03 Jesus: The Ideal Servant-King

Krisan Marotta: Good morning, Krisan Marotta, welcoming you to Wednesday in the Word, my podcast about what the Bible means and how we know. Today we'll be listening to a talk given by Dr. Erica Moore titled Jesus, the Ideal Servant King. Dr. Moore is a professor of Old Testament and Hebrew at Trinity School for Ministry and also one of my favorite Old Testament teachers. This is the third in a series of three talks that she gave at the Women in the Word workshop in 2013, and that workshop is a Ministry of World Reform Fellowship. I'll link to their website in the lecture notes. I'm grateful to republish Dr. Moore's talk here. I hope you enjoy listening to her as much as I do. I have a link to more of her work on my website, wednesdayintheword.com. You can also find her work on tsm.edu. That's Trinity School of Ministry. So tsm.edu. Thanks for joining us today. Speaker 1: We started yesterday talking about the Pentateuch. And then last evening we kind of dipped down from our bird's eye view and looked in particular at the book of Exodus. And we looked at how three of the major themes in Exodus, the redemption from Egypt, the giving of the law at Sinai, and the building of the tabernacle, how we looked at them through the theme of kingship. The king has redeemed his people from Exodus, and we talked about how the plagues were both a polemic against Pharaoh. I don't know who this god is. Well, you will know when the Lord uh institutes all these plagues, you will know that Yahweh is Lord. And it was also, we said, a polemic against the gods. Where was the sun god Ra when there was darkness? Okay, and we talked about the kind of ironic um uh goddess of fertility who had the head of a frog and uh God's sense of humor and putting the frogs all throughout the bedroom. So they were a polemic also against the gods of Israel. And uh we talked about the Lord leads his people uh out of Egypt, and we said that that Exodus event becomes the paradigmatic salvation event for all of the scripture. And we looked at how the psalmists reflect on that, later prophets, especially Isaiah, and on your outline I gave some New Testament reflections also. And we talked about how the law reflects the kingship of God. Uh, God did not take his people out of bondage in Egypt simply to put them under the bondage of the law. This is what citizenship in the kingdom looks like. The law, the Ten Commandments reflect the heart of God. And we as citizens in his kingship, we ought to want to reflect uh the nature of our king. And then we spent a few minutes looking at the tabernacle and showing how that too reflected God in his splendor. The Israelites were not left on their own whim to decide how to worship God, because when they do, in the golden calf incident, we see that what prevails is the evil inclinations of their heart. The tabernacle is built after the pattern in heaven. It's a shadow, Hebrews 8.5 tells us, and a copy of prior heavenly realities. So today, okay, what next? Well, today we get to read through the whole Old Testament and New Testament in the remaining 48 minutes. So I'd like you to open your Bibles to 2 Samuel chapter 7. 2 Samuel chapter 7. I think we're all familiar with what happens. We said that the the theme of the Pentateuch is promise, and how does Deuteronomy end? Since then, no prophet has arisen like Moses, who's done all these great things and who knew God. So there's this note like it tastes like more. Well, Joshua, the book of Joshua is about the conquest. The covenant king keeps his part of the covenant and gives the land to the people. The book of Judges is about the failure of the Israelites to keep their part of the covenant. They don't do those final mopping up operations, and instead they do exactly what they weren't to do. They intermarry with the Canaanites that are remaining in the land, and they don't rid the land of the Canaanites, and so this promised land that was to reflect kingdom glory and to be a light to the nations instead becomes Canaanized itself. And the end of the book of Judges, remember, pay attention to what's repeated in Scripture. Everybody ends up doing what's right in their own eyes in the book of Judges, and twice we're given the reason why, because there's no king. Okay? So the people ask for a king, and what's evil about their request is not the request itself, but why they want a king. They want a king to be like all the other nations. In fact, we didn't have time yesterday, but keep one finger in 2 Samuel 7 and turn back to Deuteronomy chapter 17. And what did we say Deuteronomy is? When is it given? Anyone remember from yesterday? Okay, the Israelites are perched on the plains of Moab, about to enter the land of promise, and this is Moses' swan song. He's giving his last words in the form of three sermons to the people about the second generation about to enter the land of promise. And uh at verse 14 of Deuteronomy chapter 17, we get the requirements for what the king is to be like when they enter the land. And he's not to be like the maniacal despots of the kings surrounding Israel. He's to be a reflection of a lawkeeper. When he takes the throne, okay, he's not to amass a lot of wives, he's not to amass a lot of horses, he's not to return to Egypt for help. Okay. Instead, he's to write for himself on a scroll a copy of the law. It's to be with him. He's to read it all the days of his life so that he may learn to revere the Lord his God and follow carefully all the words of this law and these decrees, and not consider himself better than his brothers, and turn from the law to the right and the left. So we get to uh the first king of Israel, and Saul's a failure. Okay, and the Lord um announces through the Samuel the prophet that he's going to continue his line through King David. And we get to this magnificent passage in 2 Samuel. And 2 Samuel is one of those passages, if you're you're going to miss some important focuses of the prophets if you don't understand 2 Samuel. It's just a critical passage of Scripture. And it starts out after the king and it's David was settled in his palace, and the Lord had given him rest from all his enemies around him. He said to Nathan, the prophet, here I am, living in the palace of Cedar, while the ark of God remains in a tent. Remember, we said that the tabernacle was an appropriate vehicle or home for God while the Israelites are on the move. But now they're settled in the land. Israel has rest from all her enemies. David's living in this magnificent palace. How can God still live in that mobile home? Okay? And so David wants to build the Lord a house. So what happens is through the prophet Nathan, God says, No, David, you're not going to be build me a house. I'm going to build you a house. And listen to how this house at building is described. I'm going to start at verse 8. Now then tell my servant David, this is what the Lord Almighty says. I took you from the pasture and from following the flock to be ruler over my people Israel. I've been with you wherever you've gone, and I've cut off all your enemies from before you. Now I will make your name great, like the names of the greatest men of the earth, and I will provide a place for my people Israel, and will plant them so that they can have a home of their own and no longer be disturbed. Wicked people will not oppress them any more, as they did at the beginning, and have done ever since the time I appointed leaders over my people Israel. I will also give you rest from all your enemies. The Lord declares to you that the Lord himself will establish a house for you. When your days are over, and you rest with your fathers, I will raise up from your offspring to succeed you, who will come from your own body, and I will establish his kingdom. He is the one who will build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be his father, and he will be my son. When he does wrong, I will punish him with the rod of men, with floggings inflicted by men. But my love will never be taken away from him as I took it away from Saul, whom I removed from before you. Your house and your kingdom will endure forever before me. Your throne will be established forever. And Nathan reported to David all the words of this entire revelation. So God promises David a dynasty. And how long is it going to last? Forever. Okay. He says that several times. So this is what the Lord promises David. And we begin to see the merging of kingship in Israel with God's kingship. Okay? That's a pretty startling verse there in verse, the end of verse 13. I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. Verse 14. Okay? So tuck that in the back of your head. I understand later today you're going to look at Psalm 2, which is a poetic reflection on what's going on here in 2 Samuel chapter 7. Okay. Now go back to 2 Samuel chapter 6 for a moment. David, he has defeated his enemies, and he brings together of Israel chosen men, 30,000. He and all his men sent out from Bala of Judah to bring up from there the ark of God, which is called by the name, the name of the Lord Almighty, who was enthroned between the cherubim that are on the ark. And then there's the story of Uzzah which we're not going to get into. But the point here is that by David bringing the ark to Jerusalem, he is publicly demonstrating his desire to associate his rule with God's throne. That's an important note to see here. And again, that's reflected in Psalm 2, which you're going to work on a little more. And we see here, you know, the Ark comes to Jerusalem, and David wants to build God a house, and he says, no, no, you can't do that, but your son Solomon will do that. Okay. Now, look very look at verse 6 of 2 Samuel 7, which which we didn't read before. How we said that kingship entails proximity. Remember we said, where's the tabernacle? It's in the midst of God's army, God's desire to be with his people. This is an a startling verse here in 2 Samuel 7, 6. I have not dwelt in a house from the day I brought the Israelites up out of Egypt to this day. I have been moving from place to place with a tent as my dwelling. Wherever I've moved with all the Israelites, did I ever say to any of their rulers whom I commanded to shepherd my people Israel, why not, why have you not built me a house of cedar? You see what the Lord's saying here? While Israel lived a vagabond life, God displays his desire to be with his people by traveling with them in his mobile home. That's just an astounding picture of God's desire to be with his people and his love for his people. Turn over to 1 Chronicles chapter 29. One more verse on how we see the merging of kingship in Israel with God's kingship. 1 Chronicles chapter 29. And in 1 Chronicles 29, verses 22 and 23. And it's the time where Solomon has ascended to the throne. And I'm looking at the second half of verse 22. They acknowledged Solomon, son of David, as king a second time, anointing him before the Lord to be ruler and Zadok to be priest. So Solomon, look what Solomon did. He sat on the throne of the Lord as king in place of his father David. So do you see what's going on here? We're seeing a merging of the Davidic kingship, kingship in Israel, specifically through the line of David, with the kingship of Yahweh. And again, as you're going to look at in Psalm 2, okay, the psalmist there, he merges the opposition against Yahweh's cause with that of the Davidic king, and the opposition of the surrounding heathen nations. So we see this development in Scripture of the merging of the Davidic kingship with the throne of Yahweh. David's reign was intended to be a shadow form of the reality that was yet to come in a final way. Because as we know, uh David was not the just, gracious, perfect king. We all know David's failures as they're recorded, especially in the book of Samuel. Nor is his son Solomon any better. The passage I just read in Deuteronomy 17, the king is not to go back to Egypt, what did Solomon do? He went back to Egypt. The king's not to amass a lot of horses, what did Solomon do? The king's not to have a lot of wives, what did Solomon do? Okay? So we as we see this merger, we see it still tastes like more, because none of the kings in David's line, even somebody as like a good Hezekiah or a good Josiah, we start seeing the kings in their armor at some point in their reign. Now go back to 2 Samuel 7. I'd like to give one more little interpretive reflection, thinking a little about how we go about interpreting Scripture. And I have on your outline to beware of the word concept fallacy. Just one more thing to be aware of in your life with everything else. Okay. What do I mean by this word concept fallacy? Well, it's very clear, and subsequent scripture backs this up, that what's going on in 2 Samuel 7 is a covenant. God is entering a covenant with David. But what word is missing from 2 Samuel 7? The word covenant. And this is just a point when you're when you're studying scripture, when you're preparing to do a Bible study, make sure you have clear in your mind are you studying a word or a concept? And a concept is much bigger than a word. So if you were going to do a Bible study on God's covenants with his people, and you in your mind you're doing it on this concept of covenant, but in your methodology, what you're doing is tracing the use of a word, you're going to miss 2 Samuel 7 because the word covenant is not used in 2 Samuel chapter 7. So again, I know from talking to some of you, many of you do uh Bible studies, make sure in your mind you know what you're doing. Am I studying doing a word study or am I studying a concept in Scripture? You could do a study on all the Greek words for love, and you'd never get to the Good Samaritan. And yet, certainly that parable is about love. Okay, so make sure you have clear in your mind the distinction between a word and a concept in what you're studying. Okay, and again, a concept is much, much bigger than a word. Okay, so what happens after David and Solomon? Well, we know this story. The kingdom divides, okay, and the northern kingdom, you know, both both the northern kingdom and southern kingdom, they move with gathering momentum towards the judgment of God. Now the northern kingdom arrives there first, and in 722 BC, the northern kingdom is destroyed. About 130 years later, in 586 BC, the southern kingdom is destroyed. Okay, and yet, in spite in of God's chastening activity on his people, okay, the northern kingdom is sent into exile by the Assyrians, the southern kingdom is taken into exile by the Babylonians, God chastens his people, but God still is a covenant-keeping God. Okay, he does not end his covenant with his people. And as the nation of Israel crumbles, there's a couple things to keep in mind here. Number one, the prophets start talking about the promise of the kingdom as something that will occur in the future. Okay, where so we start seeing the prophets talking about a future time when somebody from the line of David will sit on the throne. Okay, and we'll in a few minutes we'll we'll look at um a passage in in Ezekiel. And uh at the second time, there's this note of uh questioning and ambiguity at the end of the Old Testament. Okay? So for example, uh let's do the ambiguity first. Let's turn to the end of Nehemiah. It's interesting. You remember that after the northern and southern kingdoms are taken into exile, uh, in 539 BC, there's a a Persian king called Cyrus, and he's raised up by the Lord, and he's actually called the an anointed one, a Messiah in the book of Isaiah. The Lord raises up this king Cyrus to allow his people to return from Babylon. And they do so in in several waves, and in as with Ezra and Nehemiah, they return in in separate waves, one in 458 B.C. and one in 445 B.C. So they come and uh you know the temple has been rebuilt. That happened way back in 515 B.C. Uh Ezra comes and he institutes the reading of the law. Nehemiah builds the wall around Jerusalem. They have these services of worship and praise and commitment to the Lord. And what we have in Nehemiah is similar to what we have in Malachi. We have some of the last events recorded that happened in the Old Testament. And look at how the book of Nehemiah ends. We have uh in and the end of chapter 12, the dedication of Jerusalem, some final reforms. And at the end of Old Testament events, we have in verse 26 Nehemiah asking the question Was it not because of marriages like these, mixed marriages, that Solomon, king of Israel, sinned? Among the many nations there was no king like him. He was loved by his God, and God made him king over all Israel, but even he was led into sin by foreign women. Was must we hear now that you two are doing all this terrible wickedness and are being unfaithful to our God by marrying foreign women? So here at the end of the Old Testament, we said the Old Testament started with kingship, God creating. Here at the end, there's a big question. Have you gone through the exile and the return and the building of the second temple simply to repeat the sins of somebody like Solomon? So the Old Testament ends on this question mark, okay? On the other hand, there's also this prophetic reflection that though there's a big question mark about whether or not Israel will remain faithful to the covenant, God will remain faithful and he will raise up somebody from the line of David. And uh let's turn to Ezekiel. Let's turn to Ezekiel 36 first. There's a little joke at the seminary where I teach, I did my My dissertation on the book of Ezekiel, and the students say I can't seem to finish a series without going to Ezekiel. And it's because I tell them all all answers can be found there. So turn to Ezekiel chapter 36. And Ezekiel was a prophet during the exile. So when the southern kingdom was taken into exile by the Babylonians in 586 BC, Ezekiel was already there. He had been taken there at an earlier deportation. And he was raised up by God to, in the first half of his ministry, deliver a message of judgment to the people. You're going to be judged, Jerusalem is going to fall. And once the covenant curses had been enacted on the nation of Judah, God had Ezekiel preach a message of hope to the people. This isn't the end. God will keep his covenant. So in chapter 36 of Ezekiel, Jerusalem has fallen. The people are devastated, and they're wondering you know, has the straw broken the camel's back? Is there any hope for us? Is God completely through with us? And so Ezekiel gives these series of messages to say, no, no, no. God will remain faithful. Remember those promises yesterday that we looked at in Genesis 12 to Abraham and now in 2 Samuel 7 to David? Those promises of a forever dynasty, of land, of blessing will be fulfilled. And now let's turn to Ezekiel 37 just for the sake of time. After the Valley of Dry Bones vision, Ezekiel preaches a message, and he talks about how the Lord is going to take the northern kingdom that had been exiled in 722 BC and the southern kingdom, and he's going to bring them back together. Okay? And look at verse 21. This is what the sovereign Lord says. I will take the Israelites out of the nations where they have gone. I will gather them from all around and bring them back into their own land. I'll make them one nation, northern and southern, had been divided ever since the time of Rehab. On the mountains of Israel, they'll be one king over all of them. They'll never again be two nations or be divided into two kingdoms. They'll no longer defile themselves with their idols and vile images or with any of their offenses. For I will save them from all their sinful backsliding. I will cleanse them. They will be my people, and I will be their God. Now look at verse 24. My servant David will be king over them. Remember, we talked about how there's this development where the line of David, his son is God's son. Okay, so there's this merging of the Davidic kingship with Yahweh's kingship. My servant David will be king over them, and they'll have one shepherd. They'll follow my laws and be careful to keep my decrees. They'll live in the land. I'm going to skip around here. They and their children and their children's children will live there forever. David, my servant, will be their prince forever. I'll make an everlasting covenant. I'll put my sanctuary among them forever, forever, forever. So the Old Testament ends on this note of question mark, has Israel returned simply to repeat the sins of the past? And yet this profound note of confidence in the prophetic voice that God will keep his promises, begun in Genesis 3, 16, as we looked at, the seed of the woman will crush the head of the serpent. Genesis 12, his promise to David, to Abraham, and then 2 Samuel 7, his promise to David. So what happens? Well, the Old Testament period closes, and what we call the intertestamental period, 400 years of silence between the end of the Old Testament and the New Testament period. And just like the Old Testament begins with kingship, so does the New Testament. Turn to Matthew chapter 1. What's a little peculiar about Matthew 1, 1? A record of the genealogy of a genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. And then it goes on. Abraham was the father of Isaac, the father of Jacob, of Judah. What's odd about that first verse? Jesus Christ, son of David, son of Abraham. Anything strike you as odd? It's backwards, okay? I mean, certainly Abraham was not the son of David. Okay, now Matthew knows that because later on he tells us that Jesse in verse 6 was the father of King David. But Matthew is starting with kingship, okay? The old, how did how does Ezekiel and the prophetic witness in the Old Testament end? Okay, there'll be somebody from the line of David on the throne. So Matthew opens with Jesus Christ, he's the son of David. And then for his Jewish audience in particular, but we've got we're gonna go back to Abraham, okay? So just like the Old Testament starts with kingship, God creates, so the New Testament also starts on this note of kingship. There's notes of kingship in the birth narrative of Jesus. Okay? The wise men come and and bow down and bring him gifts. Listen to what is said in Luke chapter 1, Luke 1, verse 33. We'll start at verse 32. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. Okay, here the birth of Jesus is being foretold. The Lord will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever. His kingdom will never end. So here we have this reflection again from these Old Testament promises, 2 Samuel 7, and then the later prophetic reflection. John the Baptist comes along, and kingdom again is the theme. Repent for what's at hand? The kingdom of God. Okay? So you know what we have here is the gospel, the gospel that comes with Jesus is the gospel of the kingdom. Krisan Marotta: Okay? Speaker 1: And that's the focus of Jesus' ministry. Matthew and Luke start with birth narratives, but Mark starts with Jesus' public ministry. So let's turn to Mark chapter 1. And I'm looking at verse 14. We have the account of John the Baptist, the baptism of Jesus by John the Baptist and the temptation, and then look at verse 14 of Mark 1. After John was put in prison, Jesus went into Galilee proclaiming the good news of God. What is the good news of God? The time has come, he said, the kingdom of God is near or at hand. Repent and believe the good news. So the central focus of Jesus' ministry is the gospel of the kingdom of God. But John the Baptist heralds the kingdom, but Jesus is more than just a heralder of the kingdom. The kingdom of God is at hand because the king has come. But why then does all this confusion ensue? He brings the kingdom, but it comes in stages. So Jesus comes saying the kingdom is at hand, but what happens? That doesn't quite happen. And it's not just the Pharisees that he has to correct, he has to correct his own disciples also. Okay. Turn to Matthew. Let's go back to the book of Matthew. Very interesting passage. Okay. John the Baptist heralds the kingdom. Okay. And you know, opening verses of Matthew chapter 3. Okay, he's repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near. And the kingdom of heaven is just a circumlocution for the kingdom of God. The same thing. It's just Matthew uses kingdom of heaven. Okay? So Pharisees and Sadducees come out to John the Baptist, and he says to them in verse 7, Who, you brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not think you can say to yourselves, we have Abraham as our father. I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham. Now, I'm going to read these next few verses that give us what John the Baptist's understanding of Jesus' ministry is. And I want you, somebody then, to just distill it down into one short sentence. What is John's idea about what the kingdom is at hand means? The axe is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire. I baptize you with water for repentance, but after me will come one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not fit to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he'll clear his threshing floor, gathering his wheat into the barn, and burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire. So if you were a reporter and you went up to John the Baptist, John the Baptist, what's the kingdom about? What's his answer in a couple words? Judgment. Okay? It's about judgment. Krisan Marotta: Okay. Speaker 1: See now, zip over to chapter 11 of Matthew. Suddenly we see a confused John the Baptist in prison. In chapter 11, after Jesus had finished instructing the twelve disciples, he went from there to teach and preach in the towns of Galilee. When John heard in prison what Christ was doing, he sent his disciples. Am I in prison for following the wrong guy? Where's all this judgment? Where are the heads that are supposed to roll? Where's the winnowing fork that's in your hand? Where's the axe that's supposed to be at the root of the trees? And Jesus replied, Go back and report to John what you hear and see. The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor. Blessed is the man who does not fall away on account of me. Jesus is here quoting from the book of Isaiah. Jesus comes, the kingdom is at hand, but it comes in stages. Okay? And the judgment will come, but it has to fall on the king first before he then ushers it out at the second coming. See, that's the picture that we have in the in the gospel of the kingdom. Okay? So Jesus comes and people are confused, even at after the resurrection on the road to Emmaus, right? He he says to Cleopas and the other disciple, didn't the Messiah have to first suffer and then enter his glory? But they just didn't get that. Okay? Jesus refers to himself as the Son of Man. Okay? And this probably added to the confusion because the Son of Man, the backdrop, and the Son of Man, when Jesus talks about himself as the Son of Man, he's talking about not his humanity, but his divinity. That's important. You think, well, son of man, he's talking about his divinity. And the backdrop is Daniel chapter 7. And it's interesting, son of man is Jesus' favorite self-designation. It's the favorite way that he refers to himself. And nobody else calls him son of man. There's one reference about it elsewhere, but it's his favorite self-designation, and nobody goes up to him and says, Hello, son of man. Okay? So what's Jesus saying here? Well, again, Daniel 7 is the backdrop. And you remember Daniel, the first six chapters are uh the whole book is about the conflict. The whole book of Daniel is about the conflict between the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent. And the first six chapters are the stories most of us are familiar with from Sunday school: the Daniel and the Lion's Den, the fiery furnace. And chapter seven is just one of those climactic passages in Scripture. And Daniel has this vision where all these hybrid beasts come out of this tumultuous sea, okay? And they represent all the kingdoms in their lust for power and control and dominion. Okay? And he has this very unsettling vision. And in the middle of his vision, the scene changes and switches to the throne room of heaven. Okay? And it's amazing. You have this tumultuous picture of these hybrid beasts that are coming out of the sea. And then in verse 9, okay, he looks and he sees thrones in place and the ancient of days taking his seat, clothing as white as snow. And the contrast is inescapable. There is God, and what is God doing? He's seated, God reigns. Okay, and they're all the kingdoms in conflict and and and in tumult. And then he sees one in this vision in verse 13, like a son of man coming with the clouds of heaven. Well, in the ancient Near East, who are cloud riders? Divinity, gods ride the clouds. Baal is called the rider of the clouds. And he sees one like the Son of Man coming with the clouds of heaven, approaching the ancient of days, and he's given three things. He's given authority, glory, and sovereign power. All peoples, nations, and men of every language worshiped him. His dominion is everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed. So when Jesus comes on the scene and refers to himself as the Son of Man, he is saying that I am that one that Daniel was speaking about. And who gets authority, glory, sovereign power, and worship? He's claiming his divinity when he gives that title. Listen to some of these passages. He talks about the Son of Man having authority to forgive sins in Mark 2.10. He talks about the Son of Man being the Lord of the Sabbath in Mark 2.28. He talks about in the future all peoples will see the Son of Man coming in the clouds with great authority and power, Mark 13, 26. And he talks about the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of power in Mark 14, 62. So Jesus comes and proclaims that he is the Messiah by this self-designation Son of Man. But here's the twist. He then tells us that the Son of Man is also the suffering servant. So you look at a passage like Mark 9, verse 12. Let's turn over to Mark 9, 12. And the the context is the transfiguration where you know he takes Peter, James, and John, and they're on this great mountain, and they see Moses and Elijah. And that too is another picture of the divinity of Christ right here. On one level, yes, Moses and Elijah represent the law and the prophets. But on another level, there were only two prophets in a whole millennium of Old Testament prophets who saw God face to face. So we see here again another picture of Jesus claiming to be the Messiah. But look what he says in verse 12 when they ask about Elijah coming back. To be sure Elijah does come first and restores all things. Why then is it written that the Son of Man must suffer much and be rejected? So Jesus brings these two together, the glorious divinity of the Son of Man with the suffering servant that Isaiah had predicted in his four beautiful poems. The way of the kingdom is the way of suffering. And you know, think of all the times in Jesus' life when they were ready to crown him as king. Okay? The throne of heaven does not come by political machinations, it comes through the suffering and death of the king. Okay. Even the Son of Man okay not to be served, but to serve and give his life a ransom for many. And of course, we as residents of the kingdom, okay, do we expect any different treatment than our king? unknown: Okay. Speaker 1: So this this thread that sometimes we see weaving through Western Christianity, uh, the health, wealth, and got and prosperity gospel is just very counter to what our king has told us his kingdom looks like. So what about today? What's the status of the kingdom today? Okay. Well, let's turn to Acts chapter 2. Let's start there. Acts 2. And we're all familiar with Acts 2. It's um the account of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit is poured out on the followers of Christ that are that are waiting there. And um listen to what how the how what's gone on in the life of Jesus, that whole complex of events surrounding his death, resurrection, and ascension is is understood. And uh I'm reading here from Peter's sermon in Acts 2 29. Brothers, I can tell you confidently that the patriarch David died and was buried, and his tomb is here to this day. But he was a prophet, and he knew that God had promised him on oath that he would place one of his descendants on his throne. We read that in 2 Samuel 7. Seeing what was ahead, he, David, spoke of the resurrection of Christ. Wow. That he was not abandoned to the grave, nor did his body see decay. God has raised this Jesus to life, and we're all witnesses of the fact, exalted to the right hand of God, he has received from the Father the promised Holy Spirit, and has poured out what you now see and hear. For David did not ascend to heaven, and yet he said, The Lord said to my Lord, Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet. What's Peter doing here? Okay, he's declaring that the throne of David has been transferred from Jerusalem to heaven itself, where Jesus is exalted at the right hand of the Father. You see, now that Jesus' messianic sufferings have passed, he enters into his messianic glory. Now, Jesus seated at the right hand of the Father. What what what do we do envision there? Okay? We're not to envision when I'm done speaking, I may go sit down and say, Oh, I'm glad that's done, okay? That's not the picture of what it means for Jesus to be seated. The session of Christ is an archaic term, but it points to his position of exaltation and power at the right hand of the Father. And what's he doing? He's ruling the world. Listen to this passage in Hebrews chapter 1. In these last days, he has spoken to us by his son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and from whom he made the universe. The Son is the radiance of God's glory, the exact representation of his being, upholding all things by the word of his power. After he provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high. This picture of Jesus upholding all things by the word of his power. The picture is not of Atlas holding the world. That's the actual Greek word pharaoh and the form used there. It's much more dynamic. Picture is not of Jesus upholding the world, but sustaining and moving it towards the end to which his purposes will lead. Okay. And Jesus is sitting there, but he hasn't left us as orphans. Okay? So Jesus is at the right hand of God. He is king. He's ruling the world. And he's given us, citizens of his kingship, this commission. All authority in heaven on earth has been given to me. Right out of Daniel 7, right? The Son of Man gets the authority and the power. He says, Go, make disciples of all nations, baptize them in the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit, and teach them to observe everything I commanded you. But it doesn't end there. And I am with you always, surely, to the very end of the age. So the king is enthroned in heaven. He's given us the Holy Spirit. The giving of the Holy Spirit of Pentecost is basically the announcement that Jesus rules as King at the right hand of God. But Jesus doesn't send us out with a hearty pat on the back and a may the force be with you. He gives us his Holy Spirit to accomplish the things that he has called us to do. Okay? So this is where we are right now. This is what what a lot of theologians like to call the already, not yet. Jesus is king, but the king his kingdom is not fully consummated yet. That will come at the second coming. So we live in this in-between time, okay? Already and yet not yet. And in this period, we live like our master did. We will live a life of suffering and persecution because the servants are no better than the master. But it won't be this way forever, okay? There is a final consummation coming. So we live by faith now, and yet what do we wait for? Well, let's let's close our time today by turning over to Revelation 19. So our mandate until Jesus comes again is to follow our master and live the life he's called us to live. Picking up the cross and dying. Now, I started yesterday by saying, I loved horses. Well, according to Revelation 19, we have a king who loves horses also, okay? And uh John has this vision, and uh he sees heaven standing open, and there before me was a white horse whose rider is called faithful and true. With justice he judges and makes war. His eyes are like blazing fire, and on his head are many crowns. You can't read this without weeping, can you? He has a name written on him that no one knows but he himself. He's dressed in a robe dipped in blood, and his name is the word of God. The armies of heaven were following him, riding on white horses and dressed in fine linen, white and clean. Out of his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations. He will rule them with an iron scepter. He treads the wine press of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty. On his robe and on his thigh he has this name written, King of Kings and Lord of Lords. So Jesus will come again, and what he has accomplished in principle will be finally consummated. Every knee will bow, and every tongue will confess that he is Lord. He will defeat the kingdoms in a final way, and the kingdoms of this world will become the kingdom of our God. And he will reign forever and ever. Hallelujah, hallelujah. unknown: Amen. Krisan Marotta: Thank you for listening to Wednesday in the Word, the podcast that explains not only what a passage means, but also shows you how to figure it out. I hope this podcast has blessed you. If it's inspired you to learn more, I invite you to visit my website, wednesdayintheword.com, and explore the free, ad-free, spam-free Bible study resources I have there. Our theme music is graciously provided by Reggie Coates. You can find more of his music on heartfeltmusic.org. Thank you so much for listening today. I'm Krisan Marotta, and I'll see you next week at Wednesday in the Word.