Christmas Prophecies | The Birth of the King
The prophecies of a coming king reveal seven implications for our lives: (1) obedience, (2) forever, (3) judgment, (4) peace, (5) service, (6) repentance, and (7) anticipation. This sermon is part 3 of Bryan Craddock’s “Christmas Prophecies” series.
What is your idea of a king? You might think of the shallow plastic characters of fairy tales or the struggling gritty heroes of epic movies, but those are both imaginary. Real kings are different. The modern ones seem more like celebrity PR spokesmen and the historic ones like murderous psychopaths who are quick to turn upon anyone whom they imagine to be a threat.
So, how does this confusion over kingship shape your reading of Luke 1:31-33? There the angel Gabriel tells Mary,
And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.
I think that a lot of people put the birth of Jesus and his kingship in the fairy tale category. Our art and music make it seem unreal, a myth to make us feel good. But it is more than a story. It is a pivotal event in biblical history. So, what does it mean that Jesus is a king? What are the implications for us?
We have already traced two prophetic threads through the Bible that tie into the birth of Jesus, and we come now to a third: the idea of kingship. Prophecies of a coming king are found from Genesis to Revelation, and they reveal at least seven implications for our lives. As we walk through these passages, I encourage you to consider how these truths should shape your life.
Obedience
Some things make you feel small, weak, and insignificant. It happens in creation as you gaze up at the stars or out across the ocean. That experience of awe and wonder is good, because you are comparing yourself with the greatness and power of our Creator. But it is something different when you feel intimidated by the power and accomplishments of men.
I suspect that the Patriarch Jacob felt that way as he came to Egypt with its great cities, pyramids, and mighty Pharaohs. It was probably over 1,800 years before the time of Christ. God had promised to make Jacob’s family into a great nation, and his twelve sons were a major step toward that goal. But even with their children, they only numbered seventy in total, and they were in desperate need because there was a famine in the land. They must have felt so insignificant in comparison to everything in Egypt.
But as Jacob blessed his sons before his death, he delivered an audacious prophecy. He spoke of obedience to a future king. Genesis 49:10 tells us that he said,
The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler's staff from between his feet, until tribute comes to him; and to him shall be the obedience of the peoples.
If the family was going to become a great nation as God promised, it makes sense that someone would rule as king. But this is the first prophecy about it, and there are two surprises. The first is that this ruler would descend from Judah rather than Joseph. Joseph was Jacob’s favorite son and had the greatest power at the time since he had been chosen as Pharaoh’s assistant.
The other surprise is that this king’s rule will extend beyond the people of Israel. Since the word people is plural, we don’t normally say “peoples.” But the Bible uses this plural form to speak of different people groups or nations. In other words, everyone in the world will ultimately obey this king.
As we continue, we will see how this obedience will come about. For now, however, it is worth considering whether your relationship to Jesus is one of obedience. In his Great Commission, recorded in Matthew 28:18-20, he charged his followers to make disciples, baptizing them and teaching them to observe all that he commanded. Are we those who obey him? Why does it matter? What is at stake? Our next implication brings that into sharper focus.
Forever
The first use of the word “forever” in the Bible is in Genesis 3:22. After Adam and Eve disobeyed God and ate the forbidden fruit, he sent them out of the Garden of Eden lest they eat the fruit of the tree of life and live forever. They lost eternal life in the presence of God. In time, they suffered the awful experience of sickness and death that continues today. Those are the sad consequences of their disobedience.
The whole storyline of the Bible is about getting back to forever. God’s promise to Abraham is a forever covenant with a forever inheritance in the land. So, it should not surprise us that God uses the same term in a promise to David. It was over 800 years after Jacob’s prophecy to Judah about a ruler. After the Exodus, the giving of the Law, the conquest of the land, and the terrible time of spiritual decline under different judges, 2 Samuel 7:16 tells us that the Lord told David,
And your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me. Your throne shall be established forever.
To be clear, this promise only says that David’s kingdom will be forever. It does not specify that one king will reign forever or that he will enable others to live forever. But apparently David came to these conclusions. In Psalm 16:10-11, he said,
For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol, or let your holy one see corruption. You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.
Around a thousand years later, Peter quotes these verses on the Day of Pentecost as a prophecy of Jesus’ resurrection. He is the holy one who does not see corruption. He is the forever king who opens the path of life for others. He gives us the same hope that David had of finding joy in the presence of God forever. Do you believe that? Does it shape how you live? Disobedience and forever cannot coexist, so that leads us to our next implication.
Judgment
Kings and swords go together. From the standpoint of history, they use them to fend off attacks, to conquer more land, or to execute traitors in their own court. But in modern times, kings only use swords for show during ceremonies of state. You might expect that this would be the case with the kingship of Jesus. But the king of biblical prophecy wields a powerful instrument of judgment in the establishment of his reign.
Rather than a sword, Psalm 2 speaks of the king swinging an iron rod. In verses 7-9, the anointed king recounts God’s instructions to him, saying,
I will tell of the decree: The LORD said to me, "You are my Son; today I have begotten you. Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession. You shall break them with a rod of iron and dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel."
Just like it is not hard to break a piece of fragile pottery, the king’s conquest of the nations will not be difficult for him. He is, after all, the Son of God, as it says here. This terminology ties into the incarnation and birth of Jesus, but other than the times when he cleanses the Temple, he did not exhibit this kind of force in the First Century. Even David himself seemed to understand that there would be a delay before the anointed king of prophecy would exercise judgment. In Psalm 110:1, he says,
The LORD says to my Lord: "Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool."
The word LORD in capital letters represents the proper name of God, Yahweh. So, God is speaking to the promised king, and even though this king is David’s descendant, he refers to him as “my Lord.” God instructs this Lord to sit and wait, but then in verses 5 and 6 the psalm says,
The Lord is at your right hand; he will shatter kings on the day of his wrath. He will execute judgment among the nations, filling them with corpses; he will shatter chiefs over the wide earth.
That day of wrath and judgment has not yet come. But we should not take that to mean that it is no longer part of God’s plan. Revelation 19:15-16 uses the same terms to describe the return of the King of kings, speaking of a sharp sword and a rod of iron. The reality of his judgment is a frightening thought, but it is essential for his reign. It leads to a fourth implication of Jesus’ kingship.
Peace
It may seem that the only way for us to find peace is to cover our eyes and ignore all that is going on around the world. Some people even use the celebration of Christmas that way. But that is not the peace that the promised king brings.
The Prophet Isaiah describes his reign as the ultimate fulfillment of his Immanuel prophecy about the virgin birth that is recorded in Isaiah 7. Chapter 8 describes the way in which it was immediately fulfilled in the eighth century B.C. Then verses 6-7 of chapter 9 look farther ahead. Isaiah says,
For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall 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, on 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. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this.
Upon hearing the title Prince of Peace, you might assume that it refers to a subjective, inner feeling. The New Testament certainly speaks of the peace with God that we have when our sins are forgiven. It also promises that we can experience internal peace as we trust in God. But this prophecy in Isaiah 9 describes the perfect state of peace that will exist when the promised king enforces worldwide justice and righteousness.
How can anyone bring about such conditions? He is the Wonderful Counselor who has perfect divine wisdom and insight to judge and to rule. He is the Mighty God who exercises miraculous divine power to overcome all opposition and to transform hearts. He is the Everlasting Father, not in the sense of the Trinity, but in the way he relates to his people and cares for them. So, he will reign as the Prince of Peace.
It is the hope of his reign that gives us peace as injustice and unrighteousness swirl around us now. We can find comfort in trusting that he will right every wrong. That leads us to a fifth implication of the kingship of Jesus.
Service
In Philippians 2:7, Paul described the birth of Jesus by saying that he emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, and being born in the likeness of men. Most of us do not think of our bodies that way. God designed us to be servants. We reject that purpose. We want to be served, and we try all sorts of tactics to get God and others to do what we want. But as the promised king, Jesus deserves our service.
This idea is made clear in a vision that God gave to the Prophet Daniel over 500 years before Christ’s birth. By Daniel’s time Jerusalem had been conquered by the Babylonians. Many of the Jewish people, including Daniel, were taken into exile. But in Daniel 7:13-14, he says,
I saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man, and he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him. And to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed.
The expression “one like a son of man” points forward to the incarnation. The Son of God took on flesh, but he is also more than a normal man. He alone is worthy to draw near to God, the Ancient of Days. As he does so, he is given the right to rule the earth and its people--every group whether you divide us up culturally, politically, or linguistically.
God’s purpose is for us all to serve this one who is like a son of man. We should live to fulfill his purposes and to reflect his glory. Is that how you live? One day every knee will bow before him (Phil 2:9-11). But it is better to do so willingly now, before it is forced upon you at the judgment. That leads to a sixth implication of his kingship.
Repentance
In some stories of kings, both real and fictional, we hear of heralds. Before the king conquers a place, he sends a messenger. Sometimes trumpets are blown to get everyone’s attention, and the herald delivers terms of surrender. In spiritual terms, we would call it repentance.
We don’t find that kind of fanfare at the birth of Jesus. Angels announce his birth to some shepherds, and wise men come to worship him, but most of the world is completely oblivious. He spends thirty years in obscurity. So, when he begins his ministry, he himself takes on the role of herald. Mark 1:14-15 introduces his ministry by saying,
Now after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God, and saying, "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel."
We tend to associate the gospel exclusively with Jesus’ death and resurrection. But those events did not happen until the end of his ministry. The good news that he proclaimed was the nearness of the kingdom. He called people to prepare themselves for it by repenting of their sins and believing in the fulfillment of God’s promises.
After he died and rose again, Jesus charged his followers to carry on this heralding work, calling people from all nations to repent (Lu 24:47). The coming of his kingdom should still be part of our gospel proclamation. His death and resurrection are what make it possible for us to be forgiven so that we can enter the kingdom and enjoy eternal life there. Paul ties these ideas together in 1 Corinthians 6:9-11 by saying,
Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.
No matter how sinful your past may be, the king offers you a place in his kingdom. If you repent and believe in him, he will wash you and make you holy and righteous, so that you can enjoy eternal life in the kingdom. That leads us to one more implication.
Anticipation
As we remember the king’s first coming, we should also anticipate his return. When you look at an hourglass, you have a clear visual representation of how much time is left. You see how fast the grains of sand are slipping past.
God knows exactly how much sand is left in the world’s hourglass. He has a clear plan about when he will send His Son back to earth. But he has chosen not to reveal that to us. Matthew 24:36 tells us that Jesus said, “But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only.” Then verse 44 tells us that he said, “Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.”
How do we cultivate and maintain this sense of anticipation? Matthew 6:10 tells us that Jesus taught his disciples to pray for the kingdom to come. In fact, in the next to last verse of the Bible, Revelation 22:20, the Apostle John prays this way, saying, “Come, Lord Jesus!” The true answer to every need we have and every burden we bear is found in the kingdom.
Matthew 24 tells us that Jesus also spoke of consistently doing his will like faithful servants waiting for their master’s return. We should be marked by obedience just as we noted as we began. In chapter 25, he tells a parable about servants managing their master’s resources well. He has entrusted the gospel to us, and he wants us to proclaim it so that others might be saved and share in the same hope.
Are you living with this sense of anticipation?
__________
Don’t skim over all the kingly terminology surrounding the birth of Jesus. Think of its implications. He deserves our obedience, and despite our failure to do so, he will bring his forever kingdom. He will carry out judgment and usher in a time of true peace. So, serve him. Repent of your sin and trust him by living in anticipation of his return.
Perhaps the birth of Jesus has never seemed like anything more than a myth to you. The Bible presents it as a real event that fulfilled prophecies stretching back over 2,000 years beforehand and paved the way for our future. Will you accept that? Will you repent and believe? Read the story for yourself. Start with Matthew 1 and see how all these connections come together.
If you are a believer, are you faithfully serving the king? Are you obeying his commands, living for his purposes, and praying for his return? Are there any changes that you need to make? Don’t delay!
May his kingdom come!
Reflect
How is the kingship of Jesus currently reflected in your life?
What needs to change for you to better reflect the kingship of Jesus?
How would you explain the kingship of Jesus to someone who is unfamiliar with it?