Church: Reformed Baptist Church of Franconia | Text: 1 Samuel 2:1-10 | Date: October 29, 2023 | Speaker: Fred Zaspel

We’re continuing this morning our series on the Psalms, but we will not be in the Psalms today. You’ll remember in our Sunday evening series, we’re looking at some other material regarding the Psalms and we’re into the subject specifically of the Messianic Psalms. And then I even backed away from that and said, before we get to the Messianic Psalms, let’s look at some of the background to that of the Messianic prophecy in the Old Testament that preceded the Psalter. So that’s what we’re doing today, and we look today at 1 Samuel chapter 2, Hannah’s prayer.

Let’s bow together in prayer. Our Father, we’re grateful for the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. What a glorious message this is. What a glorious unfolding of that message we find in your word. It was truly an act of grace on your part, not only to save us, apart from any work of our own, but through Christ alone. But it was a glorious act of your grace to reveal all of this to us, so that we may, even in this time before the fullness of salvation is experienced, may revel in what you have done for us in Christ, and we may revel in the blessed hope that we have of his coming. We look to a Savior who has come, has accomplished redemption. We look to a Savior who is coming again. We thank you for your word who tells us all about him. We’re reminded this morning now in particular that this great saving event was long foretold. We pray that you will give us a greater appreciation for that this morning. And through that, give us a firmer trust and greater love and reliance upon Jesus Christ. We pray in his name, amen.

The Biblical Anticipation Of The Messiah

Well, the Psalms, as we’ve said, are something of a celebration of the Davidic king. And the Davidic king, from David onward, and in the Psalter in a pronounced way, the Davidic king anticipates the great king who will come, David’s greater son who will come. We’ll see that more in the Psalms when we get to that point more particularly, and then also in many of our expositions. We’ve seen hints of that already as far as we’ve gone.

And I’ve tried to emphasize that this anticipation of the coming of Jesus, this messianic hope, the hope of the Messiah who will come, is not something of an afterthought. It is something that is built into the very storyline of the Bible from the beginning. We saw in the opening chapters of the Bible that man was created in God’s image. He’s created to rule under God and to spread God’s rule over the entire earth. We saw that that was failed. And in Genesis 3:15, in pronouncing judgment on Satan, the tempter, and pronouncing the curse on humanity and the earth, God makes a promise. And he promises as the first proclamation of the gospel, Genesis 3:15, he promises a champion who will come from the seed of the woman. And he will, the implication is, fix this entire mess that the tempter has gotten us into by means of our sin.

So we saw then that the hope of this champion to come is not an afterthought, it’s not a later add-on to the Bible storyline, but it’s essential to the storyline from the beginning. But we’ve also seen enough to see that God is not in a hurry. God unfolds this promise, but he unfolds it over the coming centuries. And it takes a long time for him to work out his purpose and to demonstrate it in many ways over and over again. And time and again throughout those centuries, God gives reminders of that promise that was made.

The next big event that we have seen is in Genesis chapter 12, where God makes a promise to Abraham that in his seed, all the families of the world will be blessed. He promises to Abraham that kings will come from his body. We saw the Judah prophecy in Genesis chapter 49, that he will hold the scepter. One of Judah’s descendants will hold the scepter and will rule over all of God’s enemies and all the peoples will obey him. We saw then also in Genesis chapter 49, we have Judah; Numbers 24, I think we saw next the prophecy of Balaam. He said a star will rise out of Jacob and he’ll crush all of his enemies. We saw in Deuteronomy chapter 18—we’ll see I think next time in Deuteronomy 17 some instruction that Moses gives regarding the king who will come in Israel—but in Deuteronomy 18 we saw that Moses says, and God tells the people through Moses, that he will send a prophet like Moses, and all the world will be responsible to hear him, and they’ll be responsible to obey.

So since Genesis 3:15, we’ve been looking for this champion who will come to defeat the tempter. In Genesis 12, we learn he’ll come from Abraham’s line. In Genesis 49, we find he’ll come from Judah’s line. In Numbers 24, he’ll be this world ruler who will come. In Deuteronomy 18, Moses himself foreshadows that one who will come, and that he will be a prophet like Moses. And then we come to Joshua, and in his conquests for Israel, he’s a foreshadowing of this great deliverer who will come. In fact, Jesus is the greater Joshua who has come.

Then we come to the book of Judges. And there we have some further glimpses and no doubt some hopeful expectations of that king who will come. But it was a time of apostasy, a time of both moral and spiritual theological apostasy. The people turned from God and they would fall into judgment under God’s hand from the surrounding nations. They would cry for deliverance and repentance from their sins. God would send a judge, a deliverer who would lead them out. Gideon was one of those judges who ruled in Israel. He was actually offered the kingship over Israel. He declined. His son took that kingship to himself. He was a miserable failure. We still haven’t seen the realization of that promise.

And then we come to this little book just before Samuel, this little book of Ruth. It’s a marvelous story of what seems to be a rare occurrence of devotion to God during this midst of apostasy. We have Boaz, we have Ruth and Naomi and her husband, and he dies, and then we have the daughter-in-law, Ruth, and then we have Boaz, and they marry, and they have a son, and they live happily ever after. And we read the beautiful little story, and we think, “Now, what is that story all about?” And of course, the clue to the story is given us in the last verses. If you’d like to look back, turn back a page, and you’ll see it, Ruth chapter four. Let’s look at verse 17: “The women of the neighborhood gave him a name, saying, ‘A son has been born to Naomi.’ They named him Obed. He was the father of Jesse, the father of David.” And then we have it rehearsed again, verses 18, 19, 20, 21. Then verse 22: “Obed fathered Jesse, and Jesse fathered David.” And there’s the point of the book—that this has been placed here strategically to show us about the arrival of this promised king who will come. Now we don’t know yet at this point in developing history that David is that king, but if you’ve read the story once, you know this book is put here strategically to tell us about the great king, David, who will come.

The Context Of Hannah’s Prayer

And then we turn the page and we come to 1 Samuel, and we have this woman who is in chapter one; she’s barren, which is just an embarrassing travesty in those days in particular. It’s a point of great sorrow on her part. She goes to the house of the Lord and she prays. You remember the event with Eli, the priest, and she prays for a son, that God would give her a son. She’s misunderstood in her prayer and then Eli piously blesses her in her prayer. But God answers her prayer, and he gives her a son. Her son, of course, is this boy named Samuel.

He’s an enormously important figure in the Old Testament. It’s a major turning point in Old Testament history. You remember Moses prophesied that a prophet like Moses would come, and although that looks ahead ultimately to the coming of the great prophet par excellence, it does establish in Israel the institution of prophetism. And Samuel is the first one to arise after Moses. And that, of course, is the point of 1 Samuel 3, where Samuel is established as a prophet. He’s not a prophet only. Samuel is a judge in Israel. In the prior centuries to this, over this period of the judges, the tribes were independent; they joined together only for military purposes, but they were independent tribes and not a unified nation. Samuel brought the nations together. He brought them to repentance together. And it is Samuel now who ushers in Israel’s monarchy. He’s the kingmaker. He anoints the first two kings. There’s Saul, and then, of course, David. And he is a man who’s faithful all of his life, and that in a time of apostasy, even amongst the priesthood.

So chapter one, we get to the end of the chapter, God has given Hannah this son, and in keeping with her vow where she says, “If you give me a son, I will give him back to you.” Chapter one, verses 24 and following, in keeping with that vow, she takes Samuel to Shiloh, to the house of the Lord where Eli was the priest. And now here in Shiloh is where Samuel is established as a prophet. I mentioned that in chapter 3, that that’s the whole point of chapter 3. You’ll notice how it has some bookends for us in chapter 3. Verse 1 of chapter 3: “The word of the Lord was rare in those days. There was no frequent vision.” Then you go to the last verse. Start with verse 19: “Samuel grew and the Lord was with him and let none of his words fall to the ground. And all Israel from Dan to Beersheba knew that Samuel was established as a prophet of the Lord.” So here we have the establishing now of Samuel as this great prophet and who will be a judge and a deliverer in Israel. In the following chapters, he leads Israel over there in victory over their enemies, the Philistines, and eventually brings in Saul and then David as king.

Well, now in chapter one, at the end of the chapter, Hannah says, verse 27: “For this child I prayed, and the Lord has granted me my petition that I made to him. Therefore, I have lent him to the Lord as long as he lives. He is lent to the Lord.” And he worshiped there. A remarkable gesture of her devotion to God. She has this child, she brings him back to God as promised to serve there in the house of the Lord.

An Exposition Of The Prayer

And then we come to chapter two, verses one to 10; we have her prayer. It’s a prayer that is deeply informed by a previous revelation to Moses. I’ll make some mentions of that as we go along, but let’s look now at verses one to 11.

Hannah prayed and said, “My heart exalts in the Lord. My horn is established in the Lord. My mouth derides my enemies because I rejoice in your salvation. There is none holy like the Lord for there’s none besides you. There is no rock like our God. Talk no more so very proudly. Let not arrogance come from your mouth for the Lord is a God of knowledge and by him actions are weighed. Bows of the mighty are broken, but the feeble bind on strength. Those who were full have hired themselves out for bread. Those who were hungry have ceased to hunger. The barren has born seven, but she who has had many children is forlorn. The Lord kills and brings to life. He brings down to Sheol and raises up. The Lord makes poor and makes rich. He brings low and he exalts. He raises up the poor from the dust. He lifts the needy from the ash heap to make them sit with princes and inherit a seat of honor. For the pillars of the earth are the Lord’s, and on them he has set the world. He will guard the feet of his faithful ones, but the wicked shall be cut off in darkness, for not by might shall a man prevail. The adversaries of the Lord shall be broken to pieces. Against them he will thunder in heaven. The Lord will judge the ends of the earth. He will give strength to his king and exalt the horn of his anointed.” Then Elkanah went home to Ramah, and the boy was ministering to the Lord in the presence of Eli the priest.

Well, this is a marvelous prayer, and it would do us well, I think, to spend time to expound the whole prayer and what it has to say about God. Our focus, though, is on the last verse of it, and we’ll focus there. But for a quick overview of the passage, the focus of this prayer, of course, is on the Lord and his goodness to his people. Emphasis is given on his provision for the needy, like Hannah, how he provided for her, and his defense of his people from their and his enemies.

I mentioned this prayer is deeply informed from previous revelation. In fact, some Old Testament scholars have tracked out the verbal and the conceptual connections back to Exodus 15 and Moses’ song of victory there, and how that has influenced Hannah’s thinking in her prayer as well. At any rate, this woman knew her Bible. She was well acquainted with the Torah. It’s a prayer that is marvelously composed. She obviously worked very hard at it. There’s a lot of parallelism going through. Verse one, there are two ideas in parallel: “My heart exalts in the Lord. My horn is exalted in the Lord. My mouth derides my enemies because I rejoice in your salvation.” Verses two and three, we have three parallel ascriptions to the Lord: He’s holy, unique, steadfast. Verse three, we have two parallel warnings and two corresponding reminders about the Lord: Don’t be proud, don’t talk arrogantly, because God is omniscient and he’s righteous, and the implication is, of course, he’s judge.

Verses four to eight, we have more parallels of thought. Verse four, the weapons of the mighty break, but the weak are made strong. Verse five, those who have had much to eat are now hungry, and those who were hungry now full. The barren have seven children, those who have many children are forlorn. Verses six and seven, all about God’s sovereign rule over human affairs and his sovereign rights over individuals. The Lord kills and brings to life. It’s, by the way, an early note on the doctrine of resurrection. But the Lord kills and the Lord brings to life; that is, he brings death and he raises up. The Lord makes some poor, he makes others rich; he humbles, he exalts people. This is all God’s doing.

Verse eight expands on verses six and seven with regard to his care for his people. He raises up the poor from the dust, he lifts the needy from the ash heap to make them sit with princes and inherit a seat of honor. And he does this because, well, he’s the governor of the universe. That’s the rest of the verse: “For the pillars of the earth are the Lord’s. On them he has set the world.” This is no mere local deity. This is the creator who owns heaven and earth.

So with that, there’s a note of hope. Verses 9 and 10 extrapolate a bit with regard to the future. He will guard the feet of his faithful ones, but the wicked shall be cut off in darkness, because their strength is woefully insufficient. And then verse 10 is the climax. The Lord will thunder in judgment over his people, over his enemies, and enable his king to carry out his rule over the entire world. The dominant note of her prayer is the character and praise of God in his character and his actions with regard to his people. He is the source of salvation. He’s transcendently holy. He’s utterly unique. He’s altogether reliable, dependable. He’s faithful. He keeps his word. He’s a God of all knowledge. He’s the giver of life. He’s the giver of death. And he’s the judge of all the earth. He’s the world’s judge. And so it culminates again, verse 10: “The adversaries of the Lord shall be broken to pieces. Against them he will thunder in heaven. The Lord will judge the ends of the earth. He will give strength to his king and exalt the horn of his anointed.”

The gist of this then is this great God who has given me a child, he will accomplish all of his purposes and he will rule the world over. Well, that in a very quick blush is what the prayer is about. What’s most significant for our purposes here is that first of all, Hannah is looking toward the future. Notice verse 10 again: “The Lord will judge the ends of the earth.” This is a hope that it would seem has been informed by the Abrahamic promise, the promise to Judah, the prophecy of Balaam. And she’s thinking specifically, notice in verse 10, of God’s king—his king, his anointed. So it’s a mediated rule. He will rule, but he will rule—it’s a delegated rule that he will give to his king. And his anointed will bring God’s purposes and God’s kingdom to bear the world over against all of his enemies.

So Hannah is thinking in big picture. God’s purpose, she’s thinking in terms of the kingdom of God and his worldwide rule over all of his enemies everywhere. In fact, you might notice there’s something of what’s called an inclusio, brackets around a passage. When there’s an idea mentioned early in a passage and it’s mentioned late at the end of the passage, the brackets—we have that with the word “horn” in her prayer. A horn is the symbol of strength. Verse one: “My heart exalts in the Lord. My horn is exalted in the Lord. My mouth derides my enemies because I rejoice in your salvation.” And then verse 10: “The adversaries of the Lord shall be broken to pieces. Against them he will thunder in heaven. The Lord will judge to the ends of the earth. He will give strength to his king and exalt the horn of his anointed.” So in verse one, Hannah speaks of Hannah’s strength against her enemies, and by the time we get to verse 10, it’s the strength of God’s king against all of God’s enemies. And so what God has done for Hannah evidently incites trust on her part that he will do for his people all that he has promised to do. And that entails the final defeat of all of his enemies, verse 10, to the ends of the earth. And this he will do by means of his king, his anointed. It will be a delegated rule. God’s king will defeat all of God’s enemies.

The King And His Anointed

So Hannah then is thinking in big picture: God’s purpose for the whole earth carried out through his king. Now, what is the point of reference then? Who’s she talking about? Who is his king, his anointed in verse 10? Well, again, I think it’s helpful to look at this in its context, both historically and biblically as well. This is toward the very end of the period of the judges. The taking of the promised land did not happen overnight. It happened in an uneven series of events carried out in the book of Judges. The judges are left in their own tribes to carry out the occupation of their various respective allotments of land and to settle those. And through the book of Judges, as you know, we have this sad story of failure after failure and unfaithfulness matched only by more unfaithfulness. And we have that repeated refrain throughout the book of Judges: “The people of Israel did that which was evil in the eyes of the Lord, and they worshiped the Baals.” We have that something like seven or eight times over through the book of Judges, marking this as a period of particular apostasy, unfaithfulness on the part of the people.

And yet, over and again, through this period of the judges, while they are in unbelief and unfaithfulness to God, God will send a deliverer, a judge, and he’ll bring deliverance to his people, and then the judge will die, and the people are unfaithful all over again. Sometimes even the judge himself is less than stellar. Sometimes great leaders can be great failures too. And then we have that one other refrain in the book of Judges. It’s not as often as the other, but it’s a good four or five times. And that is, “In those days, there was no king in Israel.” In those days, there was no king in Israel. And the implication seems to be, “If only there had been a king, if only there had been a righteous king, things could have been so different.” And so the author of Judges wants us to see that this hope of a coming king was alive and it was recognized.

And then we come to 1 and 2 Samuel. We have the struggles of this woman who wants a child. She prays for him, makes a vow to the Lord. He gives the child. And once he is weaned, she takes the child to the house of the Lord for dedication and to leave him there to serve. She prays in chapter two in verse one: “My heart is full of joy. My heart exalts in the Lord.” And she concludes her prayer with verse 10 with regard to the final triumph of God over his enemies by means of his anointed king. So the author of Samuel also wants to highlight that this hope of a coming ruler, a coming king, is alive. For Hannah herself, it seems that she thinks that her son, Samuel, will be somehow involved in the arrival of that king. It’s not said that explicitly. That seems to be implicit in it. And in fact, the unfolding story of Samuel confirms that. Hannah’s son will be the kingmaker. He anoints Israel’s first two kings, Saul and then David. And David, of course, is not just a king. David is a dynasty. And David is not only a dynasty, David will have a greater son. We’ll see this next time, 2 Samuel 7, where God will promise David will have a son who will rule on his throne the world over.

So this prayer for a king looks ahead to an Israelite king, and if you read the rest of the story, of course, you’re left without question: who’s in view? It’s not just David. Verse 10 again. Notice there’s a long range in view. It’s to the ends of the earth. There’s a universality to his rule. And the emphasis on it is the final elimination of all of God’s enemies, and all of that he will do by means of his anointed, his king, whom he appoints for it. Well, if you’ve read the rest of the story, you’re left thinking, “Well, who else could that be?” And in fact, the ancient Jewish Targum—one ancient Jewish Targum written before the coming of Jesus (Targums were translations, paraphrases of the Old Testament, often interspersed with commentary as well)—the ancient Jewish Targum comments on verse 10, says concerning him exalting the horn of his anointing, then it adds, “and will magnify the kingdom of his Messiah.” Recognized as a messianic prophecy even then.

Well, who else could it be? And of course we have later biblical confirmation of this. Notice again, I’ve had you read it six times probably already, but notice verse 10 again. Notice some of the terminology that is used: “The adversaries of the Lord shall be broken to pieces. Against them he will thunder in heaven. The Lord will judge the ends of the earth. He’ll give strength to his king and exalt the horn of his anointed.” Now notice the language of broken to pieces, the ends of the earth, his king, his anointed. That language, the exact terminology, is picked up again in David’s prophetic psalm, Psalm 2. If you’d like to turn quickly, you can. I’ll just read it for you:

Why do the nations rage and the people plot in vain? The kings of the earth set themselves and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against His anointed, saying, “Let us burst their bonds apart and cast away their cords from us.” He who sits in the heavens shall laugh. The Lord holds them in derision. Then he will speak to them in his wrath and terrify them in his fury, saying, “As for me, I have set my king on Zion, my holy hill.” I will tell the decree. [Here we have the Messiah himself speaking.] The Lord said to me, “You are my son. Today I have begotten you. Ask of me and I will make the nations your heritage and the ends of the earth your possession. You shall break them with a rod of iron and dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.”

It seems that David’s psalm is informed by Hannah’s prayer given some time earlier. It’s also echoed in Psalm 110, another prominent—perhaps the most prominent—messianic psalm. It seems to reflect on Hannah’s prayer also, speaking of God’s king sitting at his right hand, smashing his enemies to the ends of the earth, shattering kings, executing judgments, and so on. All of this we find in verse 10 here in 1 Samuel 2. God’s king carrying out a delegated rule over the entire earth and destroying all of God’s enemies. This might be, 1 Samuel 2, just might be what Peter had in mind in Acts 3:24 when he comments, “All the prophets from Samuel on foresaw these days.”

There’s another connection here. Let’s take time to look at it. You’ll see some echoes of this in Luke 1. Luke chapter 1, we have the birth of Jesus, and here we have, beginning in verse 46 and following, we have Mary’s prayer, her Magnificat, as it’s called. And what’s interesting here is that Mary’s Magnificat echoes the prayer of Hannah in several respects. Let me just read through it and see if you can note some of the connections and common themes that we saw in Hannah’s prayer. Beginning with verse 46 of Luke 1:

And Mary said, “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices [there’s an echo] in God my Savior, for he has looked on the humble estate of his servant. [There’s another.] For behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed. For he who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is his name. And mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation. He has shown strength with his arm. He has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts. He has brought down the mighty from their thrones and exalted those of humble estate. He has filled the hungry with good things and the rich he has sent away empty.”

All of this is echoes of Hannah. “He has helped his servant Israel in remembrance of his mercy as he spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and to his offspring forever.” The implication seems to be that Hannah’s hope in the arrival of this baby now promised to Mary—Hannah’s hope is now fulfilled.

I don’t have time to track it out. You’ll see some other Samuel allusions here in Luke. In Luke chapter 2, we have the presentation of the baby Jesus in the temple. There are echoes there, even with the language of the presentation of Samuel in 1 Samuel chapter 1. Later in Luke chapter 2, verses 40 and 52, we have that language about the young Jesus. It says “the child grew and became strong.” Direct language taken out of 1 Samuel 2 with regard to the boy Samuel as he grew. The whole episode regarding the boy Samuel, Luke seems to understand as anticipatory, prefiguring, foreshadowing the arrival of the great prophet, the great deliverer, the Lord Jesus.

The Resolution To The Human Problem

So in her prayer, she prays for this great king to come, and if you’ve been to church long at all, you know that has to be Jesus. Soon we’ll be in the Christmas season. If you look at the stores, it’s going to start by Halloween, something like that. We’ll be in the Christmas season too, soon, and we’ll celebrate the arrival and the birth of Jesus. And that birth is marked, of course, by all kinds of things miraculous. There’s the angelic announcement. It’s not every young mother that has an angel announcing to her that she’ll be pregnant and have a son. The virgin birth, of course, is a marvelously miraculous event. The incarnation itself, the Son of God coming to be a man. Everything about this is a miraculous event—the star, the divine intervention with Joseph.

But one of the more remarkable things was the birth announcement. And I think it’s better to say the birth announcements of the baby. Way back, way back at the outset of human history in the garden, God made a promise that the woman would have a child and he would defeat the tempter. Years later, centuries later, we have God making a promise to Abraham—let’s call this 2000 BC. God makes a promise to Abraham that in his seed, all the families of the world will be blessed. Some years later, we have the promise to Jacob that he will rule and all the peoples will obey him. Around 1400 BC, we have the prophecy of Balaam, the strange figure in the Old Testament, who says this star will arise out of Israel, and he’ll crush all of his enemies. Moses himself says around this time, that a prophet will come like me, and he’s a prophet that all must hear. And then we have that period of the judges that we’re in now with Hannah, and we have that continual reminder, “There’s no king yet in Israel. There’s no king yet in Israel. There’s no king yet in Israel.” And then around, let’s call it 1000 BC, we have Hannah praying in anticipation of this king who will come and mentions his universal rule.

God makes then a promise, some decades later makes a promise to David. He’s made him king and he’ll make his son king and his son will rule over the entire world. 8th century BC, God promises through Isaiah, the prophet, that a child will come. He’ll be born of a virgin and he’ll take the government on his shoulders and he’ll rule the world over. Says through the prophet Micah, he’ll be born in Bethlehem. The whole flow of history in the entire Old Testament is marked by this great hope, this anticipation. In fact, it’s a marvelous area of study to see how the Old Testament canon itself is laid out in such a way to reflect this story, that this anticipation of the Messiah to come is the shaping factor of the Old Testament canon. And it is not too much at all to say that the theme of the whole Old Testament taken together, the theme is: “He’s coming. He’s coming.”

The whole flow of history up to this point is marked by this great hope and this anticipation that he’s coming. Israel’s been displaced from her land. She’s brought back to her land. Kingdoms have been brought up and put down and other kingdoms brought up and put down until finally now, as prophesied, Rome is in charge. And as Paul will say, “When the fullness of time was come, God sent forth his son made of a woman born under the law to redeem those who were under the law.” The birth of Jesus Christ was no afterthought. His birth, the place of his birth, his life, his miracles, his ministry, his death, his resurrection—all of this was promised.

This is the center point of history, and it is God’s resolution to the human problem. The world is in rebellion and in sin, refuses her rightful king. But God’s resolved. He sends his king. The world, still in rebellion, still in sin, refuses him. They put him on a cross, they crucify him, and thereby enthrone him as God’s king. He dies under a curse, a divine curse, bearing the wrath of God against sin in the sinner’s place, releasing them then from the grip of Satan. He’s raised from the dead in triumph over that curse. He ascends to the throne of the universe at the right hand of the Father. The kingdom of God is inaugurated on the earth. Satan now has no right to rule. Christ has taken the place of sinners. He’s borne the curse of their sin and Satan has nothing on them. He’s lost his right to rule. Christ has redeemed a people.

And now the whole purpose of this age is to spread this gospel of the kingdom throughout all the world and offer the terms of peace that this king has offered. Right now, this kingdom is in its secret kind of phase, this inaugurated form. That’s the whole subject of Matthew chapter 13, the parables of the kingdom. The kingdom grows secretly, sometimes imperceptibly. It’s just the gospel, like people throwing seed, and it’s growing in the hearts of men and women, and they respond in faith, and God’s kingdom grows, and it expands, until finally, at last, in Jesus’ return, he’ll bring his kingdom to its full culmination. And then, as we love to hear it sung every Christmas season, and probably ought to sing it every day, “The kingdom of this world is become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ. And he will reign forever and forever.”

And when he comes, those found in opposition to him still will have no excuse. From the outset of history, he has told us this day would come. He’s told us over and over again, “I’ve set my king in Zion, my holy hill. I’ll make the nations to the ends of the earth his. He’ll break them with a rod of iron. He’ll smash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.” And for those of us who are his, that day—that day is the day we long for more than any other. You hear me say it all the time. I can’t wait. We want to see him. We want to see the world bow before him, acknowledge him as the king that he is, and we long to see this broken world fixed.

God promised over and again that he would send his king. He came, he’s inaugurated God’s kingdom in the earth, and now it makes its way through the earth in this more secret kind of way in its inaugurated form, but he will come again. And when he comes again, there’ll be nothing subtle about his rule. From the destruction of his enemies to the establishing of universal righteousness and peace, men and women the world over will recognize and it will be obvious that King Jesus reigns from shore to shore. And the cry of the church has come quickly, Lord Jesus. Amen.

Our Father, what a great hope this is. What a great savior you’ve given to us. We pray that you would hasten the day of his return and bring your purposes to fruition. Until then, we pray that you’ll keep us faithful, trusting, serving our great king. We pray in his name. Amen.