Welcome to EBible Fellowship’s Bible study in the book of Romans. Tonight is study 9 of Romans, chapter 1, and we are continuing to read Romans 1:3-4:

Concerning his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh; And declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead:

In this study we are going to look at the second part of verse 3 which says that Jesus “was made of the seed of David according to the flesh.” When we search the Bible to find information concerning this “seed of David,” there is a lot of information. We can start by turning to Psalm 89:3-4:

I have made a covenant with my chosen, I have sworn unto David my servant, Thy seed will I establish for ever, and build up thy throne to all generations. Selah.

The name David is a name that means “beloved,” and God uses it as a name for the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ is clearly said to be “David” in some places in the Bible, so when God says, “I have made a covenant with my chosen, I have sworn unto David my servant,” while is true that God did restate these things to the man David to raise up a son that would sit on the throne, that is more of a secondary fulfillment as Christ did come from the physical lineage of David. But, in the first instance, it is pointing to the Lord Jesus Himself. He is the “seed” who God would establish forever and build up His throne to all generations.

Also, it says in Psalm 89:35-36:

Once have I sworn by my holiness that I will not lie unto David. His seed shall endure for ever, and his throne as the sun before me.

The “seed of David” would endure eternally and, likewise, his throne will endure forever. And, again, this is pointing to the seed who is Christ. As we know concerning the promise to Abraham, when God spoke of the seed, He had in mind the Lord Jesus, and Galatians does tell us that this seed is “singular,” or Christ. And, yet, in Christ are all those that He determined to save, the elect, and they are “counted for the seed.” So this is a similar idea, but in looking at it from the perspective of reigning and ruling as King, it would be an everlasting kingdom and He would be the eternal King who sits upon His throne.

It says in Jeremiah 33:20-22:

Thus saith JEHVOAH; If ye can break my covenant of the day, and my covenant of the night, and that there should not be day and night in their season; Then may also my covenant be broken with David my servant, that he should not have a son to reign upon his throne; and with the Levites the priests, my ministers. As the host of heaven cannot be numbered, neither the sand of the sea measured: so will I multiply the seed of David my servant, and the Levites that minister unto me.

Here, the reference to David is a reference to Christ. The seed of Christ would be multiplied. The seed of Christ is the whole company of the elect.

We could go to many more verses in the Old Testament that also indicate this very special promise of God regarding David’s seed that would be raised up to sit upon the throne. This is one of the reasons they wanted to make Jesus a king. They realized that this must be the Christ, and if Jesus was the Christ (and, of course, He was), then He would be the one that was coming in fulfillment of God’s promise to David that his seed would sit upon the throne in an everlasting kingdom. So they thought to make him King, but Jesus did not want that because God’s promise had nothing to do with an earthly reign of Christ.

It is just like the churches in the New Testament era have misunderstood the Scriptures as read of “a thousand-year reign of Christ.” And they look for an earthly fulfillment. This is what natural-minded people tend to do, whether they were natural-minded Jews of old or natural-minded New Testament church goers and theologians. They think everything revolves around this world and everything must happen in this world because this world is a natural realm and their minds are in tune with natural things. So they see the promise of God about Him sitting on the throne for evermore, and they cannot imagine this world being gone. And, yet, that is exactly what God is referring to, as He is not talking about a literal thousand-year-reign of Christ on this earth. It has to do with all eternity future, and it is in eternity future that God’s people will realize that gift of eternal life and begin to live and enjoy it for evermore. And that is what the Bible has in view.

Because Christ was qualified by coming through the lineage of David through Mary and because He was performing these mighty deeds, He had to be of God, and He had to be this Messiah. Even His overall demeanor and the Words that He would speak testified of this, as the Roman soldiers expressed, “Never a man spake like this.” They knew this was the One, so from time to time, people would cry out like the blind men, as we read in Matthew 9:27-31:

And when Jesus departed thence, two blind men followed him, crying, and saying, Thou Son of David, have mercy on us. And when he was come into the house, the blind men came to him: and Jesus saith unto them, Believe ye that I am able to do this? They said unto him, Yea, Lord. Then touched he their eyes, saying, According to your faith be it unto you. And their eyes were opened; and Jesus straitly charged them, saying, See that no man know it. But they, when they were departed, spread abroad his fame in all that country.

We could go to other Scriptures where they were crying out, “Thou Son of David!” That is full of meaning – they were thinking, “Here is the Messiah!” Even the leaders of Israel, like the Pharisees and scribes, had some understanding of the promises of the Old Testament about the “seed of David” coming to them. Jesus made a very important point to them in Matthew 22:41:

While the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them, Saying, What think ye of Christ? whose son is he? They say unto him, The Son of David.

They were aware of that fact. You know, they had a good deal of information. Remember that earlier in the Gospel of Matthew, when Jesus was born in Bethlehem, which was the city of David, Herod heard from the wise men that they had seen His star in the East. Then it said in Matthew 2:3-6:

When Herod the king had heard these things, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. And when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together, he demanded of them where Christ should be born. And they said unto him, In Bethlehem of Judaea: for thus it is written by the prophet, And thou Bethlehem, in the land of Juda, art not the least among the princes of Juda: for out of thee shall come a Governor, that shall rule my people Israel.

This was also why Herod was afraid, because this would be a King, a son of David, and that would be a rightful heir to the throne. Of course, the line of the kings was cut off when God brought judgment upon the land of Judaea. In addition, Christ supersedes all that because He is King of king and Lord of lords. But Herod would not have known any of that. He had just heard that Bethlehem was where that king would be born and, certainly, they also knew he would be a “son of David,” and He would come to rule His people, Israel. So terrified of having his power and authority usurped, Herod sent to slay all the children two years and under. The Jews knew where the Messiah would be born. They knew He would be of the “seed of David,” and they knew many other things. They had a good deal of information about the Messiah because they had the Old Testament and they had some understanding.

Back in Matthew 22, it says in in Matthew 22:42-46:

… They say unto him, The Son of David. He saith unto them, How then doth David in spirit call him Lord, saying, JEHOVAH said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, till I make thine enemies thy footstool? If David then call him Lord, how is he his son? And no man was able to answer him a word, neither durst any man from that day forth ask him any more questions.

You see, now it had gotten beyond the “natural.” They could understand a descendant and someone being born of the line of David, but they could not answer the question regarding why David called Him Lord. And David did call Him Lord, as God moved him to do so in Psalm 110, which has the inscription, “A Psalm of David,” and that is part of the Word of God. It says in Psalm 110:1:

A Psalm of David. JEHOVAH said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool.

You see, JEHOVAH said, “unto my Lord,” and David is referring to the Messiah who would be his descendant, a “son of David,” and, yet, David calls Him “Lord.” So Christ asked the question of the Pharisees, “How then doth David in spirit…” And, by the way, that means David was writing under inspiration of God, as all holy men of old, including David, wrote as the Holy Spirit moved them, as it says in 2Peter 1:21:

For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.

So, actually, it was written by David “in spirit,” and we could say that of every writer of the Bible. Jeremiah and Isaiah and all the holy men of old wrote “in spirit.” Again, Christ asked, “How then doth David in spirit call him Lord, saying, JEHOVAH said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, till I make thine enemies thy footstool? If David then call him Lord, how is he his son?” Normally, you would not address your son, grandson or great grandson as “Lord.” Why did he call him Lord? Christ was putting His finger on a major proof that is a wonderful and glorious truth, which has to do with the identity of the Messiah, the Christ, and the Son of David.

Why did he call Him Lord? It was because He was (and is) His Lord, because Jesus is “God in the flesh.” The Messiah is “God in the flesh.” When you read the Bible, you cannot come to any other Biblical conclusion other than that. You can come to other conclusions, but they will not be Biblical. It says in Isaiah 7:14:

Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.

The name “Immanuel” means “God with us.” We know that the Virgin Mary was the fulfillment of this, and she came from the line of David, so the child born to Mary would be the “Son of David,” and His name was to be called Immanuel or “God with us.” Of course, we know it says in Isaiah 9:6:

For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.

That is why the Jews did not answer Him. Maybe they “suspected it.” Maybe there were a few who had thought along those lines or even believed it, but they knew it was not acceptable among the Pharisees and the religious people of their day, so they answered Him not a word. They did not answer at all. They did not want to delve into that topic.

You know, the Jews of old were very much like those in the churches today. They only want to know what they want to know. They are only interested in the things that uphold their doctrines, their gospels and “their religion” and beliefs. They do not really want to know the truth of the Word of God. They do not want to dig into these things. From time to time, as we talk about the Scriptures and share these things with others, I ask them questions like, “Why does the Bible tell us in Revelation 14 that ‘here is the patience of the saints’ in the context of Judgment Day? Why does it say in Isaiah 6 that the inhabitants of the earth are burned and few men left?” And there is just silence from them.

I am sure there are those that are opposed to and critical of these things as it comes to their hearing (through people that listen to EBible) and, yet, they do not bother to investigate it in the Scriptures. I tell you that is not typical of the true elect child of God. If I hear something from someone that is setting himself as a foe of the true teachings of the Bible, and if he makes a point from any area of the Bible that I had not heard before but seems to tear down a doctrine I hold to, as soon as I can I try to go to the Bible to see if it is so, and I will check it out. And that is the nature and the mindset of the spirit God has put within His people – to check things out to see if they are so.

But that is not the nature of the natural-minded individual. He want everything “settled” and consistent, but no progressive revelation. That is too upsetting and too disturbing. The idea that God the Spirit has given the Scripture as something we can never fully know because of the depth of it, as the natural-minded person might profess, but whenever the subject comes up of something “new” being learned from the Bible, they will “shoot it down,” and stick to their confessions, creeds and denominational stance, and what some theologian said five hundred years ago. They will say, “I stand with Luther. I stand with Calvin.” And they will reject the ideas 99% of the time because they do not want things disturbed: “We have everything we want here. We all have salvation. We have a nice place to meet on Sundays, and we have some good social activities with our friends, and we cook out at the church, and even have an occasional summer trip. And, you know, the pastor is a nice guy, and he has a nice family. We have air conditioning and a very comfortable sanctuary. What more do we need? Why upset the apple cart? Why give up all these things?” They are very comfortable and, yet, they do not know they are in the “congregation of the dead,” and the pastor has been removed from pastoring because God has caused him to “cease from feeding the flock.” They do not know that the beautiful sanctuary is housing nothing but a desolate wasteland. And there are all kinds of things they do not know because they do not want to know them. The pastors, ministers and elders are preaching lies, and the congregation loves to have it so, as God tells us in the book of Jeremiah. It is their preference.

It is the gospel they want, and they do not want the truth, and this is an age-old problem with man. It has to do with his fallen nature, because the truth is spiritual. The truth is right. The truth is that which convicts and, therefore, it is something that mankind does not want. Jesus says something in John 8, and I really cannot get over it because it is just so powerful and explains so much. It says in John 8:45:

And because I tell you the truth, ye believe me not.

That is the reason. When God uses the word “because,” He is giving the reason. If we were to reword this sentence, it might say, “Do you want to know why you do not believe me?” It is not because it is not true or that it is a lie. but that will be your claim and criticism. You will call it heresy or whatever you want, but the reality is that the real reason is because it is true. Since you are of your father the devil (and this is the passage where Christ does tell them this), and he is a liar from the beginning and the father of it, that is what you are attracted to and drawn to, and that is what you believe and prefer. Ultimately, you want lies from the Bible, and that will be your gospel, just like the people of the world want Santa Claus or Easter bunnies, because man loves the lie and hates the truth.

Sadly and sorrowfully, it ultimately comes down to the fact that Christ has not saved these people. Lord willing, in our next study we will move on to verse 4 and look at this declaration that Jesus is “the Son of God.”