God's Story

Presentism – my life is all about me and my story, who cares about what came before me or even what comes after me, life is about me and my story now, History has little relevance to me, and how dare you possibly criticize my story

Contrast that with a different story, one told in Eph. and I Pet.

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God has a definite plan a story, it was mapped out before creation, the past is important, it is needed to understand the present, which is then necessary to predict and arrive at our ultimate end in the future

When we look at our nation’s history, it is one sad and depressing downward spiral into increasing depravity like Rom. 2 describes

But We need to realize this is all part of a global story, it is Gods story and it is moving history towards ultimate consummation

We are most blessed when our life’s goal is all about how I fit into God’s story, my story in itself is a perversion unless I seek to let it be absorbed into god’s story.

How much better to have my story merge into gods story rather than having my own little parallel universe where my little perverted story is all there is and matters.

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So where do we find gods story? Simple answer is in the bible, Jesus said not one jot or tittle will pass away until all is accomplished

But many people see God and his story like the wizard of Oz. God has to be constantly adapting to unforeseen circumstances in a panic to keep things in line. Dorothy comes with a problem with the three friends and God responds with smoke and fire and a bombing voice to try to set things aright.

That is not the picture, not in the least, God is sovereignly in control of every detail at all times, he is not constantly fixing the unanticipated

God works through history by making promises and then he actively and sovereignly in absolute control moves history to a predetermined conclusion in fulfillment of his promises

God has chosen a mechanism for his promises, especially those that deal with the unfolding of his plan in history

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the mechanism God has chosen for his promises is the covenant, describe covenant, looks familiar, we have these all over in our lives today, it been around forever

Agreements we sign, promises we make, blessings if we keep them and bad things could happen if we don’t

So it is not surprising God would choose covenants to make agreements with mankind, or promises, and as a result he works out his plan in history

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Covenants can be conditional or unconditional, conditional may pass away unfulfilled due to either disobedience or simply god’s sovereign decree

Unconditional; covenants may be delayed by disobedience but will inevitably be fulfilled to some later generation based upon the promise of God who will never fail his promises.

These Covenants and their promises drive history as we experience it. Not president Xi, not joe Biden, not puten

God and his covenants with man drive history and the end goal is the fulfillment of every covenant promise made that still remains unfulfilled if unconditional.

All other leaders are simply pawns in gods greater plan of covenant fulfillment

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What are the covenants God made recorded in the bible and what are their nature

I will give just a short description of them here because the one I want to focus on today is the Davidic covenant and what it means to us because it means a lot to us both for today and the future. This covenant is not completely fulfilled as of today. the unfulfilled part is today driving history towards it fulfillment

Works – Gods first agreement with man, made in the garden at mans creation. Required man to completely obey Gods command as given to Adam and eve in the garden. It was conditional, Adam failed the conditions, had he obeyed God, at some point he would have been confirmed forever in a state of perpetual righteousness and apparently eat from the tree of life.

Grace – followed immediately after the fall and expressed in Gen. 3:15. Unconditional because only God can fulfill this cov. And it continues until the end, end being when all the promises are fulfilled

These two covenants are interesting, there is debate whether they are covenants, the promises and commands surrounding these covenants are never explicitly called covenants but only inferred implicitly in scripture as covenants.

So, what are they, I use to not accept them as real covenants because they were never explicitly called that. But I have changed my mind. Because it you don’t accept them as covenants, the first covenant named as such is the one with Noah and you are then left with no good way to understand the overriding reason for all the other covenants to come. The failure of the covenant of works followed by the initiation of the covenant of grace gives us a structure for all the coming covenants to work out gods’ redemption program. They are global and comprehensive and give a framework for all the other covenants

Noahic – most important promise is the stability of nature. Guaranteeing that man can function without the threat of another global catastrophe while the earth remains (Gen. 8:22), meaning until Jesus comes back

Abrahamic – We spent some time on this although I didn’t finish it. It is unconditional. God establishing a nation and a people through whom the messiah would come. A portion is currently being fulfilled while other promises remain for later fulfillment

All the peoples on earth will be blessed through you. Remember that? It is being fulfilled right now by the preaching of the gospel to every nation and every tribe and people

Mosaic – A conditional covenant made to govern their living and worship in the land that they were given to possess. They failed this covenant due to disobedience and it was done away with and replaced by the new covenant.

Priestly – an unconditional covenant, God promised an everlasting priesthood to the descendants of Phineas, the grandson of Aaron. Do you see the issue here? The mosaic cov. That requires a priesthood is conditional and will pass out of existence, yet the priestly cov that identifies the descendants of Phineas as priest forever at least one might expect some future activity to fulfill this covenant. Worth your time to do some study here. If you do, check out the sons of Zadok who may be part of the future of this covenant

Davidic – come back to this

New – an unconditional cov. Instituted by Jesus at his first coming by his death, burial, and res. It is fulfilled partly now in the redemption offered to those of the church during this age but it still has future fulfillments that need to take place.

Well, there are the covenants – History is not neutral, it is redemptive, it is God working out the fulfillment of all his covenant commitments and promises in order to restore all things back to where they were before the fall. And even better

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Davidic covenant Why is this important

All about how God will reestablish his rule over all creation. When man fell Satan became the god or ruler of this world and now God embarks on a process to get that rulership back for mankind

Remember God at all times in background is king over everything. Satan does not do anything without God’s permission. But in the physical foreground Satan has usurped man’s position over creation and God now plans to recapture the administration of creation for mankind with this covenant

Slide 9 - hints of the coming cov.

A descendent of the tribe of Judah will; reign over Israel and all peoples of the earth, a global reign

11-12 images of great prosperity obvious to an agrarian culture

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The covenant with David – read 8-19

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The covenant has past, present and future implications as a result of the promises

Historical fulfillments of the covenant see slide

Problem – neither David nor his progeny could ever wrestle back the right to rule creation, they were all imperfect, incapable, it had to be God himself, the Messiah, the coming son of david. Cov. is unconditional, eternal, must be fulfilled. a progeny of the line of David must rule the earth and all the peoples of earth

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The prophets spoke of this one. They used the picture of a branch from Jesse’s line or from the line of David to predict and make the case that a coming son of David, the Messiah in the line of David would be able to fulfill the requirements of the covenant

Read Jer. 33:14-16

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Then he came, Jesus the Messiah, the son of David, and the one to reign in fulfillment of the dav. Cov. In order to have man regain the right to rule creation under God, if there is doubt that Jesus is the predicted son of David here are some verses

So Jesus is the expected Messiah, the son of David, the coming king, but a question remains, now he is here but when will he rule in fulfillment of the cov. promises.

Start with a prophecy from Psa. 110:1-2

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Psa. 110:1-2

God the father addressing the son, Jesus. Sit down next to me. At some point I will make your enemies your footstool, but not that way now

What don’t we know from this yet? When does he sit down, where is he sitting, how long must he wait?

Slide 16 - look at the nt fulfillment of this prediction and try to make some conclusions about our questions we had about the reign of Jesus, the son of david

Acts 2:29-35

33 – exalted to gods right hand, when, received from the father and poured out HS, this is Pentecost, exaltation at the ascension.

Then quotes psa 110 connecting it to the exaltation.

What know – right now Jesus is sitting at gods right hand, what he is sitting on we dont know. but he is ruling and ministering to the church, yes, but yet still waiting until his enemies come under his feet, we can look around and see that as true

Heb. 10:12-13

Confirms what was said, Jesus is now seated at the right hand of God next to the father but waiting until it is time for his enemies to be made his footstool

Rev. 3:21-22

Think for a minute- two thrones here, Jesus’ throne called my throne, and the father’s throne.

When did Jesus sit on hos fathers’ throne, when he overcame and ascended, as we just read, he is there now, waiting. When will he sit on his own throne, maybe when the waiting is over, when is that, doesn’t say here, but it does say that at that time the overcomers will sit with him on his throne

Matt. 25:31-32

At the second coming of Jesus, he will then sit on his own throne, no longer on the fathers throne, but the throne of David as fulfillment of the cov., it will be on earth and the nations will be judged as now his enemies are finally under his feet. and it is his rule over the earth that will result in the healing of creation and the ultimate restoration of mankind right to rule the earth under god himself

Matt. 19:28

Same idea, second coming, on David’s throne, judging Israel with the 12 apostles

Summarize

How and when does Jesus fulfill the requirements of the Davidic cov. that he must rule on earth to put away all his enemies so that man can gain back rulership over creation which is now in the hands of Satan who is God of this world

Here is what these verses seem to say. Following the initiation of the new covenant Jesus ascended back to heaven and sat down on the father’s throne at the father’s right hand. He is there now ruling and ministering to the church and waiting until all his enemies are brought under his feet. When he comes again sometime soon, he will take his place on his own throne, or the Davidic throne, and all his enemies will be brought to judgment and under his feet. This will ultimately result in the restoration of all creation and restore the rule of mankind over creation under God the king.

The book of rev. has seven churches that are evaluated and challenged by Jesus in multiple ways. But at the end of each evaluation for each church they are given a special promise for those who have overcome and will be present in the coming kingdom. And this promise is not for that church alone, but all who have overcome and will be present in the kingdom

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1. To the one who conquers I will grant to eat of the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.

Tree of life reappears for us, source of immortality, which now with sin eradicated, can be ours to partake

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2. The one who conquers will not be hurt by the second death.

A frightening concept most ignore

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3. To the one who conquers I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone,

with a new name written on the stone that no one knows except the one who receives it.

Sounds intriguing

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4. The one who conquers and who keeps my works until the end, to him I will give authority over

the nations, 27 and he will rule them with a rod of iron, as when earthen pots are broken in pieces,

even as I myself have received authority from my father. 28 And I will give him the morning star.

We will have authority to rule in the coming kingdom. That what we have been talking about in the Davidic cov. This is What Jesus has restored for us

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5. The one who conquers will be clothed thus in white garments, and I will never blot his name out

of the book of life. I will confess his name before my father and before his angels

Our name announced in heaven, individually, before God the father and all the angels

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6. The one who conquers, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God. Never shall he go out of it, and I will write on him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down from my God out of heaven, and my own new name.

Stamp of ownership and a stamp of citizenship

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7. The one who conquers, I will grant him to sit with me on my throne, as I also conquered and sat down with my father on his throne.

To sit on the Davidic throne beside Jesus when he comes and rules in the coming kingdom, I can’t imagine it

Knowing what we do about what God has in store for us as overcomers. How should we order our lives? Is my story so important that I should spend so much of my waking moments on social media letting others know how interesting and important my story is. I highly commend that you take your story and merge it into Gods story, let it be absorbed into his story. There is no future in your story, but there is one in God’s story. Do something that most Christians don’t do these days. Get out your bible and read it. And I don’t mean simply have nice devotions. I mean study it. Studying the bible is a dying discipline today for many believers. But you will find if you put your heart and mind to the task, there are rich treasures to be found waiting just for you.

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