Church: Reformed Baptist Church of Franconia | Text: Matthew 1 | Date: July 1, 2018 | Speaker: Fred Zaspel

Some years ago, a prominent theologian was being interviewed by the national press. And someone asked him, among the questions, “What is the most profound truth you have ever learned?” He said, “The most profound truth I’ve ever learned is the one I learned from my mother: Jesus loves me. This I know, for the Bible tells me so.” Great answer.

It’s good to be back with you. It’s been a month, a very busy month away. It was originally intended to be a study vacation. It ended up being half that. The last half of it, or a third of it at least, was consumed with moving. We have moved now, and at least everything’s in the house. Andrew refers to our house now as the “messy house.” And I have lifted things this week that a 60-year-old man should not be lifting. I am in pain standing here. I decided—I diagnosed my own condition this morning and decided that I was suffering from an acute Aleve deficiency. I took two just before church, hoping that would help.

But we are moved, and we are just thrilled with our new home. Jim and Marina have been wonderfully generous in helping us to get it, and we’re just thrilled with it, even though during the move itself I said about a hundred times, “Whose dumb idea was this?” But we’re just thrilled with the place, and we’re happy to be there, and we’ll be settled in sometime soon, I think.

I was not able to be here this past week for Vacation Bible School this year. I’m just always so impressed with RBCers and the work that you all do for that wonderful ministry. I appreciate it. I pray that God will pursue the word as it has been presented this week and use it effectively in the lives of children. I still remember verses that I memorized in Vacation Bible School as a child. And we’ll trust that to be the same with children that were here this week.

A lot of work goes into that. A lot of work goes into that—those who prepare and plan for it especially, and then all of those who are involved in the physical work of making it happen, and then throughout the week making it happen, and then all the work afterwards, Friday night to take it all down and make the place look normal again. A lot of work has gone into this, and I really appreciate all of you. I appreciate all of you who have done all of that. And we trust that you will survive the week well and rest well this week. If during the message this morning you see someone next to you sleeping, consider first, before you give them the elbow, consider first whether or not they were busy working this week in VBS. If they were, let them sleep. If they were not, definitely give them the elbow.

All right, we are continuing our series of the Bible’s story of salvation. You’ll remember that we last time left off with looking at this major theme of the Messiah. And we’re going to pick that up again this morning. And we’ll actually look at that the next couple of times as well. If you would, please turn in your Bibles to John chapter 20. John chapter 20. And then after you get that, also turn to Matthew chapter 1. John 20, and then Matthew chapter 1.

I want to point out just a couple of things here in these two gospel accounts, and then we’ll come back to them and we’ll see how they capsulize for us so much of what the New Testament is about. Matthew chapter 1, verse 1: “The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.” The book of the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah, the son of David, the son of Abraham.

So Matthew here is picking up on a huge Old Testament theme of the coming Messiah, and now he’s presenting Jesus as that Messiah. And then in the following verses in this genealogy that he gives, he gives us the genealogical credentials of Jesus, the Messiah, the son of David, the son of Abraham. It was long promised that Abraham would have a seed through whom all the families of the world would be blessed. It was long promised that David would have a son who would sit upon the throne and reign forever over the whole world in righteousness and in peace. And now Matthew writes his book with this exciting announcement. If you didn’t know the background it wouldn’t seem exciting. But with this exciting announcement that that Messiah has come and that Messiah is Jesus. “Let me show him to you.” And that’s the purpose then of Matthew chapter 1 as Matthew gives it to us.

Now, if you will, look at John chapter 20. And here we come to the end of John’s gospel account. And you remember here in this chapter that Jesus has risen from the dead. He has shown himself to the disciples. They have seen him. Thomas doubts, famously doubts: “I can’t believe it, not unless I see him myself and touch him and see the wounds and touch them. I won’t believe it.” Jesus appears now. Thomas sees him in verses 24 and following. He exclaims, verse 28, “My Lord and my God!” Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believed.”

And now John adds this remark at the end: “Now Jesus did many other signs [that is besides his resurrection]. Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples which are not written in this book, but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.”

Notice then John gives us the key to his gospel at the back door. At the end of his gospel, he tells us why he has written. He says, “I’ve written with this evangelistic purpose, specifically, that you will believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God.” Remember, “Son of God” is a messianic title, stemming back to the Old Testament as well. I’ve written so that you’ll believe that Jesus is that Messiah, the Son of God, and so that believing, you’ll be saved.

Now both of these verses—and there’s so many more in between the Gospels and then through the rest of the New Testament—both of these express the purpose in writing, and that is to present Jesus as the long-promised Messiah. And that’s the theme we’ll look at this morning, to see not only that the Messiah had been promised, but now how specifically in the New Testament Jesus is presented as that Messiah.

The Messiah Had Been Promised

Well, you may remember then, just by way of review, that this Messiah theme—this Messiah theme actually begins all the way back in Genesis chapter 1. It’s not explicit there, but it is implicit. God created Adam and Eve as vice-regents to reign over the world, to reflect, to image God’s rule over the world, and to reign in his place. This is what is involved in being in God’s image. They are kings over the earth, vice-regents reigning for God, to spread his image all over the world.

You remember, of course, that in Genesis chapter 3, it failed. Adam and Eve failed. But we’re not to think that God was taken by surprise by it or that his plan had failed, but that God had a purpose in mind from the beginning, and we pick up on it immediately in Genesis chapter 3. We begin to see immediately God’s plans for anticipating success through a promised one. Genesis chapter 3 and verse 15: “I’ll put enmity,” God says, “between you and the woman, as between Satan and the woman, between your seed and her seed, and he will bruise your head and you will bruise his heel.” That’s all we have so far. But we do have a hope, a promise that a champion descendant of the woman will triumph over Satan and his followers, his seed, and he will defeat them. This woman’s seed will come and he’ll be a champion to triumph over Satan who has ruined this thing for us.

Well, what we know so far is just that: Eve will have a descendant who will succeed where Adam and Eve have failed. Well, we have two strands of that promise that are both unpacked throughout the Old Testament. One, the “seed,” the offspring, the descendant theme runs through the Old Testament in a very prominent way. The seed of the woman—it will then be the seed of Adam and Eve’s son, Seth. It will then be the seed of Shem, Noah’s son Shem. It will then be the seed of Abraham, through whom all the families of the world will be blessed. The seed of Isaac, the seed of Jacob, the seed of Judah—the offspring of Judah will come and he will rule with a scepter over the whole world. And then finally it is the seed of David who will come and his son will reign as king forever universally in righteousness. So we have this seed or offspring or descendant theme then running through the Bible from Genesis 3 onward.

The other dimension of that promise is the “champion” theme, that this seed will be a champion. This offspring, this descendant who will come, will succeed over Satan and defeat him and his offspring forever. So we have this promise, two strands coming together: a descendant who will triumph over Satan.

The champion aspect of that promise is hinted at in the Abrahamic promise, where kings will come from you and all the families of the world will be blessed through you. It comes to prominence with Judah in Genesis chapter 49, that he will have a scepter and will reign. We find it again in Numbers 24 that we have seen where Balaam, the pagan prophet, prophesies of the coming of this star from Israel and from Jacob who will reign and defeat all of his enemies. And of course it comes to particular prominence in the promise to David that he will come and his son will reign on the throne forever and forever. And that promise then is picked up in the Psalms; it is picked up in the prophets—that this Davidic son will come and he will defeat all of his enemies, all of God’s enemies, and he will reign in righteousness and in peace over God’s people in safety.

And so then we have this theme then of the coming king and the coming kingdom. And with that then is this messianic hope that this particular anointed one, the anointed king, will come. David’s son, Abraham’s son—he will come and he will reign and he will defeat all the enemies and he will establish righteousness. God’s anointed king establishing God’s kingdom forever.

Now we pointed out then quickly as well last time that alongside of that messianic hope was this strand of prophecy explaining that God himself will come. And it’s a great promise that God will invade history. God himself will come. This is the promise of the Day of the Lord that is to come, marked by his destruction of his enemies and marked by the establishing of his kingdom and of righteousness and the outpouring of his spirit. This is not something that God leaves to someone less. God himself will come and he will shepherd his people and he will defeat his enemies.

And of course, all of that comes together in some of those passages we saw in the Old Testament, where this one who comes is both God (David’s Lord) and also David’s son—that merge together into one prophecy of the divine Messiah who will come. And that, of course, all converges in the pages of the Gospels, which introduce Jesus as the incarnate God—God himself, come as man to the rescue of his people. That, then, is the announcement of the Gospels.

How Jesus Is Presented As That Messiah

That, in a nutshell, looking backwards, is what Matthew has in mind in Matthew chapter 1 and verse 1: “The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.” And through the next 17 verses, we have him spelling out for us his genealogical credentials as the qualified Messiah.

And then throughout the rest of chapter 1 and through chapter 2, in the infancy narratives of Jesus’ birth, we have reminded for us the same thing over and again. “This happened and this happened, so that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets, saying…” and it lists another messianic promise. “And this happened, and this happened, so that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets saying…” and we have another messianic promise fulfilled. “This happened, and this happened, as it is written…” and another messianic promise fulfilled. And Matthew’s point over and over and over again through these first two chapters is to present Jesus as that long promised Messiah. He’s here. The short version of Matthew’s message: the one who is promised has come.

If you’d like you can look to Mark chapter 1 and we’ll find that he starts in a more abbreviated way, but starts with the same note. Mark chapter 1 and verse 1: “The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Messiah, the Son of God.” The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Messiah, Son of God. This is the story of Jesus, who is the Messiah, the Son of God. And then he begins immediately, throughout the next few chapters, to highlight the great authority of this king, with authority over men and women, authority over diseases, over death, over the natural elements, and so on. With authority over every possible realm, he demonstrates that he is God’s promised king.

Luke chapter 2, we have the same thing where Luke gives us the genealogy of Jesus, and again the infancy narrative filling in details that Matthew did not give us, giving us some aspects from Mary’s perspective of it all. But again, we have the same thrust: “Unto you is born this day in the city of David [mark it, in the city of David, the king, the promised king] a Savior who is Christ the Lord.” And we have that remarkable incident at the temple in Luke chapter 2 with Simeon, that old man who said it had been revealed to him by the Spirit that he would not see death until he saw the Lord’s Christ. And having seen now the baby Jesus, he says, in effect, “I can die a happy man. God has come good on his promise. The Messiah is here.”

And then we come to the Gospel of John, and we have again this emphasis in a sustained way borne out in the first 18 verses of John’s Gospel. We have what we call the prologue introducing the major themes that he will deal with throughout the book. But the great point here is that Jesus is God come in the flesh. No one has ever seen God, but God became flesh to make him known and seeable to us. And so John chapter 1 in verse 14 sums it up: “The word became flesh and dwelt among us and we’ve seen his glory. The glory is of the only son from the father full of grace and truth.” This long promise that the Messiah would come, this long promise that God would come—those two promises have converged in the coming of Jesus, the divine Messiah.

The rest of the chapter, John chapter 1, we have one messianic title after another given to Jesus. He’s Messiah. He’s King of Israel. He’s the one of whom Moses and the prophets wrote. He’s the Son of God. He’s the Son of Man. And John just piles up these terms identifying Jesus as the Messiah from his own lips, from the lips of Jesus, and from the lips of others who are interacting with him as well. And then we come to the end of the Gospel of John that we read earlier, that John’s purpose in writing is to present Jesus as the Christ and so that you will believe that he is, and believing in him you will have life through his name.

Well, those are the highlights of the Gospels, but at the same time, throughout the Gospel narratives, we have Jesus presented as Messiah as well. Throughout, we have this “Jesus as King” theme. From the very beginning of Matthew chapter 1, through the infancy narratives, through to Palm Sunday, through to the passion narratives, we have this recurring theme of Jesus as king. “I’ve come to worship him, the king of the Jews.” The palm branches, the donkey, the hail, the hosanna, and then the title finally over his head on the cross: “This is Jesus, the king of the Jews.” We have reminded for us this king theme, that Jesus is this promised king.

And then throughout the gospel narratives we also have samples of people coming to recognize Jesus as this promised Messiah, this promised King. We have that in some ways through the fulfillment passages that are scattered throughout the Gospels. “This happened that it might be fulfilled,” and “this happened that it might be fulfilled,” and “this happened that it might be fulfilled,” and so on. And Jesus identified here and there with various specific Old Testament promises. Once in a while we’ll find the crowds watching Jesus and seeing the miracles and hearing his teaching. The crowds puzzling over the question, “Is this that promised one? Is this the one that Moses spoke of? Who else could do these kinds of things that he’s doing if he is not? He must be the Messiah.” Or we have examples like in John chapter 4, where we have the woman of Samaria and Jesus speaking with her. And she comes to recognize, and all the people of Samaria with her, come to recognize that this is the Christ, the Savior of the world.

And so this Jesus, Messiah, King idea seems to be the main theme of the Gospels in their presentation of Jesus. They are not just giving us a story of his life, of what he did and what he said, but in all of that they are telling us: this is the one that God has promised.

And not only the gospel writers, but one interesting aspect of this study that we could take several times on as well is Jesus himself, from his own lips, acknowledging this messiahship. Of course, he had to be careful with that because it could be easily misunderstood. He didn’t want to rush the plan, but there are times when it is just undeniable that Jesus is acknowledging himself as the promised Messiah.

For example, in Matthew chapter 16, Jesus presses the discussion with the disciples. “Who do they say I am? The people of Israel—what do they say about me?” “Well, some say you’re Elijah, some say you’re Jeremiah, or one of the prophets.” “But who do you say I am?” And Peter answers for the others, correctly this time, “You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God.” And Jesus says, you remember, “Flesh and blood hasn’t revealed this to you, but my Father is in heaven.” And there’s his acknowledgement that he is in fact the Messiah, the Son of the Living God.

We have the same thing in John chapter 4 as I mentioned with the Samaritan woman. She says to Jesus, “I know that Messiah is coming.” And Jesus says, “I am he.” Jesus accepts the title. He claims the title. He’s talking before Pilate. He is speaking before the high priest. He claims the title.

And then all of the fulfillment claims of Jesus. Matthew chapter 5: “I have not come to abolish the law, but to fulfill.” The law and the prophets prophesied until John, but now I’m here. I’ve arrived. One of my favorite instances of it is in Luke chapter 4, where Jesus is in his hometown of Nazareth, and he goes into the synagogue on a Sabbath, and he asks to have the Isaiah scroll taken and read. And they read what is in our chapter divisions, Isaiah chapter 61: “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, he has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor,” and so on. And Jesus reads this, rolls up the scroll, and Luke just builds the tension—and all the eyes were fixed on him—and Jesus says, “This day, this prophecy is fulfilled in your hearing. I’m here. Moses wrote of me.”

These kinds of claims throughout Jesus’ teaching—identifying himself through the miracles that he performs. John the Baptist’s disciples come and ask, “Are you the one or not?” He says, “You go back and tell John what you’ve seen: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cured.” All of this pointing back to Isaiah prophecies, Isaiah chapter 35. All of this identifying him as the Messiah.

Jesus’ favorite self-designation—this is a little more subtle, but it really is very clear. His favorite self-designation is the “Son of Man,” taken out of Daniel chapter 7, the great messianic prophecy of the coming of the Son of Man before the Ancient of Days to receive the kingdom. He refers to himself as the Son of Man over and over and over and over again throughout the Gospels. And if you think that’s subtle, it’s not subtle at his trials when he says to the high priest, “You will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven.” And they tear their clothes and cry out, “He’s guilty of blasphemy!” In Matthew chapter 12, Jesus casts demons out and they all have a big brouhaha over what authority he has to do that. And Jesus says, “Can’t you see the obvious? If I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come among you. The king is here.”

And of course, the triumphal entry is a great moment of the presentation of Jesus as Messiah, reaching back to Zechariah’s prophecy of his coming riding on a donkey. The whole scene orchestrated, of course, to press that point. And then of course at the end, the reason for his crucifixion is stated above him: “This is Jesus, the King of the Jews.” And plus all kinds of subtle and sometimes not so subtle connections: Jesus as Moses, Jesus as greater than Moses, Jesus as the greater lawgiver, Jesus as the son of Abraham, the son of David, Jesus as the true vine, Jesus as the shepherd, Jesus as greater than Moses, greater than David, greater than Solomon, greater than Jonah, greater than the Sabbath, greater than the temple. All of these expressions showing that he must be this promised one.

All of these fulfillment themes running through the gospel: the one of whom Moses wrote; the new wine, put in new wineskins, replacing the old. All of this is to emphasize Jesus as the Messiah, the big theme running through the Gospels.

Then we come to the book of Acts, and we find the same theme pressed again. Peter stands up on Pentecost. You remember the great outpouring of the Spirit. They speak with tongues—a remarkable thing. Speaking in languages they’d never learned, people from other areas understanding. And Peter stands up to preach: “The promised Messiah came and you crucified him. God raised him up and he has made him Lord and Christ. Repent therefore.” And that note goes through the Book of Acts as well. It’s picked up again in Acts 3, Acts 10, various passages. Acts chapter 7, Stephen is accused of blaspheming the temple, speaking against the temple. And of course you have to see behind that what Stephen has been preaching is that Jesus brings about in him, as the promised Messiah, all that was anticipated in the old temple.

And we find some remarkable passages in the book of Acts. We find Paul and then later Apollos as well. Paul—it is his regular practice to go into a new city and go into the synagogue and argue with them that Jesus is the Christ. And you get this wonderful picture of Paul going in the synagogues on the Sabbath days. He says, “Look, pick up this scroll here. Read that. See how that correlates with Jesus? You see how that must be Jesus? You see how Jesus fits this prophecy exactly? You see how the prophecy anticipated what happened to Jesus—his birth, his life, his ministry, his miracles, his suffering, his death, his resurrection?” And you see Paul arguing with the Jews, “Don’t you see this from your own scriptures, that Jesus is the Messiah?”

And it’s just a remarkable complex of prophecies that come together in Christ that the scriptures give us and that Paul and Apollos and others no doubt are using as they argue with the Jews from their own scriptures about the identity of Jesus. Just a remarkable complex of prophecies: his family lineage (that’s why Matthew and Luke give us his genealogy), his place of birth (Bethlehem), his forerunner (John the Baptist), his place of ministry, his rejection, his betrayal by a friend, his suffering and mistreatment, his death, his resurrection. All of this till you just have to see: this fits Jesus exactly. All of these prophecies given hundreds of years in advance now converge in a seemingly impossible way on one man, and it’s Jesus. God’s promised Messiah has come.

And the remarkable complex of prophecies that come to be fulfilled in Jesus, in his life and death and resurrection—that whole complex of prophecies seems ahead of time so impossible. But after the fact, you have to see, you just have to see, he’s the one. It would be like someone asks you, “Do you know Fred Zaspel?” “Yeah.” “Is it the same one that I know?” “Well, I don’t know. Is it?” “Well, is it the guy who lived on Tanner Way in Lansdale?” “Yeah.” “Before that, he lived in Orwigsburg?” “Yeah.” “One of the pastors at Reformed Baptist Church?” “Yeah.” “Has a wife named Kim?” “Yeah.” “Two children?” “Yeah.” “Recently moved to Dresher, PA?” “Yeah.” “Birthday January 2nd?” “Yeah.” “It must be him!”

And that’s the net effect you get from all of these complex prophecies that are given throughout the Old Testament. And Jesus fits all of them in a seemingly—ahead of time, seemingly—impossible way. He’s Jonah who went under the water. He’s Noah who floated on top the water. He’s prophet. He’s priest. He’s king. He’s not only the priest who offered the sacrifice, he is himself the sacrifice. He’s the temple. And all of these prophecies converge in such a remarkable way on Jesus. So many identifying marks that you just cannot miss that he is the one who was promised. Salvation has come. God’s King has come. He has appeared in Jesus, the Messiah.

And this fulfillment theme then permeates the New Testament. The promised Messiah has come. It’s picked up in the epistles and, of course, it’s unpacked in all of its significance there in the letters from the apostles. This idea of “fulfilled” or its equivalent is found throughout the epistles: “the one to whom the law and the prophets bear witness.” My favorite expression is 2 Corinthians chapter 2: “In Jesus, all of God’s promises are yes and amen.” More and more prophecies cited throughout the New Testament to demonstrate, “Look how it has come true in Jesus.”

So we have Jesus then throughout the New Testament, the great burden of the New Testament writers to present Jesus as this long promised Messiah who came to do his work according to the scriptures.

What Is This Work That The Messiah Came To Do?

Well the next question then is just what is this work that the Messiah came to do? And of course this could take us months. Let me give you a quick highlight of how the Old Testament anticipates and foretells the work that the Messiah would come to do.

Beginning again at Genesis chapter 1, if we start there, he has come to extend God’s rule and God’s image throughout the earth. In Genesis chapter 3, Jesus has come to defeat Satan and his seed, his followers, to defeat evil and to bring it all to an end and to redeem, to restore humanity, and to remedy this problem of sin and death. In Genesis chapter 12, he’s coming to bring blessing to all of the families of the world. In Deuteronomy chapter 18, and it’s picked up in Isaiah 42 and other places as well, Jesus has come to bring God’s law, God’s revelation to the world. Isaiah chapter 9, Jesus has come to establish the rule of God over Israel and over the nations. Isaiah 42, Jesus has come to bring God’s law to Israel and to the world. In the Psalms and prophets all through them, Jesus has come to defeat God’s enemies, to defeat the enemies of Israel, and to establish righteousness and peace universally.

In Isaiah chapter 53, there’s a strange twist: he has come to suffer under the punishment of God. Isaiah 26, he has come to raise the dead. Isaiah 65, he’s come to establish this whole new created order. Jeremiah 23, he’s come to be the righteousness of God’s people. In Jeremiah 31, he has come to establish a new covenant for the forgiveness of sins. In Ezekiel 37, he’s come to raise Israel from the dead. Daniel chapter 2 and Daniel chapter 7, he has come to destroy the godless kingdoms of the earth and establish God’s rule worldwide. Joel chapter 2, he’s come to pour out God’s spirit on humanity. Zechariah chapter 12, he’s come to bring repentance to Israel.

God’s King in all of these would come and bring worldwide redemption, worldwide blessing, defeat all of God’s enemies, establish peace and safety and righteousness the world over. And all of that stands behind this, what we’ve surveyed this morning, the Gospels’ presentation of the Jesus as King theme.

And what is especially curious is that although we find this Jesus as King theme subtly pointed at throughout the Gospels, and although we find it more explicitly at the beginning, we find at the climax of the gospel accounts a cluster of reminders of this Jesus as king theme around the time of Jesus’ passion. Which is just a strange thing—that Jesus in his death is being presented as king.

Let me give you some of the more subtle and some of the more obvious reminders of this Jesus as King theme around his passion. He was given a purple robe, a royal robe, mocking his supposed kingship. He’s given a crown, but it’s a crown of thorns, mocking his kingship. He’s given a reed in his hand at his trial, again mocking his staff, his kingly staff. In his conversation with Pilate, they talk about his kingship, and Jesus acknowledges he is the king. We have the statement, “Hail, King of the Jews.” We have Pilate saying to the crowd, “Behold your king.” And we have the title on the cross, “Jesus, the king of the Jews,” and we have the centurion after the fact saying, “Surely this was the Son of God.”

All of these reminders of this kingship theme clustering around Jesus’ passion and his death to remind us of the means by which his messianic kingship is established. He has come as the mediator between God and men; he has come to establish his kingdom and to rescue his people, but he cannot do that apart from dealing with the problem of sin. And in dealing with the problem of sin, he comes as the substitute of his people, stands in their place, bears their curse. Wasn’t it appropriate that his crown was a crown of thorns—that symbol of the curse placed on him, bearing the curse of his people, taking their sin? And in his death and in his defeat, Jesus establishing his reign by which he would rescue his people from the dominion of sin. In his defeat, in his death, he is established as king and he succeeds in rescuing his people from the kingdom of darkness.

And then, of course, in his resurrection, we have God’s announcement of it to the world. In his ascension, he goes to his heavenly throne, exalted above all principalities and powers, taking his station as king. In the Day of Pentecost, he pours out his spirit upon his church—his coronation gift to his people, pouring out his spirit on his people. And Peter noting it: “This is the indication that God has made him Lord and Christ.” And then through the book of Acts, the message of the kingdom goes out. And Christ exercises his kingly rights one by one, rescuing people out of the kingdom of darkness and bringing them into the kingdom of God. And sometimes not just one by one; sometimes in the book of Acts it’s thousands at a time. Jesus exercising his kingly authority and establishing his kingdom and rescuing his people and bringing them in. And that last verse of the book of Acts announces the same thing continues: “Preaching the kingdom of God and teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ without hindrance.” The message of the kingdom going out.

And that, of course, is what takes us down through today when that message of the kingdom is proclaimed to you and to me, and Christ exercising his kingly authority again, bringing us one by one into his kingdom.

But, of course, that’s not the climax. There’s still this defeat of his enemies, establishing universal peace and righteousness thing. That still has to come. And of course all of that comes to a climax in the book of Revelation, marvelously portrayed for us in Revelation chapter 5. Chapter 4 we have the scene of God seated on his throne, reigning in majesty over everything. He has, in chapter 5, a scroll in his hand—his last will and testament, his purposes for this world of judgment and salvation. And the only one worthy to take the scroll was this lion, who as it turns out is a lamb who was slain. And Jesus takes the scroll and he starts flipping the seals. And he begins again to exercise his kingly rights over the world, bringing judgments, preludes to judgments, and then final judgments, and all of that climaxing in Revelation chapter 19 when he returns in glory and in power and takes the reins of the whole world to himself and he creates a whole new world order, defeats Babylon (this world system), brings it to an end, and establishes the kingdom of God. And then, according to 1 Corinthians 15, when it’s all done—he’s come, he’s wiped out all enemies, he’s established righteousness—he delivers the kingdom over to the Father. Mission accomplished.

And all of that from beginning to end, from Genesis to Revelation, all of that to shape the New Testament message, the gospel message. And that is simply: Jesus is King. And as King, he has established himself as the Savior. He’s a King before whom you will bow. And he’s offered terms of peace now. Because he has offered himself in place of sinners, if you will come to him and bow before him and recognize his kingship and trust in him, he will have you.

But mark it: the day will come when, willingly or no, you will bow before this king. He will come and He will reign over the whole world forever and forever. And mark it well, every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that He is Lord to the glory of God the Father. Amen.

Let’s pray.

Our Father, in such a sweep of a survey like this, it’s difficult to take in all, but we trust it’s been helpful to see this bird’s-eye view of this marvelous presentation of Jesus from Genesis to Revelation to point us to his glory, his greatness. Lord, we pray that you will give every one of us here a greater recognition of his glory, give us a firmer faith in him, and if there’s anyone here who has not yet bowed before him, Lord, we pray that you would break that will and bring them to him. We ask in his name. Amen.

Amen. Well, let’s conclude by singing together a song that extols praises to our great Messiah, our great Redeemer, and King. Number 133 in your Trinity hymnals, let’s stand together and sing in closing, “O For a Thousand Tongues to Sing.” Let’s stand.