Church: Reformed Baptist Church of Franconia | Text: 2 Samuel 7 | Date: November 26, 2023 | Speaker: Fred Zaspel

We’re continuing our series on the Psalms. If you will take your Bibles and turn to 2 Samuel 7. This really is a continuation of our series on the Psalms, but you’ll remember that coming up soon in our evening studies, we’ll take some looks at what are generally classified properly as Messianic Psalms—Psalms that are specifically about the Messiah in some way. Before we get there, I’ve wanted to take time to back up and to trace that Messianic hope before the Psalms that leads up to it, so we can see something of the sweep of God’s purpose as it’s reflected there. Today we come to a very important passage, one of the mountain peaks of biblical history, and that is God’s promise to David concerning his son.

God’s Purpose from the Beginning

Now, by way of review, before we get into 2 Samuel 7, we’ve seen that it was God’s purpose from the beginning—and that is from the very beginning—to establish his rule on earth by means of his appointed king. Let me say it again. It’s been God’s purpose from the beginning to establish his rule on earth by means of his appointed king. He created man and woman in his image. They are to reflect his rule and extend it over all of the earth. That’s Genesis 1 and 2. And we see in Genesis 3 already that humanity had failed in that. But immediately on the heels of their failure, God comes with a promise. Genesis 3:15 promises a champion who will come—some descendant of the woman, one of her offspring will come—and he will pick up where we have failed, and this champion will succeed and carry out God’s rule in the earth.

I say all that again just to emphasize that this is the Bible storyline: that this champion will come. Eventually, this champion will be referred to as the Messiah, and we will speak about the messianic hope, but from the beginning, this has been the theme even before the terminology of Messiah ever came about. This is not an add-on theme. This is the theme. It’s integral to the biblical story. It’s even central to the biblical story, and we find it from the outset.

And then that theme that is established—it’s alluded to perhaps more subtly in Genesis 1 and 2, but it’s made explicit in Genesis 3:15 that this champion will come to establish God’s rule. That theme that is established there then is developed throughout the rest of biblical history, and we’ve been hitting the high points of that. The next high point was Genesis chapter 12, where God makes a promise to Abraham, and he says that he will bless Abraham, and in turn Abraham himself will be a blessing. Abraham will be blessed and will be a blessing. And that blessing comes, of course, through Abraham’s descendant. First of all, that means in a nation that God will form from Abraham, the Israelite nation, and then from that Israelite nation, one representative Israelite will arise to be the blessing to the whole world. We saw that Paul picks that up in Galatians 3:16, for example, referring to Abraham’s seed as Jesus. So this promised champion who will come from Genesis 3 will come through the line of Abraham, Genesis 12.

And we saw more. We saw just briefly Genesis 17 and Genesis 35; God mentions to Abraham that kings will come from him. And the next major point that we saw was Genesis chapter 49, where Jacob makes the promise that Judah’s son, one of Judah’s offspring, will have the ruler’s staff. The scepter will not depart from Judah, and all peoples will obey him. So the champion will come from the line of Abraham through the line of Judah. Then we saw in Numbers chapter 24 Balaam’s prophecy, this strange figure by the name of Balaam. But he prophesies that a star will rise out of Israel. That’s what he calls it. A star will rise out of Israel and that star will crush all of his enemies. We saw also one time in Deuteronomy chapter 18 that God will send a prophet—and here the terminology now is not of a king but a prophet—who will come and he will be like Moses but he’ll be greater than Moses, and God will hold everyone accountable to listen to him and to hear him. Last time we saw 1 Samuel chapter 2 and Hannah’s prayer. And in the climax of her prayer, we saw that she foresaw that God would send his anointed king, and his anointed king will rule over all nations—and she even uses the language “to the ends of the earth.” God will reestablish his rule in the earth by means of a human king. That’s been his purpose from the outset.

Now before moving here to 2 Samuel chapter 7, I want to draw your attention—keep your hand here, we’ll be right back—but look back to Deuteronomy chapter 17. Deuteronomy chapter 17, beginning with verse 14, we find Moses’ instruction concerning Israel’s king. So remember this is before any kings have arisen in Israel, but Moses is providing that Israel will have a king. And here Moses gives instructions for those kings, and he says in verses 14 and 15, “When you come to the land that the Lord your God is giving you, and you possess it and dwell in it, and then say, ‘I will set a king over me like all the nations that are around me,’ you may indeed set a king over you, whom the Lord your God will choose. One from among your brothers you shall set as king over you. You may not put a foreigner over you who is not your brother.”

And then verses 16 and 17, he gives various restrictions to the king regarding excessive wealth and things like that. Verses 18 and 20 are very important in this regard. Here Moses commands that the king, when he is appointed upon his accession to the throne, he will write out the law of God verbatim. That’s his responsibility. Write it out and keep it in front of him. And there’s the reminder that Israel will have a king, but he must be a faithful and an obedient king. He must always work in accordance with the command of God. Israel’s king is king, but he is king serving under the King. And that must be reminded on his first day coming to the throne: write out the law of God and recognize that you are there as an administrator of divine rule.

Now the first restriction here in Deuteronomy 17 that he gives concerning the selection of the king is that you’ll set a king over you, but it is one “whom the Lord your God will choose.” That’s verse 15. It’ll be a king of God’s appointment, not yours. Well, after that, of course, then we come to the book of Joshua, and Joshua leads the people into the land, and then we have that period of the Judges, which is a horrible time in Israel’s history—a time of apostasy, and God brings deliverance, and they fall again, and on goes the cycle. And there’s that repeated refrain in the book of Judges, and that is, “There was no king in Israel.” There was no king in Israel, and every man did that which was right in his own eyes. There was no king in Israel, and every man did that which was right in his own eyes—that refrain comes over and again. And it clues us in that the narrator of the book of Judges is keeping his eye on the big picture. The king is coming; he’s not there yet.

In Judges chapter 8, we find that Israel is a bit impatient with God. God will appoint his king in his time. This is his initiative and his doing. They become a little impatient, and they offer for Gideon to become king. Gideon refuses that. He says, “The Lord will rule over you. You don’t need me as king.” They offer it to his son Abimelech later, Gideon’s son, and he takes it, but he’s a miserable failure. He was not a faithful man, and then that was that.

And then we come to 1 Samuel, and we find that the nation of Israel is still impatient, and they’re clamoring to Samuel, “Give us a king. We want a king. We want a king. We want a king.” And finally, you remember, as the plot unfolds, God gives them a king, and Samuel anoints their first king, and that is Saul. And he’s called the anointed of the Lord five or six or seven times throughout that narrative. And for 20 years or so—he rules about 40 years—for 20 years of that, he’s a successful king. He defeats Israel’s enemies and helps them get established more in their land. But he is a miserable failure. He’s increasingly disobedient and unfaithful, even worse when he becomes insanely jealous of David. He’s a miserable failure, and finally he’s rejected, and his line is cut off. We read in 1 Samuel chapter 13, Samuel, the prophet, tells Saul, “God is looking for a man after his own heart, someone who pursues God.”

And that, of course, as the plot unfolds, is David. In 1 Samuel 16, we find Samuel going to the family of Jesse, sorting through his sons, and finally comes to the young one, David, that no one would have expected as king. This is God’s choice, and Samuel anoints David as king. And the Spirit of the Lord comes upon David. He came in power, and from that point on, we see David’s rise to prominence. But then he’s not only risen to prominence like the next chapter where we have the David and Goliath episode, David’s fame and his success, but then because of Saul’s jealousy, David spends the next number of years fleeing from Saul because Saul is so insanely jealous of him and he wants to kill him. And so David is out on his own, hiding from Saul. Many of the Lament Psalms are written in that kind of a context.

Finally, we come to 2 Samuel chapter 2, and David is anointed now as king over Judah. When we get to 2 Samuel chapter 5, David is anointed as king over Israel, the northern kingdom as well. So David has consolidated his rule now. He’s established his rule. Jerusalem now is his capital city. He’s ruling over the entire nation. And David now is called the anointed of the Lord, I think ten times or something like that. Then we come to 2 Samuel 6. And David, now having established his rule in Jerusalem as the capital city, brings the ark of the Lord into Jerusalem. That’s a wonderfully festive occasion. You remember we looked at that some time ago from the Chronicles narrative of it. David brings the ark there and establishes the worship of God in Jerusalem on Mount Zion.

God’s Promise to David

That all now is the background to 2 Samuel chapter 7. With all that in the background, now we come to God’s promise, his covenant promise to David. 2 Samuel chapter 7 is a watershed moment in biblical history. The rest of the Bible story unfolds from 2 Samuel chapter 7. It’s just a major high point in the developing story of the Old Testament of the messianic promise. In fact, it’s of structural significance to the story. There are only two other passages before this that are as important as 2 Samuel 7 in the development of that theme, and that would be Genesis 3:15, which I’ve mentioned, and Genesis chapters 12, 15, and 17, where God’s promise to Abraham is repeated. The promise that is made here in 2 Samuel 7 is called a covenant later on; it would be a royal grant promise. The King, the great King, comes and makes an outright promise and gives it to David. So let’s read that narrative. 2 Samuel 7, a familiar story, beginning with verse one:

Now, when the king lived in his house and the Lord had given him rest from all his surrounding enemies, the king said to Nathan the prophet, “See now, I dwell in a house of cedar, but the ark of God dwells in a tent.” Nathan said to the king, “Go, do all that is in your heart, for the Lord is with you.” That same night, the word of the Lord came to Nathan, “Go and tell my servant David, ‘Thus says the Lord, would you build me a house to dwell in? I have not lived in a house since the day I brought up the people of Israel from Egypt to this day, but I’ve been moving about in a tent for my dwelling in all places where I have moved with all the people of Israel. Did I speak a word with any of the judges of Israel whom I commanded to shepherd my people of Israel, saying, “Why have you not built me a house of cedar?”‘ Now therefore, thus you shall say to my servant David, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep, that you should be prince over my people Israel. And I have been with you wherever you went, and have cut off all your enemies from before you. And I will make for you a great name, like the name of the great ones of the earth. And I will appoint a place for my people Israel, and will plant them so that they may dwell in their own place and be disturbed no more. And violent men shall afflict them no more as formerly, from the time that I appointed judges over my people Israel, and I will give you rest from all your enemies. Moreover, the Lord declares to you that the Lord will make you a house. When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your body, 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 to him a father. He shall be to me a son. When he commits iniquity, I will discipline him with the rod of men, with the stripes of the sons of men. But my steadfast love will not depart from him as I took it from Saul, whom I put away from before you. And your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me. Your throne shall be established forever.'” In accordance with all these words and in accordance with all this vision, Nathan spoke to David.

Fascinating story. David has it in his heart to build this house for God that he thought would be honorable to him. Nathan speaks too soon and says, “Go ahead.” God speaks to Nathan and says, “I take the initiative in these major events, not you. You tell David he will not build that house. His son will build it instead.” And of course, Solomon does that.

Now let’s look at some—got to make some quick observations about this passage and God’s promise. Look at verse 12. God establishes David’s throne. A Davidic son will reign on David’s throne. In other words, God is promising to David a dynasty. Actually, there’s a pun here. David wanted to build a house for God, a literal house, a temple. God says, “You won’t build a house for me; I will build a house for you.” But in this case, “house” means a dynasty. That’s verse 12. Verse 13: this dynasty will be for my name, that is for God’s name, forever. That is, this Davidic king then will preside over the kingdom of God. That’s what Israel was: God’s kingdom on the earth. God will administrate his rule—even his eschatological rule. God will administrate all his rule through his appointed king, and that king will be one of David’s sons.

Verse 14 is important in terminology. The terminology that’s used—you need to notice this. Verse 14: God will be a father to his Davidic king. The king will be to God a son. Father, son. And so here is the beginning of the identifying of the king as God’s son, the son of God. The king is the son of God in particular. So here we have the developing theme, the beginning of it, of the king as God’s son. You remember we saw that in Psalm 2 and verse 7: “You are my son, this day I have begotten you.” It’s enthronement language. He’s made him his son; he’s made him his king. And you might remember in John chapter 1, verse 49, you remember the incident with Philip and Nathanael. Nathanael then is brought to Jesus and he sees Jesus and he hears what Jesus knows and Jesus’ knowledge about his past and things like that. And he says, “Rabbi, you are the son of God. You are the king of Israel.” So in its first instance, “Son of God” now becomes messianic terminology. Now, it’s freighted with many more implications than that, particularly in the Gospel of John. We find it in Mark as well, where the Son of God implies his deity as well. But first of all, it’s messianic terminology.

Now, it’s also important, verses 13 through 16, we have a degree of tension built into the promise. “He shall build a house for my name. I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be to him a father, he will be to me a son.” There’s the promise. But now: “When he commits iniquity, I will discipline him with the rod of men, with the stripes of the sons of men.” So now there’s some tension building. He’s got to be a faithful, an obedient son. But, verse 15, “my steadfast love will not depart from him as I took it from Saul, whom I put away from before you. And your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me. Your throne will be established forever.”

So David’s son, this one that God is promising, must be a faithful son, an obedient son. You remember God said through Moses in Deuteronomy 17, he’s got to write out the law and be faithful to God. He’s an administrator, after all, reigning under the great King. He’s a king who reigns under God. And of course, it’s this provision that God makes here, that “if he’s disobedient, I’ll discipline him.” That is what accounts for the collapse, eventually, of the Davidic line. And we find that in the later prophets as well, talking about that, where the house of Jesse has been—the tree of Jesse has been cut down to a stump. Or in another prophet, the tent of David has fallen, or the house of David has fallen in Hosea. He must be a faithful king. And yet, even so, verse 15, David is assured he will have a faithful son whose rule will continue forever. “My steadfast love will not depart from him as I took it from Saul, whom I put away from before you.” So the promise is sure, but not for any given descendant of David. It’s dependent on obedience and faithfulness. And that directs us to look for a faithful, an ideal son of David. And this in turn accounts for how we see in the book of Psalms—we’ll see more of this as we go through it—where the king that is being praised is presented often in his ideal, beyond any of the historic Davidic kings that we have seen so far.

David’s Response

All right, so there’s the promise. Beginning in verse 18 now, we have David’s response. I’d love to work through this in more detail, but we just have to highlight it. In verses 18 to 21, David gives thanks for the favor that’s been shown to him in this promise. Verse 18: “Then King David went in, sat before the Lord, and said, ‘Who am I, O Lord God, and what is my house that you have brought me thus far? And yet this was a small thing in your eyes, O Lord God. You have spoken also of your servant’s house for a great while to come, and this is the instruction for mankind, O Lord God. What more can David say to you? For you know your servant, O Lord God. Because of your promise and according to your own heart, you have brought about all this greatness to make your servant know it.'”

And then verses 22 through 24, David gives praise for what God has done for Israel in the past. I won’t take time with that; we’re running short. Verses 25 to 29, now David offers a petition for the realization of this promise in the future. So God, do what you have promised. Verse 25: “And now, O Lord God, confirm forever the word that you have spoken concerning your servant, concerning his house, and do as you have spoken. Your name will be magnified forever, saying, ‘The Lord of hosts is God over Israel,’ and the house of your servant David will be established before you. For you, O Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, have made this revelation to your servants, saying, ‘I will build you a house.’ Therefore, your servant has found courage to pray this prayer to you, and now, O Lord God, you are God, and your words are true, and you have promised this good thing to your servant. Now, therefore, may it please you to bless the house of your servant, so that it may continue forever before you. For you, O Lord God, have spoken, and with your blessing shall the house of your servant be blessed forever.”

Now, what’s important to notice here, then, is that David grasps the enormity of this promise that has been made, and he understands the long-range implications of it. I’ll show you some evidence for that. Verse 19: “You have spoken also of your servant’s house for a great while to come.” He sees this has an unfolding significance for history. Verse 29: “Now therefore may it please you to bless the house of your servant, so that it may continue forever before you.”

Another interesting feature of all of this in David’s response is some of the language he uses, specifically the name for God that he uses here. Something like seven times over here, he uses the name for God as you have it in your Bibles, “Lord GOD” with God in capital letters. So look at verse 18: “Who am I, O Lord GOD?” Adonai Yahweh. Usually it’s the L-O-R-D that is in uppercase. Here it’s GOD that is in uppercase; that’s the name, Yahweh, but it’s used with Adonai, so we couldn’t do “Lord, Lord,” so they have “Lord GOD” and then GOD in capital letters. Now that name for God, Adonai Yahweh, is used seven times in this passage. Verse 18: “Who am I, O Lord GOD?” Verse 19, we have it twice: “Yet this was a small thing in your eyes, O Lord GOD. This is the instruction for mankind, O Adonai Yahweh.” Verse 20: “What more can David say to you? For you know your servant, O Adonai Yahweh.” We have it again, verse 22: “Therefore you are great, O Adonai Yahweh.” Verse 28, we have it again. And verse 29, we have it again: “For you, O Lord GOD, have spoken.”

This is the only occurrence of this name for God in the Samuel and Chronicles narrative. It’s only in this context, and it’s repeated some seven times over. What makes that significant is that this is the name that God uses for himself in his promise to Abraham. Back in Genesis chapter 15—we find it in Genesis 17 as well—God promises a seed to Abraham, and in that seed, all the families of the earth will be blessed. And now that name is picked up again, and seven times over, David uses it. He is connecting this promise that God is making to him with the promise God had previously made to Abraham. He sees that that promise to Abraham will be fulfilled through his descendant on a throne.

In fact, there are other correlations with the Abrahamic promise as well. In verse 9 here of 2 Samuel 7, “I’ll make you a great name.” That’s the language of Genesis 12:2, God’s promise to Abraham. Verse 7 here and verse 10, “I will appoint a place for Israel to plant them.” That’s the language of Genesis 15, God’s promise to Abraham. Verse 12, “I’ll raise up your offspring after you.” That’s the language of Genesis 17 and God’s promise to Abraham. Clearly, David grasped the enormity of this promise, the significance of it—that he is the heir of God’s promise to Abraham. It will be David’s son, and through him, that God’s promise to Abraham will be fulfilled. We don’t have time to go to it, but if you’d like to jot down, those of you who are taking notes, 1 Chronicles 28 verse 4: David connects this also with the Judah prophecy in Genesis 49. It is Judah’s house that will hold the ruler’s scepter. And now that has come to David, a descendant of Judah. David now recognizes that he’s been caught up in a grand plan of history. God has included David in the outworking of his global saving purpose promised first to Abraham, and then to Isaac, and then to Jacob, and then to Judah. And now it comes to David.

Look also here at 2 Samuel 7, verse 19. This is very important in this regard. Here David says in his prayer, “You have spoken also of your servant’s house for a great while to come, and this is the instruction for mankind, O Lord God.” This is instruction for mankind, O Lord God—not just Israel. Now this, that is the substance of the content of the promise that God is making to David at this point, this is the instruction. The word here is Torah. Overwhelmingly in the Old Testament it has to do with God’s instruction, sometimes law and its commanding aspects. But it’s God’s instruction. So this—this promise that Abraham’s descendant and David’s descendant will continue and reign forever to bless the world—this instruction is instruction for mankind, not just for Israel. This concerns all nations. In other words, this promise that God is making is a law concerning all of humanity. One Old Testament scholar paraphrases this: “This is the charter by which all humanity will be directed.”

So David sees then the future and the destiny of all humanity taken up in this promise. David’s line will never die off. David’s throne will be established forever. And it is David’s son that will crush the head of the tempter, and it is David’s son that will bless all of humanity. The Davidic covenant, then, explicitly entails a missional perspective. All humanity will benefit from this promise that God makes to David. And David sees it. Now, David’s recognition of this promise and the significance of it is significant in itself, because when later Old Testament prophets, when the New Testament writers write about the kingdom and about the Messiah and about Jesus, they are not adding or really filling in more than what David himself understood. They will fill in some details, like born in Bethlehem, born of a virgin—things like that. But David got it.

There’s a recent article in a theological journal arguing that David reflected on this promise over the years and that his understanding of it grew and increased. And I’m not sure he’s entirely wrong, but when I read that some months ago when it came out, I thought: what about this passage here, where David’s response to the prophet Nathan demonstrates clearly that he got it? “God has brought me into something.” And that is significant because David wrote not only about his greater son’s reign—Psalm 2, Psalm 110—reigning over all his enemies to the ends of the earth. David also wrote of his greater son’s crucifixion and death and his resurrection. So in verses 18 and following here, David is staggered by the enormity of this gift that God has just given him. He’s made a promise, and David is just humbled. He’s overwhelmed with it. And he says in verse 18, “Who am I, O Lord God? And what is my house that you have brought me thus far?” And so in humble gratitude, David prays, and he says, “All I ask is that you do what you’ve promised.” That’s verse 25. “Confirm this forever. Do as you have spoken.” Verse 29 is the same: “Now therefore may it please you to bless the house of your servant so that it may continue forever before you.”

The Fulfillment in Christ

As I say, this is background to the Psalms and its messianic expectation. The focus of the Psalms, like the rest of the Bible, is the reestablishing of the kingdom of God on the earth. This is the specific background to the royal orientation that we’ve seen—the royal orientation of the Psalms—that they have to do not with you specifically, people who are talking, but generally it’s the king who’s in view. We come to the prophets. They affirm this same thing. They speak of the house of David, the tent of David, the throne of David being established. They provide some details, like I say, like born in Bethlehem, born of a virgin. But all of that is just an unpacking of what we have here in 2 Samuel 7, this promise that God made to David. In the whole Old Testament, prophet after prophet rehearses the same theme. I’ve told you this a hundred times. The whole Old Testament just rings with this refrain: “He’s coming. He’s coming.” And over and again, God spoke this promise. And this is the hope of the Old Testament.

Of course, as it unfolds, suddenly God stopped speaking. For 400 years, there was no prophet, no word from heaven to God’s people, and there was no Davidic king. And there was no kingdom of God established on the earth. And the Old Testament ends with just this promise and this hope. C.S. Lewis—I’m not a great fan of C.S. Lewis, but boy, he did some wonderful writing. He’s a master of imagery. And he gives a wonderful illustration, I think, of what we find here in this point. He says: imagine a beautiful orchestral piece composed by a famous composer. It’s a beautiful piece, and it’s played over and again in the various orchestras around the world. And every time it’s played, it’s admired, and people praise it. Wonderful piece of music. And yet, every time it’s played, he says—imagine—every time it’s played, people are left with the sense that it’s not quite over yet, that the movements never finally resolve, that somehow it’s incomplete. And it’s not just the music critics, but it’s conductors, composers, musicologists, musicians of all sorts. They all agree on this point: that here we have this piece, it’s beautiful, but it doesn’t finally resolve. And then Lewis says: imagine that we find that someday there’s discovered in the basement of some library another piece of music. And it’s composed by this same composer. And so it’s brought to light. And of course, because it’s this famous composer, it’s performed around the world. And every time it’s performed, you think, “This is really good, but it feels like it goes with something else.” And of course, it doesn’t take long before you say, “This is that missing movement.”

Matthew chapter 1 and verse 1 functions in exactly that way. We get through with this hope—”He’s coming, he’s coming, he’s coming, he’s coming”—nothing. And we turn the page: “The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.” And then the next 17 or 18 verses we have tracking Jesus’ descent back to David and back to Abraham. And Matthew is establishing Jesus’ genealogical credentials that he’s the promised Messiah. Matthew writes about Jesus. It lies on the face of it; that’s what he’s writing about. And from the outset, he is telling us: if you want to understand Jesus, you have to understand the backstory. Jesus had two ancestors, David and Abraham. God made a promise to Abraham that in his seed all of the world will be blessed. God made a promise to David that it is his son who would sit on his throne, administer this blessing to all the world. And Matthew writes to say simply: “He’s here. God has kept his promise.”

We find the same thing in the other gospels. Luke chapter 1, you have the angelic announcement to Mary: “Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will call his name Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High, the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.” We find throughout the Gospels Jesus referred to at times as the Son of David. Remember that moving scene? The leper: “Son of David, have mercy on me.” I’ve mentioned already John chapter 1, Nathanael recognizes, “You are the son of God. You are the king of Israel.” John chapter 20, very end of his book, John tells us why he’s written his gospel. He recorded these miracles and all these things that Jesus did. He said, “These things I’ve written so that you will know that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God.”

We read through the Gospels. We see this presentation of the life and the ministry of Jesus. Over and again, as we’ve seen in Sunday school these last few weeks, Jesus demonstrates over and again his messianic authority—his teaching, his miracles, casting out demons, his stupendous claims. And here we have this one who’s called the king, the son of God, demonstrating authority over exactly every realm. And then, shocking, he’s under arrest. And then he’s whipped. And he’s put on a cross. And what’s interesting now is that, particularly in Matthew, but in the Gospels generally—find it in John as well—we come to these passion narratives in the Gospel, and this kingship theme becomes prominent again. So Pilate takes Jesus: “Are you the king of Israel?” This kingship theme comes up again. Jesus responds, “My kingdom is not of this world.” He brings Jesus out to the crowd: “Behold your king.” There it is again. And then the soldiers put a purple robe on him, mocking him for his kingship: “Hail, king of the Jews.” They put a stick in his hand, representing his royal scepter. They kneel before him. They put a crown on him—a crown of thorns—put a title over his head: “This is Jesus, the King of the Jews.” And then to seal it off, the centurion says, “Surely this was the son of God.”

Matthew and the gospel writers want to tell us this is this wonderful irony: that in this seeming defeat of Jesus, he establishes his kingdom. This is not his defeat. This is his success. This is the hour for which he has come. We find in the Gospel of John, this is the hour of his glory. In his death and in his defeat, Satan is defeated and his people are rescued from their sin and his kingdom is established. And then he’s raised from the dead. You remember what he says? “All authority in heaven and earth has been given to me. Go and tell the world and bring them to bow before me.” And then we have Luke 24 and Acts chapter 1: he ascends to heaven. And in the language of Psalm 110, he sits at the right hand of God until all his enemies are made his footstool. This is Daniel chapter 7, the Son of Man rising on the clouds to appear before the Ancient of Days and receiving a kingdom. This is Revelation chapter 5, where the lion-slash-slain-lamb alone is worthy and takes the scroll from the sovereign’s hand, opens the seals, and carries out God’s purposes for salvation and judgment in this world, carries out his kingdom purposes. Hebrews 7 makes the point that because he’s been raised from the dead, he never dies. His kingship will endure forever. Kingdom of God, on the earth, inaugurated.

And that’s the purpose of this age: to spread the word. Jesus is king. He reigns and he will reign forever and he will return as judge. He’s offered terms of peace. You may have him, but you must repent of your sin and trust in him alone. But make no mistake about it, you will bow before this king. Today or tomorrow, you will bow before this king. And Jesus tells us that in Matthew 24, that this message of the kingdom will be proclaimed to all the world, to all the nations, and then the end will come. In the book of Acts, we find the initial stages of that kingdom advanced as the message of Jesus, the king, advances through the world. Interestingly, in Acts chapter 15, James cites the promise of Amos, that it is Jesus who will rebuild the tent of David that is fallen. And the book of Acts ends—it ends with these wonderful words, Paul there under house arrest: “He lived there two whole years at his own expense and welcomed all who came to him, proclaiming the kingdom of God and teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ with all boldness and without hindrance.”

God is making the advance of his kingdom through Christ, who has now bestowed his spirit on the world. And through his spirit he is advancing the kingdom through the gospel. Revelation chapter 3 and verse 7, Jesus sends a letter to his churches and he says, “The words of the Holy One, the true one, who has the key of David, who opens and no one will shut and shuts and no one will open.” With all authority his, his kingdom is making its advance according to his will. And then Revelation chapter 19, the Lord Jesus returns in glory. According to 1 Corinthians 15, all his people are raised at that time. And he will put down every last enemy. And finally, he will present the kingdom, fully accomplished, to his Father. Mission accomplished. The work’s been done. Revelation 22, verse 16: “I, Jesus, have sent my angel to testify to you about these things for the churches. I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright and morning star.” God’s promise to David kept.

The two focal points of the church: the incarnation, first coming of Jesus, and the return of Jesus. Our hope is anchored in the one; our hope is fulfilled in the other. He has come and he will come again. Brothers and sisters, it is vital—it is vital to our Christian experience every day—that we keep this whole picture in mind. It was the mistake of those earliest Christians that they thought on Friday that Jesus had been defeated. “Now it’s just Friday.” And Saturday, they’re in despair. And then Sunday. And it all began to come together again. This was God’s purpose all along. His death was not his defeat. His death was his triumph and his success. And now God has stamped it with his approval by raising him from the dead. His kingdom continues today on schedule. It’s not a step behind. And even with evil and madness on the advance like we see it today, it would be a mistake for us to feel like we are losing. The Lord Jesus reigns as king. All powers have been made subject to him. His kingdom is on schedule. He sends his spirit to make advance of that kingdom today throughout the age. One day he sent his spirit to you and brought you in. One day he sent him to me, brought me out of the kingdom of darkness, placed me into his own kingdom. And he will continue to do that until every last sheep has come into the fold. And then he’ll return. And his kingship will be acknowledged universally. And we who are his will share in his reign. And forever, forever we will sing the praise of our great king. Amen. Let’s pray.

Our Father, it is with such a great hope that you have told us about Jesus. What a wonderful story this is to read from beginning to end in this book, this story of Jesus, the story of history—to see what has come, to see what will come. Lord, we pray that you will encourage the hearts of your people with it, we ask in Jesus’ name.