How Christ’s birth gets around God’s curse
You probably know that the birth of Christ fulfilled many prophecies of the Old Testament, but you may not know that it had to get around an obstacle that was placed by God Himself.
This is about His creative and wonderful solution.
One of the most prominent foretellings of Christ was the Lord’s promise to David, commonly known as the Davidic covenant. It’s in 2 Samuel chapter 7:
12 “When your days are fulfilled and you rest with your fathers, I will set up your seed after you, who will come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. 13 He shall build a house for My name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. 14 I will be his Father, and he shall be My son. If he commits iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men and with the blows of the sons of men. 15 But My mercy shall not depart from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I removed from before you. 16 And your house and your kingdom shall be established forever before you. Your throne shall be established forever.”
The Lord’s words through the prophet Nathan promise that David’s throne and kingdom “shall be established forever” through his “seed.” Of course, this will be fulfilled in Jesus Christ, a descendant of David — Paul confirmed that in Acts 13:23.
However, the Lord gave another word centuries later, concerning another king in David’s line, that seemed to put a wrench in this plan. During the brief reign of Jeconiah (also known as Jehoiachin), the Lord said of him in Jeremiah 22, verse 30:
“Thus says the Lord:
‘Write this man down as childless,
A man who shall not prosper in his days;
For none of his descendants shall prosper,
Sitting on the throne of David,
And ruling anymore in Judah.’ ”
Jeconiah was the second-last monarch of Judah before the Babylonian exile. But, as the Lord decreed, no son of his inherited the throne; he was succeeded by his uncle, Zedekiah, who was appointed by Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar.
So, the conundrum: How can God’s promise to David of a biological descendant reigning over an everlasting kingdom be fulfilled if David’s royal line is permanently cut off?
Answer: The virgin birth.
The gospels of Matthew and Luke record two different genealogies of Jesus. Matthew traces the royal line of David, which includes the kings of Judah through Jeconiah, all the way down to Joseph, the husband of Mary. Luke’s genealogy is almost entirely different after King David, as it goes through his son Nathan (not the prophet). This is widely believed to be the ancestry of Mary.
Since Jesus was not the biological son of Joseph, He’s therefore not a descendant of Jeconiah — maintaining the Lord’s curse in Jeremiah. But He is a descendant of David through Mary, and can claim the royal line as Joseph’s legal Son — fulfilling God’s promise to David. God sovereignly determined the fulfillment of all His word by granting a Child to the virgin Mary (as well as orchestrating everything else surrounding the birth of Jesus, like the Roman census that brought Joseph and Mary to Bethlehem).
What the Lord promises, He does, and foremost among that is bringing a Savior into the world as good tidings of great joy for all peoples, to seek and save the lost, and to give His life as a ransom for His sheep. Because He fulfilled everything He foretold about Christ’s first coming, we can place all our hope in His return, when He will assume the throne of David and establish His everlasting kingdom.
Glory to God in the Highest, and Merry Christmas!
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