And He Shall Reign Forever and Ever
Notes
Transcript
And He shall reign forever and ever
And He shall reign forever and ever
Christmas is for memories, right? For making good ones, for remembering good ones.
When I was young and the dinosaurs roamed the earth, I attended Davis Chapel Baptist Church in Austell, Georgia.
We were about the size of First Baptist for a good long while
And we had a dynamite choir.
I was in the choir as was my mom, my uncle and my best friend.
We had an incredible tenor - Jack Driscoll - he could reach high notes the rest of us could only dream about.
And one year - I don’t remember if our Minister of Music was Mr. Hamil or Mike Cruce - but one of them challenged the choir to sing the Hallelujah Chorus.
And we did - and we weren’t terrible.
It was hard and we rehearsed forever.
But we showed up on game day and that Christmas musical we nailed the Hallelujah Chorus.
If the song is going through your mind, you remember how it ends.
The several sections of the choir are singing “King of kings and Lord of lords.”
Other sections are singing, “Forever and ever, forever and ever.”
Then they join into “Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah.”
Then one gigantic rest that busts into a glorious four part “Ha-le-lu-jah!”
Where did this come from?
Oh, you and I know the Messiah was written by George Fredric Handel in 1741.
But where did we come up with the notion that Jesus, our Savior, the Messiah, that He will reign forever and ever.
Turn with me to 2 Samuel 7.
We’re only going to read a few verses of chapter 7 but if you would turn there and mark it so maybe you can read the rest of it later.
To give you the quick background, it’s about 1,000 BC and David is the king.
Wars are over - David and his armies have been victorious.
The city of David was complete.
David lived in a palace made of cedar wood - which was so different from everything around it
Because everything there is constructed of stone.
One day David was thinking of the Lord who had blessed him so much and he started to feel guilty.
The ark of the covenant - the symbol of God’s presence was still housed in the tent of meeting.
So David thought - and I completely understand it - if I can live in a mansion, should not the Lord have something so much better than me?
So he called Samuel the prophet and told him what he wanted to do and Samuel said, “Great idea. Go ahead.”
But that night, the Lord came to Samuel - I don’t know how - the text doesn’t say.
But the Lord came and told Samuel - “Ya’ll are a little bit ahead of the game.
“I appreciate the sentiment, but I have a plan and we’ll work my plan.”
And then the Lord let them in on His plan.
Kids, this morning you are listening for these three words:
Lord, Forever and King.
Work real hard to pay attention and listen for those words.
On your way home, maybe you could talk to mom and dad about the.
Hear the word of the Lord:
When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom.
He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.
I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son. When he commits iniquity, I will discipline him with the rod of men, with the stripes of the sons of men,
but my steadfast love will not depart from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away from before you.
And your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me. Your throne shall be established forever.’ ”
In accordance with all these words, and in accordance with all this vision, Nathan spoke to David.
This is the word of the Lord.
Blessed be God.
I don’t know if Handel got his idea from this text, but I know this text inspired whatever inspired Handel.
This is the first time in the Bible that David’s throne being established forever is presented so clearly.
This is why both Matthew and Luke made it a point that David was included in both of their genealogies.
They understood that this Messiah - our Savior - was also King.
And this King shall reign forever and ever.
So why is this important enough to talk about this morning in particular?
How many of you have a manger scene in your house right now?
Does it look something like this?
We had one sort of like this - it didn’t have an upstairs but it looked roughly the same.
A wooden stable with a wooden feeding trough - a manger like we may have seen in a barn sometime.
This is our picture of the Nativity scene.
It’s very pretty and romantic - the perfect scene for our Savior to be born.
This is Bethlehem today - Andy Cook took these pictures a couple of years ago.
Yes the buildings on top of the hill to the right are all modern.
But the hills are original - the shepherds could have been watching their flock by night - right here.
Just like these guys.
“While shepherds watched their flocks by night, all seated on the ground
“an angel of the Lord came down and glory shone around...”
That song could have been written about this place.
A place with real shepherds and real sheep.
And when they needed to pen them up - this is where they would have gone.
The big rocks on the floor would have been moved out and the floor made smooth.
Caves like this are all over the place and they were used as stables.
This room is actually very large - it’s at least 10 feet high along the sides.
Inside this cave they used as a stable - there would have been a place to feed the animals.
I took this picture in Chorazim.
This is a manger - this is what they fed the animals in.
It’s hard.
It’s heavy.
Joseph would have filled it with fresh straw
Luke 2:6–7 “And while they were there, the time came for her to give birth. And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.”
The shepherds standing on that hillside would have heard the angel say, Luke 2:10–12 “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.””
The shepherds would have raced as quickly as they could in such a rocky place to a stable in a cave just outside the town.
And they would find exactly what they had been told was there.
The baby was the Savior
But the baby was also the King.
For the longest time while we were in Israel, three Hebrew words kept running through my head.
Bere’sheet bara Elohim.
I knew Elohim is a name for God
The other two words were a mystery.
Finally I mustered up the courage to ask Yehuda, our guide who is Israeli what they meant.
“In the beginning, God...” was the answer.
In the beginning God had a plan.
He created the world and all that is in it.
He created Adam and Eve and He placed them in paradise.
If you want to know God’s will for your life, He can’t be more clear than this.
The Lord wants you to live in paradise.
Only, as you all know - with our without Adam and Eve’s sin, we do just as bad as they do when it comes to the rules.
Some of us clean up better than others, but we all have dirt under our fingernails, so to speak.
In 1400 BC, God rescued the Jews out of slavery in Egypt.
They had their first passover - which is one of the greatest events in our history.
It’s the precursor - it’s the symbol - it’s a picture of Jesus.
The blood of an animal sacrificed for our sin painted over the doors of the believers
It wasn’t the blood that saved them - it was their trusting the one enough who told them to put the blood there
That saved them - the Lord told them what to do and they trusted Him enough to do it.
I can’t help but believe someone was stubborn enough to say, “That’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard.”
So they didn’t - and they suffered the penalty for that sin.
But all who believed, they were saved.
They went to the wilderness - God gave them His law - the only people on this earth who were given the laws of God directly into their hands.
Eventually, they ended up in the promised land.
The Lord checked a step off his plan - He made for Himself a people.
In 1,000 BC David was king
He built the city of David.
He had a son named Solomon who took over when David died.
Solomon built the first temple.
And the Lord revealed the next step of the plan - I have my people.
Now My people will have a King who will reign forever.
300 years later, a prophet named Isaiah wrote these words: Isaiah 9:6-7
For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.
And another step of the plan came into focus.
His government will never stop growing.
His end game is peace on earth.
He will reign with justice
His decisions and actions will be right
For all eternity.
Then, 700 years later - the calendar went to zero.
Now I know people will argue about the arbitrariness of how the calendars were established, but they all have the same pivot point.
When the Baby was laid in the manger, the clock struck zero - the countdown was over.
The Baby lived the only perfect life ever lived.
He died on a cross.
He was resurrected by the power of God to new life.
He ascended into heaven with this promise Revelation 22:20
He who testifies to these things says, “Surely I am coming soon.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!
Now follow me here - we aren’t counting down until the second coming - the calendar isn’t going backwards.
Want to know why?
Jesus is already reigning.
Jesus is already King.
We aren’t waiting for anything more to happen - Jesus has already done it.
What did Jesus say? Luke 17:20-21
Being asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, he answered them, “The kingdom of God is not coming in ways that can be observed,
nor will they say, ‘Look, here it is!’ or ‘There!’ for behold, the kingdom of God is in the midst of you.”
The kingdom of God is here.
What does that mean?
That means when our District Attorney secures a guilty verdict for a person who commits a heinous crime
That before the DA acted, the King had already pronounced His verdict.
The sin was already condemned.
That means all of the lawlessness and immorality that we see
That we sometime participate in
The King has already judged.
It’s not coming one day out there - it’s here - it’s now.
Those who think religion is silly and God is a crutch for weak people.
People who deny the creator and creations order.
They are judged already.
They are living under the wrath of God
Which will be executed and they will know it.
But for those who believe
Who trust the Lord’s word and who follow Jesus as closely as they know now.
Well, Romans 8:1
There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
Paradise begins the moment we trust Jesus.
It starts slowly.
The guilt - the shame - melt away.
The rules fade as we strive to get closer and closer to Jesus.
Our hearts begin to be hurt by sin instead of enticed.
We hurt for our friends to know what we know
And what do we want?
We want to know even more than we do now.
Because of the Baby born at year zero.
Because that Baby is the eternal King.
Those of you who trust Jesus like I do know - there is nothing better.
We are family.
We are the church.
And one day we will reign with Him in glory.
And we want everyone to join us.
That’s the big lie the world keeps telling - that we are bigoted, that we are exclusive, that we want anyone who is not us to go to hell.
But nothing could be further from the truth.
We want everyone to know.
We want everyone to be a part of the family.
We want everyone to know Jesus
And for their lives to be changed just like ours have been.
We want them to know forgiveness and grace and mercy and love and peace.
We want everyone to rest in Jesus.
In a moment we’ll pray then we’ll sing a song.
During that song, if you want to be a part of Jesus’ family, I invite you to come forward and talk to me.
We all want you to know Jesus - and I know - I know church people are messy
Jesus knows that too - and He loves us anyway.
He’ll love you anyway too.
If you want, you can talk to me after the service - or grab Austin, Matthew, Hannah or anyone for that matter that knows Jesus.
We want you in the family.
We really, really do.
So we are going to pray, and then we are going to sing.
And if you want to know Jesus, we invite you to come.
Let us pray.