The Messiah with Three Fathers: Psalm 89:19-37
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Year of Prophecy – Episode 3: From a psalm about David, discover how the psalmist shifts into describing not just David, but also how God would step into history through one of his descendants.
Read the transcript:
Picking up where we left off in our last episode, for this episode we will look at a psalm that contains a similar theme as we focused on for our last episode. While on the surface, this psalm focuses on David, at several parts of it though, we find foreshadowing of David’s descendant, the Messiah, and some fascinating details within this psalm speak to the Messiah being both David’s descendant as well as God’s own Son.
I suspect that later on, as we begin wrapping up this year of podcasting the prophecies Jesus fulfilled, we’ll circle back around and look at this theme again.
However, since we are looking at prophecies that relate to Jesus’ birth, let’s dive into this psalm and discover together some additional things connecting Jesus’ life and ministry to David’s life. Our psalm and prophetic passage for this episode is Psalm, chapter 89, and we will read it using the New American Standard Bible. Starting in verse 19, the psalmist writes:
19 Once You spoke in vision to Your godly ones,And said, “I have given help to one who is mighty;I have exalted one chosen from the people.20 “I have found David My servant;With My holy oil I have anointed him,21 With whom My hand will be established;My arm also will strengthen him.22 “The enemy will not deceive him,Nor the son of wickedness afflict him.23 “But I shall crush his adversaries before him,And strike those who hate him.24 “My faithfulness and My lovingkindness will be with him,And in My name his horn will be exalted.25 “I shall also set his hand on the seaAnd his right hand on the rivers.26 “He will cry to Me, ‘You are my Father,My God, and the rock of my salvation.’27 “I also shall make him My firstborn,The highest of the kings of the earth.28 “My lovingkindness I will keep for him forever,And My covenant shall be confirmed to him.29 “So I will establish his descendants foreverAnd his throne as the days of heaven.
Pausing reading this psalm briefly, what is described here is amazing. For those familiar with David’s family, he was the youngest son of several sons, but here God describes making him His first-born son, and the highest of the kings of the earth. I suspect that the One described in verses 26-29 not only represents David on one level, but also the Messiah.
In these few verses, we find the person being described as calling God His Father, being made a firstborn, being the highest of the kings of the earth, having His covenant confirmed to Him, having His descendants be established forever, and making His throne as the days of heaven. While some of these descriptive ideas can easily relate to David, others lean more towards the Messiah as one of David’s descendants.
Let’s continue reading this psalm. Picking back up in verse 30, the psalmist continues writing:
30 “If his sons forsake My lawAnd do not walk in My judgments,31 If they violate My statutesAnd do not keep My commandments,32 Then I will punish their transgression with the rodAnd their iniquity with stripes.33 “But I will not break off My lovingkindness from him,Nor deal falsely in My faithfulness.34 “My covenant I will not violate,Nor will I alter the utterance of My lips.35 “Once I have sworn by My holiness;I will not lie to David.36 “His descendants shall endure foreverAnd his throne as the sun before Me.37 “It shall be established forever like the moon,And the witness in the sky is faithful.” Selah.
In this psalm, we get the amazing picture that from David’s descendants, we can find the Messiah. We focused on this theme during our last episode.
However, two subtle ideas are present in this psalm that are worth paying attention to, and they are the reason I didn’t simply combine our last episode with this one.
The first subtle idea is that the one described in this psalm will call God His Father. While I suspect that David related to God the Father as His Father, this would also be equally, if not more true, with the Messiah. We can see this as we look back at Luke’s gospel, to the passage we focused in on from the gospels in our last episode, which was in Luke, chapter 1, starting in verse 26. However, instead of stopping where we stopped in our last episode, let’s finish this conversation off.
26 Now in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city in Galilee called Nazareth, 27 to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the descendants of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary. 28 And coming in, he said to her, “Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you.” 29 But she was very perplexed at this statement, and kept pondering what kind of salutation this was. 30 The angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; for you have found favor with God. 31 And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name Him Jesus. 32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David; 33 and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and His kingdom will have no end.” 34 Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I am a virgin?” 35 The angel answered and said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; and for that reason the holy Child shall be called the Son of God. 36 And behold, even your relative Elizabeth has also conceived a son in her old age; and she who was called barren is now in her sixth month. 37 For nothing will be impossible with God.” 38 And Mary said, “Behold, the bondslave of the Lord; may it be done to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her.
Tucked within this brief conversation, we discover a paradox. Within Gabriel’s conversation with Mary, we discover that her Son, Jesus, would be the Son of not only David, since verse 32 describes God giving Jesus the throne of His father David, but also the Son of God, as is described in verse 35. In a strange, paradoxical twist, Joseph, Mary’s fiancée at that time and her eventual husband, would not be the biological father of Jesus. Instead, Jesus’ Father would be God the Father. While it is strange to say it in this way, according to Gabriel, Jesus had two Fathers: God the Father, and David, who was also called His father. We could also add Joseph as a third father, since many in the first century saw Joseph that way, especially while Jesus was growing up.
However, the second idea present in this psalm that I want to draw our attention to is that the psalmist, who I suspect was guided by the Holy Spirit, writes that David, or the Messiah, would be made a firstborn. In that culture, the firstborn child, specifically the firstborn son, was the official heir for the estate, and the firstborn would also receive a double portion of the family’s estate when it was divided.
In this psalm, we get the clear idea that we can be adopted into God’s family and made an heir of His estate. However, while estates typically transfer only after the parents’ death in our world, in the spiritual world, the situation is distinctly different, while also being strangely the same.
In the spiritual world, God blessed His Messiah with the rights of a firstborn Son. However, with the inheritance that was His as God’s Messiah, Jesus chose to give up His life so that He would be able to share this inheritance with all his adopted brothers and sisters. Because of Jesus’ death on the cross, we not only can be adopted into God’s family, we can also share in Jesus’ inheritance. And this happens when we align and ally our lives with Him, and when we ask Him to cover our sins with His sacrifice.
As we come to the end of another podcast episode, here are the challenges I will leave you with:
As I always open by challenging you, intentionally seek God first in your life. Choose to ally and align your life with Jesus’ life and let His sacrifice cover your sin-stained life, which then allows you to take part in the blessings of His inheritance. Invite Jesus into your life through the Holy Spirit, and let Him transform you into the person God created you to be.
Also, continue to pray and study the Bible for yourself so you can grow personally closer to God in your own life. While pastors, authors, speakers, or even the occasional podcaster can have interesting ideas to share, always take what you hear and read, and test it against the truth of the Bible. The Bible has stood the test of time as a reliable spiritual guide for life, and that truth isn’t changing anytime – ever.
And as I end every set of challenges by saying in one way or another, never stop short of, back away from, chicken out of, or walk away from where God wants to lead you to in your life with Him!
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