Original subtitles

hello my name is Don Carson you're

watching the fifth in a series of 14

talks designed to introduce you to the

God who is there that is to the God of

the Bible today we are reflecting on the

God who reigns many of you who are

watching this series live in a republic

so the notion of a king is a bit alien

others of you live in a constitutional

monarchy the United Kingdom perhaps

where the Monarchs powers are strictly

limited to get used to the frequency and

ease with which God presents himself in

the Bible as King demands that we try to

understand what was expected of a king

in the ancient world the entire subject

becomes more important yet when we

recall how often Jesus himself announced

the dawning of the kingdom it is

impossible to gain much of a grasp of

Christianity without tracking some of

what the Bible says about such notions

ultimately Jesus is presented in the

Bible as the king of kings and the Lord

of lords the last book of the Bible

tells us that the kingdoms of this world

become the kingdoms of our God and of

his Christ what kind of a takeover is

this what does it mean what bearing does

it have on understanding God

welcome to program 5

we come now to the God who reigns what

do we conjure up in our minds when we

hear a word like king or monarch the

last king that America had King George

the third by-and-large

is not in very good order we're a

republic thank you a Democratic Republic

and we probably don't want to go quite

so far in our anti role assessment of

things as Voltaire who said that he

would be satisfied when the last king is

strangled with the entrails of the last

bishop or the last priest but still

whatever Kings there are in the world

whatever monarchs there are we're pretty

glad they're over there

or if we're in more positive mood then

we might think of Her Majesty Queen

Elizabeth the second and then we concede

that royal pomp has its attractions they

sure know how to put on a decent royal

wedding don't they with prancing horses

and gold encrusted chariots and

spectacular crowns and those long

trumpets with such a shrill piercing

sound there's something pretty nice

about that isn't there

mind you Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth the

second is a constitutional monarch which

is really a polite way of saying she

doesn't have much power she is limited

by a constitutional structure apart from

whatever moral suasion she has apart

from any advice she gives to her Prime

Minister in fact she really only has two

powers constitutionally left and if she

exercises them without the sanction of

her prime minister in fact it would be a

general election and she wouldn't get

her way in any case

that's very different let's say than the

Kingdom of Saudi Arabia although there

is some constraint from the larger

family yet this is closer to an absolute

Kingdom it's different again from the

kingdom of Thailand the Thais love their

king

you really cannot speak any word against

royalty in Thailand that the people

wouldn't have it even though the

limitations on this power there are

really quite significant as well so

perceptions of what we even mean in

other words by King and monarch differ

in different parts of the world don't

they but certainly in biblical times

there was no understanding of what we

mean today by constitutional monarch if

you're a king you reign that's what

Kings do you have the authority and the

fact of the matter is that God is often

presented in Scripture as being the king

the Psalms say for example that his

kingdom rules over all he does what he

wants amongst us here on earth and in

the armies of heaven his kingdom rules

over all which is another way of saying

that the exercise of his sovereignty

covers absolutely every domain that was

built into the very creation account

that we saw yesterday wasn't it he made

everything it's all his he continues to

reign he's sovereign over the whole lot

in that sense you're in the kingdom of

God whether you like it or not you can't

not be in the kingdom of God even those

who disbelieve him even those who hate

him even those who think that there are

other gods are in this God's kingdom if

he really does reign over all but the

notion of the kingdom of God the reign

of God is in fact very flexible in

Scripture

and you have to pay attention to the

context to make sense of what is being

said in some particular passage or other

in the Old Testament once God has called

his people the Hebrews the Israelites to

himself first with a covenant with

Abraham then with the Covenant under

Mosaic leadership God is still

understood to be the king of his people

God Himself is to be their ruler their

king in that sense the Israelites

constitute his nation your only under

his kingship in that sense if you belong

to this covenant community but after the

people eventually got into the Promised

Land

they went through cycles that were

really depressing that two or three

generations and what they remembered of

God's kindness in the past of how he had

spared them how he had secured them how

he provided for all of their needs was

forgotten and they became virtually in

differential from the pagans and all

around them and then eventually God

sanctioned temporal judgments of various

kinds they were attacked by other tribes

living in the area of Midianites or

others and eventually they cried to God

again for mercy for forbearance for

forgiveness God raises up a judge these

judges lead the people in renewal and in

small pitched battles against some of

their oppressors and the people

re-establish themselves renew their

covenantal vows promise to be faithful

before God and then another two or three

generations everybody forgets slides

down and ignominy and shame to really

forms a pretty awful tube archery let

alone the idolatry that underlies it

then God raises up another judge and the

cycle begins all over again you read the

book of Judges and the cycles downward

are so appalling that in the last two or

three chapters it's really difficult to

read them in public

they're so grotesque and barbaric and as

the

progresses you begin to hear a refrain

in those days everyone did that which

was right in their own eyes there was no

king in Israel it's the way the book

ends bloody mayhem in those days there

was no king in Israel everyone did that

which was right in their own eyes Oh God

how we need a king

but then as the story advances you start

discovering that some people want a king

not so that they can be a little more

secure there so that somebody who in

authority can hold them to be covenant

aliy faithful or any of that sort of

thing - police things when the the moral

fabric is being torn apart no no some of

them want a king simply so that they can

be like the pagan nations around all of

whom have their petty kings we would

like to be them they seem to have things

in civil order we we would like to have

exactly the same sort of constitutional

arrangement God says all right you asked

for it

choose the best man you can find and

eventually they choose a strapping young

man by the name of Saul who seems

suitably humble and diffident doesn't

really want the job careful he loves the

Lord and within his lifetime he becomes

a corrupt paranoid fearful ungodly men

who unsatisfied with just being King

also wants to be priests and anybody

whom he sees as a threat to his

authority he wants to kill it's a mess

but God raises up yet another King he

says now let me show you at least at

least in principle what a good King

would be like here is a man after my own

heart

his name is David so after Saul is gone

David becomes King and initially he

turns out to be a very good King an able

administrator he secured the frontiers

he United the tribes eventually he moved

his capital from the little town of

Hobart on to Jerusalem modern Jerusalem

and established himself there brought a

measure of order

peace and prosperity now we pick up the

account in 2 Samuel 7 second Samuel 7 a

little less than a quarter of the way

through the Bible you can find it in

your index at the beginning of the Bible

if you don't know how the Bible is put

together second Samuel that is there are

two books that bear the name of Samuel 1

Samuel and 2 Samuel this is 2nd Samuel

chapter 7 and I'm going to take the time

to read this chapter after the king

that's King David was settled in his

palace and the Lord had given him rest

from all his enemies around him he said

to Nathan the Prophet Here I am living

in a house of cedar while the Ark of God

remains in a tent that's the Ark of God

that we spoke of in the last session the

ark this box that held certain elements

in it including the Ten Commandments in

the most holy place where the blood was

sprinkled on the day of atonement it's

still in a tent a tabernacle I'm living

in a cedar Palace the place where God

meets with his priests is a pretty

scrappy tent by this point this is about

a thousand BC now Nathan replied to the

king whatever you have in mind go ahead

and do it for the Lord is with you but

that night the word of the Lord came to

Nathan saying go and tell my servant

David this is what the Lord says are you

the one to build me a house to dwell in

I have not dwelt in a house from the day

I brought the Israelites up out of Egypt

to this day I have been moving from

place to place with a tent as my

dwelling wherever I have moved with all

the Israelites that I ever say to any of

their rulers whom I commanded to

Shepherd my people Israel why have you

not built me a house of cedar now then

tell my servant David this is what the

Lord Almighty says I took you from the

pasture from tending the flock and

appointed you ruler over my people

Israel I have been with you wherever you

have gone and I have cut off all your

enemies from before you now I will make

your name great like the names of the

greatest men on earth and I will provide

a place for my people Israel

and we'll plant them so that they can

have a home of their own and no longer

be disturbed wicked people will not

oppress them anymore as they did at the

beginning and have done ever since the

time I appointed leaders over my people

Israel I will also give you rest from

all your enemies the Lord declares to

you that the Lord Himself will establish

a house for you when your days are over

and you rest with your ancestors I will

raise up your offspring to succeed you

who will come from your own body I will

establish his kingdom he is the one who

will build a house for my name and I

will establish a throne of his kingdom

forever I will be his father he will be

my son when he does wrong I will punish

him with a rod wielded by human beings

with floggings inflicted by human hands

but my love will never be taken away

from him as I took it away from Saul

whom I removed from before you your

house and your kingdom will endure

forever before me your throne will be

established forever

Nathan reported to David all the words

of this entire revelation then King

David went in and sat before the Lord

and he said Who am I Sovereign Lord and

what is my family that you have brought

me this far and as if this were not

enough in your sight Sovereign Lord you

have also spoken about the future of the

house of your servant and this decrease

Auburn Lord is for a human being what

more can David say to you for you know

your servant sovereign Lord for the sake

of your word and according to your will

you have done this great thing and made

it known to your servant how great you

are Sovereign Lord there is no one like

you and there is no god but you as we

have heard with our own ears and who is

like your people Israel the one nation

on earth that God went out to redeem as

a people for himself and to make a name

for himself and to perform great and

awesome wonders by driving out nations

and their gods from before your people

whom you redeemed from Egypt you have

established her people Israel as your

very own forever and you Lord have

become their God and now Lord God

forever the promise you have made

concerning your servant and his house do

as you promised so that your name will

be great forever then people will say

the Lord Almighty is God over Israel and

the house of your servant David will be

established in your sight Lord Almighty

God of Israel you have revealed this to

your servant saying I will build a house

for you so your servant has found

courage to pray this prayer to you

Sovereign Lord you are God your covenant

is trustworthy and you have promised

these good things to your servant now be

pleased to bless the house of your

servant that it may continue forever in

your sight for you Sovereign Lord have

spoken and with your blessing the house

of your servant will be blessed forever

you see the king was supposed to be

God's vice-regent the under king God

still remained the king the final

sovereign over all the people but the

king was supposed to mediate God's

justice to the people to mediate God and

his ways and his laws to the entire

people but here we have a remarkable set

of relationships first a king with

religious initiatives restrained chapter

7 verses 1 to 11

King David wants to do God a favor he is

now settled the very first verse says

that they're enjoying rest there's this

theme of rest again rest now from their

enemies rest in the promised land and he

looks around and he's been in the

capital city long enough that he's got a

fine palace for himself and still the

center for corporate worship for the

entire nation is this now slightly ratty

tent and he remembers that indeed in the

book of Deuteronomy back at the time of

Moses there had been promise ultimately

of a permanent center so he thinks well

it's about time why not me

that's what I would like to do

and Nathan the Prophet says great idea

God's with you go right ahead

then God intervenes and says to Nathan

not quite so fast this is not the way

it's going to happen and he gives two or

three reasons why it will not be so

first verses 5 to 7 god alone takes the

initiative in these turning points in

the story of the Bible he alone takes

the initiative haven't we seen that

already think back to Abram does Abram

wake up one day and in his devotion say

God quite frankly this world seems to me

to be sliding to hell on a teapot I

think we should do something about it I

think we should start some new race

amongst the human race a kind of subunit

I'd like to head it I'll be the great

granddaddy of this entire new humanity

will call them Hebrews you can be our

God and we'll be your people you tell us

what to do we'll obey you and we'll

start off this whole new dynastic

structure it's not a great idea and this

new race this new covenant community

will show the world what it's like to be

in right relationship with you is that

the way it happened no God took the

initiative called Abram moved him to the

land gave him a covenant even in that

scene in the middle of the night where

God puts himself under a kind of

covenant vow to look after his people

God is taking the initiative again and

again God takes the initiative in

chapter 22 of Genesis to provide a lamb

or think of Moses when he was a young

man Moses did wonder about the

possibility of starting a revolution and

leading the people out in fact he got

caught up in a murder and had to run for

his life and lived on the backside of a

desert for the next decades the next

half century or so and when God did take

the initiative Moses wasn't too keen on

going god I'm getting a bit old now

and I have a speech impediment I'm no

leader I'm a shepherd for goodness sake

God takes the initiative and in due

course uses Moses God will not share his

glory with anybody else God is really

not open to our suggestions about how to

run the universe and that is in effect

his first objection go and tell my

servant David this is what the Lord says

are you the one to build me a house to

dwell in all along I've been living in

this tabernacle wherever I have moved

verse 7 with all of the Israelites that

I ever say to any of their rulers whom I

commanded to Shepherd my people Israel

why have you not built me a house of

cedar it's not that it will not be built

in fact it is going to be built in the

next generation excuse me the task it is

going to be built in the next generation

the task is going to be assigned to

David's son King Solomon but God will

take the initiative but there's a second

reason tell my servant David verse 8

this is what the Lord Almighty says I

took you from the pasture from tending

the flock and appointed you ruler over

my people Israel I have been with you

wherever you have gone and I have cut

off all your enemies from before you now

I will make your name great like the

names of the greatest men on earth you

see deep down David is beginning to

think that he's going to do God a favor

if he can build a bigger temple and the

pagans around build for their gods then

isn't he showing that their God is even

more magnificent so David is going to

magnify God's name and almost as it were

do God a favor and God says it doesn't

work like that I'm the one that makes

your name great

now you see in a certain context it is

wonderful for for believers to try to

magnify God's name but not ever because

they begin to succumb to the feeling

that they're thereby doing God a favor

worshiping God magnifying his name ought

to be the response of gratitude and

adoration and thankfulness not somehow

saying the pagans worship their gods we

can out worship you because in a

competition we can make your name

greater than they can make their name

straight god says you've got this

entirely wrong I make your name great

you were a shepherd boy

not only have I made you a king I'm

about to make your name resound across

the ages

today there are countless tens of

millions of Christians all over the

world who know the name of David they've

never heard of Alexander the Great

they don't really know about King Tut

but David's name has come down to us

across 3,000 years and then in that

context God gives this amazing promise

the chapter begins as we've seen with a

king with religious initiatives

restrained but now a dynasty with

unending promise disclosed a dynasty

with unending promise disclosed 11b the

Lord declares to you that the Lord

Himself will establish a house for you

there's a pun here David wanted to build

a house that is a temple for God God's

going to build a house that is a

household and thus a dynasty for David

there's a pun you want to build a house

for me you can almost see God smiling

I'm gonna build a house for you let me

tell you what it's like when your days

are over and you rest with your

ancestors I will raise up your offspring

to succeed you who will come from your

own body I will establish his kingdom he

is the one who will build a house for my

name Solomon he would build a temple and

I will establish the throne of his

kingdom forever I will be his father and

he will be my son when he does wrong I

will punish him with a rod wielded by

human beings with floggings inflicted by

human hands but my love will never be

taken away from him as I took it away

from Saul whom I removed from before you

do you hear what is being said there are

two or three things that help to clarify

what the passage is saying first David

is aware that his predecessor Saul

started well and ended badly and in

consequence Saul's son Jonathan never

gone

to the throne there was no dynasty ever

established it was a one generation

dynasty if you can speak of a dynasty in

one generation there was so much

wickedness by the end that God said this

is not going to continue even if David

remains faithful all his life and in

point of fact he had his pretty horrible

lapses too but even if he remains

faithful all his life who guarantees

what happens in the next generation and

in the generation after that if you're

royalty your concern to preserve the

family line

you're preserved your concern is to

preserve the dynasty the house whether

the House of Windsor for Her Majesty

Queen Elizabeth the second or here the

house of David and God says I'm going to

build a house for you such that even if

your son does something wrong even if he

is really wicked I will not remove him

from the throne the way I removed Saul

such that Saul died and there was no

successor I I will not do that

I will preserve your house your

household so there may be some temporal

infliction there may be some chastening

some human punishment there may be

nations that rise up against your nation

there may be things of that sort but it

will not be the final sanction that

wipes out the line that's what has

promised to David then the second thing

to clarify is this what does verse 14

mean when God says I will be his father

and he will be my son now we need to

think about that just a wee bit for us

sonship has to do with DNA so endless

programs the various csi's on television

are constantly using DNA to discover who

the real father is and bound up with

this our paternity suits

it's all a matter of a genetic descent

but the ancient world saw things a bit

differently in part because there was a

descent not only a familial connection

but of work and identity you men now

just you men for a moment how many of

you are doing vocationally what your

fathers did let me see your hands

look around folks I see only two or

three

well three hands you women how many of

you are doing vocationally what your

mothers did look around folks

but you see in the ancient world if your

father was a baker you became a baker if

your father was a farmer you became a

farmer if your father's name was Donna

varios then you made violins in other

words in a in an agricultural tradecraft

pre-industrial society then the son

ended up doing in the overwhelming

majority of cases what the father did

and the daughter ended up doing what the

mother did our notions of freedom such

that we go away from home to university

or at a technical college and get a job

somewhere else and pursue some other

course that's so common for us today it

was unthinkable a bear three or four

hundred years ago so as a result you

became identified not only by the family

name but by the family's profession

that's why Jesus can be called the son

of the carpenter because his putative

father Joseph was a carpenter and in one

place he can be called himself the

carpenter apparently Joseph has died and

Jesus himself has taken over the family

business Joseph was a carpenter what do

you expect Jesus to be he's a carpenter

and this meant that the father then in

the case of the son taught the boy as

well

later Judaism there were synagogues

where kids learned reading and writing

and things like that there were little

village schools of some sort or another

but your trade what you learned how you

learned to make a living if you're a

farmer when to plant the seed and when

to irrigate and how to read the weather

and how to build a decent fence and all

of that that that that was all taught by

the family and because of this family

identification of the son with a father

and the tasks and the clan the notion of

sonship has a whole lot of different

rings than it does on CSI out of this

come a whole lot of biblical metaphors

for example here and there in the Bible

some one is called a son of Belial which

means a son of worthlessness this is not

saying that the father is mr. worthless

what it is saying is that this person's

character is so worthless that he must

belong to the worthless family at the

only it's the only thing that explains

it in the time of Jesus Jesus gives us

some Beatitudes where he says blessed

are the peacemakers for they shall be

called sons of God so the idea is that

God is himself the supreme peacemaker so

if you make peace then in that respect

at least you're acting like God so in

that respect you're a son of God it's

not telling you how you become a

Christian it's saying that in that

respect that's what God does so you're

acting like God do you see elsewhere

when Jesus is debating with some Jewish

opponents in John chapter 8 he's

claiming to be sent from God they're

saying how can this be we are ourselves

that the true sons of Abraham we are the

true heritage here and Jesus says can't

be Abraham rejoiced to see my day and

they reply Abraham has been dead for

2,000 years you're not yet fifty years

old what do you mean he rejoiced to see

your

de Jesus won't back down they up the

ante and say what we're not only sons of

Abraham we're sons of God and Jesus's

can't be I come from God God knows me I

know God if you don't recognize me then

you can't be sons of God you you you you

don't recognize me at all let me tell

you who your real daddy is and he turns

to them and he says you are of your

father the devil he was a murderer from

the beginning and you're trying to

murder me he was a liar from the

beginning and you're not telling the

truth now Jesus is not denying that they

really are sons of Abraham genetically

they are he's not denying that they

carry the Israelite heritage of genes

nor is he suggesting for a moment that

somehow the devil's copulated with women

to produce some sort of bastard crew

that's not what he's suggesting either

he's saying that at the behavior of at

the level of behavior they're acting

like the devil that makes them sons of

the devil now that's the sort of

language that is going on here it's

sonship language that is used especially

with respect to Kings if God is the

supreme King if he's the king over this

people then when the human person takes

on the throne when this Davidic air

becomes king himself then he becomes

God's Son

it's not it doesn't mean he's born-again

or anything of that sort it simply means

that he is now acting as God's Son in

God's place in the King family as it

were that's the nature of the promise

that is given here we read he is the one

who will build a house for me this air

of yours and I will establish the throne

of his kingdom forever I will be his

father he will be my son he will

represent me that's the nature of this

kingdom

and when he does wrong I will punish him

with a rod wielded by human

but my love will never be taken away

from him as I took it away from Saul the

last thing to understand from this

passage your house and your kingdom will

endure forever before me your throne

will be established forever in other

words God is not only promising that it

will endure into the next generation the

generation of Solomon when the temple

will be built even if Solomon turns out

to be quite wicked he is saying that

this dynasty will go on and on it will

be established forever there are only

two ways that's possible

one is for every generation to produce a

new Davidic heir so that you go to the

next heir then the next heir and the

next heir and the next heir and the next

heir world-without-end

that's one way this promise could be

fulfilled there's only one other

possible way it's not even mentioned

here but if you could eventually have an

air in the Davidic line who himself

lived forever

it could be fulfilled that way there's

no hint of it yet here this is about a

thousand BC this promise and it leads to

a number of other promises to Davidic

Kings across the centuries most of us

I'm sure have listened to Handel's

Messiah Handel's Messiah cites Isaiah 9

writing in the eighth century in the

eighth century Isaiah in his ninth

chapter envisages a coming king unto us

a child is given a son is born a son he

shall rule on the throne of his father

David in other words it will be a

Davidic son who is the son of God

standing in under God as God's vice

regent of the

increase of his kingdom there will be no

end and then we're told he shall be

called the wonderful counselor the

mighty God the everlasting father the

Prince of Peace I don't imagine that

Isiah himself fully understood all of

that meant but on the face of it it

seems to be promising that somehow there

would be a David I'd someone in the

heritage of David who himself would

rightly be addressed as none less than

God Himself will shortly see that there

are other prophets who make similar

promises then in the rest of this

chapter 2 Samuel Chapter 7 we find a

king with spectacular privileges humbled

in verses 18 to 27

David is hushed and crushed by what has

been promised him and basically his plea

now is not let me build a temple for you

and do something for you

now it's all gratitude I don't deserve

this this is wonderful all I ask

dear God Sovereign Lord is that you keep

your promise

that's about a thousand BC there are a

lot of intervening steps that go on

after several centuries the Davidic

Kingdom itself has become corrupted

after two generations after the time of

Solomon the Kingdom splits there's a

northern kingdom in a southern kingdom

and David's line only rules over the

South two and a half more centuries go

by and the northern kingdom never has

established a dynasty kings come and

kings go the new user fur comes in and

slaughters all the children of the

previous one it's a bloody mess and

eventually they get carted off into into

captivity under the Assyrian Empire

another century and a half and the

Davidic dynasty itself is so corroded

and corrupted

despite times of revival and renewal

that at the beginning of the sixth

century about 587 BC it shut down the

Babylonians have taken over and the

people go into exile in due course God

brings some of them back first of all

only about fifty thousand they rebuild a

temple that had been burned down but now

it's just a pathetic little affair

there's still no king by this time

they're living under the Persian rule

all the way down to the turn of the ages

from BC to AD there still is no restored

king of David on the throne they're

always under one authority or another

and in the first century of our era

they're under the power of Rome under

regional governors and half-breed kings

like Herod and so on then you open up

the pages of the New Testament the

accounts the foundation documents of our

book of our Bible that begin to tell us

what happens in the time of Jesus

and what is the very first line of the

very first book this is the genealogy of

Jesus the Messiah the son of David the

son of Abraham that is the fulfillment

of the promise of a Davidic King when

Jesus comes on the scene he announces

the dawning of the kingdom and he uses

the word Kingdom in a variety of ways he

can say this for example the kingdom is

like a man who plants wheat and a field

good seed in a field and then at night

some rotters come by and they plant a

lot of weeds and the wheat and the weeds

are growing up together and the servants

of the man say should we go out and try

and pull out the weeds now no no let

both grow until the end and there'll be

a final separation at the end that's

what the kingdom is like in other words

here you have a picture of the kingdom

that is embracing this world with both

good seed growing and bad seed growing

it includes some it includes a John

Piper and Adolf Hitler it includes them

both there are weeds and and and there

is a good seed and they're both to grow

till the end when there will be a final

division that's one notion of Kingdom

but elsewhere in John 3 in a passage

we'll look at next week

Jesus says unless you're born again you

cannot see or enter the kingdom now with

that notion of kingdom not everybody's

in it everybody's in the other one

you're either wheat or weeds but in this

notion of kingdom you now have a subset

of God's reign of God's rule of God's

kingdom under which there is life only

those who are born again can enter or

see that kingdom and further sometimes

Jesus speaks of the kingdom is already

having dawned it's it's already here its

operating secretly as it were it's like

a yeast that's put into dough it's

already quietly working and having its

effect and another passage he passages

he speaks of the kingdom as as as what

comes at the end when there's a new

heaven and a new earth and consommé

consummation tremendous transformation

so the kingdom is here it's already here

and it is not yet come all these notions

of kingdom but they all Center on Jesus

the king after World War two

there was a Swiss theologian by the name

of Oscar Coleman who used one of the

turning points in World War two to

explain some of these notions he drew

attention to what happened on d-day June

the 6th 1944 by this time the Western

Allies had already cleaned out North

Africa and it started pushing up the

boot of Italy the Russians were coming

in from the steppes they had already

defended Stalingrad they were pushing

their way to and through Poland and

other Eastern European countries and now

on d-day the Western Allies landed on

the beaches of Normandy and in three

days they dumped 1.1 million men and

tons and tons of war materiel there was

a second front anybody with half a brain

in his head could see that the war was

over after all in terms of energy in

terms of war material in terms of the

numbers of soldiers and in terms of the

way all of these lines and reject arees

were working the war was over so does

that mean that Hitler said oops I goofed

and sued for peace know what came next

was the Battle of the Bulge where he

almost made it right through the coast

of France again except that he ran out

of fuel and the Battle for Berlin was

one of the bloodiest of the entire war

it wasn't over yet

but a year later it finally was in

Europe and there was this gap thus

between d-day and VE Day Victory in

Europe he says it's like that for

Christians the promised king came

that's our d-day the coming of Jesus and

what he did on the cross and rising from

the dead and in rising from the dead he

says in the last verses of Matthew's

Gospel all authority is given to me in

heaven and on earth he's the king but

does that mean that the devil says oops

I goofed I think I better sue for peace

does it mean that human beings say ok ok

you've risen from the dead you won ok

we'd better bow the knee no what it

means is you have some of the stiffest

fighting left because Jesus has not yet

defeated all of his enemies he reigns

all of God's sovereignty is mediated

through King Jesus the kingdom is dawn

it is here and you're either in this

kingdom in the new birth sense or you're

not or if you conceive of Jesus total

reign all authority as already is you're

in this kingdom whether you like it or

not

the question is whether you bow the knee

now cheerfully in repentance and faith

and Thanksgiving or you will bend the

knee in holy terror at the end because

the end is coming VE Day is coming and

there is no doubt who will be seen to be

king on the last day so when Paul writes

to Christians in the city of Corinth

about the middle of the first century

he describes Jesus being the king with

all of God's sovereignty mediated

through King Jesus and he says and he

must reign in this fashion until he has

put his last enemy under his feet and

that last enemy to be destroyed

is death itself death will die which is

of course picking up exactly what

happened in Genesis one two and three

with this massive rebellion that tried

to de God God and brought only death and

decay now Christ who has himself beaten

death come back from the dead will

continue as God's own king in the

Davidic line yet the one who was also

called a mighty God the everlasting

father and he will reign until he is

destroyed the last enemy death itself

and this is why the church stands up and

sings again and again hail King Jesus we

need a king one who is perfectly

righteous who cannot be corrupted who is

entirely good and is never any taint of

evil and he transforms he saves his

people and he is to be acknowledged as

our sovereign hail King Jesus you