to have DNA connections with modern-day Lebanese. These results sparked a whirlwind of articles and news reports that all claimed that the biblical account of Joshua has been soundly disproven because there are descendants of the Canaanites still alive today. Here are a few examples of the titles to these reports:  

• “Study disproves the Bible’s suggestion that the ancient Canaanites were wiped out” (The Telegraph)
• “Bible says Canaanites were wiped out by Israelites but scientists just found their descendants living in Lebanon” (The Independent)
• “Bronze Age DNA disproves the Bible’s claim that the Canaanites were wiped out: Study says their genes live on in modern-day Lebanese people” (Daily Mail)

The problem with these articles is that they show a lack of understanding about the actual biblical account of Joshua and the book of Judges. At Joshua’s death, the people had taken a good portion of the promised land, however they had failed to take all of it. Thus, when Joshua died the people asked YHWH, “Who shall go up first for us against the Canaanites, to fight against them?” (Judges 1:1) It was Judah that YHWH chose to go up against the Canaanites, and for a time Judah and the other tribes were successful at destroying the nations of the land.

The problem arose later when in Judges 1:27-36 each of the tribes failed to fully destroy the nations of the land. This led to the people of Israel living in the land with many of the very people God condemned, “…so the Canaanites persisted in living in that land. It came about when Israel became strong, that they put the Canaanites to forced labor, but they did not drive them out completely.” (Judges 1:27b-28) So, unlike many of the articles claim, this DNA testing has resulted in confirming God’s word to be true.

But more than giving us further confidence in the truth of God’s word, this whole event should be a moment for us to consider the dangers of half-measures in our service to God. Israel failed to fully drive out the nations of the land, and this resulted in them adopting their customs and idolatry. When we only remove sin from our lives with half-measures we are only setting ourselves up to fail God and fall prey to worldly propaganda. We must serve the Lord fully, and not fail to bring about the obedience of faith in our lives.

“Incline your ear and come to Me.

Listen, that you may live;

And I will make an everlasting covenant with you,

According to the faithful mercies shown to David.”

- Isaiah 55:3

In Isaiah 55 God invites all who hunger and thirst to come and eat and drink freely. All are invited to find food that truly satisfies and food that is without cost, rather than spending money on the food that does not satisfy. Then in the third verse, the prophet sets forth what is required of those who come and eat, they must incline their ears to the Lord and listen to Him. By doing this they will live and receive an everlasting covenant. That covenant is characterized by God in terms of the faithful mercies shown to David. To understand this new covenant that God is offering to those who come to Him, listen, and find life, we must look back upon the covenant that God made with David and His faithful mercies that accompanied it.

God’s Everlasting Covenant With David (2 Samuel 7:8-16)

David was a man after God’s own heart (1 Sam. 13:14), and God’s loyalty to David was shown in the blessing of an everlasting covenant. This covenant established David’s throne in Jerusalem and promised loyalty to David’s descendants (2 Sam. 12:12, 16). Ultimately, this covenant would lead to the coming of the Messiah and the salvation of all who believe. God’s covenant promised a close bond between God and those who would come after David, as father and son, and of the mercy that would be shown to David’s descendants because of God’s lovingkindness (2 Sam. 12:14-15).

This covenant remains even today in the reign of Christ over all things as He is seated at the right hand of God. As God kept His promise to David of an everlasting covenant, we are invited to enter into a similar everlasting covenant through the work of Jesus. When we enter into that covenant through faith and baptism we become a part of an unshakeable kingdom, inheritors of eternal life, and find the mercy and grace of God which cleanses us of our sins (Heb. 12:25-29; Heb. 4:14-16).

Our Covenant In Christ (Hebrews 8)

The Hebrew writer makes the case that we serve a greater and better high priest than any earthly priest. This greater high priest is Jesus the Christ, and He is greater because He was called by God, He endured temptation yet did not sin, He offered His own blood and body as the offering for sin, and in His one offering God was satisfied (Hebrews 1-7, 10). Thus, Jesus is a perpetual priest (Hebrews 7) and His work endures forever being wholly pleasing to God (Hebrews 10:11-18). In Jesus’ death and His blood that the new covenant was inaugurated (Heb. 8:6-13). It is better because it, “has been enacted on better promises,” specifically the promise of atonement for sins, that all people can be made holy and blameless, that all who die with Christ will live eternally as He lives, and that those who join themselves to Christ become His brothers and sons of God (Eph. 1:3-14).

This is the everlasting covenant that God offers to us in Isaiah 55. It is freely available, costs us nothing, and blesses us with everything that will truly satisfy and preserve our souls. Will we answer His call, incline our ears to Him, listen to Him, and find life, mercy, and blessing?

Joshua Cleveland