In our last issue we saw some of the prophecies of the coming king and kingdom. We ended in the gospel of Matthew.
Matthew 2:1-2 1Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem, 2Saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him.
Here we see Jesus is called the "king of the Jews."
Mark 1:1 The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God;
Here, Jesus is called the "Son of God." Look at the New American Standard.
NAS John 18:37 Pilate therefore said to Him, "So You are a king?" Jesus answered, "You say correctly that I am a king. For this I have been born, and for this I have come into the world, to bear witness to the truth. 'Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice.'"
Do you remember what David called Saul?
I Samuel 24:6 And he said unto his men, The LORD forbid that I do this thing unto my master, the LORD'S anointed, to stretch forth mine hand against him, seeing he is the anointed of the LORD.
The Greek here reads Christos, for the word anointed: "the Christ."
I Samuel 2:10 The adversaries of the LORD shall be broken to pieces; out of heaven shall he thunder upon them: the LORD shall judge the ends of the earth; and he shall give strength unto his king, and exalt the horn of his anointed.
Again, the word anointed is the Greek word Christos in the Septuagint (LXX).
Psalm 18:50 Great deliverance giveth he to his king; and showeth mercy to his anointed, to David, and to his seed forevermore.
Once again, the word anointed is the word Christos (LXX).
So, you see the king who ruled for God was called, "God's anointed" or "God's Christos," God's Christ.
This is the understanding of the word Christos, it means "God's anointed" or "the anointed one," and it was understood and associated with the King who rules for God.
II Samuel 22:51 He is the tower of salvation for his king: and showeth mercy to his anointed, unto David, and to his seed forevermore.
Here the anointed was "the king", the Christos (LXX).
I Chronicles 22:9-10 9Behold, a son shall be born to thee, who shall be a man of rest; and I will give him rest from all, his enemies round about: for his name shall be Solomon, and I will give peace and quietness unto Israel in his days. 10He shall build a house for my name; and he shall be my son, and I will be his father; and I will establish the throne of his kingdom over Israel forever.
God's king was called "God's son." God's king was called "God's anointed," or "Christ." And God's king would rule over his (God's) kingdom Israel.
Now, let me read to you Mark 1:1 again, and for one moment with all that I have taught you so far about the hope of Israel, listen to these words:
This is a powerful verse. I trust you will never read the word Christ again carelessly. This is the one whom the whole nation of Israel was waiting for. This is the one who would restore the kingdom and rule over it. This was God's son, his king, his anointed, his Christ.
Now look at Luke 4:
Luke 4:41-43 41And devils also came out of many, crying out, and saying, Thou art Christ the Son of God. And he rebuking them suffered them not to speak: for they knew that he was Christ. 42And when it was day, he departed and went into a desert place: and the people sought him, and came unto him, and stayed him, that he should not depart from them. 43And he said unto them, I must preach the kingdom of God to other cities also: for therefore am I sent.
Look at the New Jerusalem translation of Luke 8.
NJB Luke 8:1 Now it happened that after this he made his way through towns and villages preaching and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom of God. With him went the twelve,
If you will study the phrase 'kingdom of God' and 'kingdom of heaven', you will see that is was one of Jesus' central themes.
His miracles of healing and resurrection were prophetic foretastes of future conditions when He reigns as King. He offered Himself to Israel as their King. However, Israel rejected Him.
John 1:11 He came unto his own, and his own received him not.John 19:14-21 14And it was the preparation of the passover, and about the sixth hour: and he saith unto the Jews, Behold your King! 15But they cried out, Away with him, away with him, crucify him. Pilate saith unto them, Shall I crucify your King? The chief priests answered, We have no king but Caesar.16Then delivered he him therefore unto them to be crucified. And they took Jesus, and led him away. 17And he bearing his cross went forth into a place called the place of a skull, which is called in the Hebrew Golgotha: 18Where they crucified him, and two other with him, on either side one, and Jesus in the midst. 19And Pilate wrote a title, and put it on the cross. And the writing was, JESUS OF NAZARETH THE KING OF THE JEWS. 20This title then read many of the Jews: for the place where Jesus was crucified was nigh to the city: and it was written in Hebrew, and Greek, and Latin. 21Then said the chief priests of the Jews to Pilate, Write not, The king of the Jews; but that he said, I am King of the Jews.
They rejected their king. And people want to try to say that Satan is not alive and well and working in the religious leaders! They were the ones who were demonized, promoting the Adversary's plan.
Matthew 23:37-39 37O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not! 38Behold, your house is left unto you desolate. 39For I say unto you, Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.
Well, they did kill him, but God raised him from the dead. In the next administration things will be so bad that finally Israel will at one point turn to God and say, "Blessed is he who cometh in the name of the lord."
When this event takes place, Jesus will then return to the earth with his saints as lord of lords and king of kings and begin to subdue the earth and the kingdoms of the earth and set up the millennial kingdom here on this planet! We will be part of that kingdom and reign with him for a thousand years. Look at the book of Acts.
Acts 1:1-3 1The former treatise have I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach, 2Until the day in which he was taken up, after that he through the Holy Ghost had given commandments unto the apostles whom he had chosen: 3To whom also he showed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God:
During those six weeks Jesus spoke of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God. He wanted his people to know that it was still coming. He wanted them to have the hope that was promised to their forefathers.
Can you picture how excited these apostles and disciples must have been to see Jesus in his resurrected body and hear him teach about this coming kingdom that was prophesied throughout the Old Testament? After all that Jesus went through, they must have thought, 'finally he's up from the dead; it must be time for the prophecies to come to pass. The kingdom must be here.' Put yourselves in their position. Don't you think you would be ready and waiting for the word from a risen savior?
Acts 1:6-7 6When they therefore were come together, they asked of him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel? 7And he said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power.
Do you mean to tell me that this was a spiritually immature, dumb question to ask the Lord? I don't know of any other question I would even think to ask! Just sit there for a minute and think.
Israel had lost the kingdom through their disobedience to God. They knew how it was in the days of old when their forefathers obeyed God and how the kingdom prospered. They were aware of the prophecies throughout the Old Testament of the restoration of the kingdom and the rightful king to come to rule over this kingdom.
They were under Roman rule and oppression. They cried to God for the redeemer, the savior who would come and set them free. This king would be called the Christ, the Son of God, the anointed one. This king was Jesus. Do you mean to tell me that you wouldn't want to know when this kingdom was coming?
How excited those wonderful believers must have been with godly anticipation.
To be continued…ÿ
Note: All scripture is from the King James Version unless otherwise noted. NIV indicates The New International Version, NKJV indicates the New King James Version, ASV means the American Standard Version, NJB means the New Jerusalem Bible, BBE means the Bible in Basic English, DBY means the Darby translation, NAU means the American Standard Version, 1995 Edition, and NAB means the New American Bible translation. For more information, go to the Works Cited page.