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.
Luke 1:32
As we’ve covered, both Matthew’s and Luke’s Gospels list David in their genealogies. David is one of many names, yet this connection is greatly magnified in the New Testament. Matthew gives special recognition in his first sentence. Jesus was not just descended from the Jewish patriarch, Abraham, but also from the revered Jewish king, David. In addition, Luke also records that the Angel Gabriel told Mary that her Son would be the prophesied One from David’s line (above). Why is that important?
During the reign of King David, God told him through the prophet Nathan that the Messiah would eventually come from his family line. This prophecy can be found in 2 Samuel 7 and 1 Chronicles 17. Solomon also mentioned this when he was dedicating the re-established altar in 2 Chronicles 6. This promise is referred to today as the Davidic Covenant. Isaiah also later prophesied that the Savior would come from the “house of David” (16:5; 22:22) and “reign on David’s throne” (9:7).
The Jews of Jesus’ day were clearly familiar with this prophecy. Many were asking if the Son of David, the foretold Messiah from the tribe of Judah, the one who came from Bethlehem, the town of David (Luke 2:4, 11), had finally come.
Since Matthew was mainly written for a Jewish audience, let’s look at this book for examples of when Jesus was called the Son of David. Some of the instances include the two blind men (Matthew 9:27), the amazed crowd that witnessed one of His miracles (12:23), the Canaanite woman (15:22), and the crowd as He entered Jerusalem on what we call Palm Sunday (21:9, 15).
Due to this prophetic covenant, the first three Gospels mention that Jesus Himself responded to the prophecy that the Messiah would be the Son of David (Matthew 22:41–46; Mark 12:35–37; Luke 20:41–44). He did this by quoting David from Psalm 110:1. After some questions from religious leaders that were meant to trap Jesus were unsuccessful, Jesus asked them why David will one day call the Son of David, Lord.
On the surface, this seems like a contradiction or an inaccuracy in Scripture. However, the explanation is simple. David will call his descendant Lord because Jesus is also the Son of God, supernaturally conceived in human form by a human mother who was from his family line.
The prophecy concerning the title Son of David is but one of the many prophecies we’ve already discussed that Jesus fulfilled. This one, however, was a vital sign to the Jewish people. Pray that many Jews today will have their eyes opened.
