the Kingdom: what it is - part 2

The history of the Kingdom

Last week we began a new series entitled the Kingdom: what it is.  In a message entitled the definition of the kingdom we set a foundation for this series by defining the Kingdom in general terms. 

We began by defining A kingdom as a community or territory ruled by a king.  A central component of a kingdom is the king.  In the Kingdom, Jesus Christ is King.  Thus, a simple definition of THE Kingdom is the community or territory ruled by Jesus Christ, the King.

We then added some contours to this definition by repeatedly asking the question “what is the Kingdom?” and we offered several answers to that question including:

·         It is the kingdom of heaven

·         It is also the kingdom of God

·         It is also the kingdom of Christ

·         It is literally translated as “the reign” (YLT)

·         The kingdom is the central teaching of Jesus in the NT

·         The kingdom is the gospel

·         The kingdom is the antitype of OC Israel in the promised Land

·         The kingdom is the inheritance of the saints

·         The kingdom is the church – the new covenant community (it is us)

·         The kingdom is that which had broken into the “present age” but in its full consummation belongs to the “age to come”

This morning’s message is entitled “the history of the kingdom.”  The main purpose of this message is to give the historical backdrop of the kingdom of Israel so we will gain a better understanding of what Israel expected in the kingdom to come.  What we seem to find in the NT is that when JTB and Jesus came preaching the gospel of the arrival of the Kingdom their contemporaries had certain expectations; they expected the coming Kingdom to be like the Kingdom of old – a physical king on a physical throne in a physical land defeating and ruling over physical enemies.  The better we understand the historical backdrop of the kingdom of Israel, the better we will understand the context of the arrival of the kingdom and the ways that the Jews responded to Jesus and his message especially in light of their expectations.

So let’s begin in the beginning.  The nation of Israel began with Jacob who was later named Israel.  Israel had 12 sons and those twelve sons became the heads of the 12 tribes of Israel.  Benjamin, Issachar, Naphtali, Simeon, Zebulun, Reuben, Asher, Judah, Joseph, Levi, Dan, Gad.

JOSEPH – SLAVERY IN EGYPT

Joseph was pretty much daddy’s favorite so his brothers hated him and sold him to slavery and he ended up in Egypt where he rose to 2^nd in command only to Pharaoh, king of Egypt.  Eventually when a famine came upon the land, Joseph was the mastermind who helped save the people by storing a portion of the grain in advance and many people made the journey to Egypt to get food in the famine.  One of those journeys was made by Joseph’s brothers and they were reconnected and he forgave them and in his high lofty position was able to bring his family to Egypt and give them good land and a good life. 

Those Israelites multiplied and became exceedingly numerous.  Eventually a new Pharaoh came to power who eventually decided to make the Israelites slaves which lasted for 400 years.

MOSES DELIVERS – GIVES O.C.

Then God heard the cries of His people and He raised up Moses to deliver them out of slavery and bring them into the Land he swore to give them as an inheritance.  On the way into that Promised Land, God made a covenant with the nation of Israel, the covenant we call the Mosaic covenant (since it was given through Moses).  We also refer to it as the Old Covenant.  This covenant specified the way that the Israelites who were God’s elect race, were to live in the Land.

Deut 28 This covenant promised blessings for obedience and curses for disobedience.  As long as they obeyed the commands of the covenant God would bless them in the land with plentiful crops, plentiful children, plentiful livestock, success in all they put their hands to and victory in war.  However if they disobeyed God would shut up the sky and cause drought, famine, plague, pestilence, and death and they would be defeated by their enemies who came against them.

NO FAITH – WILDERNESS WANDERING

So God had promised the land…PROBLEM…there were already people there…couldn’t just say “God said we could have this Land, you guys are going to have to find a new place to live.  I’m really sorry.”

So in order to actually obtain the land and dwell there, they would have to wage war against those people and take it from them.

BUT…the problem was these people were big and there were a lot of them.

Here’s the deal.  God can turn water into blood, cause a plague of gnats, flies, and frogs, kill all of the first born in Egypt while sparing those covered by the blood of the Passover lamb, but he can’t give Israel the victory against big people.  He just can’t.  That one is just beyond God’s capabilities.  So Moses, I don’t want to be your friend anymore; I want to go back to Egypt and be a slave.

They walked according to their own selfish desires rather than trusting God in obedience.

After all God had done for them, all of the miracles, they didn’t have enough faith that he could crush the peoples already dwelling in that land so God had them wander in the wilderness for a generation, 40 years. 

JOSHUA INTO LAND

Then after that generation died, Joshua, the aid of Moses, succeeded Moses as the leader of the Israelites and under Joshua’s leadership, Israel defeated the people in the Land and possessed it as their inheritance.

KILL THE -ITES WOMEN & CHILDREN

Now, when God told them to go into the Land and take possession of it, He told them to kill everybody from the Canaanites, Amorites, Perizites, Hittites, Jebusites, and Hivites.  Yes, kill everybody.  You mean the men, right?  No, not just men, but women and children.  The women and the children?  That just doesn’t seem right, does it?

Sometimes what God commands doesn’t seem right, but God’s ways are higher than ours and as his people we are to trust him and obey, even when our desires don’t match up with His will.

Now, I’m sure those kids were cute and who wants to kill a cute kid?  And I’m sure some the women were pretty and hey, who’s to say we couldn’t just snatch up a lovely wife from among these people?  But God knows best.

Those kids will one day grow up and get to talking and wondering what happened to daddy and Billy’s daddy and freddy’s daddy?  And wondering why these strange people have taken our houses and are eating the food from our gardens.  One day they just might decide to exact revenge and wage war against Israel.

What about the women?  God knows about women.  They have a secret skill of seduction.  Women can make men do things.  God knew that if the women were left alive these pretty women might just lead his people astray into worshipping and serving other gods.

They walked according to their own selfish desires rather than trusting God in obedience… and they suffered for it.

Unfortunately the Israelites didn’t kill them all and sure enough, they married the women and were led astray by them and for years to come they weren’t able to dwell in the land in perfect peace as was intended; the foreigners they were supposed to kill off and completely destroy rose up against them as enemies and oppressed them.

JUDGES

Now this early time in the land is known as the time of the Judges.  This was about 1375 – 1050 BC.  This period is recorded in the book of Judges.  Judges 2 summarizes well:

¹⁰ After that whole generation (Joshua’s gen) had been gathered to their ancestors, another generation grew up who knew neither the Lord nor what he had done for Israel. ¹¹ Then the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord and served the Baals. ¹² They forsook the Lord, the God of their ancestors, who had brought them out of Egypt. They followed and worshiped various gods of the peoples around them. They aroused the Lord’s anger ¹³ because they forsook him and served Baal and the Ashtoreths. ¹⁴ In his anger against Israel the Lord gave them into the hands of raiders who plundered them. He sold them into the hands of their enemies all around, whom they were no longer able to resist. ¹⁵ Whenever Israel went out to fight, the hand of the Lord was against them to defeat them, just as he had sworn to them. They were in great distress.

¹⁶ Then the Lord raised up judges who saved them out of the hands of these raiders. ¹⁷ Yet they would not listen to their judges but prostituted themselves to other gods and worshiped them. They quickly turned from the ways of their ancestors, who had been obedient to the Lord’s commands. ¹⁸ Whenever the Lord raised up a judge for them, he was with the judge and saved them out of the hands of their enemies as long as the judge lived; for the Lord relented because of their groaning under those who oppressed and afflicted them. ¹⁹ But when the judge died, the people returned to ways even more corrupt than those of their ancestors, following other gods and serving and worshiping them. They refused to give up their evil practices and stubborn ways.

The rest of the book of Judges tells of the various times when God’s people rebelled and he raised up a judge to deliver them.  Once again we see that

They walked according to their own selfish desires rather than trusting God in obedience. and they suffered for it.

This cycle repeated over and over.

SAMUEL

This period known as the time of the Judges ended with a man named Samuel who served as Israel’s leader at the end of this period of the judges and led Israel during a time of transition between two eras.  Samuel is considered the last judge and the first major prophet of Israel.  Remember, from the time the nation of Israel began until this time Israel didn’t have a king.  They were a kingdom in the sense that they were a community and they even had a territory, but they had no single individual on the throne ruling over them as king.

WE WANT A KING

But one day Israel decided that they wanted a king.

1 Sam 8   ¹When Samuel grew old, he appointed his sons as Israel’s leaders. ² The name of his firstborn was Joel and the name of his second was Abijah, and they served at Beersheba. ³ But his sons did not follow his ways. They turned aside after dishonest gain and accepted bribes and perverted justice.

⁴ So all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah. ⁵ They said to him, “You are old, and your sons do not follow your ways; now appoint a king to lead^[b] us, such as all the other nations have.”

⁶ But when they said, “Give us a king to lead us,” this displeased Samuel; so he prayed to the Lord. ⁷ And the Lord told him: “Listen to all that the people are saying to you; it is not you they have rejected, but they have rejected me as their king. ⁸ As they have done from the day I brought them up out of Egypt until this day, forsaking me and serving other gods, so they are doing to you. ⁹ Now listen to them; but warn them solemnly and let them know what the king who will reign over them will claim as his rights.”

¹⁰ Samuel told all the words of the Lord to the people who were asking him for a king. ¹¹ He said, “This is what the king who will reign over you will claim as his rights: He will take your sons and make them serve with his chariots and horses, and they will run in front of his chariots. ¹² Some he will assign to be commanders of thousands and commanders of fifties, and others to plow his ground and reap his harvest, and still others to make weapons of war and equipment for his chariots. ¹³ He will take your daughters to be perfumers and cooks and bakers. ¹⁴ He will take the best of your fields and vineyards and olive groves and give them to his attendants. ¹⁵ He will take a tenth of your grain and of your vintage and give it to his officials and attendants. ¹⁶ Your male and female servants and the best of your cattle^[c] and donkeys he will take for his own use. ¹⁷ He will take a tenth of your flocks, and you yourselves will become his slaves. ¹⁸ When that day comes, you will cry out for relief from the king you have chosen, but the Lord will not answer you in that day. ”

¹⁹ But the people refused to listen to Samuel. “No!” they said. “We want a king over us. ²⁰ Then we will be like all the other nations, with a king to lead us and to go out before us and fight our battles.”

²¹ When Samuel heard all that the people said, he repeated it before the Lord. ²² The Lord answered, “Listen to them and give them a king.”

They want a king. All other nations have one…like them…not supposed to be like them…set apart different…not just circumcision and no pork…but God is king!

They walked according to their own selfish desires rather than trusting God in obedience…and they suffered for it.

Thus begins THE ERA OF THE KINGS. 

They wanted a king.  Samuel said it was a bad idea.  God said it’s not you they are rejecting but me as king.  God says go ahead and give them one but warn them that it’s going to get ugly and they say that’s okay, we want one anyway.

SAUL

Since they had to have a king anyway, Samuel appoints a man named Saul as the first king of Israel.  Saul was the guy who looked the part.  He was like the Disney king. Tall dark handsome.  Eventually Saul turned out to be kind of a buster so God replaced him with a man after God’s own heart, and perhaps the most famous of all of the kings, David. 

DAVID

David’s reign was a fairly glorious time in Israel’s kingdom history and David went down in history as being a great king over Israel.

SOLOMON

David is succeeded by his son Solomon.  There’s something you need to know about Solomon.  But before I tell you about Solomon I’d like to share with you something that God declared through Moses in the Law a LOOOOONG time ago, before Israel ever had a king.

Deut 17: ¹⁴ When you enter the land the Lord your God is giving you and have taken possession of it and settled in it, and you say, “Let us set a king over us like all the nations around us,” ¹⁵ be sure to appoint over you a king the Lord your God chooses. He must be from among your fellow Israelites. Do not place a foreigner over you, one who is not an Israelite. ¹⁶ The king, moreover, must not acquire great numbers of horses for himself or make the people return to Egypt to get more of them, for the Lord has told you, “You are not to go back that way again.” ¹⁷ He must not take many wives, or his heart will be led astray. He must not accumulate large amounts of silver and gold.

¹⁸ When he takes the throne of his kingdom, he is to write for himself on a scroll a copy of this law, taken from that of the Levitical priests. ¹⁹ It is to be with him, and he is to read it all the days of his life so that he may learn to revere the Lord his God and follow carefully all the words of this law and these decrees ²⁰ and not consider himself better than his fellow Israelites and turn from the law to the right or to the left. Then he and his descendants will reign a long time over his kingdom in Israel.

Notice that God didn’t command them to appoint a king over them.  He simply said when you do this, knowing that they would rebel against him as king and choose a man over God. 

Now, God said the king must not acquire great numbers of horses or take many wives or accumulate large amounts of silver and gold. (vv16-17)  He is supposed to carefully follow the law. (vv19-20)

But look what Solomon does:

1 Kings 10:14 The weight of the gold that Solomon received yearly was 666 talents.  According to the footnote in my Bible that is about 25 tons.  One ton = 2000 lb.  That’s 50,000 pounds of gold! 

1 Kings 10:26 Solomon accumulated chariots and horses; he had fourteen hundred chariots and twelve thousand horses, which he kept in the chariot cities and also with him in Jerusalem.

Remember the Law: don’t accumulate horses or make people go back to Egypt to get them.  Guess where Solomon imported his horses from? Egypt. 

Solomon walked according to his own selfish desires rather than trusting God in obedience.

Remember what the Law said about the king: he shouldn’t accumulate horses, wives, or silver or gold.  He had a grill made of gold, lee press on nails made of gold, that he accumulated horses; he’s got 2 strikes against him… what about wives?  Surely he didn’t take many wives?

1 Kings 11  1King Solomon, however, loved many foreign women besides Pharaoh’s daughter—Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians and Hittites. ² They were from nations about which the Lord had told the Israelites, “You must not intermarry with them, because they will surely turn your hearts after their gods.” Nevertheless, Solomon held fast to them in love. ³ He had seven hundred wives of royal birth and three hundred concubines, and his wives led him astray. ⁴ As Solomon grew old, his wives turned his heart after other gods, and his heart was not fully devoted to the Lord his God, as the heart of David his father had been. ⁵ He followed Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and Molek the detestable god of the Ammonites. ⁶ So Solomon did evil in the eyes of the Lord; he did not follow the Lord completely, as David his father had done.

⁷ On a hill east of Jerusalem, Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the detestable god of Moab, and for Molek the detestable god of the Ammonites. ⁸ He did the same for all his foreign wives, who burned incense and offered sacrifices to their gods.

Solomon walked according to his own selfish desires rather than trusting God in obedience.

And look at the consequences:

⁹ The Lord became angry with Solomon because his heart had turned away from the Lord, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice. ¹⁰ Although he had forbidden Solomon to follow other gods, Solomon did not keep the Lord’s command. ¹¹ So the Lord said to Solomon, “Since this is your attitude and you have not kept my covenant and my decrees, which I commanded you, I will most certainly tear the kingdom away from you and give it to one of your subordinates. ¹² Nevertheless, for the sake of David your father, I will not do it during your lifetime. I will tear it out of the hand of your son. ¹³ Yet I will not tear the whole kingdom from him, but will give him one tribe for the sake of David my servant and for the sake of Jerusalem, which I have chosen.”

¹⁴ Then the Lord raised up against Solomon an adversary (literally a satan), Hadad the Edomite, from the royal line of Edom.

The rest of chapter 11 details the other satans God raised up against Solomon.

Solomon walked according to his own selfish desires rather than trusting God in obedience and the nation suffered the consequences.

Israel’s history under these 3 kings is a period known as the United Kingdom because all 12 tribes of Israel were one united kingdom under one king.

Then under Solomon’s son, Rehoboam the kingdom splits.

1 Kings 12  ¹ Rehoboam went to Shechem, for all Israel had gone there to make him king. ² When Jeroboam son of Nebat heard this (he was still in Egypt, where he had fled from King Solomon), he returned from Egypt. ³ So they sent for Jeroboam, and he and the whole assembly of Israel went to Rehoboam and said to him: ⁴ “Your father put a heavy yoke on us, but now lighten the harsh labor and the heavy yoke he put on us, and we will serve you.”

⁵ Rehoboam answered, “Go away for three days and then come back to me.” So the people went away.

⁶ Then King Rehoboam consulted the elders who had served his father Solomon during his lifetime. “How would you advise me to answer these people?” he asked.

⁷ They replied, “If today you will be a servant to these people and serve them and give them a favorable answer, they will always be your servants.”

⁸ But Rehoboam rejected the advice the elders gave him and consulted the young men who had grown up with him and were serving him. ⁹ He asked them, “What is your advice? How should we answer these people who say to me, ‘Lighten the yoke your father put on us’?”

¹⁰ The young men who had grown up with him replied, “These people have said to you, ‘Your father put a heavy yoke on us, but make our yoke lighter.’ Now tell them, ‘My little finger is thicker than my father’s waist. ¹¹ My father laid on you a heavy yoke; I will make it even heavier. My father scourged you with whips; I will scourge you with scorpions.’”

¹² Three days later Jeroboam and all the people returned to Rehoboam, as the king had said, “Come back to me in three days.” ¹³ The king answered the people harshly. Rejecting the advice given him by the elders, ¹⁴ he followed the advice of the young men and said, “My father made your yoke heavy; I will make it even heavier. My father scourged you with whips; I will scourge you with scorpions.” ¹⁵ So the king did not listen to the people, for this turn of events was from the Lord, to fulfill the word the Lord had spoken to Jeroboam son of Nebat through Ahijah the Shilonite.

Rehoboam followed in his father’s footsteps and he walked according to his own selfish desires rather than listening to the sound advice of the elders.

¹⁶ When all Israel saw that the king refused to listen to them, they answered the king:

“What share do we have in David, what part in Jesse’s son? To your tents, Israel!  Look after your own house, David!” So the Israelites went home. ¹⁷ But as for the Israelites who were living in the towns of Judah, Rehoboam still ruled over them.

So at this point, we have a split in the kingdom and from this point forward, the kingdom is divided.

Rehoboam remained the king in Jerusalem, in Judah and ruled over the tribes of Judah and Benjamin.

The ten northern tribes set Jeroboam over them as king and had their own kingdom.

This is a HUGE event in Israel’s history and understanding this will help you navigate through the Scriptures.  From this point forward the ten northern tribes and that northern kingdom is still called Israel, while the two southern tribes and their kingdom is called Judah.

Now, the capital of the northern kingdom was Samaria and it is there that the Samaritans come from.

You can read about all of the rest of the Kings and their tenures during the time of the divided kingdom in the books of 1 & 2 Kings, 1 & 2 Chronicles.  I’ll summarize it for you:  most of them did evil in the eyes of the Lord.  Eventually, due to their disobedience, God brought an end to both of these kingdoms.

In 722 BC, God brought the Assyrians against the northern Kingdom of Israel.  Assyria laid waste to the land, put an end to that kingdom and took the Israelites captive, brought them back to Assyria to serve as slaves.

This resulted because they walked according to their own selfish desires rather than trusting God in obedience.

Then in 586 BC, God brought the Babylonians against the Southern Kingdom of Judah.  Babylon laid waste to the land, burned down the Temple that Solomon built, took all of the silver and gold, killed a bunch of people, took the best and brightest to serve in Babylon.  I believe this is where those from Judah are first referred to as Jews.  Thus the end of the Southern kingdom.

This too resulted because they walked according to their own selfish desires rather than trusting God in obedience.

While the main purpose of this message is to give you an understanding of the history of the kingdom of Israel which sets the backdrop for the prophecies about the coming kingdom and the expectations of the Kingdom, we do find one theme running throughout this entire history:

Precept: it is better to trust God in obedience than to suffer the consequences of walking according to one’s own selfish desires.

Think about all of the consequences Israel suffered for their stiff-necked, rebellion. 

God promised to give Israel the Land.  If Israel trusted God in obedience and believed that he could crush the ites that first generation would have gone in and taken the land and avoided the whole 40 years wandering in the wilderness.

God told them to wipe out completely the –ites.  If Israel would have entirely wiped out the ites as God commanded them, they could have avoided being led astray by them into idolatry and the worship of other gods and they could have avoided being oppressed by them as enemies, probably enjoyed a time of great peace in the land.

God warned them through Samuel, their leader and his spokesman, that it was a bad idea to place a king over them.  But they insisted.  If Israel would have listened to God’s prophet Samuel they wouldn’t have put a king over them in the first place.

God’s law said that the king shouldn’t amass horses, gold, silver or wives, but Solomon didn’t listen to God and he amassed horses, and gold and silver and many wives, especially foreign wives.  If he would have listened to God, his heart would not have been led astray by his foreign wives and God would not have raised up adversaries against Israel.  Again, they could have enjoyed peace instead of war.

But then again, If Israel would have listened to God’s prophet Samuel they wouldn’t have put a king over them in the first place.

If Rehoboam would have listened to the elders he would have been gracious to the people and the kingdom would not have split.  But then again, If Israel would have listened to God’s prophet Samuel they wouldn’t have put a king over them in the first place.

If the kings of the northern tribes Israel would have led the people in obedience to God then God would not have brought Assyria against them to destroy them in 722 BC.  But then again, If Israel would have listened to God’s prophet Samuel they wouldn’t have put a king over them in the first place.

If the kings of the southern tribes, Judah would have led the people in obedience to God then God would not have brought Babylon against them to destroy them in 586 BC.  But then again if Israel would have listened to God’s prophet Samuel they wouldn’t have put a king over them in the first place.

So many of these consequences could have been avoided if they would have just let God occupy his rightful place on the throne and walked in obedience to their heavenly King. 

Instead they persisted in their own selfish desires and suffered the consequences.

Better to trust God in obedience than to follow after one’s own selfish desires.  There are consequences to walking in selfishness rather than in obedience to God.

It may not have seemed logical or even right for Israel to kill not only the men but also the women and children of the ites.  But it’s what God commanded them and it was for their own good.  They suffered for not doing so. 

It may not seem logical to us or even right that all of our sins would be wiped away and that the punishment that brings peace with God was upon this sinless and perfect Jesus, but it’s what God has decreed and it is for our good.  We will suffer consequences for not doing so.

Israel rejected God as their king and instead wanted a man over them, someone who was tangible and visible.  They were warned of the foolishness and the consequences they would face and indeed they suffered.

Today, let’s not make the same mistake in rejecting God as our king.  He is the one who is to reign over our hearts.  Let us not usurp him and seek to be the king of our own lives.  We will indeed suffer for doing so because God’s ways are higher than ours and they are good.

As it was true in the Kingdom of old as we have seen in the history of the kingdom of Israel, it is true for us in the heavenly kingdom, it is better to walk in obedience to God in submission to Him who is king, than to suffer the consequences of walking in our own selfish ways.

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