God's Covenant with King David

Thank you very much, Kinsey. Beautiful job. And the words fit with the sermon in many ways too, about trials and being tried by fire. So very meaningful. Thank you very much for that. And good afternoon, everyone! Good to see you all here this afternoon. And I guess I should say something about... We're going to the studio audience, huh? Note that it's a Thursday this time, not a Wednesday. Usually it's a Wednesday, but it's a Thursday this time. Because some of our crew will be at Camp Buckeye, coming back the day before. The pre-team camp here in Ohio. So we had to postpone it today because we don't have anybody to run cameras. So, wow, we do have some. But a few of the critical team will be away. I might mention that our TV spots, our 32nd TV spots that we've been running, and nearing that completion, we're going to run them for 14 weeks. And I think we're in week 12 or 13 right now. We're reaching between 7 and 8 million viewers per week with the ads in 18 markets, plus the Word Network as well. And the spots are airing 400 to 500 times each week on those 18 stations. And so we're getting good results, driving people to our website, leading people to watch the three series that we're advertising as well. So we'd appreciate your continued prayers in our various efforts to preach the Gospel of the Kingdom. David is a very popular name in our country. It's also very popular in Australia, New Zealand, Canada, the UK. I have a brother, David. In fact, his name is David John. So two biblical names there for my younger brother. But perhaps this is because of the saga of a very famous king named David. So much history has taken place in what used to be King David's city, Jerusalem. And so much prophecy will yet be taking place in Jerusalem as well. There's a Jewish tradition that King David died on the Feast of First Fruits, or the Day of Pentecost. And to add credence to this tradition is the mentioning of David on Pentecost in Acts 2. On that very first day of Pentecost in A.D. 31, I'm going to turn to Acts 2 here for a minute and read a few verses from this famous Pentecost sermon. That Peter gave. And in this stirring sermon, he said important words about King David and his relationship to Jesus Christ and God's covenant with David. In Acts 2, notice verses 29 through 36. Acts 2 verse 29, Peter says, So the whole congregation is gathered together here.

So Peter's calling King David a prophet.

So God had made a covenant with David. That of the fruit of his body. So from David's descendants.

Verse 31, he, foreseeing this, so David spoke concerning the resurrection of the Christ. That his soul was not left in Hades, nor did his flesh see corruption. This Jesus, God has raised up, of which we are all witnesses. He's telling the people there gathered on this day of Pentecost. Verse 33, therefore, being exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he poured out this which you now see in here. Verse 34, For David did not ascend into the heavens, so he's still, you know, buried here on this earth, but he says himself, quote, So God the Father said to the Word, is what we come to understand from this, Sit at my right hand. So the Father is telling Jesus to sit at my right hand. Till I make your enemies your footstool. That is actually a quote from Psalm 110, verse 1.

The Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand. Verse 36, Peter speaks of David as a prophet. And many of David's experiences prefigured Jesus' experiences. Many things David said were prophecies. And humanly speaking, Jesus Christ was King David's great-great-great-great-great-grandson.

Here in Acts 2, Peter talks about the fact that David was prophesying about his descendant, Jesus Christ, back in Psalm 110, verse 1. The Messiah needed to biblically be descendant of David. God made a covenant with David that the Great King would come from him. Let's notice Revelation 5, where the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ, opens the scroll to unleash the seven seals. And in Revelation 5, verse 4, we read, This is in John's vision, of course, through in Revelation.

So it's important for credibility of the Bible and the credibility of Jesus Christ that Jesus humanly be a descendant of David, a root of David.

And from what we can presume from the Old Testament, historically the Sinaitic covenant was ratified on the Feast of Weeks, or Pentecost. And of course, the New Covenant was also ratified on the Day of Pentecost. And the Jews believe King David was buried on that day. The beginning, formally, of the New Testament Church in the New Covenant comes on Pentecost. But there are a number of other covenants with God throughout history. We have the covenant God made with Adam, the covenant with Noah, the covenant with Abraham, the covenant through Moses to the children of Israel, the covenant with Levi, with Aaron and Phineas, the covenant with David that we've just now been looking at. And then there's the New Covenant through Jesus Christ. The New Covenant is based on the Abrahamic covenant, and it includes the Davidic covenant. The New Covenant absorbs and fulfills all those past in one way or another. And today I want to talk specifically about the covenant God made with David, which is part of the New Covenant as well. The New Covenant is made through Jesus Christ when the Word became human in order to become our sacrifice, our Savior. But the Word had to be a particular kind of human. He had to be Jewish, and he had to be a descendant, a root of King David. Notice Isaiah 55 verse 3. We see David and the New Covenant being tied together in Isaiah 55 verse 3. Isaiah writes in Isaiah 55 verse 3, So this is a promise of what would become the New Covenant. Your soul shall live, and I'll make an everlasting covenant with you, the sure mercies of David.

And so David and this covenant are related. The New Covenant represents the sure mercies of David. It's a promise God carries through the family of David to Jesus Christ. Much of the Old Testament was written by David or about David, a vast majority, a great portion. And there are prophetic implications of this covenant. And this understanding is actually one of our fundamental beliefs, the promises God made to Abraham. And this fundamental belief is also rooted in the covenant God made with David. We'll look at how David scripturally fits in with our understanding of this fundamental belief. The title of the sermon today is simply God's Covenant with King David. God's Covenant with King David. In May of this year, we had the coronation of Charles III as King of the United Kingdom and King of 14 other Commonwealth realms or nations. Many of those Commonwealth countries still consider him, in a certain sense, their head of state. A Governor-General represents the King in these Commonwealth countries, and he's an effective symbol of the nation. He's not an executive like a Prime Minister or a President, but he's head of state. He's above the political parties of the country, and can even dissolve Parliament if necessary. These actually happen once in Australia. The 1975 Australian Constitutional Crisis culminated on November 11, 1975, with a dismissal from office of the Australian Prime Minister, Gough Whitlam, by Queen Elizabeth's Governor-General.

The Governor-General then was Sir John Kerr, who then commissioned the Leader of the Opposition, Malcolm Fraser, as Prime Minister. And it's been described as the greatest political and constitutional crisis in Australian history. So the King does have representatives in these Commonwealth countries that do have a final say on some things. The King symbolises the history, traditions and culture of the UK, and those Commonwealth nations. He's looked upon as one who, because of his stature, can have influence for the good, for the benefit of those nations.

And our fundamental belief, the promises God made to Abraham, is a belief that many thousands of people share. Unfortunately, most of the world doesn't share this belief, but there are thousands who do. We're going to look at just a small part of the scriptural basis for this today, and how it fits in with King David. A full understanding of this particular fundamental belief of the Church helps us understand Bible prophecy, and also who Jesus is. And I do believe that the British monarchy in King Charles III is a king who does descend from King David.

It's a Davidic monarchy. And this monarchy fills certain prophecies in the Bible, and we'll just cover a couple of them today. It's very significant, biblically. If you saw the coronation in May or read about it, you understand how much biblical influence was on that ceremony. Even secular journalists exclaimed in almost disbelief how religious the coronation was. Many were not expecting it to be that way.

King Charles III was anointed with oil pressed from olives grown on the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem. And one of the most impressive and significant parts of the coronation ceremony was a song about Zadok the priest. Taken directly from the coronation of King Solomon. Zadok was one of King David's high priests, and he was one who stayed faithful to God and was there for the coronation of Solomon.

You may recall that in the January, February 2023 issue of Beyond Today magazine, I wrote an article titled, Britain's Coronation Symbols, the Astounding Story, because there's a whole list of symbols used in the coronation. And embedded in the pageantry of the coronation of King Charles III is a remarkable story. It's one that ties the British crown and throne to the kings and patriarchs of the Bible. Those symbols tie directly into the kings and patriarchs of the Bible. And they were used in Great Britain or the UK in May, much to the almost shock and chagrin of the secular journalists that covered the event. And we don't have time to get into all ins and outs of the history of the monarchy, but I want to cover just a few points.

Because the throne of David, although it may be beleaguered and have its ups and downs and be controversial at times, and not perfect by any means, having had a lot of issues over the years, will survive. This throne of David will survive in some form and be in existence when Jesus Christ returns. Christ will, in effect, be able to inherit that throne. And it's possible the person occupying the throne in the end time will perhaps be in captivity even or hiding somewhere.

Based on Bible prophecy, it seems he could either be held captive or seeking refuge, hiding out. But there will be a throne for Jesus Christ to inherit. So let's turn for a moment to Genesis 49, if you would. It's a lot to go through in 45 or 50 minutes, so we can't get into a lot of detail, but we can examine some of the Scriptures at a very high level, and at least cover some of the background. Let's start in Genesis 49, this prophecy about Judah, the tribe of Judah, one of the twelve tribes. Genesis 49 verse 9. Judah, in this prophecy, is a lion's whelp. From the prey, my son, you have gone up.

He bows down, he lies down as a lion, and is a lion, or as a lion, who shall rouse him. Now remember, the returning Jesus Christ will be called the lion of the tribe of Judah. We read about that in Revelation. And verse 10.

So who is this Shiloh? The scepter shall not depart from Judah until Shiloh comes. Shiloh could be translated, he whose it is, or whose right it is. It's a special title given to the one who's going to be the king promised to Judah eventually. The scepter shall not depart until that person, Shiloh, the one whose right it is, comes, who fulfills that promise. And the one whose right it is, has not yet come. So that scepter has to continue until our day and beyond. It has to be somewhere. At the time of Jesus' birth, genealogical records existed that showed His descent and His claim to be a descendant of David. And in our time, it's very difficult to go back that far now, right? Go back almost, well, actually 3,000 years. But it was only 1,000 years ago then. And we have a lot of history of this country in Europe and England that goes back a thousand years. It's all written down. We've got a lot of recent history in the last thousand years, haven't we? As that was when Jesus was born, they had all that history that led up to that.

We know that the Messiah must be a descendant of David and from Judah and the Davidic branch of Judah. Notice Isaiah 11 now, still here in the Old Testament. Notice Isaiah 11. Who does this sound like a prophecy of to you? Isaiah 11 and the first two verses. You notice, or you realize that later on in Isaiah 11, we have some of the imagery of the millennium. Isaiah 11 verse 1, Of course, Jesse was King David's dad, right? So from Jesse, a branch shall come out of his roots.

This is the message and the fear of the Lord. This is the prophecy of the Messiah that has to come from Jesse or from a descendant of Jesse. God made a covenant with David that the Savior would come from him. This here, like I said, is the prophecy of the Messiah. Jesus was the father of King David. So Jesse was the father of King David, I meant to say. And how the Messiah is both Davidic and divine.

This is something that practicing Jews and Muslims do not accept. If we read the Old Testament, we can certainly see why we would contend that the Old Testament does prophesy that the Messiah is both Davidic and divine. A moment ago, we read from Acts chapter 2, a quote from Psalm 110 verse 1. Jesus stumped the Jewish religious leaders by saying, The Lord said to my Lord, Sit at my right hand till I make your enemies your footstool. The Jews did not have a good answer for this question Jesus raised, but we do. Jesus said, If the Messiah is the son of David, how is he David's Lord? We understand how and they didn't. We understood that this descendant of King David would be God.

Because of the great miracle of the incarnation, we understand the Messiah would descend from David, but also be his Lord. God taking on the form of a human. And so we understand what Psalm 110 is explaining. Let's go to Luke chapter 1 now, in the New Testament. Let's read about the announcement of the birth of Christ.

Go to the... This is actually a prophecy of the birth of Christ. Couldn't be in United News just yet until it happened, in this birth announcement. Luke 1 verse 31. And behold you... This is Mary. Behold Mary, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a son, and shall call his name Jesus. Verse 32, And 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. So this is how we come to understand Psalm 110. The Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand. Verse 33, And he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end. So here's the birth announcement for Jesus. And we understand the kingdom is over Israel, over Jacob. But ultimately this kingdom that Christ inherits is over the whole world forever. And there'll be no end. When we put all of the Scriptures together, we realize this birth announcement is talking about the King of kings and Lord of lords. There were specific promises given to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Many of these promises were fulfilled historically and should not be ignored. And much more was fulfilled in Jesus Christ here, and the throne of David. He will be given the throne of his father, David.

The ancient Israelite kingdom had a northern kingdom and a southern kingdom. It once was a united monarchy, but then it became divided soon after David and Solomon. The northern kingdom was taken into captivity by the Assyrian Empire beginning in 712 BC. They never returned. So we have the traditional lost ten tribes. And as a result, the Bible is filled with prophecies about Israel that are yet to occur.

And Bible students cannot ignore that reality, that their prophecy is yet to occur for the ten tribes. The twelve tribes of Israel are very important in Scripture. We have Genesis 49, Deuteronomy 33, Revelation 7. Revelation 21 brings the tribes up again at the end of the Bible. The twelve tribes of Israel figure all the way through the Bible and into future prophecies. Many prophecies relate to the Jewish people. But as to the rest of Israel, the descendants of the northern kingdom, what happened to them?

Were huge numbers of people totally assimilated into other societies? Huge numbers of them were deported by the Assyrians. But total assimilation is not likely. If we look at what happened in the United States here in America under President Jackson, Indian tribes were relocated. They were relocated to what's called Indian territory. And there they functioned as tribes.

They didn't disappear. Likewise, the last ten tribes didn't totally disappear either. They migrated as tribes. Of course, they were removed from the Promised Land forcibly and were moved to what is today Iraq and Iran. But then they moved north into what we now know loosely as the Russian regions, the old USSR area, parts of Eastern Europe. And history shows they then migrated into Europe proper and finally ended up in the democratic republics of Northwest Europe.

And I believe many there are descendants of those tribes. Much later, some of them migrated into North America, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and so on. And some people don't agree with this understanding, but are not able to give an effective alternative.

If you look at the biblical prophecies about what would happen to those tribes, then you come to understand what has taken place over the past 3,000 years. Let's look at Genesis 12 and look at the covenant God made with Abram. Abraham, who at this time was Abram. Let's look at the covenant God made with Abram. These promises to Abram, or Abraham, which is the basis for our fundamental belief on this topic. Genesis 12, the first three verses, we'll just read those. Genesis 12 verse 1, And the Lord said to Abram, Get out of your country, from your family, and from your father's house, to a land that I will show you.

This is when Abram was first being directed here by God. Verse 2, I will make you a great nation. I will bless you, and make your name great, and you shall be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, I will curse him who curses you, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.

So here's God's promise to Abraham about what would happen, and the blessings his descendants will receive. So in God's covenant with Abraham, all the families of the earth will be blessed. We know this particularly applies spiritually to Jesus Christ, because Jesus Christ would come from Abraham. And all the earth will be blessed through Jesus Christ, the Messiah. But Abraham's descendants would also be a physical blessing to the world.

There will be nations that have great abundance, and would share that with other nations. If we go forward to Genesis 35 for a moment, and read verses 9-11, we read about Abraham's grandson, and this promise being reiterated and even added to and further clarified. Genesis 35 verse 9, then God appeared to Jacob. So this is Abraham's grandson. God then appeared to Jacob when he came from Padan Aram and blessed him. And God said, verse 10, to him, Your name is Jacob.

Your name shall not be called Jacob anymore, but Israel shall be your name. So we know that it's Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, or Abraham, Isaac, and Israel. There's three generations. Verse 11, God said to him, to Jacob, or Israel, I am God Almighty. Be fruitful and multiply, and a company of nations shall proceed from you, and kings shall come from your body. Royalty will come from Israel. This involves the birthright and physical blessings that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were promised.

A nation and a company of nations would proceed from Jacob. If you look at history, if you look at the last few hundred years of history, you have to consider the UK, the British Commonwealth, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and of course, the United States of America. A nation and a company of nations. And kings shall come from Jacob's family. Judah was the tribe that would have the kings. Judah was the tribe actually chosen for this.

And Judah doesn't necessarily become some great world empire, some huge country. But the Jewish people have a very important role to play, and the descendants of Judah have a line of royalty, as we see here in these promises. Let's turn to Genesis 48. We've got a few more chapters. There's a later prophecy about the nations and company of nations in Genesis 48, when Jacob was dying, when Israel was dying. Joseph's two sons, which are the grandsons of Jacob, here are specifically mentioned in Genesis 48, as the prophecy and the blessing is narrowed down and further defined.

Genesis 48 verse 17. And when Joseph saw that his father, that's Jacob or Israel, when Joseph saw that his father Jacob laid his right hand on the head of Ephraim, to bless Ephraim, it displeased him. So he took hold of his father's hand to remove it from Ephraim's head to Manasseh's head. He's supposed to bless the firstborn, right? And Joseph thought his dad had it wrong.

And Joseph said to his father, not so, my father, for this one is the firstborn. Put your right hand on his head. But his father refused. Jacob refused and said, I know, I know, I know. He also shall become a people and he also shall be great, but truly his younger brother shall be greater than he, and his descendants shall become a multitude of nations. And what we're reading here so far is just the tip of the iceberg in studying the subject. And of course, our booklet, The United States and Britain in Bible Prophecy, goes into much greater detail and I encourage you to read it again if you can.

We have to look at Genesis 3, the prophecies there. Genesis 48, Genesis 49, Deuteronomy 33. And as you look at the prophecies that are made regarding the children of Jacob, and as you study the history of recent centuries, the pieces all start to come together. Let's go back to Genesis chapter 24. So we'll go back a bit here to Genesis 24, where Rebekah is going to marry Isaac.

And we find another clarification on the promises that have been made to this family. Genesis 24, verses 59 and 60, we'll just read those two verses. Genesis 24 verse 59. So they sent away Rebekah, their sister and her nurse, and Abraham's servant and his men. So Rebekah is about to marry Isaac. So Rebekah would be Abraham's daughter-in-law here in a bit.

And they blessed Rebekah and said to her, "'My sister, may you become the mother of thousands of ten thousands, and may your descendants possess the gates of those who hate them.'" Possess the gates of those who hate them. Here's a prophecy and a blessing put on Rebekah. Think about the world map from a hundred years ago, and the critical sea gates. Who controlled them? We have Gibraltar, Malta, Cyprus, Suez, Aden, the Maldive Islands, Ceylon, Bermuda, the Falklands, Singapore, Hong Kong, and more.

These are all legendary sea gates one encounters en route from the British Isles to the Far East. These gates gave Great Britain mastery of the seas for more than two centuries. Without them, it's questionable whether the Allies could even have won the two World Wars. Bermuda was one of the first sea gates to be acquired by the British Crown. Further west were Britain's island properties in the Caribbean. Further south, the Falkland Islands enabled the Royal Navy to control the area around Cape Horn, the southern tip of South America.

And there are more. St. Helena, Ascension Island, the Cape of Good Hope around South Africa, Mauritius, the Seychelles, and Diego Garcia. All strategically located portals that controlled key ocean passengers around the globe, granting the British people unrivaled dominance of the seas. This is huge. This list is long. This is no accident. This was providential. After the Spanish-American War of 1898, America joined Great Britain as a world power. With the peace settlement that followed the war, the United States became a major sea power with the acquisition of its own sea gates, in very important locations.

The Philippines and Guam gave America a major Pacific presence, while Puerto Rico and a military base in Cuba extended American influence in the Caribbean. And Hawaii was also annexed in 1898, the Pacific. But the Spanish-American War brought home to Americans a major strategic weakness. You may remember what it was. It took a long time for a ship on one of the country's coasts to travel to the other coast. Ships had to go around Cape Horn, at the southern end of South America, one of the most hazardous shipping routes on Earth.

The 1898 war demonstrated a military weakness when the United States had to quickly dispatch the battleship Oregon to Cuba, after the USS Maine was blown up in Havana Harbor. Victory in the Caribbean was said to depend on the battleship Oregon. But first, the ship had to travel from San Francisco 12,000 miles around Cape Horn, a journey that takes two months.

Sixty-seven days after leaving the west coast, she was spotted off the coast of Florida, arriving just in time to play a role in the crucial battle of Santiago Bay, Cuba. Those 67 days emphasized the growing need for the so-called path between the seas that would link the Pacific and Atlantic oceans to eliminate lengthy and dangerous journeys around Cape Horn. So modern technology, which was modern technology at the time, then made possible the building of what was to become the Panama Canal, one of the most strategic sea gates on Earth, controlled by the United States.

Once again, providential. The result of divine direction is prophesied. Until recently, until just recently, all of the great land and sea gates in the world were controlled by the English-speaking nations, primarily by the British Empire and the United States. The descendants of Rebecca, through Ephraim and Manasseh, her great-grandson.

There were several civil wars in England. Ephraim and Manasseh were rivals at times. There was the War of the Roses between these two tribes. Lancaster versus York. Some famous civil wars. Then there was the Puritan-Cavalier Civil War. But guess what? The civil wars ended in England once the colonists, the soon-to-be Americans, left.

What was happening was that two distinct groups, or tribes, were separating. They were closely related, but separate. This was the separation, as you look at history, of Manasseh from Ephraim. The dominant stock in America, back then, came from Manasseh, whereas the peoples in Canada, the UK, Australia, and New Zealand primarily came from the stock of Ephraim. There's a lot of material to back this up, the church's material that covers all this. But today's just more of an introduction and a reminder of our fundamental belief about the promises God made to Abraham and to King David about this throne that would persevere till the end.

The descendants of the other lost tribes of Israel can be found among the descendants of other North-West European nations. Of course, the Jews have retained their identity, primarily for their Sabbath-keeping, that identity.

The dominant tribe was Judah, with a mixture of Benjamin, Semen, and Levi with Judah. There are several biblical passages that show how Israel would end up in North-Western Europe and ultimately be scattered and found in an island setting. Let's turn to Jeremiah 31, if you would. Read a few verses from Jeremiah 31. Here's just one prophecy about Ephraim in particular. Jeremiah 31 is a prophecy of the restoration of Ephraim after Jesus returns. And as we read Jeremiah 31, look from where they are restored. Jeremiah 31 verse 8. And of course, you've got to think of this prophecy from the perspective of the Middle East, right?

From the perspective of the promised land or the Holy Land. Behold, I'll bring them from the North Country, which is, you know, up in Europe. Gather them from the ends of the earth. Well, that could be because Ephraim spreads throughout the globe as a Commonwealth. Gather them from the ends of the earth from the North Country. And among them, the blind and the lame, the woman with child and the one who labors with child together. So it's at that time a nation or a tribe that is in persecution. A great throng shall return there, but they shall come with weeping.

It sounds like they'll come back with repentance and change. And with supplications I will lead them. I will cause them to walk by the rivers of waters in a straight way. So they're going to learn righteousness here after Jesus returns, these people that come from the North Country and from the ends of the earth. A straight way in which they shall not stumble, from a father to Israel, and Ephraim is my firstborn.

So it's about Israel, yes, but also about Ephraim the firstborn. Verse 10, hear the word of the Lord, O nations, and declare it in the isles afar off. So Ephraim would come from the isles when Jesus has to restore them, and say, He who scattered Israel would gather Him and keep Him as a shepherd does His flock. That's just one example of a prophecy when Jesus returns about Ephraim and where He's restored from.

Let's talk about another point that is important. Judah was destroyed by the Babylonians, a couple hundred years after the Assyrians took the other ten tribes captive. They were destroyed by the Babylonians around 587 BC. At that time, when Judah was destroyed, there were already some elements of the last ten tribes who had come to the British Isles. Some had mostly settled in what is today Ireland. And eventually the southern part of Ireland became home to the tribe of Dan.

Dan was originally on the coast of Israel where Tel Aviv is today. So they were a coastal tribe. They were a shipping tribe. Many of the tribe of Dan were traveling around the Mediterranean Sea in 800, 700, 600 BC. And some continued even further westward over towards Spain. And even more fled when the Assyrians invaded in 712 BC and left the coast, like I say, with Tel Aviv is today, and headed west across the Mediterranean. And by the time Jerusalem fell, then 200 years later, there were already Israelites in what is today called the British Isles.

And Ireland was becoming home to the tribe of Dan. In addition, in southern Ireland, there were descendants of Judah specifically who had an important status as rulers and of course had a kingly line. They were in Spain, the Jews, originally, and then wound up moving to Ireland around the time Judah fell in the 500s BC. So Jews were in Ireland already. Later, an actual descendant of King David was taken to Ireland and married into the royal line that was already there.

And I was reading just a couple of weeks ago some Irish historic annals, some of their ancient history that goes back thousands of years. And they list all the names of the kings and queens in Ireland way before Jesus was born. You can't pronounce hardly any of them. It's like Gaelic or something, right? Strange names. But history shows there were rulers in Ireland who were descendants of David through a woman who married an Irish king. She, in effect, became queen. And I'll talk about who that woman was, could have been here in a moment.

But a descendant of King David became a king over Ireland. Later, that throne moved to Scotland and then down to England. And James VI of Scotland was renamed James I of England. That family descended from David was still ruling in some fashion long after David was dead. And over many centuries that dynasty went from Ireland to Scotland to England. Years later, King James of England had a grandson living in Germany. That grandson was the closest relative of Queen Anne when she died. So he was the heir to the throne, but he was living in Germany.

So he was brought over to England from what his family was known as the family of Hanover. Around the time of the First World War, they changed his family name from Hanover to Windsor. And that's the dynasty that's still ruling now in the UK, the House of Windsor.

So who was the descendant of David, the woman for Judah who moved to Ireland and became queen? Let's look at Jeremiah 43. And you can research this more yourself if you wish. We actually have an interesting study paper on our website called The Throne of Britain, Its Biblical Origin and Future. That actually talks about this, The Throne of Britain, Its Biblical Origin and Future on our website. It's a download document.

So Jeremiah 43, when Judah fell around 587 BC, King Zedekiah was the final king of Judah. And he was murdered with all of his offspring, supposedly no one else to carry on the royal line. It seemed like the promise to King David was over. But of all the family, the king's daughters survived and were whisked away. Jeremiah 43 verse 5, But Johanun, the son of Kariya, and all the captains of the forces, took all the remnant of Judah, had returned to dwell in the land of Judah from all nations where they had been driven, men, women, children, and King Zedekiah's daughters. And every person whom Nimbathiradam the captain of the guard had left with Gedaliah the son of Ahaiachim, as well as the son of Shaphan, or Ahaiachim the son of Japhim, and Jeremiah the prophet. And Baruch, Baruch was Jeremiah's scribe. So you have Jeremiah the prophet and Baruch the son of Nariah. So they went to the land of Egypt, for they did not obey the voice of the Lord, and they went as far as to Haphenes. And that word, just so you know, to Haphenes, figures into Irish history. It's part of the whole connection. So we see that a remnant escaped from the land of Israel down into Egypt, including the King's daughters, and Jeremiah and Baruch the scribe. So the King's daughters are the only ones to survive in this kingly line. And there's good reason to believe that Jeremiah the prophet took at least one daughter of Zedekiah to marry into the royal line that was eventually ruling in Ireland. It's an interesting study into history, if you wish to look into it. Once again, a study paper, The Throne of Britain, covers it well. It's a good place to start. But it's very probable Zedekiah's daughter married into that royal line that was in Ireland, that royal line that had been there already for hundreds of years. A descendant of King David married a descendant of Judah in Ireland, and then from there came kings that ultimately wound up descendants of the present British monarchy. That's what's explained in our literature. The monarch case is fulfilling a covenant that God gave to David. That David would never lack somebody to rule over Israel. And so I believe King Charles is ruling over Israelites. Of course, it's a mix now, of course.

Unfortunately, the reign is not what it once was. It's been filled with scandals and mayhem from time to time. But he's a constitutional monarch, and that throne is still there. And it's there for the one who ultimately is the one, the Shiloh of Genesis 49 verse 10, to claim.

Remember verse 10 states, The scepter shall not depart from Judah, or a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh comes. Until the one whose it is comes. And I believe Jesus Christ will inherit that throne, not in England, but of course in Jerusalem when he descends upon the Mount of Olives. And once he inherits it, he's going to rule the entire world. The British Empire at one time ruled a quarter of the world, which is amazing in itself. But Jesus will rule all the world, forever. Remember the birth announcement in Luke chapter 1? Jesus will be great and will be called the Son of the Highest. And the Lord 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. Let's read one more passage from Jeremiah, Jeremiah 33 verse 17. Jeremiah 33 verse 17, which just confirms this promise just one more time. And a prophecy in Jeremiah. Jeremiah 33 verse 17, For thus says the Lord, David shall never lack a man to sit on the throne of the house of Israel. So you have to ask, where is that throne today? Where are the nations that received all those blessings that were prophesied? If you don't believe it's the US and Britain and the Commonwealth, you've got to come up with a better alternative. But this tells us here there will always be an air around somewhere on this planet.

We could say or read it as somewhere on the earth there will be Israelite people that have a descendant of King David ruling over them throughout history until Christ returns. And that's what I believe has happened for the last 2,500 years since David was alive. There are people descended from those lost tribes and over them is ruling a monarch who's actually representing the throne of David. And this particular fundamental belief of the church has been mocked over the years, especially more recently. But it's very relevant to our understanding of history and prophecy and Jesus Christ Himself and the Gospel message. And I know that most of us understand this belief, but I just wanted to reinforce our conviction and our understanding of it here today and be encouraged by it. Let's conclude with a couple final passages. Revelation 11 verse 15. Let's go to Revelation 11 verse 15 where we read about this throne being claimed when Jesus returns. And there's no doubt it's the throne that Charles now occupies.

And the throne will be occupied by a person somewhere when Jesus Christ returns. And unfortunately that person may be in captivity or in hiding somewhere during the Great Tribulation. Because there is coming a great time of trouble upon the nations of Israel called the time of Jacob's trouble in the end. So that king may be in hiding. Revelation 11 verse 15. Then the seventh angel sounded, this is kind of a Feast of Trumpets message, right? And there were loud voices in heaven saying, The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever. This is a culmination of that throne being claimed by the one whose right it is, the Shiloh, the read about in Genesis. An anti-monarch, male or female, will then have the opportunity to surrender that crown to another descendant of David whose right it is. And Jesus is the one whose right it is, the one who fulfills God's covenant with David. And He will inherit that throne all over the people of Israel and the entire world, not just Israel. And what is happening in Revelation 11 is an echo back to Isaiah 55. So I do want to go back to Isaiah 55. We read verse 3 earlier on, but I want to read verses 3 and 5 from Isaiah 55. A promise is being fulfilled when Jesus returns as prophesied in Revelation 11. Many promises are actually being fulfilled, but this particular one is our focus today as we think about recent events in the United Kingdom. Isaiah 55 is a promise of our salvation through David. And then chapter 56 talks about salvation for the Gentiles. But if we look at 55 verse 3, He's talking to Israel. I'll make an everlasting covenant with you, which is the new covenant with us, the sure mercies of David, through whom came Jesus Christ. Verse 5, So Israel will once again be a blessing because of the Lord your God and the Holy One of Israel, for He has glorified you. So yes, we shall receive salvation and glory. It's not just for Israel, but for the whole world. And so may we all continue to study God's Word and glean from it the doctrine, the history, and the prophecy that cements our faith in Jesus Christ and our Father in Heaven.