We Believe in Jesus - Lesson 5: The King

[Music] [Applause] [Music] you the history of humanity is often written according to the reigns of powerful Kings we've all heard of Kings ruled large portions of Asia Europe Africa and Latin America some of them conquered so many enemies their empires seem to stretch to the far corners of the earth and they all have at least one thing in common they're gone they're dead they don't rule anymore their mighty armies have disappeared and their power is vanished there's only been one exception to this rule there's one king whose power has never faded and his kingdom will never end and that King of course is Jesus this is the fifth lesson in our series we believe in Jesus and we have entitled it the King in this lesson we'll see how Jesus fulfills the Old Testament office of King ruling is God's faithful servant and son as we've seen in Prior lessons at various stages of Old Testament history God instituted three offices through which he administered his kingdom the offices of prophet priest and King and in the final stage of God's kingdom which we commonly call the New Testament age all three of these offices find their ultimate fulfillment in Jesus in this lesson we'll focus on Jesus office of King for our purposes we'll define a king as a human being established by God to exercise rule on God's behalf over his kingdom as this definition indicates God always has been and always will be the ultimate ruler over all creation but he has also appointed human beings to serve as his vice regions these human Kings serve under him and further his purposes and goals for his kingdom as we keep this basic definition in mind will be able to gain many insights into the biblical office of King and into how Jesus fulfills this office [Music] this lesson will follow the same format as our lessons on Jesus office of profit and priest first we'll examine the Old Testament background to the office of King second we'll explore the fulfillment of the office of King in Jesus and third we'll explore the modern application of Jesus kingship to our own lives let's look first at the Old Testament background to Jesus office of King in his book the Republic the Greek philosopher Plato argued that the best of all possible government's was the rule of the philosopher King in his view Kings that truly loved wisdom instead of wealth and power would direct their nations toward countless benefits in a similar way scripture shows that when Israel's Kings feared God and followed his precepts their nations thrived under God's blessings but the opposite was also true when they rebelled against God the entire nations suffered under God's judgment in this sense Israel's Kings were central to the well-being of God's kingdom on earth will examine the Old Testament background to the office of King by looking at three topics first the qualifications for the office of king second the function of Kings and third the expectations the Old Testament created for the future of kingship in Israel let's begin with the qualifications for the office of King in the Old Testament God revealed the qualifications for Kings in two stages first in the law of Moses God revealed the standards for kingship even before Israel had a king and second God's covenant with David provided an important additional qualification once the monarchy was in place let's look first at the principles of kingship listed in the law of Moses it's interesting when you read the Old Testament particularly the first five books the Pentateuch that already there you have anticipation of the coming of a king you have what the king should be like and should do long before there's ever Kings why is this the case well I think we need to put those kind of passages Deuteronomy 17 particularly where you have the anticipation of the king and what the king should do in light of God's plan you really have to go back to Adam Adam functions as a kind of prophet priest king his dominion over this earth that rule and kingship in some senses lost it's picked up in the nation of Israel through the Abrahamic covenant even in Genesis 17 there's promises that through Abraham's line Kings will come that then begins to be realized in Israel and uniquely the king the king in the Old Testament even though it's announced many many years at a time and say Deuteronomy 17 with Moses is setting us up for the return of the the effects of sin upon this world a restoration that will come through the Kings the Davidic Kings but even more than that the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ who now takes these roles fulfills the Davidic role fulfills Israel's role fulfills ultimately Adams role and restores us back to what we were made to be so that all of this is in anticipation all of this is setting us up for more in terms of God's plan as it unfolds leading us to the messianic theme of this is what will come this is who will take place this is how the king will fulfill those roles all of that I think is the reason why Moses is giving us this before there's ever Kings as Moses prepared the nation of Israel to enter and conquer the promised land he explained that God would eventually appoint a king over the and he listed four principles that were to guide the king that got appointed listen to what Moses wrote in Deuteronomy chapter 17 verses 14 through 19 when you have taken possession of it and settled in it appoint over you the King the Lord your God chooses he must be from among your own brothers the King moreover must not acquire great numbers of horses for himself or make the people return to Egypt to get more of them he must not take many wives he must not accumulate large amounts of silver and gold he is to write a copy of this law and he is to read it all the days of his life so that he may learn to revere the Lord his God and follow carefully all the words of this law and these decrees Moses listed four principles relating to the qualifications for kingship first he said that Israel's King had to be chosen by God the people were not qualified to choose a king that would lead them in the way that God demanded and they didn't have the right to vest a person with God's delegated authority only God could delegate his own authority and he would only give it to a person of his choosing the second thing Moses mentioned in Deuteronomy chapter 17 was that the king had to be an Israelite that is to say he had to be a native of God's chosen nation this was to fulfill the Covenant promise God had made to Abraham in Genesis chapter 17 verses 1 through 8 where he scored that Abraham's heirs would be Kings over their people the third qualification in Deuteronomy chapter 17 was that the king was to depend on God rather than on human strategies for securing peace and prosperity Moses listed four ways that Kings might turn from dependence on God the king was forbidden to acquire large numbers of horses probably because they were important for his army the king was to depend on God's power and not on human might in order to secure the nation the ban on returning to Egypt referred to submitting to a larger Empire for protection and provision rather than submitting to God the prohibition against many wives probably applied specifically to political alliances forged through arranged marriages this was problematic not just because it made Israel dependent on foreign countries rather than on God but also because foreign wives were likely to serve foreign gods and to tempt the King to do the same and the command against accumulating large amounts of gold and silver probably referred to unjust taxation it wasn't wrong for the king to be rich but it was criminal for him to become rich by oppressing God's people as a whole these restrictions ensured that the king would rely on God for the success of his reign and the security of the nation the fourth thing Moses stressed in Deuteronomy chapter 17 was that the king was required to demonstrate covenant fidelity to God by receiving copying and meditating on God's covenant law these actions were designed to cultivate personal reverence appropriate humility and faithful rule the kings of Israel the kings of Judah were the representative of the people to God and so that in many ways they they had a sacramental presence there both as the representative God on earth and and the representative of the people to God so that particular swing status that they had was significant and and how God responded to both the king and then ultimately how that fell out on to the nation as a whole and you had this whole history I think within Israel and Judah there are no good Kings in Israel they are all bad and then they fell first in 722 BC but then within within Judah you had to sort of back and forth where you'd have a good king he did right in the eyes of the Lord and then a bad king who did evil in the sight of the Lord but when the bad Kings did evil in the sight of the Lord there were major repercussions that came from that this was where the divine know of God's judgment would be heralded against both the king and then also the people as well and it seems to be that there was a you know there's an organic relationship between the status of the king in the way in which the people followed in that and if the king was setting up high places and worshipping foreign gods the people were as well and then vice versa that when there were reforms like we had with King Josiah that has huge national repercussions for the way in which the people responded to God in his law so the king had a major role in representing both the people and God to the people having seen the qualifications for kingship revealed by Moses we're ready to consider an additional qualification God established in his covenant with David God established his covenant with David in second Samuel chapter 7 verses 8 through 16 and its terms are mentioned in places like Psalms 89 and 132 this covenant established David's descendants as Israel's permanent dynasty God demonstrated great benevolence to David and to Israel by ensuring that David's descendants would reign and that Israel would enjoy the stability of dynastic succession listen to God's covenant promises to David in 2nd Samuel chapter 7 verses 8 through 16 I took you from the pasture and from following the flock to be ruler over my people Israel now I will make your name great and I will provide a place for my people Israel I will also give you rest from all your enemies I will raise up your offspring to succeed you who will come from your own body and I will establish his kingdom your house and your kingdom will endure forever before me your throne will be established forever according to this divine covenant God added a new qualification for Kings in Israel from this time on God's people were to be led by a son of David only his house could claim legitimate perpetual rule over the entire nation as early as the book of Genesis God blessed the tribe of Judah with Israel's kingship the scepter will not depart from Judah Jacob said in Genesis chapter 49 since David was from the tribe of Judah God's promise to David was the fulfillment of this blessing in Genesis God always intended that Israel would one day have a king from the tribe of Judah because of David's obedience and devotion to God he promised that Israel's kingship would be perpetually traced through David's line no person could ever legitimately claim to be king in Israel unless he was from David's house that's why it was so important for the writers of the gospel to prove not just that Jesus was called by God but that he was a direct descendant of David with a legitimate claim that David's throne now that we've looked at the qualifications for kingship let's turn to our second tonic the function of Kings in the Old Testament in the Old Testament the kings of Israel exercised faithful rule over God's people primarily by executing and administering God's law as we've seen in Prior lessons it was common for powerful Emperor's or susan's in the ancient Near East to conquer and control weaker kingdoms making them their servants or vassals these suzerainty administered their relationships with their vassals through treaties or covenants which required the vassal kingdoms to serve the conquering suzerain by submitting to his laws and the same thing was true of Israel's relationship to God the entire nation was responsible to obey God's covenant and the king was to ensure that they did Kings held their people accountable to God's covenant law in many ways but for our purposes in this lesson we'll focus on what Jesus called the more important matters of the law as Jesus said in Matthew chapter 23 verse 23 the more important matters of the law are justice mercy and faithfulness according to Jesus and in contrast with the Pharisees focus on ceremonies and rituals the most important characteristics of the law are justice mercy and faithfulness will consider the ways Old Testament Kings executed and administered God's laws according to each of these most important characteristics first we'll look at the Kings responsibility to enforce justice second we'll see that the king was to apply mercy and third we'll focus on the fact that the king was to promote faithfulness let's look first at the Kings function of enforcing justice in the context of a king's responsibilities justice can be defined as judging every person as he deserves in accordance with God's law as individuals or rulers we have the right the freedom and the will to choose a safe path or a simple path we can copy on in the end and that God's judgment allow the fall on us all as a result those rulers will be judged better and they may yet when Jesus comes they will put all things where they should be and attainable him until then we have on a mission and that is to live as individuals that belong to God's kingdom and as citizens in a heavenly / numeric al-adel a national ad for the time being we practice justice and equality respecting others respecting the weak being fair with the unjust Nathon and we try hard to achieve justice and knowing that we still live in a sinful world a broken world in a world under God's judgment in a world where brutality poverty ignorance and corruption still exists why said we are like a candle that gives life happily and reminding others that there's a loving God in heaven who cares about the unjust and that this brutality corruption and arrogance no matter how long it lasts on earth that death it is temporary and limited in time because there is a God who will in the end fix everything those that Israel's Kings were to execute God's justice on at least two different levels in the first place they executed God's international justice enforcing God's law between Israel and other nations one way Kings upheld justice on an international scale was by peacefully negotiating with other nations as Solomon did with Hiram the king of Tyre in first Kings chapter 5 verses 1 through 12 Kings also pursued international justice through war they did this by punishing wicked nations as salted in 1st Samuel chapter 14 verses 47 and 48 and as David did in 2nd Samuel chapter 8 verses 1 through 13 the King also defended Israel when they were attacked as David did in 2nd Samuel chapter 5 verses 17 through 25 and as Hezekiah did in 2nd Kings chapter 19 Psalm 2 summarizes the justice that Israel's Kings were to render toward nations that rebelled against them and the Lord listen to what it says in verses 6 through 12 the Lord said I have installed my King on Zion my holy hill he said to me you are my son today I have become your father ask of me and I will make the nations your inheritance the ends of the earth your possession you will rule them with an iron scepter you will bash them to pieces like pottery therefore you kings be wise be warned you rulers of the earth serve the Lord with fear and rejoice with trembling kiss the son lest he be angry and you be destroyed in your way for his wrath can flare up in a moment blessed are all who take refuge in him these verses follow the ancient Near Eastern custom of referring to the suzerainty and his vassal King as his son in this case God was the suzerainty and the Davidic King was the son and God's plan for the world was for the nation's to serve and obey the Davidic King they were to fear and honor him because he was God's instrument of justice in the world in the second place Kings were also responsible to execute God's justice on a national scale within Israel Kings enforced national justice by leading God's special people in obedience to his law this included things like providing for the well-being and protection of the weak as we see in proverbs chapter 29 verse 14 defending against the wicked as David modeled in 2nd Samuel chapter 4 verses 9 through 12 prosecuting criminals as in 2nd Kings chapter 14 verse 5 and establishing stability for the growth and prosperity of the citizens a Psalm 72 teaches moreover Kings were not to distort justice to favor the rich or the poor the powerful or the weak scripture speaks of this role of Kings in many places including Leviticus chapter 19 verse 15 and Isaiah chapter 11 verses 1 through 5 drawing once again from Jesus identification of the more important matters of the law a second major way Kings were to apply God's law was in mercy mercy is the imitation of God's compassion toward his creatures God often treats his creatures with forbearance when they have sinned and an understanding of their weakness he grants them good things in life and relief from suffering simply because it pleases him to be kind to what he is made scripture speaks of God's mercy in many places such as Psalm 40 verse 11 Psalm 103 verse 8 and Jonah chapter 4 verse 2 as with justice we'll highlight the fact that Kings were to show mercy in at least two arenas beginning with international relations on an international level Kings applied mercy to those nations and people who submitted to the God of Israel for example in 2nd Samuel chapter 10 verse 19 many vassals of one of Israel's enemies received mercy from David when they made peace with him and in 2nd samuel chapter 10 verses 1 and 2 David showed compassion to the king of the ammonites moreover Old Testament prophets foretold that the Gentile nations would eventually submit to Jerusalem they would bring tribute to the capital city of God's kingdom and receive mercy and protection from God's kings these things are prophesied in places like Isaiah chapter 60 verses 1 through 22 and chapter 66 verses 18 through 23 micah chapter 4 verses 1 through 8 and Zephaniah chapter 2 verse 11 of course as we've seen in our discussion of justice God doesn't always want to show mercy and sometimes he demanded that the King withhold mercy from wicked nations for example in 2nd Samuel chapter 5 verses 17 through 25 God instructed David to destroy the Philistines which David did without mercy their evil was so great that they were not to be spared so part of the king's responsibility was to discern when god would have him show mercy and when God would have him withhold it besides showing mercy in international relations the king was also responsible to administer God's law by showing mercy on a national level because the king was God's vassal he was required to treat God's people in the same way that God would treat them and this meant treating them mercifully as we read in places like Hosea chapter 6 verse 6 God wanted his people to show mercy even more than he wanted the sacrifices required in the law this is not because God's law is unimportant but rather because mercy is one of the more important matters of the law for this reason a merciful king was an ideal leader one who imaged God's own pattern of care David exemplified this in places like 2nd Samuel chapter 19 verses 18 through 23 where he showed mercy to enemies that submitted to him [Music] mercy is throughout the Old Testament law if we can get over our bias sometimes that the law is bad and and really read the law as a vehicle of God's loving-kindness we'll begin to see it everywhere so even if we look at the Ten Commandments as a starting point you see a law such as the the fourth commandment to keep the Sabbath holy we have to read beyond that first part of the part of the commandment to see that that not only are we to rest on the Lord's Day or the Sabbath but we are to allow our household servants are our livestock all is under our possession in our modern world we would say a god-fearing man or woman who has a business should be merciful to his or her employees and not treat them as resources to be mine they're exhausted but but rather treat them as people to be steward over the people God has placed over us so there's a merciful provision there you see a lot of individual detailed laws in the Old Testament that show mercy the command in Deuteronomy to leave the gleanings in the Corps the field so that those who are needy could come along and and have something to eat slick it pick what was left over you have other Old Testament laws such as the command not to charge interest to a countryman in that world it's a it's a not a capitalist investment economy and the charging of interest was often a way to abuse and take advantage of people it would become a substitute for generosity if one could could make an advantage off of a needy fellow Israelite you know he can enrich himself but he could he would end up depriving the other so the command says don't do that instead be generous by not charging interest and lend to those who have need the the law of release from from an indenture meant every seven years or the law of Jubilee that restored people to the land that that unfortunate Providence's had taken them away from unfortunate circumstances so these laws of restoration though God was merciful toward his people and then he commands them to reflect his own character in the laws of the Old Testament in addition to justice and mercy a third way the king was to execute God's law was by promoting faithfulness to God faithfulness can be defined as loyalty to God demonstrated through heartfelt trust and obedience faithfulness involves believing that God is who he says he is royally serving him and no other gods in rendering him loving obedience as we did with justice and mercy will consider two ways the king was obligated to promote faithfulness beginning with the international arena the kings of Israel were to lead God's people towards fidelity to God in such a way that the surrounding nations would repent of their idolatry and sin and begin to serve God Kings fulfilled this role especially by establishing faithful worship in the nation of Israel as we see in Solomon's prayer at the dedication of the temple in first Kings chapter 8 verses 41 through 43 this global mandate to disciple and discipline the nations is also indicated in passages like Psalm 72 verses 8 through 11 and Zechariah chapter 8 verses 20 through 23 besides promoting faithfulness to God internationally the king was also to encourage faithfulness on a national level the king was to promote faithfulness within the nation of Israel especially by ensuring and providing for purity and worship good Kings provided resources and plans for worship organized the personnel dictated policies for the maintenance of the temple and often played important roles in the public celebrations of worship for example David did these things in first chronicles chapters 15 16 and 23 through 28 the Kings commitment to promoting Israel's faithfulness affected the nation in profound ways because he was the nation's representative before God the people often experienced heightened blessings under the leadership of faithful kings and heightened judgments under faithless Kings God blessed faithful Kings with prosperity in Israel and the physical expansion of Israel's borders unfaithful Kings would be punished as well in fact the book of Kings partially blames the Exile of Judah on the disobedience of Israel's kings listen to God's words to King Solomon in first Kings chapter 9 verses 6 & 7 if you or your sons turn away from me and do not observe the commands and decrees I have given you and go off to serve other gods and worship them then I will cut off Israel from the land I have given them and will reject this temple I have consecrated for my name Israel will then become a byword and an object of ridicule among all peoples sadly not every king of Israel and Judah was faithful to God and the people often suffered as a result but even when the temple had been neglected or the people had fallen into idolatry faithful Kings were often able to reform and restore the nation's worship we see this with Hezekiah in 2nd Kings chapter 18 verses 1 through 8 and with Josiah in 2nd Kings chapter 22 verse 1 through chapter 23 verse 25 their reform efforts encouraged and even produced faithfulness among God's people and thereby encouraged God to bless the nation during their rains having seen the qualifications and functions of Old Testament Kings we're ready to look at the expectations the Old Testament created for the future of kingship in Israel the Old Testament established many expectations for future kings and especially for the ones special messianic king that was prophesied to fulfill God's goal of establishing his kingdom on earth and of course the New Testament reveals that this messianic king was Jesus so we should look at these Old Testament anticipations in some detail we'll look at the expectations for the future of kingship in Israel that were created by two sources first the historical development of kingship in the Old Testament and second specific prophecies about a future king over Israel let's look first at the expectations created by the historical development of kingship we'll begin by looking at the vital role human kingship played in God's plan before the monarchy in Israel from the days of creation to the time of Israel's judges when God created the world he placed Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden to serve as his vice regions over creation God indicated this role for Humanity in Genesis chapter 1 verses 26 and 27 where he planned and created Adam and Eve in His image in the days of the Old Testament terms like image of God likeness of the gods and the son of God were commonly used to refer to kings and emperors this terminology expressed the belief that Kings were earthly representatives or viceroys of their gods it was the king's job to ensure that his God's will was accomplished on earth so when the Bible calls Adam and Eve images of God one thing it means is that God appointed the entire human race to be his vice regents on earth in the broadest sense then all human beings were created to live as royalty as God's servant Kings who ensure that his will is done on earth the idea that divine images were royal figures helps explain Genesis chapter 1 verse 28 where God gave this mandate to our first parents be fruitful and increase in number fill the earth and subdue it rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground God wanted to turn the entire earth into his kingdom so he appointed his vice Regents the human race both to fill the world with additional images of God and to exercise Dominion or rule over the entire creation this command is often called the cultural mandate because it commands us to build God's kingdom by establishing cultures and civilizations throughout the world after Adam and Eve fell into sin they and their descendants strayed so far from their original responsibilities that God judged sinful humanity in Noah's Flood even so God didn't cancel humanity's royal function in the world after Noah and his family had exited the ark God reaffirmed the cultural mandate commanding all his royal images to spread God honoring civilization around the world but the Vice Regency of humanity shifted in a significant way in the days of Abraham God redeemed Abraham and made him the father of his chosen people Israel although all human beings were still God's Vice Regents in a general sense the Lord shows Abraham and his descendants to be the firstborn of all the families of the earth God made a special covenant with Abraham in Genesis chapters 15 and 17 indicating that Israel had the special royal privilege of building a holy nation for God and this nation was to be the starting point for spreading God's will to all other nations later in history God began to fulfill his promises to Abraham by sending Moses and then Joshua to lead Israel under their rule God rescued his people from slavery in Egypt and empowered them to conquer Canaan the promised land where they were to become a large nation of redeemed holy images of God sadly Israel failed to complete the conquest of Canaan so after Joshua died national unity disintegrated and various local judges and Levites led the tribes through a very troubled time although God blessed Israel during these years the leadership of judges and Levites was not adequate to move Israel toward success as the leading nation of God's royal images the writer of the book of Judges made this plain throughout his book listen to the final line of his book in judges chapter 21 verse 25 in those days Israel had no king everyone did as he saw fit very similar comments appear in judges chapter 17 verse six chapter 18 verse 1 and chapter 19 verse 1 these repetitions emphasized that Israel could move forward as God's chosen nation only under the rule of a righteous king who served as God's special vice-regent well the book of Judges seems to be a rationale for the kingdom of the king there's a cycle in the book of Judges that the judges raised up and it's okay for a while that people fall into sin they cry out to God and God raises up another judge and the author clearly wants to make the point that there needs to be something more stable more secure and longs for a ruler and a leader after God's own heart and of course that attribute his particular plight to David the king after God's own heart and who's seen as something of the model of what kingship looks like not only for the people of Israel then but actually for how God exercises his rule over his people so the book of Judges then is is something of a polemic for the need for a king a king who would rule under God who would show us how God rules his people both then and indeed even today it's important to put the book of Judges in the entire plan of God the storyline from Genesis all the way to the coming of Jesus Christ the book of Judges is looking back to the previous revelation all the way to to Adam as a kingly figure Abraham and the Abrahamic covenant anticipating coming of kings through his line moses giving the Old Covenant Deuteronomy 17 where there's the coming of the king anticipated yet there is not at that point in God's plan the actual kings that are coming judges then in some sense is showing the need for leaders the need for rule Joshua picks up for Moses the judges pick up from Joshua yet there is no king that God has been interest paiting there is no fulfillment of that yet the judges are depending on their leadership if they're good the nation usually does not do badly if they're evil the nation does poorly and there is no king when the King comes judges is saying to us things will be better things will look things will be fulfilled from what the Old Testament has given to us and then of course we move from judges to then the Saul and David sort of set over against one another the people's King God's King which again leads us to the great Davidic covenant the promises of David's greater son all of this is part of God's plan setting us up for the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ showing us what the true king will be like in contrast to these other Kings the need for a king to restore what we were once made to be and all of that is part of God's plan that is leading us to Jesus Christ now that we've looked at the origins of human kingship in the days before is real small our King let's turn to the historical developments during the monarch in Israel according to First Samuel chapter 8 verses 5 through 20 at the end of the period of the judges the nation of Israel envied the stability and order Kings provided to surrounding nations but they refused to wait for God to raise up a king in his own time instead they demanded that he give them a king immediately in response God appointed Saul as the first official king over Israel now it's important to realize that Israel's desire for a human King wasn't sinful in itself God had revealed several times beforehand that he planned for Israel to become a mighty nation with a great human king for example in Genesis chapter 17 verse 6 God promised Abraham that Kings would be included among his descendants in Genesis chapter 49 verses 8 through 10 Jacob blessed his son Judah by announcing that one of Judah's descendants would rule as king over Israel and as we saw earlier in this lesson Moses even prescribed regulations for Israel's kings in Deuteronomy chapter 17 verses 14 through 19 beyond this in 1st Samuel chapter 2 verse 10 shortly before Israel pressed God to give them a king righteous Hanna had offered a prophetic prayer that God would eventually establish a righteous king over his people but despite God's good plans for kingship in Israel the nation's sinned by refusing to trust God and to wait for his timing and God's appointment of Saul as their King was intended partly to discipline them for this sin and while Saul did move Israel forward in some ways his own rebellion against God caused the Lord to depose him and his family but after Saul's failure God graciously gave Israel the kind of king being needed by raising up David as their king like all the rest of fallen humanity David was a sinner but he was also a man after God's own heart and God empowered him to unite the nation defeat their enemies and bring security and prosperity to Israel moreover God made a covenant with David so that his descendants would always rule over Israel as their permanent royal dynasty we read about this covenant in places like second Samuel Chapter 7 first chronicles chapter 17 and Psalms 89 and 132 when David died his son Solomon succeeded him as king in many ways solomon's reign was the high point in the history of Israel's kings he expanded the territories of Israel and increased its wealth and good reputation sadly he also seriously violated God's law by worshiping the gods of his foreign wives so the Lord divided the kingdom in the days of Solomon's son Rehoboam and the generations that followed were even more unfaithful to God so that eventually both Israel and Judah came under God's judgment on exiled from their lands the Northern Kingdom of Israel was conquered by Assyria in 723 or 722 BC and the southern kingdom of Judah was conquered by Babylon in 587 or 586 BC the last legitimate King was David's descendant Jehovah King also known as Jeconiah who was deposed and carried into captivity in 597 BC by the end of the NARC achill period God had revealed a great deal about human kingship in the broadest sense all human beings were God's vice Regents over the earth in a narrower sense the nation of Israel held a special Vice Regency as the sacred family of humanity that was to be a model for other nations and in the narrowest sense David's royal descendants occupied the office of God's chief vice regent God ordained the sons of David to lead the Israelites and the rest of the world in service to the will of the Supreme King God himself now that we've looked at the historical development of the office of King before and during Israel's monarchy let's explore the period after the monarchy when Israel and Judah lived in exile and there was no Davidic King although the Babylonians had destroyed Jerusalem and removed David's heir from his throne the Persian Emperor Cyrus conquered Babylon and decreed that the Israelites could return to the promised land we read of this development in second chronicles chapter 36 and Ezra chapter 1 the years following Cyrus's edict are often called the period of restoration the returnees reconsecrated the altar of God built a new temple and rebuilt Jerusalem's walls early on in Haggai chapter 2 verses 21 through 23 the Prophet Haggai even told this restored remnant that if they were faithful God might appoint their governors a rubble who was a descendant of David - David's throne but the people weren't faithful to God so the Old Testament ends with only a remnant of Israelites living in the Promised Land with their hopes of glory postponed into the future in the time between the old and new testaments israel's apostasy continued to delay the restoration of kingship in Israel the Greek Empire defeated the Persian Empire and took control over the Israelites in Palestine and later the Roman Empire defeated the Greeks and took charge over the promised land during all of this time Israel had no king ordained by God the pitiful condition of Israel under the oppression of the Assyrians the Babylonians the Medes and the Persians the Greeks and the Romans demonstrated one thing very clearly the reign of a righteous son of David was critical to the future Israel needed a Davidic King to fulfill its role in the world as God's chosen people so the faithful people of God continued to look forward to the time when God would honor his covenant with David by sending a righteous Davidic King to rescue them from their oppressors and to extend the will of God over the entire world now that we've looked at the historical developments of the office of King let's consider the expectations for the future of kingship that rose from specific prophecies in the Old Testament the Old Testament contains far too many prophecies about the future of kingship and Israel for us to mention them all so for our purposes in this lesson we'll mention just four important themes in the first place Old Testament prophets predicted that God would restore the Davidic dynasty the Old Testament especially emphasizes the Messiah is first of all a son of David horse David was that great king of Israel who trusted in the Lord so significantly one one powerful victories in many many ways obeyed the Lord of course he had some significant failings as well but David becomes the paradigm of what the Messiah will be he will be a ruler who brings peace to the nation and so we see in the latter part of the Old Testament after David has died there is an expectation that a son of David will come and that's especially aligned with the idea that there will be peace and righteousness and joy but in the Old Testament the figure who became known as the Messiah was the king was the king from David's line David was given a covenant by God and in that covenant he was promised that one day God would raise up a king who would have a special unique son of God relationship relationship with God as his son who would reign forever on the throne of David who would establish justice and righteousness so really when we refer to the Old Testament Messiah we're referring to a king the ultimate king the king who would bring God's salvation and deliverance the prophets said that God would eventually send a righteous son of David to restore Davidic King ship to Israel we see this in many places including Psalm 89 Isaiah chapter 9 verse 7 and chapter 16 verse 5 Jeremiah chapter 23 verse 5 and chapter 33 verses 25 and 26 and Ezekiel chapter 34 verses 23 and 24 that's just one example listen to what God said through the Prophet Amos in Amos chapter 9 verse 11 in that day I will restore David's fallen tent I will repair its broken places restore its ruins and build it as it used to be in the second place the prophets predicted that this future son of David would give God's people freedom and victory over their enemies the Old Testament prophets frequently spoke of a time when God would pramatta Klien trevean in history to conquer his enemies on behalf of his faithful people God promised to render judgment against all those who opposed his ways including the unfaithful within Israel and the prophets repeatedly associated this victory with the future heir of David's throne who would act as God's great vice regent these expectations are prophesied in places like Psalm 132 verses 17 and 18 Isaiah chapter 9 verses 4 through 7 Jeremiah chapter 30 verses 5 through 17 ezekiel chapter 34 verse 2 and Zechariah chapter 12 verses 1 through 10 for instance listen to this prophecy in Jeremiah chapter 30 verses 8 and 9 in that day declares the Lord Almighty I will break the yoke off their necks and will tear off their bonds no longer will foreigners enslave them instead they will serve the Lord their God and David their King whom I will raise up for them in the third place Old Testament prophets predicted that this future son of David would establish an everlasting Kingdom the Old Testament prophets regularly taught that when the great son of David ruled over Israel they would enjoy God's blessings forever the Davidic king's reign would make earth like heaven and his people would live enduringly in peace and prosperity this expectation appears in passages like Isaiah chapter 55 verse 3 through 13 and Ezekiel chapter 37 verses 24 and 25 for example listen to what Isaiah said about the future son of David in Isaiah chapter 9 verse 7 of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end he will reign on David's throne and over his kingdom establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever the zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this and in the fourth place the prophets also taught that this future son of David would establish a worldwide Kingdom the future davidic kingdom would be limitless not only in time but also in geography it would expand to fill the entire earth all who repented of their sins would enjoy its blessings regardless of their nationality or ethnicity we see instances of this in Psalms 2 68 70 to 110 and 120 to listen to the way daniel chapter 7 verses 13 and 14 describes this aspect of the future king in his kingdom there before me was one like a son of man coming with the clouds of heaven he was given Authority glory and sovereign power all peoples nations and men of every language worshipped him one of the key texts in the Old Testament understanding the role of Messiah is Psalm 2 which is a very clear prediction that God is anointed a special king who needs a appointed on his holy hill on Zion and when we read it carefully discover this king that God is going to appoint it's also going to be the one who's going to be the ruler over the nation's the obedience of the nations will be here and he's not sorry to figure that all nations and all the rulers of the earth had to come down and effectually to worship to kiss the son as the phrase in Psalm 2 it's this idea that he is not just Israel's Messiah that he is the credit Israel's Messiah he's also the lord over the whole world the rightful Lord of the whole world so one of the key things to understand is that the Messiah was a human figure actually as I'm severe human figures going to come was going to be the ruler of the world the Old Testament ended with great hopes for the future of kingship God would send a special son of David a supreme vice-regent he would defeat all the enemies of God's people and he would establish an everlasting Kingdom on earth for everyone that would submit to his rule this kingdom would fulfill God's original purpose for Humanity as the image of God it would fulfill God's original purpose for Israel and it would fulfill God's original purpose for establishing David's throne the righteous son of David would turn the entire world into God's kingdom and purge it of all evil and established peace and prosperity for all his people for all time having explored the Old Testament background to the office of King were ready to turn to our second major topic the fulfillment of the office of King in Jesus the New Testament clearly teaches that Jesus is the Davidic King promised in the Old Testament for example the Magi described him as the king of the Jews in matthew chapter 2 verse 2 Jesus disciples attributed royal titles such as Messiah or Christ to him in places like mark chapter 8 verses 27 through 29 he was called the king of Israel in John chapter 1 verse 49 and most importantly just before his death Jesus himself claimed to be the Messianic King promised by the Old Testament listen to his conversation with Pontius Pilate in Matthew chapter 27 verse 11 the governor asked him are you the King of the Jews yes it is as you say jesus replied we find similar reports in mark chapter 15 verse 2 Luke chapter 23 verses 1 through 3 and John chapter 18 verses 33 through 37 even though Jesus didn't ascend to the throne of Israel during his earthly ministry the New Testament clearly teaches that he really is the promised Davidic King and he will return in the future to fulfill every Old Testament expectation for the throne of David will examine the fulfillment of the office of King to the person of Jesus in ways that corresponds to our survey have the Old Testament backgrounds to this office first we'll see that Jesus fulfilled the qualifications for the office of King second we'll note the Jesus modeled the function of Kings and third we'll explore the ways Jesus met the expectations the Old Testament created for the future of kingly service let's begin with Jesus kingly qualifications earlier in this lesson we saw that the law of Moses listed for qualifications for Kings first the King had to be chosen by God second he had to be in Israelite third he had to depend on God for success in security and fourth he had to maintain covenant fidelity in his rule and in his personal life and beyond these qualifications the covenant with David specified that the king had to be a son of David at this point in our lesson let's look at how Jesus met each of these qualifications beginning with being chosen by God as we've seen before God is the great Emperor or suzerainty over all creation and the king of Israel was the servant King or vassal over God's special holy nation Israel and since only God can delegate his own authority he himself had to choose all the legitimate Kings that were to receive and exercise a measure of God's authority over his nation Jesus met this qualification because God selected and designated him to be king over Israel we see this in Jesus genealogy in Matthew chapter 1 verses 1 through 17 and in the angel Gabriel announcement to Mary about the birth of Jesus listen to Gabriel's words to Mary in Luke chapter 1 verses 31 through 33 he will be with child and give birth to a son and you are to give him the name Jesus he will be great and will be called the son of the Most High the Lord God will give him the throne of his father David and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever his kingdom will never end God made it clear that he had chosen Jesus to be the king over his people the second qualification for the King was that he had to be an Israelite it almost goes without saying that Jesus meant the qualification of being an Israelite because he was born into an Israelite family his miraculous incarnation in the womb of the Virgin Mary in his birth unusual but he was still a legal child of Joseph and Mary and a full member of the covenant community of Israel this is confirmed by Jesus genealogies in Matthew chapter 1 and Luke chapter 3 and also by passages like Romans chapter 9 verse 5 that speak of Jesus having true Israelite ancestry the third qualification in the Old Testament was that the king had to depend on God rather than on human strategies for securing peace and prosperity Jesus meant this qualification because he depended entirely on God's power to establish security and prosperity for his people he didn't try to make alliances with Herod or Pilate or with any other human government instead he relied on God's authority and power to establish and maintain his kingdom as we see in passages like John chapter thirteen verse three and chapter 19 verses 10 and 11 the fourth Old Testament qualification for King that Jesus met was that he demonstrated covenant fidelity to God through his relationship with God's covenants law Jesus fidelity to God's law is seen in many ways but especially in his adherence to its original meaning and in his dedication to fulfill everything the law required for example in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew chapters 5 through 7 Jesus repeatedly emphasized the original meaning of what was written in the law and contrast with the oral teachings of what was said by the teachers of the law in addition he specifically said that he had come to fulfill every last detail of the law listen to what he said in Matthew chapter 5 verses 17 and 18 do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them I tell you the truth until heaven and earth disappear not the smallest letter not the least stroke of a pen will by any means disappear from the law until everything is accomplished the Apostle Paul echoed this idea in Romans chapter 8 verses 3 and 4 where he said that Jesus actually had fulfilled the whole law not just for himself but on our behalf as well the Bible says that the law is a schoolmaster that points us to Christ that brings us Tim prepares us for him the law is given and it's a reflection of God's character but we fail to keep the law and so when Jesus comes he shows us perfect humanity fulfilling its intended purpose which is relationship with God typifies with faithfulness to God's commands so Jesus comes showing us through humanity in the way it's supposed to be but also fulfilling that law for us Jesus fulfills the law in his continual faithfulness to covenant keeping law abiding behavior so that he becomes a righteousness Bible says that God is both just and the justifier and so he comes with his law and then he comes with his son keeping the law for us so he both is the just one and the one who justifies us in Christ it's important to stress that Jesus is faithful to the Covenant to be the very basis for his right to rule over us I mean this is picking up a lot of themes that go really back to Adam Adam as our head representative of the entire human race is as all of God's creatures to be obedient to be faithful we are the creatures we are the ones who are to obey our Creator to serve Him and to obey Him and love him in every area of our life in his disobedience he brought with it sin and death and judgment the only way for that to be reversed is we need God to do the remedy for us and to do so through another Adam through another human and so we have the strong emphasis on God will provide one like and Adam through these various prophet priests and kings ultimately culminating in our Lord Jesus Christ who and you think of in the Gospels he has come to do the will of God he has come to obey Galatians 4 says that he was born of a woman born under the law to obey all of the law or why is that necessary because he has to undo what Adam did by his obedience and we think of this not just in terms of his life but his life is important here to by his obedience sometimes we call this his active obedience he fulfills all the requirements of the law for us by his obedience supremely in his death Philippians 2 he obeys even unto death in the cross he is then by virtue of that work by virtue of that obedience as our King as our priest he has exalted to God's right hand it's not as if he wasn't king before and Lord before he's always been that as God the Son yet he is God the Son incarnate by his work and he has to through his humanity be obedient to be faithful to do that on our behalf so that he can win for us our salvation he could not be the one who is given to be king of kings and Lord of lords in that messianic work in that kingly work without his full obedience and faithfulness unto the father the fiscal Testament qualification Jesus met was that he was a son of David God's covenant with David established David's descendants as Israel's permanent dynasty so only David's heirs could make a legitimate claim to Israel's kingship Jesus membership in David's house is clearly taught in many places in Scripture to list just a few we see it in Matthew chapter 1 verses 1 through 25 Romans chapter 1 verses 1 through 3 and Revelation chapter 5 verse 5 in chapter 22 verse 16 now that we've looked at Jesus qualifications for kingship let's turn to the ways Jesus fulfilled the function of kingly service earlier in this lesson we said that the basic function of a king is to exercise faithful rule on God's behalf over his vassal nation especially by administering God's law now all Christians recognize that Jesus did not complete his work during his earthly ministry in fact Jesus continues to work from heaven and in the church right now and he will eventually return to complete his work he has done more than enough for us to celebrate that he really is the Christ the Davidic King God sent to restore his kingdom we'll consider Jesus function as king by using the same categories we observed in the Old Testament background to this office enforcing justice applying mercy and promoting faithfulness let's look first at Jesus enforcement of justice as in our section on the Old Testament we'll explore the concept of Justice in two arenas beginning with international justice during most of his earthly ministry Jesus didn't directly involve himself with human governments but he did pursue justice by waging war against the kingdom of Satan and his demons and by freeing his people from the tyranny of sin scripture describes this as a spiritual battle between the kingdom of God in the kingdom of Satan in places like Luke chapter 11 verses 14 through 20 and Ephesians chapter 2 verse 2 so it's reasonable to compare it to the ways Old Testament Kings pursued international justice through war as Jesus said in Matthew chapter 12 verse 28 if I Drive out demons by the Spirit of God then the kingdom of God has come upon you in this verse Jesus indicated that the exorcisms he performed were proof that he was leading God's kingdom and battle against the kingdom of Satan Old Testament Kings also executed international justice by engaging in peaceful negotiations with other nations although Jesus didn't do this often he did receive peaceful tribute from the eastern Magi who brought him gifts in Matthew chapter 2 these Magi were representatives of foreign nations and their intent was to foster goodwill between their nations and Israel's newborn king in addition to executing justice internationally Jesus also upheld God's justice within national Israel like other human Kings Jesus didn't normally get involved in personal disputes instead he left them to lesser courts and arbitrators but he did frequently exhort justice among his people we see this in places like Matthew chapter 5 verses 25 and 26 and chapter 12 verses 15 through 21 as well as Luke chapter 18 verses 7 & 8 Jesus also guaranteed that he was keeping track of good and evil works in order to repay them when he returned in judgment this aspect of his royal role is apparent in passages like Matthew chapter 10 verse 15 chapter 11 verses 22 through 24 and chapter 12 verse 36 where he spoke of specific Kandam nations that will be made in the future we also see it in John chapter 5 verse 22 where he indicated that he is the one who will render that condemnation in addition to enforcing justice Jesus fulfilled the function of a king by applying God's law in mercy Jesus demonstrated royal mercy by imitating God's compassion toward his creatures he showed forbearance when people sinned he understood their weakness he provided for them and he granted them relief from their suffering when we think about a king in our normal human history of kingship we always think about somebody whose absolute authority they walk in the room and people begin to bow and do whatever they want whatever the purse the King desires but the kingship of Jesus as in everything in his life seems to turn the whole world upside down I'm thinking of that first chapter in John where it uses the concept of creator there and the one who made the world it says he came to his own and his own received him not now for anybody who says well I believe Jesus the king which I do and you put a verse like that there you say well what kind of King would come to a world that he had made and allow himself to be rejected so I think the showing of Mercy is not just because the Lord feels sorry for us which I'm sure he does but I think it's because he's trying to reveal something about the inner life of God Mercy has got to be connected to the triune life and the Trinity from my perspective from eternity the king himself the Father Son Holy Spirit the king of all the universe is a God who three and one is giving himself one to another father to son son to father spirit to the other two in this self giving so that when Jesus comes to show mercy to sinners he's expressing that self giving love which is the king's self revelation he will judge he will eventually condemn those that don't love him but when he comes to the earth he comes to people who have been abused who have been warped by all kinds of of wrong powers and the devil himself and this King comes and he says I'm not going to demand anything of you first I'm going to come and give myself to you so all of his acts of mercy are acts of the triune God's heart in the world to give a one self away but that's how our King works he comes with with without a demand he comes with a self giving and I think mercy is a marvelous expression of that self giving love it starts in the heart of God in the Incarnation offered to people wherever Jesus went and of course it's climaxes of Elna cross his mercy to us the king who would die giving his life away that we might receive the mercy of God for salvation so he is the only truly merciful king and he describes what that mercy is in his kingship Jesus comes and shows mercy because he's the merciful one I'm like I'm thinking right now however of its Beatitudes there's a couple of that strike me ii beatitude won't like this blessed are those who mourn for they shall be comforted to me that means blessed are those whose heart is broken over the things that break the heart of God so when God takes on human flesh and he comes here he looks around about his world and he sees things that make him sad and instead of just crying he says not a lot shed a tear but I'll move towards a situation mercifully it's interesting that Barkley would suggest that the word mercy in the New Testament Greek means to get inside the skin of so this whole understanding of compassion means that I can feel something of what they're feeling right now and instead just saying I'm glad I'm not there I'm going to be there I'm going to move towards them and I'm going to be to them what I believe God the Father wants me to be for them in this moment in this time we look at the way Jesus demonstrated his mercy in two spheres beginning with the international arena on an international level the king was to apply mercy to the nation's and people that submitted to God and Jesus did this in several ways for one thing he provided miraculous healing for many Gentiles who were outside the nation of Israel for example he healed the daughter of a Canaanite woman in Matthew chapter 15 verse 28 he healed the servant of a Roman centurion in Matthew chapter 8 verse 13 and he exercised a Legion of demons from a man in the Gentile region of the Decapolis in mark chapter 5 verses 1 through 20 moreover Jesus ministered in several Gentile areas including tired Sidon and the Decapolis so that his message and works became a light of Revelation to the Gentiles as Simeon had prophesied would happen in chapter 2 verse 32 but even more obvious than his international mercy was the Royal mercy that Jesus displayed on a national level as the King Jesus was responsible to treat God's people in the same way that God would have treated them and this meant treating them mercifully the ideal King was a merciful one that reflected God's own pattern of care Jesus showed tremendous mercy to Israel as their king he spent years patiently instructing and exhorting them he performed countless miracles healing their diseases casting out demons creating food for the hungry and even raising the dead but perhaps the miracle that best showcases his royal mercy is the healing of the paralytic man which is recorded in matthew chapter 9 verses 1 through 7 mark chapter 2 verses 1 through 11 and Luke chapter 5 verses 17 through 25 in that instance Jesus not only healed the man's paralysis but he actually forgave his sins and he did something similar in Luke chapter 7 verses 36 through 50 where he forgave the sins of the woman who anointed his feet with perfume it's very very important to answer the question rightly why is it only God that can forgive sins the biblical answer is because that is the one that we sinned against he is the Lord he is the creator he is the one who has made us we owe him everything and our sin is first and foremost against him now there's implications of sin for one another his implications of sin upon the universe but first and foremost in our relationship as image bearers before God our rebellion against him is sin against him only he can forgive sins you think of Psalm 51 where David says against you and you only have I sinned and you think of David's life I mean he has sinned against a lot of other people he's affected the nation he's affected your eyes affected Bathsheba he's affected his son but David rightly seized ultimately he is sinned before God our problem and the human problem that people fail to realize is that it's only God who can forgive it's only God who can solve the problem of our sin when I sin against someone or someone sins against me and the request for forgiveness is made and received between humans what is happening is one party is saying I will not allow the offense that you made against me to be a relational impediment to our ongoing relationship which is important which we must do to one another as a reflection of our understanding of how we've been forgiven by God but when God forgives he forgives in such a way that actually cancels the objective debt of my guilt and that's something that I can do for no one else and that no one else can do for me so God forgives in a way that cancels the objective debt of my guilt this is divine forgiveness which makes it very interesting for example than in mark chapter two when Jesus is healing the paralytic and says to him my son your sins are forgiven the scribes are sitting there observing this and in their hearts we're told they're sort of silently thinking to themselves who is this who is this man claiming to forgive sins because no one can do this but God alone which is sort of precisely the point they hear Jesus saying that he's forgiving this man in a way that only God can forgive and they're troubled by this they assume that he's blaspheming means they've heard him correctly and they've responded to him wrongly this is one impressive piece of evidence in the Gospels for the deity of Jesus that in his own self understanding his own self claim is a claim to forgive sins not just merely in removing relational offenses presumably he's never seen this paralytic before but to forgive sins in a way that actually cancels their objective guilt in the way that only God can all sin is a transgression and offense against God who is himself the ultimate standard of righteousness moreover since God alone is the highest king and final judge he is the only one who has the authority to forgive these offenses against him only he has the authority to demonstrate mercy on this level but since Jesus was God's perfectly righteous vassal King God delegated to him the authority to grant forgiveness so that Jesus could also apply God's mercy to his people the third way Jesus fulfilled the function of a king was by executing God's law in a way that promoted faithfulness to God as we did with justice and mercy we'll consider Jesus promotion of faithfulness in two parts beginning with the international arena the most direct way Jesus promoted heartfelt worship and obedience to God was by preaching the kingdom of God to the Gentile nations we see this in Matthew chapter 4 verses 13 through 25 and chapter 24 verse 14 Luke chapter 24 verse 47 and especially in Jesus commissions to his disciples in Matthew chapter 28 verses 18 through 20 in Acts chapter 1 verse 8 in both of these Commission's Jesus commanded his followers to make disciples of all nations and to be his witnesses to the ends of the earth and of course Jesus also promoted faithfulness on a national level as with his international work among the Gentiles Jesus promoted faithfulness within the nation of Israel especially through his preaching of the gospel as he went from town to town he commanded the people to repent to turn away from their sin and to become loyal to God because God's kingdom was at hand listen to the way Matthew summarized Jesus preaching in Matthew chapter 4 verse 17 from that time on Jesus began to preach repent for the kingdom of heaven is near we see similar summaries in mark chapter 1 verse 15 and Luke chapter 5 verse 32 and 2 chapter 10 verse 13 and we find examples of this kind of preaching in many places throughout the Gospels Jesus placed such a strong emphasis on faithfulness to God he did this because faithfulness is an expression of trust it's an expression of realizing God really does deserve our faithfulness our trust our obedience our devotion above all else when you disobey doctor's orders you're not just saying something about the orders you're saying something about the doctor and when you disobey God you're not just saying something about his commands that's you're disregarding you're saying something about the God who gave those commands and so faithfulness is an expression of trust it's an expression of seeing God for who he is and then of course doing what he says so faithfulness to God is an expression of obedience it's an expression of daily devotion and trust in who he is Paul in Romans talks about the Christian life in his apostolic ministry as one that should lead to the obedience of faith it's a beautiful expression which in some ways summarizes the Christian life we see God for who he is we put our faith in him and that naturally leads to obedience we obey the God that we trust faithfulness is what Jesus offered to us as the joy of walking with him knowing him intimately but he also wants my responsiveness daily to him he's not forcing me to obey Him he's not making me follow a law he says I need a faithful heart no matter what your emotions are today no matter what you feel is going about on in the world badly or good I well I need a faithful bride I need a faithful servant a faithful lover of my own heart and that's what I think he was getting at with guys like me who tend to look at the world in terms of how I can define spirituality doors it is something much deeper than that I want a faithful heart just like a married couple that's the foundation of true love faithfulness no matter what comes down down the road so the Lord requires faithfulness but he also enables faithfulness by His Holy Spirit's presence having considered Jesus royal qualifications and his function in the office of King were ready to see how we fulfilled the Old Testament expectations for the future messianic King throughout Israel's history the frailties and sinfulness of its Kings prevented them from fulfilling their responsibilities before God even think the leaders like Moses Joshua and David who submitted themselves to God's law and cared for his people weren't able to do all that God required and best they provided peace and security for a short time but the requirements of the law were too great for them to meet on a perpetual basis the law is simply too difficult for any fallen human being to fulfill to God's satisfaction moreover even the best leaders were limited by age and death problems like these are identified in several places in the Bible including Zechariah chapter 4 verse 6 Acts chapter 13 verses 34 through 39 Hebrews chapter 4 verse 8 and Romans chapter 8 verses 3 and 4 Kings that ruled God's people in the Old Testament never achieve God's greatest blessings for his people they couldn't they were frail fallen human beings but their failures created the hope that God would eventually honor his covenant with David by sending a righteous son of David to rescue his people this King would be especially empowered by God's Spirit so they wouldn't have the normal limits of human frailty he would be the one that kept God's law perfectly as the Redeemer for the past failures of the line of David and of the nation of Israel and of the human race and this is exactly the kind of king God sent in Jesus through Jesus the righteous son of David the Messiah finally did for Humanity what we couldn't do for ourselves we'll consider the way Jesus fulfilled these Old Testament expectations by focusing on four aspects of his kingship first we'll see that Jesus restored the Davidic dynasty second we'll focus on the freedom and victory he gave to his people third we'll consider the everlasting kingdom that Jesus brought and fourth we'll focus on the worldwide nature of that kingdom let's begin with the fact that Jesus restored the Davidic dynasty on many occasions in the New Testament Jesus is specifically identified as the prophesied son of David who restores David's dynasty inspired writers drew this connection and passages like Matthew chapter 1 verse 1 Luke chapter 3 verse 31 and Romans chapter 1 verse 3 the Apostle Paul proclaimed it in Acts chapter 13 verses 22 and 23 and Jesus himself claimed to be the Messianic son of David in Matthew chapter 21 verses 15 and 16 and Revelation chapter 3 verse 7 in chapter 22 verse 16 this evidence demonstrates that Jesus really was the prophesied son of David the future messianic King that would fulfill God's kingdom purposes for all creation as the heir to David's throne Jesus began to fulfill God's kingdom purposes first by restoring a faithful remnant within national Israel namely is faithful apostles and disciples then as Jesus commanded in Matthew chapter 28 verses 19 and 20 these followers expanded their ranks by evangelizing and disciple both Jews and Gentiles in every nation they could reach and their disciples moved even further into the world making still more disciples this process has continued ever since with the result that God's earthly Kingdom now includes a huge percentage of the world's population and is present to some degree in nearly every tribe and country on earth Jesus also met Old Testament expectations by giving freedom and victory to those who were faithful to him during his life on earth Jesus acted decisively to give his people freedom through victory over their spiritual enemies such as sin death and demons listen to these words from Matthew chapter 1 verses 21 through 23 the angel of the Lord said to Joseph she will give birth to a son and you are to give him the name Jesus because he will save his people from their sins all this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the Prophet the Virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son and they will call him Immanuel which means God with us in this passage Matthew compared Jesus birth to the Immanuel child mentioned in Isaiah chapter 7 verse 14 in the context of Isaiah's prophecy the Immanuel child was a sign that God was the warrior king that was with his people in battle he would fight for them and defeat their enemies bringing them freedom from oppression through victory in war and this is what made Jesus so special he was the prophesied king God would use to fight and defeat the greatest enemy of all sin we see this same theme in John chapter 8 verse 36 where Jesus said that only he could give true freedom from sin Jesus also gave his people victory over death Paul talked about this in Romans chapter 6 verses 4 through 9 and first Corinthians chapter 15 verses 54 through 57 where he assured us that Jesus resurrection defeated both sin and death on our behalf now in some sense sin and death are still problems for us since we still sin and our bodies still die but we already have victory over these enemies because they no longer have the power to control and condemn us and something similar is true of the demons as our great king Jesus has defeated them and given us the victory they still trouble and tempt us and they can even harm us physically but they have no power to hold us in bondage or to damage our souls listen to how Paul described jesus victory over the demons in Colossians chapter 2 verse 15 having disarmed the powers and authorities he made a public spectacle of them triumphing over them by the cross when Jesus returns he will completely defeat every enemy that opposes him and his people but even now he has executed preliminary judgment against those that would do us the most harm in order to secure our freedom from their mastery the third Old Testament expectation of Kings that Jesus fulfilled was that he established an everlasting Kingdom the Old Testament foretold that the promised king would usher in a kingdom that would exist forever it would be heaven on earth and it would endure for all time under its Davidic King and the New Testament affirms that Jesus rules King will last forever in passages like Matthew chapter 19 verses 28 and 29 and chapter 25 verse 34 Luke chapter 1 verse 33 and Hebrews chapter 1 verses 8 through 13 but where is this Kingdom now did Jesus really fulfill this expectation or are we still waiting for him to do it one of the things that Jesus accomplished during his earthly ministry was to establish the kingdom of God on earth now what that appears to mean is that in an act of divine power Jesus established a beachhead in hostile territory and inaugurated an invasion initiative that is destined to restore this planet to its rightful creator and odor and King this initial assault on hostile territory manifested itself in a number of dramatic ways challenging systemic evil challenging demonic evil dispelling deception with light and truth it was a powerful introduction of an alternative Allegiance this campaign is still underway there remains mopping up operations cleaning up last holdouts to be eliminated and the final enemy that remains to be overcome is death and so even as we participate in the power of the Spirit in this ongoing Kingdom campaign we pray your kingdom come your will be done there's still something we need supernatural aid to see achieved in fulfillment of Old Testament expectation God's saving rule has broken into this world in Jesus Christ culminating in his death his resurrection his resurrection demonstrating that his death has been victorious sin has been dealt with death as the consequence of sin has been defeated and not just in the resurrection his glorious ascension he is now seated at God's right hand Pentecost he has poured out the spirit all of that is part of the coming of the kingdom the what we call the inauguration of the kingdom it is now here yet our Lord Jesus Christ has also told us that there is still the future we still pray they give the lord's prayer that we pray your kingdom come well the kingdom has come he is one victory it is still awaiting its consummation one of the most difficult things for people to understand especially Jewish people to understand is the relationship between the first and second coming of Jesus the Messiah it's understandable that people would say well how could Jesus be the Messiah and help fulfilled messianic expectations when we don't see lying's lions lying down with lambs we don't see people beating their swords into plowshares we don't see peace on earth goodwill toward men so how is it that the Messiah has come what we call it is inaugurated eschatology this idea that endtime realities have been brought into history with the first coming of Jesus they've been inaugurated they've been initiated and begun in a decisive way but they still are being worked out to the point where there will ultimately be a consummation of these realities it's been called the now in not yet of the kingdom that the kingdom has come Jesus has brought it he's delivered the decisive blow in the battle but the battle still rages and it awaits a future ultimate fulfillment and coming Jesus clearly established his messianic kingdom before he ascended to his throne in heaven we see this in passages like Matthew chapter 12 verse 28 where Jesus said that his power to exorcise demons proved that he had already brought the kingdom of God exorcism was not a sign that the kingdom was on its way instead it was proof that the kingdom was already present in power and that it's King was casting down his enemies and while some scholars object that the kingdom didn't come in the visible way many expected Jesus insisted that it was a mistake to look for its physical manifestations in the sense of traditional political power as he told the Pharisees in Luke chapter 17 verses 20 and 21 the kingdom of God does not come with your careful observation nor will people say here it is or there it is because the kingdom of God is within you finally the fourth Old Testament expectation for the Davidic King that Jesus fulfilled was that he established a worldwide Kingdom when Jesus returns the entire new earth will be part of his kingdom and his physical power and rule will replace all earthly governments for now his Universal reign is primarily spiritual as we see in Ephesians chapter 1 verses 21 and 22 but when he returns it will also be physical revelation chapters 21 and 22 paint a glorious picture of the new heavens and earth where Jesus reigns as king from his capital in the New Jerusalem the New Testament makes it clear that Jesus really is the long-awaited messianic King the son of David who came to bring God's kingdom to earth he didn't fulfill all the Old Testament prophecies and expectations during his earthly ministry but he fulfilled so many of them that he proved he is the true king and he has assured us that he will come again to finish what he started on that day his kingdom will perfectly fulfill God's original purposes for creation the entire world would be God's earthly kingdom free from sin and suffering secure and peace and prosperity and blessed by the fellowship and presence of God so far on our lesson on Jesus the King we've explored the Old Testament background to Jesus kingly office and the fulfillment of this office in Jesus so now we're ready to turn to our last major topic the modern application of Jesus role is king while there are many ways to describe the modern implications of Jesus kingship one helpful model can be found in question and answer 26 of the Westminster Shorter Catechism an answer to the question how does Jesus execute the office of a king the Catechism answers Christ execute the Office of the King in subduing us to himself in ruling and defending us and in restraining and conquering all his and our enemies this answer describes the ways Jesus kingship impacts our lives in terms of three traditional categories from systematic theology first Jesus subdues us to himself that is he brings us into his kingdom so that we are no longer his enemies but his beloved citizens second he governs his kingdom by ruling and defending us and third he restrains and ultimately conquers all his and our enemies following the emphasis of the Westminster Shorter Catechism will discuss the modern application of Jesus office of King in three parts first we'll see that Jesus builds his kingdom second we'll consider the fact that he governs his people and third we'll focus on the way he conquers his enemies let's look first at how Jesus builds his kingdom will consider how Jesus builds his kingdom from three perspectives first a goal of his work second the manifestation of his kingdom in the world and third the methods Jesus is using to build his kingdom let's begin with the goal of Jesus work scripture teaches that God plans to turn the entire world into his earthly Kingdom so that his rule on earth reflects his rule in heaven we see this in places like Matthew chapter 6 verse 10 where Jesus taught us to pray that God's kingdom would come and that his will would be done on earth in the same way that it's already done in heaven and we also see it in the picture of the new heaven and the new earth described in Revelation chapters 21 and 22 so broadly speaking the goal of Jesus kingdom building is to turn the world into God's earthly kingdom fit for him to inhabit and full of people who are completely loyal to him but if the goal is for God to have an earthly Kingdom what role does Jesus play well even though God is the supreme King over all creation he has appointed Jesus to rule it in a more direct fashion so that God's kingdom is also rightly called in Jesus kingdom in this regard God is like an ancient near-eastern suzerain and Jesus if his vassal King and because Jesus wants to please his suzerain he has dedicated himself to accomplishing God's goal listen to how Paul describes Jesus submission to God the Father in 1st Corinthians chapter 15 verses 24 and 28 then the end will come when Christ's hands over the kingdom to God the Father after he has destroyed all Dominion Authority and power when he has done this then the son himself will be made subject to him who put everything under him so that God may be all in all as God's supreme vassal King Jesus has authority over God's kingdom and even over creation and he is using that authority to conquer everything that opposes God and to subject everything to God in order to accomplish God's purposes for his creation but what does this goal mean for us how should modern Christians respond to the idea that Jesus goal is to turn the entire world into God's kingdom well the simple answer is that we should make God's kingdom the main goal for our lives to whatever other goals we have making a living providing for our families staying healthy getting an education they should all be pursued in ways that further the kingdom of God as Jesus taught in Matthew chapter 6 verse 33 seek first God's kingdom and his righteousness and all these things will be given to you as well the second aspect of the way Jesus built his kingdom will mention is the kingdoms manifestation in the world many theologians throughout the ages have noticed that when the New Testament talks about the present manifestation of Jesus kingdom it often associates the kingdom with the church the relationship between the kingdom and the church is described in many places throughout scripture including passages like Ephesians chapter 1 verse 19 through chapter 2 verse 20 in Revelation chapter 1 verses 4 through 6 as just one example listen to this discussion between Peter and Jesus in Matthew chapter 16 verses 16 through 19 Simon Peter answered you are the Christ the Son of the Living God jesus replied blessed are You Simon son of Jonah for this was not revealed to you by man but by my father in heaven and I tell you that you are Peter and on this rock I will build my church and the gates of Hades will not overcome it I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven this passage says at least three things that closely associate the kingdom with the church first jesus said I will build my church and then he followed this statement by saying that he would give Peter the keys of the kingdom of heaven notice the connection here Peter an apostle and part of the foundation of the church would have power over the Kingdom of Heaven a second detail that highlights the relationship between the kingdom and the church is the fact that Peter applied the title Christ to Jesus the word Christ means Anointed One it was a specific reference to the fact that Kings were anointed with oil to mark their claim to the throne so by calling Jesus Christ Peter was identifying Jesus as the prophesied Davidic King and it was in his role as king that Jesus was going to build a church and a third detail in Matthew chapter 16 verses 16 through 19 that points to a close connection between the kingdom and the church is that Jesus intended the church to participate in the warfare between Hades or hell and the Kingdom of Heaven these details all point to the fact that both Jesus and Peter thought of the church and the kingdom as very closely related contents but as closely related as the church and kingdom are they're not precisely identical in the New Testament the majority of scholars agree that the kingdom is a much larger concept than the church the relationship between the church and the kingdom of God is a very interesting one the kingdom of God is the macro vision of the restoration of all things to a willing submission to the perfect will of God a vision that is all-encompassing for the entire universe certainly this planet and human life it's a submission to the king that will create an incredible Shalom of life as it was intended for God's glory and our great joy the church is one of the principal instruments God has chosen for the advance of this macrovision it's important not to equate the church and certainly not religious ecclesiastical structures with the kingdom they are not one in the same but the one is a means to the end and also the church should as a city set on a hill so to speak already be manifesting in its own interior life and social dynamics the very dynamics that will one day characterize God's entire creation from sea to sea we are to be the prototype of the kingdom as well as agents of the kingdom both the concepts of the kingdom of God and the church are indispensable for a full Christian understanding of how we are to live in in any part of our lives but I think it's important for there to be a distinction between the two I think many Christians including me for years thought well the church is sort of like the climax of the kingdom so we're kind of the most important thing going but the kingdom concept in all of Scripture is much larger than the church so the way I view and I think the Bible does to use the church as a replaceable part of the kingdom but it's a sub part or a piece of the kingdom work God's kingdom his rulership has always been the base of reality he's the reigning Lord of the universe of all creation of us he's the Lord of all peoples all nations all kings all tribes now most don't know that but he is so the kingdom of God the reign of God is is an overarching theme in all of Scripture the church hopefully are those people who submitted to the lordship of Jesus recognize his sovereign lordship and submitted themselves to being as agents in the world the New Testament teaches that the final glorious stage of God's reign over creation began at Christ's first coming since that time God's kingdom on earth has continued to grow and to bring many facets of human culture under submission to God and when Christ returns God's kingdom will be entirely unopposed and thoroughly manifested throughout every aspect of nature and human culture but how does the church fit into that outline of history essentially the church is the core of God's kingdom on earth in the present age we devote ourselves to furthering the kingdom of God now and when Christ returns will inherit the full blessings of the kingdom until that time we spread the gospel of Christ by teaching everything he commanded in order to extend God's manifest reign into every dimension of human society to the greatest degree possible prior to the return of Christ it's very important that the church understand its place in the kingdom when we are going to be with him in in the future when he comes again I don't think we're going to be referred to as the church I think that'll be the kingdom the bride will be produced for her bridegroom that other very important picture in Scripture so why am saying it this way I think it's sometimes we as a church have too high a view of ourselves we think we're the the only answer or God's only purpose and we're very very important he died for the church he he died to offer himself but he also died for the world so the best way for me to view myself as a member of the Church of Jesus Christ is to say I've got one goal that's to be the body of Christ I am called to be his hands his feet his arms to the world just like he would be if he were here that's my king's command to me and to us as the church the sad thing is I think sometimes the church says well we're the climax of the kingdom therefore we're the end of what he's come to do and therefore we're going to sit and do nothing or just enjoy his presence until he comes again I think that's a wrong view and we need to correct ourselves and get back into the business of connecting the church's purpose with the kingly purposes of our Lord and Savior now that we've considered the goal for which Jesus builds his kingdom and the manifestation of his kingdom we should turn to the methods Jesus uses to build his kingdom Jesus builds his kingdom in two primary ways both of which directly involved the church he adds more people to the church and he expands its geographical borders in the New Testament Jesus began gathering people primarily from Israel but at his ascension he instructed the church to expand his kingdom from Judea to Samaria to the ends of the earth as we read in Acts chapter 1 verses 6 through 8 Jesus is building his kingdom by expanding the church to include the entire human race and cover the whole world but how do we the church respond to and participate in this work in general terms the answer is found in these words from the Great Commission in Matthew chapter 28 verses 19 and 20 go and make disciples of all nations baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you as we can see here the primary methods Jesus uses to build his kingdom are evangelism baptism and biblical teaching and rather than carrying out these methods single-handedly Jesus has assigned the church to perform them on his behalf evangelism brings people to faith baptism joins them to the church and teaching helps them grow in ways that strengthen the church and lead to its further expansion the challenge at the end of the Gospels is that we should go into all nations proclaim the good news and making disciples the language of discipleship implies more than just being a learner it implies more than just being a believer but it also implies being in a relationship with with God yes the God who will teach us yes the God who will lead us but the challenge to make disciples is to have people who will be in a lifetime's apprenticeship relationship with God and therefore that needs to be well modeled so I think that people need to be in relationship with other believers who can show them how to live the Christian life well it needs obviously teaching as well people need to understand God's requirements of his followers and his disciples but I think also it needs to be embedded in the church because it is there that God has put in place the structures for people to grow as Christians and indeed to be that lifelong learners to use that phrase those who are in relationship with God and following him faithfully having looked at the modern applications of the idea that Jesus built his kingdom let's turn to the fact that he governs his people within that kingdom will consider two aspects of the way Jesus governs his people first will focus on the fact that he rules them for their good and second we'll see that he defends them from their enemies let's look first at how Jesus rules his people Jesus rule is focused on securing our eternal good those blessings that we will enjoy with him forever everyone that comes to him receives mercy and pardon as we see in passages like John chapter 6 verses 35 through 37 chapter 7 verse 37 and chapter 10 verses 28 and 29 and Acts chapter 5 verse 31 he adopts us as heirs of God and shares with us all the Covenant blessings he has earned through his perfect obedience we read about these aspects of Jesus rule in Acts chapter 13 verses 34 through 39 Romans chapter 8 verses 17 and 32 and Hebrews chapter 2 verse 13 moreover he grants us all these blessings as a gift of grace as we read in John chapter 1 verse 16 Ephesians chapter 2 verses 8 and 9 and many other places Christ's loving rule also provides us with temporal good in the present world he gives us his presence through the Holy Spirit as we see in Acts chapter 2 verse 33 Galatians chapter 4 verse 6 and Philippians chapter 1 verse 19 he gives us clear direction in the Bible so that we can serve Him faithfully as we see in 1st Corinthians chapter 9 verse 21 Galatians chapter 6 verse 2 and Colossians chapter 3 verse 16 and he appoints leadership for the church delegating to them authority and power to minister to his people as we read in 1st Corinthians chapter 12 verse 28 and ephesians chapter 4 verses 11 and 12 king jesus is not a harsh dictator he is a loving king cares and provides for us far from being a source of trouble his rule as a benevolent blessing that benefits us both now and forever and our response to this rule should be obvious in order to receive the blessings our King has for us we need to submit to his rule we should be obedient to his law and trust in His mercy and power to overcome our failures and difficulties and of course we should be thankful for his leadership and praised him for his goodness to us now that we've talked about the implications of the fact that Jesus rules his people let's turn to the idea that he also defends us there are many ways that Jesus defends believers but for our purposes in this lesson we'll focus on just three first Jesus defends us against the temptation to sin as our King Jesus defends us against temptation in many ways for example he warns us of temptations ahead of time as we read in Matthew chapter 6 verse 13 he strengthens us to resist sin as we read in Hebrews chapter 2 verse 16 and he protects us from situations that would overwhelm us or trap us always making sure that we have a way to avoid sin as we see in 1st Corinthians chapter 10 verse 13 and 2nd Timothy chapter 4 verse 18 second when we do give into temptation Jesus defends us from the corruption of sin one way Jesus defends us against corruption is by disciplining and correcting us when we sin so that we don't subject ourselves to sins mastery we see this in Jeremiah chapter 46 verse 28 Hebrews chapter 12 verses 5 through 11 Revelation chapter 3 verse 19 and many other passages and another way he defends us against corruption is by granting us forgiveness and cleansing from sin when we repent as we see in 1st John chapter 1 verse 9 third Jesus defends us against accusations of sin all Christians are prone to sin and when we do Satan tries to persuade God to condemn us as we read in places like Revelation chapter 12 verse 10 but Jesus defends us against these accusations so that God counts us as perfectly righteous although scripture often speaks of Christ's intercession for us in terms of his priestly office romans chapter 8 verse 34 indicates that it's also an aspect of his kingship as the great vassal king jesus defends his people against accusations by interceding for us with the great suzuran because jesus defends us so strongly we can have great confidence in our battles with sin if we rely on his strength to resist temptation and on his forgiveness to cleanse us from sins affect and on his advocacy to protect us from sins consequences nothing can harm us Jesus is the great and powerful warrior king that leads us into battle against sin and even if we don't fight well we still can't lose because he won't let us he'll always preserve and protect us forgive and cleanse us defend and acquit us and eventually he'll bring us into the unfailing blessings of his eternal Kingdom now that we've looked at the ways Jesus governs his people we're ready to turn to the fact that he also conquers his enemies when God's law is violated many people are often hurt we see this every day when crimes are committed there are victims who have been robbed or swindled or beaten or betrayed or even killed and in the language of Scripture the criminals that commit these crimes have made themselves the enemies of both their victims and God and the proper response of the government is to catch and punish these criminals their judgment is supposed to be both an appropriate penalty for their crimes and a way to protect their victims and the rest of society from further crimes scripture speaks of this in places like proverbs chapter 20 verse 8 and chapter 25 verse 5 and something similar is true of the judgment that Jesus brings he punishes his and our enemies according to justice in order to exact retribution for their crimes but he also punishes them as an act of blessing and benevolence toward us in order to protect us from their sin and violence and to purify and protect the world he's making for us this is why the judgment and destruction of sinners is a critical part of Jesus mission of turning the world into God's earthly Kingdom in order for the world to be pleasing to God and fit for him to inhabit and in order for us to enjoy its everlasting blessings the corruption of sin must be completely removed from it as we saw earlier in this lesson Jesus began executing judgment against many of his and our enemies during his earthly ministry these enemies included sin death and the demons Jesus victory over these enemies is secure but he hasn't finished punishing them yet so in the present age Jesus continues to execute judgment against them and he will complete their judgment only when he returns this fact is taught in 2nd Peter chapter 2 verse 4 Jude verse 6 and Revelation chapter 20 verses 10 and 14 but Jesus and his church also have other enemies every sinner who hasn't submitted himself to Christ is a citizen of the kingdom of Satan and an enemy of God scripture makes this clear in Matthew chapter 13 verses 37 through 43 Luke chapter 19 verse 27 in ephesians chapter 2 verses 1 through 3 at the present time jesus executes partial judgment against some of these enemies during their earthly lives as when Herod was struck dead in Acts chapter 12 verse 23 because he allowed the people to treat him as a god but for the most part Jesus for bears in his judgment against his enemies patiently withholding his judgment until he returns it's very interesting that future judgment is often expressed as part of the Gospel as presented in the New Testament this may seem like a curious element of what would otherwise be good news but the truth is that this is part of the good news and the reason it's part of the good news is it's God's assurance that just as suffering will not endure forever but be addressed with healing in justice will not be permitted to continue indefinitely but wrong will be made right there is something of a deep longing in every human heart that injustice will not be prevail or be dismissed as unimportant because we are moving on this is God's assuring promise to those who suffer that this will not be tolerated they have an advocate and that they do not need to go out with some sort of revengeful vigilante justice and take it into their own hands but to entrust themselves to a faithful judge who will do right the apostles were clear that Jesus rule as king would include a future day of judgment when everyone would answer to his rule and his law this judgment on the last day is mentioned in places like Acts chapter 17 verse 31 Romans chapter 14 verses 10 through 12 and Hebrews chapter 10 verses 26 through 31 the coming day of judgment is a central part of Christ's work as king because it will satisfy his justice toward sinners His mercy toward believers and His faithfulness to the father as he purifies his kingdom although the doctrine of the Last Judgment can be terrifying for those who haven't received Christ as Lord this isn't a bad thing these warnings provide an opportunity for the unfaithful to repent of their sin and to receive forgiveness mercy and grace from our King Jesus Christ yes they're strongly worded but at their core their offers of blessing to those who repent in fact this is why gospel presentations in the Bible often contain a warning of future judgment for example we see this in Matthew chapter 21 verses 32 through 44 and Acts chapter 17 verses 30 and 31 I think many Christians are perplexed sometimes by the description and presentation of the gospel and Scripture which also includes a very clear message about the devastating eternal punishment of the unrepentant those who are not in Christ those who die in their sins you know I think I understood a little bit better when I had a doctor look me in the face and say without a tumor in you now that doesn't sound like good news but you know it really was good news it was good news that he found it it was good news that he told me about it what if he thought it wasn't nice to tell me I had a tumor in me well that wouldn't be loving there wouldn't be gracious that wouldn't be good he found that tumor and he told me here's the reality you got a tumor and it will kill you but we can do something about it so there's the good news you know the scripture presents so clearly the judgment that is to come then the consequences of sin good news that we know that it's good news also because it displays the glory of God we're not told that there's a judgment coming and by the way this is something God just can't prevent from happening we're told that this is the outpouring of God's righteousness and his justice his holiness so it's good that we know that in order that we would flee to Christ in order to avoid the destruction that is to come the the judgment that is to come but you know the Bible also is very honest when you come to the closing chapters of the New Testament in the book of Revelation that the glory of God is in the salvation of the redeemed and in the judgment that is poured out upon the unrepentant now when we look at that we have to recognize that God's glory is most quintessentially infinitely seen when he displays his righteousness both to those who were in Christ to have their sins forgiven in Christ by no merit of their own and to those who to the end obstinately refused him you know the reality is that we need to know this the gospel is good news first of all because it tells us how we can flee the destruction it is to come how we can trust Christ and be found in him and find everlasting life but it's also good news because we need to know the rest of the story that's part of the gospel to the Bible's teaching about the Last Judgement should actually be very encouraging for believers it assures us that our suffering is not in vain every wrong will be set right as we read in James chapter 5 verses 7 and 8 and second Thessalonians chapter 1 verses 4 through 10 Christ's judgment is reason for praise because it will destroy the presents corruption and influence of every form of evil and result in the purged and perfect world that will inherit and inhabit forever as the angel proclaimed in Revelation chapter 14 verse 7 fear God and give Him glory because the hour of his judgment has come worship Him who made the heavens the earth the sea and the springs of water in this lesson we've explored Jesus office of King we've considered the Old Testament background of his office in terms of its qualifications and functions and the expectations for its future we've also seen the fulfillment of each of these aspects of the office of King in Jesus and we've explored the modern application of Jesus kingship in terms of the way Jesus builds his kingdom governed his people and conquers his enemies in this series we've surveyed the riches of the doctrine of Christ we've seen Jesus as the Redeemer throughout all history we've considered his life and ministry we've explored his offices as prophet priest and King our knowledge of Jesus however should never be purely academic but when we grasp who he is comprehend what he's revealed about himself we will then love and follow him throughout our lives and all that we do in her homes our work our churches [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music]

Channel: Thirdmill

Views: 5,704

Rating: 4.590909 out of 5

Keywords: Holy Spirit (Deity), For the World, Theology Matters, Richard Pratt, Gospel, Ministry, Free, Scripture, Jesus Christ (Deity), Study, theology, Jesus, Reformed, Christ, Lord, Holy, Mission, Bible, redeemer, Biblical Education, seminary, Third Millennium Ministries, Salvation, Truth, Third Mill, faith, Preaching, God, Education, Christianity, king

Id: kKSoOk6JeYM

Length: 125min 59sec (7559 seconds)

Published: Thu Jun 22 2017