2 Samuel 7:8-16/Matthew 1:1-2, 5-7, 16 Son of David

The incarnate GodMan who lived a a righteous and sinless life, died a sacrificial death, and rose again on our behalf to save every person descended from Adam who trusts in the name of Jesus Christ.

We says Jesus Christ the Son of Abraham.

The promised blessing to all nations. To all the families of the earth.

The One who gives salvation freely through faith, and brings us into our inheritance, the heavenly Promised Land, His eternal Kingdom of life, blessing, joy, and peace.

And finally this week, I want to look at Jesus Christ the Son of David.

Matthew 1:1-2, 5-7, 16 The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. Abraham was the father of Isaac, and Isaac the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers...Boaz the father of Obed by Ruth, and Obed the father of Jesse, 6 and Jesse the father of David the king. And David was the father of Solomon by the wife of Uriah, 7 and Solomon the father of Rehoboam...Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom Jesus was born, who is called Christ.

Matthew is intentional about the way he lays out Jesus’ genealogy.

He gives a summary in first one. Son of David, Son of Abraham.

He’s highlighting something.

On the one hand, Jesus is the Son of Abraham, the True Israel, the promised blessing to all nations who reverses the curse of sin.

On the other, He’s the Son of David. And lest you miss it, Matthew shines a spotlight on it for you. David, the king.

In other words, Matthew is saying Jesus Christ is the promised blessing to all nations, and He is the Messianic King.

The One who God promised would sit on the throne of David forever, and ever ruling in perfect righteousness, justice, and peace.

That is actually the big idea I want you to take away from this sermon today.

Jesus Christ is the King who God promised would reign forever to bless His people with every spiritual blessing.

That is what God promised to David. And that is what God fulfilled in Jesus Christ.

But before we can see why that is such a glorious promise, why that is something that really is, “Joy to the World!,” we need to go back to before David, to why God promised a King in the first place.

I. Need for a King

To understand this, you need to know how the all covenants of the Old Covenant fit together.

Now even there, I might have lost some of you because this is so under taught in the church.

In Christian theology you have the Old Covenant and the New Covenant.

The New Covenant is the eternal, ultimate fulfillment of the Old Covenant through the person and work of Jesus Christ.

In other words, the New Covenant is all the promises of the Old fulfilled. Eternally secured and guaranteed through His life, death, and resurrection.

So the Old Covenant in every way pointed to Christ.

When people hear Old Covenant, they usually just think, “Mosaic Covenant.” The Covenant God made with Israel at Mount Sinai when He gave them the Law and the 10 Commandments.

But biblically, the Old covenant includes not just the Mosaic Covenant, but the Abrahamic and Davidic Covenant as well.

The Abrahamic Covenant established the blessings. God said I will be their God and they will be my people, and I will give them the Promised Land.

A land flowing with milk and honey. A land of blessing, a New Eden, where God would give His people rest.

The Mosaic Covenant, when God gave the Law, it was not to show Israel how to become His people. As in the would save themselves by the Law.

They already were His people. Before He gave the 10 Commandments, God made this clear.

I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.

I am your God. And because I’m your God, God gave the first command, “You shall have no other gods before me.” (Exodus 20:2-3).

So the Mosaic Covenant showed the people of God how to live like the people of God.

How to enjoy the blessings of the Abrahamic Covenant and stay in the Promised Land.

If Israel obeyed God, they would stay in the land and enjoy His blessing.

If they disobeyed, the land would spit them out in exile because they would profane the Kingdom with their sin.

Basically to live in the blessings of the Kingdom, Israel needed to submit themselves to live under the rule of King, God Himself.

Like God said in Deuteronomy 28 If you faithfully obey the voice of the Lord your God, being careful to do all his commandments that I command you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth. 2 And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you...But if you will not obey the voice of the Lord your God or be careful to do all his commandments and his statutes that I command you today, then all these curses shall come upon you and overtake you (Deut. 28:1-2, 15).

That’s what the Mosaic Covenant was all about.

And it all pointed to Christ because what God was showing us was that no matter what we did, or how hard we tried, we could never save ourselves.

We could never earn the Promised Land and all its blessings by our own obedience.

The Mosaic Covenant shows us that eternal life and rest does not come from our works, but is wholly dependent on God’s grace.

So the Abrahamic Covenant promised the blessings of God which was to be God’s people and to have rest and blessing in the Promised Land, and the Mosaic Covenant showed Israel what they needed to do to enjoy those blessings and live long in the Land.

And that brings us to the need for the last part of the Old Covenant, the Davidic Covenant.

The book of Joshua tells us Israel’s conquest of the Promised Land. Their going in, defeating their enemies, and taking possession of the Land God had promised them.

God gave Israel the land of Canaan just like He had promised.

But then Joshua died. And then the rest of the wilderness generation, the one who saw their parents die over 40 years for their lack of faith, the one who believed God’d promises and conquered the land, they died to.

And after them came a new generation. And that generation did not know the Lord.

Judges 2:10-12 And there arose another generation after them who did not know the Lord or the work that he had done for Israel. And the people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the Lord and served the Baals. And they abandoned the Lord, the God of their fathers, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt. They went after other gods, from among the gods of the peoples who were around them, and bowed down to them. And they provoked the Lord to anger.

And what was God’s response?

Judges 2:20-21 So the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he said, “Because this people have transgressed my covenant that I commanded their fathers and have not obeyed my voice, I will no longer drive out before them any of the nations that Joshua left when he died.

Notice God says they transgressed my covenant.

They disobeyed God, they disobeyed the Law of the Mosaic Covenant, and because of that they forfeited the blessings of the Abrahamic Covenant.

The land of milk and honey, the land of blessing and God’s Kingdom was ready to spit them out. They would not have the rest God promised.

And that’s exactly what happens.

The book of Judges repeats that pattern. The people of God disobey, God raises up a foreign nation to oppress them, they cry out to God, so God raises up a Judge or deliverer to save them pointing to the salvation Christ gives.

But after a while, they disobey again, and on and on it goes.

And the book of Judges makes no secret about why God’s people cannot enjoy the blessings and rest of the Promised Land of God’s Kingdom.

Four times in the book we are told In those days there was no king in Israel (Judges 21:25).

And what was the result? Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.

Because there was no King, no one to keep and enforce the Law for the people of God, there was no chance they would get to enjoy the blessings God had promised them.

Without a King, everyone would do what was right in their own eyes, leaving all the blessings of the Promised Land, all the blessings of the Abrahamic and Mosaic covenants, forever out of reach.

Instead of blessing, they would suffer under God’s curse.

And remember, the covenants are shadows that ultimately point to Christ.

The blessing of the Promise Land ultimately pointed to the blessing of the Heavenly Promise Land, the New Heavens and New Earth, the Kingdom of eternal life and eternal rest.

So the whole point of the covenants was to reverse the curse. To redeem God’s people from their sin in Christ and glorify His Name by blessing them under His Kingdom and Rule.

After all, that’s what God created us for in the first place.

So to reverse the curse and insure all the blessings of of God’s promises, God in His providence established the Davidic Covenant.

II. David/Solomon

Before David there was Saul. And Saul disobeyed the Lord so God ripped the Kingdom from him.

What that shows us is that the blessings of God won’t come through just any king, but a godly king. A king after God’s own heart which is why God chose David.

You see, David’s heart was for the glory of God.

The context of this covenant is that David wanted to build God a house, a Temple where God would be glorified and worshiped by His people.

So God raised up David, and made a covenant with him to establish a throne that, like David, would always glorify God and lead God’s people into the blessings God had promised them.

That covenant is in 2 Samuel 7:8-16.

Now this is a long passage and there’s a lot here, but let me simplify it for you. There are two main promises in the Davidic Covenant, and these two Promises are summarized in verses 12 and 13.

2 Samuel 7:12-13 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.

First, God promises David a Forever Throne along with all the blessings that come with the Kingdom of God.

And Second He promised David an heir that would build a Holy House. God’s Temple where God would dwell with His people and where they could worship and glorify Him.

Forever Throne

Let’s start with God’s promise of a Forever Throne. Starting in verse 8.

Thus says the Lord of hosts, I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep, that you should be prince over my people Israel.

Let’s stop there. I want you to notice something.

In the context of God promising this King that would rule and reign holy under God, God reminds David he was a shepherd.

God is telling us, the True King would be a shepherd.

What do shepherds do? They lead the sheep. They take them to green pastures and quiet waters. They protect them from any enemy that might harm them.

The King was to shepherd the people of God into life and blessing, the promises of the Abrahamic Covenant, by keeping and enforcing God’s Law in the Land. The Mosaic Covenant.

You’re starting to see how these fit together. God promised blessing to Abraham. He showed Israel how to enjoy that blessing and live long in the land through the Law of Moses.

But because of their weakness, now God was promising a Shepherd-King who would rule in such a way to guarantee those blessings for God’s people.

Its no wonder why Jesus called Himself the Good Shepherd. He came to do just that.

Verse 9.

And I have been with you wherever you went and have cut off all your enemies from before you. And I will make for you a great name, like the name of the great ones of the earth. 10 And I will appoint a place for my people Israel and will plant them, so that they may dwell in their own place and be disturbed no more. And violent men shall afflict them no more, as formerly, 11 from the time that I appointed judges over my people Israel. And I will give you rest from all your enemies. Moreover, the Lord declares to you that the Lord will make you a house. 12 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.

This is where God promises the Forever Throne. He tells David He will raise up an offspring, and He would establish that offspring’s Kingdom.

And what that means is verse 13 I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.

Now the sure foundation and stability of this forever throne rooted in the promises of God wasn’t just for David and his offspring.

This was also a promise for the people of God because a Forever Throne of stability, peace and blessing for David meant a Forever stability, peace, and blessing for the People of God.

A Forever Throne meant a Forever Rest.

And wasn’t that what the Promised Land and the Abrahamic covenant was all about. Rest for God’s people ultimately pointing to the heavenly rest God gives us in Christ.

That’s the blessing of the Davidic Covenant.

God says, I’ll appoint a place for my people. I’ll plant them. I’ll give them a home and they won’t be disturbed anymore.

The Davidic Covenant insures the blessings of the Abrahamic Covenant by leading the people to live holy before the Lord under the Mosaic Covenant.

So the promise of the Forever Throne was about God guaranteeing a forever rest, blessing, life, joy, and peace in God’s Kingdom.

That is what God was promising us in the Davidic Covenant.=

Holy House

The Second promise was a Holy House.

I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. 13 He shall build a house for my name.

What’s this business about God promising David an offspring who would build God a temple?

Well you need to see this promise covenantally.

In Deuteronomy 12:10-11, here’s what God said.

Deuteronomy 12:10-11 But when you go over the Jordan and live in the land that the Lord your God is giving you to inherit, and when he gives you rest from all your enemies around, so that you live in safety, then to the place that the Lord your God will choose, to make his name dwell there, there you shall bring all that I command you: your burnt offerings and your sacrifices, your tithes and the contribution that you present, and all your finest vow offerings that you vow to the Lord.

So God promised to give His people rest, and now we see that rest would come through a righteous King who would defeat the enemies of God’s people so that they would be disturbed no more.

Think of rest from God’s enemies as shorthand for all of the blessings of the Promised Land because if you had that you had everything else.

And then God promised once He had given them that rest, He would show Israel where His Name, meaning His presence, would dwell and where God’s people would come to worship Him.

What this does is this ties the Kingdom of God to the Temple of God.

In other words, this house was the culmination, the zenith, the fullness of God’s blessing in His Kingdom.

That without the House, the Kingdom of God would be missing something. Empty.

Because the ultimate blessing of God’s Kingdom is God Himself.

He is the God of life, and all life, blessing; every good and perfect gift flows from Him.

That’s why the endgame of every covenant is I will be their God and they will be my people.

God created us to dwell with Him. To have communion with Him.

To find all of our life, joy, satisfaction, and rest in Him and worshiping His Name.

So through the King, through His Forever Throne, God promised blessing and life to the people of God.

That is what the Rest and the House was all about.

This was the Hope and the Promised Blessing of the King who would sit on the Throne of David!

Solomon

And this promise had a historical fulfillment in David’s son Solomon who ultimately was a type of the true fulfillment of the Davidic Covenant, Jesus Christ.

Quoting God, David tells Solomon in 1 Chronicles 22 The word of the Lord came to me, saying...Behold, a son shall be born to you who shall be a man of rest. I will give him rest from all his surrounding enemies. For his name shall be Solomon, and I will give peace and quiet to Israel in his days. 10 He shall build a house for my name. He shall be my son, and I will be his father, and I will establish his royal throne in Israel forever (1 Chron. 22:9-10).

God says Solomon was the offspring. He was the one whose throne God promised to establish forever, and he was the one who would build God a house.

And that’s exactly what happened.

1 Kings 2:12 So Solomon sat on the throne of David his father, and his kingdom was firmly established.

Solomon’s reign was filled with all kinds of blessing for God’s people.

1 Kings 4. Judah and Israel were as many as the sand by the sea. They ate and drank and were happy. They lived in safety every man under his vine and under his fig tree, all the days of Solomon. (1 Kings 4:20, 25).

And Solomon built God’s House.

He built the Temple, and God promised that when Solomon built the Temple I will dwell among the children of Israel and will not forsake my people Israel (1 Kings 6:13).

This was the high point of the Old Testament.

When Solomon built the Temple, Israel was at last home in the Promised Land, they had a King shepherding them to keep the covenant and enjoy all of God’s blessings God gave to Abraham, Moses, and now, David.

But there was still more to the Davidic Covenant that we haven’t looked at yet.

2 Samuel 7:13-16 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…

Here’s what’s going on. God promises the the Davidic King would be like a son to God.

That when he sinned, God would discipline him.

Put this into context. God promised the King to make sure God’s people would inherit all of God’s promises. All of God’s blessings.

What this shows us is that it wasn’t just through any old king, that God would build His Kingdom and bless His people.

It would be through a perfectly faithful King. And this anticipates Jesus.

Even in making the covenant, God is putting in the hearts of His people a longing for a holy and righteous King.

One who wouldn’t commit iniquity. Who wouldn’t fail and forfeit the blessings God had promised to His people.

That’s where the rest of the promise comes in.

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.

Right here, God committed Himself to bring Christ, the true King of David no matter how unfaithful all the other kings would be.

And they were unfaithful. Starting with Solomon.

Solomon loved foreign women (1 Kings 11:1). He married pagan wives, and they turned his heart away from the Lord to serve false gods.

He built high places for false gods all over the Kingdom of Israel to sacrifice to them. t

He broke God’s covenant, so God tore the Kingdom away from him.

Under Rehoboam, Solomon’s son, God split the Kingdom in two leaving the line of David with only the Kingdom and tribe of Judah.

And every king was held to a standard. Would they follow God and His Word, or would they follow idols?

And if you know the history of the Kings, most of them did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, and God’s people suffered for it.

Eventually God spit them out of the Land just like He promised. He sent them into exile to cleanse the Land of their sin. And the throne was left empty.

But what about the Promises? Didn’t God say a Son of David would reign forever and bring the fullness of blessing and rest to God’s people?

Where was He? Where was the King?

The Psalms and the Prophets long for and anticipate this Messianic King. This one who would deliver God’s people and given them the rest and blessing God had promised them.

Psalm 89 opens with this.

Psalm 89:3-4 You have said, “I have made a covenant with my chosen one; I have sworn to David my servant: ‘I will establish your offspring forever, and build your throne for all generations.

And then the Psalm recounts all the promises God made to David, to bless his people, including how God would not forsake his covenant, even if his kings are disobedient.

Then verse 38.

Psalm 89:38-39, 49 But now you have cast off and rejected; you are full of wrath against your anointed. You have renounced the covenant with your servant; you have defiled his crown in the dust...Lord, where is your steadfast love of old, which by your faithfulness you swore to David?

God where is our King? Where is the One who would give us rest and bless us with every spiritual blessing?

III. Jesus

Luke 1: 31-33, but for context I’m going to start with verse 26.

Luke 1:26-33 In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. And the virgin’s name was Mary. And he came to her and said, “Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you!” But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be. And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. 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 father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.

Jesus is the True Offspring of David.

The True King who gives God’s people eternal rest in the Heavenly Promise Land, the New Heavens and New Earth, the Kingdom of God, and who builds God a house where God dwells with His people forever and ever.

And that’s why both David and Solomon together were types of Christ.

They were shadows whose reigns and kingdoms ultimately pointed to Jesus.

David

David was a warrior who gave God’s people rest by delivering them from all their enemies.

Saul has struck down his thousands, David his ten thousands (1 Sam. 18:7).

He was the Shepherd after God’s own heart who led God’s people to love and worship Him.

Jesus is the True Warrior-Shepherd-King who saves God’s people from their enemies of sin, Satan, and death, and leads them into eternal life.

And He did that by dying in our place on a cross with a crown of thorns on His under a sign that said This is Jesus, the King of the Jews (Mt 27:37).

Do you remember when God said to David 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?

Well Jesus is the True Son of God. He is God incarnate. And he didn’t have any iniquity or sin of His own to die for.

But God laid on him our iniquities and with his stripes we are healed (Is. 53:5).

In Christ, God has given us rest from all our enemies.

We are freed from our slavery to sin.

Delivered from Satan by the offspring who crushed the head of the serpent.

And raised to eternal life so that Death has lost its victory and its sting.

But He didn’t just die. He rose again. He ascended into heaven and sat at the right hand of the Father.

He reigns today, King of kings and Lord of lords, and in the shadow of Solomon’s Kingdom we see a vague and paltry picture of the true glory of Christ’s Kingdom.

Solomon

Remember how in Solomon’s early reign had every blessing of the Promised Land.

And Paul says, in Christ, God has blessed us with every spiritual blessing (Eph 1:3).

When the Queen of Sheba, one of the richest nations in the world came to Solomon and she saw the glory of his kingdom, the Bible says her breath was taken away (1 Kings 10:5).

She even told Solomon The report was true that I heard in my own land of your words and of your wisdom, 7 but I did not believe the reports until I came and my own eyes had seen it. And behold, the half was not told me. Your wisdom and prosperity surpass the report that I heard. 8 Happy are your men! Happy are your servants (1 Ki 10:6–8).

But all the rest, blessing, peace and life of Solomon’s Kingdom, doesn’t even compare to fullness of rest, blessing, peace and life in the Kingdom of Christ.

And if you are in Christ, you are in that Kingdom.

And here’s what’s so amazing about God’s grace. Your inheritance in the Kingdom, all of those blessings and promises, are eternally secure.

Solomon failed as a King. He disobeyed God, broke God’s covenant and as a result the people of God lost the blessings God had promised them.

But Jesus did not fail and will never fail. He was obedient to death, even death on a cross. And his once for all forever obedience have have the blessings of Go’s promises eternally for everyone who trusts in Him.

His throne is established forever and ever.

He leads God’s people to keep God’s Law by filling them with the Holy Spirit and writing the Law on our hearts.

By making us born again, new creations who fear God and honor His Name.

And even when we fail, the promises don’t rest on us and our obedience. Why?

The blessings of the Promised Land were dependent on the people of God keeping the Law.

Well what did Christ do on our behalf? He Kept the Law. He lived a sinless life. He secured the blessings of the Heavenly Promised Land God had promised forever.

Those promises are now for us, because those promises belong to Christ and we are in Him.

Nothing. Nothing can separate us from the love of God.

Well what about the House?

1 Peter 2:5 You yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

You are that house. You, the church, are the New Temple of God where God dwells with His people.

Where we are invited to commune with God and worship Him like He created us to, by offering our lives as spiritual sacrifices to the glory of His Name.

And what did God promise Solomon about His Temple. I will dwell among the children of Israel and will not forsake my people Israel (1 Kings 6:13).

That’s what the Temple was all about. And if that was true of the Shadow, then it was surely true of the real thing.

Because of Christ, God will never leave you or forsake you. He has filled you with the Holy Spirit as a guarantee that he will bring you into the fullness of your Kingdom inheritance to live with God forever in perfect Rest, Blessing, and Life.

And the New Testament tells us again and again, Jesus is on David’s throne now. He’s reigning now.

He isn’t just King in some heavenly spiritual realm.

Jesus said all authority in Heaven and on Earth has been given to me.

The most quoted verse in the NT is Psalm 110:1 which says The Lord says to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool.”

And do you know what the Apostles taught? Hebrews 1:3 After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.

Jesus is King of kings and Lord of lords. He’s King now.

And everyone from the lowest pauper to the highest president is called to submit in everything to Him.

To follow Him. Obey Him. Worship Him.

Psalm 2:10-12 says this...

Psalm 2:10-12 Now therefore, O kings, be wise; be warned, O rulers of the earth. Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and you perish in the way, for his wrath is quickly kindled. Blessed are all who take refuge in him.

There’s two paths. One leads to the Kingdom of Christ where God will forgive your sin and give you eternal life with every spiritual blessing of rest, peace, blessing and joy under the Lordship of Christ.

All the wonderful promises we’ve been talking about.

The other leads to exile and death. It leads to the wrath of the King. And under that wrath the Bible says you will perish.

That’s a strong word. It means lost. Broken. Utterly destroyed. Undone or ruined. To suffer absolute destruction with no way of escape.

And that is the fate of everyone who will not kiss the Son.

In the Christmas story, God shows us the’s two paths.

Herod/Magi

After Jesus was born, Magi, wise men from the East, came to King Herod asking 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 (Matthew 2:2).

When Herod heard this, he was greatly troubled. Why?

He was a wicked King. He hated God and wanted nothing to do with bending the knee to the Christ, the King of David.

In fact, he was so furious about submitting to Christ, he sought to kill him.

He ordered all the male children under 2 years old in Bethlehem and the surrounding region to be killed.

Here’s what’s so ironic about Herod. He probably had better theology than many Christians today.

He knew that Jesus Christ being King meant something. It fundamentally changes everything.

If Christ is King that means we must obey Him. Submit to Him. Honor Him. Live for Him.

We don’t get to live however we want. We don’t get to do what is right in our own eyes. We must Kiss the Son lest He be angry.

That is a lesson our leaders and our nation would do well to learn.

You see, the fundamental problem in our world right now is that people want the blessings of the Kingdom without honoring the King.

They want heaven, they want utopia, but they don’t want Jesus. Because if Jesus is King, that means their lives belong to Him.

But what God promised David is true. The blessings flow through the King.

But like Herod, many people refuse to worship the King. And Herod’s fate will become their fate.

Herod he died. And then, like every single person will, he faced judgment. Because he rejected the King of kings and Lord of lords God him forever exiled him from His Kingdom and heavenly Promised Land.

But what is the promise from Psalm 2?

Blessed are all who take refuge in him.

Blessed are those who worship the King. Bow down to Him. Submit their lives to Him.

Trust in Him, and Him alone for salvation and forgiveness of sins.

We see a picture of this in the Christmas story too.

The Magi came to Christ and when they found Him the Bible says, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy, and they fell down and worshiped him.

They offered gifts to Him. Gifts fit for a King: gold, frankincense, and myrrh (Matthew 2:10-11).

That’s what it looks like to kiss the Son.

You rejoice with joy over His salvation.

Fall down and worship Him who has the Name that is above every name.

And you give all of your life to Him in worship.

Those are the two paths: Herod or the Magi.

Rebellion or submission.

Blasphemy or Worship.

Which are you?

Do you worship the King or will you perish in the way?

Conclusion

In Jesus’ Kingdom, there is Rest.

In Jesus’ Kingdom there is blessing.

In Jesus’ Kingdom there is life, joy, righteousness, and peace.

And the way into the Kingdom is you must be born again. You must repent of your sins and trust in Christ.

There is no other way to live in the heavenly Promised Land of God’s blessing, and to dwell in the House of the Lord where God Himself dwells in the midst of His people.

This is good news. Our sins can be forgiven, and instead of curse, God covers us with blessing, redeeming what was lost in the Fall.

Joy to the world! The Lord is come. Let earth receive her King!

Jesus Christ is the King who God promised would reign forever on David’s Throne to bless His people with every spiritual blessing.

Let’s Pray

Scripture Reading

Isaiah 9:2, 6-7

The people who walked in darkness

have seen a great light;

those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness,

on them has light shone....

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.

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