In Luke 22:28–30, Jesus says to His disciples, “But you are those who have continued with Me in My trials. And I bestow upon you a kingdom, just as My Father bestowed one upon Me, that you may eat and drink at My table in My kingdom, and sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.” In verse 28, Jesus sets His comments in the context of His own “trials,” a clear reference to His incarnate ministry and sufferings. From what has been seen in Isaiah 53, the Son’s experience of these trials was specifically His obedience to the will of His Father. In verse 29, Jesus proceeds to speak of the Father “bestow[ing]” a kingdom upon Him. In light of what Jesus has said in verse 28, the clear implication is that this bestowal has come through His obedience in His “trials.” Because the Son has obeyed the Father, the Father has “bestowed” upon Him a kingdom. Here is the same, familiar obedience-for-reward dynamic. However, the word that Jesus uses to say that His Father has “bestowed” a kingdom upon Him is incredibly significant. The word that Jesus uses (διατίθημι; diatithēmi) is the verbal form of diathēkē and speaks specifically and narrowly of a covenantal conferral. To diatithēmi something is to confer it in accordance with covenantal terms. In Luke 22:29, then, Jesus explicitly declares that because of His obedience, the Father has bestowed a kingdom upon Him by covenant.

In light of both scriptural analogies and direct statement, the character of the obedience-for-reward relationship among the persons of the Trinity comes into clearer focus. The rewarded obedience of the Son occurs within a covenantal framework.

STEPHEN G. MYERS, GOD TO US – COVENANT THEOLOGY IN SCRIPTURE, 129-130.