WEBVTT 00:00:00.400 --> 00:00:07.640 Hey, I'm going to tell you what I'm about to do you, we're going to look at a theme today rather than just focus on a passage in 00:00:07.640 --> 00:00:08.620 this series together. 00:00:08.640 --> 00:00:15.880 We're going through the big picture in understanding of scripture, and what we're grabbing together is really the big story 00:00:15.880 --> 00:00:17.760 that God is telling us throughout the Bible. 00:00:17.780 --> 00:00:24.880 Sometimes when you study the Bible, if you grew up in church, you start to learn the stories of the Bible but you fail sometimes to see, 00:00:25.000 --> 00:00:31.250 or the church does not do a great job in explaining how all these individual Bible stories connect into one big theme. 00:00:31.740 --> 00:00:37.140 And really, to our dismay, what we need as a church is to understand God's broader story. 00:00:37.820 --> 00:00:42.460 I think really before we begin to understand the specific stories because it brings the Bible to life. 00:00:43.400 --> 00:00:50.720 And what we're going to look at this morning is a concept that is communicated from beginning to end of scripture as it relates to Jesus in him being 00:00:50.720 --> 00:00:57.840 a king and his kingdom in pursuit of your soul, to redeem it and provide it eternity in 00:00:57.840 --> 00:00:59.250 his presence forever. 00:01:00.160 --> 00:01:07.060 When you think about this idea of kings, the scripture is rich in theology as it connects this to Jesus. 00:01:07.060 --> 00:01:09.220 It starts all the way back from the Garden of Eden. 00:01:09.440 --> 00:01:16.440 When we began this series together on the kingdom come, we looked at God's creation in the Garden of Eden, how he created for seven days, actually created six 00:01:16.440 --> 00:01:20.100 days and on the seventh day he rested and ruled and he reigned. 00:01:20.600 --> 00:01:25.360 And that was to be a picture of Adam of Eve and all of mankind in God's presence forever. 00:01:26.080 --> 00:01:26.240 Right? 00:01:26.240 --> 00:01:31.410 After six days, God sits on his throne, his creative work is finished, his ruling and reigning work begins. 00:01:31.800 --> 00:01:33.770 And as he sits on his throne, Adam and Eve rebel. 00:01:34.520 --> 00:01:40.600 And God at that moment could have judged us, but instead he brings us grace, he offers us redemption, he promises that a Messiah would come. 00:01:40.800 --> 00:01:45.100 And he pursues us through the Messiah who would give his life for our sins. 00:01:45.620 --> 00:01:48.680 And so we see the beauty of this king communicated to us. 00:01:48.980 --> 00:01:53.720 And when you pick up the Bible, one of the things that we looked at last week is how it lays out. 00:01:53.760 --> 00:01:58.580 And we talked about the first 17 books of the Old Testament is historical. 00:01:58.900 --> 00:02:02.670 They are historical books writing this narrative of God's story, told to us through the Old Testament. 00:02:03.180 --> 00:02:07.220 I think it's important for us to know that when you pick up the Old Testament, the Old Testament is not written chronologically. 00:02:08.199 --> 00:02:10.539 It's categorized according literary genre. 00:02:10.780 --> 00:02:12.860 First 17 books are historical books laid out. 00:02:12.880 --> 00:02:14.760 The next five books are poetic books. 00:02:15.060 --> 00:02:17.710 And then the last 17 books are prophetic books. 00:02:18.300 --> 00:02:25.520 But what you see as you look at this line of scripture as it's laid out for us according to when passages of the Bible were written. 00:02:25.840 --> 00:02:32.560 And in the very beginning God shares his story, but as you get to the end of the Old Testament it's more and more people communicating this to us. 00:02:32.560 --> 00:02:39.700 God is just screaming at us this truth that he wants us to know as he pursues us for redemption through Christ on 00:02:39.700 --> 00:02:40.420 the cross. 00:02:40.420 --> 00:02:47.550 And so, what I'm going to focus on this morning is really these last nine books down in the blueish purple, I don't know what... 00:02:47.880 --> 00:02:49.450 do you see gold or do you see purple? 00:02:49.920 --> 00:02:51.250 What kind of dress is this here? 00:02:51.760 --> 00:02:58.780 So, you see 1 and 2 Samuel, 1 and 2 Kings, 1 and 2 Chronicles, this is where we're going to highlight this concept of kingdom for us. 00:02:59.320 --> 00:03:03.360 But then there's this postexilic part, these last three books, Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther. 00:03:03.360 --> 00:03:05.910 They call it postexilic because Israel goes into captivity. 00:03:07.000 --> 00:03:14.200 In between these last three books, there's this 70 years of captivity, and when they come back out of captivity the narrative story continues 00:03:14.200 --> 00:03:14.580 again. 00:03:15.640 --> 00:03:18.880 And so, you see this laid out for you in this picture. 00:03:19.240 --> 00:03:25.540 And we're going to focus on this back end, what God is really strongly communicating to us before he goes silent for 400 years. 00:03:26.980 --> 00:03:29.850 And so, if I just highlighted this, I'm going to tell you I'm going to move fast this morning. 00:03:30.160 --> 00:03:36.110 So if you want to take notes on this or if you're really good at flipping through your Bible and just marking these, I'm going to show you pinnacle points of scripture. 00:03:36.640 --> 00:03:43.740 So that way, when you carry this thought into the Bible, this thought that we're going to talk about this morning should pepper everything that you read 00:03:43.740 --> 00:03:50.760 in scripture, no matter where you are, this concept is the theme that drives every other thing that's communicated in the 00:03:50.760 --> 00:03:51.540 Bible to us. 00:03:51.620 --> 00:03:53.600 This is how significant this is. 00:03:53.600 --> 00:03:59.290 And so, what we find in the Bible, we talked about God creating in the beginning, he establishes for us his kingdom. 00:03:59.360 --> 00:04:00.500 Man rebels. 00:04:00.500 --> 00:04:03.240 And then comes through this individual named Abraham. 00:04:03.280 --> 00:04:10.340 So the story, as it unfolds, God gets very specific in how he's going to redeem us through this idea of kingship, this 00:04:10.340 --> 00:04:12.300 Messiah who is pursuing us. 00:04:12.300 --> 00:04:16.180 And he identifies it for us specifically through this individual named Abraham. 00:04:16.720 --> 00:04:23.760 This promise that he gives to Abraham as being the lineage through which the Messiah would come is so important that it's communicated multiple times in the 00:04:23.760 --> 00:04:24.560 life of Abraham. 00:04:24.560 --> 00:04:27.960 It starts in Genesis 12, Genesis 15, Genesis 17. 00:04:28.060 --> 00:04:31.420 Here towards the end of Abraham's life, Genesis 22. 00:04:31.420 --> 00:04:39.300 God says to Abraham, "In your seed, all the nations of the earth shall be blessed because you have obeyed my voice." 00:04:40.000 --> 00:04:47.390 The Apostle Paul points this out in Galatians, which is much later in the New Testament, but he says this, he identifies that God doesn't say through your seeds, 00:04:47.620 --> 00:04:50.000 but rather through your seed, meaning one. 00:04:50.340 --> 00:04:55.000 "Through your seed, Abraham, there will come one that will bless all nations. 00:04:55.040 --> 00:05:02.180 This will be the Messiah, the ruler of the king, who would give his life for us." By the time you get to the end of Genesis, what's identified for us 00:05:02.180 --> 00:05:08.140 in Genesis 49:10, Jacob is blessing his 12 sons. 00:05:08.440 --> 00:05:12.150 We went through this story together, that Joseph, if you remember, went down to Egypt. 00:05:12.660 --> 00:05:20.080 And there was a famine, and through that ends up bringing all of his brothers and his father down, and all of their lives are preserved through the famine. 00:05:20.420 --> 00:05:22.720 And at the end of Jacob's life he blesses his sons. 00:05:23.080 --> 00:05:25.160 And one particular son he focuses on, Judah. 00:05:25.200 --> 00:05:32.400 It says in Genesis 49:10, "The scepter shall not depart from Judah." And so what he's beginning to specifically identify 00:05:32.400 --> 00:05:39.660 for us is not only through Abraham would all the people of the world be blessed, but from Abraham's seed came 12 sons. 00:05:39.960 --> 00:05:45.980 And those 12 sons, there's one particular son named Judah, and in the line of Judah, this is where the Messiah will come. 00:05:45.980 --> 00:05:53.020 "The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler's staff between his feet until Shiloh comes." Now Shiloh is 00:05:53.020 --> 00:05:56.550 an interesting word because Shiloh means the place of peace. 00:05:57.220 --> 00:06:02.160 When Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden of Eden, what we lost is peace in our relationship with God. 00:06:02.480 --> 00:06:05.020 And because sin was introduced, we lost peace everywhere. 00:06:06.140 --> 00:06:09.340 And so he's talking about now this idea of Shiloh, the presence of peace. 00:06:09.380 --> 00:06:16.800 But here's what's interesting about this, he says, "Until Shiloh comes and to him shall be the obedience of the people." It 00:06:16.800 --> 00:06:22.380 doesn't just talk about this idea of this place of peace being about a particular place, right? 00:06:22.800 --> 00:06:26.740 It's not just this place of peace, but rather it's referring to this person of peace. 00:06:27.400 --> 00:06:35.900 Notice what it says, "Until Shiloh comes and to him shall be the obedience of the peoples." So 00:06:35.900 --> 00:06:39.530 peace is not just about a place, but peace is about the presence of a person. 00:06:41.160 --> 00:06:46.870 And so he's identifying for us that through the line of Judah there would come one who would introduce this peace that all of us long for. 00:06:47.140 --> 00:06:49.490 And in his presence there will be this peace forevermore. 00:06:50.300 --> 00:06:51.910 And it will be for all peoples. 00:06:53.560 --> 00:06:56.300 And so you see this theme of Abraham continue to be communicated. 00:06:57.140 --> 00:07:03.100 And as you follow the story from Genesis into the Exodus, where Joseph led his family into Egypt. 00:07:03.100 --> 00:07:03.910 They end up becoming slaves. 00:07:04.800 --> 00:07:06.580 Then we have Moses who comes forth. 00:07:07.180 --> 00:07:12.830 And God says to Moses, "Look, the Hebrew people, the Israelites in Egypt, they have become slaves. 00:07:12.880 --> 00:07:13.840 I want to set them free. 00:07:14.120 --> 00:07:21.800 Go before Pharaoh now and proclaim that God wants to set them free." And Moses is used by God to set 00:07:21.800 --> 00:07:23.620 the Israelites free. 00:07:23.620 --> 00:07:30.640 And God leads Israel out of Egypt to the Promised Land that God had foretold to Abraham hundreds of 00:07:30.640 --> 00:07:31.260 years before. 00:07:31.560 --> 00:07:38.720 So they leave Egypt, and they're on their journey back to this Promised Land where Israel is today, or at least the nation of Israel 00:07:38.720 --> 00:07:39.260 is now. 00:07:39.540 --> 00:07:43.580 And he leaves this area, this Promised Land, through Moses. 00:07:44.160 --> 00:07:51.180 Right when they get to the precipice of this moment, Israel rebels and God sends them through the wilderness of wandering for 00:07:51.180 --> 00:07:51.760 40 years. 00:07:51.860 --> 00:07:54.160 Until an individual named Joshua rises up. 00:07:54.420 --> 00:07:56.100 And we talked about Joshua last week. 00:07:57.840 --> 00:08:00.560 And Joshua takes Israel into this Promised Land. 00:08:00.560 --> 00:08:02.520 They cross over the Jordan into this Promised Land. 00:08:02.720 --> 00:08:04.120 They go through these battles. 00:08:04.780 --> 00:08:12.180 And then Joshua divides up the land and he says, "Okay, now that we've conquered some of the regions of Israel, now each 00:08:12.180 --> 00:08:19.700 individual tribe go into your area that God has promised you and finish out the conquering work." The 00:08:19.740 --> 00:08:22.400 problem is, Israel doesn't. 00:08:24.220 --> 00:08:25.270 That's when you get to the book of Judges. 00:08:27.420 --> 00:08:30.540 You read the book of Judges, you see the demise of Israel. 00:08:30.560 --> 00:08:37.940 If you're going through our reading plan as a church, yesterday we just started the book of Judges. 00:08:38.360 --> 00:08:45.360 If you're interested in going through our reading plan and joining us in Judges, download the Alpine Bible Church app, click on notes as soon as you open 00:08:45.360 --> 00:08:49.580 the page, and the very first note that pops up will give you a link to our reading plan. 00:08:49.600 --> 00:08:51.200 But we just entered into the book of Judges. 00:08:52.540 --> 00:08:59.600 And what you find in the book of Judges is it starts with all the tribes of Israel being separated into their different sections, and none of them 00:08:59.600 --> 00:09:00.420 continue the conquest. 00:09:02.220 --> 00:09:06.320 And they begin to fight with the other people groups that are in the area. 00:09:07.400 --> 00:09:12.900 And they lose these battles, and so God raises up these judges to help them in the battles. 00:09:13.380 --> 00:09:15.200 But what you find is Israel continues to be unfaithful. 00:09:15.640 --> 00:09:16.760 Over and over the cycle continues. 00:09:17.300 --> 00:09:18.420 God raises up a judge. 00:09:18.620 --> 00:09:22.100 He delivers Israel from the oppression of the people around them. 00:09:22.140 --> 00:09:26.520 And then Israel goes back into their sinful ways and the same cycle continues over and over. 00:09:26.600 --> 00:09:34.000 To the point that it gets so bad that rather than attack or fight and battle with the other people groups around them, Israel starts to internalize 00:09:34.000 --> 00:09:34.880 and they attack each other. 00:09:36.160 --> 00:09:37.980 And honestly, Judges is an awful book. 00:09:39.840 --> 00:09:46.940 By the time you get to the end of the Judges, there is this horrible sexual abuse that takes place, and it brings this civil war 00:09:46.940 --> 00:09:47.760 in Israel. 00:09:48.500 --> 00:09:50.600 And the book just ends in utter despair. 00:09:52.680 --> 00:09:59.460 It is gross, it is immoral, but it's God's people not pursuing after the Lord. 00:09:59.520 --> 00:10:02.930 In fact, the book of Ruth is even written during this time period. 00:10:04.400 --> 00:10:06.990 And that's where you get to the book of 1 Samuel. 00:10:09.500 --> 00:10:16.560 1 Samuel for us becomes this bridge between Israel and the time period of the judges, and Israel when they're going to 00:10:16.560 --> 00:10:17.870 be ruled by a king. 00:10:18.180 --> 00:10:20.510 And it introduces to us really the last judge. 00:10:21.260 --> 00:10:27.110 The last judge that God raises up for Israel to help them in this oppression, and it's a judge by the name of Samuel. 00:10:28.340 --> 00:10:35.240 And before Samuel's born, what's interesting about his story is that Samuel is born to a lady named Hannah. 00:10:36.800 --> 00:10:41.860 And in 1 Samuel 2, what you find in the first couple of chapters is Hannah is not able to have children. 00:10:43.300 --> 00:10:44.640 She goes to the temple and prays. 00:10:46.460 --> 00:10:48.340 And God allows her to conceive. 00:10:49.980 --> 00:10:51.300 And she sings this beautiful song. 00:10:52.560 --> 00:10:53.800 1 Samuel 2. 00:10:54.840 --> 00:11:01.840 And in the middle of this song, I don't have time to go through all these verses, but what she begins to acknowledge is even in the darkness of Israel during the time of judges, 00:11:03.420 --> 00:11:04.770 God's hand is still at work. 00:11:05.940 --> 00:11:12.140 And at the very end of this song, verse 10, she acknowledges the idea of this Messiah king who would deliver his people. 00:11:13.720 --> 00:11:15.260 And so her hope is still in the Lord. 00:11:17.240 --> 00:11:20.740 Hannah sings this beautiful, wonderful song. 00:11:20.740 --> 00:11:27.600 And if you were to read at the very end of Judges, it really draws together her song with where Israel was. 00:11:27.940 --> 00:11:35.020 The last verse of Judges, Judges 21:25, it says this, "During this day there was no king in Israel 00:11:35.020 --> 00:11:41.180 and everyone did what was right in their own eyes." And what it's acknowledging for Israel is they're not bowing to anyone's authority. 00:11:41.760 --> 00:11:43.440 They're living for their own authority. 00:11:44.260 --> 00:11:47.000 God wants to be king over them, they're rejecting all of that. 00:11:47.000 --> 00:11:49.060 And they are living as if they're their own king. 00:11:49.300 --> 00:11:52.360 They're waking up every day and they're saying, "Okay, what makes me most happy? 00:11:52.640 --> 00:11:59.760 In order to do that, I'm going to rip and tear from everyone else to get what I want." So it devalues humanity in order to elevate themselves as 00:11:59.760 --> 00:12:00.220 king. 00:12:00.260 --> 00:12:07.360 And so, the last verse of Judges says, "In that day there was no king in the land and everyone did what was right in their own eyes." And Hannah comes 00:12:07.360 --> 00:12:10.840 in with a song and she sings the song looking for the ultimate king that would deliver them. 00:12:12.800 --> 00:12:19.960 When you get to 1 Samuel 8, one of the things that Israel does is they start to long for a king, but it's not the king that God 00:12:19.960 --> 00:12:20.360 desires. 00:12:20.520 --> 00:12:21.960 It's not this Messianic king. 00:12:22.160 --> 00:12:24.510 Rather, they want a king to be like all the other nations. 00:12:25.100 --> 00:12:30.820 And Samuel was helping Israel at this time as a judge over the land and is pointing them back to the Lord. 00:12:31.180 --> 00:12:38.280 And when Samuel finds out that Israel wants a king to lead them, but not the Messianic king, rather their 00:12:38.280 --> 00:12:45.080 own king that they choose, Samuel's distraught over this because he knows the promises that God has declared to his people. 00:12:45.420 --> 00:12:51.580 And the Lord comes into Samuel's life here and says this, he says, "Listen to the voice of the people in regard to all that they say to you. 00:12:52.040 --> 00:12:59.060 For they have not rejected you, Samuel, but they have rejected me from being king over them." And 00:12:59.060 --> 00:13:03.320 Samuel goes on, he appoints a king by the name of Saul. 00:13:03.440 --> 00:13:06.180 And Saul, on the outside looks like a wonderful king. 00:13:06.200 --> 00:13:08.040 Head and shoulders above everyone else. 00:13:08.120 --> 00:13:11.020 The best looking, tallest, strongest guy in all of the land. 00:13:11.600 --> 00:13:16.090 But what we find about Saul is that his heart really is cowardly. 00:13:16.140 --> 00:13:17.140 He turns from God. 00:13:17.160 --> 00:13:21.620 In 1 Samuel 15 he becomes impatient, he does things that God doesn't want him to. 00:13:21.940 --> 00:13:25.880 God rips the kingdom from him and God gives the kingdom to someone else. 00:13:25.880 --> 00:13:32.920 And in 1 Samuel 16:7, it says, "But the Lord said to Samuel, 'Do not look at the appearance, at the 00:13:32.920 --> 00:13:40.760 height or the stature of this individual that God wants to choose.'" He's saying, "I'm going to give my kingdom now, rather than Saul, I'm going to give it to someone else because I 00:13:40.760 --> 00:13:44.090 have rejected him." Talking about Saul. 00:13:44.840 --> 00:13:46.630 "For God sees not as a man sees. 00:13:46.880 --> 00:13:53.880 For man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart." Excuse me, let me say this again, he's not looking at Saul here, he's looking 00:13:53.880 --> 00:13:55.140 at David's brothers. 00:13:56.540 --> 00:14:01.320 He calls Samuel to go to what would become the next king, who is David. 00:14:02.060 --> 00:14:09.140 And he says, "I want you to go to this household, I want you to look through these brothers, and I have anointed one of them to become king." 00:14:09.980 --> 00:14:15.000 And they go to the firstborn brother and what they find out is God hasn't chosen him. 00:14:15.000 --> 00:14:19.620 And God says to Samuel, "Look, it's not the outward appearance that I care about. 00:14:21.220 --> 00:14:28.260 I'm looking at the inward heart." And he goes through all of David's brothers until you get to the last one, 00:14:28.900 --> 00:14:29.440 which is David. 00:14:30.860 --> 00:14:37.860 What's interesting about this choosing of David is that when they were going through David's brothers to see which one might 00:14:37.860 --> 00:14:41.160 be king as God had directed them there, no one thought about David. 00:14:42.820 --> 00:14:45.460 In fact, David, it tells us, is out taking care of the sheep. 00:14:46.560 --> 00:14:52.540 Which, in David's day, and even in the time of Jesus, taking care of sheep was the mundane job that you gave to someone that... 00:14:52.840 --> 00:14:54.350 it was the job that no one else wanted to do. 00:14:54.780 --> 00:14:59.420 So you gave the least significant job to the most unimportant person to get things done. 00:14:59.460 --> 00:14:59.540 All right? 00:14:59.580 --> 00:15:01.960 It's like, "Uh, I don't know, what can David do? 00:15:02.000 --> 00:15:03.360 Let's just send him out to take care of the sheep. 00:15:03.430 --> 00:15:07.240 Someone's got to take care of the sheep, I guess." And that's why he's just forgotten. 00:15:08.900 --> 00:15:10.970 And finally they call for David, the last son. 00:15:10.980 --> 00:15:16.640 He comes forward and David is anointed by the Lord to be king. 00:15:17.900 --> 00:15:23.520 And David really becomes a picture of what the true Messiah would ultimately be. 00:15:25.020 --> 00:15:26.860 David goes and he battles Goliath. 00:15:26.860 --> 00:15:34.140 And I know a lot of times we like to see ourselves as in David's shoes and God defeats 00:15:34.140 --> 00:15:34.940 our giants. 00:15:35.040 --> 00:15:37.610 But truthfully, it's more of a picture of Jesus than us. 00:15:39.540 --> 00:15:46.660 And David is this anointed one that God has called to represent him as what would ultimately become the Messianic 00:15:46.660 --> 00:15:47.040 king. 00:15:47.340 --> 00:15:49.660 In fact, David writes the majority of Psalms. 00:15:49.660 --> 00:15:56.940 And if you read David's Psalms, a lot of what David writes has to do with kingship, but ultimately it's not reflected 00:15:56.960 --> 00:15:59.260 to him as being king, it's reflected of Jesus. 00:15:59.300 --> 00:16:06.340 That when you turn in the New Testament, a lot of verses that are quoted in the New Testament come from the Psalms, and more particularly kingship Psalms, 00:16:06.340 --> 00:16:08.650 as David's Psalms were reflected of Jesus. 00:16:10.860 --> 00:16:18.000 And in 2 Samuel 7, God gives David 00:16:18.000 --> 00:16:19.380 here a promise. 00:16:20.960 --> 00:16:27.660 As David is anointed king, he doesn't immediately assume position, but rather Saul becomes angry with him and tries to kill him. 00:16:27.960 --> 00:16:30.800 And eventually Saul dies, David takes over. 00:16:31.220 --> 00:16:37.430 And when start 2 Samuel, David actually begins with this lament over Saul and his best friend, Jonathan, that were killed. 00:16:38.000 --> 00:16:39.780 It's very interesting the character of David. 00:16:39.780 --> 00:16:47.000 He spends the majority of his early years being hunted as the anointed king, though he is in that position, he's being hunted by Saul whose 00:16:47.000 --> 00:16:49.150 kingdom is being ripped away from him by the Lord. 00:16:49.520 --> 00:16:56.680 And even though he's hunted by Saul, when 2 Samuel starts, rather than just say, "Yeah, I'm glad God got that 00:16:56.680 --> 00:16:59.680 guy, David laments over the death of Saul. 00:17:02.000 --> 00:17:03.520 What kind of character does that? 00:17:06.060 --> 00:17:09.839 David goes on to establish the kingdom in Jerusalem. 00:17:11.640 --> 00:17:18.920 And as he looks at bringing this kingdom united, you think to this point, Israel and the land of the judges, they're divided, civil war, fighting 00:17:18.920 --> 00:17:19.700 each other. 00:17:20.060 --> 00:17:23.000 They anoint Saul as king, he ends up being a corrupt king. 00:17:23.359 --> 00:17:26.460 Now David comes on the scene and he really unites all of Israel. 00:17:27.599 --> 00:17:30.080 And he establishes the capital in Jerusalem. 00:17:30.820 --> 00:17:34.340 David's brought all of this together as a Messianic figure, right? 00:17:34.560 --> 00:17:41.600 In 2 Samuel 7, he says, "Okay, God, seeing all of this come together, there's one thing I recognize, is the place we go to worship you is still 00:17:41.600 --> 00:17:42.270 in a tent. 00:17:43.880 --> 00:17:50.360 I want to build you a temple where people can gather." But God says to him, "Nah, I don't want that right now, not with you. 00:17:50.600 --> 00:17:58.080 That's going to come really next generation under Solomon." But here's what he says, "Rather than you build me a place, here's what I want you know, David, your 00:17:58.080 --> 00:18:01.180 house, your kingdom shall endure before me forever. 00:18:01.240 --> 00:18:07.080 Your throne shall be established forever." And this verse becomes another pinnacle place in scripture. 00:18:07.300 --> 00:18:12.760 And you remember, God says to Abraham, "Through you all nations will be blessed." And then from Abraham's seed he identifies Judah. 00:18:13.240 --> 00:18:20.380 From the tribe of Judah, "From you the Messiah will come." And now in the tribe of Judah, under the household of David, he says, "From you there 00:18:20.380 --> 00:18:27.840 will come one, and he will also be king." And so, God for us is just highlighting throughout 00:18:27.840 --> 00:18:34.580 Israel's history exactly where he would bring this Messianic promise that would provide for us Shiloh, peace. 00:18:35.340 --> 00:18:37.140 What we long for, the reason we are created. 00:18:38.440 --> 00:18:46.480 But unfortunately what we see is God made this promise to David just a few chapters later, 2 Kings 11, David 00:18:46.480 --> 00:18:51.000 sins, commits adultery and murder. 00:18:52.180 --> 00:18:54.120 Nathan confronts him in chapter 12. 00:18:54.800 --> 00:18:57.380 David's family falls apart in chapter 13. 00:18:57.700 --> 00:19:04.040 And by the time you get to 2 Samuel 19 and 20, David has fallen apart, he is a broken man. 00:19:04.040 --> 00:19:11.100 And then the last four chapters of the book, chapters 21 to 24, is this epilogue recounting David's life and Saul's life. 00:19:13.480 --> 00:19:20.500 While David was this Messianic character, what we recognize in David's life, that he wasn't the true Messiah that everyone had been 00:19:20.500 --> 00:19:21.400 longing for. 00:19:22.820 --> 00:19:29.720 And so, after you get to the end of 2 Samuel and you jump in 1 Kings, then comes the next king, which is David's son, Solomon. 00:19:31.120 --> 00:19:37.070 And Solomon leads wisely, he prays for wisdom and God grants it to him in the first four chapters. 00:19:37.600 --> 00:19:42.460 In chapters five to eight, he builds the temple for the Lord. 00:19:42.460 --> 00:19:47.080 And by chapter nine, Solomon in 1 Kings starts to make poor choices. 00:19:48.660 --> 00:19:54.940 And after his life, in 1 Kings 11, after his poor choices, Solomon dies. 00:19:54.940 --> 00:20:00.920 And by the time you get to 1 Kings 12, Israel goes through a civil war and the kingdom is split. 00:20:01.840 --> 00:20:03.780 Chapter 12 to 16, the kingdom is split. 00:20:05.000 --> 00:20:11.840 King Rehoboam takes two tribes in the south with Judah being the lead tribe. 00:20:11.840 --> 00:20:17.040 And Jeroboam takes the 10 tribes to the north, Ephraim being the lead tribe. 00:20:17.040 --> 00:20:24.200 And when you read the Bible from this point on, the two tribes of the south, referred to as the tribes of Judah, the 10 tribes to the north are referred to as tribes of Israel. 00:20:24.660 --> 00:20:27.760 And the civil war, when they split, they never come back together again. 00:20:28.740 --> 00:20:32.710 The northern tribes have 20 kings, none of them godly. 00:20:33.720 --> 00:20:37.690 They're taken into captivity in 2 Kings 17 by the Assyrians. 00:20:38.700 --> 00:20:42.860 And the two southern tribes, out of 20 kings only have eight godly kings. 00:20:43.500 --> 00:20:48.140 And they're taken into captivity in 2 Kings 24 to 25. 00:20:48.340 --> 00:20:55.600 And here is maybe, I don't know if this defeating or sad or how you would describe this, but when you get to 2 Kings 24 00:20:55.600 --> 00:20:59.640 and 25, when Israel is taken into captivity, they're drug to Babylon. 00:21:00.960 --> 00:21:08.220 If you think about the story of Israel, God calls Abraham out of Babylon, and 00:21:08.220 --> 00:21:15.780 it's this one big giant circle where he calls them out of this area, the Ur of the Chaldean's, and he promises all of this through the 00:21:15.780 --> 00:21:17.380 Messiah who would come. 00:21:17.380 --> 00:21:19.340 And through him all nations would be blessed. 00:21:20.040 --> 00:21:25.240 And all Israel does is walk away from God, and God drags them back where the journey started. 00:21:29.080 --> 00:21:30.620 And then there's silence. 00:21:33.520 --> 00:21:40.520 As you follow the story of Israel, God brings this remnant after 00:21:40.540 --> 00:21:44.760 this exile in Babylon 70 years later back to the land. 00:21:47.400 --> 00:21:51.840 But God is silent. 00:21:53.180 --> 00:21:58.180 400 years, God silent. 00:21:58.180 --> 00:22:03.840 Help but reflect that sometimes I think our lives we go through similar experiences, right? 00:22:03.920 --> 00:22:08.380 We walk with God, we sin, we feel distant from God. 00:22:08.380 --> 00:22:11.700 And maybe on the other end there's silence. 00:22:11.820 --> 00:22:18.100 Or maybe we're not even in sin, sometimes we just feel like from God there's silence. 00:22:20.940 --> 00:22:28.020 If you think about the illustration that I put up on the screen of how the books of the Bible lay 00:22:28.020 --> 00:22:32.720 out for us, a lot of history is covered in Genesis, right? 00:22:32.860 --> 00:22:40.020 And as you go along further in the timeline, more people are speaking as mouthpieces of God over a more condensed period of time, 00:22:40.840 --> 00:22:44.900 and God just continuing to scream, to, "Look, look for this Messiah. 00:22:44.920 --> 00:22:48.240 There's one that's coming to deliver you." And all of a sudden, silence. 00:22:48.300 --> 00:22:55.520 It's as if the loss of God's communication to his people really helps amplify in our hearts, 00:22:55.740 --> 00:23:02.780 and appreciate in our hearts what was lost and don't quite appreciate it at the time, but it's when it's 00:23:02.780 --> 00:23:06.680 gone, it's in its absence that you recognize how important it is. 00:23:08.230 --> 00:23:10.080 It's kind of like in our spiritual lives, right? 00:23:11.400 --> 00:23:18.560 Where you just feel this emptiness inside and you know that it exists and 00:23:18.560 --> 00:23:25.700 there needs to be something that fills it, but it's in the absence that you really appreciate the fact that something needs to be there. 00:23:27.940 --> 00:23:29.640 I think that's what God is doing here for Israel. 00:23:31.700 --> 00:23:40.100 The apple of his eye, continued to extend grace on grace, and now in the silence, God, 00:23:40.180 --> 00:23:43.470 really in these in moments, help them appreciate what they had with him. 00:23:44.860 --> 00:23:51.920 When you turn to the very end of your Old Testament, what you see, the very last chapter before God goes silent, is he gives them one promise 00:23:51.920 --> 00:23:59.220 to recognize before his arrival of this Messiah, he says, "Behold, I'm going to send you Elijah the prophet 00:23:59.220 --> 00:24:06.380 before the coming of the great and terrible day of the Lord." He's saying before God brings all of this to an end, 00:24:06.380 --> 00:24:10.660 and the day of the Lord, and there's judgment, and all that happens, God will send a messenger. 00:24:12.380 --> 00:24:15.760 One mouthpiece that should awaken their soul again. 00:24:17.300 --> 00:24:24.600 You can imagine 400 years of silence, previous to this all these prophets speaking, you have these Old Testament passages being 00:24:24.600 --> 00:24:25.140 written. 00:24:25.620 --> 00:24:32.660 God goes silent and he's saying, "Okay, I want you to recognize when my Spirit comes to speak through people again, I'm going 00:24:32.660 --> 00:24:39.680 to send this messenger and you're going to see him as a bright light in the midst of your darkness." One 00:24:39.680 --> 00:24:47.510 thing I think is important to know when you study the Bible, our English Bible is actually put together different than the Hebrew Bible. 00:24:47.960 --> 00:24:54.040 The Hebrew Bible, we would refer to what we're reading as the Old Testament, don't refer to it as the Old Testament to Jews. 00:24:54.080 --> 00:24:57.870 They would consider that offensive, because to them it's not old. 00:24:57.980 --> 00:25:00.840 To us it's old because we have the New Testament, but to them it's not old. 00:25:00.840 --> 00:25:01.910 They refer to it at the Tanakh. 00:25:02.340 --> 00:25:08.940 But when you study the Hebrew Old Testament, or the Tanakh, their last book of the Bible is actually 2 Chronicles. 00:25:10.760 --> 00:25:17.800 And in 2 Chronicles 36:23, this is right after the exile and there is 00:25:17.800 --> 00:25:19.940 a statement given here by King Cyrus. 00:25:20.020 --> 00:25:27.020 Now let me just say this, when you read the book of 2 Chronicles, what you'll find is a lot of the content of 2 Chronicles is 00:25:27.020 --> 00:25:30.330 very similar to 1 and 2 Samuel and 1 and 2 Kings. 00:25:30.760 --> 00:25:33.200 It talks all about the kings and how the kings came by. 00:25:33.220 --> 00:25:36.210 But here's the point, while they're the same there's a significant... 00:25:37.090 --> 00:25:44.100 let me just say it like this, there's a relevance to why 1 and 2 Chronicles exists that's different than the Kings, although the stories 00:25:44.100 --> 00:25:44.620 are similar. 00:25:45.040 --> 00:25:50.840 And when you see the significance for why this book is written, it just brings it to life for us. 00:25:51.320 --> 00:25:58.340 1 and 2 Chronicles focuses really on just the southern tribes of Israel, because the southern tribes of Israel followed the line of 00:25:58.340 --> 00:25:58.800 David. 00:25:59.760 --> 00:26:02.060 And this is where the Messianic king would come from. 00:26:03.140 --> 00:26:10.420 And it shares these stories, not of the downfall of these kings that were sinful, but rather it focuses on their attitude 00:26:10.420 --> 00:26:12.280 towards God in a positive light. 00:26:13.680 --> 00:26:20.800 And they're carried into captivity, but when you get to the very last chapters, Cyrus is ruling over Israel, having captured 00:26:20.800 --> 00:26:21.120 them. 00:26:21.120 --> 00:26:28.560 It says, "Cyrus, king of Persia," and he says, "Whoever there is among you of all his people," talking about the Jewish people, 00:26:28.840 --> 00:26:35.840 "may the Lord his God be with you, and let him go up." In the Hebrew, this phrase actually is 00:26:35.840 --> 00:26:38.780 an open ended statement, meaning a period really doesn't fit here. 00:26:39.820 --> 00:26:42.540 When you read this statement is really like a cliff hanger. 00:26:42.540 --> 00:26:49.580 What it would say to us if we were Jewish people, we get to the last book of our Bible, we're reading the very last verses of the last book of our Bible, and we read 00:26:49.580 --> 00:26:51.760 what King Cyrus says to our people in captivity. 00:26:51.960 --> 00:26:56.160 He says, "Okay, let you go up," and what? 00:26:58.780 --> 00:26:59.280 And what? 00:27:00.230 --> 00:27:01.970 What is the rest of the story? 00:27:02.220 --> 00:27:06.630 It just ends there, it's like God's saying something and all of a sudden someone hangs up the phone. 00:27:06.940 --> 00:27:07.580 And what? 00:27:07.820 --> 00:27:08.300 Right? 00:27:08.320 --> 00:27:09.450 And let us go up in what? 00:27:09.540 --> 00:27:10.640 What's supposed to happen? 00:27:12.320 --> 00:27:18.500 And it's if to say to us, God's not done writing his story. 00:27:20.720 --> 00:27:23.520 And then there's silence. 00:27:26.860 --> 00:27:27.760 Until you get to the New Testament. 00:27:31.140 --> 00:27:33.060 Matthew 1, and here comes your Christmas message. 00:27:33.540 --> 00:27:40.680 If you're wondering why I didn't share anything for Christmas on Christmas related to Christmas other than the Christmas Eve, I have shared dozens and dozens of messages particular to 00:27:40.720 --> 00:27:43.870 the first three chapters of the Gospels over the years of this church. 00:27:44.300 --> 00:27:46.660 But here comes your Christmas message now, okay? 00:27:47.020 --> 00:27:50.700 For all you Christmas people, we're going to keep celebrating Christmas after Christmas. 00:27:51.060 --> 00:27:58.780 Matthew 1, it says, "The record of the genealogy of Jesus, the Messiah." God 00:27:58.780 --> 00:27:59.400 finally speaks. 00:28:02.700 --> 00:28:10.580 And the first thing he says, the hearts of Israel, the record, the 00:28:10.620 --> 00:28:12.460 genealogy of Jesus, the Messiah. 00:28:13.760 --> 00:28:21.240 This word genealogy in Greek is actually the same word the Hebrews would use for Genesis, in 00:28:21.240 --> 00:28:21.440 the beginning. 00:28:22.200 --> 00:28:23.240 The very first book of the Old Testament. 00:28:25.040 --> 00:28:29.820 That's as if to say God is starting over here, in the beginning. 00:28:30.840 --> 00:28:38.040 And the genealogy of the Messiah and when Matthew is recorded, notice the names that are peppered here at the beginning. 00:28:39.500 --> 00:28:45.920 The son of David, the son of Abraham, Abraham the father of Isaac, Isaac the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Judah. 00:28:47.740 --> 00:28:50.220 Judah the father of Perez, and Zerah by Tamar. 00:28:50.240 --> 00:28:54.300 Let me just stop there and just say, do you see the significance of what the author is trying to communicate? 00:28:55.620 --> 00:29:02.640 That through the line of Abraham, Genesis 22, that through the line of Judah, Genesis 00:29:02.640 --> 00:29:10.860 49:10, that from the line of King David, 2 Samuel 7:16, Israel 00:29:10.860 --> 00:29:13.620 this is what you've been waiting for. 00:29:14.660 --> 00:29:16.920 World, this is what you've longed for. 00:29:17.100 --> 00:29:22.300 And look at the very end here, verse 21, that Joseph was a little worried in this moment, if you know the story, remember this? 00:29:22.300 --> 00:29:28.480 Mary shows up and says, "Guess what, Joseph, I am pregnant." And she says, "It's virgin." And Joseph says, "That's not normal. 00:29:28.680 --> 00:29:31.620 How does this happen?" And he's freaking out about this at the moment. 00:29:31.680 --> 00:29:38.820 And then God shows up to him and says to him verse 21, "Joseph, she is pregnant and I want you to call his name 00:29:38.820 --> 00:29:47.100 Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins." Rescue, Messiah. 00:29:48.880 --> 00:29:50.960 Beautiful story, from beginning to end. 00:29:51.100 --> 00:29:54.980 If you just stop and behold this for a moment, just let your heart resonate with this. 00:29:55.040 --> 00:30:00.100 In fact, if you were to look at the book of Matthew, the author says this over and over. 00:30:00.100 --> 00:30:03.480 He continues to repeat this in the Christmas story, behold, behold, behold. 00:30:03.480 --> 00:30:05.670 You'll see this every so often in the sections of Matthew. 00:30:06.420 --> 00:30:14.860 He's just saying, "Okay, let this just sink in your soul for a moment what God has done." You 00:30:14.860 --> 00:30:21.100 think, your Old Testament, 1500 years of writing communicated to you, this theme. 00:30:22.680 --> 00:30:25.520 And God brings it all together in this moment. 00:30:27.240 --> 00:30:28.320 How incredible is that? 00:30:29.980 --> 00:30:33.290 That this one would come to save his people from their sins. 00:30:34.060 --> 00:30:41.220 And I wish we had time to go through all of this, but if you were to take this, and you think about this in Matthew and the encounter with Joseph and identify the specifics 00:30:41.220 --> 00:30:45.560 of Jesus, and you were to take time and look at the book of Luke and how Luke opens up. 00:30:46.240 --> 00:30:48.980 When Mary finds out that she's pregnant and she's with Elizabeth. 00:30:48.980 --> 00:30:51.800 You know what Mary does to highlight this Messiah? 00:30:53.720 --> 00:31:00.780 Luke 1:46, get this, Mary sings the song of Hannah. 00:31:03.240 --> 00:31:05.940 Luke 1:46, 55, you remember the story of Hannah? 00:31:07.040 --> 00:31:14.140 She can't have kids, the Lord gives her a kid, and she acknowledges in the midst of what's going on in the period of judges, how Israel is just at ends and 00:31:14.140 --> 00:31:18.560 tearing each other apart, that in her heart she longs for the day that there would be a king. 00:31:18.800 --> 00:31:25.980 And Hannah becomes this bridge who would birth Samuel to tie the period of judges to the period of the kingship, when King David would come, who was a Messianic 00:31:25.980 --> 00:31:26.280 figure. 00:31:26.760 --> 00:31:32.560 And so, when Mary sings the song of being pregnant with Jesus, she sings the song of Hannah. 00:31:34.980 --> 00:31:36.660 God tying all of this together. 00:31:38.660 --> 00:31:45.780 To the point when you get to the book of Matthew 2 and Jesus is finally born, what it starts to articulate 00:31:45.800 --> 00:31:47.820 for us is the significance of this king. 00:31:48.380 --> 00:31:55.740 And God I think really wants us to behold how incredible this Jesus is, because there's this King Herod that really is positioned 00:31:55.740 --> 00:31:57.080 against Jesus. 00:31:57.140 --> 00:32:04.500 And when you read about Herod, here is where Herod is, he's the authority figure ruling in the capital in Jerusalem 00:32:04.500 --> 00:32:06.160 as king over all the land. 00:32:06.180 --> 00:32:06.280 Right? 00:32:07.700 --> 00:32:08.300 And who's Jesus? 00:32:11.360 --> 00:32:19.360 This nothing, nobody born in Podunk Bethlehem with no wealth, of parents of no reputation other 00:32:19.360 --> 00:32:21.480 than they claim to be the descendants of David. 00:32:23.460 --> 00:32:26.540 And here is this king who demands everyone to bow down to him, right? 00:32:26.540 --> 00:32:27.140 Even the wise men. 00:32:29.560 --> 00:32:30.680 And they refuse to bow. 00:32:32.000 --> 00:32:34.060 But to whom do the wise men bow? 00:32:35.720 --> 00:32:37.280 To a baby in a manger. 00:32:39.260 --> 00:32:46.600 In Matthew 2 points us out, "Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, the magi from the east arrived in Jerusalem, saying, 00:32:46.660 --> 00:32:50.100 'Where is he who has been born king of the Jews?'" Can you imagine that if you're Herod? 00:32:50.980 --> 00:32:53.260 Like you're thinking, "Okay, the king has been born. 00:32:53.280 --> 00:32:54.320 The deliverer we've been waiting on. 00:32:54.320 --> 00:33:00.400 Let's journey there and worship and greet him." And they're like, "Okay, where can we go?" Well, the capital of Jerusalem, of course. 00:33:00.600 --> 00:33:08.060 And they get to the capital and they're like, "Where's the king?" And Herod's like, "I'm here." And they're like, "No, that's not you." Herod's like, "What are you talking about?" 00:33:08.060 --> 00:33:08.480 Right? 00:33:08.480 --> 00:33:10.820 He's freaking out at this moment. 00:33:10.920 --> 00:33:18.080 And it says, "When Herod," in verse three, "the king heard this, he was troubled and all Jerusalem with him, gathering together all the chief priests and the scribes 00:33:18.080 --> 00:33:21.520 and the people and he inquired of them where the Messiah was to be born. 00:33:21.540 --> 00:33:26.320 And they said to him, 'In Bethlehem of Judea, for this is what was written about the prophet. 00:33:26.460 --> 00:33:31.200 And you, Bethlehem, land of Judah, and by no means least among the leaders of Judah. 00:33:31.280 --> 00:33:38.280 For out of you shall come forth a ruler who will shepherd my people.'" Just as a David was a shepherd, so here 00:33:38.280 --> 00:33:39.000 comes the true shepherd. 00:33:41.740 --> 00:33:44.860 Herod in the capital, Jesus in Bethlehem. 00:33:46.380 --> 00:33:52.180 Herod kills children in trying to destroy this Jesus, while Jesus brings life. 00:33:53.500 --> 00:33:55.840 Herod rich, Jesus poor. 00:33:57.680 --> 00:34:01.460 Born in a stable, wrapped in rags. 00:34:01.580 --> 00:34:09.020 In fact, one of the reasons we know Jesus was poor is because when his parents went to the temple to offer a sacrifice for the birth of this child, they offer two 00:34:09.020 --> 00:34:12.679 doves, which was the cheapest sacrifice anyone could make. 00:34:15.340 --> 00:34:22.600 In this poverty, he had no academic credentials, no social status, he was a carpenter, for Pete's sake. 00:34:23.420 --> 00:34:27.820 That's far from the royal center of power as he could be, yet he transforms life. 00:34:29.139 --> 00:34:36.659 To the point when you get to Matthew 3, what you see about this king is John the Baptist is now preaching at the very beginning of Matthew 00:34:36.659 --> 00:34:37.480 3. 00:34:37.840 --> 00:34:46.679 And he says, "Make straight the paths for this king, this royalty who is coming." And Jesus comes to the Jordan to 00:34:46.719 --> 00:34:47.080 be baptized. 00:34:50.000 --> 00:34:54.060 As if to say to Israel, "Let's start over. 00:34:56.540 --> 00:35:03.780 Let's make all things new." As Israel had previously come to that Jordan River and walked in disobedience to God and find themselves 00:35:03.780 --> 00:35:08.540 in captivity, Jesus goes back to this Jordan. 00:35:10.700 --> 00:35:12.900 And he's baptized to make all things new. 00:35:12.940 --> 00:35:20.440 And when Jesus is raised out of the water, it tells us the Spirit descends upon Christ and 00:35:20.440 --> 00:35:27.700 the Father speaks from heaven, "This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased." And the Father unites two 00:35:27.700 --> 00:35:32.900 powerful statements in reflection to the coming of Jesus, both from Psalms 2 and Isaiah 42. 00:35:32.960 --> 00:35:38.180 Both of these quotes, this is my beloved Son, Psalms 2, and whom I am well pleased, Isaiah 42. 00:35:38.440 --> 00:35:41.560 Both of them recognizing the Messianic promises of Jesus. 00:35:41.580 --> 00:35:48.500 Psalms 2 is a kingship psalm that King David wrote for the anointing of a king, the ultimate king. 00:35:49.480 --> 00:35:56.490 In whom I am well pleased, Isaiah 42, this is recognizing the suffering servant of this king who would give his life on our behalf. 00:35:57.040 --> 00:36:00.720 It's the pronouncement of the goodness of who Jesus is. 00:36:03.080 --> 00:36:04.040 Why does all this matter? 00:36:07.160 --> 00:36:15.940 Because really I only want to make one point in all of this as it relates to our lives, and that is this, God 00:36:15.940 --> 00:36:17.440 is consistently faithful. 00:36:23.160 --> 00:36:26.780 Even in the silence, he never changes. 00:36:29.180 --> 00:36:31.850 Think about Israel that went through that for 400 years. 00:36:33.360 --> 00:36:39.090 Where your soul might be, none of that changes the goodness of who this God is. 00:36:40.380 --> 00:36:47.620 In fact, let me tie his story into our story, if I just went back for one moment to Matthew 1, and this will be the last thing we look at together 00:36:47.620 --> 00:36:54.620 here, but when you consider the genealogy of Jesus, Matthew does something rather odd, 00:36:56.140 --> 00:36:58.020 not customary but important. 00:36:59.960 --> 00:37:06.260 When you go through the genealogy of Jesus, as he's tying it to Abraham and Judah and David for us to see this promise coming through him. 00:37:07.780 --> 00:37:10.940 One of the things he also does is he ties it to the story of some women. 00:37:13.430 --> 00:37:20.700 In our culture today we may not think that's a big deal, but in Jesus' culture it was because when you 00:37:21.020 --> 00:37:27.020 talk about your lineage, this is all about your reputation. 00:37:28.940 --> 00:37:33.400 When he gets to these first six verses, he brings up these four ladies. 00:37:33.400 --> 00:37:40.400 And during Jesus' day, it didn't help your reputation to bring out the identity of women in order 00:37:40.400 --> 00:37:41.260 to build your case. 00:37:41.260 --> 00:37:43.120 Women could not testify in the court of law. 00:37:44.580 --> 00:37:45.500 But Jesus doesn't care. 00:37:47.540 --> 00:37:54.680 Second, something that's also interesting in this story is Jesus is a Jew, and Matthew has written to the Jewish people specifically, that's 00:37:54.680 --> 00:37:55.860 why it's got so many Old Testament quotes. 00:37:56.600 --> 00:38:03.330 But what you can identify as you look at these names of these women, is these women, they're not Jews. 00:38:06.080 --> 00:38:06.300 They're Gentiles. 00:38:09.040 --> 00:38:12.110 Tamar, her lineage can be traced back to the days of Noah. 00:38:13.040 --> 00:38:15.620 Rahab, we all know her. 00:38:15.660 --> 00:38:17.260 She's got a wonderful last name, right? 00:38:17.500 --> 00:38:20.240 Rahab, the harlot? 00:38:22.140 --> 00:38:23.950 That's great for your reputation, Jesus. 00:38:24.180 --> 00:38:24.990 Or what about Ruth? 00:38:25.720 --> 00:38:26.720 Ruth was a Moabite. 00:38:27.760 --> 00:38:34.800 And at one point in her story, she heads to the threshing floor, which was a pretty promiscuous place for a lady to be, if you read the book of Ruth. 00:38:35.080 --> 00:38:36.350 We did a series on that together. 00:38:36.680 --> 00:38:37.670 Or what about Bathsheba? 00:38:40.570 --> 00:38:44.340 You probably are more familiar with that one than anybody, right? 00:38:44.340 --> 00:38:48.820 It's like, and I'm not saying, Bathsheba was the guilty party there. 00:38:48.840 --> 00:38:56.040 If I had to blame anybody in that circumstance, I would definitely say it was David who was that authority figure as it relates to Bathsheba and everything 00:38:56.040 --> 00:38:57.400 that took place. 00:38:57.560 --> 00:39:01.540 But certainly all of these names are clouded in scandal. 00:39:02.680 --> 00:39:10.300 When you think about Bathsheba, not only is she clouded in scandal, but if you think about her husband, David 00:39:10.300 --> 00:39:11.600 murdered Uriah. 00:39:12.240 --> 00:39:16.560 And here's what we know about Uriah, if you can fill in this blank for a minute, Uriah the, what? 00:39:18.200 --> 00:39:18.620 Hittite. 00:39:20.600 --> 00:39:23.860 Meaning Bathsheba was most likely a Hittite. 00:39:26.360 --> 00:39:26.940 They're Gentiles. 00:39:29.290 --> 00:39:31.880 And so what is God identifying here in this story? 00:39:32.420 --> 00:39:39.220 That through Abraham all people would be blessed. 00:39:41.380 --> 00:39:47.100 Written into God's story, both Jew and Gentile. 00:39:49.140 --> 00:39:52.180 When you consider Jewish lineage, Jewish lineage was important. 00:39:53.020 --> 00:39:55.760 There were promises, they were blessing that came through your lineage. 00:39:56.260 --> 00:39:59.580 And so Jews kept very meticulous records of their lineage. 00:39:59.860 --> 00:40:02.560 Land was passed according to family name. 00:40:02.560 --> 00:40:05.930 You couldn't let go of it to anyone other than someone that was in your family. 00:40:06.020 --> 00:40:07.300 Lineage was important to them. 00:40:07.300 --> 00:40:08.780 You couldn't be a priest without the lineage. 00:40:09.520 --> 00:40:11.220 Lineage was important to them. 00:40:11.260 --> 00:40:18.400 And now, all of a sudden, when Jesus is giving us his lineage, he writes in his resume for us to acknowledge 00:40:18.400 --> 00:40:20.680 the significance of who he is. 00:40:20.680 --> 00:40:25.500 Things that were at best scandalous, and worst unclean. 00:40:28.480 --> 00:40:31.100 But you know what's interesting as you study the story of Jesus throughout the scriptures? 00:40:33.420 --> 00:40:36.700 In Jewish law, if they touched something that was unclean, what happened to them? 00:40:37.960 --> 00:40:38.560 They became what? 00:40:39.740 --> 00:40:40.020 Unclean. 00:40:42.880 --> 00:40:49.060 But when Jesus shows up and he touches something that's unclean, what happens? 00:40:50.860 --> 00:40:52.820 It's cleaned. 00:40:53.660 --> 00:40:54.460 It's made new. 00:40:56.760 --> 00:40:58.140 Jesus doesn't care about the resume. 00:41:00.080 --> 00:41:02.000 He has all the authority and power. 00:41:04.540 --> 00:41:11.560 Tim Keller says this, God initially brings his message not through the Egyptians, the Romans, the Assyrians, or the Babylonians, but through the 00:41:11.560 --> 00:41:12.100 Jews. 00:41:12.100 --> 00:41:15.100 A small nation, a little race that is seldom in power. 00:41:15.220 --> 00:41:18.710 He dispatches Goliath, not with a bigger giant, but with a shepherd boy. 00:41:19.040 --> 00:41:20.450 One at whom the giant laughed. 00:41:20.980 --> 00:41:22.320 That's the way God works. 00:41:22.720 --> 00:41:23.890 How does he talk to Elijah? 00:41:24.360 --> 00:41:25.940 Through earthquake, wind, fire? 00:41:25.940 --> 00:41:26.260 No. 00:41:26.300 --> 00:41:28.120 Through a still, small voice. 00:41:28.120 --> 00:41:35.340 In ancient times, when the oldest son always got all the wealth, and the second or younger son had no social status, how does God work? 00:41:35.520 --> 00:41:36.940 Through Abel, not Cain. 00:41:36.940 --> 00:41:38.300 Through Isaac, not Ishmael. 00:41:38.320 --> 00:41:39.680 Through Jacob, not Esau. 00:41:39.680 --> 00:41:41.000 Through Ephraim, not Manasseh. 00:41:41.260 --> 00:41:43.060 Through David, not his older brothers. 00:41:43.380 --> 00:41:49.620 At a time when women were valued for their physical beauty and fertility, God chooses old Sarah, not young Hagar. 00:41:49.840 --> 00:41:51.600 He chooses Leah, not Rachel. 00:41:51.620 --> 00:41:54.440 Unattractive Leah whom Jacob does not love. 00:41:54.740 --> 00:41:57.050 He chooses Rebekah, who could not have children. 00:41:57.310 --> 00:41:58.770 Hannah, who could not have children. 00:41:59.120 --> 00:42:00.930 Sampson's mother, who could not have children. 00:42:01.280 --> 00:42:04.050 Elizabeth, John the Baptist's mother, who could not have children. 00:42:04.200 --> 00:42:04.620 Why? 00:42:04.960 --> 00:42:09.580 Over and over again God says, "I will choose Nazareth, not Jerusalem. 00:42:09.580 --> 00:42:11.220 I will choose the girl nobody wants. 00:42:11.460 --> 00:42:14.400 I will choose the boy everybody has forgotten." Why? 00:42:14.780 --> 00:42:17.060 Is it just that God likes underdogs? 00:42:17.220 --> 00:42:17.600 No. 00:42:18.060 --> 00:42:20.890 He's telling us something about salvation itself. 00:42:21.260 --> 00:42:27.180 Every other religion and moral philosophy tells you to summon up all your strength and live as you ought. 00:42:27.180 --> 00:42:31.280 Therefore, they appeal to the strong, to the people who can pull it together. 00:42:31.520 --> 00:42:33.700 The people who can summon up the blood. 00:42:33.900 --> 00:42:36.020 Only Jesus says, "I have come for the weak. 00:42:36.020 --> 00:42:37.900 I have come for those who admit they are weak. 00:42:38.060 --> 00:42:45.280 I will save them, not by what they do, but through what I do." Throughout Jesus' life, the apostles and disciples kept 00:42:45.280 --> 00:42:52.540 saying to him, "Jesus, when are you going to take power and save the world?" Jesus keeps saying, "You don't understand. 00:42:52.720 --> 00:42:59.860 I'm going to lose all the power and die to save the world." At the climax of his life, he ascended not a throne but a cross. 00:43:00.060 --> 00:43:06.680 He came as a substitute to bear evil, suffering, and death, and the consequences of our turning from our God. 00:43:08.060 --> 00:43:15.180 It's why Jesus said as a question to the Pharisees in Mark 2, "I didn't come to save those who don't need 00:43:15.180 --> 00:43:15.740 a doctor. 00:43:15.800 --> 00:43:23.110 But rather, I came for the sick." It is incredible when you look at scripture, 00:43:23.260 --> 00:43:25.400 how it ties all together with Jesus. 00:43:25.420 --> 00:43:33.800 I mean, you just think, even from the beginning, Adam and Eve ate from the tree and 00:43:33.800 --> 00:43:34.120 died. 00:43:36.420 --> 00:43:42.280 Jesus comes and goes on to the tree to die so that you can live. 00:43:44.680 --> 00:43:49.560 Adam and Eve and the curse of the Garden, the Bible says thorns will spring up. 00:43:52.140 --> 00:43:57.580 Jesus comes and places upon his head the crown of thorns to give his life for you. 00:44:00.700 --> 00:44:01.340 What an incredible king. 00:44:04.520 --> 00:44:08.720 Even in the silence, even in the silence it's true. 00:44:10.420 --> 00:44:17.680 That's why when you get to the very end of Revelation, this is the end, you get to the very end of the Revelation, if I could just tell you one 00:44:17.680 --> 00:44:23.860 theme communicated above and beyond all others, it's the throne of the king and his kingdom. 00:44:26.240 --> 00:44:29.360 You see that image told over and over, the throne of his king and his kingdom. 00:44:30.240 --> 00:44:32.470 And why is that the theme of Revelation? 00:44:33.620 --> 00:44:37.500 Well if you think about what's happening in the story of Revelation, the church is being persecuted. 00:44:39.520 --> 00:44:41.650 They're going through hardship, they're facing adversity. 00:44:41.880 --> 00:44:43.660 There's temptation that comes along with that. 00:44:43.700 --> 00:44:49.600 You just want to give up, you just want to quit, you want to cry out, you want to find out where in the world is God in all of this? 00:44:49.640 --> 00:44:53.650 And how can my soul take any solace in these moments? 00:44:54.220 --> 00:45:02.400 And Revelation, the reminder to all of God's people, there is a king sitting 00:45:02.400 --> 00:45:06.860 on his throne right now ruling and reigning. 00:45:08.780 --> 00:45:15.210 In the midst of the adversity you face in life, he is there. 00:45:17.060 --> 00:45:17.620 He is there. 00:45:19.000 --> 00:45:23.140 And the call of Revelation is for your heart to continue to trust in them. 00:45:23.140 --> 00:45:29.860 Because from beginning to end, in all of the story, the glory of this king has made himself known. 00:45:29.860 --> 00:45:34.000 And the glory of this king desires to make himself known in your life. 00:45:34.460 --> 00:45:36.440 The Bible encourages and tells us, right? 00:45:37.640 --> 00:45:44.960 One day every tongue, Romans 14, Philippians 2:10 00:45:44.960 --> 00:45:49.420 and 11, every tongue will bow and confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. 00:45:50.640 --> 00:45:53.400 Bow now, bow later, you will bow. 00:45:54.860 --> 00:46:01.080 But in this opportunity, you can bow in the goodness of this king who is offering you grace rather than under his wrath. 00:46:02.720 --> 00:46:10.080 And Revelation 5 says it like this, "And every creature and every created thing which is in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea, 00:46:10.120 --> 00:46:17.420 and all things in them, I heard saying to him who sits on the throne, and to the lamb, 'Be blessing and 00:46:17.420 --> 00:46:24.540 honor and glory and dominion forever and ever, amen.'" That's 00:46:24.540 --> 00:46:28.900 my hope and prayer for us as a church, all that we do in this world. 00:46:30.420 --> 00:46:34.180 The focus of our hearts be for one king and his glory. 00:46:35.080 --> 00:46:36.240 And his name is Jesus.