“ ‘And it shall be, when your days are fulfilled, when you must go to be with your fathers, that I will set up your seed after you, who will be of your sons; and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build Me a house, and I will establish his throne forever. I will be his Father, and he shall be My son; and I will not take My mercy away from him, as I took it from him who was before you. And I will establish him in My house and in My kingdom forever; and his throne shall be established forever.’ “ (I Chronicles 17:11-14. NKJV). “ ‘ He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God will give 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.’ “ (Luke 1:32:33. NKJV) ‘” ‘ Has not the Scripture said that the Christ comes from the seed of David and from the town of Bethlehem, where David was?’ “ (John 7:42. KJV) [Read also 2 Samuel 7:12-13; Matthew 1:6; John 7:4].Messianic prophecies were well-known that the Savior would be of “the seed of David,” Israel’s most beloved and honored King. The Scribes, the Pharisees and the Sadducees, as well as devout Jews who studied the Scriptures diligently, had looked forward since the time of David to a King who would establish a kingdom and rid oppressed Jews of the overlords that had political dominion of the nation. Nathan the prophet told David he would have a successor who would be such a king. This prophecy is recorded in both 2 Samuel and I Chronicles. It was not that the knowledge of the Messiah’s coming was not well-known among the Jews. The sad commentary is that Jesus “came unto His own and His own received Him not” (John 1:11). A preconceived notion of a political kingdom blinded many to the Truth of the spiritual kingdom Jesus established. When on trial before Pilate, the Roman ruler, Jesus stated: “My kingdom is not of this world; if My kingdom were of this world, then would My servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now is my kingdom not from here.” (John 18:36. NKJV).
We live on this side of the trial, crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus. We live in the age of the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost on gathered believers who had come to realize that an earthly kingdom was not in the plan of God when He sent Jesus into the world. Jesus was for all peoples and for every age, and that still remains his Messianic mission. Listen to Jesus’ own words in John 1:12-13: “But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.” (John 1:12-14). The Kingdom of God, though in an earthly manner through the descent of King David, was born in the heart of God. And with belief and acceptance, each of us individually becomes a part of that spiritual kingdom. Praise be to God!
c Ethelene Dyer Jones; Thursday, December 2, 2010
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