Kingship of Christ in the Old Testament

Christ Our Life and Review of Kingship Studies

0:00 In Colossians chapter 3 and verse 4, the Apostle says that Jesus Christ is the very life of his people. Now that was not some poetic license which the Apostle used in describing Christ as the life of the people of God. But he was not suggesting that in some mysterious, undefined and indescribable way, Christ was the life of his people. But the context makes clear that Christ is the life of His people insofar as He is the object of intelligent, believing communion with Him.

0:51 Intelligent, believing communion which grows out of the truths concerning Christ. and you'll remember if you know anything of the book of Colossians that in the first two chapters there are given some of the most profound mind-boggling concepts concerning the person of Jesus Christ to be found anywhere in the word of God so that when he says Christ our life he means precisely that Christ and he will be our life experimentally that is, in the realm of our own experience, only so far as we know Him to be what He is as revealed in the Scriptures,

1:38 and we commune with that Christ in an intelligent faith.

1:44 In the light of that great principle enunciated in this passage and in many others, I trust we can readily see why it is that the people of God will grow in grace only as they grow in an accurate knowledge of the Son of God. And it is because of that great structural principle of the Word of God that we are spending so many Lord's days contemplating the person and the work of our Lord Jesus Christ. We've considered him in the mystery of his person. We are now almost concluding our concern with respect to understanding him in the majesty of his offices.

2:30 as the Redeemer of sinners, the one appointed mediator between God and men. The Scriptures declare that Jesus Christ functions in the office of a mediator as a prophet, as a priest, and as a king. And as we've emphasized again and again, and I want to underscore again, He is such a Redeemer because that is just the kind of Redeemer we sinners need. Because of our guilt and our bondage we need a priest who can offer an acceptable sacrifice for our sins.

3:08 Because we are ignorant we need a prophet who will teach us both with respect to the outer and the inner ear. And because we are weak and helpless and by nature are rebels we need a king to subdue us and then to preserve, to defend and to guard us. We began last week our studies concerning the kingly office of our Lord Jesus Christ. And all we had time to do was, first of all, to establish the biblical concept of a king.

3:42 And I hope you've retained at least something of that material. The biblical concept of a king is a concept of supreme ruling authority and power. And attaching itself to that concept are these things throne, scepter, and kingdom. with regard to the biblical concept of a king the throne is the seat of that authority the scepter is the symbol of that authority in action and the kingdom is the realm or sphere in which the scepter is wielded by him who sits upon the throne and in Psalm 45, 6 all of those concepts are drawn together then we began the second line of consideration

4:31 with respect to the kingship of Christ I began to demonstrate that Christ, our Redeemer, does indeed fill such an office. He has the office of supreme ruling authority and power. He does have a throne. He does wield a scepter.

4:49 He does have a kingdom. And my method is a method used once or twice in another area of our study is to give a sweeping panoramic view of the teaching of the Old and the New Testament considered in those major categories, starting with the Old Testament is the period of preparation, the Gospels, the period of manifestation, the Acts, the period of proclamation, the Epistles, the period of explanation, and the book of the Revelation, the period or the book of anticipation. I don't do that to try to appear clever. I want you as God's people to have in your minds that internal structure of the Word of God, All the way from the period of preparation to that wonderful book of anticipation.

5:41 Well, we began. And all we did was look at two verses last week or two passages. The two beginning outlines as the artist would draw his picture. And he sketches in the broad outlines and begins to fill in the details.

5:55 As we zeroed in upon the period of preparation. The period of anticipation. we saw that building upon Genesis 3.15 and Genesis 12.1-3 we are led to believe that the Old Testament people of God were to expect a Redeemer who would according to Genesis 49.8-10 come from the tribe of Judah and according to Numbers 24.17-18 would be a king who would subdue the enemies of the people of God.

2 Samuel 7: The Davidic Covenant

6:30 Well, so much for that brief review. Now we come today to the third passage under the broad category, the period of preparation, or you may like to use the term anticipation. A passage which is pivotal in the whole understanding or in the understanding of the whole doctrine of the kingship of Christ. Will you turn please to 2 Samuel and chapter 7.

6:59 And you see what we've done. We've moved through hundreds of years of Old Testament history very quickly. From the first promise of the seed of the woman who would bruise the head of the serpent. The people of God now know that Messiah will not only be a man, the seed of the woman, who will destroy the serpent.

7:18 But he will have to come from the family of Abraham. But more than that, they know that he will come from one particular tribe of the twelve tribes of Israel, tribe of Judah. They know that he will wield a scepter that will destroy the enemies of God, according to Numbers 24. Now the artist, who is God himself, begins to fill in more details in this passage in 2 Samuel.

7:47 The people of God have been brought into the land of Canaan, and under the leadership of King David as the great general of the armies of God, great conquests have been experienced, and a period of rest has now come. 2 Samuel chapter 7. And it came to pass when the king dwelt in his house, and the Lord had given him rest from all his enemies round about, that the king said unto Nathan the prophet, See now, I dwell in a house of cedar, but the ark of God dwelleth within curtains. And Nathan said to the king, Go, do all that is in thy heart, for the Lord is with thee.

8:28 You see what happens to David? No sooner is his mind free from all the legitimate concerns of being the general of the army and opposing the enemies of God and dispossessing those nations when his heart instinctively turns to the whole matter of God's stated place of worship. And he says, this great God who has given us these mighty conquests, this God of whom David wrote in the 27th Psalm, who was with him in battle and protected him so that David did not fear, though there were thousands on the left hand and the right, his heart longs that God will have, as it were, a more commodious and permanent place for his worship. And so he breaks his mind and his desire to Nathan the prophet.

9:13 And Nathan, speaking in a way that any gracious man would, says, well, the Lord is with you. Do what is in your heart. He spoke, as it were, off the cuff. But that night God came and spoke to the prophet in a very special way.

9:27 Verse 4, and it came to pass the same night that the word of the Lord came to Nathan, saying, Go and tell my servant David, Thus saith the Lord, Shalt thou build me a house for me to dwell in? And then to summarize the passage, God says, No, it's not my will that my servant David should build me such a house. I've been gracious to him. I've raised him to a place of eminence.

9:53 But the building of a house for my more permanent dwelling amongst my people will not be his task, but it will be the task of his son. And now then we pick up the prophecy of Nathan at verse 12.

10:09 When thy days are fulfilled, that is, when David's days of his earthly sojourn are done, and thou shalt sleep with thy fathers, that is, when he is dead, I will set up thy seed after thee that shall proceed out of thy bowels, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be his father, and he shall be my son. If he commit iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men, and with the stripes of the children of men.

10:46 But my loving kindness shall not depart from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away from before thee. And thy house and thy kingdom shall be made sure forever before thee. Thy throne shall be established forever. According to all these words and according to all this vision, so did Nathan speak unto David.

11:13 Now what does God say to David in this prophecy? Well, he tells him first of all that a kingdom shall be established from his seed. He says the one that comes from you will be established as king. Furthermore, he says that this kingdom will be established while David sleeps with his fathers.

11:37 And that's a pivotal concept in this prophecy. When thy days are fulfilled and thou shalt sleep with thy fathers, he says, I will establish this permanent throne. And then he says that while that throne is established by David's progeny, the house of God will be built and a kingdom will be established that is forever. And you notice how many times the words forever are used.

12:07 The end of verse 13. His kingdom forever. Verse 16. Forever.

12:13 Forever. Now I'm fully aware that many times the terms forever do not mean without end. They mean a lengthy period of time within a given framework of God's dealings with His people. When He promised to give the land of Cain unto His people forever.

12:34 I'm fully aware of that. On the other hand, when the concept of unendingness is expressed in the Old Testament, these terms which sometimes are a limited time are the very terms used for unending periods of time. And by cross-referencing this with another passage, which is the parallel in the book of Psalms, and I invite you to turn to Psalm 89.

13:03 Psalm 89, a psalm celebrating God's covenant with David, God's promise to give him an eternal kingdom, an unending throne. we read in verses 28 and 29 these words, My lovingkindness will I keep for Him forevermore. My covenant shall stand fast with Him. His seed also will I make to endure forever, and His throne as the days of heaven.

13:40 And that phrase, as the days of heaven, lifts the forever passages in this promise out of anything that is temporal. And it is a promise from the living God that this seed of David, that shall sit upon the throne of David, that shall build a house of worship and establish an everlasting kingdom, is something that will be indefectible, indestructible, something that cannot end with time. And I can do no better in commenting upon the passage than to quote from those great Old Testament commentators,

14:25 Kyle and Dalish, who speaking to this very passage say, although it is evident that some of the references find fulfillment in Solomon at the same time. However unmistakable the allusions to Solomon are, the substance of the promise is not fully exhausted in him. The threefold repetition of the expression forever, the establishment of the kingdom and the throne of David forever, points incontrovertibly beyond the time of Solomon and to the eternal continuance of the seed of David And then going on to comment on this they say No earthly kingdom and no posterity of any single man has eternal duration like the heaven and the earth

15:21 But the different families of men become extinct as the different earthly kingdoms perish, and other families in other kingdoms take their place. The posterity of David, therefore, could only last forever by running out in the person who lives forever, that is, by culminating in the Messiah who lives forever, and of whose kingdom there is no end. What did you say, Pastor Martin, you're not quite convincing me? Well, if the Holy Ghost moved an apostle to put this interpretation upon it, will that satisfy you?

15:57 And that's precisely what Peter, by the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, does in Acts 2. And though I do not want to open up the Acts 2 passage in detail, I must give a reason for the interpretation given to the 2 Samuel passage. And here it is. Peter, having quoted from the 16th Psalm, a Psalm of David, says in verse 29 of Acts 2, Brethren, I may say unto you freely of the patriarch David, that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day.

16:34 Being therefore a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him, that of the fruit of his loins he would set one upon his throne, he foreseeing this spake of the resurrection of Christ. David being a prophet was convinced that the enthronement promised would go beyond his son Solomon and beyond any of Solomon's sons and would find fulfillment in the Messiah himself. And so this passage in 2 Samuel chapter 7 becomes one of the richest deposits

17:19 in the hearts of the true people of God in that period of preparation and anticipation because God as it were comes with a very wide brush and He adds this very powerful and encouraging detail that though the people of Israel see the theocracy that God Himself raised up under these kings, though they see that crumble and though they see their nation going into captivity And though there is for a period of time no literal throne in Jerusalem, to know that there is a seed of David who shall have a throne and who will not only have a throne. He will sit upon that throne. He will build the house of God. He will have a kingdom and he will reign forever.

Psalm 2: Jehovah's Anointed King on Zion

18:07 Now can you put yourself in the place of the Old Testament people of God? All of your hopes and all of your aspirations must be fed by the words that come through the prophets. And you have those passages we've already considered from Genesis, that passage from the book of Numbers, and now it becomes known that God has spoken through Nathan, and He has made a promise that the seed of David shall be perpetuated, shall be enthroned, shall have an indefectible kingship, and a kingdom that will never end. Now in that same period, God adds some more bold and very encouraging strokes to the picture, and I direct your attention to the second psalm.

18:56 A psalm composed as best we can track it down during the time of David's reign. a psalm frequently quoted in the New Testament, a psalm that became part and parcel of the perpetual praise of the people of God. What was God telling His people when they would take the words of this psalm upon their lips and chant it and praise God by means of its words? Why do the nations rage and the peoples meditate a vain thing?

19:31 The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against His anointed, saying, Let us break their bonds asunder. Cast away their cords from us. You get the picture. The question is asked, Why is there this tumultuous seething among all the nations, and particularly among the rulers of the nations of the earth?

19:56 And whatever divides them, whatever separates them, In this they are united, they take counsel together against the Lord and against His anointed, saying, Let's cast away their cords from us. In other words, there is this concerted alignment, this vicious attempt to break off the yoke of the government of God. And this is by the great ones of the earth, the kings and the rulers. Now, what's the response of God?

20:25 Well, the first is the laughter of holy derision. Imagine you kids if you're going to school tomorrow. You saw some little pugnacious smart aleck. He really thinks he's quite the big shot.

20:37 Always has his jaw out, tries to look tough, you know, goes swaggering up the street. He's about 4'2", 72 pounds.

20:45 And on the way to school, he sees a policeman, a man who's kept himself in shape, 6'3", 245 pounds, all raw bone and muscle. And he sticks out his little jar and says, get out of the way, copper! Tries to be real smart. Can you imagine what the big policeman would do?

21:03 He that stands in his six foot three frame, 245 pounds, would laugh at the little fellow. Now that's the picture you have here. Here's all the big shots of the earth. They're getting together.

21:15 And they're saying, we've got to break out from the restraints of Jehovah and his anointing. We've got to oppose the establishment of this kingdom. And God's first response is, The laughter of derision. God laughs.

21:31 He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh. Ha, ha. That's biblical language. He that sits in the heavens shall laugh.

21:41 So there's the laughter of holy derision. But then it's followed with the pronouncement of holy purpose. Look at it. He that sitteth in the heavens will laugh.

21:50 The Lord will have them in derision. Then will he speak from his laughter to his spoken word. From the laughter of holy derision to the pronouncement of holy purpose. And notice what it is.

22:02 Then will he speak unto them in his wrath and vex them in his sore displeasure. Yet I have set my king upon my holy hill of Zion. I will tell of the decree. The Lord said unto me, Thou art my son.

22:19 This day have I begotten thee. Ask of me and I will give thee the nations for thine inheritance and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession. Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron. Thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel.

22:33 Now therefore be wise, O you kings. You little fellows that get together and think you're going to bully the policeman. You people that get together and think you're going to somehow intrude upon the regal rights of Jehovah and his anointed. You better listen now.

22:47 You better stop your scheming long enough. Be wise, you kings. Be instructed, you judges. Serve Jehovah with fear. Rejoice with trembling.

22:56 Kiss the Son, lest he be angry and ye perish in the way, for his wrath will soon be kindled. Blessed are all they that take refuge in him. Well, without going into a detailed exposition, do you see what this would have meant to the people of God? Here they have treasured up in their hearts the statements way back from the garden.

23:16 The seed of the woman shall bruise the serpent's head. The promise to Abraham. The promise given from that prophetic utterance of old Jacob as he speaks of the destiny of his twelve sons. The promise from that strange man Balaam.

23:32 This promise of David. And now, and now, no matter what they see the nations do in opposing the purposes of Jehovah, they know that Jehovah lasts. And Jehovah speaks. And when he speaks, he says, nothing will frustrate me in my determination to set my king upon his holy hill.

23:53 And he will not be a king in name alone. Having established him as king, I will extend his kingdom to the very ends of the earth. And it will be a kingdom marked by two things. It will be a kingdom of grace and of judgment.

24:12 Rejoice! Well, how can you rejoice if such a king sits upon a throne? Because he sits upon that throne inviting sinners who need the canopy of his grace to take refuge in him. But if they will not take refuge in him, he will dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel.

24:33 It's the same king. The king of grace. The king of frightening judgment. Now can you imagine what that meant to a godly Israelite who had that word from the living God to feed his hopes upon?

24:48 He sees the theocracy crumbling. He sees the northern kingdom going into captivity. Later on, the southern kingdom going into captivity. He lives during that long period of time when there was no fresh voice of the prophet.

25:04 What meat for the soul of a godly Israelite to feed upon this truth that no matter what the Romans do, no matter what the Persians had done, no matter what all the great ones of the earth may do, God has decreed that a king shall sit upon his holy hill of Zion.

25:23 And again, without going into careful exposition, just to buttress the fact that this is the proper understanding of the passage, in Acts chapter 4, when the church faces its first opposition in the church goes to prayer. What frames their prayers? This very psalm. This very psalm.

25:41 And we read in Acts chapter 4 that when they pray, this is the language of their praying. Verse 25 of Acts chapter 4. Acts chapter 4 and verse 25.

25:58 We back up to verse 24. When they heard it, they lifted up their voice to God with one accord and said, O Lord, thou that didst make heaven and earth and the sea and all that in them is, who by the Holy Spirit, by the mouth of our father David, thy servants did say, and now he quotes the first few verses from Psalm 2, For all the truth in this city against thy holy servant Jesus, whom thou didst anoint, whom thou hast constituted Messiah, both Herod and Pontius Pilate with the Gentiles and the people were gathered together to do whatsoever thy hand and counsel for ordained to be done. You see, Peter does not understand this passage as something that awaits some future fulfillment in some halfway stage between time and eternity

26:47 in some millennial reign.

26:51 No! He says it had its fulfillment when Messiah came. and he has been established upon the holy hill of Zion. And that's why the writer to Hebrews says, you are not come to the mountain that quaked and was filled with darkness and blackness and fire, but you are come to Mount Zion.

Psalm 110: The King at Jehovah's Right Hand

27:15 And thank God, Mount Zion is not throne-less or king-less today. Mount Zion has a throne. Mount Zion has a king. and that King is Jesus and the Father is giving to Him the kingdom that He promised and He is gathering from the nations a people for Himself and He is even now by these previews of His ultimate judgment He is breaking with the rod of iron He is dashing in pieces like a potter's vessel everything that stands in the way of the triumphs of His grace and all of that will find its culmination in the last day when he comes forth and judges with absolute finality

28:02 all his and his people's enemies. Well, we could add to this concept of Psalm 2 the richness of several other psalms. I'm only going to mention them. You look them up on your own, will you?

28:13 Psalm 45, Psalm 72, and Psalm 110.

28:20 I will just read two verses from 110. They're too good to pass over. The people of God remember now wondering, what is Jehovah doing? What will happen to all of his ancient promises?

28:34 Here by the Spirit, David speaks, and Jesus uses that very language in Matthew 22. The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand until I make thine enemies thy footstool. Jehovah will send forth the rod, the scepter. Here's the concept again.

28:55 Send forth the scepter of thy strength out of Zion. Rule thou in the midst of thine enemies. The Apostle Paul picks up that very thought in 1 Corinthians 15 and says, He must reign. He must reign till he hath put all enemies beneath his feet.

Isaiah 9: The Mighty God as Child Born

29:14 Not he shall reign, but he must reign. He is reigning and will continue to reign until all the enemies are placed beneath his feet. Well, you see, God adds to the picture now the richness of the concepts of the second psalm, so that the true people of God, for whom Christ was also their life, not with the light of the New Testament revelation, but with the impartation of spiritual illumination by the Spirit, using the revelation thus far given, They had much upon which to feed their souls, much upon which to hope, as God promised the establishment of the kingdom of his Son.

30:00 Now then we move on to the prophet Isaiah.

30:05 And what I will do in handling several of the prophecies from the prophets, and realizing we have so many new converts, many who have very little background in the Bible, Well I trust some of you to whom this is old hat will not be offended because my solemn responsibility is to try to feed all the flock of God And the way I'm going to handle these prophecies from the prophets is not as they come to us in our English Bible, but in terms of the chronology of when they preached, alright? And in that you'll get a little Old Testament history and you'll see where some of the prophets fit, And I hope this will be edifying not only directly, but indirectly as well. Well, Isaiah prophesied for a very lengthy period of time.

30:52 He prophesied during a time when the people of God were manifesting great declension. He prophesied of the judgment of God that would come, a judgment that would result in the people of God being carried into captivity. but at the same time laced through those prophecies are those wonderful pronouncements that the God who brings judgment will bring restoration and a restoration that will far exceed any glory previously known by the people of God. And then you move into the later chapters and you see that much of that work of restoration and glory will be affected by this personage who begins to emerge called the servant of Jehovah upon whom he puts his spirit who will suffer and yet who will reign, who will come and be filled with shame,

31:41 upon whose face will be placed the spittle of his enemies, but who wonder of wonders will establish justice in the isles. And those great themes begin to emerge out of Isaiah. We'll turn to Isaiah chapter 9 for one of those great prophecies. How do we know that Christ must be a king in his role as mediator?

32:03 Well, here the prophet tells us in chapter 9, verse 6, For unto us a child is born, and unto us a son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father or Father of Eternity, Prince of Peace, of the increase of His government and of His peace, there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon His kingdom to establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness

32:50 from henceforth even forever, the zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this. Now do you see how God adds another stroke? that both confirms some things that were said way back in the Garden of Eden, but then adds a dimension that up till now has been implied, but has never been stated so boldly. Here in the hearts of God's people, they have this wonderful conviction from these previous prophecies, the accumulated concept of a Messiah who will be a king, who will come from the tribe of Judah, who will be of the seed of David, who will have an everlasting throne.

33:31 Now Isaiah says, Unto us a child is born. He'll be a true man. A son is given. And to the child born and son given, there shall be government upon his shoulders.

33:47 But he is going to be something more than an ordinary, an exalted, a great, a magnificent man. His name shall be called Wonderful Counselor El Gabor.

34:04 Mighty God! Father of eternity! So you see what God is saying? This king is not just a king after the order of David and Solomon, filled with might to destroy his enemies, filled with wisdom to resolve the problems of his people.

34:23 No, no. This son given, this child born, will be nothing other than the mighty God, the Father of eternity. And this unique person upon whom the government shall rest will have an increase to that government, and its issue shall be peace, unending peace, administered where? from the throne of David, established with justice and righteousness.

Micah 5: The Ruler from Bethlehem

34:54 And how is it going to come to pass? Because the zeal of Jehovah of hosts is committed to it. So now God adds this great encouragement that there will be this unique person, God, yet man, a unique position of rule and authority, a unique work, bringing peace by a government that will never end. Now there was a prophet who was contemporary with Isaiah.

35:21 Their lives, as best we can trace them out in their ministries, overlap only by a matter of about five years, give or take, on each end. And that prophet was Micah. So you shouldn't be surprised to find things in Micah that are almost quotes from Isaiah. And so the scholars sit around and debate and write their big books.

35:39 Was Isaiah borrowing from Micah? Well, who cares? We believe there's one author. It's the Holy Ghost.

35:46 And if the Holy Ghost says something through Micah, shouldn't Isaiah, subject to the same Holy Ghost, receive that as the Word of God and use it?

35:56 Frankly, I cannot for the life of me understand the mentality in professing Christians that waste time with that kind of foolishness. Frankly, I can't understand it. It absolutely eludes me. If we believe there's one author, God, by one Spirit, then all that he gives through one prophet is the deposit of all the people of God, even of another prophet.

36:20 So in Micah, you find many parallels. And then you have this wonderful promise in Micah chapter 5. About the same time now, when the people of God have the clouds of judgment hanging over them. Isaiah preaching away, Micah preaching away, telling God's people that judgment is going to come.

36:40 Micah is one of those minor prophets tucked away there after all those big fellas. Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah. All right? Now what does God say?

36:55 Well, in this fourth chapter we have a good summary of its contents at the top of the 1901 edition. Zion's conflicts and triumphs. Here is this upheaval. Here is the nations opposing Zion and God's commitment to vindicate His people.

37:14 And in the midst of all of that, we read verse 2 of Micah 5. But thou, Bethlehem, Ephrathah, which art little to be among the thousands of Judah, out of thee shall one come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel, whose goings forth are from of old, from everlasting. From ancient days. Therefore will he give them up until the time that she who travaileth hath brought forth.

37:46 Then the residue of his brethren shall return unto the children of Israel. And he shall stand and shall feed his flock in the strength of Jehovah. In the majesty of the name of Jehovah his God. And they shall abide.

38:03 For now shall he be great unto the ends of the earth, and this man shall be our peace. Now even you kids know where this is found in the New Testament, don't you? You remember when the wise men came saying, where is he born, King of the Jews? Even those poor, blind, unspiritual, unconverted leaders in Israel, they knew this passage.

38:30 and they were able to say it's got to be somewhere circumscribed by that piece of real estate because it was written in the prophet. So God now even becomes as it were more bold and he dares to state the very geographical area from which this great king shall arise but which is in no way to be construed as his beginning. His goings forth are from of old, from everlasting. And so Micah underscores what Isaiah adds to the picture, that though there will be a place and a point in time where this ruler shall arise, do not think that that was his beginnings.

Jeremiah 33: The Righteous Branch and the Levites

39:15 His goings forth have been from of old, even from everlasting. You see what God is doing now to His people? Adding strokes to the pictures. If He gave that all at once, it would have overwhelmed them.

39:27 So by bits and by pieces he adds these deposits. Now what happens to God's people? Well, they don't repent under the preaching of Isaiah. They don't repent under the preaching of Micah.

39:39 So God sends them into captivity. And one of the prophets who had the sad task of preaching to the two remaining southern tribes after the northern tribes went into captivity was this man Jeremiah. And he saw the same sins for which God brought judgment on the northern tribes. He saw them there in Judah, and he preached, and he wept, and he prayed until God said, Don't even pray anymore.

40:03 They're slated for judgment. Well, in the midst of such dark days, what hope is there for the true people of God who did repent, who did have broken and contrite hearts, who in the language of Ezekiel sighed and cried for the abominations done in Israel. Well, look at the wonderful promise God gave to them about that coming king, Jeremiah 33. You get the time sequence now.

40:29 Jeremiah comes after Isaiah and after Micah. The situation is even more bleak now. Judgment has come upon the northern tribes. It's about to fall upon the southern tribes.

40:42 We meet in Jeremiah 33 verses 14 and following.

40:47 Behold the days come saith the Lord, that I will perform that good word which I have spoken concerning the house of Israel and concerning the house of Judah. In those days and at that time will I cause a branch of righteousness to grow up unto David. And he shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. Now let me pause for a moment.

41:13 You see what God is saying? He's saying those promises of restoration, those good things that I've spoken concerning the house of Israel. Now remember, many of them had already been spoken through the prophet Isaiah, through the prophet Micah. They had been speaking of these good things that were going to come.

41:30 Now there are those who tell us that 98% of those good things all await some time way down at the end.

41:39 But that isn't what God says. Behold the days come that I will perform those good things. When? In those days and at that time I will cause a branch to grow.

41:51 The good things will be fulfilled when this branch begins to grow. And he grows up unto David and executes justice and righteousness in the land. And in those days shall Judah be saved and Jerusalem shall dwell safely. And this is the name whereby she shall be called Jehovah our righteousness.

42:16 For thus saith the Lord, David shall never want a man. Now you see what the prophet is doing? He's basing his prophecy on the 2 Samuel prophecy. You getting the feel of this now?

42:27 One of the things I pleaded with God said, Lord, make it click so that they'll see the glory of this. Now the prophet is preaching and he's saying, Look, what God's going to do is based upon what he's already said he would do. And this is how he's going to do it. He made a promise.

42:44 David shall never lack a man to sit upon the throne of Israel. Now notice this new concept. Neither shall the priests, the Levites, lack a man before me to offer burnt offerings and to burn meal offerings and to do sacrifice continually. Uh-oh, here's a new stroke.

43:02 We didn't get that before. There's going to be a king. There's going to be a reign of righteousness. There's going to be the ultimate judgment.

43:09 But now, he says, not only will this branch grow up and be the fulfillment of the promise to have someone of David's seed upon the throne, there will be the perpetuity of the Davidic kingship. But now, he says, in some way, there's going to be the perpetuation of priestly function.

Daniel 7: The Son of Man's Everlasting Dominion

43:33 How in the world does that get in there? now just hold that in your head and we'll see in a little bit alright now very quickly we move on in time the southern tribe they don't repent the two tribes they don't repent at the prophecies of Jeremiah what happens to them they go into captivity and the Babylonians come and they take them away from their own land they destroy their temple destroy their national life but God's not going to be silent he's got a mouthpiece down there in that heathen kingdom and his man, the man's name is Daniel. And Daniel's going to preach. Now remember, he preached in the time when there was this tremendous upheaval.

44:14 Here these Jews who had lived to see the destruction of the theocracy, that upon which all their hopes, as it were, were pinned, they'd seen it dashed to the ground. Some of them will live to see the Babylonian Empire crumble and be destroyed and other empires come in their place. And those are the great themes that come out in Daniel's visions. He sees these beasts, one rising up and another one destroyed.

44:37 He has this vision of this strange creature or this strange image in all the different metals and how one part destroys the other until the whole is destroyed. What is all of that? It is in graphic, prophetic, apocalyptic visions the upheaval of all nations and all kingdoms of men. But now in the midst of that, what happens to a godly Israelite?

45:01 He's seen his own kingdom destroyed. He will live to see this great Babylonian empire destroyed. He would wonder, is there any abiding kingdom? Is there any hope that there shall ever be a reign of righteousness?

45:15 And in the midst of that, God speaks. Daniel chapter 7. Daniel chapter 7. In the midst of that, God speaks.

45:23 And this is what he says.

45:26 Daniel having seen these other visions of the emergence and the destruction of other kingdoms verse 13 of Daniel 7 I saw in the night visions and behold there came with clouds of heaven one like unto a Son of Man Now here you see the concept of human and divine stands out in bold relief. For the Jew, the clouds of heaven, the Shekinah glory, Whoever comes in the clouds of heaven is Jehovah, but he is one like unto a Son of Man. And I say the Jews understood that. And again, men write their big tomes on this passage, and it seems as though they won't allow our Lord's use of it to be regulative.

46:13 When Jesus quotes from this passage, the high priest tears his garment and says, What further need have we of witnesses? He hath spoken blasphemy. to claim to be this personage who comes with the clouds of heaven, who is yet a son of man, is a claim to deity. He came even to the ancient of days, deity yet separate from God.

Zechariah 6 and 9: Priest on the Throne, King on a Donkey

46:39 And they brought Him near before Him. And there was given Him dominion and glory and a kingdom that all the peoples, nations, and languages should serve him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed. Oh, what hope would come to a godly Israelite when it became known that Daniel, the man of God, saw in the night visions that God was not done with the upheaval of the nations, But a time was coming when there should come one who would receive from the Ancient of Days a kingdom that would be everlasting and that should never be destroyed.

47:30 Then we come to that period in the history of Israel, and I just touch upon it quickly, when God brings a group of them back into their land, and their condition is a despised condition. It nowhere near approaches the former glory under David and under Solomon. And the people of God in that low, despised condition wonder what will it all come to. Can these be the promises of a restoration that exceeds the former glory?

48:00 What about the throne of David? What about that scepter? What about the reign of righteousness? What about the king whose kingdom should extend to the ends of the earth?

48:11 Do you know what God does? He sends them prophets to instruct them and encourage them. And while they're working away to rebuild their walls and their temples, God sends some preachers to get them on with the job. And so he sent along some preachers to help them.

48:23 And we read in the book of Ezra, chapter 6 and verse 14, this very significant statement. Remember where they are now. They're back in the land after the judgment that brought them into captivity. Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Micah, they're done their ministries.

48:40 Now we read in the book of Ezra, chapter 6 and verse 14, these very significant words. And the elders of the Jews builded and prospered through the prophesying of Haggai the prophet and Zechariah the son of Idu. And they builded and finished it according to the commandment to the God of Israel. The elders builded and prospered through the prophesying of Haggai and of Zechariah.

49:14 So you see what they were doing now. They were prophesying, encouraging the people of God in the task to which God had called them. Well, in the midst of that, what does God add to the picture? Here they are, no throne, no kingdom, just a despised little group of people.

49:32 The off-scouring, as it were, of this mighty nation. Cyrus sends them back, gives them a little help. There they are, a despicable, despised little group of people. And yet burning in their hearts is the hope gendered by all those promises.

49:51 And now we read in the language of Zechariah chapter 6, these words that clarify what Jeremiah had said. We are in the book now of the prophecy of Zechariah, chapter 6, verse 9.

50:29 Yea, take of them silver and gold and make crowns and set them upon the head of Joshua the son of Jehoshadak the high priest. Now here's a strange commandment. He's to go and he's to take these precious metals and we're not to think of many crowns. But we're to think of a crown that has these various parts inwrought and woven together.

50:52 And they're to go to Joshua the high priest, verse 12, and speak unto him saying, Thus speaketh the Lord of hosts, saying, The man whose name is the branch. Now where did we hear that before? From Jeremiah. Now here's a prophet, many years later, picking up what the Holy Ghost had said through Jeremiah.

51:13 He says, Behold that one of whom Jeremiah spoke, the man whose name is the branch, and he shall grow up out of his place, and he shall build the temple of Jehovah. You people are repairing the temple. But he's going to be the true builder. The one who is the branch.

51:34 You remember what was prophesied way back to David? He shall build the house of God. He shall build the true house of God. Well, that promise is not yet fulfilled.

51:42 It's saying he shall build it. It wasn't fulfilled ultimately in Solomon. Even he shall build the temple of Jehovah. And he shall bear the glory.

51:53 Now listen to this amazing thing. and shall sit and rule on his throne. He's going to build the temple and at the same time he's going to be a king and he shall be a priest upon his throne. Ah, now we know how there will be an extension not only of the kingly rule as Jeremiah said, but an extension and perpetuity of the priestly function.

52:20 They shall meet in this one person, the branch, and he shall sit upon his throne and he shall be a priest upon his throne and the council of peace shall be between them both. And then Zechariah adds another stroke that this one who will build the temple who will be a king and yet a priest upon the throne. We read in chapter 9 the familiar words beginning with verse 9.

52:49 And if I may take the liberty I'd usually try to be done the latest by half past. May I please just to round this out. Bear with me. Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion.

53:00 Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem. Behold, thy king cometh unto thee. He is just and having salvation. Now notice, he will not come like most conquering kings.

53:14 He shall come lowly. And that Hebrew word does not mean just meek. It means he shall come in an abject condition. He shall come lowly and riding upon an ass, even upon a colt, the foal of an ass.

53:29 And I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim and the horse from Jerusalem. And the battle bow shall be cut off. And he shall speak peace to the nations. And his dominion shall be from sea to sea and from the river to the ends of the earth.

53:46 What a bold stroke this prophet has. He says, this one who shall sit upon a throne and yet be priest, he will come as a king, but not as the kings of the earth. His kingdom will not be one extended by the battle chariots and by the bow and by the instruments of war. That will be put aside.

54:09 And he will come with a kingdom that speaks peace. How beautiful upon the mountains, Paul says, are the feet of them that preach the gospel of what? Peace.

54:25 And the kingdom to be established is not a kingdom established with sword and the thunder of the chariot wheels and the clanging of sword and armor. No, no. The horse shall be cut off from Jerusalem. and the battle bow cut off, he will be a king coming in lowliness and yet a king speaking peace and a dominion that's going to leap over the boundaries of Jerusalem and all of Judea.

Closing Application and Prayer

54:54 And it will be a kingdom that extends to the ends of the earth. Do you see why the Jews were inexcusable in expecting a literal, political, military king when they had prophecies like this? It was inexcusable. and it's more inexcusable when in our day in the light of the New Testament people still say the Jews were right in expecting such a king and then preach a so-called gospel that tells them to go on and still expect such a king now we're usually very very low key in dealing with eschatological issues but when we come to a matter like this we cannot be any eschatological scheme that de-gospelizes these prophecies is an enemy of truth.

55:42 Now, I didn't say it was heresy.

55:45 I didn't say that, but I said it is an enemy of truth. And above all, it obscures the glory of our Redeemer King. Now, what can I say to pull this all together? Well, let me just say this, and I wish I had 20 minutes to say it, but I won't take 20 minutes.

56:02 as we look at these Old Testament prophecies establishing the fact that the Redeemer is to be a king I hope you have seen this beautiful and glorious and encouraging as well as convicting concept that has emerged and it is this that in the person of the Redeemer all the grace of His kingdom will be administered from the throne of His power. And all the power of His throne is administered in the interest of the grace He bestows. What a wonderful Redeemer we have. And if you are ever to be saved, my friend,

56:50 you must be saved by one who is a priest upon a throne. And you will receive no benefits from his wounds if you are not prepared to capitulate to the implications of His crown.

57:07 But you need not dread the implications of His crown because He is a priest upon the throne who bids the neediest of sinners to come and to take refuge in Him.

57:24 Is He your Redeemer? Is He your prophet? your priest and your king child of God we'll have to wait for the other implications I'd hope to get into some application this morning but I hope you can see it if Christ is such a king and David's throne is established and he now sits upon that throne what hope there is what ground for confidence what ground for believing aggressive prayer that the gospel would triumph in our generation. May I say to any of you who may be flirting with a starry-eyed, semi-militant concept of the conquest of law and the conquest of the gospel

58:11 in a way that is totally foreign to the Scriptures, remember, he has no instruments of war.

58:20 His scepter is a scepter of grace. And it's only where the scepter of grace touches a human heart that we shall see people embracing the crown and living in obedience to that glorious King and Priest even our Lord Jesus Christ. Thank you for your patience while I tried to round out something that I didn't realize would take us quite this long. I was overly ambitious thinking I'd get through all this last week in one shot.

58:51 Well, let us thank God for His presence and His help.

58:56 Our Father, what thanks can we render to you for the Holy Scriptures, for the patience you manifested in giving to your people bits and pieces along the way, adding bolder strokes, more definitive lines, until in the heart of every godly Jew there was that burning expectation that one would come whose goings forth had been from everlasting, who would rise to assume the throne of David and would rule with power and with grace.

59:41 We thank You that He has come and that we worship Him who has been set upon Your holy hill of Zion, even our Lord Jesus Christ. O Lord grant that though the bulk of our time was taken up with explanation and proclamation and so little time was left for application may your spirit make those needed applications to the hearts of all of your people and to the hearts of impenitent sinners may your words ring in their ears that this king shall yet crush his enemies all who dare to defy him and resist him shall be broken in pieces like a potter's vessel. O God, strike terror to their hearts and bring them broken to the feet of this prophet, priest, and king.

60:29 Thank you again now for your presence with us. Dismiss us with your blessing resting upon us, we pray through our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

60:47 Thank you.