Meadowbrooke Church

The King Who Makes All Things New

After the Sand Bernardino shooting in California, the cover page of the Daily News read God Is Not Fixing This with highlights from some tweets from conservative leaders concerning their thoughts and prayers being with the victims of the mass shooting. The irony in The Daily News cover is that in an effort to fix our world without God, we have made more of a mess of it. In fact, human history has shown us that every effort to create a better or utopian society apart from God has not moved us closer, but rather further away from a utopian society.
When we started this sermon series, I told you that Gods plan was always for a King to rule the nations, but a different kind of King, one that the world could never manufacture. What the world can manufacture is what the devil manufactures, and that is a life lived apart from God, which is only a cheap substitute that robs a person of the kind of life God designed for us to experience.
From the manger to the cross was One who lived among Adams helpless race as Gods plan A to mankinds sin problem. God is fixing this! God has been fixing this! God is sure to fix this! Jesus was always the King intended for Israel and the nations and the remedy to reverse the curse of sin!
This is what the Lord says, He who is the King of Israel and his Redeemer, the Lord of armies: I am the first and I am the last, and there is no God besides Me. (Isa. 44:6)
Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, When I will raise up for David a righteous Branch; And He will reign as king and act wisely and do justice and righteousness in the land. In His days Judah will be saved, And Israel will live securely; And this is His name by which He will be called, The Lord Our Righteousness. (Jer. 23:5-6)
The scepter will not depart from Judah, Nor the rulers staff from between his feet, Until Shiloh comes, and to him shall be the obedience of the peoples. (Gen. 49:10)
He shall build a house for My name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. (2 Sam. 7:13)
Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. (Luke 2:10-11).
Jesus said: Do not be afraid; I am the first and the last, and the living One; and I was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of death and of Hades. (Rev. 1:17-18)
Jesus is the fully divine and fully human King! He is the first and the last, and there is no other like Him! He is not only the King of kings and Lord of lords, but He also bears the name, Yahweh our Righteousness. Jesus is the only One qualified, able, and willing to redeem lost sinners as the Lamb of God who, takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29). Jesus is our Kinsmen Redeemer who is qualified to take the deed of creation by reversing the curse of sin and why all of heaven celebrates: Worthy are You to take the scroll and to break its seals; for You were slaughtered, and You purchased people for God with Your blood from every tribe, language, people, and nation. You have made them into a kingdom and priests to our God, and they will reign upon the earth (Rev. 5:9-10).
God is fixing this one life at a time through the Son: Therefore if anyone is in Christ, this person is a new creation; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come (2 Cor. 5:17). It is through the Son that the Father is restoring all that was lost, and so we are promised that the way God is fixing this will exceed our wildest imaginations:
Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth passed away, and there is no longer any sea. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is among the people, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them, and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away. And He who sits on the throne said, Behold, I am making all things new. And He said, Write, for these words are faithful and true. (Rev. 21:15)
There is so much that is packed into the final two chapters in the book of Revelation that there is no way that we can plumb the depths of what is promised to those of us who have been redeemed by the blood of the Lamb. However, there are some things that we do have time to reflect upon that ought to encourage you.
Life Will Be Purged of Sin, Death, Evil, and the Devil
There is not a whole lot I need to say on this point, but I simply want to point out that what will follow Jesus second coming is His final victory over the antichrist (who is yet to come), the false prophet, and the devil (the unholy trinity). All three will be thrown into the lake of fire where they will never again be able to tempt, deceive, and harm. Their destruction will be in a place of eternal torment that Jesus described, where their worm does not die, and their fire is not extinguished (Mark 9:48). Satans judgment will be the final crushing of his head that was promised in Genesis: And I will make enemies of you and the woman, and of your offspring and her Descendant; He shall bruise you on the head, And you shall bruise Him on the heel (Gen. 3:15).
After the antichrist, the false prophet, and the devil are judged, we are told of a final judgment where Death and Hades will also be thrown into the lake of fire, which is described as, the second death. What is most sobering about Revelation 20:11-15, which describes this coming judgment, in my opinion, is what we read in verse 15, And if anyones name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire. Ultimately what the second death means for the Christian, is the death of death, sin, and the devil.
Mortality will be Swallowed up by Life
The new heaven and earth that we read about in the final chapters of Revelation will not be new in the way you trade in your used car so that you can afford a new one. The new heavens and earth will be new in the same way Jesus resurrected body was; think about what had to happen for Jesus dead body to come back to life again. Jesus body began the process of decomposition several minutes after he died on the cross. When His heart stopped beating, the cells in His body became deprived of oxygen forcing them to break down. Within 24-27 hours after death, Jesus internal organs were already decomposing, and his body was beginning to bloat. For Jesus body to be resurrected, the DNA in His body had to change.
The resurrection of the heavens and the earth will be like Jesus resurrection, and it will include a DNA change. We are told in the Bible, the present heavens and earth are being reserved for fire, kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly people (2 Pet. 3:7). Randy Alcorn, in his book, Heaven, writes of the coming Day: The earths death will be no more final than our own. The destruction of the old earth in Gods purifying judgment will immediately be followed by its resurrection to new life. Earths fiery end will open straight into a glorious new beginning.[1]
Of the resurrection the Christian will experience, the apostle Paul describes it this way: For we know that if our earthly tent which is our house is torn down, we have a building from God, a house not made by hands, eternal in the heavens. For indeed, we who are in this tent groan, being burdened, because we do not want to be unclothed but to be clothed, so that what is mortal will be swallowed up by life (2 Cor. 5:1, 4). Quite literally, the resurrection we will experience, the earth will experience too, and when the earth is resurrected what is mortal will be swallowed up by life.
What I find so amazing about Revelation 21 is that God will not stop with making all things new; He will also move His dwelling place from the present heaven to the new earth. God making His dwelling place with man on a new earth is His promise: Behold, the tabernacle of God is among the people, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them (Rev. 21:3). This has been the plan from day one.
Do you remember the two principles that God operates on? They are not the only principles, but they are important principles. The principles are the Incarnation Principle and the Grace Principle.
The Incarnation Principle: God does not need a building because He intends to dwell with His people.
The Grace Principle: God will do what only God is capable of doing apart from any help from any other person.
The plan was always for God to tabernacle with His people and the way that he would do it would be through a grace not conditioned on His creation, but totally and unconditionally upon His own sovereign will and infinite love.
Joy will be the Serious Business of the New Earth (vv. 5-8)
When God makes His dwelling place on earth with mankind, all that clouds your joy now will be no more. The love, joy, and happiness we will experience on the new earth will never crest, abate, or recede. As C.S. Lewis wrote in one of his books, Joy is the serious business of Heaven.[2] This is why we are told that only when God resurrects this dying and cursed creation, will He wipe away our tears: He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there by mourning, nor crying, nor pain any more, for the former things have passed away (21:4).
The new earth will be like the Garden of Eden but better; it will also be like heaven today, but better. We will enjoy physical bodies and a physical planet. We will enjoy a full and perfect creation that will include trees, mountains, and rivers. There will be one City the City of God where we will be able to go in and out of. We will run through the forests, climb mountains, eat amazing food, run barefoot through the prairies, enjoy the light of something more powerful and radiant than the sun, which will be the Glory of God Himself. We will dwell on a new earth that will never again know the cold of night, but only the light of a day illuminated by the Glory of God.
The new earth will be a place where, The wolf and the lamb will graze together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox; and dust will be the serpents food. says the Lord (Isa. 65:25). On the new earth, we will walk on streets of gold with those who have gone before us men and women like Adam and Eve, Abraham and Sarah, Moses, Daniel, David, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. We will be able to sit at a table and share a meal with Joseph and Job who suffered much in their lifetime. We will laugh with the Apostle Paul and Peter, and we may even go fishing with the rest of the apostles. When God makes all things new, our world will be a world of love in the purest sense.
Application
In his final book in his Narnia series, The Last Battle, on the final page, C.S. Lewis concludes his epic story with words that resonate with what we are promised in the Bible. Aslan, the great Lion and Christ-figure of Narnia had won just as Jesus has already won:
And as He spoke, He no longer looked to them like a lion; but the things that began to happen after that were so great and beautiful that I cannot write them. And for us this the end of all the stories, and we can most truly say that they all lived happily ever after. But for them it was only the beginning of the real story. All their life in this world and all their adventures in Narnia had only been the cover and the title page: now at last they were beginning Chapter One of the Great Story which no one on earth has read: which goes on forever: in which every chapter is better than the one before.
[1] Randy Alcorn. Heaven (Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.; 2004), p. 157.
[2] C.S. Lewis. Letters to Malcolm: Chiefly on Prayer (New York: Harcourt Brace Company; 1963), p. 93.

The King Who is Coming

In Revelation 19:11-18 is a description of Jesus that proceeds His reign on earth as promised King who will bring peace on earth. In our passage there are eight descriptions of King Jesus that highlight His authority and character as the Only One who is able to make what is wrong in our world right. Jesus is coming and will come to make peace in our world by waging war on the antichrist who is to come and all the peoples who will align themselves with Him. It will be the realization that perhaps there was some truth that all roads do in fact lead to God, with the major clarification that many lead to Him as judge and only one leads to Him as savior. All I want to do with the time that we have this morning is to show you who He really is.
Jesus is a triumphant King.
The color white does not symbolize purity here as it does when used to describe garments. The white war horse that Jesus descends from heaven on symbolizes His role as a conquering King, and what is impressive is that, in Revelation 19:1, the battle has not yet begun.
Jesus is coming back. You dont have to believe it and you dont even have to live like it, but the fact of the matter is this: Jesus is coming again, and He is not coming to die like He did the first time He came, He is coming to judge! The Bible says, at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father (Phil. 2:10-11; see also Isa. 45:22-23).
The Roman Senate had to give Julius Caesar permission to drive a chariot drawn by white horses through Rome to celebrate his victory in North Africa, but only after he defeated North Africa. When Jesus comes, He comes as a victorious King whose power will be demonstrated in such a way that every living creature will have no alternative but to bow before Him as the Lord. He rides a white horse signifying His victory because none can stay His hand.
Jesus is a Faithful and True King (v. 11a).
The second characteristic of Jesus is that He is faithful and true. When King Jesus comes to set up His kingdom, He will have no need to boast in a facade of faithfulness and truth because He is the very embodiment of faithfulness and truth.
There is a lot of suffering in the world today. Every time there is a catastrophe in the world, governments rush with promises of help and often those who are left in the wake of tsunamis, earthquakes, hurricanes, tornados, ethnic genocide, and the like, are left with empty promises of deliverance. Not so with Jesus!
My dear brothers and sisters, many of you have been touched by divorce. Some of you have grown up with one broken promise after another. Some of you have been disappointed, have been hurt, have been mistreated, or perhaps taken advantage of. Take a look at verse 11 again, and permit me to ask you, Who is sitting on the white horse? Jesus is planning an eternity with His Bride, and He means to make a home for her that is characterized by holiness and righteousness.
Jesus is a righteous King (v. 11b). When Jesus comes, He will come in righteousness to judge the nations. There will be no room to accuse Him as being harsh, rash, or unjust in the execution of His judgment.
For many of you, the idea of righteousness and justice is something you have been thinking a lot about because of the politicking we are seeing on television. An election will be coming soon in the United States; promises will be made, and every candidate will claim some measure of integrity while maligning the other candidates.
The wars we read about in our history books and the ones we hear on the news often leave a wake of injustice and suffering. Books have been written about The Just War. Whatever your views are concerning war and the one we may find ourselves in the future, one thing is sure: When Jesus comes to wage war on the nations, it will be completely and categorically just, for the Bible says of Jesus:
Then a shoot will spring from the stem of Jesse, and a Branch from his roots will bear fruit. The Spirit of the Lord will rest on Him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and strength, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord. And He will delight in the fear of the Lord, and He will not judge by what His eyes see, nor make decisions by what His ears hear; but with righteousness He will judge the poor, and decide with fairness for the humble of the earth; and He will strike the earth with the rod of His mouth, And with the breath of His lips He will slay the wicked. Also righteousness will be the belt around His hips, and faithfulness the belt around His waist. (Isaiah 11:15)
Jesus is an all-seeing King (v. 12a).
This is the third time in Revelation that Jesus is described as having eyes like fire (see 1:14; 2:18); every time He is characterized this way, it is metaphorical of His ability to see all things, including the human heart. As King, Jesus will execute justice on all those who have rejected Him as the way, the truth, and the life.
Jesus does not have to pretend at being able to see all things; He is able to see all things; He is all knowing, and the entire world will be held accountable for what they do and think, both in public and private. When He comes to judge the nations, He will do so intelligently, there will be no civilian casualties.
Jesus is the King of kings (v. 12b).
In verse 12b, John notices something on Jesus head: many crowns. The Greek word for crown is also diadēma (we get the word diadem from it), it also means rulers crown. It is used only three times in Revelation. It is used to describe the crown worn by the dragon (12:3), the beast (13:1), and Jesus Christ. The point that is being made here is that the dragon (Lucifer) and the beast pretend to be what Jesus is. Their authority is temporary and given by God, Jesus authority is absolute and universal (This is why John records that Jesus had many crowns. The use of many is one way of saying innumerable).
When Jesus comes, not only does John see many crowns on His head, but John also sees the title King of kings and Lord of lords on His robe and thigh. Every king or ruler that had been born into this world has had a temporal reign limited by age and mortality. When it comes to our lifespan, we are all like blips on a radar flashing on the screen of life and fading out just as quickly as we came in; James 4:14 asks, You do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. For you are just a vapor that appears for a little while, and then vanishes away. Jesus reign and authority is eternal and genuine, He does not need to pretend.
Jesus is a One-of-a-kind King (v. 12c)
There is a lot of debate and theologizing over what name Jesus has that no one knows. There are two things we know about the ancient world of Johns day that may help us understand why Jesus has a name that no one knows. First, it was common in the world of Johns day to believe that both the gods and humans had a hidden name that contained their true essence, that defined their fundamental nature. Second, it was believed that to know a persons name was to exercise some level of control over that person. What is revealed of the Rider on the white horse is that His revealed name is called, The Word of God and what is tattooed on His thigh is the title: King of kings and Lord of lords.
What we see in Revelation 19:11-18, Paul described in Philippians 2:9-11, which I believe helps us understand the unknown name that only He knows: For this reason also God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. What Paul wrote in Philippians 2:9-11 would have given his readers goosebumps because of what is written in Isaiah 45:22-23,
Declare and present your case; Indeed, let them consult together. Who has announced this long ago? Who has long since declared it? Is it not I, the Lord? And there is no other God besides Me, a righteous God and a Savior; there is none except Me. Turn to Me and be saved, all the ends of the earth; For I am God, and there is no other. I have sworn by Myself; The word has gone out from My mouth in righteousness And will not turn back, That to Me every knee will bow, every tongue will swear allegiance. (Isa. 45:2123)
According to Isaiah, only Yahweh has the right to judge the nations, and it is to Yahweh that every knee will bow, and every tongue will swear allegiance. Yet, Paul tells us that it will be before and to Jesus that, every tongue will swear allegiance and every knee will bow. Revelation 19:11-18 described the day when that will happen. The name that Jesus has that no one knows is reveals his absolute authority as God in the flesh who will not nor cannot be manipulated.
Jesus is a just and holy King (v 13a).
Why is Jesus robe dipped in blood? Is His robe dipped in blood to symbolize what He did at Calvary? I do not think so. I think Isaiah 63:2-3 gives us a clue to the meaning behind what John sees, Why is Your apparel red, And Your garments like one who treads in the wine press? I have trodden the wine trough alone, and from the peoples there was no one with Me. I also trod them in My anger and trampled them in My wrath; and their lifeblood is sprinkled on My garments, And I stained all My clothes (Isa. 63:13). Jesus robe is dipped in blood to indicate how He intends to deal with the nations that conspire against Him. How will He accomplish this? Look at verse 15, From His mouth comes a sharp sword, so that with it He may strike down the nations, and He will rule them with a rod of iron
The justice Jesus will execute will flow out of His perfect holiness; it is the kind of judgment described in Psalm 2
The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers conspire together against the Lord and against His Anointed, saying, Lets tear their shackles apart And throw their ropes away from us! He who sits in the heavens laughs, The Lord scoffs at them. Then He will speak to them in His anger and terrify them in His fury, saying, But as for Me, I have installed My King Upon Zion, My holy mountain. I will announce the decree of the Lord: He said to Me, You are My Son, Today I have fathered You. Ask it of Me, and I will certainly give the nations as Your inheritance, And the ends of the earth as Your possession. You shall break them with a rod of iron, You shall shatter them like earthenware. (Psalm 2:29)
Jesus, as the Word of God, is the Promised King.
Jesus is the Word of God, a title that is not unfamiliar in the New Testament. It is fitting that John closes his description of Jesus with this title because it gets at the reason why Jesus is qualified to come and judge the nations: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him not even one thing came into being that has come into being. In Him was life, and the life was the Light of mankind. And the Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not grasp it (John 1:15).
However, while on earth, even with all the miracles that include His power over demons, disease, and even death (see Mark 5:1-43) the feeding of thousands with some kids five barley loaves and two fish (John 6:1-14), walking on water (6:15-25), and even His power over storms (Matt. 8::18-27), there were people who still refused to believe that He was the promised Messiah. This is why John continued in the opening statements of his Gospel account something to consider against the backdrop of what you have seen in Revelation 19:11-18, He was in the world, and the world came into being through Him, and yet the world did not know Him. He came to His own, and His own people did not accept Him. But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name, who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of a man, but of God (John 1:1013).
Conclusion
As I consider this sermon series for Adventespecially what we have reflected on in Revelation 19, I am reminded of the conversation Lucy had with Mr. Beaver in C.S. Lewis The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe when Mr. and Mrs. Beaver tried to help Lucy understand who Aslan was (Aslan is Narnias Christ figure):
"Is - is he a man?" asked Lucy
"Aslan a man!" said Mr. Beaver sternly. "Certainly not. I tell you he is the King of the wood and the son of the great Emperor-Beyond-the-Sea. Don't you know who is the King of Beasts? Aslan is a lion, the Lion, the great Lion."
"Ooh," said Susan, "I thought he was a man. Is he - quite safe? I shall feel rather nervous about meeting a lion."
"That you will, dearie, and make no mistake," said Mrs. Beaver; "if there's anyone who can appear before Aslan without their knees knocking, they're either braver than most or else just silly."
"Then he isn't safe?" said Lucy.
"Safe?" said Mr. Beaver; "don't you hear what Mrs. Beaver tells you? Who said anything about safe? 'Course he isn't safe. But he's good. He's the king I tell you."
The Lion of Judah is not safe, but He is good. Hes the king I tell you, and His name is Jesus Christ.
The question I ask of you is simply this: Who do you say Jesus is and do you really believe it? Have you come to know Him? Do you really believe in His name? Is Jesus a religious icon to you, is He only a baby in a manger, or is He the King? Wherever you are in your thoughts and convictions about Jesus, I leave you with the last two verses of Psalm 2, Serve the Lord with reverence and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, that He not be angry and you perish on the way, For His wrath may be kindled quickly. How blessed are all who take refuge in Him" (vv. 11-12).

Behold the King in a Manger!

I was thinking the other day that the manger that Jesus was laid in was dirty compared to our standards today. It is estimated that Jesus was most likely born in March or April. We are not entirely sure what kind of room he was born in, but the fact that there was a manger (feeding trough) gives us some idea that it was where the animals were kept.
So, what was in the stable Jesus was most likely born in? If there were donkeys, cattle, sheep, or chickens, there was also the smell of manure and urine, cattle-biting lice, a whole bunch of annoying species of flies common in the middle east known as the Bazaar Rly (known to spread trachoma an irritating eye disease). Do not forget the common Stable Fly that would have been feeding on the blood of the livestock surrounding Mary, Joseph, and baby Jesus. By the way the Stable Flies Mary and Joseph shooed away from Jesus may have carried anthrax. My guess is, there were most likely rats and mice along with all the diseases they carry.
The manger was a feeding trough and before they prepared it to lay Jesus in, there was no Clorox to disinfect it from it being used for animals to eat from, drool into, and maybe even sneeze out an occasional maggot that crawled up into the snouts of certain animals to live in their throats. I am sure Joseph did his best to clean out the manger, but then you have the bedding to consider, which would have been straw infested with straw itch mites. So the first group of people invited to see the Christ-Child are dirty shepherds?
My point is simply this: The One born King of the Jews made His grand entrance into our world through the mess of a stable. But why that way? It was of Jesus that the ancient prophets declared:
Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and she will name Him Immanuel. (Isa. 7:14)
For a Child will be born to us, a Son will be given to us and His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace. (Isa. 9:6)
But as for you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, Too little to be among the clans of Judah, From you One will come forth for Me to be ruler in Israel. His times of coming forth are from long ago, From the days of eternity. (Mic. 5:2)
Why a stable? Before I answer that question, I want us to reflect on Hebrews 1:1-3 briefly. In only three verses, we are given nine reasons for why there is a good reason for the shepherds, a stable, and a manger.
Jesus is the Only Way to Know God. The best and greatest revelation of who God is according to the author of Hebrews, is Jesus. According to the prophet Micah, Jesus did not become the Son of God at Marys miraculous conception as a virgin or at His birth; no Jesus was always God the Son long before His birth, for His times of coming forth are from long ago, from the days of eternity (Mic. 5:2).
What did happen when Mary was told that she would have a child, is that Jesus took on human flesh, and He did so to live a life while remaining fully divine and fully human, and the life He lived was the life we could not live for the purpose of dying a death he did not deserve on a cross for the sins of mankind. Jesus said of Himself: For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost (Luke 19:10).
Jesus is the heir of all things. The One laid in the manger, was and remains the heir of all things. All of creation belongs to Him; it was His from the beginning, but it is especially His now! The Bible says that all of us are sinners from the moment of conception in that we are all born sinful. When Jesus took on human flesh by way of the miraculous conception that did not include a human biological father, he was born without a nature to sin. Jesus was fully God while remaining fully human.
For sinful humanity and a cursed creation to be liberated from sin, a kinsmen redeemer was needed. If a family member lost their inheritance and property for any reason, a kinsmen redeemer was needed who met three requirements: He must be related to the person who suffered lost, he must have the ability to purchase back what was lost, and he must be willing to make the sacrifice necessary to restore what was lost. Ever since Adam and Eve sinned against God, the curse of sin has been passed down from one generation to the next. The child that was laid in a manger is the kinsmen redeemer qualified to restore what was lost through Adams sin.
Jesus is the Creator of the world. Jesus not only existed before His birth on the first Christmas, but we are also told that it was through Him that God made the world. The Bible says of Jesus: for by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones, or dominions, or rulers, or authoritiesall things have been created through Him and for Him (Col. 1:16). The one who was laid in the manger, was responsible for the material that human hands used to fashion it, which also shows us that only is Jesus a qualified redeemer, but He is also an able redeemer.
Jesus radiates the glory of God. Jesus does not reflect the image of God like the moon reflects the Suns light. No, Jesus radiates the glory of God like the Sun radiates light. Jesus was not created by God but is God. There was never a time when Jesus was created because there was never a time when He was not the Son. The God of the Bible is unlike any other god that people have created to worship, for the God we learn of in the Bible is Yahweh as One God in three persons: Father, Son, and Spirit.
Jesus is exact representation of Gods nature. I have two sons; they share my DNA but they are not me nor are they the exact representation of me. There is a Son who shares the exact representation of Gods nature, and that Son is Jesus, for the God the Son and the God the Father are of the same divine essence; this is how Jesus is the climax of Gods revelation of Himself to lost humanity. When one of his disciples asked Jesus, Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us. To which Jesus answered: The one who has seen Me has seen the Father; how can you say, Show us the Father? Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father is in Me? (John 14:8-9).
When Mary, Joseph, and the shepherds saw the face of Jesus, the saw the face of God.
Jesus is the sustainer of creation. The mystery of the incarnation and miracle of Christmas is that the one who was laid in a manger, is the One who sustains and keeps creation, by the word of His power. What the author of Hebrews is trying to say here is that the Son of God is not only responsible for creation, but actively preserves creation! This is why Jesus could walk on water, cure diseases, raise the dead, and quiet storms with the word of His mouth.
Jesus is a qualified and willing redeemer. The One who was laid in the manger was born to make purification of sins, and the way that he did it was through a cross of wood for sins we committed and are guilty of. This is why, when John the Baptist saw Jesus, he said: Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29)! Hundreds of years before Christmas happened, the prophet Isaiah wrote of Jesus: But He was pierced for our offenses, He was crushed for our wrongdoings; the punishment for our well-being was laid upon Him, and by His wounds we are healed (Isa. 53:5). The Christ-Child was born to become a curse for us so that we could be pardoned, redeemed, and made the children of God (Gal. 3:13-14); or as the Bible states: He made Him who knew no sin to be sin in our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him (2 Cor. 5:21).
Jesus is the only one who can save. After Jesus died upon the cross for our sins for our redemption, we are told that Jesus, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high What this means is that because of who He is and why He took on human flesh, after He died, Jesus rose from the grave because how can death keep the Author of Life? After Jesus rose, He ascended to heaven, and He sat down! He sat down because his sacrifice for sin only had to be offered once and for all! This is why Jesus said of Himself: I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father except through Me (John 14:6). Besides Jesus, there is salvation found in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among mankind by which we must be saved (Acts. 4:12).
Jesus is to be worshiped because of who He is. The child born on the first Christmas and laid in a dirty manger surrounded by dirty creatures, of which Mary, Joseph, the Shepherds, and every other human is the dirtiest; He was born to save sinners. Of Jesus the scriptures testify: And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death: death on a cross. For this reason also God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth (Phil. 2:810).
The question for you my dear friend, is what will you do with Jesus today, on this Christmas Eve?
The reality of Christmas is simply this: Jesus was really born. Jesus really did live, Jesus really did die on a Roman cross, and Jesus really did rise from the grave. J.R. Tolken, who wrote The Lord of the Rings, once said of the story of Jesus: The Gospels contain a fairy-story, or a story of a larger kind, which embraces all the essence of fairy-stories. But this story is supreme, and it is true. Art has been verified. God is the Lord, of angels, and of menand of elves. Legend and History have met and fused.[1]
The reason Jesus made His grand entrance into our world through the mess of a stable is because He was born to enter into the mess of sin-cursed humanity. The message of the manger is simply this: If you were a hundred times worse than you are, your sins would be no match for His mercy.[2] Jesus came to save us!
[1] J. R. R. Tolkien. On Fairy Stories, (1939).
[2] Tim Keller.

The King of Glory

God is a Trinity in that He is One God in three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. In his book, Delighting in the Trinity, Michael Reeves wrote of the Trinity: If the Trinity were something we could shave off God, we would not be relieving him of some irksome weight; we would be shearing him of precisely what is so delightful about him. For God is triune, and it is as triune that he is so good and desirable.[1] Fed Sanders in his book, The Deep Things of God, wrote:
God is eternally Trinity, because triunity belongs to his very nature. Things like creation and redemption are things God does, and he would still be God if he had not done them. But Trinity is who God is, and without being the Trinity, he would not be God. God minus creation would still be God, but God minus Father, Son, and Holy Spirit would not be God. So when we praise God for being our creator and redeemer, we are praising him for what he does. But behind what God does is the greater glory of who he is: behind his act is his being.[2]
To appreciate the glory of the King who was born on the first Christmas, you must understand what it is that sets the God of the Bible apart from every cult and religion is that the God in the Bible is One God in Three (Trinity) Persons. What this means is that there was never a time when Jesus was created because there was never a time when He was not the Son.
What happened that never happened before and never will happen again is in the angels announcement to Mary: behold, you will conceive in your womb and give birth to a son, and you shall name Him Jesus (Luke 1:31)? What happened that was new was God the Son took on human flesh by being conceived in the womb of a virgin. What was new was that God the Son also became the Son of Mary (Luke 1:31, 35). Represented in the Christ Child was, the union of undiminished deity and perfect humanity forever in one person.
The message of advent is simply this: The plan was always for a King to reign in Israel over all the nations. In passages like Isaiah 44:6-8, Yahweh was to be King over Israel. We are told in verse 6, This is what Yahweh says, He who is the King of Israel and his Redeemer, Yahweh of armies: I am the first and I am the last, and there is no God besides Me. In 2 Samuel 7:13, we read of how king David was promised that a very human descendant of his would reign as king forever: He shall build a house for My name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. Both Isaiah 44:6-8 and 2 Samuel 7:13 come together in the promise of Isaiah 9:6-7,
For a Child will be born to us, a Son will be given to us; And the government will rest on His shoulders; And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace. There will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace On the throne of David and over his kingdom, To establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness From then on and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of armies will accomplish this. (Isaiah 9:67)
The glorious reality of the Trinity is that the Son was always the King of Isaiah 44 and Isaiah 9, and the incarnation allowed Him to be all of Isaiah 44:6-8 and Isaiah 9:6-7 while at the same time becoming the Son of David (2 Sam. 7:8-17) through the virgin birth (Luke 1:26-38).
Jesus is the Means for Our Redemption (vv. 4-8)
The book of Revelation was written to suffering Christians who needed encouragement. There was much that John suffered because of his association with Jesus, and although he most likely was not martyred for his faith, many of his friends were.
If you believe that the purpose of the book of Revelation is primarily about how the world will end, you have missed the point of the book entirely. We are told why it was written in its opening verses: The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show to His bondservants, the things which must soon take place (v. 1). When you are in a season of long-term suffering, it is easy to grow weary believing that there will be no end to such suffering. The book of Revelation was written to encourage suffering Christians that their suffering had an expiration date while their salvation would remain nonperishable.
Before we are told about what is coming, John first tells us what has already happened. In just three short verses, the apostle lists for us seven reasons why we can be confident that our suffering is not how our story will end:
John to the seven churches that are in Asia: Grace to you and peace from Him who is, and who was, and who is to come, and from the seven spirits who are before His throne, and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To Him who loves us and released us from our sins by His bloodand He made us into a kingdom, priests to His God and Fatherto Him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen. (Rev. 1:46)
The grace and peace of verse 4 is from three persons. The One, who is, and who is to come is God the Father, the seven spirits is a reference to the Holy Spirit,[3] and, the grace and peace that is for the Christian is from Jesus Christ. Seven is an important number in the Bible, especially in the book of Revelation and its use is symbolic of fullness. In these opening verses, John lists seven ways Jesus birth, life, death, and resurrection benefits the Christian:
Jesus is a faithful witness in the way He lived, died, and rose from the grave. His life is our example, and we are to look to Him as we, run with endurance the race that is set before us looking only at Jesus, the originator and perfector of the faith (Heb. 12:1-2).
Jesus is the first born of the dead in that he suffered and died, but He did not stay dead. Jesus conquered death, which means that our death will eventually lead to a resurrection too.
Jesus is the ruler of the kings of the earth in that He is sovereign over all earthly powers to the point that no king can destroy what Jesus loves and treasures.
Jesus loves us and His love for His Church is not fleeting, fragile, or conditional.
Jesus released us from our sins by His blood in that He shed His blood on a cross of wood by becoming a curse for us to free us from the curse of sin in perpetuity.
Jesus made us into a kingdom in that the citizenship of the Christian is in the realm of Jesus kingdom.
Jesus made us into priests who were once alienated from God, are now reconciled to God, and called to participate in the mission of God as His ambassadors.
Because God the Father so loved the world, He sent Jesus the Son who completed all that was needed for our redemption, through the power of the Holy Spirit. Because we are recipients of the first advent of Christs coming, we now long for the second advent of His coming which, according to verses 8-9 is as good as done: Behold, He is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see Him, even those who pierced Him; and all the tribes of the earth will mourn over Him. So it is to be. Amen. I am the Alpha and the Omega, says the Lord God, who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty (Rev. 1:78).
This is why the angel was able to announce to lowly shepherds that the birth of Jesus was good news: Do not be afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of great joy which will be for all the people; for today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord (Luke 2:1011). So, we rejoice with the hymn writer who wrote of Jesus:
He makes the rebel a priest and a king,
He has bought us and taught us this new song to sing:
Unto Him who has loved us and washed us from sin,
Unto Him be the glory forever. Amen.[4]
Jesus is the Glory of Our Redemption (vv. 9-16)
In Revelation 1:9-16, John sees the glory of the One who was laid in a manger on the first Christmas, what he lists for us are nine characteristics of Jesus glory that come together in Him being fully God and fully manjust as the number 7 symbolizes fullness or completeness, the number 9 symbolizes perfection. Here are the nine things John sees in a Jesus who, because of the incarnation now is fully God and fully Man for the rest of eternity:
Jesus stands in the middle of the seven lampstands. The lampstand John sees was like the menorah used in Solomons temple that symbolized the seven days of creation. It was one lampstand with seven lamps. Remember that seven symbolizes fullness; the seven churches are both seven literal churches that symbolize the global Church. Jesus is both Lord of the Church and the center of the Church because He purchased her with His blood. He is the groom, and the Church is His Bride. In the manger was laid the groom of the Church!
Jesus is clothed in a robe wearing a golden sash. The clothing Jesus is wearing when John sees Him is that of both a High Priest and a King. Jesus stands in the midst of His Church as the King and He stands serving as the High Priest whose perfect sacrifice was Himself for the atonement for sins, sins we are guilty of. The one laid in a manger was born to die for sinners: Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for usfor it is written: Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree (Gal. 3:13).
Jesus head and hair are white like white wool. Jesuss head and hair are white because before He was born in flesh, he was for all eternity the Ancient of Days spoken of by the prophet Daniel, I kept looking Until thrones were set up, And the Ancient of Days took His seat; His garment was white as snow, And the hair of His head like pure wool (Dan. 7:9). The one laid in a manger is the Ancient of Days who stands as the groom, High Priest of His Church because He is Him who is, Holy, holy, holy
Jesus eyes are like a flame of fire. What is the point? Christian, you are the Church, and although you may be weary and tired the Groom of the Church does not grow weary or tired! The One laid in a manger sees you and sees all that is wrong in the world; His eyes are like a flame of fire because the judgment He will bring will make all that is wrong in our world right and good, for when He comes, he will come to make His blessings flow as far as the curse is found.
Jesus feet are like burnished and glowing bronze. His feet of bronze symbolize the strength of Jesus as both King and Savior who will crush His enemies, of which the first enemy was death. He is Lord of His Church who stands in the midst of His Bride which means that NO ONE can remove His lampstands from Him; the One whose feet are like burnished bronze is He who declared: My sheep listen to My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; and I give them eternal life, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand (John 10:2728).
Jesus voice is like the sound of many waters. Like the continuous waves of the ocean or the roar of Niagara Falls to the tenth power the cries of the infant child from Marys womb on the first Christmas to the triumphant cry from the Cross: It is finished! is the voice of the Ancient of Days; when He speaks creation happens, demons flee, the lame walk, the sick are cured, and the dead become the living! The voice that John heard is the voice of omnipotent power and absolute authority.
Jesus holds in His right hand the seven stars. Whoever or whatever the seven stars are, the point is that Jesus holds them in His right hand, which is the hand of strength. The point is that there is only One King of kings and One Lord of lords; it was a reminder that although Rome had her emperor who sentenced John to Patmos, there is only One true Sovereign! Jesus is sovereign over empires, He is sovereign over the cosmos, He is sovereign over life and death! The One laid in the manger, is the One, before all things, and in Him all things hold together (Col. 1:17).
From Jesus mouth comes a sharp two-edged sword. The sharp two-edged sword is symbolic of the life and power of Christs Word. What comes out of the mouth of King Jesus is, living and active, and sharper than any two-edge sword (Heb. 4:12). Philip Hughes said of the sword John saw come out of Jesus mouth: The sword which is the Lords word has two edges [so] it never fails to cut. If it does not cut with the edge of salvation, it cuts with the edge of condemnation; for the word of redemption to all who believe is at the same time the word of destruction to those who refuse to believe.[5]
Jesus face is like the sun shining in its strength. In the face of Christ, John sees what we must see in Jesus: To have Him shine upon you as your savior and redeemer who was born to live the life you could never live to die a death that you deserved to die is to have the face of God shine upon you. In the face of Jesus is the union of undiminished deity and perfect humanity forever in one person.
What John saw in Revelation 1:4-18 was, is, and forever will remain the only version of Jesus that exists. The Jesus that John saw and experienced was not a Jesus who became the Son of God through the virgin birth, but He has always been the Son of God! It is this Jesus the prophet Jeremiah wrote about hundreds of years before the Christ Child was laid in a manger on the first Christmas: Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, When I will raise up for David a righteous Branch; And He will reign as king and act wisely and do justice and righteousness in the land. In His days Judah will be saved, And Israel will live securely; And this is His name by which He will be called, Yahweh Our Righteousness. (Jer. 23:56). To worship any other Jesus besides this Jesus is to embrace a version of Jesus who cannot save!
Conclusion: Jesus is the Goal of Our Redemption (vv. 17-18)
After John experiences this Jesus, we are told that he, fell at His feet like a dead man. I am not sure if that means John had a heart attack or what, but what I do know is that Jesus placed his right hand on the apostle and said something that should now be clearer to you than when you first arrived this morning: Do not be afraid; I am the first and the last, and the living One; and I was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys to death and of Hades (vv. 17-18).
What does all this mean? What it means is this: the child born to Mary was, is, and forever will be fully God and fully Man who was born to save sinners like you and me. The Jesus of Revelation 1:4-18 took on human flesh and was born on the very first Christmas. If the manger could speak to all in attendance as it held the One identified as the Ancient of Days, the Prince of Peace, and Yahweh our Righteousness it would say, If you were a hundred times worse than you are. Your sins would be no match for His mercy.[6]
Amen.
[1] Michael Reeves, Delighting in the Trinity (Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic; 2012); p. 9.
[2] Fred Sanders, The Deep Things of God (Wheaton, IL: Crossway; 2017); p. 75
[3] The number seven is symbolic of fullness and is used here as a reference to the fullness of the Holy Spirits work in the lives of Gods people (see Isa. 11:2; Rev. 3:1; 4:5; 5:6).
[4] Joel R. Beeke, Revelation (Grand Rapids, MI: Reformation Heritage Books; 2016); p. 26.
[5] Ibid. pp. 46-7.
[6] Tim Keller.

The King Needed

We have sanitized the Christmas story and made it clean and cute but think for a moment of what the Christmas story includes. The Christmas story is not only the announcement to Mary and Joseph of Jesus miraculous conception in Marys womb while remaining a virgin, it is not only the pronouncement to lowly shepherds keeping watch over their flocks by night, nor is it simply the visit of the magi. The Christmas story is far more than a nativity scene!
Think about Jesus resurrection and all the details that surround it. In a culture that did not have much regard for women, it was a woman who first witnessed the resurrection of Jesus. If the gospel writers made up the story of Jesus resurrection, they would not have chosen women to be the first to witness the greatest event in history.
In Matthews gospel account, to whom Jews were the primary audience, it is the magi who are included at the beginning of his story in connection to proving the point that the infant Jesus was indeed qualified as the rightful heir of King David. The irony in this is that if you are going to tell a story about Jesus and the motive in doing so is to prove to every Jewish reader that He is the Messiah and greater than David, why in the world would you insert magi into your story?Who were the magi you ask? The magi were royal counselors who used astrology for guidance. Do you know what the Old Testament says about astrology? The Bible forbids the practice of astrology (Deut. 4:9) and uses strong language against it (Isa. 47:13-15).
So, why would Matthew include the magi in his story about the life of Jesus? Because God summoned gentile pagans to the Savior of the nations by speaking a language that they could understand.
Do you not find it to be both ironic and encouraging that the story of the pagan magi and a woman with a shady past serve as book ends of the four gospels included in the Bible to show us that Jesus is not just the King of the Jews, but also the Savior of the world. Jesus is Gods Yes! to all of His promises of which the one made to Abraham is no exception: And I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great; and you shall be a blessing; and I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed (Gen. 12:2-3). Through Jesus, a son of Abraham and David, the nations are blessed the invitation of the magi and Mary Magdalene to witness the two most extraordinary events in human history is testament to Jesus as the hope of the nations.
God Wields Time and Space for His Own Sovereign Designs
We are not told how many magi saw the star and we are not given the exact longitude and latitude from where their journey began. All that we are told is that magi were from the East. Now, as I mentioned last week, there are two principals at work that made the first Christmas possible; those principles are: 1) the incarnational principle, and 2) the grace principle.
The promise, birth, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus was never plan B but always plan A in the mind of God, because His intention was always to dwell with His people. The principle of the incarnation is seen in the Garden of Eden before Adam and Eves sin, Israels experience with God in the wilderness, and in the promise of Isaiah 7:14, Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and she will name Him Immanuel. Matthew is quick to point out that Immanuel means God with us. Connected to the incarnation principle is the principle of Gods unconditional grace in that when it came to the virgin birth, there was nothing anyone could have done to make it happen or to prevent it from happening; Christmas happened all because of Gods unconditional and unmerited grace.
It was the apostle Paul who wrote: But when the fullness of the time came, God sent His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, so that He might redeem those under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons and daughters (Gal. 4:4-5). In Matthew and Luke we are provided two separate genealogies that demonstrate this. In Luke 3:23-38 we receive what many scholars believe to be Marys genealogy since the point of Lukes gospel is to show Jesus humanity. In Matthew 1:1-17, we are given Josephs genealogy showing Jesus legal standing as a member of the tribe of Judah as the rightful heir to Davids throne, but before we look at Josephs decision to follow through with his marriage to Mary, I want you to see why the magi are so important to Matthews gospel. For now, what you need to know is that God moved history, empires, and kings so that Joseph and Mary would meet, fall in love, and get engaged with a plan to start a family together.
Sandwiched in between the time Mary and Josephs genealogies represent, is the 70 years much of the tribe of Judah was carried off into exile into Babylon (see Jer. 29:10). Babylons method of exile was to ingraft their culture into the culture of the Hebrews. What was threatened by the Babylonian exile was the preservation of the tribe of Judah. One of the Hebrews exiled into Babylon was a young man by the name of Daniel. God had gifted Daniel as a prophet and used him to speak into the life of one of the kings of Babylon known as Nebuchadnezzar. Daniel spent all of his long life as an exile, but for purposes related to this sermon, I want to turn your attention to the time Nebuchadnezzar had a dream of a huge statue made of four distinct types of material with a head of gold, a chest and arms made of silver, a belly and thighs made of bronze, legs of iron, and feet made of both iron and clay.
The Chaldeans were summoned by the king to interpret his dream without being told what dream Nebuchadnezzar had. The Chaldeans were also known as Babylons wise men, and because they told the king that to interpret a dream without being told about the dream was impossible, Nebuchadnezzar threatened death upon all the wise men who could not interpret his dream (Dan. 2:1-18). Because the God Daniel worshiped is the God who can do the impossible he revealed the dream and its meaning to Daniel. Before Daniel interpreted Nebuchadnezzars dream, he praised God with these words: May the name of God be blessed forever and ever, for wisdom and power belong to Him. It is He who changes the times and periods; He removes king and appoints kings; He gives wisdom to wise men, and knowledge to people of understanding (Dan. 2:20-21).
Daniel told the king what he dreamed and then interpreted it for him. The kingdoms represented in the different materials of the statute included Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, and Rome. There was a fifth kingdom represented in Nebuchadnezzars dream that was separate from the statute which was in the form of a stone not cut out by human hands that struck the statues feet which resulted in the crushing of the entire statue. Here is Daniels interpretation of the stone that destroyed the earthly kingdoms: And in the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which will never be destroyed, and that kingdom will not be left for another people; it will crush and put an end to all these kingdoms, but it will itself endure forever (Dan. 2:44). Guess what the king did next after Daniel finished interpreting his dream? He promoted Daniel as ruler over the entire province of Babylon and chief over, all the wise men of Babylon (vv. 46-49).
I dont think the magi worshiped the same God of Daniel, but I do think they could trace their roots all the way back to Babylon, and I am convinced that their interest in finding the King of the Jews was related to the stone that was in Nebuchadnezzars dream. I think they included in their studies of the stars any sacred document related to Daniels people in an effort to find and discover the King of the Kingdom that Daniels God would set up that will have no end. If the magi were familiar with Micah 5:2 and its connection they made with Numbers 24:17, which states: A star shall appear from Jacob, a scepter shall rise from Israel (see Matt. 2:1-6), dont you think they were also familiar with Isaiah 9:6-7? I think that the magi connected the dots in the Old Testament and believed that Micah 5:2; Numbers 24:17, Isaiah 7:14 and 9:6-7 were about the One a powerful pagan Babylonian king dreamed about 500 years before Jesus was born:
For a Child will be born to us, a Son will be given to us; and the government will rest on His shoulders; and His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace. There will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace on the throne of David and over his kingdom, To establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness from then on and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of armies will accomplish this.
The way that God spoke to the magi was through a language they could understand as they looked to the stars the God of Daniel created. We are not told how God did it, but He was able to lead the magi with a star because He is the One, who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think (Eph. 3:20)!
God Shatters the Assumptions of Man Through His Redemptive Plans
Now back to Joseph and Marys genealogies and personal lives. Following Gods promise to Abraham that He would bless him by making him a great nation and a blessing to the nations were 430 years of Egyptian slavery, 40 years in the wilderness, and 70 years in exile. There were some good years in-between those hard years of slavery, wilderness wandering, and exilic discipline, but during those seasons, I am pretty sure that it was difficult for the Hebrew people to see any silver lining or hope that God would, or could, turn the ugly around into something beautiful, but what Joseph and Marys genealogy shows us is that is exactly what God was doing with the 430 years of Egyptian slavery, 40 years in the wilderness, and 70 years in exile!
Gods plan for Israel and the nations always included a king, but not any old king. The king God intended was a King both human and divine. The plan was never for Israel only to have a human king just like David, nor was His plan of Israel to be only divine. Jesus was always plan A and never plan B. Let me briefly show what I mean by reminding you what we have looked at in the Bible during this series so far. In Exodus 19:6, God said of Israel after their deliverance from Egypt and as a people large enough to be their own nation: and you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. What would set Israel apart from all the other nations, is that Yahweh would be their King. In Isaiah 44:6 we are told what kind of King to Israel Yahweh is: This is what the Lord says, He who is the King of Israel and his Redeemer, the Lord of armies: I am the first and I am the last, and there is no God besides Me. In other words, Yahweh is King, Redeemer, the Almighty One, eternal, and unlike any other god of the nations in that He is utterly unique! Just as we see in the first two chapters in Genesis before Adam and Eves fall, Yahweh would be King over His people.
Yet, in Genesis 49:10, God spoke through Jacob to Judah long before Israel was ever a nation and promised: The scepter will not depart from Judah, nor the rulers staff from between his feet, until Shiloh comes, and to him shall be the obedience of the peoples. Then when we come to 2 Samuel 7:13, we discover God planned for Israel that not only would the obedience of the nations belong to a human king from the tribe of Judah, but a King who, shall build a house for My name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. Furthermore, we are told in Psalm 2 that this King will rule the nations with a rod of iron but will also be One in Whom all who find refuge in Him will be blessed (vv. 8-12). In Psalm 110, David says of his descendant who will be King over the nations: Yahweh says to my Lord: Sit at My right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet (v. 1). So, what kind of human King can be a physical descendant of David, have the obedience of the nations, and not be subject to the limitations of death because His reign will be eternal? The kind of King the magi sought, Mary would carry while a virgin, and Joseph would become the legal but nonbiological father of.
Both Mary and Josephs bloodline could be traced back to David, Abraham, and Adam. The problem with sin is that it is passed down from the father to his child, for we are told in the Bible: Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all mankind, because all sinned. Nevertheless death reigned from Adam until Moses, even over those who had not sinned in the likeness of the violation committed by Adam (Rom. 5:12, 14). Sin is a genetically transmitted curse passed down from a mans sperm cell to a womans embryonic egg. For Jesus to be the rightful and legal heir of Davids throne, he needed to be a legal son of a man who was from the tribe of JudahJoseph qualified to be that man. For Jesus to be conceived without the curse and plague of sin being passed down to him while remaining a descendant of David, Abraham, and Adam, He had to be conceived and born of woman without biological requirement of a human sperm cell from Joseph. This is why the angel explained to Mary how she could be pregnant: The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; for that reason also the holy Child will be called the Son of God (Luke 1:35).
Conclusion
The stakes for Joseph and Mary were very high. If Joseph followed through with ending his relationship with Mary because of a refusal to believe that her pregnancy was a miraculous act of Almighty God through His Holy Spirit, then Jesus would not have been qualified legally to be King of the Jews. Regarding Marys pregnancy, there was no turning back; she could not walk away from her pregnancy like Joseph could have. However, both Mary and Joseph chose to trust the God who sovereignly wields time and space for his redemptive plans even though it blew to ashes any assumptions they had for what was impossible or possible. Together, Mary and Joseph would raise the One the magi sought to find, the one read and studied about from the prophet Micah: But as for you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you One will come forth for Me to be ruler in Israel. His times of coming forth are from long ago, from the days of eternity.
When the magi found Jesus, they appropriately worshiped Him and brought to Him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh fit for the kind of King Nebuchadnezzar dreamed about 500 years earlier. The treasure for the magi, Joseph, and Mary was Jesus, and having Him in their lives was truly a source of great joy. There are two important lessons from Matthew 1:18-2:12 that I want to briefly mention and think more deeply upon next week:
In the same way that God wielded time and space to make the virgin birth a reality and the visit of the magi a possibility, God has done, is doing, and will do to accomplish his redemptive purposes in and through your life. Your circumstances and sins are swallowed up by an infinitely greater God who bears the title: Redeemer.
If God is able to move time and space to accomplish His redemptive purposes for mankind even in the 430 years of Egyptian slavery, 40 years in the wilderness, and 70 years in exile, dont you think he can do the same in the midst of the circumstances of your life caused by your own sin? Do you really think that your problems are greater than Gods ability to turn your life around?
In order to experience the great joy that Jesus brought to Mary, Joseph, and the magi they had to let go of their assumptions, dreams, future, and safety for the purpose of embracing Jesus as the One promised in Isaiah 9:6-7,
For a Child will be born to us, a Son will be given to us; and the government will rest on His shoulders; and His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace. There will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness from then on and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of armies will accomplish this.
In order for you to embrace Jesus as Savior, it will require you to trust Him as Lord over and in your life. To find Jesus the Savior will require that you let go of your idols to experience Him as Redeemer. To say yes to Jesus will mean that you will have to say no to the idols of your heart.
Christmas is about Jesus as the type of King we need!

The King Promised

There was an ancient prophesy given to one of Jacobs sons by the name of Judah, but I share it with you, I want to tell you something about Judah. Judah grew up under the faith of his father Jacob. No doubt that he heard the stories of how God met him and wrestled with him all night and how afterwards changed his birth name to Israel. My guess is that when Judah was a child, he may have asked: Daddy, where did you get that limp? What we know of Judah, was that the faith of his mother and father was not enough; Judah needed his own encounter with God.
What you need to know about Judah was that even though he was warned by his father that God forbade His people from marrying Canaanite women because they would turn his heart away from God, Judah married a Canaanite woman anyway (Gen. 38:1-2). Judah fathered three sons with his Canaanite wife who all grew up to be evil men. The oldest of Judahs sons was Er for whom Judah found a wife for by the name of Tamar. However, before Er and Tamar could begin a family together, God killed Er because of how wicked he had become; the same thing happened to Judahs second son. Tamar was without a husband and therefore in her mind, was without any hope; in the culture and time Tamar lived, to be childless and a widow essentially was to be left vulnerable with only two options: prostitution or death (read Genesis 38 for the full story).
After Judahs wife died and Tamar heard that he was going up to Timnah to shear sheep, she dressed the part of a prostitute and sat in a place Judah would see her (v. 14). Tamars plan worked out as she hoped; Judah saw her and paid her for (vv. 15-16). What is even more disturbing about the whole encounter Judah had with Tamar was that she was believed to be a cult prostitute which gives us some sense for Judahs religious convictions. The result was that Tamar got pregnant by her father-in-law and gave birth to twins. To be fair, there is much more to Judah and Tamars story, and Judah eventually does the right thing after he found out that it was his daughter-in-law that was pregnant with his children, but what led up to the twins that were born to Tamar was one big mess! Yet, it was to Judah that God promised the following:
As for you, Judah, your brothers shall praise you; Your hand shall be on the neck of your enemies; Your fathers sons shall bow down to you. Judah is a lions cub; from the prey, my son, you have gone up. He crouches, he lies down as a lion, and as a lion, who dares to stir him up? The scepter will not depart from Judah, Nor the rulers staff from between his feet, Until Shiloh comes, And to him shall be the obedience of the peoples. (Genesis 49:810)
Guess who is included in Jesus family tree? Perez, one of the twins born to Tamar. Seven generations after Perez, Boaz was born who would marry Ruth, and together they would have a son (Obed), whose grandson would be named David. If you examine Jesus family tree carefully, what you will discover are highly dysfunctional people who made a mess of their lives. If you think you made a mess of your life, you will find great company in the Bible of people who have done the same who experience a God who entered into their mess.
The Type of House David Wanted to Build
Of all of Israels kings mentioned in the Bible, David is the one king by whom all other kings are compared. David is the one king of whom God identified as, A man after My heart, who will do all My will (1 Sam. 13:14; Acts 13:22).
Some of the highlights of Davids life include the courage to face the giant called Goliath when all of Israels army, including Saul as their king, were afraid to fight him; David fought the giant with a sling shot, five smooth stones, without any armor, and with one of the greatest lines in scriptures:
You come to me with a sword, a spear, and a saber, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of armies, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. This day the Lord will hand you over to me, and I will strike you and remove your head from you. Then I will give the dead bodies of the army of the Philistines this day to the birds of the sky and the wild animals of the earth, so that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel, and that this entire assembly may know that the Lord does not save by sword or by spear; for the battle is the Lords, and He will hand you over to us! (1 Sam. 17:45-47)
David was just a teenager when he defeated Goliath; it would not be for another 10-15 years before he would officially be installed as king. As king, David made Jerusalem the capital of Israel, he brought back the ark of the covenant to Jerusalem, and through war brought peace to his nation. The one thing that David longed to do but was not permitted to do was to build the temple that his son Solomon would eventually build in his stead. In 2 Samuel 7:1-16 we are shown that although David was a good king, he was not the king Israel, or the world, needs. It is Davids desire to build a house for God that sets up what is known as the Davidic Covenant. To see the significance of how 2 Samuel 7:8-16 helps us understand the point of Advent, we need to be aware of verses 1-7,
Now it came about, when the king lived in his house, and the Lord had given him rest on every side from all his enemies, that the king said to Nathan the prophet, See now, I live in a house of cedar, but the ark of God remains within the tent. Nathan said to the king, Go, do all that is in your mind, for the Lord is with you.
But in the same night, the word of the Lord came to Nathan, saying, Go and say to My servant David, This is what the Lord says: Should you build Me a house for My dwelling? For I have not dwelt in a house since the day I brought up the sons of Israel from Egypt, even to this day; rather, I have been moving about in a tent, that is, in a dwelling place. Wherever I have gone with all the sons of Israel, did I speak a word with one of the tribes of Israel, whom I commanded to shepherd My people Israel, saying, Why have you not built Me a house of cedar?
Do you know what David is really requesting permission to do? In these verses, David is doing what all the other kings were known for doing. The kings of the nations believed that if they built a house for their god(s) then their god(s) would bless them by establishing the kings power, reign, and successes. Gods response to David shows us that Yahweh is not like the other gods of the nations. In fact, the God of Israel is very different!
Every god of every other religion demands something of its worshipers that the worshiper has no power to achieve because for every other religion, divine blessing is conditional. This is the evidence that the gods of such religions are really not gods at all. The reason why God told David that he was not permitted to build a house for Him is ultimately because with Yahweh, divine blessing can only be unconditional. In other words, the blessing is entirely dependent upon Him because we have no power to do it ourselves. Timothy Keller in a sermon on this passage, pointed out something Eugene Peterson said about Davids request that makes sense of the unconditional promise of God that follows Davids request: I think David was just about to cross over a line from being full of God to being full of himself. If any of us develops an identity in which God and Gods grace is less important to who we are than our own action and performance, our ability to represent Gods kingdom is utterly ruined.[1]
So, God said no to Davids request to build a house for good reason! God doesnt need a house like the other gods because Yahweh is the one true God! So, instead of building a house for God, God would instead build a different kind of house for David, and the building would not be a literal building but a dynasty where God will pour out His grace upon Davids descendants unconditionally. Timothy Keller said it this way: He says: I promise to make your descendants a dynastic kingship, and I will so graciously and unconditionally commit myself to them, regardless of their merit, regardless of their pedigree. I will so graciously and unconditionally commit myself to them that neither death, sin, nor time will break my commitment.[2]
Do know how God will do it? According to 2 Samuel 7:1-16, God will do it through two principles that Timothy Keller called the Incarnation Principle and the Grace Principle.
The Incarnation Principle: God does not need a building because He intends to dwell with His people.
The Grace Principle: God will do what only God is capable of doing apart from any help from any other person.
Thank God that He operates on these two principles and in such an unconditional way! Everything seemed to be going great for David up to 2 Samuel 7, but just four short chapters later he will commit a sin so horrible that had Gods covenant with David been conditional, all hope for an everlasting Kingdom would be lost (see 2 Samuel 11:1-12:31). David is only a shadow of the kind of king that would come, for the One to sit on Davids throne would indeed be the One to Whom belongs the obedience of the nations (Gen. 49:8-10), and He would come to reign forever (2 Sam. 7:14-16).
The Type of House God Would Build
The King promised to, and through, David, would not come for at least another 1,000 years. The mess David made of his life would be overshadowed by the greater mess Solomon made of his life. Within the years between Davids life and the news of Jesus birth were centuries of idolatry, exile, and the oppression of empires. About 500 years of silence would follow the last Hebrew prophet until a certain poor couple engaged to be married. Through it all, God was unconditionally committed to His promise of a King through the line of Judah and He was moving empires, cultures, and structures in His time, through our mess, to accomplish His purposes for our good and His glory!
The news would first come to a virgin and then to her fianc, both were descendants of David. Gods principle of incarnation and grace would come together in one Person in a way only the true God was capable of doing, and the news would be delivered by an angel:
And behold, you will conceive in your womb and give birth to a son, and you shall name Him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David; and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and His kingdom will have no end. But Mary said to the angel, How will this be, since I am a virgin? The angel answered and said to her, The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; for that reason also the holy Child will be called the Son of God.
There are seven qualities about the child who Mary would miraculously give birth to:
He will be the Son of David. (v. 31)
He will be the Savior of sinners. (v. 31)
He will be great. (v. 32)
He will be divinely the Son of God. (v. 32)
He will be the King of kings. (v. 32)
He will reign sovereignly over the nations. (v. 33)
He will reign forever. (v. 33)
So, what does advent mean for you? What does advent mean for the world? How is any of this the great news the Bible says that it is? Here are seven reasons why this is good news wrapped up in the news delivered to Mary by the angel:
As the Son of David, Jesus is fully human. The mess that makes up His family tree serves as reminder of the kinds of people He was born to redeem. Jesus was born to enter into your mess not to leave you there but to deliver you from your sin.
As the Savior for sinners, Jesus, a qualified and able savior to remedy the problem of mankind. Because Jesus is the Son of David, He qualifies to be the kinsmen redeemer as a member of the family that is the human race. Jesus, as the fully human savior, understands you more than you can ever know.
Jesus is great because He is no ordinary king. He is the One of Whom the prophets spoke about long ago! He is the One of Whom Jeremiah wrote about: Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, When I will raise up for David a righteous Branch; And He will reign as king and act wisely And do justice and righteousness in the land. In His days Judah will be saved, And Israel will live securely; And this is His name by which He will be called, The Lord Our Righteousness. (Jer. 23:5-6). Jesus brings to the table of your sin a grace greater than all of your offences combined.
Jesus is divine because He is truly the Son of the Most High, not in the way you are a son or daughter, but because He proceeds from God the Father. Jesus is divine because before he took on flesh in Marys womb, He was for all eternity always the Son. The apostle Paul put it this way: He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation: for by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones, or dominions, or rulers, or authoritiesall things have been created through Him and for Him (Col. 1:15-16). Jesus as the fully divine Son of God is not only willing to save you from your sins, but he is able to save you from your sins.
Jesus is the King of kings in that He is truly the Son of David and at the same time the Son of God. He is the King of Israel and the redeemer because He is, the first and the last (Isa. 44:6-8). Jesus as the King of kings, calls those He saves to follow Him as the King over your life.
Jesus will reign sovereignly over the nations; His Kingdom will not be limited to the twelve tribes of Israel, for it was prophesied long ago: There will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace on the throne of David and over his kingdom (Isa. 9:7). Jesus, as the Sovereign One, is the only One who brings the kind of peace you were made for.
Finally, Jesus kingdom will have no end in that He will reign forever and ever. As King over the nations, there will never be a moment when peace will recede, abate, or climax, for it will always increase as will the joy of His people. We are told that on that Day, the redeemed of the Lord will return and come to Zion with joyful shouting, and everlasting joy will be on their heads. They will obtain gladness and joy, and sorrow and sighing will flee away (Isa. 51:11). Jesus, who was born to redeem as far as the curse of sin is found, it the only One who can give you rest for your soul.
Marys response to this news is understandable: But Mary said to the angel, How will this be, since I am a virgin (v. 34)? It is in the angels answer that we again see the principles of incarnation and grace at work: The angel answered and said to her, The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; for that reason also the holy Child will be called the Son of God (v. 35).
What is the incarnational principle? It would not be a temple God would build, but instead He would tabernacle among His people through and in the person of His own Son, which was the plan all along! God would enter into the mess of sinful humanity.
What is the grace principle? There was nothing Mary brought to the table that obligated God to bless her with the Child promised long ago to Whom belonged the obedience of the nations. It was all unconditional grace through the powerful work of God the Father and the Holy Spirit in the person of Jesus Christ.
[1] Keller, T. J. (2013). The Timothy Keller Sermon Archive. Redeemer Presbyterian Church.
[2] Ibid.

The King Longed For

The first Avengers movie (2012) has a special place in my heart for many reasons; the primary reason for why I love this movie is because I kept Nathan from school half the day on a Friday morning on opening day to surprise him by seeing it in Imax. The second reason why I love the first Avengers movie is because it is one of the all-time great movies with great storytelling building up to one of the greatest superhero films on screen. A third reason why I love this movie is because of the theological and redemptive overtones throughout the film.
There is a scene in the film when Loki, the primary antagonist in the film, makes his first public appearance in Stuttgart, Germany before a crowd of hundreds where he delivers one of the great lines in cinema on human freedom before he is confronted by the iconic comic book hero symbolizing what we believe about freedom in Captain America. Just before Loki is confronted, he said something that resonated with me: It's the unspoken truth of humanity, that you crave subjugation. The bright lure of freedom diminishes your life's joy in a mad scramble for power, for identity.You were made to be ruled.In the end, you will always kneel.
There is truth in Lokis words and the scene in the movie, in my opinion, captures what we believe about freedom with the villains words: You were made to be ruled. In the end, you will always kneel. It is as if to say that any powerful person or being that demands the bowing and kneeling of anyone is immoral. Yet, it is from the very words of holy Scripture that say of Jesus: For this reason also God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father (Phil. 2:911).
So, what do we do with the tension we feel over Lokis words, what history seemingly has taught us, and what we read in the Bible? I believe 1 Samuel 8:1-9 and Isaiah 44:8-10 helps resolve that tension for us, and it is to 1 Samuel we now turn our attention.
The King Israel Wanted
Samuels story is a fascinating one that we cannot explore today, but there are some things that you need to know to make sense of 1 Samuel 8. His mother, Hannah, could not get pregnant and begged God for a son; in a prayer Hannah offered up to God, she made the following vow: Lord of armies, if You will indeed look on the affliction of Your bond-servant, but will give Your bond-servant a son, then I will give him to the Lord all the days of his life, and a razor shall never come on his head (1 Sam: 1:11).
When Hannah made that vow, she lived in a time in Israels history when Eli the Priest interpreted her pleading with God for being drunk which sheds some light upon the kind of passionless and empty prayers he was used to experiencing. While Hannah begged for a son that she could give back to the service of the Lord, Elis two sons hung out outside the place where people would come to worship God at the tabernacle where they disrespected the worship of God while they slept with the women who served at the doorway of the tabernacle, and they did this all while Eli, as a priest over Israel, knew about it (see 1 Sam. 2:12ff.). The spiritual climate of Hannahs day was, in the words of the final verse in the book of Judges: In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes (Jud. 21:25).
So, Samuel was born to Hannah, and just as she vowed, she dedicated her son to the service of God. Samuel loved God and served Him as His appointed judge, as well as a priest and prophet before all of Israel. Samuel would serve as Israels final judge before Israel demanded a king to rule over them. Which brings us to 1 Samuel 8:1-9.
Samuel was a man of God who stands out as being uncompromising in his devotion to God. It would be easy to read 1 Samuel 8 and miss the three paradoxes that surround Israels demand for a king; the paradoxes include the names and location of Samuels two sons, the hypocrisy of everyone surrounding Samuel, and who the people really wanted to rule over them.
Paradox #1: Samuels sons were a walking paradox that served as a living parable of Israels relationship with God.
Samuels sons were named Joel and Abijah; Joel means Yahweh is God and Abijah means My father is Yahweh. Yet, both of Samuels sons who were commissioned as judges over Israel, were not known for living as though they really believed Yahweh was their God or that they identified as belonging to Him in the same way a son belongs to his father. We are told that they, turned aside after dishonest gain, and they took bribes and perverted justice (v. 3). The elders who represented Israel asked as though they were disgusted by Joel and Abijahs behavior.
Israel as a nation may not have been characterized by dishonest gain, receiving bribes from other nations, or perverting justice, but do not miss the indictment upon Israel as a nation given by the same God Samuels sons rejected: Like all the deeds which they have done since the day that I brought them up from Egypt even to this dayin that they have abandoned Me and served other gods (v. 8).
The takeaways from the first paradox: First, just because you think someone elses sin is ugly does not mean that your sin is no more repulsive in the eyes of God. What matters is not whether your sin looks better than the sins of others, but what God thinks about your heart.
Secondly, we do not know what kind of father Samuel was, but you can be the godliest parent on planet earth and even that may not be enough for your child to want to walk in the ways of God. It is important to note that unlike Elis two sons whose sins were before their fathers eyes, Samuels sons lived over fifty miles away and Samuels ways were very different than the wicked ways of his two sons.
Paradox #2: Samuels two sons did not live up to their name in the same way that Israel did not live up her name.
Remember that Jacobs name means, heel-grabber and that he was known for the ways he manipulated his father and older brother Esau into receiving a birthright that was not his to take. It wasnt until he wrestled with God and was then renamed only after he yielded his life to God, that his name was Israel, and its meaning is simple: He who strives with God. Yet, Israel as a nation was not known for striving with God but walking away from God to the gods of the nations. Many years later following Israels demand for a king, the prophet Jeremiah would declare on behalf of God: Be appalled at this, you heavens, and shudder, be very desolate, declares the Lord. For My people have committed two evils: They have abandoned Me, the fountain of living waters, to carve out for themselves cisterns, broken cisterns that do not hold water (Jer. 2:12-13).
The takeaway from the second paradox: Israel thought their greatest need was what the world had to offer while ignoring the only source that was able satisfy their deepest longings and remedy their greatest problem, which had to do with the human heart. Sin-begotten kings cannot solve the problems of sin-begotten people.
Paradox #3: Israels demand for a king like the other nations was a vote of no-confidence in God as King over their lives.
This could not be more obvious. The irony in Israels demand for a king was not the desire for a king, but the kind of king they believed would solve the problem of the heart. We know that the desire for a king was not the issue because in Deuteronomy 17:14-20, God gave Israel the prescription for the kind of king they would one day need; there are seven characteristics listed in Deuteronomy 17 that the king needed to have to qualify to rule over Israel as king.
The king would be a person like them who Yahweh would appoint over them.
The king would be a person from among their own people.
The king would be a person who truly loved Yahweh.
The king would be a person whose security and strength rested in Yahweh.
The king would be a person who loved the Law and the Word of Yahweh.
The king would be a person who would obey the Law and Word of Yahweh.
The king would be a person who would seek to serve his people for their good and the glory of Yahweh.
Because Israel wanted a king like the nations, they would not get the kind of king described in Deuteronomy 17. The kind of king Israel would get is described in 1 Samuel 8:10-20. The irony is that Israel did not ultimately reject Samuel as a judge, but God as their King.
The takeaway from the third paradox: The One Israel needed most is who they seemed to want least. Israel wanted what the nations had and refused the good that God had for them. Israel believed that their rejection of God would give them freedom, but it would ultimately result in a greater bondage and burden that would lead to greater sorrows.
The King Israel Rejected
It wasnt Israels desire to have a king that was so bad, but the kind of king they wanted. The king that they wanted was one like what the other nations had. They wanted a king they could chose, a king whose splendor and glory came from the strength of his army, a king whose glory rested in his gold and silver, and a king who was attractive just like the kings the other godless nations had. What they ultimately wanted was the same thing Adam and Eve wanted that the serpent offered: they wanted autonomy from the God of Samuel. This is the kind of thing we are warned about in Holy Scripture: Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love for the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world (1 John 2:15-16).
When Adam and Even looked at the forbidden fruit as they were tempted by the Serpent of old, we are told: When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took some of its fruit and ate; and she also gave some to her husband with her, and he ate (Gen. 3:6). Under the surface of Israels demand for a king like the other nations was the foolish belief in the same old lie, but only with different dressing. After Adam and Eve bit into the fruit what they got was shame and death. According to 1 Samuel 8:10-20, with the king Israel wanted and demanded, he would take from them what they have and give them a greater burden they were never meant to bear.
What was Samuel to do with the demand of the people? He brought it before the Lord in prayer. Samuel had faithfully served Yahweh and the people all of his life; it is understandable that he took the demand for a king personally. However, it was not Samuel, as the Lords servant, that they were rejecting: And the Lord said to Samuel, Listen to the voice of the people regarding all that they say to you, because they have not rejected you, but they have rejected Me from being King over them (v. 8). What kind of King is Yahweh? Oh, we are told of the kind of King He is in Isaiah 44:6-8,
This is what the Lord says, He who is the King of Israel and his Redeemer, the Lord of armies: I am the first and I am the last, and there is no God besides Me. Who is like Me? Let him proclaim and declare it; And, let him confront Me Beginning with My establishing of the ancient nation. Then let them declare to them the things that are coming and the events that are going to take place. Do not tremble and do not be afraid; Have I not long since announced it to you and declared it? And you are My witnesses. Is there any God besides Me, or is there any other Rock? I know of none.
The One Israel so eagerly rejected was Yahweh as King of Israel. The God who overwhelmed Pharaoh with 10 plagues, parted the sea, and delivered Israel through the wilderness is the One Israel was willing to trade in for someone like pharaoh. Israel demanded a sin-begotten task master in place of the Redeemer. The people demanded something the godless nations produced in place of the One true God whose Israels very existence was owing to Him. Oh, the crazy rational of sin and how it is seen in Israels desire of a man from the dirt in place of the God who is the Rock! So, God gave Israel the desire of their hearts by giving them a man by the name of Saul and boy was he a train-wreck spiritually!
If Israel had only waited! If they had only trusted in the One who establishes nations and removes them, who declares things that are coming and events that are going to take place, and had they stood on the promises of the true King of Israel as their Rock rather than on the sifting sand of worldly hopes! Gods intention for Israel always included a King, for hundreds of years before Samuel was born, an ancient promise to one of the tribes of Israel was given:
As for you, Judah, your brothers shall praise you; Your hand shall be on the neck of your enemies; Your fathers sons shall bow down to you. Judah is a lions cub; From the prey, my son, you have gone up. He crouches, he lies down as a lion, And as a lion, who dares to stir him up? The scepter will not depart from Judah, Nor the rulers staff from between his feet, Until Shiloh comes, and to him shall be the obedience of the peoples. (Gen. 49:810)
If Israel had waited, they would have gotten a king. Not the king of Genesis 49:8-10, but one like him an imperfect prototype, but a king who was a man after Gods own heart. Instead, Israel got 40 years of Saul, just as their forefathers got 40 years in the wilderness for their sin. Eventually Israel got David who seemed to check all the boxes, the kind of king God prescribed in Deuteronomy 17, but he was only an imperfect foreshadowing of a greater King that would come from his descendants.
The King We Need
The story of humanity is one of broken cisterns that can hold no water, a story of rejecting a Greater Glory for lesser glories, a story about mans desire for the kings of the earth, and every time we end up with shame, 40 years in the wilderness, or worsewe end of with a Saul when we could have had a David.
What are you settling for? What wilderness have you found yourself in because you have settled for lesser glories in place of the Greater Glory who is the God you were born to know? What Saul have you settled for when you could have had a David?
Can I leave you with something that ought to encourage you? What God had for Israel was greater than even David! King David was part of the plan, but he was not the end-goal of that plan. What Israel could not see was that God was moving time, space, and kingdoms to introduce to the world a greater King. A King who would reign on Davids throne forever (2 Sam. 7:12-16), a King whose light would light up the darkness of sins dark cloud (Isa. 9:2), a King who would come as the ultimate Lamb for the purpose of reigning as the rightful Lion of Judah, and on the first Christmas His voice would be heard in the form of a newborn infants cries: For a Child will be born to us, a Son will be given to us And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace (Isa. 9:6). He would be sent by Yahweh. He would be a descendant of David as fully human (and fully God). He would be the Son of God with a love for Him unparalleled by any other. He would humble with an absolute dependance upon God as His Father. He would live in perfect dependance upon the Law of God with an absolute love for the Word of God. He would be born not to be served, but to serve, to give His life as a ransom for many (Mark 10:45).
Oh, dear brothers and sisters that One born on the first Christmas and laid in that manger for lowly shepherds to see and wandering Magi to seek was the One, born King of the Jews (Matt. 2:2); born on Christmas was the Redeemer, the Lord, the One who is the First and the Last the Living One. We were indeed meant to be ruled, but ruled by a Good King. Amen.

Working Faith

If you dont know who I am, my name is John Olive. I gave a message on False Conversion back in September during which I described my background in criminal justice. Im not a professional theologian, but I am a passionate one, and Ive been involved in a lot of ministry work over the past 20 years.
Today I want to discuss the interaction between faith and works, which I have found to be an area of great confusion, especially among newer Christians. It is also one of the traps I fell into as a young Christian. Truthfully, much of what I preach about are related to my mistakes or character defects that God has allowed me to overcome.
As a young man, I heard several sermons in Baptist churches that were centered around Ephesians 2:8-9, so lets start there.
Ephesians 2:8-9 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and this is not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not a result of works, so that no one may boast.
This is pretty clear, isnt it? And it is really, just that clear. Works dont save us; faith saves us.
In all the sermons I recall on this passage, I dont remember anyone continuing on to verse 10:
For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.
Before I discuss anything further, I want to draw your attention to the Greek word for workmanship. It is poiema. You and I are Gods poem to a lost world. Isnt that exciting? From our brokenness God recreates us as a skillfully woven story of redemption and restoration. I just love what that says about how God looks at us and what our mission is.
Anyway, think about what Paul is saying. We are saved by grace through faith, so that we can do good works in this world that God prepared for us to do before we were even born. Saved, to do good works. Thats the Gospel message. Saved, to do. Not because doing saves us, but because real salvation produces action.
Of course, any discussion of this topic must also address what James Chapter 2 has to say.
James 2:14-26 What use is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone says he has faith, but he has no works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is without clothing and in need of daily food, and one of you says to them, Go in peace, be warmed and be filled, yet you do not give them what is necessary for their body, what use is that? In the same way, faith also, if it has no works, is dead, being by itself. But someone may well say, You have faith and I have works; show me your faith without the works, and I will show you my faith by my works. You believe that[e] God is one. You do well; the demons also believe, and shudder. But are you willing to acknowledge, you foolish person, that faith without works is useless? Was our father Abraham not justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar? You see that faith was working with his works, and as a result of the works, faith was[g] perfected; and the Scripture was fulfilled which says, And Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness, and he was called a friend of God. You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone. In the same way, was Rahab the prostitute not justified by works also when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way? For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead.
James is not telling us that works replace faith; rather, works complement faith. They flow from faith. We can see that Abraham believed God because he was willing to act upon the promise of God that he would have offspring through Isaac, and concluded that even if he sacrificed Isaac, God would raise him from the dead to fulfill the promise. Thats real faith! We know this is what Abraham was thinking because the writer of Hebrews tells us so in Hebrews 11:17-19.
Good works is a popular subject in New Testament letters. They show up in Ephesians, I Timothy, and II Timothy, among Pauls letters. They are also referenced in Hebrews, James, and I Peter Perhaps nowhere do we see such enthusiasm for good works as in Titus. First, we have Titus 2:11-15:
For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all people, instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously, and in a godly manner in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus, who gave Himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed, and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, eager for good deeds. These things speak and[d] exhort, and rebuke with all authority. No one is to disregard you.
To be zealous means to be devoted to, passionate about, a zealot. We want to be constantly thinking about how we can serve people with needs.
Next, look at Titus 3:4-8:
But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared, He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we did in righteousness, but in accordance with His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, whom He richly poured out upon us through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by His grace we would be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life. This statement is trustworthy; and concerning these things I want you to speak confidently, so that those who have believed God will be careful to engage in good deeds. These things are good and beneficial for people.
If we are New Testament Christians, we are to be devoted to performing good works, even though those good works dont save us.
So, what are good works?
The words in Greek are kalos ergon, meaning morally good action. This would include anything from healing the sick, raising the dead, or sharing the gospel with someone; to helping a child cross a street, assisting an older person to change a light bulb, or going grocery shopping for someone who is sick. We are serving humanity, and not just in spiritual ministry but also in practical aid.
Now, lets look at one of Pauls letters addressed to believers who became confused about faith and works.
In Galatians, we see congregations that were becoming confused by Judaizers. These were Jewish converts to Christianity, primarily in Jerusalem, who taught that indeed Jesus was the Messiah, and it was vital to believe in His work on the cross to be saved, but that was not sufficient. In addition, to be right with God, one had to adhere to Mosaic Covenant commands of obeying the Sabbath, honoring the dietary laws, and being circumcised. These Greek believers in the region of Galatia had begun their relationship with God by faith but were beginning to compromise the message of salvation by faith.
As a young believer, I fell into a similar snare when I was 20 years old. For maybe six months, I was confused, thinking that while I started my salvation experience by faith, I was required to maintain it through obedience. Its true that obedience is a byproduct of faith, and a complete absence of obedience is inconsistent with salvation, but our obedience does not improve our righteousness with God. Our right standing with God is imputed or credited to us through our faith in the blood of Christ.
I was a miserable human being. I constantly experienced a gnawing dread, because, after all, one can always study the Bible a little more, pray more, minister more. So, when is it enough? Its a treadmill without end and I was exhausted. One day as I was reading in Galatians in the Amplified Bible, I ran across these verses:
Galatians 3:19-20
What then was the purpose of the Law? It was added, later on after the promise, to disclose and expose to men their guilt because of transgressions and to make men more conscious of the sinfulness of sin; and it was intended to be in effect until the Seed should come, to and concerning Whom the promise had been made. And it (the Law) was arranged and ordained and appointed through the instrumentality of angels (and was given) by the hand (in the person) of a go-between an intermediary person (Moses) between God and man. Now a go-between (intermediary) has to do with and implies more than one party there can be no mediator with just one person. Yet God is only one person and He was the sole party in giving that promise to Abraham. But the Law was a contract between two, God and Israel: its validity was dependent on both.
In that moment, God clearly revealed to me my error. I had fallen into the trap of becoming a party to a contract, rather than a recipient of a unilateral promise. The relief I experienced was overwhelming and I wept in gratitude.
Why is works-based salvation so appealing? Salvation by grace alone through faith alone is very hard on the ego. Most of us struggle accepting free gifts that we cannot reciprocate. We dont feel right if we dont do something to earn it. But God wont allow that. Remember Matthew 5:3 Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Those poor in spirit are essentially beggars. They accept that they are dependent upon the assistance of others. Grace is like that. We have a need that we cant meet and have to depend totally on God. That hurts our pride.
But Judaizers of old, and modern-day Judaizers such as Jehovahs Witness, LDS and Seventh-Day Adventists appeal to the fleshly nature to blend grace and works so we can feel good about ourselves and dupe us into believing we are at least partly saving ourselves.
Paul makes it abundantly clear that if we attempt to mix grace and works, we have abandoned salvation by grace and become debtors to the Law:
Galatians 5:2-4
Look: I, Paul, say to you that if you accept circumcision, Christ will be of no advantage to you. I testify again to every man who accepts circumcision that he is obligated to keep the whole law. You are severed from Christ, you who would be justified by the law; you have fallen away from grace.
Now, I personally am circumcised, and most males born in western societies are also for health reasons. What Paul is talking about is being circumcised in order to fulfill a requirement of the Mosaic Law so these Greeks would be right with God. But Paul tells them that if they get circumcised and proclaim that the shed blood of Christ is not sufficient, then they cant stop there but must fulfill every requirement of the Law, which, of course, is impossible. They have left grace behind, and have been severed, or cut off, from Christ. So, we see this is an extremely serious matter. We cannot blend faith and works to be right with God. It must be faith alone.
But maybe you think you are so well versed in Christian doctrine as to be immune from any hint of achieving righteousness by works. Perhaps you are, but consider this: Have you ever hesitated in praying to God because you have had a bad day or a bad week, thinking that God is not likely to hear your prayer because you have been out of His will? Even though you confess your sin and repent, you still feel unworthy to ask God for something. If so, you have unwittingly fallen into a works-based approach to Gods presence, thinking that your ability to come to the throne of grace is somehow dependent upon your obedience. That is a subtle form of righteousness by works and must be recognized and rejected. We come to God boldly, based on Christs shed blood, and never by our obedience or lack of it. The more we grow, the more subtle become the attacks of Satan. Lets not kid ourselves into thinking we cant be deceived if we let our guard down.

Glory Days

I love the way the Bible begins in Genesis: In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. And the earth was a formless and desolate emptiness, and darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters (1:1-2). On the sixth day of creation, God made mankind, in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them (v. 27). The three commands given to the first couple were simple: 1) Have lots of children and fill the earth with people who worship me, 2) manage creation and subdue it, and 3) do not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil because, on the day that you eat from it you will certainly die (2:16-17).
Eden was the very first temple that Adam and Eve, as the people of God, were able to worship and enjoy God both as His children and as His royal priesthood. This is why Adam and Eve were driven out of Eden after they sinned against God. This is why the very last verse of the infamous third chapter in Genesis ends with these words: So He drove the man out; and at the east of the Garden of Eden He stationed the cherubim and the flaming sword which turned every direction to guard the way to the tree of life (v. 24). But before they were expelled from the Garden, God made this promise to the first couple and the serpent who deceived Eve: And I will make enemies of you and the woman, and of your offspring and her Descendant; He shall bruise you on the head, and you shall bruise Him on the heel (3:15).
Israel Enjoyed an Ancient Glory
There is nearly 2,500 years separating Adam from Moses, and all that history is crammed in between Genesis 4 and Exodus 2. Within those 2,500 years, God honored His promise to Abraham to multiply his descendants into a nation of people who would experience 400 years of slavery in Egypt, only to be miraculously liberated as His people. As a freed people, God spoke through Moses to all of Israel: You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I carried you on eagles wings, and brought you to Myself. Now then, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be My own possession among all the peoples, for all the earth is Mine; and you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. These are the words that you shall speak to the sons of Israel (Exod. 19:46).
God gave Israel the Ten Commandments and the rest of the Law; He also instituted a sacrificial system to address their sins, religious feasts to remind His people of His faithfulness to them, and the plans for a Tabernacle that would eventually be used to build a Temple. Its design would serve to remind them of the Garden and what Adam and Eve enjoyed, and it would serve as the place where the presence of God would be known, experienced, and seen, so God told Moses: Have them construct a sanctuary for Me, so that I may dwell among them. According to all that I am going to show you as the pattern of the tabernacle and the pattern of all its furniture, so you shall construct it (Exod. 25:89).
The Tabernacle, and eventually the Temple, would serve as the center of worship for Israel as a people. In the wilderness as pilgrims journeying to the promised land, God would lead them by a cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. When the presence of God moved, Israel moved; when the presence of God rested, Israel rested. At the center of the Temple was the Ark of the Covenant where it would sit in the place known as the Holy of Holies. The Ark of the Covenant is the container where the broken tablets of the 10 commandments were placed among a few other things, it is also symbolic of the presence of God.
Nearly 500 years after Moses died and Israel finally entered the land God promised Abraham, David was anointed as King over Israel. Even though most of the psalms that are in the Bible were written by David, because he was a man of war, he was not permitted to build a Temple modeled after the Tabernacle. However, God did allow Solomon (a son of David) to build the temple in Jerusalem where the presence of God would be known, experienced, and seen. The Temple would forever be known as Solomons Temple not because it was dedicated to Solomon, but because of the great care that Solomon invested into the building of it. When it was finally completed and dedicated before the people of Israel, God spoke to Solomon:
if you turn away and abandon My statutes and My commandments which I have set before you, and go and serve other gods and worship them, then I will uproot you from My land which I have given you, and this house which I have consecrated for My name I will cast out of My sight; and I will make it a proverb and an object of scorn among all peoples. As for this house, which was exalted, everyone who passes by it will be astonished and say, Why has the Lord done these things to this land and to this house? And they will say, Because they abandoned the Lord, the God of their fathers, who brought them from the land of Egypt, and they adopted other gods, and worshiped and served them; therefore He has brought all this adversity on them. (2 Chron. 7:1922)
Solomon started off so well, but his life ended so tragically. Solomons life did not end well, for he loved many foreign women (1 Kings 11:1). Solomon had 700 wives and 300 concubines he was the Hugh Heffner of his day. The thing is, Solomon knew his Bible well, he knew what Exodus 34:16 said, You shall not enter into marriage with foreign women, neither shall they with you, for surely they will turn away your heart after their gods. Solomons heart turned away from God and participated in the worship of other gods that included child sacrifice, rampant sexual immorality, and set the entire nation on track to do the same.
So, the thing that God warned Solomon and Israel would happen if they turned from Him, happened. After the death of Solomon, all of Israel would eventually become known not for the nation that worshiped Yahweh, but the nation that worshiped the gods of the other nations. God judged the nation of Israel and eventually they were handed over to a foreign nation.
In the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve were driven from the presence of God, but in the wake of Solomons idolatry, the glory of the Lord departed from the threshold of the temple and left the place He promised Israel (Ezek. 10:18). Not long after the glory of God departed the temple and Israel, Solomons Temple was destroyed by Babylon.
Israel Pursued a New Glory
After hundreds of years in exile and the desperate prayers of those who truly loved and worshiped Yahweh, God allowed a small remnant of Hebrew men and women back into Jerusalem. The two things that were in ruins were the temple and the walls of Jerusalem; Ezra would eventually oversee the building of the temple, while Nehemiah would manage the building of the walls of Jerusalem. The first six chapters of Ezra give us the back story for Ezras role in overseeing the construction of the temple. The first three chapters tell us about the very initial planning for a new temple; I only want to focus on the first three chapters and the very last verse in the book of Ezra.
The only thing that happens in Ezra 3 is the exiles set up the altar where the sacrifices could be made, then the people began to celebrate the different festivals that were designed to remind them of Gods faithfulness, then hired masons and carpenters, and then laid the foundation of the temple. It would take another 20 years before the new temple would be completed. The best illustration I can come up with the kind of frustration the exiles in Jerusalem must have experienced, is to think of I-25 from Fort Collins to Denver.
Just so you know, it was not because the workers were part of the Union or that they worked for the federal government that it took so long to build the temple. There were legitimate obstacles the people faced by real adversaries. God stirred and moved King Cyrus to make a proclamation that bore the authority of any of the laws of Persia. The very first sentence in Ezra begins: Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, in order to fulfill the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah, the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia (Ezra 1:1). So, the king proclaimed that the Hebrew exiles could return and rebuild their temple (vv. 2-4).
King Cyrus would not live to see the day when his proclamation was finally fulfilled. Just after the foundation of the temple was laid, a group of people in Jerusalem who did not want the temple built, frightened them from building, and bribed advisers against them, to frustrate their advice all the days of Cyrus king of Persia, even until the reign of Darius king of Persia (v. 5). For ten years the building of the temple was put on hold. In Ezra 3, with the laying of the foundation of the temple, the people celebrated, but before they could begin, Ezra 4 happened! In chapter 5, the work began in the second year of a new king (Darius) and four years later, it was finally completed (Ezra 6:15ff). When it was finally finished, the people rightfully celebrated:
And the sons of Israel, the priests, the Levites, and the rest of the exiles, celebrated the dedication of this house of God with joy. They offered for the dedication of this temple of God a hundred bulls, two hundred rams, four hundred lambs, and as a sin offering for all Israel twelve male goats, corresponding to the number of the tribes of Israel. Then they appointed the priests to their divisions and the Levites in their sections for the service of God in Jerusalem, as it is written in the Book of Moses. (vv. 16-18).
What I find most startling about the book of Ezra is that the people seemed to have been in a really good place spiritually in their lives. As soon as they entered the land, they set up the altar before anything else so that they could worship God. They celebrated the feast of booths, which was also known as the Feast of Tabernacles as a way to celebrate the ways God preserved Israel in the wilderness and how his presence dwelled among them. They also celebrated all the other important days such as the Day of Atonement, and so much more. And, just after the new temple was dedicated, they celebrated Passover together!
Everything was going so well until we come to Ezra 9 and learn that the people of Israel, the priests, and the Levites did the same thing Solomon did that led to great evils in Israel they married the same type of women Solomon married who turned his heart away from God, and so the very last verse in Ezra serves as the epitaph of a story that began so good but ended so badly: All of these men had married foreign wives, and some of them had wives by whom they had children (10:44).
Israel Missed a Better Glory
I believe we are given a clue as to why Ezras book ends tragically. Notice how the people respond to the new temple in Ezra 3:10-13,
And they sang, praising and giving thanks to the Lord, saying, For He is good, for His favor is upon Israel forever. And all the people shouted with a great shout of joy when they praised the Lord, because the foundation of the house of the Lord was laid. Yet many of the priests and Levites and heads of fathers households, the old men who had seen the first temple, wept with a loud voice when the foundation of this house was laid before their eyes, while many shouted aloud for joy, so that the people could not distinguish the sound of the shout of joy from the sound of the weeping of the people, because the people were shouting with a loud shout, and the sound was heard far away.
This is so easy to miss if you are not paying attention! Out of joy the people sang, praising and giving thanks to the Lord, saying, For He is good, for His favor is upon Israel forever (see also 2 Chron. 7:3). The people sang the same thing the people in Solomons day sang when the first temple was completed; this is how I know they were expecting the glory of God to return:
Now when Solomon had finished praying, fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices, and the glory of the Lord filled the house. And the priests could not enter the house of the Lord because the glory of the Lord filled the Lords house. All the sons of Israel, seeing the fire come down and the glory of the Lord upon the house, bowed down on the pavement with their faces to the ground, and they worshiped and gave praise to the Lord, saying, Certainly He is good, certainly His faithfulness is everlasting.
Everything the people practiced in Ezra 3 was good. But the reason why the old men wept was because they could not get past the beauty of Solomons temple and failed to appreciate the point and purpose of the temple in the first place. I also believe the younger men missed the point of the new temple for the same reasons the old men wept. The point was not a building for Gods glory to dwell in, but to know and worship the God whose plan has always been to dwell with His people face to face! The reason why the men turned to foreign women is the same reason Solomon turned to foreign women who worshiped other godsthey failed to appreciate that there was a greater glory than the lie Adam and Eve believed, the wisdom and women of Solomon, and the illusion of the past that what is gone was better than what God is doing today.
Conclusion
Now, there was no way for Israel to understand all that God was doing in the world, but what He was doing was more beautiful than Eden, greater than Solomons temple, and more permeant than the blood of bulls and goats (see Hebrews 10:4). The greater glory they missed was the promise of a deliverer who would remedy their sin. The greater glory they missed was the One the Passover and all the feasts pointed too. The greater glory was not the history of the Davidic kingdom or Solomons Temple, but a better and greater Son of David whose kingdom will know no end and will endure forever (2 Sam. 7:14). He is the greater glory who lights up the darkness (Isa. 9:2-7). We have the benefit of being able to look back to Ezra with New Testament eyes and see that the greater glory Israel missed was the glory that would come in the form a person who was fully God and fully man.
The glory eventually returned to Israel, but not in the way Israel ever saw coming. The glory came and it was heard in the sounds of an infants cry; see if you can hear the overtones of what we explored through scripture in the words of the Gospel of John concerning Jesus:
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him not even one thing came into being that has come into being. In Him was life, and the life was the Light of mankind. And the Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not grasp it.
And the Word became flesh, and dwelt [tabernacled] among us; and we saw His glory, glory as the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. (John 1:1-5, 14).
Here are some of the things we learn from the first three chapters of Ezra and the promise of the greater glory, who is Jesus Christ:
God is faithful on His terms, in His ways, and according to His character.
While Israel was experiencing the just and severe discipline of God, it was God who promised that the discipline was for a season and not the end of their story. In Jeremiah 29:10, God made the following promise: For this is what the Lordsays: When seventy years have been completed for Babylon, I will visit you and fulfill My good word to you, to bring you back to this place. For I know the plans that I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for prosperity and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope (Jer. 29:1011).
Unbeknownst to those in exile and those in Jerusalem, overwhelmed by the ashes of what once was, God was working and moving in one of the more powerful men in the world: Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, in order to fulfill the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah, the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia (Ezra 1:1).
Just because you cannot see or understand what God is doing, does not mean that He is not working out His purposes for His glory and your good.
The best way to fight fear, is through faith in the God who is bigger than your problems.
I believe this is the reason why Israel built and installed the alter and worshiped God even though they were terrified of the people who surrounded them. Remembering the ways God delivered their forefathers from the great and tyrannical power of Egypt enabled them to fight against the terror they experienced. The people fought their fear by remembering who God was, the problem is that they were nearsighted and failed to see a greater glory existed for their good.
The safest place to be is in the will of God.
The story of Gods people is a lesson on this principle. The reason why there was a cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night that guided His people was so that they moved only when He moved and that they stayed only when God remained. Anytime the people of God moved when God was not moving or stayed when God was moving, they found themselves in trouble.
If you are a Christian, the glory we follow is Jesus, and we are to go where He goes and stay where He stays. If you are not a Christian because you have not surrendered your life to Jesus as the one who died for your sins and conquered the grave by raising from the dead, then you need to run to Him who stood in your place to bear the wrath of a holy God that you deserved.

A Tale of Two Trees

Primary reading (Slide 1 Reading for the Day):
8And the Lord God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, and there he put the man whom he had formed. 9And out of the ground the Lord God made to spring up every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. (Gen 2:8,9 ESV)
(Slide 2 Reading for the Day):
1 Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb 2 through the middle of the street of the city; also, on either side of the river, the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. 3 No longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him. 4 They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. 5 And night will be no more. They will need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever. (Rev 22:1-4 ESV)
Good morning, everyone. Welcome to Meadowbrooke. I am so happy you have joined us today. For those who dont know me, my name is Ben McKay, and I am filling in today for our lead pastor, Keith. He and the staff were at a conference this week, so I am stepping in to help amidst their travel and activities. I am one of the elders here at Meadowbrooke and have served in that capacity for a couple of years. As I shared last time I gave a sermon, I count it as one of the most distinct privileges God has blessed me with to join these men who are completely sold out for Christ. My wife, Michaela, works as the office administrator here, and we have two boys, Brayden and Grayson. Michaela and I also host a life group and serve in other ministries here.
All that being said, I am not a pastor by occupation. So please remember that and be kind as we work through todays message. After all, we are in church and told to be charitable toward one another. Professionally, I work in software development and AI applications. Part of what drew me to this line of work is my love of data and how software makes it easier to show us how things relate to each other and how those relationships behave.
Now, you may be asking, what does this have to do with Genesis and Revelation? Well, that is a fantastic question. One of the key takeaways that I hope to leave you with today is that the Bible, a compilation of 66 books, is, in fact, a complete and cohesive narrative of Gods plan of salvation. This fact is astonishing because the Bible was written over approximately 1,500 years. This started with Moses somewhere around 1,400 BC[1][2][3] when the first five books of the Bible were written and ended with John writing Revelation somewhere around 95 AD[4]. During this time, over 40 individuals contributed to writing the various books of the Bible. Some wrote just one, like Isaiah the prophet; some wrote many, like Moses and Paul; and some books had multiple people contribute, like the books of Psalms[5] and Proverbs[6].
Let that sink in for a minute. At least 40 people, who were separated by centuries, came from very different backgrounds (some were kings and others were fishermen) and whose cultures had undergone drastic change (consider how different life looked for people living under King David when compared with those living in exile in Babylon) wrote accounts of God and his plan for salvation that were not only internally consistent individually but also consistent with each other. Thats incredible! Ive been to movies that cant stay internally consistent for an hour and a half! Many social media posts cant even stay internally consistent across two sentences.
I want to move our hearts from being merely impressed by this fact to seeing the intricacies and internal consistency of the Word of God in awe and wonder. This is one of my favorite data visualizations of all time[7]. It shows the biblical cross-references that the creator of this image had identified. Each arc shows a verse referencing another verse. The Bible is quite literally in conversation with itself. We can see concepts come up repeatedly, prophecies being made and then fulfilled. God tells us something about Himself and then elaborates on it further. Throughout it all, we see the fulfillment of Gods eternal plan to redeem His creation back to Himself. This has led people like Jordan Petersen, the renowned psychologist, who is not an avowed Christian by the way, to say, This is the first hyperlinked book[8]. He means you can navigate through the Bible like web pages on the Internet. Instead of following hyperlinks, though, we follow cross-references. This is one of the reasons that lifetimes wouldnt be enough to get everything out of this book that it has to offer; another is that these are the words of God, and well, hes a lot smarter than us.
8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord.
9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts. (Isa 55:8,9)
What were going to do today is to pull on one of those threads, click through the hyperlinks if you will, and we will get to stand in awe at how the gospel, the good news of God, radiates from the pages of scripture. You probably have seen the thread Im alluding to from our readings, the Tree of Life. This tree makes its first appearance in the second chapter of the Bible and appears again in the very last chapter. I bet thats just a coincidence.
We will go back to Genesis, the story's beginning. In Chapter 2, we read,
7 Then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature. 8 And the Lord God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, and there he put the man whom he had formed. 9 And out of the ground the Lord God made to spring up every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. (Gen 2:7-9 ESV)
Here, we see Adam being placed into an idyllic garden (Adam was created outside of the garden and then brought into it), filled with life, sustenance, and beauty. Trees seem to abound. But the author immediately draws our attention to two. The first, we are told, is in the midst of the garden. This phrase has significance throughout the Bible, especially in the first five books. Moses would have written these books during the 40 years of Israels wandering in the desert. This was when God had the nation of Israel, his earthly representatives to the nations, build the Tabernacle. This was where Gods presence was most vividly and intensely seen. Check this out.
45 I will dwell among the people of Israel and will be their God. 46 And they shall know that I am the Lord their God, who brought them out of the land of Egypt that I might dwell among them. I am the Lord their God. (Ex 29:45,46)
Its not easy to see in the English translation, but where we see dwell among them, the Hebrew word that gets translated among is the same word that gets translated in the midst of. Throughout the Tabernacle's description, we see that Gods plan is to be literally in the middle of his people; the word Tabernacle even means dwelling place. God goes so far as to have the Tabernacle placed in the very center of the camp. He didnt just want to be the God of the people. He wanted to be God dwelling with His people. The people of this time and this place would have literally seen Gods glory settle over the Tabernacle in the middle of their camp.
Therefore, they would have seen the deep imagery intended within this passage. The garden was where God intended to dwell with His people; we see Him literally walking in the garden in Chapter 3. And as the Tabernacle was placed in the middle of their camp, so too was something in the middle of the garden, the Tree of Life. Now, we dont know much about this tree except that it could have permitted the man and the woman to live forever. God intends that his image bearers will have life. He is, after all, the living God. So, God placed life, which only He can give, in the middle of the garden where it could be seen and easily accessed. Jesus reinforced this idea that God wants his image bearers to have life when he said, I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. (Jn 10:10b). But more on that in a moment.
The only other tree mentioned by name is the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. I want to pause here because this name has been misunderstood and misused. This is not the tree of knowledge. Knowledge is not the thing that hurts humanity. Read Proverbs. Knowledge is a good thing when it begins with the fear of the Lord, Proverbs 1:7. It is the knowledge of something very specific here that causes a problem, namely good and evil. This tree represents our choice to have moral experience, put ourselves in the place of God not through fear but through disobedience, and define good and evil for ourselves. Lets look at the narrative.
1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, Did God actually say, You shall not eat of any tree in the garden? 2 And the woman said to the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, 3 but God said, You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.4 But the serpent said to the woman, You will not surely die. 5 For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil. 6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. (Gen 3:1-6)
There it is, right there. The temptation was, You will be like God. Open a newspaper, and you will see the consequences of believing this lie. This is the underlying heart condition that has plagued humanity since this moment. Want to know how people like Putin come to be? Want to know how people can commit genocide and call it justified? Want to know how people can murder children and call it righteous? Want to know how people can enslave each other? Its all right there in that one fragment of a sentence. You will be like God. God doesnt get to tell me right from wrong; I get to. He is not the center of and reason for all creation; I am.
Eve reached out to grasp the forbidden fruit. We also reach out to grab what only God can define: good and evil. They ate the fruit because they believed the lie that God was holding something back from them. Their belief led them to eat from a false tree of life. This should be seen as a representation of what was to come. We reach out to things that cannot offer life, yet we pretend they do. We do this, brothers and sisters; I do this. We believe we know better. We buy into the lie that Gods law is meant to enslave us rather than free us from bondage.
Moreover, they were image-bearers of God and believed the lie that they werent. Look at this.
26 Then God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.
27 So God created man in his own image,
in the image of God he created him;
male and female he created them. (Gen 1:26,27)
They were already image bearers of the God whose power was awesome enough to speak the universe into existence. They had access to the Tree of Life. Notice that God did not issue a prohibition against eating from the Tree of Life. He wants us to have life and have it abundantly. However, humanity chose rebellion, and death came into the world with rebellion.
Now, the question may arise: Why couldnt Adam and Eve then eat of the tree of life? Why did God take that away from them? They still could have lived forever. Embedded in this question is, I think, a profound misunderstanding about God in the modern age. He is both perfectly holy and the exact definition of perfect love. He is both things at the same time. Because of our separation that was caused by sin, this would have resulted in eternal separation from God. Sin and Gods holiness cannot exist together. And, as we saw from Exodus, God is not content to leave us as we are and, therefore, remain separated from Him for eternity. So, we were banished from the garden, and we became subjected to death.
Here, we see a split in the underlying symbology of trees in the biblical texts. To the ancient Hebrew mind, trees represent something inherently linked to life and vitality. Look with me at the first Psalm.
1 Blessed is the man
who walks not in the counsel of the wicked,
nor stands in the way of sinners,
nor sits in the seat of scoffers;
2 but his delight is in the law of the Lord,
and on his law he meditates day and night.
3 He is like a tree
planted by streams of water
that yields its fruit in its season,
and its leaf does not wither.
In all that he does, he prospers.
4 The wicked are not so,
but are like chaff that the wind drives away. (Ps 1:1-4)
The tree, in this case, is said not to wither. In opposition, we see chaff, which is fleeting and blown to and fro. The tree is planted. This is in opposition to the chaff, which is driven away. Now, turn to Psalm 92.
12 The righteous flourish like the palm tree
and grow like a cedar in Lebanon.
13 They are planted in the house of the Lord;
they flourish in the courts of our God.
14 They still bear fruit in old age;
they are ever full of sap and green,
15 to declare that the Lord is upright;
he is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him. (Ps 92:12-15)
Notice here that the same attributes we see in Psalm 1 are also found in Psalm 92. Trees are used as a representation, an image, of flourishing, strength, yielding fruit, and maintaining that vitality for a long time. This makes sense since trees can live for hundreds or even thousands of years. They make excellent metaphors for abundant life. But, notice something important here. It is not just anybody that is like a tree. It is the person who is what? Psalm 1 says they delight in the law of the Lord. Psalm 92 says they are planted in the house of the Lord and declare that the Lord is upright. Their roots are solidly well rooted in the only source of eternal life.
Now, lets look at the opposite imagery of trees. Trees are used to represent darkness and evil. It ties back to the trees in the garden, where we exchanged the truth for a lie, life for death. There was a warning that Moses left the Israelites with as they were about to enter the land of Canaan. Nested within commandments about how Gods people were to act is this.
21 You shall not plant any tree as an Asherah beside the altar of the Lord your God that you shall make. 22 And you shall not set up a pillar, which the Lord your God hates. (De 16:21-22)
This command was given because the surrounding cultures built idols to worship pagan gods. One of the most prominent among these was the fertility goddess Asherah. One of the ways to worship Asherah was to plant a tree or make a pole on a hill; the Bible often calls these high places. Now, if you read your whole Bible, which I strongly encourage you to do, you will notice this tendency. People will take a piece of Gods creation and then worship the created thing instead of the Creator. We exchange a true thing for a false thing. Doesnt that sound reminiscent of what we are told happened in Genesis? Paul put it like this in Romans after describing how we can understand some of Gods attributes, namely his power and divine nature, because of the grandeur of creation. However, he then talks about people who disregard God and worship created things instead.
22 Claiming to be wise, they became fools, 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.24 Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, 25 because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen. (Rom 1:22-25)
But it gets worse. A lot worse. Instead of heeding the warning of Moses, Israel participated in and went beyond the worship they were prohibited from. In 2 Chronicles, we see what Gods people chose instead of worshipping the one true, living God.
1 Ahaz was twenty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem. And he did not do what was right in the eyes of the Lord, as his father David had done, 2 but he walked in the ways of the kings of Israel. He even made metal images for the Baals, 3 and he made offerings in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom and burned his sons as an offering, according to the abominations of the nations whom the Lord drove out before the people of Israel. 4 And he sacrificed and made offerings on the high places and on the hills and under every green tree. (2 Ch 28:1-4)
A lot is packed into these four verses, and I could spend an entire sermon unpacking just this. But I want you to see a couple of things. First, just like we saw from Pauls letter to the Romans, who we worship has real consequences beyond just the worship itself. Paul talks about God handing people over to the lusts of their hearts, resulting in them dishonoring their bodies because of their worship. Similarly, Ahaz murdered his own sons because of whom he worshiped.
Second, we see a direct tie between Moses's warning and the sins the nation of Israel committed. Some are very quick to talk about Gods judgment of the Canaanites when the people of Israel drove them out. What is missed is that God judged them because of practices like these. People also leave out that God judged his promised people the same way. He held them accountable in the same way. If you read on to the end of 2 Chronicles, you will see that God used the nations to judge Judah in the same way. Their rejection of God and subsequent sin led directly to exile in Babylon.
I know this probably seems like a bleak story so far. But this is a foundational truth that we have to understand to grasp the gospel. We are fallen. It is not just Adam, Eve, Ahaz, Israel, or the Pharisees. It is all of us. This is my story. This is your story. But, it is not the end of the story.
We see the promise of this story even as God puts a curse on the earth and removes humans from the garden. There will be one who comes who the snake, the evil one, will wound. But it will be the snake who is crushed. God promises Abraham that all of the world's nations will be blessed through his family. He then reiterates that promise to his son and grandson. King David was told that one of his descendants would be the promised Messiah, whose throne would be established forever. We can read the promises from the prophets in detail. I want to focus on one of these, but there are hundreds more examples.
1 Who has believed what he has heard from us?
And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?
2 For he grew up before him like a young plant,
and like a root out of dry ground;
he had no form or majesty that we should look at him,
and no beauty that we should desire him.
3 He was despised and rejected by men,
a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief;
and as one from whom men hide their faces
he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
4 Surely he has borne our griefs
and carried our sorrows;
yet we esteemed him stricken,
smitten by God, and afflicted.
5 But he was pierced for our transgressions;
he was crushed for our iniquities;
upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,
and with his wounds we are healed.
6 All we like sheep have gone astray;
we have turnedevery oneto his own way;
and the Lord has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.
7 He was oppressed, and he was afflicted,
yet he opened not his mouth;
like a lamb that is led to the slaughter,
and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent,
so he opened not his mouth.
8 By oppression and judgment he was taken away;
and as for his generation, who considered
that he was cut off out of the land of the living,
stricken for the transgression of my people?
9 And they made his grave with the wicked
and with a rich man in his death,
although he had done no violence,
and there was no deceit in his mouth.
10 Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him;
he has put him to grief;
when his soul makes an offering for guilt,
he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days;
the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. (Is 53:1-10)
Sound like anybody you know? The miraculous thing is that this was written over 700 years before Jesus lived[9]. It accurately renders the same scripture Jesus read while undertaking his ministry. We know that this is true because we have the archeological evidence. This is the Great Isaiah Scroll. It was found in the caves of Qumran in a collection commonly known as the Dead Sea Scrolls. It contains the entire text of the same book we read today. And youll never guess what. When the archaeologists carbon-dated it, they found that it predated the birth of Jesus by 100 years. Let that sink in. We have archaeological proof that this prophecy and the entire book of Isaiah predated the events. And this is not unique to Isaiah. Modern translations use this and other ancient manuscripts. You are reading the exact words that Jesus read about himself.
And what we see in prophecy is precisely the suffering servant that we encounter in the person of Jesus. He was pierced by the nails that held him to the cross. He was ridiculed and mocked, deemed smitten by God. Like a sheep, he was led to slaughter. He was buried in the tomb of a rich man. And in so doing, he took on the iniquity of us all. As Luke, the author of Acts, put it,
30 The God of our fathers raised Jesus, whom you killed by hanging him on a tree. 31 God exalted him at his right hand as Leader and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. 32 And we are witnesses to these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him. (Acts 5:30-32)
And there it is again, the tree. We were allowed to eat from the tree of life. Instead, we chose a false tree, where we attempted to put ourselves in the place of God. We were told to be rooted in the word and knowledge of God and thus be like trees planted by a stream. Instead, we chose idols and rejected the Creator, the giver of life. We were given the Son, the second person of the Trinity, who said, I am the way and the truth and the life. Instead of accepting him, we rejected him and killed him on a tree. Do you see the pattern? There is a choice here. And we dont seem to choose very well.
Why does Luke mention a tree? Wouldnt it have been enough just to say you killed him? And this is where the biblical narrative, imagery, and deep interconnectedness get so incredibly good. Please turn with me to Deuteronomy chapter 21.
22 And if a man has committed a crime punishable by death and he is put to death, and you hang him on a tree, 23 his body shall not remain all night on the tree, but you shall bury him the same day, for a hanged man is cursed by God. You shall not defile your land that the Lord your God is giving you for an inheritance. (De 21:22,23)
This section of scripture is Moses giving his final commands to the nation of Israel as they are about to enter the promised land. Notice here the language. A hanged man is cursed by God. This is in reference specifically to a man hanged on a what? A man hanged on a tree. If you happen to be using a study Bible right now, you almost certainly have this cross-reference. Please turn with me to Galatians 3:13.
13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for usfor it is written, Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree 14 so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith. (Gal 3:13,14)
If this doesnt stop you dead in your mental tracks, I dont know what will. When I say that the Bible is in conversation with itself, this is precisely what I mean. Trees are used repeatedly in the Bible to represent images of life. But humans used them not only to replace the worship of the one, true creator God for the worship of created idols but also as a means of torture and death. Exodus was written 1,400 years before Jesus lived and well before crucifixion was invented as a method of execution, yet it perfectly fits within the biblical narrative. Jesus knew he was to die at the cross well before the events and that this verse was pointing not just to how he would be killed but to the underlying reason why. He was to take on the curse even though he didnt sin to take away the consequences from us who did sin. This is grace, unmerited favor.
Ive covered a lot of ground just now, so I want to recap just a bit before moving on.
Humanity was given the Tree of Life in the garden. Instead, we chose disobedience, ate from the forbidden tree, and through sin, we received death.
We were to worship the one true God, the creator of the universe. Instead, we chose to worship what was created, including trees.
We were told to be like trees, rooted in Gods word. Instead, we chopped trees down and made them idols and tools of death.
We were given the Son of God, who was and is the way, the truth, and the life. Instead, we nailed him to a tree.
Looks pretty bleak, right? Thank God it doesnt end here. As Paul Harvey would have said, And now its time for the rest of the story. God uses the imagery of trees to take us to the good news, the gospel of God. We see it foretold in the Old Testament.
1 There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse,
and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit.
2 And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him,
the Spirit of wisdom and understanding,
the Spirit of counsel and might,
the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord. (Isa 11:1,2)
This will sound like a ridiculous question, but what is a stump? What is left over after a tree has been cut down, right? Isaiah prophesied that the kings of Israel would cease. That happened, and it was because of Israels sin. There was no royal family when Jesus was alive, and there is no royal family in Israel now. But Isaiah promised something else. A branch will come from that stump, which was supposed to be dead. And it will bear fruit. We see this also in Jeremiah.
14 Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will fulfill the promise I made to the house of Israel and the house of Judah. 15 In those days and at that time I will cause a righteous Branch to spring up for David, and he shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. (Jer 33:14,15)
Out of the spiritual death that was a consequence of sin and disobedience, God brought life. That branch, Jesus, was righteous and bore fruit. He would execute not only justice but also righteousness in the land. That branch would come out of a stump, which was supposed to be dead. But, like the stump, Jesus didnt stay dead, did he?
And if you are still on the fence about all of this, if Jesus is not your savior yet, this is the most important point I will make today. The cross is empty. As was commanded in Deuteronomy, Jesus was taken down from the tree that day and, as prophesied by Isaiah, was buried in a rich mans tomb. The cross could not hold him. And guess what? The grave couldnt either. The empty cross and the empty grave are some of the best-attested facts of the ancient world. This is so much the case that critics and skeptics have resorted to developing all sorts of implausible theories. An example is that Jesus just fainted on the cross, and the cool air of the tomb brought him to. Another is that Jesus had a twin, and nobody noticed the difference. These hypotheses are put forward without any evidence or historical justification.
Instead, the truth is that Jesus lived the life that you and I cannot, died the death that we deserve, and then rose from the grave to new life, something you and I cannot do ourselves. And because of the work of Gods divine grace, our debt has been paid in full by the Son of God. Paul puts it extremely succinctly in Romans.
3 Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. (Rom 6:3,4)
You may have guessed this already, but the Bible also has a tree metaphor for this. In this same letter to Rome, Paul wrote the following as he compared Gods chosen people, Israel, to the Gentiles.
17 But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, although a wild olive shoot, were grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing root of the olive tree, 18 do not be arrogant toward the branches. If you are, remember it is not you who support the root, but the root that supports you. 19 Then you will say, Branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in. 20 That is true. They were broken off because of their unbelief, but you stand fast through faith. So do not become proud, but fear. 21 For if God did not spare the natural branches, neither will he spare you. 22 Note then the kindness and the severity of God: severity toward those who have fallen, but God's kindness to you, provided you continue in his kindness. Otherwise you too will be cut off. 23 And even they, if they do not continue in their unbelief, will be grafted in, for God has the power to graft them in again. 24 For if you were cut from what is by nature a wild olive tree, and grafted, contrary to nature, into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these, the natural branches, be grafted back into their own olive tree. (Rom 11:17-24)
In this metaphor that Paul uses to describe how we achieve new life, Jesus is the root that we are grafted into and receive life through Him. I was shocked to learn that this is a thing. You can take a branch from a tree, cut it completely off, and then graft it into another tree, and it will grow. Im really curious how humans first learned to do this. But to be honest, Im not sure I want to meet the person who first figured it out. I cant help but picture that they looked something like Gene Wilder in Young Frankenstein[10].
All joking aside, this is a crucial and pivotal point that I dont want us to miss. We receive life because we have been supernaturally grafted to Jesus. As Paul said in Galatians, I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. (Gal 2:20) There is now no distinction between Jew and Greek (thats you and me). We are all able to receive life through Jesus. It is not our life but His that we live by.
If you have been saved by faith through Jesus, you will experience this by the Spirit of God dwelling inside you. And the life you experience will be ever more witnessed by the fruit from that life. Lets return to the chart that I showed before. The bad news we discussed was all driven by our decisions to disobey the one true God and instead live by our own standards and desires. If not for the grace and love of God, that is where we would have been left. But, praise God, that is not where He left us. Well look at this in reverse order.
We were given the Son of God, who was and is the way, the truth, and the life. Instead, we nailed him to a tree. But he rose again to new life, conquering the grave.
We were told to be like trees, rooted in Gods word. Instead, we chopped trees down and made them idols and tools of death. We, as believers, are now grafted into Jesus, the root, and receive His life.
We were to worship the one true God, the creator of the universe. Instead, we chose to worship what was created, including trees. We now worship the one true God in spirit and truth because the Holy Spirit dwells within us.
That leaves us with one obvious stepthe Tree of Life. And we saw its return in our opening readings this morning. Please turn with me again to Revelation 22.
1 Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb 2 through the middle of the street of the city; also, on either side of the river, the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. 3 No longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him. 4 They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. 5 And night will be no more. They will need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever. (Rev 22:1-4 ESV)
Chapter 22 of Revelation is the very end of the biblical narrative. The apostle John was being shown a glimpse into eternity. This is after death has been destroyed, the enemy has been defeated, and the servants of God are eternally with Him. We will get to see His face. There will be no more night. Life flows directly from the Lamb and the throne of God. And on either side of the river, we see the Tree of Life, healing the nations. Because of Jesuss sacrifice, the host of heaven sings. We get a picture of it when John writes the following in Revelation.
11 Then I looked, and I heard around the throne and the living creatures and the elders the voice of many angels, numbering myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands, 12 saying with a loud voice,
Worthy is the Lamb who was slain,
to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might
and honor and glory and blessing!
13 And I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all that is in them, saying,
To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb
be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever! (Rev 5:11-13)
We will ultimately see restoration. As sure as I am that Jesus lived, died, and rose again, I am sure that believers will see this. If you have placed your trust and hope in Jesus, you will have eternal life; you will experience complete healing, and you will see the face of God. This brings us to the last theological point that I want to make.
Humanity was given the Tree of Life in the garden. Instead, we chose disobedience, and through sin, we received death. Because of the work of Jesus, we will again gain access to the tree of life and will be in the presence of God for eternity.
Despite the incredible theological implications of what we have covered today, there is a considerable risk. And that is that we all walk out the doors of this building and live like the rest of the world. If we are genuinely grafted into the life of Jesus, we should bear fruit. Now, that does not mean that we are perfect, not by any means. But we should all seek the sanctification that the Bible promises we will see in increased measure. And I think this scriptural journey weve been on today can guide us.
Tree of Life: We should start with a reverent fear of God. As Proverbs tells us, the fear of the LORD is the beginning of both knowledge and wisdom. Unlike Adam and Eve, we need to rest in the trust and faith that God is not holding anything back from us. His laws are good, His intentions are kind, and He wants us to have abundant life.
Get rid of idols in our lives: We all can have idols in our lives. They are as real as the Asherah poles that the Israelites and the nations surrounding them stood up. It can be sports, it can be wealth, it can be our spouse or kids, it can even be our very selves. Remember, who we worship has implications beyond just the worship itself. You will become like what you worship, and only the worship of God will result in a life that bears fruit and eternal salvation.
We should root ourselves in the Word of God: If we turn back to Psalm 1, we see what it means to be rooted. We are to meditate on the law of God day and night. We are to delight in His law. We should get rid of whatever we need to get rid of to make this possible. If you have to get up before kids, do it. If youre not in a LIFE group, join one. If you need to listen to Bible readings instead of the radio on your way to work, do it. Get into scripture, memorize it, meditate on it, and your life will bear fruit as the Holy Spirit works on your heart.
Have confidence in the truth of the Gospel: Jesus really did come and live the life you and I could never live. He really did die the death that you and I deserve. And he really did rise from the dead, walk out of the tomb, and conquer death. He then offered that same life to anybody who would believe in and follow him. Root yourself in this, the rock of our salvation. It doesnt matter what happens to you if you are rooted in this; you will not be moved because of who you are rooted in.
Benediction
I bow my knees before the Father, 15 from whom every family[c] in heaven and on earth is named, 16 that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faiththat you, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, 19 and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. 20 Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen. (Eph 3:17-21)
[1] Introduction to Genesis, ESV Study Bible, pp 39
[2] Introduction to Deuteronomy, ESV Study Bible, pp 325
[3] Zondervan Illustrated Bible Dictionary, Moses, pp 973
[4] Introduction to Revelation, ESV Study Bible, pp 2453
[5] Introduction to the Psalms, ESV Study Bible, pp 936
[6] Introduction to Proverbs, ESV Study Bible, pp 1129
[7] https://www.chrisharrison.net/index.php/visualizations/BibleViz
[8] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f-wWBGo6a2wt=4280s
[9] Introduction to Isaiah, ESV Study Bible, pp 1233
[10] https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e7d0e87853917613964998c/1586365377311-5U14I8VN4HY3NVLWV2FM/f2e1ab082e83ac27c667ae2d6102a3fe.jpg