The Gospel of Matthew
Now we find that 14 generations passed from the time of Abraham to David. During this time many promises made to Abraham had come to pass. Israel had become a nation, Israel had been delivered from captivity and inherited the land of Canaan just as God had promised. We now find ourselves with Israel in a time where she had only begun to have human kings rule over her. God was her true King and saviour, but God allowed her to have a king who would rule on behalf of God. The first king was Saul but he was rejected. Then the story gets interesting, as Israel is suffering defeat at the hands of her enemy, because the Holy Spirit of God has departed from Saul. Israel is suffering defeat at the hands of her enemies because Saul no longer has an anointing. Then behold the Lord chooses one from Jesse of the tribe of Judah to be His anointed King..

He is anointed by the prophet Samuel as the King of Israel. After he has received the Holy Spirit he goes into battle and overcomes the enemies of Israel by defeating Goliath and the Philistines. He is demonstrated to be the anointed one in power. The story of David tells us what a Christ is. David was known as the Messiah. The reason David is called a Christ is because he is an anointed one, who receives the Holy Spirit to lead Israel in victory over her enemies. He is a type of the Christ who is still to come. When we come to Jesus' baptism we will see the similarities of David's anointing as King.

David eventually took the throne and obtained for Israel peace and victory over her enemies in the power of the Holy Spirit . He had it in his heart to build a house for God, but was told by the prophet he was not the man because he had blood on his hands. Then a great development is made on the promise that a king from Judah would be a worldwide ruler having the obedience of the nations. In 2 Samuel 7:12... God makes a promise on oath to David that a descendant of David' would build his house and that descendant would have his throne and Kingdom established by God forever. This is the promise that most Jews in Jesus time looked to for the coming of the Christ like David. So here we have a king who would be eternal, which is why many Jews linked the coming of the Christ to the coming of the kingdom of God. Also keep in your mind that a king from Judah will be a worldwide ruler.

All the gospel writers are at pains to show that this Jesus is the son of David. Now the promises of 2 Samuel 7 leave Israel looking for this son of David. How will we know it is Him when he comes. The unfolding of the story reveals this in a most extraordinary way. We know that Solomon built God's house but because he died he couldn't be the one who is spoken of. Why? Because he never had his throne and kingdom established forever. He died as did all the other Kings, Israel was still waiting for rescue at the hands of her Davidic King.

The house of David fell on hard times after Josiah as Israel was exiled under the judgement of God. When she returned from exile she wasn't ruled by her own Kings except for a 100 years under Judas Maccabeus. Maccabeus was not from the line of David. After this brief period Israel once again was now ruled by foreign Kings, which was a sign that she was still suffering the curses of exile even though she had returned to her land. Even in Jesus time there were foreign ungodly kings on the throne over Israel. Israel had still not been rescued she was still suffering the curses of God's law for rebellion, her restoration was still eagerly anticipated, even though she was back in her land.

So when Jesus came preaching the Kingdom, people who knew God's promises pricked their ears up. The Kingdom of God was the long awaited restoration of her fortunes. Israel would at last be rescued, Israels true King was soon to reign. Jesus raised the dead and demonstrated by works of power the things which were only expected to happen when God established His Kingdom. Many recognized him as the promised son of David and the true King of Israel. But when he died on a cross it was as if Israel died, for what thay had hoped for was shattered. A Christ who ends up on a Roman cross cannot be a son of David. They had hoped that Jesus would redeem Israel. as David had in the past. Now what would they do? What they had hoped for had been shattered.

This is where the reinterpretation of Israels story of redemption happened. Was God playing a silly game? Have God's promises failed? No!! never they just never understood the scriptures that the Christ would have to suffer these things and be raised from the dead.