"and Jess the father of David the king." - Matthew 1:6a

The rightful king of Israel, a man after God's own heart. The shepherd and youngest of his brothers, yet this was the man God chose to install as the great king of Israel. In 2 Samuel 7:1-17, we get an incredible promise that the kingdom would be permanently established through David's offspring. We know that this Davidic covenant was ultimately pointing to Jesus - the True Shepherd-King who would come from David's line.

Seventeen verses in the New Testament describe Jesus as the “son of David.” But the question is, how could Jesus be the son of David if David lived approximately 1,000 years before Jesus? The answer is that Christ (the Messiah) was the fulfillment of the prophecy concerning the seed of David (2 Samuel 7:12–16). Jesus was the promised Messiah, which means He had to be of the lineage of David. Matthew 1 gives the genealogical proof that Jesus was a direct descendant of Abraham and David through Joseph. The genealogy in Luke 3, however, traces Jesus' lineage through His mother, Mary - also back to King David. 

Jesus our Savior fulfilled all the necessary requirements coming from the line of David (Mt 1:1). He was Immanuel, God with us, but was rejected by His people. He will come a second time, but not as a baby or the Suffering Servant, but as the Lion of Judah to rule over all the earth!