3:12 SCHOOL BASIC CHRISTIA ITY Session Three (Part 2): God s Covenant with David The Kingdom of God I. THE PROMISED EVERLASTI G KI GDOM K IT TO THE PROMISED KI G A. The promise of an everlasting kingdom ruled by a great king one who would deliver and establish Israel in the promises of God was a source of great hope for Israel. No matter how desperate or dark things became throughout her history, her people remembered the promise of God to send a Davidic King to deliver and establish the kingdom of Israel in greatness and glory. Israel quickly discovered the contingency to the covenant promise of God to King David: as long as his sons walked in disobedience, the promises of a glorious, everlasting kingdom that accompanied the covenant could not be realized. B. The Davidic Covenant was the promise of God given to David to establish his kingdom and throne forever. It pertained to David s line as being the line through which this rule would be established, as well as implied that the nation would be planted to dwell in God s chosen place and would move no longer. And your house and your kingdom shall be established forever before you. Your throne shall be established forever. 2 Sam. 7:16 1. God initiated His covenant commitment to Israel began by choosing a specific family through which to bless the earth the family of Abraham. Over time, this family became the covenant nation of Israel through the covenant with Moses. The natural extension of this was the covenant house, the House of David, who was chosen from among this family and nation to be the line that would produce the Eternal King of Israel. 2. Through this covenant, the millennial promise of God to Israel and David personally was established. It stipulated that the Messiah, who would lead Israel into her full blessing, would come through the seed of David. The Lord s promise of an enduring house for David became Israel s assurance that God would once again lift the nation up and cause it to flourish anew. David understood that he would have a place and a role in the coming kingdom that would far surpass his influence in the current age. 3. The promises given to David were very similar to, and were an extension of, the promises of God to Abraham. They included promises of blessing regarding the appointed land (2 Sam. 7:10; 1 Chron. 17:9); final victory, or rest from Israel s enemies (2 Sam. 7:11; 1 Chron. 17:10); the continuance of David s line as the ruling dynasty over the people, which would culminate in the Messianic Seed, as well as the sure mercies of David (Is. 55:3) in which his children would be chastised in their error but not cast off as Saul was before him. 4. These sure mercies and millennial promises came to David because of his deep passion to build a house for the Lord. God reciprocated that loyalty and love by committing to establish his house and personal destiny forever.
3:12 School February 2009 Basic Christianity PAGE 2 C. The promised dynasty could only be established by the right man. For the next five hundred years, Israel learned intimately the devastation of a son of David on the throne who was disloyal to God and unworthy to rule. These wicked or flawed sons of David eventually lost the kingdom altogether in 586 BC when Israel was conquered and Jerusalem and the Temple of Solomon was destroyed by the nation of Babylon. Israel would never again have a Davidic King on the throne yet they would yearn and groan in prayer asking the Lord to send the Son of David to establish the sure promises of the commitment God made to His loyal king. D. The problem is that no man could fulfill the covenant requirements of obedience related to the establishment of the promises of God over Israel. The man that God was seeking, just as He sought for a man like David, had to be one who was loyal to God that God could entrust great power and authority to. While the covenant to David had glorious promises attached to it, the requirements were to great for Israel to accomplish in order for those promises to be realized. Thus the implications of the Abrahamic Covenant were now clear Israel had no way to keep the covenant promises made to Abraham that were established through the house of David. The God that passed through the pieces to confirm His covenant with Abraham would have to be the same God that held up both ends of His covenant with David. II. THE PROCESS OF FULFILLME T THE KI G BECOMES LIKE US A D PREPARES US TO BECOME LIKE HIM A. There was only one solution to this divine dilemma God Himself would have to become the King and fulfill the requirements of obedience knit to the establishment of the promised kingdom. The glory of God s covenant with David is that another layer of the revelation of God is peeled away the only King worthy to sit on the throne over Israel and the whole earth was God Himself. He could not, however, come as the Eternal God to fulfill the promise He made to King David. To fulfill the promise He made, He would have to become a human part of the line of David and become a literal Son of David. David s King and Lord would be David s Son, as the ancient king understood in Psalms 110:1-4. B. Peter explained this strange dynamic in Acts chapter 2: 29 Men and brethren, let me speak freely to you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. 30 Therefore, being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that of the fruit of his body, according to the flesh, He would raise up the Christ to sit on his throne, 31 he, foreseeing this, spoke concerning the resurrection of the Christ, that His soul was not left in Hades, nor did His flesh see corruption. 32 This Jesus God has raised up, of which we are all witnesses. 33 Therefore being exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He poured out this which you now see and hear. 34 For David did not ascend into the heavens, but he says himself: The LORD said to my Lord, Sit at My right hand, till I make Your enemies Your footstool. 36 Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ. (Acts 2:29-36)
3:12 School February 2009 Basic Christianity PAGE 3 C. According to Piper, this is what the prophets promised the Lord would do: 1. Ezekiel declared prophetically: "I will save them from all the backslidings in which they have sinned, and will cleanse them and they shall be my people and I will be their God. My servant David shall be king over them; and they shall have one shepherd" (Ezekiel 37:23). 2. Jeremiah declared that the coming king will fulfill the condition of righteousness (in Jeremiah 23:5 6): "Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. In his days Judah will be saved and Israel will dwell securely. And this is the name by which he will be called: 'The Lord is our righteousness'". 3. It was Isaiah who saw the glory of the Son of David more clearly than anyone and virtually identified him as God (in 9:6 7): "For unto us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government will be upon his shoulder, and his name will be called 'Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.' Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, upon the throne of David and over his kingdom to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore." So the surety of the covenant with David lies ultimately in the fact that God himself will come as king and sit upon the throne. When a covenant is conditional and yet is also certain, you can be sure God himself will intervene to fulfill the conditions. D. There are two realities knit to the Davidic Covenant that reveal the kindness of God we need God to provide the right King and we need Him to make us ready to dwell in His kingdom. The process of salvation is about more than escaping hell it is about transforming our minds and hearts to equip us to walk in agreement, authority, and power as vibrant members of God s kingdom, God s household, and God s partners. E. The King that God desires is a humble King One who desires not to rule over but to rule with, or alongside. His invitation, extended in Isaiah 55:1, is an outrageous one that we cannot fully grasp. The sure mercies He gave to David He desires to give to any who will forsake their own ways and learn to embrace His: 1 Ho! Everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat. Yes, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. 2 Why do you spend money for what is not bread, and your wages for what does not satisfy? Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good, and let your soul delight itself in abundance. 3 Incline your ear, and come to Me. Hear, and your soul shall live; and I will make an everlasting covenant with you the sure mercies of David. 4 Indeed I have given him as a witness to the people, a leader and commander for the people. (Isaiah 55:1-4)
3:12 School February 2009 Basic Christianity PAGE 4 III. THE PROCESS OF SALVATIO BECOMI G LIKE THE KI G A D PREPARED FOR THE KI G A. In the scriptures, the concept of justification by faith was connected to Abraham in Romans 4, Paul describes the means by which Abraham was justified, or considered righteous (free from guilt or sin Mirriam-Webster) and worthy to receive the promises and covenantal commitments of God. Paul describes the legal dimensions of God s mercy on the one who believes His word once we are justified by faith we have peace with God. Our ability to be at peace with God (walk in agreement, not in contention) is knit, according to Paul in Romans 5:1, to our King, Jesus Christ. The King, through the New Covenant, made a way for His people to be reconciled (restored to friendship) to God. The activity of faith on the heart is the beginning of the journey to salvation and redemption for one who is both saved (able to fellowship with God and receive grace or power to live in agreement with Him) and being saved, which is the next phase of the journey of salvation. B. Once one is justified by God, or made free from guilt or sin, one can begin to live as a citizen of His kingdom preparing for His return. We have to learn the attitudes and customs of the kingdom what we need to love and embrace and what we are to despise and reject, and how we need to live in obedience to His ways or His laws. The laws of God were given to Moses for the purpose of what is called sanctification. To be sanctified is to be purified, set apart from other things, and prepared for a sacred purpose. The lifestyle of the kingdom, originally expressed through the laws of God given to Moses, set Israel apart from the other nations of the earth in a way that was to prepare her to dwell closely and intimately with God Himself. If God was going to be their exceedingly great reward, then they had to be trained and prepared to receive that reward with joy. C. This sanctification, as God revealed through His covenant with Moses, was for a particular purpose: the people of God had to be trained / prepared to lead the nations of the earth in a trustworthy manner. Part of the promise of receiving land and blessing, God revealed through Moses, was preparation to govern or lead the land and steward the blessing skillfully with humility and tenderness. This would not be an automatic ability mystically transferred by God instantly: the measure to which God s people responded to this process is the measure to which they would be able to enjoy the rewards of God. As Jesus would later declare, only the meek would inherit the earth (Matthew 5:5). D. God is preparing us for global leadership in a manner that is trustworthy and safe. Just as God had to take time and great care in preparing His king for Israel and His King for the whole earth He is taking the same care to prepare a people to rule. He wants His people prepared to lead and rule in the coming, promised kingdom a time that Jesus called the regeneration (Matthew 19:28). He is teaching us the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding (Colossians 1:9) so that we can walk worthy of our calling (Colossians 1:10) in the age to come.
3:12 School February 2009 Basic Christianity PAGE 5 E. Some call this the process of glorification. This is the final phase in the journey of salvation as we are saved and being saved by the power of God, we are moving forward to the time of our glorification. This is the time in which we receive our glorified, resurrected bodies for the purpose of delivering all of creation itself from the power of sin and death. Our glorification is necessary to fully partner with Jesus the King to bring the nations of the earth into the fullness of their destiny in the times of the restoration of all things (Acts 3:21). F. The time of the regeneration, according to Jesus in Matthew 19:28, was the time in which he would sit on His glorious throne and set those who followed Him over twelve thrones, judging or governing the twelve tribes of Israel. He also promised in that passage that anyone who made sacrifices similar to Abraham by faith to follow Him would receive a hundredfold and inherit eternal life. This was the time Peter spoke about in Acts 3:21 and Paul spoke of in Romans 8:18-30. We give ourselves to the process of sanctification to both be (1) prepared to receive the fullness of our reward in the time of regeneration as well as (2) hasten the day of the regeneration and all of its glory (Acts 3:19-21; 2 Peter 3:12). Just as God sent His Son to fulfill promises and accelerate the day of the realization of the journey of redemption of man, He is inviting us to be a part of that same process by giving ourselves willingly to a journey of happy holiness fueled by love and desire for more of God, the coming of His King, and the establishment of His kingdom.