Date: August 2006 Series: “I want to be Left Behind” (XXII) Title: The Kingdom and Zechariah, the throne of David, and the Gospels

(continued from last month)

     Zechariah – As the return from Babylon and restoration of Judah was underway, Zechariah predicted a number of things pointing ahead to Jesus and the New Covenant era: God’s presence would dwell in Israel’s midst and many nations would join themselves to the Lord (2:10-11); a high priest named “Joshua” symbolized the coming Davidic “Branch,” God would remove sin in one day/event, and then there would be a restoration of covenant brotherhood amongst God’s people (3:8-10); there is a picture of two olive trees/branches standing on either side of a lampstand and these represent two “anointed ones” standing before the Lord of the earth (4:11-14; see Matthew 17:1-9); the coming “Branch” will initiate the building of the Lord’s temple as a priestly-king and Gentiles will be involved (6:12-15; see Ephesians 2:11-22); Israel’s King will come riding on a donkey and speaking peace to the nations while holding authority over the entire earth (9:9-10; compare with Matthew 21:2-5; 28:18 & Ephesians 2:13-17); God will end the covenant with Israel at the same time they place His value at 30 shekels of silver (11:10-14; see: Jeremiah 31:31-34; Matthew 26:15,28; 27:3,9; Hebrews 8); God will pour out on Jerusalem a spirit of grace when they moan as they look at Him pierced and a fountain of forgiveness will be opened up (12:10 - 13:1; see: Hebrews 9:26); God’s associate/shepherd will be struck and His sheep will scatter (13:7; see Matthew 26:31); although Jerusalem suffers assault, God’s messenger will come with His Holy Ones and stand on the Mount of Olives (Matthew 24:3?), there will be a unique day with darkness in the midst of day (Matthew 27:45?), and then the Holy Spirit will flow out of Jerusalem (Acts 1:4-9?) and the Lord will have authority over the whole earth (14:1-9; see: Matthew 28:18; John 17:1-2).

     The throne of David - One of the central facts concerning the Messianic Kingdom is that it is associated with David's lineage from the Patriarchs.  God promised David that the Messianic lineage would continue to be tied to his royal line (2Samuel 7; Psalm 2 & 110) and this is why Jesus is so often referred to as "Son of David."  This is why the Messianic kingdom was focused on the “house of David” and “throne of David” as it was passed on to his descendants.  When trying to understand the “throne of David,” remember that this whole earthly kingdom experiment began with Israelites rejecting God’s program - direct, invisible, heavenly rule over a holy and priestly nation/kingdom (Exodus 19:5-6; 1Samuel 8:7-8).  Essentially, God allowed Saul and then David and his descendants to sit on a proxy throne, ruling as stewards over God’s people.  Thus, the “throne of David” was really the earthly symbol of God’s throne/rulership over the covenant people and this is why we read that the "throne of David" was really the "throne of the Lord" (1Chronicles 29:22-23).  After several centuries of general problems, God brought the Israelite kingdom experiment to an end by means of the Assyrians and Babylonians, promised through Daniel to re-assert His direct rule over His people in the days of the Roman Empire, and by the end of the first century A.D., we find John declaring that this was a reality (Revelation 1:5-6,9).  Through Jeremiah, God declared that no legal royal descendant of Jeconiah would ever sit on a "throne of David" IN JUDAH (Jeremiah 22:30), thus Jesus was exalted and sat down on the "real thing" - God's throne in heaven (Revelation 3:21).  Somehow, the notion that God's kingdom plans require Jesus to someday leave heaven's throne so that He can sit on the "footstool" (Isaiah 66:1) just seems pointless!

     Jesus’ ministry/Gospels - After four centuries of domination by four Gentile empires, the Jews had come to be anxious for political deliverance and, thus, a warrior-Messiah had become a very popular notion.  Jesus appeared at the right time (Daniel 2:44-45; 9:24-27; Galatians 4:4), of the right lineage, and in the right location (Micah 5:2) to be Israel’s Messianic king.  John baptized and authenticated Him, officially presenting Jesus as the One Israel had been waiting for (Matthew 3; John 1:29-34).  He began His ministry by claiming that the time of waiting was now fulfilled and the promised kingdom was “at hand/near in time” (Mark 1:14-15), and it would be powerfully established within the lifetimes of those who saw and heard Him speak (Mark 9:1).  He told a sincerely-searching Sanhedrin member that a spiritual birth would be required both to see and enter the kingdom of God (John 3:3-5), with Kingdom citizens required to become like trusting little children (Matthew 18:1-5; 19:13-14).

     When accused of working by demonic power, Jesus demonstrated the logical foolishness of such a notion and went on to assert that His casting out of demons, by God’s power, was proof that God’s Kingdom was already present (Matthew 12:22-28).

     Jesus employed parables to explain “what the kingdom of God/heaven” is like – He compared the Kingdom and spiritual life to physical plant-life, as beginning with seeds planted in various kinds of soil (Luke 8:4-15).  In Matthew’s collection of Kingdom parables (ch. 13), we find that during the earthly Messianic kingdom, the righteous and unrighteous would co-exist side-be-side and then be separated at the end (vv. 24-30,36-43), the kingdom would resemble a mustard seed in that it would start very small and then grow to great size (vv. 31-32), it would resemble the gradual permeation of dough by leaven (v. 33), it was like a treasure or valuable pearl that one finds and gives up all else to possess (vv. 44-46), and resembled a drag-net in which all kinds of fish accumulate only to be separated at the end (vv. 47-50).  For those expecting/hoping for a kingdom establishment that involved a sudden and explosive transition from earthly human politics to a Messianic earthly monarchy, these parables sounded like foolishness. (to be continued)