Greater King ~ 20171217 ~ Pastor Rodney Zedicher ~ Ephraim Church of the Bible ~ www.ephraimbible.org
12/17 Advent: Jesus is Greater! Greater King ; Audio available at: http://www.ephraimbible.org/Sermons/20171217_advent-greater-king.mp3
Jesus is greater! 'All the promises of God find their Yes in Jesus' (2Cor.1:20) Jesus is the greater fulfillment all the promises. Jesus is the one who could say 'in the scroll of the book it is written of me' (Ps.40:7; Heb.10:7). The whole Old Testament points us to Jesus. This Christmas season we are looking at some of the sweeping themes of the Old Testament and how Jesus is the Yes to all the promises of God.
Jesus is the greater Prophet, the greater Priest, the greater King, Jesus is the greater Man, the greater Israel. Jesus is the greater Prophet, the one who faithfully speaks God's words to his people; the one who is the Word made flesh! Jesus is our great High Priest who “offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins,” and then “he sat down at the right hand of God” (Heb.10:12). He is the greater Mediator who brings us in behind the curtain, to God.
Today we look at Jesus, the greater King, greater than David, greater than Solomon, the one who triumphs over his enemies, who brings peace and justice and righteousness, who establishes the rule of God.
God's Rejected Rule
This too is a theme that goes all the way back to Genesis. In the beginning, God created everything, God ruled over everything he had made, and he shared some of his authority with the man and woman created in his image. He gave them everything good to enjoy, and he gave them one command to keep them safe. But we chose to rebel against God's good authority. We chose to listen to a competing voice that undermined the goodness of God, that rejected his good rule, that invited us to be our own gods. We rejected God's good authority and stepped out from under his loving protection and care. And human history has been a long sequence of failed attempts to rule ourselves. 'Every intention of the thoughts of man's heart was only evil continually' and 'the earth was filled with violence through them' (Gen.6:5, 13), so God washed the planet clean of them and started over with Noah and his family. But soon mankind had once again united in rebellion against God, 'building a city and a tower with its top in the heavens, making a name for ourselves' (Gen.11:4). God dispersed them, confusing their languages, and called one man to submit to his authority and to obey him, and 'through him to bless all the families of the earth' (Gen.12:1-3). God brought Abraham's descendants out of slavery in Egypt to serve and obey him, and he gave them his good rules at Sinai, which they promised to obey, but then repeatedly rejected God's good authority and chose to go their own way. After that generation died in the wilderness, God brought his people in to the land of promise under Joshua, but after they were in the land, 'the people did what was evil in the sight of the LORD and served false gods' (Jdgs.2:11-13). 'God raised up judges to rescue them, but they did not listen to the judges, they refused to obey the Lord, they continually bowed to other gods' (Jdgs.2:16-17). 'Everyone did what was right in his own eyes' (Jdgs.17:6; 21:25). Under Samuel, the people 'rejected the Lord from being king over them,' and demanded a human king like the nations around them (1Sam.8:5-8).
Samuel warned the people:
1 Samuel 8:11 He said, “These will be the ways of the king who will reign over you: he will take your sons and appoint them to his chariots and to be his horsemen and to run before his chariots. ... 13 He will take your daughters ….14 He will take the best of your fields and vineyards and olive orchards ... 15 He will take the tenth of your grain and of your vineyards …. 16 He will take your male servants and female servants and the best of your young men and your donkeys, and put them to his work. 17 He will take the tenth of your flocks, and you shall be his slaves. 18 And in that day you will cry out because of your king, whom you have chosen for yourselves, but the LORD will not answer you in that day.” 19 But the people refused to obey the voice of Samuel. And they said, “No! But there shall be a king over us, 20 that we also may be like all the nations, and that our king may judge us and go out before us and fight our battles.”
Samuel appointed Saul, but Saul 'rejected the word of the LORD, he did not keep the command of the LORD God, so God rejected him from being king; his kingdom would not continue. So the LORD sought out a man after his own heart to be prince over his people' (1Sam.13:13-14; 15:26).
David's House and Offspring
Psalm 78:70 He chose David his servant and took him from the sheepfolds; 71 from following the nursing ewes he brought him to shepherd Jacob his people, Israel his inheritance. 72 With upright heart he shepherded them and guided them with his skillful hand.
David had been a shepherd, and God took him to shepherd his people. God said to David,
2 Samuel 7:8 Now, therefore, thus you shall 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 prince over my people Israel.
11 ...And I will give you rest from all your enemies. Moreover, the LORD declares to you that the LORD will make you a house. 12 When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. 13 He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. 14 I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son. When he commits iniquity, I will discipline him with the rod of men, with the stripes of the sons of men, 15 but my steadfast love will not depart from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away from before you. 16 And your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me. Your throne shall be established forever.’”
God promised David a dynasty, a house that would be established forever. But David, man after God's own heart, Israel's greatest king, failed. He stayed back instead of leading Israel into war. He committed adultery and attempted to cover it up with murder (2Sam.11). David the shepherd-king failed to shepherd Israel well. His son Solomon became the most wise and wealthy king over Israel, but 'his heart was not wholly true to the LORD his God, and his foreign wives turned away his heart after other gods' (1Ki.11:1-8). So 'the Lord tore the kingdom from him and gave it to his servant' (1Ki.11:11). The kingdom was divided, and under a long sequence of kings the nation declined until God sent Assyria to conquer Israel, and Babylon to punish Judah.
The Shepherd-King
Through the prophets (Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Zechariah) who spoke out against some of these kings, God rebukes the worthless shepherds of his people, who feed only themselves.
Ezekiel 34:3 ...but you do not feed the sheep. 4 The weak you have not strengthened, the sick you have not healed, the injured you have not bound up, the strayed you have not brought back, the lost you have not sought, and with force and harshness you have ruled them.
God is against the kings and leaders of his people who fail to care for those under their watch. But he holds out hope.
Jeremiah 3:15 “‘And I will give you shepherds after my own heart, who will feed you with knowledge and understanding.
God looks to a future time and a future king like David, a shepherd after God's own heart. In Ezekiel:
Ezekiel 34:11 “For thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I, I myself will search for my sheep and will seek them out. 12 As a shepherd seeks out his flock when he is among his sheep that have been scattered, so will I seek out my sheep, and I will rescue them from all places where they have been scattered on a day of clouds and thick darkness. 13 And I will bring them out from the peoples and gather them from the countries, and will bring them into their own land. And I will feed them on the mountains of Israel, by the ravines, and in all the inhabited places of the country. 14 I will feed them with good pasture, and on the mountain heights of Israel shall be their grazing land. There they shall lie down in good grazing land, and on rich pasture they shall feed on the mountains of Israel. 15 I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I myself will make them lie down, declares the Lord GOD. 16 I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the injured, and I will strengthen the weak, and the fat and the strong I will destroy. I will feed them in justice.
God himself promises to come and shepherd his people. This coming shepherd-king he calls 'my servant David.'
Ezekiel 34:23 And I will set up over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he shall feed them: he shall feed them and be their shepherd. 24 And I, the LORD, will be their God, and my servant David shall be prince among them. I am the LORD; I have spoken.30 And they shall know that I am the LORD their God with them, and that they, the house of Israel, are my people, declares the Lord GOD. 31 And you are my sheep, human sheep of my pasture, and I am your God, declares the Lord GOD.”
God is their shepherd who comes to be with them, and he establishes his shepherd-king to shepherd them. The flawed kings of Israel and Judah left a deep longing for a greater king who would not serve himself but others.
King Jesus
400 years later, Jerusalem is under Roman occupation.
Luke 2:1 In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. 2 This was the first registration when Quirinius was governor of Syria. 3 And all went to be registered, each to his own town. 4 And Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the town of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, 5 to be registered with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child.
Enter Jesus. Both Matthew and Luke trace his lineage back to David, although through differing routes, establishing his right to the throne of David.
Matthew records:
Matthew 2:1 Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem, 2 saying, “Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.”
Herod was appointed by Rome. But now foreign ambassadors had come looking for the one born king of the Jews.
Isaiah 60:1 Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD has risen upon you. 2 For behold, darkness shall cover the earth, and thick darkness the peoples; but the LORD will arise upon you, and his glory will be seen upon you. 3 And nations shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising.
6 ...They shall bring gold and frankincense, and shall bring good news, the praises of the LORD.
Foreign nations and kings came to honor this new king.
Matthew 2:3 When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him; 4 and assembling all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born. 5 They told him, “In Bethlehem of Judea, for so it is written by the prophet: 6 “‘And you, O Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for from you shall come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel.’” [Micah 5:2]
The promised shepherd-king was to come from Bethlehem, David's hometown.
Jesus proclaimed the good news of God; “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel” (Mk.1:14-15). God's kingdom was at hand because the promised King had arrived!
Servant-King
But Jesus was a different kind of king. When people tried to make him king, he withdrew (Jn.6:15).
John 12:12 The next day the large crowd that had come to the feast heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem. 13 So they took branches of palm trees and went out to meet him, crying out, “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel!” 14 And Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it, just as it is written, 15 “Fear not, daughter of Zion; behold, your king is coming, sitting on a donkey's colt!” [Zech.9:9]
This is how Jesus used his authority.
John 13:3 Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going back to God, 4 rose from supper. He laid aside his outer garments, and taking a towel, tied it around his waist. 5 Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples' feet and to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around him.
Jesus redefined leadership. When Jesus' followers were pursuing position and seeking status,
Matthew 20:25 But Jesus called them to him and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. 26 It shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, 27 and whoever would be first among you must be your slave, 28 even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
Jesus came as God's appointed King, but there was no room for him in the inn. He had nowhere to lay his head. He did not come to be served. He came to serve others. He came to the sick, to the outcasts. He came to seek and to save the lost. He came to lay down his life for others.
David's mighty men were willing to risk their lives to fulfill a request of the king. Jesus laid down his own life for his followers.
John 19:2 And the soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head and arrayed him in a purple robe. 3 They came up to him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” and struck him with their hands.
Pilate presented him to them 'Behold your King!' (Jn.19:14).
John 19:19 Pilate also wrote an inscription and put it on the cross. It read, “Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.”
Jesus came to dethrone the ruler of this world. He said:
John 12:31 Now is the judgment of this world; now will the ruler of this world be cast out. 32 And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.”
But the way he dethroned the ruler was to die. His royal throne was a cross of wood, to which he was nailed. In the tabernacle, God's throne was overshadowed by two cherubim. Jesus' throne was overshadowed by two criminals. He was hailed by the religious leaders this way:
Matthew 27:42 “He saved others; he cannot save himself. He is the King of Israel; let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him.
They failed to understand the nature of his kingship. They failed to understand that if he came down from the cross, they could not believe in him. He saved others precicely by not saving himself.
Jesus said:
John 10:11 I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.
Jesus is greater! Jesus is the greater King, the greater Shepherd, the greater Leader, the triumphant victor. But he is greater in ways that we would not anticipate.
The way he conquered his enemies was not what we would expect.
Colossians 2:13 And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, 14 by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. 15 He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him.
Jesus conquered death by dying. He gained the victory over his enemies by being nailed to a cross.
And his path to glory was much different than we would expect. Philippians 2 sums it up:
Philippians 2:5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, 6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. 9 Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Every knee will bow to King Jesus. May our knees bend gladly now to our gracious King!
Pastor Rodney Zedicher ~ Ephraim Church of the Bible ~ www.ephraimbible.org