Church: Reformed Baptist Church of Franconia | Text: — | Date: October 17, 2021 | Speaker: Fred Zaspel

We pray in his name, amen. All right, we’ve taken a break for just two weeks, I think, from Genesis. And I wanted to return to the theme that I began last in the Sunday morning worship service two weeks ago. That is on the exaltation, the ascension of Christ, the enthronement of Christ. And I thought, I mentioned I was quite frustrated with that message that I felt rushed and that I had to, you know, here’s a verse and here’s a passage and this one says this, the other says the other, you see how they all come together. And I was afraid that, of course, no, you don’t see how they all come together because it was so quick and rushed.

So I wanted to just go back and walk through some of those Old Testament passages in particular, but then some New Testament ones that inform this idea of Jesus as King. The kingship of Christ, the ascension of Christ to his exaltation at the throne of heaven. We began last time looking at, just briefly, at Genesis chapter 1, where God creates man in his own image as a vice-regent to rule over the earth. He’s given the command in the creation mandate to rule over everything. That, of course, fails in Genesis chapter 3. We’ll pick that up later.

But mankind is created with this great dignity to rule over the earth. We saw that in Psalm—David picks that up and Psalm 8 is essentially a poetic commentary on Genesis chapter 1, the creation mandate, where David revels in the glory that God has given to mankind. So he praises God for the glory he’s given to mankind. He’s put all things under his feet and there’s that language that I mentioned last time in particular that you need to keep an eye on because that’s picked up again later in the New Testament. God has put all things under man’s feet. He’s made us rulers over the earth.

The Old Testament Background

And then what we did is we looked at just some highlight passages that emphasize that theme. They’re all through the Old Testament, particularly in the Psalms and in the Prophets. They grow ultimately out of Genesis chapter one, as I’ve mentioned. But in particular, they grow out of 2 Samuel chapter seven. Remember, we saw that. Should we look at that one again? Yeah, let’s do that. Look at 2 Samuel chapter seven.

This is the passage that records the Davidic covenant, the promise that God made to David concerning his son that would sit on the throne. You remember the setting: chapter 6, David has brought the ark to Jerusalem. He has plans now. Since he has a palace, God should have a palace. And so he wants to build a temple for God. The prophet Nathan initially tells him that’s a good idea, but then he hears from God that it’s not a good idea. And David will not build the temple. In fact, Solomon will. It’s explained for us later in Chronicles that David is a man of war, and God will have a man of peace. Solomon built the temple for him.

But God comes back to David through the prophet Nathan in 2 Samuel 7 here and says, “You wanted to build me a house. I instead will build you a house.” And there’s that intended pun. David wanted to build a literal house, a temple for God. And God says, “I will build a house that is a dynasty for you, David.” And so he says in verses—let’s pick it up with verse 12. This is 2 Samuel 7 verse 12: “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 will be to me a son. When he commits iniquity, I will discipline him with the rod of men and 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.”

All right, there’s the heart of the promise. Now we have it expanded and amplified a bit in later passages in scripture, but here we have the essence of it. “You won’t build a house for me, I will build a house for you.” That is, I’ll build a dynasty. You’ll have a son, I’ll establish his throne. And that son, now Solomon, will build a house for me. But you see in the prophecy, typical Old Testament prophecy, it takes a big view of things. It’s talking about David, David’s son Solomon, and suddenly it’s later sons, and suddenly it’s the ultimate son who is the Messiah. But he says, your son will build a house for me. Your son will reign on the throne. If your son is disobedient, I will discipline him with the rod of men. Well, that’s the Babylonian exile and so on. But my steadfast love, my covenant faithful love, I will not take away from him. Your son will rule on the throne forever.

So God promises to David that he will have a son whose kingdom will be eternal. Now, as we mentioned, that can only be fulfilled, I think, in one of two ways. One, that David has a son who has a son who reigns, who has a son who reigns, who has a son who reigns, and it just keeps on going forever. Or he has a son who has a son who has a son who never dies and whose reign then never ends and he never needs to be replaced. And that of course is how the book of Hebrews picks up this promise—that Christ having been raised from the dead reigns eternally as a king-priest, that’s Psalm 110, as a king-priest forever.

So here’s the promise, here’s the big promise. And in a sense, this is a turning point in all of the rest of biblical history and redemptive history. God made a promise to David, he’s gonna have a king who rules over everything forever and David’s king will reign. Now that’s picked up in other Psalms and other prophecies. You have some familiar Christmas prophecies like Isaiah chapter nine: “the government shall be on his shoulders… his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor… the Mighty God,” and so on, and “the zeal of the Lord of Hosts will perform it.” You’ll have this eternal kingdom. You have these kingdom prophecies. Ezekiel: “David will reign over them. David will shepherd over them.” That’s of course not David, but David’s greater son. That’s in view, that David will have a greater son.

And this prophecy keeps growing in the Old Testament. And this speaks of his eternal kingdom. It’s a kingdom of righteousness. It will not just be over Israel, but it’ll be over the whole world. And you’ll have a king who will reign forever eternally in righteousness.

There are some key passages in the Old Testament that pick this up in a significant way. So we started highlighting those. We saw Psalm 2. It pictures the nations in a rage against God and God in a way, amused with them. Not that he’s happy with them, but this is not gonna work out well for you. And God says, “I’ve established my king on my holy hill.” So God responds to the raging nations by stating his resolve. I’ve established my king. This is Psalm 2. I’ve established my king. I’ve enthroned him on my holy hill in Zion.

And then the king speaks in Psalm 2. And he says, “The Lord said to me, ‘You are my son, this day I have begotten you.'” You are my son. That’s the language of 2 Samuel chapter 7. Remember that? Your son will be a son to me and I will be his father. So we pick up this language of the king, Israel’s king, as God’s son. “Son of God”—that phrase “Son of God” becomes a messianic title that is picked up of course in the gospels with Jesus. He’s the Son of God, which in its first instance here is a messianic title. Now it becomes freighted with all kinds of implications regarding his deity and so on, especially the Gospel of John. It has other implications as well. But it’s a messianic title. He is the Son of God. He’s the King. He’s the Davidic King who will reign.

And then we saw in Psalm 2 that the king says, “The Lord said to me, ‘You are my son, this day I’ve begotten you.'” And then he says this: “Ask of me”—this is the Lord saying to Messiah—”ask of me and I will give you the nations for your inheritance.” So it pictures the king now as enthroned in Zion, and the king saying to the Father, saying to God, “You said you’d give me the nations for my inheritance. Now he’s taking the throne and it’s okay, I want my promise now.” All right, that’s where we’re left in Psalm 2. And then it goes on and tells us about how he will conquer the nations and rule them with a rod of iron and so on. That’s Psalm 2.

Then we saw Psalm 110. And there’s another famous Psalm. If you wanna glance at it while I’m talking through it. There we have an important psalm, extremely important for the New Testament writers. Psalm 110 is cited something like 25 times, either cited or alluded to in the New Testament, something like 25 times or more by the New Testament writers. And it’s particularly verse four that is very important in the New Testament, but particularly verse one: “The Lord said to my Lord, ‘Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool.'”

This language of “seated,” that is enthroned—seated in that sense, enthroned, seated at the right hand, that is at the right hand of power, at the right hand of God to administrate justice—this language of “seated at the right hand” is picked up in the New Testament many times over and pervades Christian hymnody as well. Christ enthroned, seated at the right hand of God. So it pictures now the Messiah enthroned in heaven, the heavenly Zion. He’s taken possession of authority universally, and now he reigns. And God says to him, “You sit here till I make your enemies your footstool.” Now, in fact, it is the king who carries out the mission to take over the world, but it is through God’s power that it will happen.

The next major prophecy we saw last time is Daniel chapter 7. And there again you have the raging nations pictured as four different grotesque beasts fighting with one another. It’s the succession of the kingdoms. You have Babylon, Medo-Persia, and then you have Greece, and then finally Rome, although Rome is not named as such. I think that’s what’s in view, obviously, and it’s in that time that this king is born and this eternal kingdom is founded. But we have these raging nations until, I think it’s around verse seven in Daniel 7, God interrupts, says, “That’s it, it’s over.” And the Ancient of Days sits in judgment over the nations, puts an end to it, and that’s that.

And then in verses 13 and 14, you have this Son of Man, riding on the clouds, ascending to the Ancient of Days, and the Ancient of Days gives him the kingdom. You see the symbolism? He’s enthroned in heaven. God has given him authority to rule, so we have another enthronement scene. Again, picking up on David, picking up on Psalm 2, Psalm 110. This is the enthronement of Messiah. He’s now reigning. He’s been given the authority to rule universally. And then we read further in Daniel chapter 7 that it’s not just the king himself, the Son of Man who rules, but the saints of the Most High will rule with him. That is, he shares the kingdom with the people of God.

The New Testament Fulfilment

All right, now let’s go to Matthew. Let’s turn to the New Testament. That’s the, in broad sweep, the Old Testament background of this king prophecy. Look at Matthew chapter, let’s go to 26. Here we have Jesus on trial before Caiaphas, the high priest. And let’s look at verse 63 to begin with. Jesus remained silent and the high priest Caiaphas said to him, “I adjure you by the living God, tell us if you are the Christ, the Son of God.” There’s that language again, the Son of God, a messianic title. “Tell us if you are the Christ, the Son of God.” Jesus said, “You have said so, but I tell you from now on you will see the Son of Man,” that’s Daniel 7, “seated at the right hand of power,” that’s Psalm 110, “coming on the clouds of heaven,” that’s Daniel 7 again.

So Jesus puts these prophecies that we’ve seen together and says to Caiaphas, “Yep, you called it right, I am the Son of God, the Messiah, and from now on you’ll see it is so.” Well, verse 65, the high priest tore his robes and says, “That’s enough. He’s guilty of blasphemy. This man should be put to death.” And there’s Jesus’ offense. His offense was to claim that he was Messiah, the Son of God. The important thing for us right now is just to note that Jesus himself claimed that he is the one fulfilling this ancient promise. David’s son will rule. He’ll be seated on the throne of heaven. He’ll ascend on the clouds to the right hand of power, and he’ll seize universal authority. And Jesus says, “That’s me.”

All right, I think for next, we should just remember then what we looked at two weeks ago, and that is in Luke chapter 24, we have the ascension account. And then Acts chapter one, we have the ascension account again. We saw that the ascension of Christ culminates Luke’s gospel narrative, and then it sets the framework for Luke’s account in the book of Acts. And here we have in Acts chapter one—in fact, why don’t we look at that one quickly.

Acts chapter one. In verses 6 and following, we have the account of Jesus’ ascension. The angel saying then to the disciples, “You’ll receive power and you’ll take the witness of Christ from Jerusalem to Judea, to Samaria, to the ends of the earth.” Before that, in verses 1 and following, notice: “The first book, O Theophilus, I have dealt with all that Jesus began to do and teach.” The clear implication is the book of Acts now records the work that Jesus continues to do. And so Luke tells us up front we are to understand the whole flow of the book of Acts with its narrative of the advance of the gospel, the advance of the church throughout the ancient world—we’re to understand that as the work of Jesus enthroned, ascended to heaven and enthroned.

And so we turn to chapter two, he pours out his spirit on the day of Pentecost. Peter interprets that as evidence that Jesus has taken the throne. Remember God had promised him the nations, Psalm two. He’s taken the throne and it’s as though the Son says, “Now you’ve promised me the nations.” God gives him the authority, Jesus pours out the Spirit of God upon his people, and now the gospel goes forward through the Book of Acts and then finally to Franconia, Pennsylvania. And all of this we are set up at the beginning of the Book of Acts to understand as the work of the enthroned Christ. He has taken the throne and now he’s advancing his kingdom.

How Jesus’ Kingship Is Achieved

Now, once we see that, that Jesus has taken the throne in Acts chapter one, in his ascension, we see, as I pointed out two weeks ago, that his enthronement, his kingship, is something that is already achieved. Now, we’re going to see, and I think I’ll get there this morning, that ultimately all of this points to what we have in 1 Corinthians 15 and Revelation chapter 19, the return of Christ when he executes judgment on the nations and he fulfills this in a climactic way. Psalm 2 had said that, Psalm 110 had said that, Daniel 7 says that—that he’ll conquer the nations and make them all submit before him and bow. All of that comes to final fruition in Revelation chapter 19 when Jesus returns.

But already, and that’s the significant thing now, already Jesus has taken the throne. Already he has received universal authority. Already he’s taken the kingdom and he has taken measures to advance that kingdom throughout the earth. Now I’ll pause at this point then and raise the question: how is it that Jesus’ kingship is achieved?

Psalm two: “I have established my king on my holy hill.” Psalm 110: “Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool.” Daniel chapter seven: he ascends on the cloud and he receives a kingdom. His kingdom is something that was achieved and attained. So how was it attained? How was it earned, if you will? Well, those Old Testament passages are not quite explicit telling us, although there is some hint to it, particularly in Isaiah chapter 53, verse 12, that he has an exalted position because of the sacrificial work that he has done. “Therefore,” Isaiah says, “therefore, because he has borne the sins of many, therefore, I will divide his portion with the many” and so on. So he has earned this somehow—and there’s just that hint of it in Isaiah 53—through his mediatorial work as the divine Savior who has come to offer himself in place of sinners.

Now that becomes more explicit in the Gospels and then in the rest of the New Testament. If you want to look at John chapter 12, Jesus picks this up, verses 20 and following. You’ll remember it’s a wonderful passage. There were some Greeks who came to see Jesus. Philip is not too sure that Gentiles should be allowed to see Jesus. So he went to Andrew. They’re not so sure that Gentiles want to see Jesus. This doesn’t make a lot of sense to us. And so they go and tell Jesus, “They got some Greeks out here that want to see you.” And then Jesus starts speaking in this parable language about a seed—a seed doesn’t bring forth fruit unless it’s planted in the ground and dies. And once it dies, it brings forth a harvest bigger than itself. And “If I be lifted up”—and we saw that that was the language of exaltation, the language of glorification, and yet he’s speaking of his cross—”If I be lifted up, I’ll draw all peoples to myself.” You thought this was just for you, Israel? No, no, no. I’ll draw all peoples to myself.

And then, notice in verse 31: “Now is the judgment of this world.” Now he’s speaking in prospect of his cross that’s coming. “Now is the judgment of this world. Now would the ruler of this world be cast out.” Now does that ring a bell? “Now will the ruler of this world be cast out.” It’s a faint echo of Genesis chapter 3 verse 15, where you have the first promise of a champion who will come and pick up where Adam and Eve have failed. Adam has failed. A champion, seed of the woman, will come and he’ll crush the tempter’s head. Jesus comes along now and says, with reference to his cross, “Now is the prince or the ruler of this world cast out.” So he’s taking the throne by means of his cross. He’s seizing authority over the devil, over the opposing kingdom, by means of his death. And we saw how that is, that he takes the place of sinners in his death, and so secures them for the kingdom of God.

More famously, Matthew chapter 28. Matthew 28, we have the Great Commission, starting with verse 18: “Jesus came and said to them, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth,'” and notice this, “‘has been given to me.'” It’s something that has now been granted to him. Now why is that? All authority has been given to him. Context here is all important. This is post-passion, after the crucifixion, after the resurrection. He has successfully accomplished his saving work and now he can stand and say, “All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth.” He’s taken the throne, he has universal authority. And on the basis of that universal authority, he says, verse 19, “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations.” He is the king who’s been exalted over all, and now you take the message of his kingship to the world and bring all people in subjection to me. Bring them to bow before me. That’s the mission of the church.

So we have Christ reigning over all, having achieved authority by his mediatorial work on the cross and in his resurrection. That then informs what we saw in Matthew 26, where Jesus says to Caiaphas, “From now on”—so let’s get on with this now, go ahead and let’s do the thing, crucify him—”from now on you will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven, seated at the right hand of the Father.” So Christ now has achieved his authority, his reigning right to rule and to carry out salvation in the earth.

Now we have other passages that speak of that. Look at Philippians chapter 2. We have reflections of all of this later now from the Apostles. Philippians chapter 2 is the most famous one. Here Paul is exhorting the Church at Philippi to be a little selfless in their relationships with one another and not so self-centered, and he offers as his illustration Jesus himself. Verse five, Philippians two, verse five: “Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant and being born in the likeness of man and being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death on a cross, even death on a cross. Therefore,” now there’s the turning point, “Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him a name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

So here Paul is picking up what Jesus himself has said and what those prophecies in the Old Testament have anticipated. Christ earned this position of rule through his mediatorial work. So the question then is, who is it that has the right to save? Well, salvation can only be granted in keeping with a complete satisfaction of divine justice. And so Jesus’ work in propitiation, offering himself to redeem his people, accomplishes that. He has the right to save. No one else does. He also, as the mediatorial king, then has the right to judge. He has the right, as the exalted king, to bring in the kingdom of God. That kingdom has two aspects: salvation and judgment. Jesus now is exalted to the throne with the authority to do both. He can save—he alone can save—and he alone will be judge. So Paul says here, because of all he has done, therefore God has exalted him and now he has seized this universal authority.

Now the most dramatic passage dealing with this is in Revelation chapter five. I point to this very often. You can probably recite the whole thing yourself by now, I’ve gone there so often. But Revelation chapter five, we have this dramatic scene where we have, in chapter four, God is on his throne, all of creation bowing before him, all the rulers of the created order bowing before him, acknowledging that he is creator, unapproachable deity—just a marvelous scene in Revelation chapter 4.

And then in chapter five, God on the throne holds out this scroll with seven seals, which marks it out as something like a last will and testament. Here’s God’s purpose for history. Here’s God’s purpose for carrying out his kingdom. And everybody panics in the drama of Revelation chapter five. Who in the world has the authority to take it? Who has the right to take that scroll from the sovereign’s hand and do that? And there’s crying and finally someone says, “Look, there’s the Lion of the tribe of Judah.” Well, there’s a reference back to Genesis 49 and the Judah prophecy that he’ll rule and his scepter will reign and all of that. “Look at the Lion of the tribe of Judah.”

So everybody looks and now the imagery changes. There’s a Lamb as it had been slain. And all of heaven breaks out into praise and they sing in verse nine: “They sang a new song saying, ‘Worthy are you to take and open the scroll, take the scroll and open its seals. Why? Because you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation. And you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God and they shall reign on the earth.'”

So all of heaven recognizes here’s one who has the authority. Here’s the one who has the right to rule. He has the right to carry out God’s kingdom. Why does he have that right? They say so “because you were slain and by your blood you redeemed people to God from every nation, tribe, and tongue under heaven.” So here is Christ’s universal authority. This is Psalm 2. This is Psalm 110. This is Daniel chapter seven. Now in more dramatic form, he takes the throne, he takes the seal, and now he can execute God’s kingdom. And all through the rest of the book of Revelation, Revelation six and following, we see him doing just that. He peels open the seals and now he walks through establishing the kingdom of God until finally it comes to its culmination in Revelation chapter 19.

So he has achieved his kingship. He has already received it. He has achieved it by means of his sacrificial death, his resurrection and his ascension to the throne. I was going to ask next, why did he need to earn this kingship? I think we’ve already mentioned that, but just here to clarify quickly, there is another sense, of course, in which Christ has always been universal Lord. He’s the second person of the eternal Trinity. He’s the creator. He’s the one who rules over all from forever. But now it’s in another sense. He has taken the right to rule by right of his saving work. And now he is established as the mediatorial king, as the human mediatorial king.

That’s Hebrews chapter 2. Remember last time we saw that briefly? Hebrews 2 picks up Psalm 8, which picks up Genesis 1. Genesis 1: God’s made us kings. Psalm 8: David glories in it. “You put all things under our feet.” Hebrews 2 says, “but not all things are yet under our feet. But we see Jesus crowned with glory and honor because he tasted death for every man.” So there it is again. He’s achieved the authority by right of his saving work. So it’s a new kind of authority, a new position of authority as mediatorial king that Jesus has achieved by means of his saving work.

Now we have—I can’t see the clock. How much, what time is it? Okay, we got a little bit of time. Let’s look at a couple of other New Testament reflections of this. In Acts chapter 13, beginning with verse 26. Here Paul is preaching: “Brothers, sons of the family of Abraham and those among you who fear God, to us has been sent the message of this salvation. For those who live in Jerusalem and their rulers, because they did not recognize him nor understood the utterances of the prophets, which are read every Sabbath, fulfilled them by condemning him. And though they found in him no guilt worthy of death, they asked Pilate to have him crucified. And when they had carried out all that was written of him, they took him down from the tree and laid him in a tomb. But God raised him from the dead, and for many days he appeared to those who had come up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who are now his witnesses to the people. And we bring you good news that what God has promised to the fathers, this he has fulfilled to us, their children, by raising Jesus, as also it is written in the second psalm, ‘You are my son. Today I have begotten you.’ For that fact, he raised him from the dead, no more to return to corruption as he spoke in this way, ‘I will give you the holy and sure blessings of David.'”

All right, so here we have Christ enthroned now again as the judge through and because of his mediatorial work as savior—his death, resurrection, and ascension. Another is Ephesians chapter one, and in verses 15 and following. Ephesians 1, Paul is giving thanksgiving and a prayer with regard to the people at Ephesus. He’s praying that our understanding will be open to see and to experience. Verse 19: he wants us to see and experience “what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe according to the working of his great might.” What great might? “Great might that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at the right hand in the heavenly places.” So there’s Psalm 110 again. “Far above all rule and authority and power and dominion and above every name that is named, not only in this age but in the age to come. And he’s put all things under his feet”—there’s Psalm 2—”all things under his feet, and gave him as head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.”

So Paul says what’s apparent here is that we will experience, see and understand and experience the great power of God. But within all of that, what power of God? The power of God that He exercised in raising Jesus from the dead, exalting Him to the right hand, and having exalted Him, all things now have been made subject to Him. He has become universal King and Lord. And you can see again how Psalm 110 informs that passage as well.

Another one, 1 Peter chapter 3. I’ll just pick it up quickly. The passage speaks of Christ and his death and resurrection, his proclamation of victory. Baptism, verse 21, corresponds to that, which is an appeal to God for good conscience through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, verse 22, “who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God.” There’s Psalm 110 again. He “who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God with angels, authorities, and powers having been subjected to him.” He’s achieved his authority and now he rules over all. He has gained this mediatorial authority through his saving work.

Now And Not Yet

So Jesus is already king. That’s what informs the message of the gospel of the kingdom throughout the book of Acts—proclaiming that Jesus is king, and now he extends his kingdom through the gospel. Jesus is already king. And yet—we see this all the time in the New Testament—and yet, there’s the “now” and there’s the “not yet.” He’s king, but that kingship has not yet been fully displayed. And so for that, we find it related to his return.

Let’s take time. 1 Corinthians 15. You’re familiar with this passage about the resurrection of Christ. We’ve been to it recently. Some have denied the resurrection. Paul says you can’t deny the resurrection if you’re a Christian because you’ve already embraced the resurrection in confessing Christ raised from the dead. And then verse 20: “In fact, Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For as by a man came death, by a man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to him.” So we have the resurrection of all of his people when he returns.

Verse 24: “Then comes the end.” When? When comes the end? He tells us: “when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father, after destroying every rule and every authority and power.” And then he cites the Old Testament for support: “He must reign until he has put all enemies under his feet.” That’s Psalm 2. The last enemy—that’s also Psalm 110. “Sit at my footstool. Sit at my right hand till I make your enemies your footstool.” Verse 26: “The last enemy to be destroyed is death.”

So here we have a picture of Christ in his return, raising his people from the dead, and then exercising the full rights of his kingdom, putting to death every opposition, and bringing in his kingdom in consummation. The last of the enemies to be destroyed being death, and now we have the kingdom in its consummate form. And that’s what we have in a graphic way depicted for us in Revelation chapter 19. There Christ comes; his return is pictured as riding on a white horse, a sword coming out of his mouth and so on. Particularly verses 11 and following there.

So we have Christ who has already achieved his kingship. He is exercising that kingship universally now, today, in the expansion of his kingdom worldwide. We see it in the advance of the gospel through the book of Acts: Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, the ends of the earth. It’s worked its way through the history of the church all the way to us, still making its advance into darkened areas of the world where Christ’s name has never been preached yet, but it’s making its way there. And in all of this, it is the king on the throne, working through his outpoured spirit and through the advance of the gospel, establishing the kingdom of God. Until finally, he returns, takes all of the authority consummately to himself, and brings everyone in subjection to him. And then at last, every knee will bow, and every tongue confess that he is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

All right, it’s a huge theme in the scriptures, isn’t it? We might ask the question, just to make it more complicated, when does Christ become king? And the answer is not simple. He’s proclaimed king at his birth. “We came to worship him, king of the Jews.” There’s the fulfillment of the Davidic prophecy. We find the kingship of Christ achieved in his earthly work, in his ministry. You remember he cast out demons. And Jesus’ explanation of that is Matthew chapter 12. Jesus’ explanation of that is, this is evidence that the kingdom of God is among you. The king has come, he’s routing Satan’s kingdom, binding the strong man, and bringing in the kingdom of God.

And then we find Jesus talking about it again in John chapter 12 as we’ve seen. He’s the king by means of his cross. There he’s established as the saving ruler. There he secures the salvation of all the people of God. He’s king in his death. There’s that wonderful theme of the success and the glory of Christ in his death. But wait, there’s more. He’s king in his resurrection. That’s where his kingship is displayed—God raising him from the dead.

But no, there’s more. He’s exalted. He’s ascended to the throne and now taken the authority. Now he’s king. He’s been exalted as king over all at the right hand of God. Now he has it. No, no, wait: Revelation 19. Now he’s king universally and rules over all and everyone now will know it. There’s the kingdom of Christ in its inaugurated form, and then finally in its consummated form in his return.

You’ve heard me give the illustration many times—it’s a wonderful one, it’s not original with me—but the perfect illustration of this I think is from World War II. We have D-Day, where the Allies established their beachhead in France. And from that moment forward, any observer of things knows that this war is over. There’s still some great battles, still the Great Battle of the Bulge, and there’s still a lot of people gonna be killed, but Germany at this point is losing—D-Day. And then there’s finally V-E Day, Victory in Europe Day, when finally it’s accomplished and it’s done.

And that in a sense is a wonderful picture of what Christ has accomplished in his cross, resurrection, and ascension, and then finally in his return when the kingdom of God is brought to full consummation. So in brief, this whole theme: We have man created as king, given this great glory to rule over God’s earth. We have man failing. Genesis 3. Genesis 3:15, God promises a champion. Psalm 2. David revels in the glory that is given to mankind. Hebrews 2 picks that up and says, yeah, but we don’t see it happen yet. It hasn’t been made subject to us yet. Psalm 8—that’s Psalm 8. Psalm 2: “I’ve established my king on my holy hill,” prophesying the enthronement of the messianic king. Psalm 110, prophesying the enthronement of the messianic king: “Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool.” Daniel chapter seven: Son of Man ascends on the cloud to the Ancient of Days and receives the kingdom.

All of that receives finally its fulfillment in the ascension of Christ having completed his mediatorial work in salvation, ascends to the throne, receives the kingdom. Throughout the book of Acts we see that being accomplished in the extension of his kingdom until finally Jesus returns and brings it to consummation. And there in broad sweep is this marvelous theme, a controlling theme in a way of the entire scriptures. All right, well, I hope the survey is helpful. Any questions, comments? Yes.