We all know why co-signing a loan is required. The bank assumes that the person who is being
loaned the money may not be able to repay it.
Their commitment or ability is in question. In the Bible, God typically swears by His own
character when entering a covenant since there is no one above Him who
qualifies to co-sign the agreement (Hebrews
6:13). There is a fascinating
exception to this in the Book of Psalms.
Psalm 89:35-37
repeats the covenant between God and David from 2 Samuel 7 with an addendum at the end that is not found in 2
Samuel 7. I’ve italicized the key
phrases and arranged the verses to show their parallelism, labeling them by
letters:1
A.
I have
sworn by My Holy One;
B.
I will not lie to David.
C.
His descendants shall be forever.
C.
His throne (His dynastic descendants) shall be
as the sun before Me.
B.
It (David’s throne) shall be established forever
like the moon,
A.
And a
witness in the clouds will be faithful.
God swears a covenant oath to David and promises that David’s
descendants will forever have the right to sit on Jerusalem’s throne. The promise is guaranteed by an unidentified
witness in the clouds (God’s “Holy One”).
Why would God need someone to witness an agreement He initiated? Who in heaven (“the clouds”) has that
authority?
It was common in polytheistic religions of the ancient world
to have gods witness the covenant agreements made by other gods.2 But there are no other gods in Israel’s faith
equal to or above the God of Israel. Yet
Psalm 89 requires an equal to Yahweh
who will uphold the covenant. Who is
this witness in the heavens who will be faithful to the covenant of David’s
eternal dynasty? Who will make sure God’s
promise comes to pass and never fails?
The New Testament answers these questions in Revelation 1:4-5:
John
says to the seven churches that are in Asia:
Grace to you and peace from Him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven
spirits that are before His throne, and from Jesus
Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of kings
on earth.
Jesus, as the son of David, has
fulfilled the Davidic covenant of Psalm 89.
Since the New Testament presents Jesus as true deity incarnate (true God
in flesh), and equal in nature with the God of the Old Testament, Jesus
fulfills the role of witness-guarantor eternally.
1.
English
translations disagree on this passage for very technical reasons. This is my own literal rendering, though the
NASB comes closest to my translation.
2.
For examples see Heiser, “Ancient Semitic
Inscriptions – How Can They Assist English Bible Study?” at http://michaelheiser.com/Psalm89.pdf.