Why did many millions of people around the world watch the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II, a 96-year-old woman who had reigned for 70 years? Why in a modern world are people fascinated by the person who wears the crown of Great Britain? Aren’t kings and queens out of date and out of place in our modern technological world?

Could there be something more than mere celebrity and glamor connected with this ancient institution known as the British monarchy?

Britain’s monarchy is among the oldest in the world. It’s traced back to early English and Norman kings as well as rulers of Scotland. It’s a constitutional monarchy, meaning the sovereign does not hold absolute power. However, the British monarchy has a history and mystique that makes it unique among all current monarchies.

The attention, the fascination and the emotional impact of the Queen’s passing points to something beyond this time. When we understand the full story, we see a lot more to the royal family than just wealth, fame, privilege and celebrity. We can conclude there is a connection to God, to biblical history, to vital understanding about today’s world and to future prophecy.

Tracing to King David

In a column written just days after the death of Queen Elizabeth II, British journalist Melanie Phillips reflected on the critical role of the British monarchy to the unity of the United Kingdom. As the crowds poured into the streets, showing their devotion to the late monarch, Phillips wrote:

“Devotion . . . has a religious significance. In largely secular, godless Britain there is a strong element of the sacred in this relationship between the people and the Crown. The monarch in Britain is consecrated to a higher king . . . The oath that he takes is not to the people but to God. That’s why his duty to serve the people is unbreakable. And that’s why the monarch is a unifying force, and melds the people into a united nation. The royal family helps forge the country into a kind of national family” (“The Momentous Task for King Charles III,” Sept. 16, 2022).

Phillips then made a remarkable connection to a biblical teaching: “Few also appreciate that the British monarchy is patterned on ancient Israel. It’s why the monarch is anointed; it’s why Handel’s ‘Zadok the Priest,’ with its words taken from the first Book of Kings, has been sung [at coronations] . . . Some British monarchs in the past have even purportedly traced their line back to King David”. (emphasis added throughout—see her article at https://melaniephillips.substack.com/p/the-momentous-task-for-king-charles)

We should seriously consider what this British-based writer says. She is connecting current events—the death of Queen Elizabeth and the coronation of King Charles—with the elements of the long history of the British monarchy and ultimately to the Bible and the story of Israel and its most famous leader, King David.

This connection is vital to our understanding of not just this transition of leadership in the United Kingdom and the other nations of the Commonwealth. It is a foundation for a biblical perspective on the world, what we call a biblical worldview. With the Bible as our guide, we can understand today’s world and what lies ahead for the nations, particularly the English-speaking nations of Great Britain, America, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.

The global impact Queen Elizabeth had in her life and death, and the coronation of a new monarch that follows, is a living witness to the truth that God’s promises and covenants with the biblical patriarchs are relevant in today’s world. Those promises continue to shape world events and will have even greater impact in the future.

The fact that the English-speaking nations of the world have accounted for most of the world’s wealth and are still making a significant impact on the modern world is not a coincidence of history. It is connected to the purpose God is working out in history. This understanding is ultimately a part of the gospel or good news concerning the Kingdom that Jesus Christ will bring to the earth—the Kingdom of God.

Promises of what Jesus would do and be

In the Gospel of Luke, we see the angel’s announcement to Mary that she would bear a son. He would be called Jesus and would be the Son of God. His destiny would be to receive the famous throne of David, Israel’s greatest king.

This announcement is part of the gospel or good news of the Kingdom of God and its King and the means to entering it, Jesus Christ. It encapsulates all that Israel had hoped. It was the answer to the messages of all the prophets who had gone before. When fully understood, it points to the future intervention in the affairs of this world at Christ’s second coming. Notice what it says:

“. . . The angel Gabriel was sent by God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. And . . . the angel said to her, ‘. . . You will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David. And He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end” (Luke 1:26-33, emphasis added throughout).

In this announcement we have the heart of the gospel message. The Messiah, born of a virgin, would be “the Son of the Highest” and in fulfillment of many prophecies would be given authority forever through His Kingdom. Here is the gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ as King of Kings.

The throne of His Father David

Yes, that is what the Messiah, Jesus Christ of Nazareth, is—the prophesied King of Israel who will reign over all nations. And as part of the assurance of these prophecies, God said that David’s throne would endure through all generations. It has never ceased. It has continued to reign over Israelite peoples. And that is a testimony to what is yet to come.

The Kingdom of God is a literal realm that Christ will establish over all nations at His return. The announcement to Mary by the angel Gabriel was a prophecy as well. We should recognize that the throne of the Kingdom, on which Jesus Christ will reign, will be a continuation of the throne of King David who ruled over the nation of Israel as described in your Bible.

And what was that throne on which David sat? David was the second human king to reign over all Israel after Saul. What people often forget is that God was the first and true “King” of the tribes of Israel. The Israelites wanted a king like the other nations, and they went to the prophet Samuel and demanded he give them a king.

“But the thing displeased Samuel when they said, ‘Give us a king to judge us.’ So Samuel prayed to the Lord. And the Lord said to Samuel, ‘Heed the voice of the people in all that they say to you; for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected Me, that I should not reign over them. According to all the works which they have done since the day that I brought them up out of Egypt, even to this day—with which they have forsaken Me and served other gods—so they are doing to you also’” (1 Samuel 8:6-8; compare 12:12).

God reigned over Israel from the time He delivered them from Egyptian bondage. While God gave them a physical king as they asked, it was still His throne—albeit delegated in part to a temporal human ruler.

God initially chose Saul but then, due to disobedience, removed him and selected David. Because David was a man after God’s own heart, God promised him an enduring dynasty. Notice what God said: “Also the Lord tells you [David] that He will make you a house [ruling dynasty] . . . I will set up your seed after you, who will come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for My name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever . . . And your house and your kingdom shall be established forever before you. Your throne shall be established forever” (2 Samuel 7:11-16).

In another reference this covenant with David’s house is called a “covenant of salt” (2 Chronicles 13:5)—“salt” being a symbol of permanence. This promise is repeated in Psalm 89 (verses 3-4, 25-27) and again by the prophet Jeremiah (Jeremiah 33:17-26).

Some will say that Jesus fulfilled all this. But that’s not true! Jesus at His first coming did not assume the throne but compared Himself to a nobleman who “went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom and to return” (Luke 19:12).

The Jews and His disciples thought the Kingdom would be restored in their lifetime. But it was not to be then. It is to be in a time yet future. When He returns, Christ will sit on the throne of His father [or ancestor] David under completely different circumstances. It will be His rightful throne reserved according to a promise. As that member of the family of God who led the Israelites through the sea, Christ was the spiritual Rock accompanying them on which the nation was established (1 Corinthians 10:4).

A living witness

So, what happened to the Davidic dynasty? We see that the covenant was forever. That story is told through prophecies given through Jeremiah and Ezekiel. They are part of a connected trail of biblical events, prophecy and promises that form firm links to God’s enduring faithfulness to Abraham, his descendants and to all nations of the earth and all people. When viewed from the biblical perspective they give insights into the gospel of God to fulfill His purpose through Christ. The God who is bringing together all things in Christ has guided history through all its twists and turns to keep intact the key components of His promises and word.

Based on these biblical passages we can conclude that someone, somewhere—who can trace a lineage back to King David—will be sitting, or eligible to sit, on the Davidic throne continuing in every generation until Christ returns to claim it for Himself. It is evident from the Gospel of Luke that Christ is the ultimate claimant: “He shall be great, and will be called the son of the Highest, and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David” (Luke 1:32).

But the prophecies cannot be fulfilled with Christ as the only claimant. (For more on this be sure to read “The Biblical Identity of Britain’s Royal Family”.) The throne of David must exist somewhere today. Christ will come, His feet shall stand on the Mount of Olives and He will rule on the throne of His father David from Jerusalem. God has bound Himself by the rotation of the earth on its axis to fulfill these promises.

The fact that some British monarchs, including Queen Victoria (who reigned more than 63 years from 1837 until 1901), have believed the British monarchy descended from King David is a compelling story. While it will be denied, the genealogies do exist, and many people in or associated with the royal family believed this. It’s not a legend or collection of tortured and twisted interpretations of Scripture. It’s part of the fabric of connecting the Bible with relevant modern history. When understood, it adds a dimension of understanding to explain the modern world.

Inherent in the gospel of God is His promise to bring spiritual salvation to all peoples and nations through His Son Jesus Christ of Nazareth. All of God’s promises regarding His servants the prophets and His Son are sure and faithful. He fulfills them to the utmost detail, even if our human histories and records do not chronicle every event with the accuracy of modern methods and criteria. We must take as truth God’s promises to David. They are either true or not.

Why does this matter? Note that when Jesus was about to ascend to heaven, His disciples had one major question for Him: “Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” (Acts 1:6). So a vital, core message they understood from all their time with Christ was that of restoring Israel’s kingdom and exalting its throne through Him. His response was not to negate this key focus, but to tell them it was not for them to know the time this would happen and that they were to continue as Christ’s witnesses (verses 7-8).

At some point, Christ will return to the earth and sit on the throne of His father David. That throne still exists. In the throne of Great Britain we have a living witness to God’s purpose in today’s world. Christ is at the right hand of the Father in heaven waiting for the time to return and establish a kingdom of righteousness—a kingdom not left to other people. A kingdom different from any kingdom today. This gives us confidence in God’s faithfulness to fulfill all His promises to all peoples.

What about Israel?

God’s enduring faithfulness to Abraham will reach its fullness when Jesus Christ sits on this throne of David in the coming Kingdom. Then Israel will be restored as a people whom Christ will use to teach the way of salvation to the nations.

This key truth explains why a disproportionate share of the world’s wealth is found today in the major English-speaking nations. God told Abraham his descendants would be a multitude of nations—a promise refined to Jacob as a nation and a company of nations (Genesis 35:11). Jacob passed on to his son Joseph those promises, saying that at the end of the age Jacob’s descendants would be a “fruitful bough” (Genesis 49:22).

That God has done this, kept His word, is a marker—a guarantee—that to all peoples and nations He will do the same. When the veil of deception is lifted from the nations, they will learn the way of God:

“Now it shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established on the top of the mountains and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow to it. Many people shall come and say, ‘Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; He will teach us His ways, and we shall walk in His paths.’ For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem” (Isaiah 2:2-3).

The gospel of salvation will be taught from Jerusalem. There will be a time of restoration of blessings to Israel. The great question the apostle Paul asked about his people will be answered.

Paul knew the 10 tribes forming the northern kingdom of Israel had been taken captive centuries earlier and were now scattered among the nations, as were many of the two tribes that formed the southern kingdom of Judah. This is why the apostle James addressed his epistle “to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad” (James 1:1).

Paul, a former Pharisee, had taken the gospel to the Jews, and in the main they rejected the message. In a lament recorded in his letter to the Romans, Paul wished he could be accursed if that would allow his fellow Israelites to be saved (Romans 9:3).

He wrote: “Brethren, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they may be saved. For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and seeking to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted to the righteousness of God” (Romans 10:1-3). Salvation has not come to Israel at large, but it will in the period of Christ’s reign on earth.

God will restore Israel to a position He always intended —a nation being a light to the world: “Surely I have taught you statutes and judgments, just as the Lord my God commanded me, that you should act according to them in the land which you go to possess. Therefore be careful to observe them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples who will hear all these statutes, and say, ‘Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people’” (Deuteronomy 4:5-6).

In the world to come, God will use Israel to teach all nations of the earth!

Notice how Paul brings this out: “Did God’s people stumble and fall beyond recovery? Of course not! They were disobedient, so God made salvation available to the Gentiles. But he wanted his own people to become jealous and claim it for themselves. Now if the Gentiles were enriched because the people of Israel turned down God’s offer of salvation, think how much greater a blessing the world will share when they finally accept it.

“I am saying all this especially for you Gentiles. God has appointed me as the apostle to the Gentiles. I stress this, for I want somehow to make the people of Israel jealous of what you Gentiles [in the Church] have, so I might save some of them. For since their rejection meant that God offered salvation to the rest of the world, their acceptance will be even more wonderful. It will be life for those who were dead!” (Romans 11:11-15, New Living Translation).

He understood his people Israel had rejected God for a time and for a purpose. During that time Jesus Christ came and died, rejected by His own people so the door of salvation would be opened to the gentiles so they could be “enriched.” Just as the work of spiritual salvation has not been finished with Israel, nor has it been finished with all the nations of the world. When Israel’s “acceptance” in the time of restoration occurs, then the nations of the world will come to know the full gospel of God, and a time of salvation for all the world will begin.

Paul knew God had not cast off His people Israel. He knew their hope of life eternal would be fulfilled (Acts 26:6-7). God will restore the kingdom to Israel when Jesus of Nazareth sits on the throne He gave to David. Righteousness will finally be taught from that throne by the very King of Righteousness. God indeed has unfinished business with His people Israel.

God has not left us without witness today of His faith-fulness and His intent to fulfill His grand purpose of salvation for all peoples. A modern monarchy sitting on a legendary throne whose roots can be traced to ancient Israel and King David is a witness God has provided.

Scoffing, denial and rejection of facts do nothing to change truth. God’s Word is true. Some point to the foibles and faults of the British monarchy both present and as far back in the past as you wish to go. Some members of the royal family are indeed human and deeply flawed. Yet so was King David and many of his descendants who reigned in ancient Judah. Some of them were flagrantly evil. In spite of this, God has preserved the Davidic monarchy, faithfully holding to His purpose in every detail. Scripture points us to this. We have a witness!

As Melanie Phillips said in her article, quoted earlier, “Some British monarchs in the past have even purportedly traced their line back to King David.”

There is a reason they did. There is more understanding and biblical truth here than most realize!

The recent funeral of Queen Elizabeth II, the longest-reigning British monarch, was a major world event watched by many millions around the globe. Her passing marks the end of an era, but the age of kings and queens still persists—transitioning now into the reign of her son, King Charles III, scheduled to be crowned later this year in May. The scale of interest in and fascination with the British royal family—its grand occasions along with daily routines and scandals—dwarfs that of any other monarchy on the planet. No other comes close.

Why does the British monarchy have such a high profile? At one time this monarchy reigned over a large portion of the world—and that’s significant. Yet it’s part of a bigger story—one that, unknown to most, remarkably finds its beginnings in the pages of the Bible. According to promises God laid out, an enduring dynasty would be part of the heritage of ancient Israel. Eventually, the dynastic succession would culminate in the Messiah or Christ, a great King of the line of Israel’s King David who would reign on the throne of Israel forever and establish His rule over all nations.

That Messiah, Jesus Christ, came as a descendant of David, but He did not yet occupy the Davidic throne as He was foretold to. In announcing to Mary that she would give birth to the promised Messiah, the angel Gabriel told her: “And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David. And He will reign over the house of Jacob [or Israel] forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end” (Luke 1:31-33; compare Isaiah 9:6-7).

This points to the future Kingdom of God over all nations, as proclaimed in many prophecies—central to the gospel or good news Jesus preached. But we might wonder how this would continue the Israelite dynasty of David, especially since David’s dynasty ceased to reign in the Holy Land when the Babylonians invaded and destroyed Jerusalem around 587 B.C. Was Jesus to inherit a throne that no longer existed—having seemingly been wiped out more than five centuries before His first coming?

As we’ll further see, God made an unbreakable promise to David of an unbreakable dynasty, declaring that his throne would be built up to all generations until the Messiah’s reign, which is yet future. Jesus must return to a great monarchy that still exists in the end time.

We begin here in part 1 of a two-part series in this issue of Beyond Today with God’s establishment of a perpetual Israelite dynasty through King David and His descendants—along with the quandary of that dynasty seemingly ceasing for hundreds of years. (In part 2, we’ll discover the direct connection to the British monarchy.)

The scepter promise: with Judah until the Messiah

We start with the first mentions of a line of kings in Scripture, as revealed in the book of Genesis to the patriarch Abraham and his early descendants, particularly Judah, long before these kings lived.

God promised that Abraham’s descendants would become greatly blessed nations through which the world would be blessed—in part through this line of kings. God told him, “I will make you exceedingly fruitful; and I will make nations of you, and kings shall come from you” (Genesis 17:6).

Some think this refers to various Arab peoples descended from Abraham besides the lineage through his son Isaac and his son Jacob. But the promises of national greatness and of kings is in succeeding passages narrowed down to this primary lineage. In the same chapter we see these were to come through a son from Abraham’s wife Sarah, referring to Isaac: “. . . then I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations; kings of peoples shall be from her” (verse 16).

The promises are later specified to come through Isaac’s son Jacob. As God told him in Genesis 35:11, “Be fruitful and multiply; a nation and a company of nations shall proceed from you, and kings shall come from your body.” God gave Jacob the new name Israel—his 12 sons being the fathers of the 12 tribes of Israel.

We later learn that the birthright blessings of national greatness passed to Jacob’s son Joseph—specifically to Joseph’s two sons Ephraim and Manasseh. In prophesying of the last days, Jacob said that Ephraim would become the great company of nations while Manasseh would become a great single nation (see Genesis 48; 49:1, 22-26).

But we’re further informed that while the birthright of national greatness would go to Joseph’s descendants, the line of kings was given to another tribe, the descendants of Jacob’s son Judah (see 1 Chronicles 5:1-2).

We find this also in Jacob’s prophecy of the last days, wherein he said, “The scepter [or rod of kingly rule] shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh comes; and to Him shall be the obedience of the people” (Genesis 49:10).

“Shiloh” is variously translated as “Peaceable [One],” “Sent [One]” or “[One] Issued Forth” (as offspring). Designating the one to whom the scepter of rule truly belongs, it is commonly understood as a reference to the coming Messiah. So the ruling dynasty was to be of the tribe of Judah until the Messiah comes to reign.

Further regarding Judah, we should take note of the strange incident with the birth of his twin sons Pharez and Zarah (or Perez and Zerah). Zarah’s hand came out first, and a scarlet thread was tied to it to mark the firstborn. But then his hand went back in and the other twin was actually born first, gaining the name Pharez, meaning “breach” or “breaking through” (see Genesis 38:27-30).

This seems a very odd incident to record if it were to have no further significance, especially with Judah’s descendants receiving the royal lineage—birth order being a factor in that. Interestingly, we later see very little in Scripture about the descendants of Zarah, with most of the Jews of the land, including the royal family of David, being the descendants of Pharez. The strange incident here may well have led to clan rivalry. We’ll return to this matter later.

The Davidic covenant: a perpetual dynasty

The descendants of Israel grew into a sizable nation while enslaved in Egypt, and on leaving there under Moses they entered into a covenant with God, acknowledging Him as their Ruler. God was in fact Israel’s first king, prior to the people later calling for a human king at the time of Samuel (see 1 Samuel 12:12; 8:7).

In fact, the Lord who interacted on behalf of God the Father with the people at that time, the spiritual Rock who dwelt in presence among them as their God and Ruler, was the divine Word who became Jesus Christ (John 1:1-3, 14; 8:58; 1 Corinthians 10:4). The throne of the nation belonged to Him, and even more so since He was the Father of mankind and of Israel and its line of kings as the Creator.

God ruled then through chosen judges, priests, prophets, elders and personal intervention to direct communities and individuals. Yet the people rejected God’s system of rule, which had given them a lot of freedom, in favor of a more authoritarian state. Of course, God had foretold a line of kings, but the people’s motivation in this was to be like the other nations around them, with a human champion to protect and rule them. God did authorize a human king—but one who was subject to His laws, including special regulations for kings (Deuteronomy 17:14-20).

It was later explained that Israelite kings “sat on the throne of the Lord” (1 Chronicles 29:23; 2 Chronicles 9:6-8)—reigning as kings for Him in a coregency, the throne still belonging to God.

We have examples humanly of a king appointing his son to the throne to take over the duties of kingship while the father was still alive—as David did with Solomon—so that there were two kings at the same time, one ruling for the other. (And we see this ultimately in what the Father in heaven has done, granting Christ His Son to sit with Him on His throne so that they are both King.) Likewise, Israel’s kings were in a special relationship with God, reigning for Him.

The first human king over the nation, beyond some local attempts in the Judges period, was Saul, who was of the tribe of Benjamin, not of Judah. But then, after Saul persisted in rebelling against God’s directives and was rejected from being king, God chose David, of the tribe of Judah, to reign.

Yet what if Saul had remained faithful? The throne would still have had to pass to Judah somehow, according to the scepter promise—and God could have easily worked that out, probably through intermarriage preserving both lineages.

In 2 Samuel 7:11-16, God promises David that He would have an enduring “house” or royal dynasty through his descendants starting with Solomon, with the throne of the kingdom established forever. “I will be his Father, and he shall be My son,” God says of the Davidic kings (verse 14), speaking of the special relationship He intended to have with these rulers, who were to be as sons reigning as coregents for Him (along with ultimately fulfillment in the future Messiah as the Son of God).

God further states that if David’s successor committed iniquity, God would bring judgment while continuing to show mercy, not cutting off the dynasty as happened with Saul. Yet other verses show that the promise of continuing succession from each particular king was conditional (such as 2 Chronicles 7:17-19)—whereas the overall promise of David’s dynasty continuing was unconditional. Per God’s promises, Solomon was not removed from office when he turned to evil—but He lost the guarantee of succession through His own descendants, so that succession could pass to other Davidic family members.

God did continue the dynasty of David through Solomon’s descendants, but He has not obligated Himself to perpetuate Solomon’s line—whereas He has promised an enduring house of David. The ultimate King to come in the line of David, Jesus Christ, was biologically descended not from Solomon but from another son of David, Nathan. Yet Jesus has inherited from the Solomonic line legally through adoption by Mary’s husband Joseph (see Matthew 1:1-17; Luke 3:23-38).

Following the death of Solomon in the 900s B.C., God brought severe judgment on his unfaithfulness and that of the nation by dividing the nation and minimizing the scope of the Jewish monarchy’s rule for centuries to come. The northern tribes of Israel rebelled against the rule of Solomon’s son Rehoboam and accepted the rule of Jeroboam, a former official of Solomon to whom God gave rule over most of the nation (1 Kings 11-12).

There were now two Israelite kingdoms—the northern kingdom of Israel and the southern kingdom of Judah. The northern kingdom, the house of Israel, was ruled by a series of non-Davidic dynasties and coups, with none of its kings listed in Scripture as righteous. Eventually the Assyrian Empire conquered the nation in the 700s B.C. and took away its people in successive invasions and deportations.

The southern kingdom of Judah continued under the rule of the Davidic dynasty in Jerusalem with mostly wicked kings, and a few righteous ones, until that nation was similarly crushed by Babylonian invasions in the 500s B.C., with the people taken away captive and the last king of Judah dethroned and his sons killed before him.

But how could this happen, considering what God had promised regarding David’s dynasty?

Psalm 89 recounts even more about the important promises made to David, giving us additional details. Yet it does so amid the monarchy suffering ruin, with the writer wondering how God could allow this and asking how long He would let things continue this way.

Verses 3-4 show God declaring, “I have made a covenant with My chosen, I have sworn to My servant David: ‘Your seed I will establish forever, and build up your throne to all generations.’” (We will come back to this aspect shortly.)

God further decrees the powerful future of this monarchy: “Also I will set his hand over the sea, and his right hand over the rivers . . . Also I will make him My firstborn, the highest of the kings of the earth” (verses 25-27).

This dominance over the sea and being the highest of the kings of the earth would apply even before the reign of the Messiah, as it fits here with the time of the kings still violating God’s laws and being judged for this (see verses 31-33).

Yet it’s reiterated that even disobedience by these succeeding rulers would not bring the end of the monarchy. God states: “His seed also I will make to endure forever, and his throne as the days of heaven . . . My covenant I will not break, nor alter the word that has gone out of My lips. Once I have sworn by My holiness; I will not lie to David: His seed shall endure forever, and his throne as the sun before Me; it shall be established forever like the moon, even like the faithful witness in the sky” (verses 29, 34-37).

God’s promises regarding the Davidic dynasty are declared unbreakable. But then came the destruction of Jerusalem and the end of the monarchy in Judah.

Verses 38-45 lament to God: “But You have cast off and abhorred, You have been furious with Your anointed. You have renounced the covenant of Your servant; You have profaned his crown by casting it to the ground. You have broken down all his hedges; You have brought his strongholds to ruin.

“All who pass by the way plunder him; he is a reproach to his neighbors. You have exalted the right hand of his adversaries; You have made all his enemies rejoice. You have also turned back the edge of his sword, and have not sustained him in the battle. You have made his glory cease, and cast his throne down to the ground. The days of his youth You have shortened; You have covered him with shame.”

Did God break His promises after all? Never. We need to understand that some key elements in these promises make it clear that God would not leave the Davidic dynasty in this toppled state for long—that the dynasty would be restored to continue before the generation that witnessed its collapse passed away.

The throne built up to all generations

In Jeremiah 33 we find the promises of an unbreakable dynasty reaffirmed along with continuity in the Levitical priesthood: “For thus says the Lord: ‘David shall never lack a man [a person] to sit on the throne of the house of Israel [significant wording we’ll come back to later] . . .

“If you can break My covenant with the day and My covenant with the night, so that there will not be day and night in their season, then My covenant may also be broken with David My servant, so that he shall not have a son [or descendant] to reign on his throne . . . As the host of heaven cannot be numbered, nor the sand of the sea measured, so will I multiply the descendants of David My servant and the Levites who minister to Me’” (verses 17-22).

God then further states: “If My covenant is not with day and night, and if I have not appointed the ordinances of heaven and earth, then I will cast away the descendants of Jacob and David My servant, so that I will not take any of his descendants to be rulers [plural] over the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. For I will cause their captives to return, and will have mercy on them” (verses 25-26).

To make sense of this, we need to carefully consider what God swore to David in Psalm 89:3-4: “Your seed I will establish forever, and build up your throne to all generations” (emphasis added). This tells us that the throne of David would exist in all generations, a generation being all the people alive at a given time. This actually allows for interregnums or gaps in the reign of the Davidic dynasty—as long as the dynasty was restored within a generation.

There was such a gap in the Davidic throne when Queen Athaliah of the northern house of Ahab took over the rule of Judah for six years while the rightful heir, a young boy named Joash or Jehoash, was kept hidden (2 Kings 11:12; 2 Chronicles 22-23). But the boy was at last made king, it having been stated, “Behold, the king’s son shall reign, as the Lord has said of the sons of David” (verse 3).

Reflecting on what God promised in Jeremiah 33, it is interesting to consider that part of the nation of Judah and the Levitical priesthood were restored within 70 years of the fall of Jerusalem—that is, within the same generation. But what about the throne of David? We see some heirs to the dynasty’s lineage brought back—from whom Jesus Christ descended. But the Davidic monarchy ceased in Judah.

Many maintain that the Davidic dynasty ended with the fall of Jerusalem to the Babylonians and that Jesus inherited a restored Jewish throne at His first coming, assuming rule upon it at His resurrection. But this would mean there was a gap in the reign of David’s dynasty of more than 500 years. How does that fit with the throne being established and built up in all generations from David’s time?

Moreover, Jesus did not assume rule on the earthly throne of David at His first coming or when He ascended to the Father’s throne in heaven after His resurrection. Jesus compared Himself in a parable to a nobleman who “went in to a far country to receive for himself a kingdom and to return” (Luke 19:12). So Jesus will not assume direct rule on David’s throne until His future return, thus seemingly leaving a gap in the Davidic monarchy of more than 2,500 years. Such a gap of many, many generations is inconsistent with the throne persisting in all generations.

We should also take note of the fact that Jeremiah 33:26 shows a succession of Davidic rulers (plural) to come after the time of Jeremiah, who lived at the end of the monarchy in Judah. This was not fulfilled only in the ultimate Messiah to come. Rather, it pointed to other Davidic rulers beyond the ancient fall of Judah to precede the future Messianic reign.

Consider also the scepter promise in Genesis 49 of the kingship remaining with the tribe of Judah in the last days until the Messiah comes to assume rule. Clearly a Jewish monarchy must exist in the last days for the Messiah to take it over—and it must be one that has persisted with rulers of the royal house of David.

So what happened to the Davidic dynasty? And what does that have to do with the British monarchy? Be sure to read part 2, to see how God has fulfilled His unbreakable promises.