“His descendants shall endure forever"

Psalm 89:14-37 from the daily reading in the One Year Bible

Righteousness and justice are the foundation of Your throne;
Lovingkindness and truth go before You.
¹⁵ How blessed are the people who know the joyful sound!
O Lord, they walk in the light of Your countenance.
¹⁶ In Your name they rejoice all the day,
And by Your righteousness they are exalted.
¹⁷ For You are the glory of their strength,
And by Your favor our horn is exalted.
¹⁸ For our shield belongs to the Lord, And our king to the Holy One of Israel.

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 sea
And 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 forever
And his throne as the days of heaven.

³⁰ “If his sons forsake My law
And do not walk in My judgments,
³¹ If they violate My statutes
And do not keep My commandments,
³² Then I will punish their transgression with the rod
And 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 forever
And 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. 

Today’s text begins saying:  Righteousness and justice are the foundation of Your throne; Lovingkindness and truth go before You.  How blessed are the people who know the joyful sound! O Lord, they walk in the light of Your countenance.  In Your name they rejoice all the day, And by Your righteousness they are exalted.   The text ends saying:  “Once I have sworn by My holiness; I will not lie to David. His descendants shall endure forever
And his throne as the sun before Me. It shall be established forever like the moon, And the witness in the sky is faithful.”   God promised David that his descendants would rule on his throne forever. When we look at the historical accounts of those who followed David, we see that many of them did not follow the Lord. They did not walk in the light of His countenance. God did not lie though. Even though the descendants of David strayed from God, Jesus, God’s Son, was raised up from the line of David.  It is Jesus who will reign forever. He is the fulfillment of the righteousness and justice of God. He sits both upon the throne of David and upon the heavenly throne with the Father. Jesus is the fulfillment of the loving kindness and truth of God.  In John 8:12 Jesus says:  “I am the Light of the world; he who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life.”   Blessed are they who walk in His light.  2 Corinthians 5:21 says:  God made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.  Those who walk in the light are exalted as righteous in Christ.  Romans 8:14-17 says:  All who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.  For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, “Abba! Father!” The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ.   In His righteousness, we too as children of God become heirs with Christ, heirs of the kingdom and the throne of God. We are restored through the cross and the resurrection to the position God intended for us from the beginning. Genesis 1:26-28 says:  Then God said,  “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. God blessed them; and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”    We too then should reign from a foundation of righteousness and justice. Loving kindness and truth should go before us. 

The text says:  You are the glory of their strength, And by Your favor our horn is exalted. For our shield belongs to the Lord, And our king to the Holy One of Israel.  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. I have found David My servant; With My holy oil I have anointed him,  With whom My hand will be established; My arm also will strengthen him. The enemy will not deceive him, Nor the son of wickedness afflict him. But I shall crush his adversaries before him, And strike those who hate him. My faithfulness and My lovingkindness will be with him, And in My name his horn will be exalted. I shall also set his hand on the sea And his right hand on the rivers. He will cry to Me, ‘You are my Father, My God, and the rock of my salvation.’ I also shall make him My firstborn, The highest of the kings of the earth. My lovingkindness I will keep for him forever, And My covenant shall be confirmed to him. So I will establish his descendants forever And his throne as the days of heaven.” In Matthew 26:28, when Jesus shared the Last Passover Supper with His disciples, after they had eaten, He took the cup and said:  “This is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for forgiveness of sins.”  Jesus fulfilled the covenant of David and in Him, we too share in all of the promises of that covenant. We are sealed and anointed with the Holy Spirit; that we might walk in the fulness of Him who chose us. 

Thank You heavenly Father, Lord Jesus Christ and precious Holy Spirit, Your righteousness and justice are forever and forever loving kindness and truth go before You. Thank You that through the cross and the resurrection, I too have been made complete in Your righteousness and walk in the light of Your countenance.   Amen.