Isaiah 'Twas Foretold It

2 Samuel 7:1–12 NASB95

Now it came about when the king lived in his house, and the Lord had given him rest on every side from all his enemies, that the king said to Nathan the prophet, “See now, I dwell in a house of cedar, but the ark of God dwells within tent curtains.” Nathan said to the king, “Go, do all that is in your mind, for the Lord is with you.” But in the same night the word of the Lord came to Nathan, saying, “Go and say to My servant David, ‘Thus says the Lord, “Are you the one who should build Me a house to dwell in? “For I have not dwelt in a house since the day I brought up the sons of Israel from Egypt, even to this day; but I have been moving about in a tent, even in a tabernacle. “Wherever I have gone with all the sons of Israel, did I speak a word with one of the tribes of Israel, which I commanded to shepherd My people Israel, saying, ‘Why have you not built Me a house of cedar?’ ” ’ “Now therefore, thus you shall say to My servant David, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, “I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep, to be ruler over My people Israel. “I have been with you wherever you have gone and have cut off all your enemies from before you; and I will make you a great name, like the names of the great men who are on the earth. “I will also appoint a place for My people Israel and will plant them, that they may live in their own place and not be disturbed again, nor will the wicked afflict them any more as formerly, even from the day that I commanded judges to be over My people Israel; and I will give you rest from all your enemies. The Lord also declares to you that the Lord will make a house for you. “When your days are complete and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your descendant after you, who will come forth from you, and I will establish his kingdom.

PRAYER

The year was about 1000 B.C. David had been King over Judah for about 11 years. He had been king over all Israel about four years. Saul, the first King of Israel had died, and his death had brought an end to David’s time as an exile and outlaw, hunted by the king who had once loved him but who spent many of the last years of his life trying to kill young David.

Saul had recognized David as the man who was anointed by God to take his place on the throne of Israel and as one who was filled with the Holy Spirit, something Saul had experienced for himself many, many years before.

David now had peace from Saul, and, at least for a time, he was at peace from the nations that surrounded Israel.

He had retrieved the ark of the covenant from the Philistines who had stolen it, and he had danced in joyful worship as the ark had been brought into the tabernacle in Jerusalem.

God had showered His grace on David, who would have been about 40 years old at this time, and David wanted to show God how he loved Him.

So when the prophet Nathan came back to David with those first words from God in response to David’s plan to build a temple, I wonder if the king did not feel crushed by the rebuke.

“Are YOU the one who should build Me a house to dwell in?”

But God didn’t stop there, and neither did His prophet, Nathan.

“You won’t build my house, David, but your son will.”

That would have been good news to David, because he had a sincere desire to honor God by building a permanent place of worship to replace the tent that had been used since the people of Israel had wandered the wilderness after their escape from Egypt.

But the rest of the message from Nathan must have absolutely rocked David to his core.

“I will build YOU a house,” God said through His prophet. “And I will make YOUR name great among men. And I will establish YOUR kingdom forever.”

How David’s heart must have pounded as he heard God’s covenant. And then, in case something was unclear, God summarized the incredible blessings He was promising to David.

2 Samuel 7:16 NASB95

“Your house and your kingdom shall endure before Me forever; your throne shall be established forever.” ’ ”

Today’s Advent reading came from 2 Sam 7, and if you read the second half of that chapter, you will see that David’s response to God demonstrates just how blown away he was by God’s gracious covenant with him.

God had promised wonderful and amazing things to David, and this was an unconditional covenant with David. It rested completely on God’s grace and not on anything David might do.

So let’s jump forward in time by a little more than a thousand years.

Herod is the puppet king of Israel. And he is an illegitimate king — he is not a descendant of David, the one through whom God had said Israel’s kings would descend.

And about six miles away from Jerusalem, in a little town whose name means House of Bread, a newborn baby was being laid into a manger by His mother, who was a direct descendant of David.

Scripture tells us that a group of shepherds was told about the Messiah’s birth by a multitude of the heavenly host, who were praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest, And on earth Peace among men with whom He is pleased.”

And so the shepherds went to see this infant Christ, and while they were standing in the stable and worshiping Him, Luke writes, “Mary treasured all these things, pondering them in her heart.”

I think her mind must have replayed the big events of the previous nine months or so. I imagine she must have thought once more — for the hundredth or maybe the thousandth time — about the angel Gabriel’s shocking announcement to her then: that she, a virgin, would have a baby who would be the Son of God Himself.

And perhaps, as the shepherds knelt before her infant son, wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a feeding trough for animals, she remembered what Gabriel had said about Jesus.

Luke 1:32–33 NASB95

“He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David; and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and His kingdom will have no end.”

Her Son would have a name above all names. He would sit on the throne of David. His kingdom would never end.

Could this helpless child really be the fulfillment of God’s thousand-year-old covenant with David?

Now, fast-forward again 33 years. Jesus is riding a colt into Jerusalem. The road into the city is lined with people spreading their coats and throwing palm branches onto the road ahead of Him.

The air is filled with the sound of this multitude crying out “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest!”

This was the same thing crowds had chanted upon the coronation of a king throughout Israel’s history. These people were proclaiming Jesus to be Israel’s rightful king.

And then, less than a week later, this same Jesus hung on a cross at Calvary. The one whom Gabriel had said would be king — the one who had been worshiped as Messiah by the shepherds and later by so many others throughout His three-year ministry — the one to whom the wise men had brought gifts befitting a king — the one who had proclaimed Himself to be God’s own Son — this Jesus, this Messiah — bled and died on a cross with a placard above His head, one that had been mockingly prepared to read, “King of the Jews.”

And with His death, all the hope that Mary and so many others must have placed in Him for the fulfillment of God’s covenant with David must have died with Him.

If He was a king, He was a dead king, and a dead king with no heir.

But the story of Jesus Christ did not end at the cross. It did not end with those swaddling or funeral cloths wrapped around him for eternity. Because He was raised from the dead on the third day.

He folded those cloths and left them in the tomb and walked out of there with a glorified and immortal body.

His story did not end at the cross, and, indeed, it did not end at that empty tomb, because after 40 more days of teaching, Jesus ascended to His Father.

Now He sits at the right hand of God in Heaven, waiting for God to send Him back to complete the work of salvation and judgment — salvation for those who have followed Him in faith and judgment of those who do not.

And that is where we are in history today, two thousand years later. Waiting for this Second Advent of Jesus Christ. Waiting for His return in the clouds to snatch up the church — to take back to heaven with Him all who have trusted that His sacrificial death and supernatural resurrection are their only means of reconciliation with God.

We are waiting for the promise of John 3:16, that all who believe in Him will have everlasting life. This is what Christians call the New Covenant.

If we believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and that only His sacrificial death and supernatural resurrection can atone for our sins and bring us reconciliation with the God who made us to be in fellowship with Him, we will be saved.

And just as the covenant that God made with David rested entirely on God’s grace, so also does His covenant with believers rest entirely on His grace.

We are saved by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone.

But God’s covenant with David remains unfulfilled. So can we really trust that He will fulfil His covenant with New Testament believers?

Grab your Bibles and turn to Revelation, chapter 20, and I believe by the end of this message you will understand how God intends to fulfil that covenant He made with David, that his house — his genealogical line — and his kingdom would endure before God forever, and that His throne would be established forever.

Now, as you are turning there, let me remind you what we have learned about the end times during this Advent study.

There will come a time — and it could happen this very day — when Jesus will return in the clouds to take with him to heaven the church in what we call the Rapture.

Sometime after the church is raptured into heaven, there will be a seven-year period known as the Great Tribulation, when God will pour out His wrath upon the earth.

During that period, an antichrist, a false Messiah, the antichrist, known as the beast in the book of Revelation, will arise and unify mankind under one government with the promise of peace on earth. He will raise up a false prophet, and this unholy Trinity with Satan at its head will rule over the earth from Jerusalem, the city of God.

All who live on the earth at that time will be required to have the number of the beast, 666, written on their foreheads or their hands, and any who refuse will be unable to buy or sell food or clothing or anything else. Many will be hunted down and killed, and many of those will be people who have put their trust in Christ during this period of great tribulation.

But even in the midst of terrible judgments from heaven upon the earth, most will not turn to God. Instead, they will curse Him and blaspheme Him.

In heaven, the bride of Christ, the church, will be joined with its bridegroom, and there will be a great feast, the wedding feast of the Lamb.

And then, at the end of seven years of tribulation, a great army from the North will array itself against Jerusalem on the plains of Armageddon. And Jesus will return again, with all of the church behind Him, and He will crush that army with the word of His mouth.

What happens next is what we’ll talk about in a moment, but I want to remind you what we’ve already talked about that happens later.

One thousand years after Christ’s return to earth, there will be another great battle, and God will destroy the earth and the heavens with fire.

And then He will create a new earth and new heavens, and a new Jerusalem will descend from heaven, adorned as a bride, and all of those who have put their faith in Jesus will live on this new earth with the Father and the Son for eternity.

But those who have rejected Jesus and the message of the gospel will be raised from the dead to face judgment at the Great White Throne in heaven, and they will be cast into the fires of hell.

So, what of God’s covenant with David?

Let’s look at chapter 20 to see.

Revelation 20:1–3 NASB95

Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding the key of the abyss and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold of the dragon, the serpent of old, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years; and he threw him into the abyss, and shut it and sealed it over him, so that he would not deceive the nations any longer, until the thousand years were completed; after these things he must be released for a short time.

The beast and the false prophet will have been cast into hell in the battle of Armageddon, but God restrains His final judgment against Satan.

Here the devil is thrown into the abyss, the prison where, even now, some of the fallen angels of heaven are kept. He is bound, chained, locked, and sealed there for a thousand years, so there will be no satanic influence on the earth during that time.

The earth will be a place of perfect justice and righteousness, with Christ as its king and some believers, including at least those who had been killed because they put their trust in Him during the Tribulation period, serving as regents under Him.

Look at verse 4:

Revelation 20:4–6 NASB95

Then I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was given to them. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony of Jesus and because of the word of God, and those who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received the mark on their forehead and on their hand; and they came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were completed. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is the one who has a part in the first resurrection; over these the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with Him for a thousand years.

This first resurrection that John talks about here is the resurrection of all those from all time who have, by God’s grace, put their faith in Jesus. They are blessed and holy, and the second death — eternal suffering in hell — will have no power over them.

But what will this Millennial Kingdom of Christ look like?

With Jesus Christ on the throne in Jerusalem and the holy ones of His church on thrones throughout the nations, it will be a place of absolute peace. It will be a place where the remnant of Israel, those redeemed through their faith in Christ, will return to the land of their promise. The desert will spring to life. Blind eyes will see, and deaf ears will hear.

“This kingdom will be a worldwide display of Christ’s glory, when all nature will be set free from the bondage of sin.” [Warren W. Wiersbe, The Bible Exposition Commentary, vol. 2 (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1996), 619.]

In the words of the prophet Isaiah:

Isaiah 65:20 NASB95

“No longer will there be in it an infant who lives but a few days, Or an old man who does not live out his days; For the youth will die at the age of one hundred And the one who does not reach the age of one hundred Will be thought accursed.

During this time, and because of the long life spans and healthy conditions throughout the land, the earth will be repopulated, and all those who live here will know that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.

“Christ as the world ruler of the millennial kingdom will be the object of worship, and the universal instruction in Biblical truth as well as the many demonstrations of divine power and the abundant ministry of the Holy Spirit will foster a spiritual life on a world-wide scale unprecedented in the history of the world.” [WALVOORD, JOHN F. “The Millennial Kingdom and the Eternal State.” Bibliotheca Sacra 123 (1966): 294]

But even in the face of incontrovertible evidence that Jesus is God’s Son and even after they have experienced paradise under His reign, many will not have turned to Him in true faith.

This explains how the things in the next few verses could come to be, and it gives us a partial explanation as to why God would have had Satan bound and locked in the abyss, instead of sending him straight to hell after the Battle of Armageddon.

Look at verse 7:

Revelation 20:7–9 NASB95

When the thousand years are completed, Satan will be released from his prison, and will come out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together for the war; the number of them is like the sand of the seashore. And they came up on the broad plain of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city, and fire came down from heaven and devoured them.

Satan, the great deceiver, will be released from his imprisonment, and the first thing he will do is to begin deceiving the nations.

He will convince them to rise up against Jesus and array themselves against that holy city for a great battle.

And the number of people who will join his cause will be like the sand of the seashore.

So what we can discern here is that there will be many, many people who have lived through Christ’s millennial reign, who have lived without the influence of Satan, who nonetheless will turn against Jesus at the end of that time.

This answers the question, “Why is it that Satan must be freed?” and it also helps us understand the point of this Millennial reign of Christ on earth.

The Millennial Reign fulfils God’s covenant with David, as Jesus, David’s direct descendant, is given the throne and the kingdom that David had been promised would endure forever.

But it also sets up God’s final proof of the depravity of mankind.

Those who will have lived under the perfect and beneficial rule of Jesus Christ, will turn on Him, revealing and confirming that the heart of man is corrupt and depraved, even without Satan’s influence.

This is God’s final proof of the need for His righteous justice, poured out finally in this great fire from heaven. This is proof of the righteousness of His promise to send those who refuse to follow Jesus in faith to eternal condemnation and suffering in hell.

And at the end of this thousand-year reign of Christ on this earth, the devil will be thrown into the lake of fire and brimstone, along with those from all time who have rejected Christ.

But for those of us who have put our faith in the Messiah, there is the promise that the new heavens and new earth that will come next will be even more wonderful than what we saw during Jesus’ Millennial Reign.

And we can have confidence in this New Covenant, because we know that our covenant-making God is also a covenant-keeping God.

He gave the Apostle John this vision of Christ’s millennial reign so that we would know just how He plans to keep His covenant with King David, a covenant made a thousand years before that babe in a manger in Bethlehem set the wheels in motion for the events that must take place for the crucified and risen Christ to take His rightful place on the throne in Jerusalem.

This is the great hope of the second advent of Jesus Christ. The manger in Bethlehem cradled a king. He will reign forever and ever.

Isaiah ‘twas foretold it:

Isaiah 9:6–7 NASB95

For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; And the government will rest on His shoulders; And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace. There will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace, On the throne of David and over his kingdom, To establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness From then on and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will accomplish this.

As this season of Advent comes to a close and you celebrate the birth of our Savior on Friday, I want to encourage you to equally celebrate the second advent, this time of waiting for Jesus to return.

The next time He comes, He will not be a helpless infant in swaddling cloths, laid in a manger. The next time He comes, He will come as a conquering King.

And perhaps, we will shout, ““Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest!”