Advent 1

December 2 Advent 1: Eternal king Today is the first Sunday of Advent. I do not know if it is in your tradition here to celebrate Advent, but it has become my practice because it ushers in the time of Christ’s birth. It prepares us for the celebration of Christmas. It takes our minds back to Christ, amidst the haranguing of the advertising machine to buy, buy, buy and the focus on the Coca Cola inspired jolly fat man. Advent is a time of preparation; preparation to receive Christ the King. There are 4 Sundays of Advent. There is in the traditions of the wider church many themes which run over these 4 weeks. The most common is hope-peace-joy-love and there can be rituals in relation to colours and wreaths, but I want to focus over these weeks on the titles of Jesus. The first title we are looking at is the title “Eternal King” And I turn to the speech of angel who appeared to Mary for this title Luke 1:30 The angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favour with God. 31 And now, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus. 32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor David. 33 He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.” This is an echo of the inspired prediction in Isaiah 9:6, 7 6 For a child has been born for us, a son given to us; authority rests upon his shoulders; and he is named Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. 7 His authority shall grow continually, and there shall be endless peace for the throne of David and his kingdom. He will establish and uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time onward and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this. The modern Western world has no idea of the concept of King. Oure thoughts automatically go to Queen Elizabeth, but she is not the autocrat and the source of all things that was the former way of kings, and she is only a figurehead with very limited power. That sort of royalty is not what the passage is talking about. If we read 1 & 2 Chronicles and 1 & 2 Kings, we find that in those times every king was different. That when a good king died, almost invariably he was followed by a bad king, so there was no consistency of standards or rules. So, when we speak of Jesus being the eternal king, we need to put aside the picture of kings in those times too. Jesus as eternal king means that there is consistency in authority, consistency in acceptable behaviour, there is total rule for ever. We cannot wait like the people in Chronicles and Kings for a change of leadership which will be better or worse. Jesus’ reign is consistent for all times. And his authority is total. His kingdom is not a democracy. It is a theocracy. The kingdom of God is God’s total order, expressed as realm and reign, in the individual and in society; and which is to replace the present unworkable world order, replaced with God’s order in the individual and in society Let’s pick out three terms used here in the prophesy by the angel: The first is: Son of the Most High The term highlights Jesus’ divinity and royalty We can miss the significance of those words through translation, but Mary could not have missed their significance. The fact that her baby was to be called the “Son of the Most High” pointed to His equality with Yahweh. In Semitic thought, a son was a “carbon copy” of his father, and the phrase “son of” was often used to refer to one who possessed his “father’s” qualities. The second is: The throne of his father David; Psalm 132:11 states: The Lord swore to David a sure oath from which he will not turn back: “One of the sons of your body I will set on your throne” The genealogy of Jesus in the gospel of Matthew lists him as from the line of David through his stepfather Joseph (Matthew 1:16), but these words of the angel indicate that Mary herself may have been of royal lineage, although this is nowhere definitely stated. (One of the sons of your body)1 Recall again Psalms: Psalm 89:3-4 You said, “I have made a covenant with my chosen one, I have sworn to my servant David: ‘I will establish your descendants forever, and build your throne for all generations.’” And further in the same Psalm Psalm 89:28-29 Forever I will keep my steadfast love for him, and my covenant with him will stand firm. I will establish his line forever, and his throne as long as the heavens endure. He will reign over the house of Jacob forever. Jesus’ reign over the nation Israel as her King will begin in the Millennium and continue on into the eternal state. . The third is: Of his kingdom there will be no end These promises must have immediately reminded Mary of the promise of Yahweh to David in 2 Sam. 7:12–16. 7:12 When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your ancestors, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come forth from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. 13 He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. 14 I will be a father to him, and he shall be a son to me … 16 Your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me; your throne shall be established forever. David understood the prophecy as referring not only to his immediate son (Solomon) who would build the temple, but also to the future Son who would rule forever. David stated that Yahweh had spoken of the distant future. Mary would have understood that the angel was speaking to her of the Messiah who had been promised for so long. At the time of his triumphal entry into Jerusalem, the people recognized his Kingship (Luke 19:38) saying, “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven, and glory in the highest heaven!” Jesus himself acknowledged his kingship, a kingdom far greater than a human concept of kingdom. To Pilate he said (John 18:36) “My kingdom is not from this world. If my kingdom were from this world, my followers would be fighting to keep me from being handed over to the Jews. But as it is, my kingdom is not from here. Like the Jews of that time, most of us think of kingdoms as geographic entities, physical realms with boundaries and defences and treasuries. But the Kingdom of God is a rule, not a realm. It is the declaration of God’s absolute sovereignty, of his total order of life in this world and the next. The Kingdom of God is something that straddles the dimensions of time, being present and future. This name, this title of King for Jesus carried on through the New Testament and the church age. Think of the doxology in 1 Timothy 1:17, which typifies many of the doxologies. Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory for ever and ever. Amen. Jesus predicted this of himself (Matthew 26:64) … I tell you, From now on you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power and coming on the clouds of heaven.” We know that his authority over the church and over the universe will be more fully recognised by the people when Jesus returns to earth in power and great glory to reign. On that day he will be acknowledged as “King of kings and Lord of lords” and every knee will bow to him. In the book of Revelation, we see the Kingship of Jesus made apparent. In chapter 5, the Lamb (Jesus) is the only one in all creation found worthy to open the scroll containing the judgments of God (vv. 2–5). In chapter 11, we hear voices in heaven proclaiming that the kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of Christ and that He will reign forever and ever (v. 15). In chapter 12, we read that the authority of Christ is what causes Satan to be thrown down to earth (vv. 9–10). In Revelation 17:12–14, the Lamb conquers all those arrayed against Him, and John stresses that He conquers because He is King of kings and Lord of lords. Finally, in chapter 19, we read of Jesus’ triumphant coming to strike the nations and tread the winepress of the wrath of God, having the authority to do so because He is King of kings and Lord of lords (vv. 11–16) . What is the significance to us here and now that Jesus is named with the title Eternal King? Fundamentally, the idea of Jesus being King of kings and Lord of lords means that there is no higher authority. His reign over all things is absolute and inviolable. God raised Him from the dead and placed Him over all things, “far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all” (Ephesians 1:21–23). The first name that we have in this series of preparation for the coming of Christ is Eternal King. Prepare for the coming King, who will reign forever and ever. We prepare our house for family and guests. We sweep and clean. Imagine the clean-up if the Queen or one of her family were to visit our house. But in 4 weeks, we are welcoming one far above the British royalty. It is time to clean house in our lives in preparation of the coming King.