The Bible prophesies that the Lord someday will sit on the throne of Israel. While we could say that he has the right as God to occupy that position, it's instructive to review the legal implications of that belief. Jesus is referred to in the Bible as the Son of David and it's interesting to see how God managed to authorize him to reign on the throne of David.
The book of Matthew begins with the genealogy of Jesus through Joseph and the genealogy of Jesus through Mary begins in Luke 3:23. Joseph was of the royal line of David as a descendant of Solomon and Mary was a descendant of David's son Nathan. So, Jesus was a blood descendant of David through the non-royal line and could be properly called the Seed of David. But, since he was not a blood descendant through the royal line, he was not affected by the prohibition that God placed in Jeremiah 22:24-30 on having a seed of Jeconiah sit on the throne.
The Authority Of Jesus To Be King (cont)
Ignorant critics of the Bible have accused the Lord of being illegimate because Mary and Joseph were engaged but had not begun living together when Jesus was conceived. And, there might be some confusion over the word espoused that means engaged. However, in those times, engagement was the equivalent of a legal wedding ceremony today and it was customary for a married couple to remain living separately for some time before the wedding supper was held. The supper was the public announcement that they would begin living together. In Matthew 1:19, we are told that Joseph planned to put her away before he learned that her conception was supernatural and of the will of God. And, the word translated put her away means divorce her. So, Jesus was conceived by Mary when she was legally married to Joseph.
We even have a precedent in Abraham's statement concerning his steward when he was lamenting Sarah's lack of ability to bear children. Even though Eliezer was not Abraham's offspring, he said that Eliezer would be his heir because he had been born in his house. If Eliezer could have been Abraham's heir without being born by Sarah, then Jesus certainly was Joseph's heir because he was born of his wife.
The Authority Of Jesus To Be King (cont)
The Lord is the only man qualified to sit on the throne of David because of his unique ancestry. He didn't marry and, of course, had no children. His brothers were all of the natural seed of David through the royal line and were prohibited, along with their descendants, from sitting on the throne. God has taken a seemingly impossible situation because of his curse on the natural descendants of Jeconiah and given us a man that is uniquely qualified not only to save us (since he is God) but also to occupy the throne of David.
Some Christians might say that any study of the right of Christ to sit on the throne of David constitutes endless genealogies and is a waste of good time. If God didn't think such is important, why did he begin the writings of the New Testament by showing that Jesus is of the royal line of David through Joseph?