the Kingdom: what it is - part 14 

the king of the kingdom

This morning we continue in our series on the Kingdom in which we have given shape and definition to the doctrine of the kingdom of heaven.  This morning’s message is entitled the king of the Kingdom. Since week one of this series, our simplified definition of the kingdom has been the community or territory over which Christ reigns as king.  Even our simple definition of the kingdom identifies the king.   So from the beginning of this series we have known the identity of the King; that’s Jesus. 

But I would be willing to bet that even before we began this series, you knew that.  More than likely you didn’t need me to identify the king of the kingdom of heaven.  Before this series, even if you knew nothing else about the kingdom of heaven you probably knew that Jesus was the King.

So this morning’s message won’t be an aha message but an AMEN message.  I probably won’t be teaching you anything new, but together you and I will rejoice in what we probably already know.  This morning’s message is not so much to identify the king – we have already done that.  This morning’s message is to celebrate our king; for he is worthy of worship.  He deserves honor, awe, adoration, glory, praise, reverence.

Let us adore him this morning as we explore Him and His character.

BY WAY OF COMPARISON

Sometimes the easiest way to describe something is to do so by way of comparison.  A while back I asked a friend to give me a definition of the New Covenant without reference to the Old Covenant.  He said that’s pretty much impossible because without an understanding of the Old Covenant, one will have a really difficult time appreciating the essence and the glory of the New Covenant.  So in order for someone to really understand and appreciate the New Covenant, it’s best to begin with a look at the Old Covenant and move forward from there by way of comparison.

THE KING OF OLD

While we could explore the person, mind, heart and character of Jesus without reference to the kings of the old order, I think it will help us to have a greater perspective and appreciation of our king if we compare him to the kings of old.  Turn with me in your Bibles to 1 Samuel 8.  Remember that Israel made the exodus out of Egypt under Moses.  He wasn’t a king, but more of a judge or prophet.  Then Joshua succeeded him as the leader of Israel, leading them not as a king, but as a military leader in the conquest of the Promised Land.  Then in the Land, Israel was led by judges for a few hundred years.  During that time they didn’t have an earthly king on the throne.  God was essentially their king.  But eventually, they went to Samuel who was their judge-prophet leader at that time and asked him to put a king over them that they might be like all the other nations.  Samuel warned them that that was a terrible idea.  First of all it was a rejection of God as king.  And second of all, on a practical level…well, just listen to what Samuel told them.

 1 Sam 8:10ff 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 do: 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 menservants and maidservants and the best of your cattle 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, and the Lord will not answer you in that day.”

Clearly a bad idea.  But this is how the kings in the Old order operated.  Even those who were considered good kings like David and Solomon operated in this way.  Took the best of the people’s vineyards and gave them to his buddies.  Took the best of people’s cattle for his own use, took a tenth of the people’s flocks, and made the people his slaves.

PEOPLE EXIST TO SERVE KING

The Kingdom of Israel was oriented in such a way that the people existed to serve the king.  The king did not have the mentality that said, “I exist to serve these people.”  His mentality was, “I’m the king.  These people exist to serve me.”  

That was the king of the old kingdom.  He was MERELY A MAN like everyone else, and yet, he was all about him, took from people for himself, made people to serve him for his benefit.   If you look at our king and his earthly ministry you will find something different, something glorious and magnificent.  First of all, he didn’t come to establish an earthly kingdom in which he would take earthly vineyards from people, and make men to make earthly weapons, or make them to run before earthly chariots. 

And he certainly wasn’t just a mere man like everyone else.  He was God in the flesh.  He was the great I AM.  In him all the fullness of the deity dwelt bodily.  He was the image of the invisible God.  He was the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of His being.  If there ever was a king who deserved to have people serve before him in an army it was Jesus.  If there was ever a king who deserved to be able to take people’s vineyards and cattle, it was Jesus.  If there was ever a king who deserved to be served, Jesus is that King!

But look what He said in Mark 10:45 For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

Though he was the only one who ever deserved to be served, he said that he did not come to be served but TO serve.  Wow.  He didn’t come to round up His people to serve begrudgingly and force labor upon them or take stuff from people for his own benefit.  He came to serve and give his life as a ransom.  Don’t misunderstand me: we do indeed serve him, but not in the way kings were served in the old order.  And even if it was in that way, he deserves it. 

And we do not serve him because we fear him as a monarch or dictator.  The king has the power to declare: put them in the iron maiden.  Or off with their heads.  We don’t serve him out of fear.  We serve him out of a love for him, with obedience and a loyalty that stems from his love and service to us.  We are moved to serve him because he first served us.

None of those kings in the old order ever really deserved to be served in the way that they were.  They didn’t deserve to have people run before him in chariots and give their lives in service to him.  If anyone ever deserved that, it’s Jesus.  But that’s not the kind of King we serve.  He is the kind of king who served.  He knelt down and washed filthy feet.  He whose rightful position is at the right hand of the Father, set aside his divine prerogatives and came to a people who would reject him and spit on him, and ridicule him, and ultimately crucify him.  He came not to be served but to serve and to lay down his life.  Greater love has no one than this that he lay down his life for his friends.

THIS IS THE KIND OF KING WE SERVE: a king who served.  What AN HONOR.

OLD KINGS WICKED, NOT JESUS

Again, we are describing Jesus by way of comparison to the kings of old.  As you read through the books of Kings & Chronicles what you read over and over and over is “so and so became king of Judah at the age of ___.  He did evil in the eyes of the LORD…so and so became the king of Israel at the age of ___.  He did evil in the eyes of the LORD.”  There were a handful that walked in righteousness, but by and large most of the kings in the old order were wicked.  Can you imagine living in a kingdom ruled by a wicked king?  Can you imagine a government under a cruel monarch or dictator? 

Even in our democratic system, we have a primary leader. We are coming up on election season.  It seems every four years that people make the comment that we are going to have to choose between the lesser of two evils.

Not so with Jesus.  There is no election day whereby we choose our ruler.  God chose him before the foundation of the world.  And that’s probably a good thing.  We would probably choose a horrible leader if we had the power to elect him.  But look at the King that God has installed on the throne in the heavenly Jerusalem.  Unlike those kings in the old order who did evil in the eyes of the LORD, our king is the very antithesis of evil.  Jesus is the epitome of righteousness.  It feels good to know that the one in charge, the one governing our kingdom is a king of righteousness. 

JESUS REIGNS IN RIGHTEOUSNESS.  That is the kind of King we serve and it is an honor.

If Jesus’ reign was recorded in the books of Kings & Chronicles, not only would it say that he walked in righteousness like his father David, it would say that Jesus’ righteousness far exceeded that of his father David.  Throughout those books David is held up as a standard of righteousness for kings.  For the handful that walked in righteousness we see them compared to David.  For example in 2 Chron 29:1-2 Hezekiah was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem twenty-nine years.  His mother’s name was Abijah daughter of Zechariah.  He did was that right in the eyes of the LORD, just as his father David had done.  So David was pretty much a standard for righteousness in the world of the Kings of Israel.  Yet David was flawed.  For the most part he was great but as you probably know, he committed adultery with Bathsheba and then conspired in the murder of her husband Uriah to cover it up.  Jesus on the other hand was tempted in every way as we are and yet was without sin. 

So the kings in the old order were essentially wicked.  But our king, Jesus on the other hand is righteousness itself.  He is the very epitome of righteousness and his righteousness far exceeds David’s.

JESUS REIGNS IN RIGHTEOUSNESS.  That is the kind of King we serve and it is an honor.

A few weeks ago we looked at the typology of the Kingdom.  We noted that the OT story is a type or shadow of the spiritual things to come in the NT.  In the first century God brought forth the substance, the antitype in Christ.  He brought forth a new creation, a New Israel, who he redeemed out of a spiritual slavery in a spiritual Egypt, who then wandered in a spiritual wilderness for 40 years and then entered into the spiritual promised land, the heavenly kingdom.  We noted that the Kingdom of heaven is the restoration of Israel to her former glory during the glory days of Israel in the prosperous and peaceful reign of Solomon.  So we identified Solomon as a type of Christ. He was the son of David who ruled in justice, righteousness, peace, and built the temple.  Jesus is the antitype the substance, the son of David who rules in justice, righteousness, peace and built the temple.  As with all types and shadows, the antitype is far greater and more glorious than the type that foreshadowed it.  The same is obviously true with Jesus.  Jesus is far greater than Solomon.  Let’s take a look at Solomon and see how Jesus embodies those very things.

Turn with me in your bibles to 1 Kings 3.  From 1 Samuel, you will pass 2 Samuel and then you will be at 1 Kings.

1 Kings 3:5ff

⁵ At Gibeon the Lord appeared to Solomon during the night in a dream, and God said, “Ask for whatever you want me to give you.”

Imagine if the God of the Universe told you that!

⁶ Solomon answered, “You have shown great kindness to your servant, my father David, because he was faithful to you and righteous and upright in heart. You have continued this great kindness to him and have given him a son to sit on his throne this very day.

⁷ “Now, O Lord my God, you have made your servant king in place of my father David. But I am only a little child and do not know how to carry out my duties. ⁸ Your servant is here among the people you have chosen, a great people, too numerous to count or number. ⁹ So give your servant a discerning heart to govern your people and to distinguish between right and wrong. For who is able to govern this great people of yours?”

¹⁰ The Lord was pleased that Solomon had asked for this. ¹¹ So God said to him, “Since you have asked for this and not for long life or wealth for yourself, nor have asked for the death of your enemies but for discernment in administering justice, ¹² I will do what you have asked. I will give you a wise and discerning heart, so that there will never have been anyone like you, nor will there ever be. ¹³ Moreover, I will give you what you have not asked for—both riches and honor—so that in your lifetime you will have no equal among kings. ¹⁴ And if you walk in my ways and obey my statutes and commands as David your father did, I will give you a long life.”

Scripture immediately records an event in which Solomon gets to exercise this wisdom.

¹⁶ Now two prostitutes came to the king and stood before him. ¹⁷ One of them said, “My lord, this woman and I live in the same house. I had a baby while she was there with me. ¹⁸ The third day after my child was born, this woman also had a baby. We were alone; there was no one in the house but the two of us.

¹⁹ “During the night this woman’s son died because she lay on him.²⁰ So she got up in the middle of the night and took my son from my side while I your servant was asleep. She put him by her breast and put her dead son by my breast. ²¹ The next morning, I got up to nurse my son—and he was dead! But when I looked at him closely in the morning light, I saw that it wasn’t the son I had borne.”

²² The other woman said, “No! The living one is my son; the dead one is yours.”

But the first one insisted, “No! The dead one is yours; the living one is mine.” And so they argued before the king.

So Solomon told them to go down the street to the local DNA testing center and just settle the matter.

²³ The king said, “This one says, ‘My son is alive and your son is dead,’ while that one says, ‘No! Your son is dead and mine is alive.’”

²⁴ Then the king said, “Bring me a sword.” So they brought a sword for the king. ²⁵ He then gave an order: “Cut the living child in two and give half to one and half to the other.”

²⁶ The woman whose son was alive was filled with compassion for her son and said to the king, “Please, my lord, give her the living baby! Don’t kill him!”

But the other said, “Neither I nor you shall have him. Cut him in two!”

²⁷ Then the king gave his ruling: “Give the living baby to the first woman. Do not kill him; she is his mother.”

²⁸ When all Israel heard the verdict the king had given, they held the king in awe, because they saw that he had wisdom from God to administer justice.

We see in Solomon’s decision that he was indeed exceedingly wise.  God gave Solomon wisdom and very great insight, and a breadth of understanding as measureless as the sand on the seashore.  There was no on wiser than Solomon.  We owe most of the book of proverbs to him and men from all nations came to hear the wisdom of Solomon.

One of the people who had come to engage Solomon’s wisdom was the queen of Sheba.

1 Kings 10:1-5 ¹When the queen of Sheba heard about the fame of Solomon and his relation to the name of the Lord, she came to test him with hard questions. ² Arriving at Jerusalem with a very great caravan—with camels carrying spices, large quantities of gold, and precious stones—she came to Solomon and talked with him about all that she had on her mind. ³ Solomon answered all her questions; nothing was too hard for the king to explain to her. ⁴ When the queen of Sheba saw all the wisdom of Solomon and the palace he had built, ⁵ the food on his table,the seating of his officials, the attending servants in their robes, his cupbearers, and the burnt offerings he made at^[a] the temple of theLord, she was overwhelmed.

Solomon was so great and so wise that the queen of Sheba came to see and hear in person.

So Solomon as a king was phenomenal.  God gave him the opportunity to have it all.  And he chose wisdom that he may govern God’s people well.  God liked that and made him the wisest man who ever lived.  He was able to make even the most difficult decisions in wisdom, wrote the proverbs, people came from all over to see him and hear him.  One was the queen of Sheba.

Solomon as the king of Israel in her glory days was a type that foreshadowed Jesus as the King of the gloriously restored Israel – the kingdom of heaven.   Solomon was a type of Christ.  If Solomon was great, then Jesus would be greater.  If Solomon was wise, Jesus would be wiser.  And this is exactly what we see in the text.

In Matt 12:42 The Queen of the South will rise at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for she came from the ends of the earth to listen to Solomon’s wisdom, and now one greater than Solomon is here.

Jesus as the antitype of Solomon, is greater than Solomon.  Solomon was a great king over a glorious Kingdom; Jesus is a greater king over a more glorious kingdom.  Jesus is one greater than Solomon.

As we saw Solomon was challenged with difficult decisions.  The dead baby is hers. The queen of Sheba challenged him but nothing was too difficult for him.  Jesus had some similar challenges in his ministry.  One of them is somewhat reminiscent of Solomon.

Matt 22:15ff ¹⁵ Then the Pharisees went out and laid plans to trap him in his words.¹⁶ They sent their disciples to him along with the Herodians. “Teacher,” they said, “we know you are a man of integrity and that you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. You aren’t swayed by men, because you pay no attention to who they are. ¹⁷ Tell us then, what is your opinion? Is it right to pay taxes to Caesar or not?”

¹⁸ But Jesus, knowing their evil intent, said, “You hypocrites, why are you trying to trap me? ¹⁹ Show me the coin used for paying the tax.”They brought him a denarius, ²⁰ and he asked them, “Whose portrait is this? And whose inscription?”

²¹ “Caesar’s,” they replied.

Then he said to them, “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.”

Jesus was wiser than Solomon and rendered decisions in wisdom greater than that of Solomon. 

John 7:46  “No one ever spoke the way this man does.”

Matt 7:28-29 ²⁸ When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at his teaching, ²⁹ because he taught as one who had authority, and not as their teachers of the law.

Luke 4:22  All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his lips.

So Jesus is greater than Solomon and wiser than Solomon.  Solomon went down in history as a great king.  But Jesus is greater! That is the king we serve and it is an honor!

In week 2, we poked fun at our friend Solomon.  The Law decreed that the king should not accumulate much gold or horses, or have many wives.  Solomon, as great of a king as he was walked in direct violation of those things as he received about 25 tons of gold every year, he had 1400 chariots and 12000 horses, he had 700 wives of noble birth and 300 concubines.

What about Jesus?  Did Jesus accumulate much gold?  He had humble beginnings was born in a manger, not a palace, and as he said, “foxes have holes and birds have nests, but the son of man has no place to lay his head.”  It seems that the only gold he accumulated was that which he received from the Magi when he was an infant.

Did Jesus accumulate horses?  As far as we know he didn’t own one.  In fact he rode into Jerusalem on a donkey he borrowed.

Did Jesus accumulate wives?  During his earthly life not even one.  The only wife of Jesus is the one heavenly bride, the church, the New Jerusalem, a bride to whom He is ever-faithful.

So in all of Solomon’s excellence, we see serious failures.  But in Jesus, the king of the Kingdom, the antitype, we see one who is greater than Solomon, one who far exceeded Solomon’s excellence in every way.

That is the King we serve and it is an honor.

JESUS HAS IT ALL

In Jesus we have one who has it all.  Jonathan Edwards said that what makes Jesus glorious is “an admirable conjunction of diverse excellencies.”

Not only is Jesus completely just, but he was also merciful and compassionate.  His marvelous majesty is mixed with meekness.

Though he was given all authority and dominion and power, he walked in complete submission to his heavenly father.

Though he could sit down with the teachers of the Law and baffle them with doctrinal paradoxes he could sit down with common people and fishermen and tell stories and give illustrations they could relate to.  In one scene we see him going toe to toe with the teachers of the law asking whose son is the Christ?  David?  Then if he is David’s son, why does David call him lord?  Then in another episode we see little children coming to him.

In one breath he calms a storm and shows his sovereign authority and ability to control all things and then we see the same mouth unopened as he is led like a lamb to the slaughter.

In Jesus we have a lion and a lamb.  In Jesus we have the lion of the tribe of Judah who rules with an iron scepter.  And yet, in Jesus we also have the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

The man who hung on the cross bleeding for the sins of his people is the same Jesus who sits at the right hand of God as the King of Kings.  So often the church only sees Jesus as the guy who hung on the cross.  He is certainly that, but he is also the king – the one who has authority, dominion, and sovereignty over all things.  Our king is the very same one who shed his blood to atone for sins.  He is not only the Lamb, but also the Lion.

Jesus was the only one who ever deserved to be served and yet he came to serve and give his life as a ransom for many. The only one who ever deserved to have people lay down their life for him and yet he laid down his life for his people.

THIS IS THE KIND OF KING WE SERVE.  AND IT IS AN HONOR.

www.ncfgeorgetown.com  preterist fellowship, preterist church Austin tx, Church in Georgetown, Texas. Reformed church Georgetown, Texas Preterist church Georgetown Texas. Pastor David Boone. Associate pastor Jesse Gutierrez, Sermon audio mp3 sermon download Full Preterism. Covenant Eschatology. New Covenant Fellowship Georgetown. Page House 10:00 am Loving God. Loving Others. Realized eschatology fulfilled eschatology  Preterist church Austin Texas.  Bible church Austin Texas Second coming of Jesus Christ churches in Austin area. Churches in Georgetown TX

You can watch sermon videos or listen to sermon audio .mp3 at www.ncfgeorgetown.com/media.html

www.ncfgeorgetown.com

the Kingdom: what it is - part 7

part 7 - the prophecies of the Kingdom: Jews & Gentiles united in peace

Over the past few weeks we have been investigating the OT prophecies that foretold the coming Kingdom, which would essentially be a restored, renewed, regenerated, resurrected, Israel under God and yet also under a descendent of David, namely under Jesus.

Last week we camped out in the latter part of Ezekiel 37 where we saw that the Kingdom would be a reunited Kingdom; the northern kingdom of Israel and southern kingdom Judah would be reunited under David – Jesus.  This would be a unification of two hostile groups.  Then we looked at the NT and saw that this unification of the south and north, the Jews and Samaritans occurred in the first century in the events described in Acts 1-8. 

Note the nature of this reunification.  Note that it wasn’t the entire nation of Samaria and Judea that were reunited.  This wasn’t a literal and national reunification with EVERY SINGLE SAMARITAN AND JEW being gathered into a geopolitical kingdom, but only the elect, the believers that were gathered into a reunited Kingdom, gathered not into a geographical territory in an earthly kingdom, but gathered spiritually into a heavenly kingdom.  God sent his messengers (angelos, namely the apostles to gather the elect).  The gathering of the elect into the kingdom was occurring in the first century in Christ.

This morning we will find that not only would this kingdom be a kingdom made up of Jews (the southern kingdom), and Samaritans (the Northern kingdom), BUT it will also include those from the nations, (the Gentiles). Now if you thought there was hostility and division between the Northern and Southern Kingdoms of Israel (Jews and Samaritans) take that and multiply it and you have the hostility and division between the Jews and Gentiles.  At least the northern kingdom was from the nation of Israel.  They may have departed some from the religion of the Jews, but they at least still had Torah, and circumcision, they were at least descendents of Israel himself.  Not the nations, not the Gentiles.  They had no such thing.  They were afar off, not even close to God and his covenant community.

So this morning as we look at the fact that the Kingdom will be inclusive of Gentiles consider what a drastic move this would be; consider what a paradigm shift this would necessitate for God’s people Israel who had always been defined by race and Law.  The removal of those barriers to include the nations in the Kingdom would make this Kingdom radically different from the kingdom of Old.

The main point of this morning is the kingdom will include the nations, the gentiles.  The kingdom will be characterized by Jews and Gentiles united in peace.  If you go home with nothing else, get that.  But this idea didn’t come out of nowhere.  As everything else we have looked at, this inclusion of the Nations in the Kingdom was foretold in the prophets, Israel’s syllabus for the course.  We have been looking at these prophecies as a syllabus.  This morning we will continue to do that.  Turn with me in your Bibles to Isaiah 9.

Recall our principles of interpretation for sound biblical hermeneutics.  Consider Isaiah.  Genre. When looking at the prophets, the language is often cryptic, metaphoric, even apocalyptic.  We have seen some of this metaphoric language already.  Jeremiah called the descendant of David a righteous Branch.  We know that Jesus isn’t literally a branch – that was a metaphor – one that we could easily discern.

Ezekiel was given a vision of dry bones coming to life and receiving the spirit of God.  While this is highly symbolic and metaphoric, we had a key with which to interpret this metaphor in the text.  God told Ezekiel that the dry bones represented Israel in her state of exile and that coming to life would be manifest in a gathering of the elect in the Land, being restored to God’s presence – life.  Then Ezekiel acted out a prophecy by joining two sticks.  We were told in the text that the sticks represented the northern and southern kingdom.  So far, we have been given the tools in the text to discern the metaphors and what they symbolize.

Isaiah is HIGHLY metaphoric and unlike what we have seen in Ezekiel so far, Isaiah rarely interprets these metaphors.  Thus, we must interpret these metaphors through the lenses of NT texts that reference them or other texts that are more clear.  That’s why we are starting with Isaiah 9, which is fairly clear.  It will give us a framework for interpreting the metaphors in Isaiah 11.

Isaiah 9:6-7  6For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders.  And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty god,  Everlasting Father,  Prince of Peace. ⁷ Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this.

This passage is clearly kingdom material, part of God’s syllabus.  We have a child born (Jesus) who will bear the government on his shoulders.  What kind of government?  An everlasting kingdom and he will be king reigning on David’s throne.  Note that he will be called Mighty God and Everlasting Father.  So we have a reiteration of what we have already seen in Jer 33, the righteous branch from David aka Jehovah.  Here in different terms: a human (son born)  called mighty God, reigning on David’s throne.  A human descendant of David and also God – unmistakably Jesus.  Note the characteristics of his reign:  Peace, righteousness, justice.

So clearly, from this text, we have a basic framework that will help us interpret the less clear metaphoric text in chapter 11.  This kingdom run by Jesus will be one of justice and righteousness and peace.

Turn with me now to Isaiah 11 two chapters away and part of the same prophecy – as you will see containing the same elements, but in much more metaphorical terms.

Is 11:1ff  11 A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit. (Who is Jesse?  Matt 1:6 – Jesse was the father of King David.  From the stump of Jesse – going with this tree metaphor, a branch will bear fruit.  So again, we are talking here about a branch from the line of David, which we have identified as Jesus.  Thus, this shoot coming up from the stump of Jesse, the branch that will bear fruit is Jesus)  ² The Spirit of the Lord will rest on him—  the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the Spirit of counsel (he will be called wonderful counselor) and of power, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord— ³ and he will delight in the fear of the Lord.  We can see how all of that accurately describes Jesus.  He will not judge by what he sees with his eyes, or decide by what he hears with his ears; ⁴ but with righteousness he will judge the needy, with justice he will give decisions for the poor of the earth.

This branch from the stump of Jesse will render judgments, but his judgments will not be by visual sight and audible sound.  Typical earthly judges may be deceived by what they see and hear – the Pharisees looked great on the outside and sounded great but weren’t really great on the inside.  Jesus made judgments of the heart, true judgments in justice and righteousness.

He will strike the earth (land) with the rod of his mouth; with the breath of his lips he will slay the wicked.   Throughout Jesus’ ministry we saw him slaying the wicked with his words.  (John 2) Get these out of here…you are sons of the Devil – John 8.  Woe to you hypocrites (Matt 23).  etc.  He struck the earth/land with the rod of his mouth and slew the wicked with the breath of his lips.  ⁵ Righteousness will be his belt and faithfulness the sash around his waist. Again, his reign characterized by righteousness.

⁶ The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat, the calf and the lion and the yearling together; and a little child will lead them. It may be tempting to employ a schizophrenic hermeneutic and change our interpretive methods altogether and make this next section strictly literal.  Many today assume that the kingdom will literally look like this: JEHOVAH WITNESS TRACT!

Is that accurate?  Should Isaiah 11 be read literally?   LET’S JUST GO LITERAL! Let’s go varsity with this literal hermeneutic.  First I want to introduce our guest of honor don’t be shy!  Israel, behold, your king: branch.  Can’t be!  Text says it will be a son born who will bear the government on his shoulders, so it will not be a branch, but a man – a man who will have a rod literally hanging out of his mouth.  Be careful, lest you be struck with the rod sticking out.  Also, don’t get too close because his breath is kickin!  Serious case of halitosis.  His breath will be so bad it will literally kill people, they will just fall over dead.

And don’t remove his sash or his belt because his righteousness lies therein.  It’s like Iron Man.  Oh, he’s a superhero in the suit, but take off the suit and it’s just Tony Stark.  Remove the belt of Jesus and he will be just as wicked as most all the other kings of Israel.

IS THIS PASSAGE LITERAL???  NO!  Vv 1-5 aren’t literal and neither are 6-9!  Let’s let Isaiah do what he do not force him to do what we want him to.  Recall our 3-fold framework: justice, righteousness, and peace.  Vv 1-5 conveyed righteousness and justice using metaphor.  What remains?  Peace.  I believe verse 6-9 with these unlikely animal interactions is METAPHOR that conveys peace, especially peace between groups normally characterized by hostility, NAMELY JEW AND GENTILE. 

If you thought there was animosity or hostility between Jew and Samaritan, consider Jew and Gentile.  At least the Samaritans descended from Israel and were a part of the 10 northern tribes of Israel.  But the Gentiles were excluded from citizenship in Israel, foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world; they were the uncircumcised.

Look at the verse again: ⁶ The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat, the calf and the lion and the yearling together; and a little child will lead them.  Understanding these animals as metaphors for people JEWS AND GENTILES is rooted in Israel’s food laws in the OC which set them apart from the nations.  The Law defined foods as being either clean or unclean.  There’s this whole food chain thing which means: You are what you eat.  Eat clean, you are clean.  Eat unclean you are unclean.

Israel was set apart as God’s people and were to be clean, eating only clean foods, while the nations/Gentiles ate unclean animals and were unclean.  In Leviticus 11 God details for Israel which animals are clean and which animals are unclean.

Take a guess what kind of animals are lying together in Isaiah 11?  Clean and unclean.  Wolf, leopard and lions are unclean.  Lamb, goat, and calf are clean.  Since you are what you eat, I believe what we have here is a representation of Jew (clean) and Gentile (unclean) dwelling together peacefully in the kingdom.

Isaiah 11 contains animals that are clearly clean and clearly unclean.  Not only do we have clean and unclean but the varsity squad.  We have the cleanest of the clean and the super unclean.

Among the clean animals, there were only a few animals that were acceptable as an offering to God.  I’ll let you try to guess 3 of them.  The 3 in our text.

Leviticus 22:27  “When a calf, a lamb or a goat is born, it is to remain with its mother for seven days. From the eighth day on, it will be acceptable as an offering made to the LORD by fire.

No coincidence here that we have the 3 clean animals from Isaiah 11.  These 3 were not only clean to eat – kosher, these were the cleanest of the clean, they were the “set apart of the set apart.”  These 3 were set apart unto God for sacrifice and offering.

And Isaiah 11 has them lying down not with just any unclean but the super unclean predatory animals, which might eat something diseased that will travel up the food chain.  The predatory animals are the super unclean.

Lev 11:27 Of all the animals that walk on all fours, those that walk on their paws are unclean for you; whoever touches their carcasses will be unclean till evening.

The 3 unclean animals in Isaiah 11 are clearly unclean.  No question about their uncleanness, as they were predatory animals wolf, leopard, and lion walk on all fours on their paws.

So in Isaiah 11 we have not only clean and unclean, but cleanest of clean – those set apart as offering to God and the most unclean – the predators – those extremely violent and hostile.

Those clean animals set apart as an offering to God I believe represent Israel while the devouring predators represent the nations.  Let’s compare scripture with Scripture to see how the bible elsewhere clearly uses these predator animals as a metaphor for the nations/Gentiles.

In Jer 5 Jeremiah condemns God’s people for their sins and telling them that God is bringing Babylon to destroy them.  Look at the metaphor Jeremiah uses for this enemy gentile who comes to devour God’s people:

Jer 5:6 ⁶ Therefore a lion from the forest will attack them, a wolf from the desert will ravage them, a leopard will lie in wait near their towns to tear to pieces any who venture out, for their rebellion is great and their backslidings many.

The gentile nation that would devour God’s people is called a wolf, a leopard, and a lion – any coincidence that it’s the same 3 unclean predatory animals listed in Isaiah 11.  The hostile gentiles are called a wolf, leopard, and lion.

So if we set aside the presupposition that Isaiah 11:6-9 must be literal and let Isaiah do what he do and use metaphor to depict righteousness, justice, and now peace, we can see that these clean and unclean lying down together in peace is metaphor for Jews and Gentiles dwelling together in peace.

The Kingdom is characterized by peace between otherwise hostile groups.  Peace between Jew and Gentile.  No longer division, distinction and hostility, but unity and peace under one King Jesus.

In the Kingdom, there will no longer be an ethnic, racial, blood distinction between them – they will be one new man in Christ.

⁷ The cow will feed with the bear, their young will lie down together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox.  Again, more of the same: cow and ox – animals offered unto God (representing Jews); bear and lion, predatory animals representing gentiles.  Peace between these two otherwise hostile groups.

⁸ The infant will play near the hole of the cobra, and the young child put his hand into the viper’s nest.  ⁹ They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain, for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.

Cobra, viper, convey serpent.  From the beginning the serpent represented that which attempted to thwart God and poisoned his people, recall the garden and the enmity sown between the seed of the woman and the serpent.  In the NT we see the seeds of the serpent identified.  JTB called the religious leaders of Israel a brood of vipers who did harm to and destroyed God’s people. 

In the kingdom foretold in Isaiah 11, this destruction and poisoning of God’s people would stop as God would bring judgment upon them.  With the breath of his lips Jesus slew them explaining that they would be condemned to gehenna, burned in the fire.

V9 They will neither harm nor destroy on God’s holy mountain.  Where is God’s holy mountain?  Mt Zion, where his sanctuary lies.  Where is the sanctuary placed forever?  The Mt. Zion of the Kingdom is not a plot of ground in Palestine but a heavenly spiritual place.  Since we are the temple, we are on God’s holy mountain where God’s people made up of Jews and Gentiles dwell in peace together.

I believe these animal verses are to be interpreted with the same hermeneutic as the preceding verses.  Metaphor.  And that metaphor is clarified further in the following verses.

KEY VERSE: ¹⁰ In that day (in what day?  in the day when the wolf lies down with the Lamb) the Root of Jesse (David – Jesse is father of David, JESUS) will stand as a banner for the peoples; the nations will rally to him, and his place of rest will be glorious.  This word nations comes from the Hebrew goyem and corresponds to the Greek testament ethnos.  It literally means nations and conveys the idea of those nations outside of Israel.  In the NT, (due to our translations) we usually use the term Gentiles, though this is actually latin, not Greek or Hebrew.  So I will be using the term nations and gentiles interchangeably.  So in the days of the kingdom, Jesus will stand as a banner that will call the nations/gentiles into the Kingdom.

Conveniently, those who force a literal interpretation of the animals don’t force a literal interpretation of the banner.  They don’t insist that Jesus is literally a banner.  They understand that he will function as a banner, serving as a representation of the Kingdom over which he reigns, much like we display our NCF banner so that outsiders will see and come and join us.

 ¹¹ In that day the Lord will reach out his hand a second time to reclaim the remnant that is left of his people from Assyria, from Lower Egypt, from Upper Egypt, from Cush, from Elam, from Babylonia, from Hamath and from the islands of the sea.  I believe this indicates that the first time he reclaimed a remnant it was a physical gathering which served as a type.  I believe this second time is the spiritual gathering into Christ – into the Kingdom.  

¹² He will raise a banner for the nations and gather the exiles of Israel; he will assemble the scattered people of Judah from the four quarters of the earth.   Again with the gathering.  We have spent a lot of time on this gathering of God’s people and here you can see that the inclusion of Gentiles in the Kingdom goes hand in hand with the gathering of Israel back into the land.  When the gathering of the elect occurs, God will gather not only Israelites, but also those of the Gentile nations into one kingdom under one king, the descendant of David.

Just as we have done in the past few weeks, we now turn to the NT as a transcript to watch God follow the syllabus.  Turn with me to Acts 10.

Acts 1:8 Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, ENDS OF THE EARTH nations gentiles

Looked at Acts 1-8 as Judea and Samaria reunited north and south, but didn’t look at the extension to the ends of the earth – the nations.  That’s where we pick up in Acts.

Acts 10:1ff

¹ At Caesarea there was a man named Cornelius, a centurion in what was known as the Italian Regiment. ² He and all his family were devout and God-fearing; he gave generously to those in need and prayed to God regularly. ³ One day at about three in the afternoon he had a vision. He distinctly saw an angel of God, who came to him and said, “Cornelius!”

⁴ Cornelius stared at him in fear. “What is it, Lord?” he asked.

The angel answered, “Your prayers and gifts to the poor have come up as a memorial offering before God. ⁵ Now send men to Joppa to bring back a man named Simon who is called Peter. ⁶ He is staying with Simon the tanner, whose house is by the sea.”

⁷ When the angel who spoke to him had gone, Cornelius called two of his servants and a devout soldier who was one of his attendants. ⁸ He told them everything that had happened and sent them to Joppa.

⁹ About noon the following day as they were on their journey and approaching the city, Peter went up on the roof to pray. ¹⁰ He became hungry and wanted something to eat, and while the meal was being prepared, he fell into a trance. ¹¹ He saw heaven opened and something like a large sheet being let down to earth by its four corners. ¹² It contained all kinds of four-footed animals, as well as reptiles of the earth and birds of the air. ¹³ Then a voice told him, “Get up, Peter. Kill and eat.”

¹⁴ “Surely not, Lord!” Peter replied. “I have never eaten anything impure or unclean.”

¹⁵ The voice spoke to him a second time, “Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.”

¹⁶ This happened three times, and immediately the sheet was taken back to heaven.

¹⁷ While Peter was wondering about the meaning of the vision, the men sent by Cornelius found out where Simon’s house was and stopped at the gate. ¹⁸ They called out, asking if Simon who was known as Peter was staying there.

¹⁹ While Peter was still thinking about the vision, the Spirit said to him, “Simon, three^[a] men are looking for you. ²⁰ So get up and go downstairs. Do not hesitate to go with them, for I have sent them.”

²¹ Peter went down and said to the men, “I’m the one you’re looking for. Why have you come?”

²² The men replied, “We have come from Cornelius the centurion. He is a righteous and God-fearing man, who is respected by all the Jewish people. A holy angel told him to have you come to his house so that he could hear what you have to say.” ²³ Then Peter invited the men into the house to be his guests.

The next day Peter started out with them, and some of the brothers from Joppa went along. ²⁴ The following day he arrived in Caesarea. Cornelius was expecting them and had called together his relatives and close friends. ²⁵ As Peter entered the house, Cornelius met him and fell at his feet in reverence. ²⁶ But Peter made him get up. “Stand up,” he said, “I am only a man myself.”

²⁷ Talking with him, Peter went inside and found a large gathering of people. ²⁸ He said to them: “You are well aware that it is against our law for a Jew to associate with a Gentile or visit him. But God has shown me that I should not call any man impure or unclean. 

UM…wait a minute.  When did God show Peter that he shouldn’t call any MAN impure or unclean? He showed him unclean ANIMALS! In the vision of the unclean animals.  Peter pondered the vision and then connected the dots when God said go with the gentile men since I sent them.  He understands God’s vision of unclean animals to represent Gentiles.

If Peter is okay with unclean animals being a metaphor to represent Gentiles, shouldn’t we be okay with that in Isaiah 11?  Shouldn’t we then recognize Isaiah’s prophecy for what it is?  Peter is essentially affirming our interpretation of the animals in Isaiah 11 as representing Jews and Gentiles.

Peter interprets God’s vision as saying there is no longer a distinction between Jew and Gentile as clean and unclean.  All those washed by the blood of Jesus and sprinkled by Him and renewed by the Holy Spirit’s regenerating work are clean regardless of race, whether Jew or Gentile.  In the Kingdom, that which was formerly called unclean lies down together with the clean.  There is peace between these 2 otherwise hostile groups who are united together under King Jesus.

Skip down to verse 34  ³⁴ Then Peter began to speak: “I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism ³⁵ but accepts men from every nation who fear him and do what is right. ³⁶ You know the message God sent to the people of Israel, telling the good news of peace through Jesus Christ, who is Lord of all. ³⁷ You know what has happened throughout Judea, beginning in Galilee after the baptism that John preached—³⁸ how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and how he went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil, because God was with him.

³⁹ “We are witnesses of everything he did in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They killed him by hanging him on a tree, ⁴⁰ but God raised him from the dead on the third day and caused him to be seen.⁴¹ He was not seen by all the people, but by witnesses whom God had already chosen—by us who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. ⁴² He commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one whom God appointed as judge of the living and the dead. ⁴³ All the prophets testify about him that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.”

Peter is here holding up Jesus as a banner to the nations gathering the gentiles into the Kingdom.

⁴⁴ While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit came on all who heard the message. ⁴⁵ The circumcised believers who had come with Peter were astonished that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on the Gentiles. ⁴⁶ For they heard them speaking in tongues and praising God.

Then Peter said, ⁴⁷ “Can anyone keep these people from being baptized with water? They have received the Holy Spirit just as we have.”

Just as they preached in Jerusalem and the Spirit was poured out to regenerate believers there, then they went to Samaria in Acts 8 and believers received the Spirit there, now here in Acts 10, we have Gentile believers receiving the Holy Spirit here. 

The rest of Acts is about Paul preaching the gospel, holding up Jesus, the banner for the nations, and gathering elect gentiles from the ends of the earth.  One of the churches he preached to was the church in Ephesus.  In his letter to the Ephesians, he lays out a beautiful word of encouragement.  Turn with me to Ephesians 2.

We have touched on the context of Eph 2 before.  In fact, when we discussed the resurrection of Israel, we ventured into Eph 2, noting that Paul was encouraging the Ephesians that they had been brought from death to life.  Whereas Israel was dead in exile apart from God and would be raised to life in His presence, the Gentiles were never in God’s presence in the Land, they were always outside the land, always apart from God, thus like Israel, dead.  Paul indicates that through faith these Gentiles were joining the elect Israelites in entering into life in God’s presence, thus going from death to life.  After that word of encouragement, we read in

Ephesians 2:11ff  ¹¹ Therefore, remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by birth and called “uncircumcised” by those who call themselves “the circumcision” (that done in the body by the hands of men) — ¹² remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world.¹³ But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ.

Remember, the Kingdom belongs to Israel.  Before, the Gentiles used to be excluded from citizenship in Israel, meaning they wouldn’t get to participate in God’s Kingdom.  But now, through faith in Christ, through the cleansing of His blood, believing Gentiles were now clean and were becoming citizens of Israel. 

¹⁴ For he himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, ¹⁵ by abolishing in his flesh the law with its commandments and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace, ¹⁶ and in this one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility.

Whereas before, you were like a wolf and the Jews like a lamb – hostile to one another, you are now lying down together, in peace.  His kingdom will be one of peace between groups typically characterized by hostility.

The thing that separated Jews and Gentiles before – the Law, has been abolished in Christ.  There is no more separation.  Whereas before, Israel went through the Law to interact with God, in the Kingdom the true Israel, the citizens of the heavenly Kingdom now go through Christ – both Jews and Gentiles. 

 ¹⁷ He came and preached peace to you who were far away (gentiles) and peace to those who were near. (Jews)  ¹⁸ For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.  The same spirit poured out at Pentecost in Jerusalem and then given to the Samaritans was also being poured out on believing Gentiles and uniting them together with believing Israelites into the Kingdom.

¹⁹ Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God’s people and members of God’s household,  You Gentiles used to be excluded from the commonwealth of Israel based on race and Law, but now you are fellow citizens with believing Jews in the new true spiritual Israel, the Kingdom.  Believing Gentiles are now citizens of Israel.

¹⁹ Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God’s people and members of God’s household,²⁰ built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. ²¹ In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. ²² And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.  Again, with the context of the temple (Ex 37). We are the temple dwelling on God’s holy mountain.  Jews and Gentiles united in peace.

In closing, let’s bring it home with a bit of application.  Turn with me now to Romans 15 right after Acts.  The context of Rom 15 really begins in chapter 14 where Paul addresses the Jews and Gentiles together dealing with issues of clean and unclean food.

He explains to them that no food is unclean but don’t pass judgment on your brothers for what they do and don’t eat.  You have Jews coming out of a heritage of Law avoiding the unclean foods and Gentiles freely eating unclean foods.  This was causing issues.  He says in Rom 14:17 the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.  So love one another and get along and put these food differences aside.

The unity between Jew and Gentile was not an overnight reality.  It took a lot of work to get the wolf to dwell in peace with the lamb and vice versa.  Paul was committed to this work; it was his ministry.   He writes beginning in verse 4:

Rom 15:4ff For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.  ⁵ May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you a spirit of unity among yourselves as you follow Christ Jesus, ⁶ so that with one heart and mouth you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.  You Jews and Gentiles be unified so that you can glorify God with one heart and mouth.

⁷ Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God.  The goal of this unity and acceptance is to bring God praise.  ⁸ For I tell you that Christ has become a servant of the Jews on behalf of God’s truth, to confirm the promises made to the patriarchs ⁹ so that the Gentiles may glorify God for his mercy, Here is Jesus, servant of the Jews who has come to fulfill the promises in the syllabus SO THAT the Gentiles may join you Jews in bringing God praise.  Now, Paul digs into the OT to make his point.  (everything written in past to teach us v4) What is his point?  He and his contemporaries were living out the words of the syllabus.

as it is written:  “Therefore I will praise you among the Gentiles; I will sing hymns to your name.” [Psalm 18:49]  ¹⁰ Again, it says, “Rejoice, O Gentiles, with his people.” [Deut 32:43]  ¹¹ And again, “Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles, and sing praises to him, all you peoples.” [Psalm 117:1]  ¹² And again, Isaiah says, “The Root of Jesse will spring up, one who will arise to rule over the nations; the Gentiles will hope in him.” [Isaiah 11:10]

Why would Paul quote Isaiah 11?  Because his whole ministry was lifting up the banner of Jesus Christ to the nations, calling the gentiles into the kingdom.  Paul’s ministry was the fulfillment of Isaiah 11.  Paul’s ministry was bringing peace between the Jews and Gentiles so that they would praise God together as a unified body.  His work was to make the wolf lie with the lamb, the leopard with the goat, and the lion with the calf and yearling.  God was fulfilling the syllabus through Paul.

¹³ May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. ¹⁴ I myself am convinced, my brothers, that you yourselves are full of goodness, complete in knowledge and competent to instruct one another. ¹⁵ I have written you quite boldly on some points, as if to remind you of them again, because of the grace God gave me ¹⁶ to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles with the priestly duty of proclaiming the gospel of God, so that the Gentiles might become an offering acceptable to God, sanctified by the Holy Spirit.

CATCH THAT???  The Gentiles used to be unclean.  We who were formerly among the wolves, leopards and lions are now among those who were not only clean, but the cleanest of the clean, acceptable as offerings: lambs, goats, and calves.  Through the transforming work of the Spirit, the extremely unclean has been made not only clean, but the cleanest of the clean, acceptable as an offering unto God as fellow citizens with Israel.  WOW!!!

What a huge blessing this message is to us.  For apart from it we have no share in the kingdom.  The kingdom belongs to Israel for they are God’s chosen people to bear his image and his name.  But God raised up the banner, Jesus, from the root of Jesse, and has called the nations to himself to partake in the blessings of the kingdom.  We get to come to God through Jesus.  We get to be citizens in the kingdom!!!

Do you see the banner lifted high?  You can’t see it with your eyeballs, you must see the banner with spiritual eyes.  You must have the eyes of your heart enlightened.  Today, if you see this banner and you have not responded, go.  Go to Jesus.  Go to him, join him in his kingdom.  What a marvelous kingdom it is – a kingdom of peace under a king who says “put your sword away.”  A kingdom of righteousness, and justice and peace under the prince of peace, a kingdom in which people don’t train for war and make war, but a kingdom in which we make peace, where we beat our swords into plowshares and our spears into pruning hooks.

What a blessing!  Our response to this invitation should be praise.  As Paul quoted in Rom 15: so now I exhort you:  Psalm 117:1-2  Praise the Lord, all you nations; extol him, all you peoples.  ² For great is his love toward us, and the faithfulness of the Lord endures forever. Praise the Lord.  Brothers and sisters, as a response to his faithfulness and his love toward us, let’s praise him.  Let’s live in peace with our brothers and sisters, let us unite under the banner of Jesus Christ, that with one heart and one voice we may declare the praises of our glorious King.

www.ncfgeorgetown.com  Church in Georgetown, Texas. Reformed church Georgetown, Texas Preterist church Georgetown Texas. Pastor David Boone. Sermon audio mp3 sermon download Full Preterism. Covenant Eschatology. New Covenant Fellowship Georgetown. Page House 10:00 am Loving God. Loving Others. Realized eschatology fulfilled eschatology  Preterist church Austin Texas.  Bible church Austin Texas Second coming of Jesus Christ churches in Austin area. Non denominational Churches in Georgetown TX

You can watch sermon videos or listen to sermon audio .mp3 at www.ncfgeorgetown.com/media.html

www.ncfgeorgetown.com