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Whose Throne Is It?

 

Whose Throne Is It?

David became king and sat on his throne. In case you missed it, those are actually parallel statements. "Sitting" here does not refer to the act of physically sitting on a chair but exercising the authority of kingship. David was sitting on the throne even when he was out making war against his enemies. 

When Solomon was made king, he also was said to 'sit upon his throne.'  He also was said to sit upon David's throne. "Solomon sits on the royal throne. Moreover, the king’s servants came to congratulate our lord King David, saying, ‘May your God make the name of Solomon more famous than yours, and make his throne greater than your throne.’ And the king bowed himself on the bed. And the king also said, ‘Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, who has granted someone to sit on my throne this day, my own eyes seeing it.’ ” (1 Kings 1:46-48).

Solomon sat on the royal throne. He sat on David's throne. The promise also was that Solomon's "throne" would be greater than David's throne (1Kings 1:37). They did NOT remodel the CHAIR. Solomon's authority and reign was greater than David's.

Having said that, we would also note that David's throne was God's throne. Hence Solomon sat upon God's throne. "Then Solomon sat on the throne of the Lord as king in place of David his father. And he prospered, and all Israel obeyed him" (1 Chronicles 29:23).

So, whose throne is it?

There is a simple answer once you understand that sitting on the throne is exercising authority as a king. God is the KING. He is the eternal king.  Nebuchadnezzar was forced to confess of God: "… his dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom endures from generation to generation; Daniel 4:34). He is the king that rules over kings. God rules in the kingdoms of men and gives it to whom He will (Dan. 4:25).  

Earthly kings only rule by the will of God.  Truly, as Jesus conversation with Pilate shows that early rulers do so only by the 'permission' of God.  "…Pilate said to him, “You will not speak to me? Do you not know that I have authority to release you and authority to crucify you?”   Jesus answered him, “You would have no authority over me at all unless it had been given you from above…” (John 19:10-11).

Jesus has been raised and glorified having been given all authority in heaven and upon earth. He is now king of kings and lord of lords (Rev. 17:14). He has overcome and sat on the throne. As Jesus said: "The one who conquers, I will grant him to sit with me on my throne, as I also conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne" (Revelation 3:21) We obeyed the gospel and were "translated into the Kingdom" (Col. 1:13). 

O Worship the King - Jesus.