Getting the Bible from Beginning to End – Part 12
Note: (You can go to the Online Church Page and listen to or watch this message!)
In our Online Ministry Bible study today we are continuing our discussion on Understanding the Bible from beginning to end. So far in our study on getting the Bible from beginning to end we have developed the following ideas:
God is the Eternal King. He is an infinite, unchangeable, Spirit, perfect in holiness, wisdom, goodness, justice, power and love.
From all eternity He exists as the One Living and True God in three persons of one substance, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, equal in power and glory.
God’s Kingdom is everlasting. From His throne, through His Son, His eternal Word, God created, upholds, and governs all that exists: the heavenly places, the angelic hosts, the universe, the earth, every living thing and human beings. God created all things very good.
Satan, originally a great good angel rebelled against God, taking a host of angels with him. He was cast out of God’s presence, and, as a usurper of God’s rule established a counter-kingdom of darkness and evil on the earth.
God created mankind in His image, male and female, for relationship with himself, and to govern the earth. Under the temptation of Satan our original parents fell from grace, bringing sin and God’s judgment of death to the earth. Through the fall, Satan and his demonic host gained access to God’s good creation. Creation now experiences the consequences and effects of Adam’s original sin Human beings are born in sin, subject to God’s judgment of death, and captive to Satan’s kingdom of darkness.
God did not abandon His rule over the earth, which He continues to uphold by His providence. In order to bring redemption, God established covenants, which revealed His grace to sinful people. In covenant with Abraham, God bound Himself to His people Israel, promising to deliver them from bondage to sin and Satan and to bless all the nations through them.
As King, God later redeemed His people by His mighty acts from bondage in Egypt and established His covenant through Moses, revealing His perfect will and our obligation to fulfill it. The law’s purpose is to order our fallen race and to make us conscious of our moral responsibility.
By the work of God’s Spirit, it convicts us of our sin and God’s righteous judgment against us and brings us to Christ alone for salvation.
In today’s study we are going to begin to discuss how Israel wanted to have a King like everyone else. Until this point in time, God was their King and he spoke through the prophets (Old Testament prophets had some pretty tight requirements to fulfill, like always being right with the prophecies). God never stops being the King in actuality, but He allows Israel to have a King over them. Remember in our previous discussions about what a kingdom is.
Realm. Kingdom is normally understood as a realm over which a king rules. A modern day example of this idea was the United Kingdom which was made up of many nations: Great Britain, Scotland, Ireland, Wales, etc. People live in the Kingdom (a place) and are subjects of the King or Queen who exercises his or her authority over his or her subjects.
Reign-Rule. Another way to view the idea of Kingdom is found in its dictionary definition:
“The reign or rule a king has over his subjects.” This definition is closer to the primary meaning of the Hebrew and Greek words than the concept of realm. In Hebrew the word for Kingdom is malkût (mal-coot). The Greek word is basileia (bah-see-lay-a).
When Israel rejected God’s rule over her as King,
1 Samuel 8:6-8 (NIV)
6 But when they said, “Give us a king to lead us,” this displeased Samuel; so he prayed to the LORD. 7 And the LORD told him: “Listen to all that the people are saying to you; it is not you they have rejected, but they have rejected me as their king. 8 As they have done from the day I brought them up out of Egypt until this day, forsaking me and serving other gods, so they are doing to you.
God established the monarchy in Israel
1 Samuel 8:21-22 (NIV)
21 When Samuel heard all that the people said, he repeated it before the LORD. 22 The LORD answered, “Listen to them and give them a king.” Then Samuel said to the men of Israel, “Everyone go back to his town.”
1 Samuel 9:15-16 (NIV)
15 Now the day before Saul came, the LORD had revealed this to Samuel: 16 “About this time tomorrow I will send you a man from the land of Benjamin. Anoint him leader over my people Israel; he will deliver my people from the hand of the Philistines. I have looked upon my people, for their cry has reached me.”
1 Samuel 10:1 (NIV)
1 Then Samuel took a flask of oil and poured it on Saul’s head and kissed him, saying, “Has not the LORD anointed you leader over his inheritance?
1 Samuel 10:24 (NIV)
24 Samuel said to all the people, “Do you see the man the LORD has chosen? There is no one like him among all the people.” Then the people shouted, “Long live the king!”
and made an unconditional covenant with David,
2 Samuel 7:11-16 (NIV)
11 and have done ever since the time I appointed leaders over my people Israel. I will also give you rest from all your enemies. “‘The LORD declares to you that the LORD himself will establish a house for you: 12 When your days are over and you rest with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring to succeed you, who will come from your own body, and I will establish his kingdom. 13 He is the one who will build a house for my Name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. 14 I will be his father, and he will be my son. When he does wrong, I will punish him with the rod of men, with floggings inflicted by men. 15 But my love will never be taken away from him, as I took it away from Saul, whom I removed from before you. 16 Your house and your kingdom will endure forever before me; your throne will be established forever.’”
These promises relate to Solomon, David’s immediate ancestor, but they also relate to Christ who is often called the Son of David. To him God gave all power and authority in heaven and earth. He was to build a spiritual temple of true believers, to be a habitation of God through the Spirit. The establishing of his house, his throne, and his kingdom for ever, can be applied to no other than to Jesus and his kingdom: David’s house and kingdom long since came to an end. The committing of wrong cannot be applied to the Messiah himself, but to his spiritual seed; true believers make bad choices and decisions for which they must expect to be corrected, though they are not cast off.
Psalms 89:34-37 (NIV)
34 I will not violate my covenant or alter what my lips have uttered. 35 Once for all, I have sworn by my holiness– and I will not lie to David–36 that his line will continue forever and his throne endure before me like the sun; 37 it will be established forever like the moon, the faithful witness in the sky.” Selah
promising that his heir would restore God’s kingdom reign over His people as Messiah forever.
Isaiah 9:6-7 (NIV)
6 For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. 7 Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the LORD Almighty will accomplish this.
This is more than a Christmas verse!
Isaiah 11:1-5 (NIV)
1 A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit. 2 The Spirit of the LORD will rest on him– the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the Spirit of counsel and of power, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD– 3 and he will delight in the fear of the LORD. He will not judge by what he sees with his eyes, or decide by what he hears with his ears; 4 but with righteousness he will judge the needy, with justice he will give decisions for the poor of the earth. He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth; with the breath of his lips he will slay the wicked. 5 Righteousness will be his belt and faithfulness the sash around his waist.
Jeremiah 23:5-6 (NIV)
5 “The days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when I will raise up to David a righteous Branch, a King who will reign wisely and do what is just and right in the land. 6 In his days Judah will be saved and Israel will live in safety. This is the name by which he will be called: The LORD Our Righteousness.
Ezekiel 34:23 (NIV)
23 I will place over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he will tend them; he will tend them and be their shepherd.
So here is where we are at so far:
God is the Eternal King. He is an infinite, unchangeable, Spirit, perfect in holiness, wisdom, goodness, justice, power and love.
From all eternity He exists as the One Living and True God in three persons of one substance, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, equal in power and glory.
God’s Kingdom is everlasting. From His throne, through His Son, His eternal Word, God created, upholds, and governs all that exists: the heavenly places, the angelic hosts, the universe, the earth, every living thing and human beings. God created all things very good.
Satan, originally a great good angel rebelled against God, taking a host of angels with him. He was cast out of God’s presence, and, as a usurper of God’s rule established a counter-kingdom of darkness and evil on the earth.
God created mankind in His image, male and female, for relationship with himself, and to govern the earth. Under the temptation of Satan our original parents fell from grace, bringing sin and God’s judgment of death to the earth. Through the fall, Satan and his demonic host gained access to God’s good creation. Creation now experiences the consequences and effects of Adam’s original sin Human beings are born in sin, subject to God’s judgment of death, and captive to Satan’s kingdom of darkness.
God did not abandon His rule over the earth, which He continues to uphold by His providence. In order to bring redemption, God established covenants, which revealed His grace to sinful people. In covenant with Abraham, God bound Himself to His people Israel, promising to deliver them from bondage to sin and Satan and to bless all the nations through them.
As King, God later redeemed His people by His mighty acts from bondage in Egypt and established His covenant through Moses, revealing His perfect will and our obligation to fulfill it. The law’s purpose is to order our fallen race and to make us conscious of our moral responsibility.
By the work of God’s Spirit, it convicts us of our sin and God’s righteous judgment against us and brings us to Christ alone for salvation.
When Israel rejected God’s rule over her as King, God established the monarchy in Israel and made an unconditional covenant with David, promising that his heir would restore God’s kingdom reign over His people as Messiah forever.
Next week I want to talk about the big difference between Saul and David.
No related posts.
Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.
Category: Studying the Bible
