Seven of the nineteen direct references to God as Father in the Tanakh (37%) center around a  prophetic word given by Nathan to King David, for it reappears four times and is referred to three more times. From the first reference, we learn that God planned to be a Father to David's son and royal successor, Solomon—who was most likely in his early twenties when he is anointed king,[iii] and whose reign lasted ‘40 years’ (1 K.11:42).

So the first two things we learn, therefore, are: that God promised to show himself a ‘Father’ to a human ruler over Israel named Solomon; and that this ‘fathering’ would occur during the four decades of his adult rule. Thus, when God tells David that he will ‘discipline’ Solomon ‘when he does wrong’, he is speaking of disciplining or correcting him as an adult, not as a child. Thirdly, we learn that God will show himself a Father by maintaining faithful love—never abandoning this ‘son’, even when he does wrong. And finally, he will show himself a Father in a working partnership—in which the son builds a temple (‘house’) for the glory of his Father's name, while God establishes the rule and dynasty (‘house’) of this ‘son’ ‘forever’.

Yet when we look at how the Holy Spirit directed the second telling of the story (1 Chr.17), Nathan's prophecy suggests a much bigger promise. For instead of the focus being on David's royal household (‘your house’) and on Solomon (‘his kingdom’), the emphasis is now on God's household (‘my house’) and on his (‘my’) kingdom.  Also, the reference to this ‘son of David’ doing something wrong has been omitted, while the Psalms texts (above) portray God as 'Father' to a David-like ‘Son’ who will rule over the kings of the whole earth! Thus, Israelites who studied the Scriptures came to understand that Nathan's prophecy was not just about Solomon, but about God being ‘Father’ to a unique royal ‘anointed one’ (Messiah) in the future. Yet Jewish nationalism and their human experience of earthly kingdoms lead them at the same time to misunderstand other aspects of these prophetic words. Thus, in Jesus' day, his disciples expect him to re-establish David's kingdom by becoming an earthly king over Israel who would ‘remain forever’ (Jn.6:15; 12:34; Acts 1:6). They seem to be deaf to Jesus' teaching that his kingdom begins in a hidden, seemingly insignificant way and grows gradually—like yeast in a lump of dough and like a mustard seed, since his kingdom is ‘not of this world’ (Jn.8:36). And when Jesus speaks of a place in his Father's household [Gr. oikia]’ for them (Med.#2), they don't seem to connect this with Nathan's prophecy— that God as a Father would also establish his household [Gr. oikos] through his anointed 'Son'.

In the same way, Christians also have tended to develop misconceptions concerning the full meaning of these Messianic prophecies that have been fulfilled in Jesus. The capitalizing of the pronouns in some of the HCSB translations above (of Is.9, Ps.2 and Ps.89)—in relation to both God and ‘the Son’ being given—suggest that these texts are focused on Jesus' eternal divinity as the main reason for the envisioned relationship between the Messiah and God as his Father. As a consequence, the conclusion can easily be drawn from these translations that the Bible represents God primarily as Father to Jesus because they have always been in this relationship since the beginning—within the Trinity. But this is not quite how the New Testament authors treat these Messianic texts.

Now I believe in the Trinity. I believe that Jesus is ‘the Word’ who has always existed with God and is God; and yet he is also fully human (Med.#58). Isaiah too seemed to have this idea—that this child born as a human being would also be called ‘Mighty God’. Yet his words, when laid alongside Nathan's original prophecy, suggest that his being ‘given’ to us as ‘a son’ focuses on his coming into an adult relationship with God as Father like what was promised to David for Solomon. And this is what Luke seems to have in mind when alluding to these prophecies in the words that the angel spoke to Mary—that the ‘child’ born to her ‘will be called…Son of God’ (Lk.1:35, Med.#25). For when Luke cites the fatherly declaration from Psalm 2 (‘Your are my Son’), he connects this prophecy with the day when Jesus received the Holy Spirit some thirty years later (Lk.3:32-34), the event that set in motion Jesus' adult ministry in partnership with his Father (Jn.5:19-26). Also in Matthew and Mark, the Messianic declaration of Jesus as God's ‘Son’ (as prophesied in Psalm 2) is connected with the day that he received the Spirit. Further, Matthew, Mark and John all identify this event in Jesus' adult life with a day in the future when he will baptize us with the Spirit (Mk.1:8-11; Mat.3:11,16-17; Jn.1:32-34, Med.#26).

Paul will speak of this event in our lives as our ‘placement as sons’, through which both men and women who believe in Jesus become adult ‘heirs’ of God (Med.#4)—co-heirs with Jesus (Med.#5) and by him, divine ‘household members’ [Gr. oikieoi] with full access to the Father (Med.#44). Paul also believed, though, that the Spirit is only the ‘first-fruits’ of the full inheritance that only comes when our bodies are finally transformed to be like the body Jesus received at his resurrection (Med.#5 & Med.#94). So when he quotes Psalm 2, he connects this prophecy to Jesus' resurrection, not to his eternal relationship with the Father. And he ties this text to us (‘YOU’, plural)—to us receiving the blessings promised to David (Act.13:30-34)! Further, when he (only once) alludes to Nathan's prophecy, he applies it to us and not to Jesus: ‘I will be a Father to YOU and YOU will be my sons and daughters’ (2 Cor.6:18, Med.#32). The author of the Hebrews letter does something similar when he cites Psalm 2 (‘You are my Son: today I have begotten you’[iv], Heb.1:5a), and immediately follows it up with a synopsis of the four versions of Nathan's prophecy: ‘I will be towards him a Father and he will be towards me a Son’ (Heb.1:5b). He does this first to point to Jesus as the new Word that God ‘has spoken to us in a Son who he has placed as the heir of all things’. But he goes on to say that through Jesus' incarnation and death, we as ‘his brothers and sisters’ also become ‘sons’ and heirs (Med.#7).

When seen in the light of these New Testament citations, these Messianic prophecies point not only to the coming of Jesus as the Father's promised ‘Son’, but also to how we become adult sons and daughters of the Father too—through the cross, through the Holy Spirit and finally through resurrection.

Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, we praise you that in these last days you have spoken to us by the Son whom you appointed to be heir of all things. (Eph.1:3; Heb.1:2)

You anointed him with your sacred oil; in your faithful love you never left him. (Ps.89:20; 2 Sam.7:15; Jn.16:32)

You gave him the holy and sure blessings promised to David, and authority over all nations, so that the kingdoms of this world will become his kingdom, with him reigning forever. (Acts.13:34; Rev.2:26; 11:15)

And now at your side, he has made you, the Everlasting Father, known to us. (Jn.1:18; Is.9:6)

[i] In these verses, the original word for ‘house’, in Greek [oikon] (also in Hebrew) can refer either to a building (like a temple) or to the members of a family (a household) or family line, which in the case of David's royal household takes on the meaning of a ‘dynasty’.

[ii] Both the sentence structure and the Greek words are drawn from the Septuagint (Greek) version of the Tanakh (LXX). 

[iii] The Tanakh (OT) doesn’t say when Solomon was born, only that his birth took place well into David's 33 year reign in Jerusalem [1003-970 BC] (2 Sam.5:5-10). But Solomon must have been a young adult when he became king, for he ‘shows himself a man' by taking decisive actions (1 K.2:2,13-46), by getting married (3:1), and by asking the Lord for a ‘discerning heart' (3:9). 

[iv] Or: ‘...today I have become your Father’ (Ps.2:7 NIV), for I declare you to be my adult son and heir. For this use of the Greek word gennao ('begotten'), see Med.#53, note [i] (also Med.#58). Just as with Solomon (1 K.3:5), this person is addressed as a newly appointed adult king (Ps.2:6)—one who is encouraged to ask God for a kingdom that will be much bigger than an expanded rule of Israel over the Promised Land (Ps.2:8).