Son of Victory
Son of Promise • Sermon • Submitted
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An OT Promise
An OT Promise
Even from before the garden of eden, God has been relating to his people through covenants… binding agreements initiated by God that outline the nature of the relationship and include blessings and cursings. After the initial covenant with Adam and Eve was broken, God established another covenant with Abraham - with his descendants. Then God worked with the Israelite people with a few other covenants as their relationship developed. And an essential covenant that included great promises of deliverance, restoration, and renewal was the Davidic covenant.
In 2 Samuel 7 God makes a covenant with David promising David — ISrael’s greatest king, several things:
He promises to build David’s house. While David had intended to build a house for the Lord, the Lord promises to build a house for David - and this is not about about a building, it is about generations...
He promises that Solomon, David’s son, will build the temple.
He promises a descendant of David’s will sit on the throne forever and bring rest and security to the Israelite people.
In fact, David is a model - a type - of that future king and his reign...
David was the one that finally conquered Jerusalem - a Jebusite stronghold, giving Israel their capital and a place for the Temple.
David was the one that brought the Ark of the covenant back to the tabernacle in Jerusalem re-establishing the tabernacle and Jerusalem as the dwelling place of God with His people!
Of all of David’s triumphs, all of his feats and exploits… perhaps the most iconic was his defeat of Goliath. The account happens in 1 Samuel 17.. but what we do sometimes miss is that in chapter 16 David is anointed as the chosen king… even though Saul is still the technical king of Israel...
SO in chapter 17 David comes to check on his brothers and finds them cowering with the entire army of Israel hiding from the giant named Goliath. Goliath was the champion for the Philistines and he had stepped up to challenge a champion from the Israelites to fight to decide the battle - so the whole armies didn’t have to fight. Now Goliath was huge - like 7 feet tall which to the average man closer to 5 feet back then was a giant and no one was willing to fight...
So David steps up to fight, believing that His Lord will give him the victory.. and you know how the story goes… David faces the giant with just a sling and while Goliath laughed at first, it was the first stone from the sling that struck him in the head, knocking him down so David could then finish the job with Goliath’s own sword. And now that David had won the victory for Israel, the army including Saul all cheered with joy and then chased off the Philistine army...
The anointed king defeats the peoples invincible enemy for them, granting them victory and giving them peace…
David was the greatest king in Israel’s history, expanding their boarders, giving them peace from enemies and securing the place for the temple where they could gather and worship their Lord! That is why he is the TYPE, the one the Lord makes a covenant with promising a descendant to rule even the nations…
And from this highpoint in David’s life - things take a downward turn… David eventually demonstrates that he too is broken deep down. His sin catches up to him and the end of his reign is scarred by family catastrophe, revolt, and conflict.
Solomon begins his reign on a good foot and does in fact build the temple for the Lord. But Solomon too suffers from inner corruption and his sin wrecks his reign and in fact leads to the breaking apart of the kingdom of Israel into two nations...
And look back to Matthew - verses 8-11… a list of kings.. and as you know from the OT - it isn’t a good record — this is no faith hall of fame… These kings, although sons of David, failed to fulfill the promise and had lives characteristic of moral failure. But even during and after the time of these failed kings… the Lord was promising a Davidic king over and over… HE PROMISED:
One will sit on the throne of David
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.
He is of the family of David
There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit.
This son of David will reign and bring peace and security
“Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. In his days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell securely. And this is the name by which he will be called: ‘The Lord is our righteousness.’
The promised Son of David, the Messiah, will not only restore but establish a new and better kingdom:
New Dictionary of Biblical Theology David and Davidic Messianism in Second Temple Judaism
He destroys the wicked, purges Jerusalem, restores the nation’s boundaries, gathers a holy people and faithfully and righteously shepherds them. He judges and rules in wisdom, understanding, strength and righteousness.
How often in our up and down - rollercoaster lives, do we find a sense of satisfaction, peace and joy in the high points only to feel our stomachs knot up when things go wrong… how often to we find hope in people, situations, elections, thinking that the “kingdom has come” to once again feel sick and dizzy when we loose those things… and like a roller coaster it seems we always come back around and the up and downs continue… The highs of victory and security lost to the lows of betrayal, disappointments and disaster…
That was the life of the Israelites… The Lord delivered them from Egypt, leaving with bags of gold and treasure… and because of their sin they wander in the desert for 40 years… The Lord brings them into the promised land… and because of their unfaithfulness they struggle and fight never really having total peace…
The Lord gives them a king who brings security and peace… but then because of his sin his reign ends… his son brings continued security, prosperity and is a blessing to the nations — what a high point, is this the promise?? But then again his time on the throne is also tarnished by sin… THE LORD PROMISES deliverance, He promises a new king.. .a new kingdom of peace and security...
BUT STILL THEIR LIVES CONTINUED THE UP AND DOWN CYCLE, GOING ROUND AND ROUND wondering if it was really going to end.. .wondering if God still cared or if He had abandoned them.. wondering if the old stories were true…
And you know I’ve felt like that… Going from a general sense of satisfaction and peace - happy… and then faced with disasters, disappointments and a healthy dose of my own failures I struggle with that general depression and discontentment… wondering how did I get here and when will it get better AND STAY BETTER! Wondering if God still cares or has he abandoned us… wondering if these old stories are true…
A NT Fulfillment
A NT Fulfillment
THIS IS WHY THE GEANOLOGY I SO IMPORTANT! Matthew announces that Jesus is in fact the SON OF DAVID.. and in saying that he is claiming that Jesus is the fulfillment of the Davidic covenant, he is the fulfillment of all of the prophetic promises… he is the Messiah!
Yes the Jewish people have been waiting - and for those in Matthew’s days, the Lord had been silent for around 400 years… THERE WAS CERTAINLY THE KIND OF WORRY AND DOUBT THAT WE SOMETIMES FEEL… BUT the LORD IS FAITHFUL! THE KING HAS COME!
The four gospels are all records of the life and death and resurection of Jesus Christ - but they each have a different perspective and they have different intended audiences. Matthew is writing for a very Jewish audience - and we see that in the way he stresses much of what happens with Jesus is to fulfill what had been written in the OT…
Jesus is refered to as the Son of David in several places in Matthew...
And as Jesus passed on from there, two blind men followed him, crying aloud, “Have mercy on us, Son of David.”
And behold, a Canaanite woman from that region came out and was crying, “Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David; my daughter is severely oppressed by a demon.”
And behold, there were two blind men sitting by the roadside, and when they heard that Jesus was passing by, they cried out, “Lord, have mercy on us, Son of David!”
AND the expectation of David’s son is seen in those Jesus ministered to:
And all the people were amazed, and said, “Can this be the Son of David?”
Even in the Triumphal Entry:
And the crowds that went before him and that followed him were shouting, “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!”
The angel announcing the birth of Jesus to Joseph:
But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.
AND Jesus is called the king of the Jews..
Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem, saying, “Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.”
FOR WHERE WAS HE BORN??? As prophesied in Micah
“ ‘And you, O Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for from you shall come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel.’ ”
AND Jesus came preaching a message about the KINGDOM:
And he went throughout all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction among the people.
Jesus is the promised SON OF DAVID… His life, His words, His works all testify to His fulfilling the covenant and the promises of a KING to bring PEACE, SECURITY, and establish an eternal throne and KINGDOM of GOD’S PEOPLE...
BUT a KING and a KINGDOM unlike what they expected! Even John the Baptist was a little confused - after he pointed Jesus out as the Messiah and encouraged his disciples to follow Jesus… It was a high point in his life and ministry - Jesus the Son of David had come! But then John the Baptist was arrested and thrown in jail… sitting there in his cell he was now faced with a reality far different from his expectations… he was on the roller coaster… and he wondered… is Jesus really the Christ???
Now when John heard in prison about the deeds of the Christ, he sent word by his disciples and said to him, “Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?” And Jesus answered them, “Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them. And blessed is the one who is not offended by me.”
What happened? He was holding Jesus to his own standards and expectations and when Jesus didn’t measure up he worried…
Does that sound familiar?? We take pieces of promises and portions of Scripture and sew them together with pictures of our preferences and make a quilt of expectations to comfort and warm ourselves with and when the reality of our lives confronts… nay shreds our quilts we begin to worry and wonder...
BUT head Jesus’s words - look to what he has done and what he has said...
Jesus has come as promised… he fulfilled the prophecies - albeit in unexpected ways… as the Davidic and Divine KING he has established a kingdom of rest and security, of peace and prosperity…
This is a reality even when we doubt… that is why texts like this are so important! They call us back to who God is and what He has done… they pull our attention away from the stresses and challenges of everyday, the obstacles and tests that come year after year — all of the frustrations and delays…
Advent… Christmas… this text… serve to remind us of the truth that Jesus has come - the SON OF PROMISE… the SON OF DAVID… the SON OF VICTORY!
Remember David’s defeat of Goliath… This is a picture of who and what Jesus does… You see we are not David in that story - we are cowering Israel unable to face down and defeat our enemy - sin and death… But Jesus comes as the anointed king and HE defeats our enemy for us… and now that He has done so we too can cheer with JOY because the Son of David has come...
Jesus - YOUR KING - has defeated your great enemy… that KING was born 2000 years ago… HE has come… HE has won… and in Him, you have won too!
Advent is a time of great joy, peace, love and hope… IT is a time to remember the victory that is ours in our KING...
Hark! the herald angels sing,
“Glory to the new-born King;
Peace on earth, and mercy mild;
God and sinners reconciled.”