The Throne of David

[0:00] Thank you, Gary. This is, of course, one of the most famous and well-known passages of Scripture relating to the account of the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ.

[0:11] But that is not going to be our focus today. Our focus is going to be on the last six words in verse 32, the throne of his father David.

[0:25] Absolutely fascinating concept. It is safe to say that even though much of the world recognizes this time of the year as the birth of Christ and its connections to biblical Christianity and how it is revered by Christians all throughout the world, it is also safe to say that very, very few of these people who recognize this have any idea at all, not even an inkling, as to what the implications of that birth really are.

[1:06] This is one of the most far-reaching incidents that has ever taken place in the history of humanity.

[1:16] We are talking about the enfleshment of God. God becoming man, dwelling among us, Emmanuel, taking upon himself the nature of a human being, yet without sin, and being found in this personage as a human being, a combination of deity and humanity.

[1:41] Nothing like that has ever happened before. And nothing like it will ever happen again. Again, this makes Jesus the Messiah utterly unique, one of a kind, never to be duplicated.

[1:58] Implications that are contained herein are several, but the one that we want to focus on is the throne of his father David and what that means.

[2:10] So let me set up a few things, if I can, at the very outset. The David to which Luke is referring as he writes that, of course, is David the king.

[2:25] This is the shepherd lad, yes, it's the same one who slew the giant. It's the only David that there is in all of Scripture. There is not another with that same name.

[2:37] This is David the shepherd lad, who grew to be the king of Israel, was anointed by Samuel the prophet. And this is the same one who engaged in the relationship, in the sinful relationship with Bathsheba, the woman who caught his eye as she was bathing on an adjacent rooftop.

[3:04] This is the same David who is then going to try to cover up his illicit affair with Bathsheba, through which he made her pregnant.

[3:17] And he is attempting to cover it up by ordering that her husband, who was one of his soldiers, would be placed in a very vulnerable line of fire from which he would not survive.

[3:35] So he not only committed adultery, but he arranged for the murder of Bathsheba's husband in an effort to cover it up. This is the same David who is referred to, believe it or not, as a man after God's own heart.

[3:51] But this David, capable of great sin, committed great sin, or sins plural, also had a characteristic about him that was actually somewhat redeeming.

[4:08] And that is, he had a repentant heart. So many people do not have that. We are going to see in upcoming sessions how critical and how important one's ability to repent is.

[4:23] It is the most difficult part of the gospel. There is probably no single reason why more people remain disconnected from God and never will be connected with God because of their view and attitude toward the subject of repentance.

[4:48] This is a wonderful concept. And David knew something about it firsthand. Anyway, when the angel Gabriel made this announcement to Mary that she was going to be the mother of the Messiah for whom her nation had awaited for 4,000 years.

[5:15] And that this son, this child who was going to be born of her was to be named Jesus. And the reason he was to be named Jesus is because he shall save his people from their sins.

[5:31] And the word Jesus means Savior. It is the Old Testament equivalent. The Old Testament equivalent of Jesus is Joshua.

[5:45] Yahshua is the way it's pronounced among the Hebrews. And that's the way it would be pronounced if a Hebrew were talking about Jesus of Nazareth today or Jesus the Messiah.

[5:57] He would call him Yahshua Hamashiach, which means Jesus the Messiah. He is going to be the son of David.

[6:08] And by that we mean that Jesus, born of Mary the Virgin, will be a direct descendant of David, that shepherd king, who had lived 1,000 years earlier.

[6:25] When the angel appeared to Mary and then later appeared to Joseph and announced the coming of the Messiah, David the king, their direct descendant, had been dead and buried for 1,000 years.

[6:39] And yet, if you follow the genealogies that are given both in Matthew chapter 1 and in Luke chapter 4, the former contains the genealogy of Joseph and it establishes his right to the throne by virtue of the bloodline, a direct descendant.

[7:00] Joseph was a direct descendant of David the king through Solomon. And Mary was a direct descendant of David the king through another of David's sons, not Solomon, but Nathan.

[7:16] So, both of them, Joseph and Mary, were direct descendants of David the king. The fascinating thing about this is, Jesus is not only born to be a savior, he is born to be a king.

[7:34] The king of the Jews. And not only the king of the Jews, but that's just for starters. He's going to be the king of the whole world.

[7:48] The king of kings and lord of lords. And that is what is in store for him. But there is so much confusion and misunderstanding about this now, largely due to what I believe are misinterpretations of scripture and what we shall call, for lack of a better term, hymnal theology, sometimes Christmas card theology.

[8:17] People get all kinds of erroneous ideas about Christmas because of what they see and read in Christmas cards that aren't necessarily biblical and what they see and hear in the songs that they sing that aren't necessarily biblical either.

[8:37] But they take them as though they are gospel and they accept them. Case in point, turn in your hymnal, please, to hymn number 270.

[8:50] Hymn number 270. It just happens to be one of my favorite hymns, one of my favorite Christmas carols. It is a magnificent piece of music. The message of it is just absolutely wonderful.

[9:04] And Isaac Watts wrote the words. And none other than George Frederick Handel wrote the music. He is the same one, of course, that gave us that incomparable Messiah that we always enjoy singing and hearing sung just about every year.

[9:23] It is just a wonderful piece of music. And here before us, we have joy to the world. The Lord is come. Let earth receive her king.

[9:38] Let every heart prepare him room and heaven and nature sing. And then verse 2.

[9:53] Joy to the world, the Savior reigns. God well, does he?

[10:07] Now, right here is a perfect example of the line of departure that is realized in misunderstanding and misinterpreting the Bible.

[10:19] And here we see an encroachment of what is referred to as replacement theology. Well, what in the world is that? As you go through the Old Testament, starting with Genesis all the way through Malachi, it becomes very, very apparent who God's chosen people are.

[10:42] And I don't think anybody will give you much static on that. It is the nation of Israel. It is the sons of Jacob, the twelve tribes of Israel.

[10:56] And it starts with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and the twelve sons and their children and so on. And as you read all of the Old Testament, you see repeatedly and throughout undeniably, Israel, Israel, Israel, Israel.

[11:14] No question about it. It's a Jewish nation. They are referred to as the covenant people of God. They are referred to as God's chosen people. And there just does not appear to be any competition at all.

[11:28] There are seven great features in the covenants that God established with the nation of Israel, His covenant people. And they include promises God made to them consisting of God's guarantee to them of a nation forever, a land forever, a king forever, a throne forever, a kingdom forever, a new covenant forever, and abiding blessings forever.

[12:00] As we come into the New Testament and open up Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, we have the record of the arrival of Jesus of Nazareth on the scene.

[12:13] Remember now, He was promised 4,000 years ago. Israel, and God took a long, long time to deliver. There's a great deal of human history that transpired during those 4,000 years.

[12:28] And Israel, as a nation, still looking, eagerly longing for the arrival on the scene of this Messiah because the Messiah was God's promise of one who was going to right all of the world's wrongs.

[12:53] Where there was inequity, He was going to fix that with equality. Where there was injustice, He's going to fix that with justice. Where there is death and disease and debilitation and human heartache and all the rest, He's going to fix all of those things.

[13:11] He's going to repair a broken world. So everyone look forward to that. We are told that He came unto His own. They are His own people, the nation of Israel.

[13:25] Jesus was born as a member of the tribe of Judah, one of the sons of Jacob. He came unto His own, the nation of Israel.

[13:37] But, His own received Him not. They rejected Him. Oh, to be sure, there were several who did receive Him.

[13:51] You could start with naming the twelve apostles. They all received Him. And there were thousands of people who witnessed His miracles and ate of the loaves and fishes that He miraculously multiplied.

[14:04] Many of them received Him, perhaps all of them. So, there were no doubt tens of thousands of people who did receive Jesus as the Messiah, believing that He was the one that God promised 4,000 years earlier.

[14:20] But, we know that nationally speaking, when it came to the leadership of Israel, comprised of the chief priests, the Sadducees, the Pharisees, we would call them the shakers and movers, the elite individuals, the ones with all of the clout, they rejected Him.

[14:45] They said, crucify Him. They said, this can't be the Messiah. He wasn't born in the right place. He wasn't educated in the right place. He's not one of us.

[14:57] He doesn't qualify. He's not fit to be the Messiah. He's an imposter. Crucify Him. And, of course, they did. The happy result of that, however, was the resurrection three days later.

[15:15] And, He continued to be presented to this nation that demanded His crucifixion as if they were being given a second chance. And, Peter gave them a second chance in Acts chapter 2.

[15:28] He gave them a third chance in Acts chapter 3 when he preached essentially the same message. And, then, in Acts chapter 7, when a man raised up of God by the name of Stephen had opportunity to preach to the very elite.

[15:43] This would be the equivalent of our Senate and House of Representatives. This was the Jewish Sanhedrin. Peter had an opportunity to once again extend to the leadership of Israel an open arm of welcome and invitation for them to embrace the one that they had earlier demanded be crucified.

[16:11] And, what was their response? They stoned Him to death. They killed Him right on the spot. Stephen, lying there on the ground, about to take his last breath, uttered something that was reminiscent of his Savior.

[16:35] When he said, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. And, he died. Now, the question becomes, Israel, is that your final answer?

[16:56] yes, it was. We will not have this man to reign over us. So, on numerous occasions, opportunities that they had to reverse themselves, and to do what John had required them to do when he came preaching, repent, they refused to do so.

[17:24] repentance is prevented because of the hardness of heart.

[17:35] More about that later, but it's a very, very serious thing. It can not only get you into trouble, it can get you into eternal trouble.

[17:49] And, they, of course, refused to repent. Now, what happens to them? What is God going to do with these stubborn, stiff-necked, hard-hearted people that persist in rejecting their only possible hope of salvation?

[18:10] What's God going to do with them? The conventional wisdom says, God says, alright, I've had it with you people, you're out of here.

[18:22] I want nothing more to do with you, I reject you as a nation, and all of your descendants, goodbye. And, God wrote off the nation of Israel, and all the people we call Jews, wants nothing more to do with them.

[18:40] They are permanently cast out. And, many would say, and I dare say, they would not be wrong, in saying, serves them right, good enough, that's what they deserve.

[18:58] No doubt about it, that is what they deserve. They, wantonly, crucified, their Messiah, and repeatedly rejected him.

[19:11] And, if we were talking about ordinary situations, that would be the end of the story, and there would be a whole new people, come on the scene, that God is cozying up to, and these new people are called the church, Christians.

[19:33] And, in the eyes and minds of a great many people, these people called Christians, or the church, have replaced the nation of Israel.

[19:46] permanently. There's no more Israel, there isn't going to be any more Israel. Everything is now focused in and upon the church.

[19:58] And, in the eyes of conventional wisdom, the church has become the new Israel. The old Israel is kaput for good, never to come back again.

[20:13] I want you to understand something now. What I have just described is the majority point of view of most of Christendom.

[20:26] That's why this is called replacement theology. The thinking is the church has taken the place of Israel as God's chosen people.

[20:39] And, Israel used to be God's chosen people, the Jew, but they are no longer. Now, it's the church. Those of us who do not subscribe to that, of course, includes Grace Bible Church, and others that we would call dispensationalists.

[21:02] That simply means we believe, and we believe the scriptures clearly teach that when God made these promises or established these covenants with Israel, one of which was the Abrahamic covenant, to you, Abraham, and your seed, I will give this land, and through you all nations of the earth will be blessed.

[21:27] That's the Abrahamic covenant. And it is an unconditional covenant. It was not dependent upon the obedience or the cooperation of Abraham.

[21:39] It was dependent upon the faithfulness of God. And it has to be that way because God knew he could not count on the faithfulness and dependability of Abraham any more than he can count on yours or mine.

[21:58] So if God is going to establish something for which he can be absolutely certain that there will be no frustration of it and no cancellation of it, the only way he can do that with any assurance is to make certain that he is the only one who has anything to do.

[22:19] Because God can trust himself. He can't trust us. We're just not made of the right stuff. And I think in our heart of hearts we know that.

[22:32] most noble characters in the Bible at one time or another failed miserably. We've already talked about David. And Abraham who was called the father of the faithful had at least two major lapses in his faith where he just didn't believe God.

[22:50] And there are other cases. So the humanity of man is sticking out all throughout the scripture as well as is the faithfulness of God sticking out as well.

[23:02] So whatever is going to be ultimately realized by the promises of God is going to be because of God's performance not man's performance. We need to really understand that.

[23:15] God is the only one who is utterly faithfully reliable. We are flawed. And many times we show it.

[23:26] So we have promised to Israel a nation forever a land forever a king forever a throne forever a kingdom forever a new covenant forever and abiding blessings forever.

[23:40] None of which have been realized to date. All of which will be realized ultimately as this plan and program moves right along.

[23:55] He will be great and he 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.

[24:17] Jacob is the father of the twelve sons who became the heads of the twelve tribes of Israel.

[24:29] So many times when the scripture uses the word Jacob it doesn't mean Jacob the individual Jacob the man it means Jacob the nation all of the tribes as is the case here.

[24:43] He will reign over the house of Jacob forever and his kingdom will have no end. Now let's look at this hymn again that we're examining. Number 270 Joy to the world the Savior reigns.

[25:03] I suppose there is more than one way I'm sure there's more than one way of interpreting that and some would say Jesus reigns in the heart and life of every person who has received him.

[25:23] Well I wouldn't dispute that except I would say Jesus reigns sometimes in the heart of everyone who has received him. Sometimes he doesn't reign.

[25:34] Sometimes in our ego and in our flesh we push him aside and say excuse me Lord Jesus stand over here please while I take center stage and do my own thing.

[25:46] We know we're all capable of doing that. But what this text is saying and I think what it refers to by way of the Old Testament and the New is that the Savior reigns is in connection with this verse that we're just reading.

[26:03] And of his kingdom there shall be no end and he will reign forever. verse three no more let sin and sorrow grow.

[26:24] Does it? Have you had any sorrow growing in your life? boy I sure have.

[26:39] I've had some sin growing in my life too. So what does this mean? No more let sin and sorrow grow nor thorns infest the ground.

[26:57] Roger are you able to dispense with herbicides and fertilizer?

[27:09] Not hardly. Matter of fact I was talking to your dad about some aspect of farming. He was telling me the incredible price increases there has been in fertilizer over the last few years as compared to what it used to be.

[27:25] Why is it necessary to use fertilizer and herbicides? It's because thorns and thistles and weeds still proliferate.

[27:36] But the hymn writer here in all honesty is suggesting that with the arrival of Jesus in Bethlehem those things have come to an end.

[27:49] Well they sure haven't in Ohio have they? he comes to make his blessings flow far as the curse is found.

[27:59] As far as the curse is found. And verse four he rules the world with truth and grace. Really?

[28:11] Does he? Because if he is ruling the world with truth and grace today the world doesn't know that.

[28:26] And they are not behaving accordingly. we find a lot of untruth and a lot of grace less living going on out there don't we?

[28:39] Do you know what venue this really belongs to? It's the second coming not the first coming.

[28:50] This is a second coming hymn. Now I would discourage you from trying to convert anybody into scrapping this hymn in connection with Christmas.

[29:05] And the reason being habits die hard don't they? We'll still connect this and I along with the rest of you will still sing it every Christmas although I kind of shake my head every time I do and I say here it is right here in black and white if people would just start asking some serious questions now wait a minute Jesus being born is he ruling the world with truth and grace no and does he make the nations prove the glories of his righteousness no and what about wonders of his love is the world at large in love with this Jesus no well what in the world is this all about then this is an excellent example of what we call spiritualizing the text you're not supposed to take it literally you're supposed to take it in a vague general esoteric fuzzy foggy mysterious kind of way and when you do that why it makes perfect sense well when you do that you can make perfect sense out of anything in the

[30:24] Old Testament prophesied hundreds thousands of years before Jesus came there are two arrivals of the Messiah described one is what we are celebrating the first coming we call it the first advent it is his initial appearing on earth as a man he was born as a babe in Bethlehem that's his first coming and the scriptures record that in a number of places in Isaiah 7 14 and Isaiah 9 6 and Micah 5 2 where he is to be born and all kinds of descriptions are given even the description of his death as in Psalm 22 death by crucifixion and all and those are all in reference to his first coming but the same Old Testament records the second coming of Jesus in far more cases and in much more detail than it does in his first coming and if you don't make a distinction between those and kind of blend them together you are hopelessly confused and that's what many have done and this hymn

[31:40] I think is an excellent example of that they have simply spiritualized it and tried to make it well Jesus rules the world in truth and grace kind of well that does not satisfy the meaning of the words because words mean things now the time is coming when every detail in that hymn will be literally fulfilled when he comes again the second coming there are numerous references and I just want to run a couple of them by you and let's check them in the Old Testament if we may and for the first one let's go to Isaiah 2 Isaiah is wonderfully rich with messianic promises I just want to share a couple of these with you so you can pick up on the implications of them bear in mind Isaiah was written approximately 700 years before

[32:40] Jesus was born and we read in verse 1 of Isaiah chapter 2 the word which Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem now it will come about that in the last days the mountain of the house of the Lord will be established as the chief of the mountains what is the mountain of the house of the Lord that's Mount Zion that's where Solomon built the original temple that's where David the king eventually ruled and reigned that is still very much with us today geographically tourists go there by the millions and you can walk on that turf and you can be assured that this is the general area where so much of the Bible transpired as is recorded here the mountain of the house of the

[33:44] Lord will be established as the chief of the mountains what's that mean that means that this geographical spot is going to be the political spiritual center of the entire globe right there in Jerusalem and it will be raised above the hills and all the nations will stream to it all all the nations yes all the nations the United States of America well whatever is left of it all nations are going to this is going to be the focal point for the whole world it will be the center of international government and there will be but one government and it will be headed by this king this king

[34:44] Jesus lord of lords and king of kings and nations will stream to it and many peoples will come and say come let us go up to the mountain of the Lord to the house of the God of Jacob that he may teach us concerning his ways and that we may walk in his paths for the law will go forth from Zion and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem and he will judge between the nations and will render decisions for many peoples and they will hammer their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks nation will not lift up sword against nation and never again will they learn more do you see anything remotely close to that today well of course not you would be a fool for thinking so you would be extremely naive but this is what's coming and

[35:48] Isaiah is so filled with these things we could just and Jeremiah as well Jeremiah 31 and Jeremiah 33 but let us go please to 2 Samuel chapter 7 2 Samuel chapter 7 this involves David the shepherd lad came about when the king lived in his own house and the lord had given him rest on every side from all his enemies in other words he wasn't at war with anyone for David that was news because he was usually fighting with his neighbors the king said to Nathan the prophet see now I dwell in the house of cedar but the ark of

[36:50] God dwells within tent curtains Nathan said to the king go do all that is in your mind for the Lord is with you it came about in the same night that the word is the same man who will later put the finger on David and expose him for his sin with Bathsheba he's going to say thou art the man and rather than David hating the man for exposing him and resenting the man and holding a grudge against the man for exposing him with his adultery with Bathsheba and his murder of Uriah the Hittite he names his son after him that's an indication of a man who has really come full circle in repentance and restoration to name your son after the man who was responsible for your public embarrassment and exposure

[38:02] David had a truly grateful heart go and say to my servant David thus says the Lord are you the one who should build me a house to dwell in for I have not dwelt in a house since the day I brought up the sons of Israel from Egypt even to this day but I have been moving about in a tent even in a tabernacle this was the visible presence of God and the glory and the ark and the mercy seat and so on wherever I have gone with all the sons of Israel did I speak a word with one of my tribes of Israel saying why have you not built me a house of cedar now therefore thus shall you say to my servant David thus says the Lord of hosts I took you from the pasture from following the sheep that you should be ruler over my people and I have been with you wherever you have gone and have cut off all your enemies from before you and I will make you a great name like the names of the great men who are on the earth and I will also appoint a place for my people

[39:04] Israel and will plant them that they may live in their own place and not be disturbed again nor will the wicked afflict them anymore as formerly is that true today is Israel afflicted by anybody well not unless you call rockets being lobbed over from Gaza all the time an affliction and certainly they would qualify wouldn't they as well as the six day war and the Yom Kippur war and the war for independence in 1948 all of these could be qualified as afflictions when your father or you die I will raise up your descendant after you who will come forth from you and I will establish his kingdom and he shall build a house for my name who is he talking about Solomon and Solomon is going to build that temple and it will be glorious beyond description

[40:08] I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever now how long does forever last does Israel have a throne and a kingdom now nope they haven't had for centuries they haven't had they haven't had a king or throne for millennia over 2,000 years they've been without a throne been without a king even now they have what they call a Knesset which is the Jewish name for our equivalent of Congress and they have a prime minister and the prime minister is Benjamin Netanyahu he's not a king they don't have a king haven't had a king for thousands of years I will be a father to him and he will be a son to me when he commits iniquity

[41:14] I will correct him with the rod of men and with the strokes of the sons of men who's he talking about he's talking about Solomon and he did that but my loving kindness shall not depart from him as I took it away from Saul whom I removed before you and your house David your house that is your lineage we would say your dynasty a dynasty is when a reign or a regime is perpetuated within the same family bloodline in successive generations that's a dynasty so God is saying that he is going to establish a Davidic dynasty so that the line will never be broken it will be carried into perpetuity your house and your kingdom shall endure forever shall endure before me forever your throne shall be established forever in accordance with all these words and all this vision so

[42:27] Nathan spoke to David well what are we going to say to this how long is forever and where is this throne and this kingdom now it's in limbo doesn't exist no king no throne but what does forever mean how can we put these things together David's greater son remember when Jesus came into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday what was the crowd saying they were saying Hosanna to whom to the son of David they recognized

[43:27] Jesus was the one of whom this prophet was speaking and when he is installed as the king of Israel as he will be but when will that be second coming not first coming not first coming he was the king at the first coming but was he recognized no but what did they put on a cross over his head Jesus of Nazareth the king of the Jews well he was in reality the king of the Jews but did the Jews recognize him as such no no they crucify him Pilate even said shall I crucify your king of course he was being sarcastic he wasn't at all saying that he really believed that Jesus all of this comes into play when he returns then will be fulfilled so many of these glorious things that have been written of him that were never intended for the first coming because his objective for the first coming was to lay the groundwork for the second coming first coming he comes as a lamb prepared for slaughter that led

[44:53] John to say behold the lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world when he returns he is returning not as a lamb but as a lion of the tribe of Judah and he will exact judgment upon the world given to him the throne of his father David and how long will that throne last how long will that dynasty last it will extend into eternity it will be in perpetuity and it will be in exact fulfillment of what was prophesied and of his throne and of his kingdom there shall be no end we will be ruling and reigning with him here on the earth well into the eternal state and it will be glorious beyond description then and only then will things be as they're supposed to be and our father we are so grateful for a

[46:11] God who cannot lie and for the promises that you have provided being utterly and wonderfully fulfilled in the person of this wonderful savior we now have an opportunity as individuals to deliver our very lives and all that we are about to him for his redemption for his salvation for his remaking us anew and indeed it is the desire of the heart for everyone who has experienced that that others know the joy and the peace that comes from believing as well so father in this closing moment our prayer is that any boy or girl or man or woman here today who's been able to make some connection between Jesus Christ and who he is and what he did and themselves we would pray for them that the spirit of

[47:17] God would so move upon their heart that they would throw open the doors of their hearts even now and say Lord Jesus you have been prophesied and promised to fulfill so many things but the chiefest of which is savior and since you died to save me from my sin I want to embrace you and fulfill my responsibility by exercising my will in trusting you and in taking you as my very own sin bearer Lord Jesus thank you so much for doing for me what I could never do for myself I want to be a recipient of your grace and of your love and of your forgiveness as best as I know how with all of my questions I just want to submit myself to you thank you for your wonderful salvation come into my life and make it what you want it to be

[48:29] I want to give it to you in name I pray amen well god bless you you are dismissed and let me be the first to say happy new year upcoming