---

III. Kingdom of the Son of David

A. David’s Kingdom and Christ’s

Now, the reason we have looked so hard at the kingdom of David is this: the kingdom of David is the key to understanding the Kingdom of Jesus Christ.

All the New Testament authors show us clearly that Jesus - born of a virgin in Bethlehem, as the prophets foretold - is the Son of David, and his Kingdom is the promised restoration of the kingdom of David.

From the beginning, the Christians’ most persuasive argument was how perfectly Jesus fulfilled the prophets’ promises of the Son of David (see, for example, Acts 2:25-36).

It was the kingdom of David - with its capital at Jerusalem, the Holy City - that the prophets had foretold would be restored when God brought the scattered Israelites back together, united again as they had been when David ruled.

B. Mother of the King of Kings

But if Jesus is the promised King from David’s line, and if His Kingdom is David’s kingdom restored, then Mary must be the Queen Mother. That is exactly what the very beginning of the New Testament shows us.

The Gospel according to Matthew begins with a genealogy of Jesus Christ. It’s a fascinating passage to study: what seems at first glance to be merely a list turns out to be a masterpiece of literary craft.

For example, Matthew divides the whole genealogy into three groups of fourteen generations (see Matthew 1:17). Three is a number that symbolizes perfection. In Hebrew numerals, which (like Greek and Roman numerals) use letters for numbers, the name David adds up to 14. Just by the numbers, Matthew shows that Jesus is the perfect Son of David.

The genealogy ends with “Joseph, the husband of Mary.” Then Matthew tells us, “Of her was born Jesus who is called the Messiah,” which recalls the language of both Micah and Isaiah (see Matthew 1:16).

There’s another interesting feature of Matthew’s genealogy. Four of the ancestors listed are women - which is unheard-of in respectable Jewish genealogies. The last of the women mentioned is Bathsheba, the mother of Solomon. She was the prototype of the Queen Mother, as Solomon was the prototypical Son of David.

C. The Infant Jesus Holds Court

When Jesus is still a tiny child, born to all appearances into an ordinary working family, three distinguished visitors from the East come to pay their respects (see Matthew 2:1-12).

They have traveled all this way to see “the newborn king of the Jews” (see Matthew 2:2).

When they finally arrive at Bethlehem, the Magi see “the child with Mary his mother” (see Matthew 2:11). The King of the Jews, as we saw with Solomon, properly appears in state with his mother by his side.

The Magi present gifts fit for a king: gold, frankincense, and myrrh. Gold and spices were tributes regularly paid to Solomon by royal visitors (see 1 Kings 10:10, 10:25).

The only other times in Scripture when myrrh and frankincense are mentioned together are in the Song of Songs, when they are part of the pageantry of Solomon’s wedding day (see Song of Songs 3:6-7) - a day when Solomon’s own mother places the crown on his head (see Song of Songs 3:11).

Matthew paints a picture of the child Jesus, the perfect Son of David, holding court in the same way as Solomon, the original Son of David.

D. Queen of Heaven

Our final glimpse of the Queen Mother in the Bible comes in that famous symbolic vision in the Book of Revelation (see Revelation 12:1, 12:5).

The symbols of Revelation are sometimes hard to interpret. And there have been various interpretations of who this great “woman clothed with the sun” is.

In the Catholic understanding the woman is a sign of both Mary and of the Church. For our purposes here, we will explore the connection with Mary.

The “great sign” is a woman giving birth, just as in Isaiah’s prophecy the sign that the kingdom would be restored would be a woman giving birth.

The child to be born is described as one who will “rule all the nations with an iron rod”– which is how the Messiah is described (see Psalm 2:7-9).

The Queen Mother of the Old Testament wore a crown, and the “woman clothed with the sun” wears a crown of twelve stars, representing the twelve tribes of Israel.

Here we see Mary crowned and enthroned as Queen Mother, just as Solomon’s mother had been crowned and enthroned, and just as every mother of every son of David had been crowned and enthroned.

Revelation shows us the Queen Mother enthroned in heaven, enthroned with her Son, in perfect fulfillment of the promise of the Davidic kingdom.

The Queen Mother’s place in the heavenly kingdom does not detract from the glory of the King.

On the contrary, it is because the King is glorious that His Mother is also glorious. Just like the queen mothers all through the long history of the Davidic kingdom, she points the way to the King, speaking for the people - for us - before Him.

Continue to Section 4