What is a kingdom? Sometimes
I read the Bible and I see these phrases and I just read over
them and I don't really stop to think about exactly what they
mean. I find sometimes that the most familiar words are hard
to define. Have you ever tried to define
words like kingdom and found yourself struggling with that?
Well, thankfully, the Bible actually does define the word kingdom
for us, and we'll see that in scripture today. But what is
a kingdom? In the book of Matthew, I counted, there's over 55 times
that the book of Matthew makes reference to the kingdom. It
sometimes calls it the kingdom of God, and sometimes the kingdom
of heaven. And Matthew, it turns out, is
the only gospel, the only place in the New Testament that I found
where it talks about the Kingdom of Heaven, uses that phrase instead
of the Kingdom of God. I think there's about 32 times
in that book where he uses that phrase, the Kingdom of Heaven,
but he also uses the Kingdom of God. But then there's the
book of Luke, I think, compared to Matthew, 55 times. The book
of Luke, I think, uses the kingdom of God maybe 44 times, if I remember
correctly. And the book of Mark, maybe 9
or 10 times. And then throughout the rest
of the New Testament, in the book of Acts, and 1 Corinthians,
and Galatians, and Ephesians, and Thessalonians, and Revelation,
the kingdom is mentioned over and over. And so it naturally
raises a question in our mind, what is the kingdom? And it's
especially important because here we read in Matthew chapter
10 verses 7 and 8, Jesus tells his disciples, as you go, preach,
saying, the kingdom of heaven is at hand. And then he tells
them what to do. Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers,
raise the dead, cast out devils, freely you have received, freely
give. Now, assume that you're one of the disciples and you're
told by the Lord to tell people, the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
Preach that. And so you go out preaching that
and maybe you don't even stop to think, what does it mean?
Or maybe you have an idea about what that means and your idea
is wrong. So there's several things I want to think about
today with you. First of all, what is the kingdom of heaven?
Secondly, when? is the kingdom of heaven coming.
Because it said here, right here, the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
And we'll see by trying to answer those two questions a lot about
the king and his kingdom. So first of all, let's ask this
question. What is the king? What is a kingdom? I'm not going
to take you to all the places in scripture that it talks about
this in the Old Testament, but I will take you to the very first
one in the Bible where the word kingdom is used. And even in
this one little reference, you begin to get a sense of what
the word means, kingdom. In Genesis chapter 10, It speaks
about a man whose name was Nimrod. In verse 8, it says, Cush was
a descendant from Ham, one of Noah's sons. Cush begat Nimrod,
in verse 8, "...he began to be a mighty one in the earth, he
was a mighty hunter before the Lord, wherefore it is said, even
as Nimrod, the mighty hunter before the Lord." And it says
in verse 10 of Genesis 10, "...and the beginning of his kingdom
was Babel, and Erech, and Akkad, and Kal-neh, in the land of Shinar."
Out of that land went forth Asher and builded Nineveh and so on,
all these different places. So Nimrod was a ruler over a
kingdom, and the kingdom is described by the nations, the country,
the land, and the people in those lands. So the first thing you
understand then from the word kingdom is it has to do with
the rule of a king over a people and the lands that they occupy.
Now that might not come as a surprise to you as what the word kingdom
means, but it is helpful to understand what the word kingdom means in
comparison to how the word is used in earthly kings and kingdoms. Because God has given us earthly
kings in order to help us understand a heavenly We wouldn't understand
heavenly kingdom at all if we had no notion of what a king
meant, would we? The kingdom of heaven is at hand.
What is a kingdom? So you'll see throughout scripture
that a king and the kingdom is a common occurrence. In fact,
if you look at one place, just a single place here in Esther
chapter 1, the book of Esther, I'll read this to you in Esther
chapter 1 verse 19, it says this, The king's name was Ahasuerus,
and he had a wife named Vashti, and Vashti refused to come out
when the king asked her to come out and show her beauty, she
refused. So the men advised the king in verse 19, and they said, Let there go a royal commandment
from him, and let it be written among the laws of the Persians
and the Medes, that it be not altered, that Vashti come no
more before the king Ahasuerus, and let the king give her royal
estate to another that is better than she." So here the king has
authority. And whatever he commands can
become a law, a new law. Whatever the king says becomes
law. And it's a law of force. So that's the second thing we
see about the earthly kings, is that they have authority.
In fact, the king, the office of the king is the highest level,
the highest position of authority in the earth. In any kingdom,
you want to know who's the boss, it's the king. And his word is
such that his word has power. In Ecclesiastes 8, verse 4, it
says where the word of the king is, there's power. There's authority. Kings traditionally have authority
so that whatever they say is how things are done in their
kingdom. Sure, they have counselors that
give them advice, like these men gave Ahasuerus advice. And he took their advice, and
he spoke what they advised him to speak. It became a law, and
that law became binding. So that what a king says has
force on his subjects. And a king's word is so powerful
that it means that he has power over your property, over your
life, whether you live, whether you die, whether you're put forward,
or whether you're put down, all those things. The king has absolute
authority in earthly kingdoms. In 1620, A bunch of people, 101
people in fact, got on a boat and came from Europe to America
on the Mayflower. And they created something called
the Mayflower Compact. And in that compact they addressed
the king, who was king then, his name was King James. And
this is what they wrote, how they addressed the king in those
days. The document they wrote said to him, they said, our dread
sovereign lord, King James. That's the way they wrote in
those days. Dread Sovereign Lord King James. That's a high title
for a man, isn't it? And these men were professing
Christians. They were the Protestants. They
were the Pilgrims. They actually called themselves
Saints in the beginning and then changed their names to Pilgrims
later. But these people on that boat wanted a compact, and they
needed to let the king know what they were thinking. They were
going to create laws, and those laws would be binding. They needed
the king's blessing. Blessing on their journey, blessing
on their laws and their rules. So they submitted this to the
king as a compact, and they addressed him with this high honor, this
high title, Dread Sovereign Lord, King James. That's a pompous
title, isn't it? For anyone to give to a man.
And yet, God sets up kings and He puts down kings. The king's
heart, it says in Proverbs, is in the hand of the Lord to turn
it whether so ever He wants to. As the rivers of waters, it's
just in His hand to do what He wants to with it. Now when they
called the king Dred, sovereign, Dred conjures up the notion that
these people had a healthy respect for the king. But that respect
went deeper than just an honorary respect. It was so deep that
they were recognizing the fact that he had power over their
lives. They feared the king. They knew that if they violated
his rule, they were doing so at the risk of their own lives,
their property, their families, their livelihood was at stake.
So you don't cross the king. And they called him sovereign.
Sovereign means he does what he wants to do. He doesn't have
to ask other people for their permission to do things. He just
does what he wants. He's the king. And then they
called him Lord, because that means master. They basically
owed their lives to him. He had laws they had to live
by, and if they didn't, he enforced them. And so you get this sense
of what a king is. We don't have a king today. We
do have a president. The president takes the job in
order to, at least on the books, his job is to abide by the laws
of the land. But a king is different. He can
abide by the laws, but if he sees a need to change the laws,
he's at will to do that. No one can question it. That's
a king. He's sovereign. People do what
he says, or they pay the consequences. Now this is what it means in
Scripture when it speaks about a king. And when we get the picture,
I think, of this in Scripture, it helps us to have a higher
regard for the office of the king. Which we need to have a
higher regard for it. Because without that high regard,
then we won't think much of our Lord Jesus Christ. But here again
in Daniel, I want to read to you in Daniel 6. I'll just read
this, you don't have to turn there. But Daniel 6 verses 7
and 8. "...that whosoever shall ask
a petition of any god or man for thirty days, save thee, O
king, he shall be cast into the den of lions." That was their
proposal, and they said to the king, "...now, O king, establish
the decree and sign the writing that it be not changed according
to the law of the Medes and Persians, which altereth not." All the
king had to do was to sign the petition. It became law. Whoever
violated that law would be thrown alive into the lion's den. That's
power. That's authority. And his word,
the word of the king, had that authority. So we see that. Now in Daniel's
day, the king, the highest king then was Nebuchadnezzar, if you
recall. And so God uses Nebuchadnezzar
in several ways to teach us the authority of the king. King Nebuchadnezzar
had the highest authority in his kingdom and yet with not
only the highest authority in his kingdom, but God said in
the vision that Daniel had, recall that vision where there was this
statute that was, I think it was, if I recall, 70 cubits high,
maybe not that number, but it was a huge statute. And he made
everyone bow down to it. And then the king had a dream
and in his dream he saw another statue. And the head was made
of gold and I think there was different layers of precious
metal at the top. Finally you get to the bottom,
the feet were just made of clay and different things. But the
interpretation of that, Nebuchadnezzar was at the top. He was He was
the greatest king in history because he ruled over the greatest
domain. His rule was unchallenged in
his day. And yet God teaches us through
Nebuchadnezzar this truth. He says in Daniel chapter 4,
Verse 25, what would happen to Nebuchadnezzar because he disregarded
God. He was pompous and proud and
he wouldn't bow. He says that what's going to
happen is that they're going to drive you. He says in verse
25 of Daniel 4, that they shall drive thee from men, and thy
dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field. They shall make
thee to eat grass as oxen, and they shall wet thee with the
dew of heaven, and seven times shall pass over thee. I understand
that to be seven years. So, Nebuchadnezzar, the greatest
king on earth, God teaches him and teaches us,
the heavens rule. The king, the highest office
in men's kingdoms, and yet there's a higher office than his. It's
the heavens. The heavens do rule. Now, again,
that's primary information to us. We're very familiar with
the fact that the Lord does rule. And yet, I want to hear that
again, don't you? The heavens do rule. It says
in Isaiah 66, verse 1, "...thus saith the LORD," this is the
Lord Jehovah, Isaiah 66, verse 1, "...the heaven is my throne,
and the earth is my footstool. Where is the house that you shall
build to me? Where is the place of my rest?"
God says, heaven itself is my throne. So when the Lord Jesus
sends his disciples and tells them to preach, the kingdom of
heaven is at hand, what is he saying? He's saying that the
king of glory, the king of heaven, the one who sits on the throne
of eternity, rules in the kingdom of men, his kingdom is at hand,
the great king, the undisputed king, the sovereign who does
whatsoever he will in the armies of heaven and among the inhabitants
of the earth. He commands and it stands fast. It says in Psalm 33 verse 9. He has commanded and it stood
fast. That's the power of a king, isn't
it? This is the kingdom that's coming. The king and his kingdom. Now, the Lord Jesus Christ is
sending his disciples to preach this. The kingdom of heaven is
at hand. And that naturally raises this question. Which is, when is the Kingdom
of Heaven? When is the Kingdom of God? If
it's at hand, when did it come? And what does it mean for the
Kingdom of Heaven to come? And this is where I was trying
to get to last week. The Lord Jesus is speaking here
as the King. Because in Scripture, it's revealed
to us that God has set His Son as king over his kingdom. If we read this in Psalm chapter
2, in fact, let's take time and just read that chapter. Psalm
chapter 2. This is quoted often in the New
Testament, especially in the book of Acts. He says in Psalm
chapter 2, this is a prophecy of God regarding our Lord Jesus
Christ. And he says in Psalm 2, why do
the heathen rage? And the people imagine a vain
thing. Whatever they imagine is not
going to do any good. It's a vain thing. The kings
of the earth set themselves and the rulers take counsel together
against the Lord and against His anointed. That's the king
he's talking about. The Lord and His king. Let us
break their bands asunder and cast away their cords from us. In other words, take the yoke
of their control and their rule off of us. Verse 4, He that sits
in the heavens shall laugh. The Lord shall have them in derision,
just like when you stomp on an ant castle, they all just go
fleeing away. Then shall he speak unto them
in his wrath, and vex them in his sore displeasure. Yet have
I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion. So here we have the
coronation, the enthronement, the time when the Lord God of
all would set his king on his throne, on his holy hill of Zion,
which is a title to indicate the domain, the dominion over
which he has king, rules, his dominion, his kingdom, Zion,
the holy hill. He said, I will declare the decree
the Lord has said unto me, thou art my son, this day have I begotten
thee. Now this was a time, a point
in time. This day have I begotten thee. And this is coincident with,
it happens at the same time as when the Lord sets his king on
his holy hill of Zion. When did this occur? What is
this thing that the Lord speaks about here? He says, I will declare
the decree the Lord said to me, thou art my son. This is Christ
speaking here in prophecy. I will say this. I will declare
what the Lord has put down as a law, and His law can't change. He said to me, thou art my son,
this day have I begotten thee. And then he goes on, he says,
"...ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance,
and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession." How
wide! What is the extent of this king's
rule? The uttermost parts of the earth.
What is his possession? What does the king possess? The
heathen will be given him for his inheritance. And look at
Acts chapter 13. because this is where this prophecy
was fulfilled, and it's explained for us in Acts 13. Paul is preaching. He's preaching to the Jews, primarily,
but the Gentiles are hearing it too. And in his sermon, Paul
rehearses the fact Acts chapter 13, that in the course of time,
God gave Israel a king. First they chose one, Saul. God allowed them to choose Saul. But then he replaced Saul with
David. Because he says in verse 22,
when he had removed him, removed Saul, he raised up David to them
to be their king, to whom he also gave a testimony, saying,
I have found David, the son of Jesse, a man after my own heart,
which shall fulfill all my will. That's a very important statement.
David, he says, will fulfill all my will. Now, this is a sermon,
and in the sermon it's about our Lord Jesus Christ. who was
the son of David, remember, all throughout the New Testament.
What did Bartimaeus cry out to the Lord Jesus Christ, the blind
man? As he's passing by, going to the cross, he cries out, Son
of David, Jesus, Son of David, have mercy. And what is he saying
by that? He's saying, He's the king, the
anointed of God, the one God sat on his throne. That's the
king he's speaking to. He's crying out to the king as
he's passing by. Son of David, have mercy on me. And so in his sermon, Paul makes
reference to David and he says God found him to be a man after
his own heart and he would fulfill all his will because he's speaking
now of the Lord Jesus Christ who would fulfill all God's will
and because he fulfilled it, in consequence, God would sit
him on His throne. And so it says here, It goes
on, he says in verse 23, "...of this man's seed God, according
to his promise, raised unto Israel a Savior, Jesus." When John had
first preached before his coming the baptism of repentance to
all the people of Israel, and as John fulfilled his course,
he said, "...what think ye that I am? I am not he. But behold,
there comes one after me, whose shoes of his feet I am not worthy
to loose." That's a great person, isn't it? Who was John? The greatest prophet that ever
lived. And he says, I am not even worthy to unloose his sandals. He was before me. And that's
how great He is. This is the Coming One, the King,
the Anointed of God. And though they found no cause
of death in him, yet they desired Pilate that he should be slain.
And when they had fulfilled all that was written of him, they
took him down from the tree, having killed him, and laid him
in a sepulcher. But God raised him from the dead. And he was seen many days of
them which came up with them from Galilee to Jerusalem, who
are his witnesses. And we declare unto you glad
tidings, that's another word for the gospel, how that God,
how that by the, how that the promise which was made to the
fathers, God has fulfilled the same unto us, their children,
in that he has raised up Jesus again, as it is also written
in the second psalm, thou art my son, this day have I begotten
thee. When did the Lord Jesus, when
was God's prophecy fulfilled that He would set His King on
His holy hill of Zion? When He raised up Christ from
the dead. Why did He raise Him up? Because
He fulfilled all His will. He actually took away the cause
of death, which was sin, for his people. He took it to himself,
made satisfaction for it, fulfilled the will of God in everything
by his obedience. And God rewarded him for having
done that because He set Him on His throne and He announced,
in setting Him on His throne, the one I've anointed and chosen
and anointed to sit on my throne is none other than my beloved
only begotten Son. It was at that time God revealed
and made open the fact that Christ was the Son of God by the power
of the Spirit of God. That's what it says in Romans
1 where it says, "...he was declared to be the Son of God with power
by the Spirit of holiness by the resurrection from the dead."
God's own Spirit, the Spirit of holiness, found no cause that
he should be held by death. Having satisfied God's justice
and paid for all of his people's sins, the Spirit of God's holiness
required and raised him from the dead because he fulfilled
it and God exalted him to his own right hand, his throne in
heaven. That's what he's speaking about
in Psalm 2. Now, the Lord Jesus Christ comes to his disciples
and he says, you go preach, the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
Go preach that. What does it mean? What does
it mean? Well, let's continue on this thing of when the Kingdom
of God comes, because I think that we need to see this very
clearly from Scripture, because it's thrilling, it's absolutely
mind-boggling how God has done this. Just a few verses to give
you a flavor for this. Look at Hebrews chapter 1. At
the time when the Lord Jesus Christ completed our atonement,
Then God sat him on his throne at his own right hand. Hebrews
chapter 1, verse 3. I'll read verses 1 through 3. God, who at sundry times and
in divers manners spake in time past to the fathers by the prophets,
hath in these last days spoken unto us by His Son, whom He hath
appointed heir of all things. He gave everything to Him, by
whom also He made the worlds. He created the worlds, and they
were created by Him and for Him, who being the brightness of His
glory, Now a king has majesty. The king always has majesty.
And they would address kings on earth sometimes, your majesty.
What does that mean? It means he has honor and glory
by virtue of his wisdom and his authority and his possessions
and his place in the kingdom and all this. Christ has glory. It's the very glory of the Father.
He's the brightness of God's glory, the express image of His
person, and upholds all things by the word of His power. Now,
when He had by Himself purged our sins, He sat down on the
right hand of the Majesty on high. And look at verse 8. But unto the Son he saith, Thy
throne, O God, is for ever and ever. A scepter of righteousness
is the scepter of Thy kingdom." Our Lord Jesus Christ is God
on His throne. He's the Son of David. He's man,
but He was declared to be the Son of God. In Hebrews 8, 1,
actually Hebrews chapter 7, verse 2, it says that He was the high
priest after the order of Melchizedek. The name Melchizedek means King
of Righteousness, and Melchizedek was the King of Salem, which
means peace. So our Lord Jesus Christ is the
King of Righteousness and the King of Peace. Because He established
righteousness and established peace in His work as our King. And so we see this. And now look
at another place. Look at Revelation chapter 12. I want you to see this, Revelation
chapter 12. Revelation 12 is the first 10
verses, gives us a panoramic view of the church and the fact
that the Lord Jesus Christ came through His people. The church
is pictured as a woman in Revelation 12. She has the glory She's clothed
with the sun, because God has bestowed glory on her. The moon
is under her feet, because God has given her dominion. And upon
her head is a crown of twelve stars, which signifies the the glory in probably the apostles
here as the ministers of the gospel, because in Revelation
1 it says the stars were the preachers and the ministers of
the gospel. Here we see the fact that she has the glory of the
apostles on her head, because that's what the church is all
about. And she had a child. The Lord Jesus Christ came through
this woman. The woman is the church, the
people of God. But it says that her child, she
surveilled in pain and her child was born. And then in verse 3
of Revelation 12, There was this great red dragon that appeared.
And the great red dragon had seven heads and ten horns and
seven crowns upon his head. And his tail drew the third part
of the stars of heaven. Because, if you recall, there
were the angels that fell and Satan fell with them in their
fall. And he appeared to have this
authority and this glory, but it was a usurped authority. And
through the course of the chapter here, what you see is that the
woman gives birth to a man-child. In verse 4 it says, "...the tail
of the dragon drew the third part of the stars of heaven,
and did cast them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the
woman, which was ready to be delivered. The dragon stood before
her to devour her child as soon as it was born. And she brought
forth a man-child, who was to rule all nations with the rod
of iron. And her child was caught up to
God and to His throne." When was the Lord Jesus Christ born?
When was He caught up to God to sit on His throne? When He
was born, when He performed the will of God in our atonement,
and when He was raised again, He sat on the throne of heaven.
This is what happened here. Let's read on. It says here in
verse 7, "...and there was war in heaven. Michael and his angels
fought against the dragon, and the dragon fought in his angels."
This is a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ, who is called here
Michael. The name Michael means who is
like God. He is the one who is the express
image of God. So Michael and his angels fought
against the dragon, and the dragon fought in his angels, and they
prevailed not. Neither was their place found
anymore in heaven for them. The great dragon was cast out.
That old serpent called the devil. And Satan, which deceives the
whole world. Look carefully at verse 9. He
was cast out to the earth and his angels were cast out with
him. And verse 10. I heard a loud voice saying in
heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom
of our God, and the power of his Christ. For the accuser of
our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day
and night. And they overcame him, that is
the dragon, by the blood of the Lamb, by the word of their testimony,
and they loved not their lives to the death. What's happening
here? This is the Kingdom of God. It has come. The Lord Jesus
Christ has fulfilled the will of God. He was the appointed
King, anointed by God to be King. Having fulfilled the will of
God, now He's raised up to glory, seated on Heaven's throne, and
from Heaven's throne exerts all of the authority and power of
Heaven to bring about the fulfillment of the blessings He earned for
His people. And He subdues the enemies of
His people under His feet. And He gives them power over
the dragon. This all happened when Christ
was raised from the dead. God sat him at his throne. That's
what it says in verse 10. Now has come what? Salvation. This is probably the most significant
aspect of the king and his kingdom. Why did the Lord Jesus Christ
come? Why did God anoint him as king? Why did he set him to
rule over all of the earth in order to bring salvation to his
people? Matthew opens his gospel, he
says, His name is Jesus, for He shall save His people from
their sins. Then in Matthew 21, remember
what happened there? The Lord Jesus Christ sits on
the foal of a donkey. And He sits on that, and the
people go before them, and they throw their clothes in the way.
And they're all crying out this one thing, Hosanna! Hosanna! To the King! To the Son of David! And what does it mean, Hosanna?
It means, oh, save us! Because the king came for one
reason, to save his people from their sins. What was David's
job? His ancestor David, what was
his job? Remember, after he was anointed
by Samuel the prophet. He came forward and he slew Goliath. He, by himself, killed the archenemy
of the entire armies of Israel, who was defying God's people.
And so the king comes forward, and he destroys the enemy, defeats
him, and makes a show of him openly triumphing over him in
it. David holds up the head of Goliath,
chopping it off with Goliath's own sword. Our Lord Jesus Christ,
in Colossians 2.15, it says, Putting that away because having
nailed it to his cross, he bore the punishment our sins deserve.
He fulfilled the righteousness God's law required of us. And
he silenced the accuser. Cast him out of heaven. Look
at Luke chapter 10. Luke chapter 10. This is the
kingdom that's coming. The disciples are sent before
the king. To the people. Proclaiming the king's message.
The kingdom of heaven is at hand. They cry out. And in Luke chapter
10 we see this. In verse 17 of Luke 10. Jesus
has sent out the 70 and they returned and again with joy they
said, Lord, even the devils are subject to us through thy name.
How could that be? How could devils be subject to
these men through the name of Christ? Because The disciples
were going in the power and authority of the king. And the king had
destroyed the devil. Defeated him. Yet to be done.
But still, at this point in time, it was a prophetic defeat that
was about to happen. And he says, they said, the devils
are subject to us. In your name. And he said to
them, in verse 18 of Luke chapter 10. He said to them, I beheld
Satan as lightning fall from heaven. There it is. The Kingdom
of Heaven has come. "...Behold, I give unto you power
to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the
enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you. Notwithstanding,
in this rejoice not that the spirits are subject to you, but
rather rejoice, because your names are written in heaven."
If your names are written in heaven, what does that mean?
It means that you are in the Kingdom of Heaven. The King of
Heaven is your King. The King of Heaven does for you
what a king does for his subjects. And what is that? He defends
them. He delivers them. He provides
for them. He enriches them. He blesses
them. And all spiritual blessings are given to us in the Lord Jesus
Christ. Ephesians 1-3, Blessed be the
God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with
all spiritual blessings in Christ. So salvation, it's salvation. When the King comes, the Kingdom
of God comes, it means salvation has come. And the power of the
Lord Jesus Christ has come, openly revealed and accomplishing the
results of what His atonement accomplished in the hearts and
lives of His people. So here's what we can learn about
the King and His Kingdom at this point in time. Is that the King
The King is the Lord Jesus Christ. I've set my King on my holy hill
of Zion. And the Kingdom comes when salvation
comes. And that came when the Lord Jesus
Christ rose from the dead, having accomplished our atonement for
His people. And the result of this is that
our enemies, Satan and sin and death, are subjugated to His
will. They're under His authority.
He has absolute power over them according to the justice of God.
In fact, according to God's glory, He does this. And you remember
what it says in Philippians 2? Well, before we turn there, look
at this in Deuteronomy 17. Because in the Old Testament,
God made provision for the people of Israel to have a king. But
he set down rules for what the king could and couldn't do before
they ever had a king. He described what the rules were
in Deuteronomy chapter 17. Look at verse 14. When thou art
come unto the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee, and
shalt possess it, and shalt dwell therein, and shalt say, I will
set a king over me, like as all the nations that are round about
me, thou shalt in any wise set him king over thee, whom the
Lord thy God shall choose. 1. From among thy brethren. So here's the first qualification.
The king would come from among your brethren. Not some outsider.
Don't go get some king from Persia and bring him in. Someone from
your brethren, right? Someone intimately related to
you. Thy brethren shalt thou set king
over thee. that thou mayest not set a stranger over thee which
is not thy brother, but he shall not multiply horses to himself,
nor cause the people to return to Egypt to the end that he should
multiply horses." Don't go back to Egypt to try to get a bunch
of horses. Don't take a bunch of people down there and return
to Egypt for horses. For as much as the Lord has said
to you, you shall henceforth return no more that way, neither
shall he multiply wives to himself, that his heart not turn away
like Solomon's did." Remember Solomon? His heart was turned
away by outlandish women. And then it says, "...neither
shall he greatly multiply to himself silver and gold." Okay,
so first thing we learn here about the king, God says, the
king is not supposed to enrich himself. And he's not supposed
to do this, to multiply horses and wives and silver and gold.
Because what do those things do? Well, for one thing they
do, is they give him this sense of safety, and power, and wealth,
and all these things that cause the king's heart to trust in
uncertain riches, instead of the living God. And so it would
turn away his heart. Besides, he makes pursuit of
riches his aim. What is he doing? He's not paying
attention to his job, which is to take care of the people God
has entrusted to him. So he says, don't do that. And
in verse 18 it says, "...and it shall be when he sits upon
the throne of his kingdom, that he shall write him a copy of
this law in a book out of that which is before the priests of
the Levites, and it shall be with him, and he shall read therein
all the days of his life." that he may learn to fear the Lord
his God, to keep all the words of this law and these statutes,
to do them." So the other thing we see here, the king was supposed
to make a copy of the law, and keep it with him, and read it,
and do it. You better know God's Word. Know God's Law, because you're
king, because He put you there, and you answer to Him. And you
better live by His Word. That's what it says here. And
then it says, Verse 20, "...that his heart be not lifted up above
his brethren." What a concept! The king was not supposed to
think of himself as being above his brethren. He ruled in the
fear of God. David said that in 2 Samuel 23. He says, "...he that ruleth over
men must be just, ruling in the fear of God." So he must rule
as if he is doing God's bidding on the behalf. In other words,
he's a servant. Now, you don't see these things
fulfilled by any king that I've seen in Israel. Even David amassed
wealth, although he used his wealth to build a temple. Solomon
had huge quantities of wealth. Women. He had wives. He had horses. He had all these things that
God said don't do. Exactly what Solomon did do. But, here's the
thing. The Lord Jesus Christ did all
these things. He did them all. Everything God
required, He had no place where to lay His head. Remember? He had one garment He wore, and
they stripped it from Him when He was hung on the cross. He
didn't enrich himself with gold and silver. He was the Lord. He says in John 13, 13, you call
me Master and Lord, and you say well, for so I am. If I then,
your Lord and Master, have washed your feet, I stooping to the
lowest position and washing your feet, what should you do? And
then he says in Matthew 20, 28, he says, I did not come, the
Son of Man did not come to be ministered unto, like a king
who walks around and people take care of him. No. I came to minister
and to give my life a ransom for many. The king himself came
to give his life, not to be served, not to enrich himself, not to
elevate himself above his brethren. He came to do all that was in
God's heart. He was a man after God's own
heart. Now what did Jesus tell the disciples?
He said, you go and you preach. The kingdom of heaven is at hand.
But He didn't just say that. What did He tell them to do?
He says, heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, and
cast out devils. What was this? What kind of a
king would do this? He sends his disciples with all
the authority of the king. from his throne, with this one
purpose, to raise people from the dead, to cast out devils,
to heal the sick, he's basically telling them, I want you to go
and proclaim the kingdom of God, and in proclaiming it, I want
you to free those who hear it from all the consequences of
sin. And that's exactly what the Lord Jesus Christ does as
king. Look at Psalm 110. Psalm 110. You see, when we see what a king
is on earth, what does it make you think of that king? It probably
makes you think negative thoughts, doesn't it? Well, who's he? He
sets himself up there like the Jolly Green Giant. Ready to stomp
on people. That's what you think of a king,
right? Someone that irritates you because he has all this authority
and power and wealth and just goes around enriching himself.
But that's not the king described by our Lord Jesus Christ. We
see the exact opposite. We see someone who came to give
his life a ransom. Who came to save his people from
their sins. Who saw that our enemy... was
the very thing that we violated God's law, and broke His law,
and incurred God's wrath. He saw that that sin that brought
us to death, that sin that has dominion over us, even unto death,
that was His enemy. And He made our enemy His enemy,
and took our enemy to Himself, went into the to the battle against
our enemy and took it to the cross and he put it to death.
Nailing all the accusations against his people to his cross. Look
at Psalm 110. David prophesies and he says,
"...the Lord, Jehovah, the Lord, said unto my Lord, sit thou on
my right hand until I make thine enemies thy footstool." He's
speaking about the Lord Jesus Christ because Jesus uses this
verse in the Gospels. He speaks to the Pharisees. He
says, What do you think of Christ? Whose son is he? And they said,
David's son. Oh, okay. Well, if he's David's
son, then why did David call him Lord? When he said, The Lord
said unto my Lord. And they didn't answer him. Because
the only reason, the reason why David called Christ, His Lord,
is because He was His Lord. Not just His Master, but His
God. His Lord, the One who sits on
the throne. David, the king, the greatest
king in all of Israel, who ever lived, said, the Lord Jesus Christ
is my Lord. Just like Thomas did. And then
it says in verse 2, The Lord shall send the rod of thy strength
out of Zion. Rule thou in the midst of thine
enemies. What is this? The Lord shall send the rod of
thy strength. What is the rod of his strength? Well, you think
of a rod as like a scepter, right? Something like Moses used. He
hits the water and the Red Sea opens up. He hits the rock. Water
gushes out. He holds his rod over the waters
of Egypt. They turn to blood. The rod of
Moses is all this power from God. What is the power of our
Lord Jesus Christ sitting on His throne that He sends forth
out of Zion? It's the gospel. It's the gospel
of His saving grace. Paul says in Romans 1.16, the
gospel is the power of God to salvation. What is it that the
king who sits on his throne does by sending forth his word of
command? He sends forth his gospel by
his disciples, saying to people, listen to the gospel. Every king
has a law, doesn't he? And the people are under it.
What is the law of our king? It's the gospel. He sends it
out to his subjects. He says, hear, hear what the
king has done. He has fulfilled the will of
God, satisfied God's justice, made atonement for sins, established
righteousness, given us an inheritance in God. He has prepared homes
in heaven with the Father for us. He tells us these things.
The gospel is that He's done everything. All the covenant
is fulfilled in His dying, in His blood, in His life. And He
was raised from the dead to show us that not only does He sit
on the throne having fulfilled that, but that He from that throne
of power would give to us all these blessings. And so he says,
how does this work? He sends his rod out of Zion. And then he says in verse 3,
it's not an uncertain salvation. It's not a word that can be frustrated. It's a word that has power. Thy
people shall be willing in the day of thy power. In the beauties
of holiness from the womb of the morning thou hast the dew
of thy youth. The beauties of holiness, all
that Christ did, all that He is, the womb of the morning,
springing forth, the kingdom of God springing forth as if
the sun was just rising in the morning with all the glory and
the power of the King going forth to call and gather His church
together. So we see in this that the Kingdom
of God is Christ sitting on the throne of glory, ruling, not
just ruling over all things equally, but ruling on behalf of His people
with salvation. Hosanna! O save us! He rules
with salvation, having accomplished that salvation. And He rules
for His people. And we see that in what He's
done here. And so the Church of God, the
people of God, are collectively, they comprise the kingdom, the
dominion over which He rules for blessing. But that's not
the extent of it, because He also rules over all things for
their sake. But there's something else about
the Kingdom, and if you see it in Luke chapter 17, you'll see
how Christ rules. Luke chapter 17. Because the
big mistake that the disciples and all the people thought when
they interpreted the Old Testament, when Jesus came into the world,
is that He had a Kingdom. The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.
And they thought He meant, oh, the kingdom of Christ. And He's
going to set it up here on earth. He's going to finally throw the
yoke of the Romans off of us, and put all these other enemies
of ours, like the Egyptians, and the Assyrians, and the Babylonians,
and you just name them. He's going to put them in subjection.
He's going to rule with glory. There's not going to be any end
to His dominion. And we, the Jews, are going to
reign with Him. in Jerusalem, and it's going
to be glorious. And so everybody wanted to follow
the king for that reason. But that's not what he intended.
Something much greater. So he says in Luke chapter 17,
verse 20, he was demanded of the Pharisees when the kingdom
of God should come. When? When? When? You can hear
him whining. When? And he answered them, he
said, the kingdom of God does not come with observation. There's
something about this kingdom that's different than all other
kingdoms. Earthly kingdoms, great pomp and trumpets and announcements
and all this stuff. But he says, no, you don't see
the kingdom of God when it comes. Neither shall they say, lo here!
Or, lo there! For behold, the kingdom of God
is within you. The kingdom of heaven is a kingdom
of heaven, not of earth. It's eternal, not temporal. It
has the Lord, not men, ruling over it. Although the one who
is ruling in that kingdom is also man on the throne. And it
comes when He conquers our enemies at the cross and is risen from
the dead. But it comes to us when He sends
forth the word of His power, the gospel. And it comes to us
when God by His Spirit, gives us life, and in hearing the Gospel,
gives us faith to look to Christ, and in looking to Him, the Kingdom
of God actually comes within us. So that Christ's rule, and
all the blessings that He God for His people become ours. We
receive them by faith and we know that He has conquered our
enemies. And we look to Him to bring this
salvation to us. So when Paul, for example, cries
out in Romans chapter 7, Oh, wretched man that I am! Who shall
deliver me from the body of this death? And then he goes, I thank
God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Because the Lord Jesus
Christ sits on the throne. He has dominion over my sin. And that's why it says in Romans
5.21, as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign
through righteousness by our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal
life. Sin shall not have dominion over
you because you're not under the law. You're under grace.
The King reigns. The Kingdom has come. And He
pronounces that to us. He proclaims it to us. And He
says, He tells His disciples, tell them the Kingdom of Heaven
is at hand. Repent and believe the Gospel.
Look at the King. See His glory. See what He's
accomplished. Bow before Him. and know that
His salvation is the only salvation. If you refuse Him, you do so
at your greatest peril. He says in Psalm 2, kiss the
Son, lest He be angry with you when His wrath is kindled but
a little. And then He says in the very last verse of Psalm
2, He says, blessed are all they who put their trust in Him. Remember
what the thief on the cross did? Here the other thief is saying,
why don't you just get us down from this cross? If you're the
king, get us down from the cross. Save us and yourself too. And
that thief, the Lord Jesus Christ, hanging on the cross, he already
is working in the heart of this other thief as king to save him. And that thief, in response to
the work of the Spirit of God in him, he looks at this other
thief and he says, Man, don't you even fear God? We are in
this condemnation. We are receiving the just rewards
of what we've done. But this man has done nothing
amiss. And then he turned to the Lord
Jesus Christ on the cross. And he says to him, as the king
now, think of it, here he is, the thief, deserving nothing
but death, admitting it so. He says, Lord, remember me when
you come into your kingdom. When you come into your kingdom,
remember me. If the king remembers me, all
is well. And the Lord Jesus turns to him
and he says, Verily I say to you, this day you shall be with
me in paradise. Because the kingdom came when
Christ died and rose again. And he fulfilled the will of
God. This day you'll be with me in paradise. Power over sin,
over death, even to give eternal life to as many as God has given
him. That's our King. Why is this important to me and
you? Because our King has power over our life and He gives life. Come unto me, all you who labor
and are heavy laden. I will give you rest. Take my
yoke upon you. It's easy. Why? Because He's
done it all. That's why He sits on the throne.
Let's pray. Truly, dear Lord, Your glory is great in Your salvation. Our Lord Jesus Christ, sitting
on the throne, with all the majesty and the dominion and the power
and authority of heaven and earth, to save His people, the Church
of God, and to establish His rule throughout time and eternity,
in their hearts, even the gates of hell could not prevail against
Him. against His kingdom, against
His kingdom in our hearts, against His kingdom in this world. He
shall save His people from their sins. And we thank You, dear
Lord, that He has accomplished that in His death and is now
bringing that accomplishment to us in our heart. We pray,
Lord, as a thief, remember, remember as King, with all of Your power,
having defeated our greatest enemies, Lord, remember us and
deliver us that we might triumph in Your praise and glory in Your
name. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.