Is there a difference between ‘the throne of the Lord’ in 1 Chronicles 29:23, ‘the throne of his father David’ in Luke 1:32, and ‘the right hand of the Majesty on high’ in Hebrews 1:3?
This text is from a transcript of a talk by David Gooding, entitled ‘Visions of Eternity: Five Studies on Major Themes in 1–2 Chronicles’ (1999).
Some highly respected theologians would say there is a very big difference between those. There is the throne of his father David. That is the literal throne of the nation of Israel and Luke 1 is talking about that. It's the throne of Israel in the day when Israel will be restored at the second coming and that throne will be set up on earth. That Christ is the heir to that throne over Israel is a separate thing from the throne of his Father, upon which he now sits. And also, from the phrase used in Matthew, that when the Lord comes with his holy angels and the glory of the Father and shall sit upon the throne of his glory—that this is our Lord's exalted throne (see Matthew 25:31). So they make a difference—our Lord seated on his own throne in glory and our Lord, so to speak, sitting on the throne of Israel on earth. Now far better theologians than I hold that view. I myself find it a little bit difficult, unless you're going to think in terms of an earthly big seat in Jerusalem!
In England, we keep a special seat for the Queen and when we speak of her ascending the throne, we could mean one of two things depending on the context. We do refer to a big chair that is kept in London at a certain place, and the dear Queen climbs up on this chair and sits on it sometimes with a crown on her head. She ascends a very literal chair in London. But in another context, when you talk of the Queen ascending the throne, you mean when she began her reign. So I can say that the Queen now occupies the throne of England, even if at this very moment she is probably in bed! She's not sitting on the throne, that literal chair, all the time. Now therefore when we read these terms in Scripture, I think we have to use our judgment as to what is being implied.
If our Lord is seated on the throne of glory in heaven—on the Father's throne—does that mean there's a big chair up in heaven somewhere and he sits on this big chair, or is this a metaphorical phrase which tells us that he occupies the throne of the universe, the throne that is rightly God's? If therefore it means that he occupies the position of government, that is as King, I don't see why we shouldn't also apply it in that sense in relation to the throne of an earthly Israel, without necessarily sitting on a big chair in Jerusalem.
1 See page 61 of the transcript, ‘The God of New Beginnings’.