The Lord Will Establish David’s House and Kingdom Forever
2 Samuel 7:16
16 And thine house and thy kingdom shall be established for ever before thee: thy throne shall be established for ever.
A CES (Church Educational System) Old Testament manual states:
“This verse [2 Samuel 7:16] is an example of a dualistic prophecy, that is, a prophecy with a double meaning . . . . It promised that David’s lineage would continue on the throne, and unlike Saul’s lineage, would not be overthrown after his death. But it is clearly a Messianic prophecy as well. Jesus, the Messiah, was called David, He would hold the key of David, and He would sit upon the throne of David . . . . Clearly, only one person can sit upon the throne of David (that is, rule over the house of Israel) forever and ever, and that one is Christ. He came into mortality as a descendant of David and as an heir to his throne both physically and spiritually. Elder James E. Talmage explained the significance of the genealogies of Jesus given by Matthew and Luke as establishing Jesus’s right to the throne.
“‘At the time of the Savior’s birth, Israel was ruled by alien monarchs. The rights of the royal Davidic family were unrecognized; and the ruler of the Jews was an appointee of Rome. Had Judah been a free and independent nation, ruled by her rightful sovereign, Joseph the carpenter would have been her crowned king; and his lawful successor to the throne would have been Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews’ [Jesus the Christ, 3rd ed. (1916), 87].”
(Old Testament Student Manual: Genesis–2 Samuel, 3rd ed. [Church Educational System manual, 2003], 290.)
