The King of Eternity
Series: Who is this King?
Brad Bailey – Dec. 11, 2022
Intro
Many maybe familiar with these words written down by the prophet Isaiah…for which at least the central portion is declared around the celebration of the birth of Christ.
Context – the people had called for a king
Isaiah 9:1-7
Nevertheless, there will be no more gloom for those who were in distress. In the past he humbled the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the future he will honor Galilee of the nations, by the Way of the Sea, beyond the Jordan—
2 The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned.
6 For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. 7 Of the greatness of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this.
Isaiah 9:1-7
Nevertheless, there will be no more gloom for those who were in distress. In the past he humbled the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the future he will honor Galilee of the nations, by the Way of the Sea, beyond the Jordan—
2 The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned.
It begins “nevertheless”… because the prophetic words had just be describing the darkness among those living in this land. tribes of Zebulun and Naphtali were two of the twelve sons of Jacob… that became two of the twelve tribes of Israel… who were conquered and oppressed. And Isaiah calls it “a place of darkness” because by Isaiah’s time it was populated primarily by pagans, and the few Jews remaining had difficulty holding onto their ancestral faith and tradition.
What was the land of these people…from which a light would dawn? It was the areas of Israel way up north in the province called Galilee by the great Sea of Galilee.
The had been humbled… turned from God and were conquered…and their land was a pathway for many foreign soldiers to pass… and add insult to injury.
In a sense… they could represent all of us well. All know forms of darkness…of gloom and distress.
A light has dawned… a light has come.
It is like the light at the end of a dark tunnel…in sheer darkness on may be alive…but yet cut off from real life.
That is the nature of people in the midst of their suffering… to which the sight of light appears… the light of dawn.
When the light at the end of the tunnel is seen… everything changes… you are now defined by what is ahead.
When the first light of dawn appears… you can now wait…not in the despair of darkness but in the anticipation of light.
That is the nature of what is called ADVENT.
The word “advent” is derived from the Latin adventus…which means the “coming”). It is a time prior to the Christmas holiday… of focusing on the nature of hope that was to come in the birth of Christ.
Clear this is speaking of this child as more than any mere human figure,
Isaiah 9:1-7
6 For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. 7 Of the greatness of his government and peace there will be no end.
And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
He will be known to be of God in nature… and most notably for our focus…
“the government will be on his shoulders.”
He is the ultimate governance… everything will rest upon him.
This is why he is referred to as…the king of kings.
Series… Who is this King?...in which we are unpacking the nature of how this child…is not merely a king… but a king unlike any earthly king. [1]
In speaking of Christ as king… our imagination can serve well when we understand that it points beyond the earthly correlations.
Every way in which God communicates his nature with human correlations are given with both comparison as well as contrast.
When the Bible speaks of God as Father… at once it speaks of forming us in His nature… of extending His home to us… of His provision for us…but it also is clear that these are only lesser reflections of the more perfect nature of God. God can rightfully be called our Father… the very one who endows us… and in whom a bond never meant to be broken lies. But God transcends the failures inherent to every human father.
And so it is with speaking of God as King.
The imagery of thrones and crowns… may serve to capture the nature of sovereign authority… but they can only point… point to that which transcends the vanity of earthly power.
And so it is with referring to sitting on David’s throne. God… knew that he people had sought an earthly king…and David had become a symbol of the best times. So God speaks of one who will sit on the throne of David…but whose governing will never end. . The reference to an earthly king was meant to point beyond such an earthly rule… not be reduced to the vanity of human governance.
The people wanted a quick earthly kingdom…and they couldn’t see beyond their desire to restore their national identity.
Had they really listened to the prophets, they would have heard that the prophets had spoken of the coming of a Messiah… a king from heaven…who would suffer….and then be exalted.
When Jesus comes… he is quite clear…the kingdom has come…but it’s the inauguration of the Kingdom…which will only later be fully established. The Kingdom would first be inaugurated… with a great sacrificial but triumphal work….and then a time would come when this age would come to an end.
So he speaks of how the kingdom will grow over time.
He speaks of a process of sowing seeds.
And he speaks of “This age…and the age to come…when he returns to finally unite heaven and earth.
SO advent is about joining in the waiting and welcome of the king… who has come…and is to come
This child… is the one whose reign will never end.
The child is the dawn of a change over the whole of creation.
As the promise of the prophet Isaiah declares…All of you who are suffering, in distress, in oppression, experiencing the sorrow of this world, take heart - a child will be born who will be wonderful (the one who does difficult, hard, or even miraculous things), and all wise. He will be divine and all-powerful; he was here from the beginning, and has come to bring peace between us and God and others. As a result of his reign, gloom and distress will be changed to honor and joy; darkness to light; all enemies will be destroyed, there will be no more war, but this child will reign forever over a kingdom of peace, justice and righteousness. The Lord Almighty will accomplish this.
The vision described in the Biblical Book of Revelation says…
Revelation 11:15 - The seventh angel sounded his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, which said: "The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he will reign for ever and ever."
Revelation 21:1, 3-5
Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,”[a] for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away… 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. 4 ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”
5 He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” Then he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.”
This vision captures the ultimate fulfillment of a radical transformation.
This is the King of eternity uniting earth with heaven.
While such an eternal kingdom is far more vast than we can expound upon today… ket me note a few vital truths which God gives us.
The nature of the eternal kingdom is the timeless and truly good nature of God.
The very nature of eternity is beyond our capacity to grasp.
We are so defined by time…that we can’t grasp existence that is beyond time.
We try to imagine a line that goes out in both directions…but it always has some end.
And that describes our relationship to time.
We are bound within time.
We exist within time as a fixed point to which everything is bound. There is a lot of debate about the nature of time… fascinating and beyond my understanding.
But there is that which points to the source of our existence being outside time and space as we know it.
The Bible says a fixed and final point was set into place when creation was separated from the will of God… creating an existence defined by the boundaries of time. (Genesis 3:14-19)
Eternal existence is not the exception… our temporal condition is the exception.
We are in a state in which all of creation has been subjected to life that outside of the orbit of God’s will.
We exist in the outer state of defiance… what Jesus refers to as “the outer darkness”… outside the orbit of God’s will.
As a consequence…this world lives in a state of entropy… disordering….where nothing lasts.
Not surprisingly… we find that the Kingdom’s of this earth… seek to be enduring… … but they can never fulfill what they long for.
By implosion or decay…they end.
The average human empire lasts 250 years…and that number is decreasing.
Even now…all around the world governments are being protested against…and overturned.
And in essence …every human life is a kingdom of it’s own… something we should know well.
Burger King began a successful ad campaign with the slogan: “Have It Your Way,”
A slogan made for the modern man.
Just a few weeks ago…they announced that after nearly 50 years…they were changing their slogan… kicking off their new modernized tagline, "You Rule."
We tend to see ourselves as in some sort of higher position and perspective than we have.
We are finite…and yet speak as if we are in a position to know the infinite.
When Job raised challenges to God…God asked Job… “Where were you when I laid the foundations of the world?”
When we grasp our state… we begin to hear the declaration that there is that which is not bound by time.
The eternal kingdom… can never be shaken.
It is more than permanent… it was never created. It has always existed. [2]
Our finite are limited in trying to grasp the infinite.
And it is also hard to think of eternity in anything other than our current state. And that may NOT sound very positive.
So it’s vital to understand that the eternal kingdom transcends the state of this world.
However heaven and earth unite… it is beyond the nature of this material state.
(Jesus’ body is a hint…)
This is WHY the emphasis is on the defeat of death…in defeating death … it is the defeat of the ultimate symbol of a world separated from the eternal and bound in time and entropy and separation.
The scope of the eternal Kingdom is extended to all that is united in God’s will.
When a new comes into a land… they may rule over the land…but their true kingdom is defined by who aligns with them.
People belong to the kingdom they give their allegiance to.
That is essentially the nature of creation.
It is in a state of separation.
Kingdom = the “king’s dome”… sphere of the will and good prevails… and unites.
Not simply defined by a place with WALL… but by where the WILL of the King is
“The scope of God’s Kingdom is not defined by a WALL… but by where the WILL of the King is reigns.”
Think of the Lord’s prayer – your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. The kingdom of God is wherever God’s will is done – where His love, peace, justice, and righteousness reign.
What we are moving forward…is the expansion of his reign…in ourselves…where we have accepted it and now affirm it with every choice…but also in the creation and fellow children. It is not a war between comparable powers…but of extending the scope of the only true kingdom.
The Eternal Kingdom has staked it’s claim upon creation…expanding to every group as it seeks the will of those endowed with it’s spiritual nature. [3]
Why is this eternal kingdom extended to us?
The motive of the eternal Kingdom is love… God extending His eternal love to us.
Ephesians 1:4… lets read it aloud together…
“Long before He laid down the earth’s foundation, He had us in His mind and settled on us as the focus of His love to be made whole and holy by His love.” - Ephesians 1:4 (MSG)
We need to understand this, God says He made you, to love you. God made you to love you.
You were created to be loved by God.
He didn’t need you. He wasn’t lonely. But He made you in order to love you. He didn’t need you, He wanted you. [4]
2 Corinthians 5:1
“When this tent we live in – our body here on earth – is torn down. God will have a house in Heaven for us to live in. A home He himself has made, which will last forever.” 2 Corinthians 5:1 (GNT)
You want to know how much you matter to God. Well, I’ll tell you – you matter so much to God; He wants to keep you with Him for the rest of eternity. For the rest of eternity – that’s how much you matter to God. He wants to keep you with Him forever. [5]
What did the prophecy declare? To US a child is born. If Jesus was a regular child, the verse would read “unto Mary and Joseph a child was born.”
… but he was born “unto us” …to all who lived in darkness of our own defiance.
The eternal Kingdom is rooted in love… extending God’s eternal love to us.
What is the means to the Kingdom?
The connection to the eternal Kingdom is Christ.
Luke 17:20-37
Once, on being asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, Jesus replied, “The coming of the kingdom of God is not something that can be observed, 21 nor will people say, ‘Here it is,’ or ‘There it is,’ because the kingdom of God is in your midst.”
The Lord Jesus tells the Pharisees that "it comes not with observation." It won’t arise as some earthly political power.. it won’t come with some public display of honor.
The kingdom was actually right in their midst…right in front of them.
There in a manager at Bethlehem… few are aware.
When he began to declare the Kingdom… the rulers and Pharisees had no eyes to see it. They professed to be waiting for the kingdom…but they were only looking for a political figure wielding political power.
The kingdom of God was actually in the midst of them! Yet they could not see it! The kingdom was there in their midst…in the one who had entered humanity and was the exact representation of God’s nature.
It was Christ who embodies the nature and will of God… and they would not accept it.
It is Christ who gave his life in fulfillment of the will of God.
Christ is already the King. He reigns supreme.
Philippians 2:9-11 tells us
“Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” - Philippians 2:9-11
It’s not a matter of Christ becoming king.
It’s a matter of our surrender.
If we are His subjects …we should live every minute of our lives in faithful submission to the lordship of Jesus Christ realizing His preeminence and sovereignty
It may seem strange the way we sing of Jesus…as if a name had power.
In the western sense it has none… in the understanding that a name is what one represents… it a recognition of God.
Our engagement with the eternal Kingdom is the person of Christ.
In Jesus Christ, time and eternity meet. [6] As the Apostle Paul writes in the Scriptures,
Colossians 1:15-17
The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16 For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. 17 He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. - Colossians 1:15-17
CLOSING
This Christmas season,,,
The child of Christmas
Christmas…is not about the birth of a child…but of a king…and an unending Kingdom
“Kingdom of God cannot be found in observance…but is right here… embodied. Speaks to the nature of modern man… which expects God to be bound within the created…
The Kingdom is not going to to be found in any political scene…. Look KingMeets us in a person…
Mary…
Luke 1:32-33
“Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God. 31 You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. 32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, 33 and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.”
38 And Mary said, “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.”
• “I am the Lord’s servant,” our life takes on eternal significance, and eternal life becomes our reality.
• Mary also said, “May it be to me as you have said.”
C.S. Lewis [7]
“There are only two kinds of people in the end: those who say to God, "Thy will be done," and those to whom God says, in the end, "Thy will be done." – C.S. Lewis
Resources: This sermon is original in it’s structure and points, but I found helpful elements of thought from several resources including the following: Eternal – sermon contributed by Gordon Pike here:https://www.sermoncentral.com/sermons/eternal-gordon-pike-sermon-on-time-234143;
The Kingdom of Christ is coming by Rev. Mendel Retief here: https://theseed.info/sermon.php?id=1293;
THE ETERNAL KINGDOM OF THE PRINCE OF PEACE by Andy Davis; How Big Is God? BY DAVID JEREMIAH - here: https://www.davidjeremiah.org/knowgod/god-is-eternal
Notes:
1. Our Vineyard national movement of churches begins it’s statement of faith… of belief …stating…
GOD THE KING AND THE HOLY TRINITY
We believe that God is the Eternal king. He is an infinite, unchangeable Spirit, perfect in holiness, wisdom, goodness, justice, power and love. From all eternity He exists as the One Living and True God in three persons of one substance, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, equal in power and glory. - Statement of Faith - VineyardUSA
2. Colossians 1:13-14
For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. - Colossians 1:13-14
Notice – he has brought us now into the kingdom of the Son, the reign of God.
It is not just about a future state… eternity exists now.
And through Christ…we can begin that relationship.
3. Those who simply wanted an earthly kingdom… wanted God to bring it quickly….but the entire known world would be lost. God says he seeks to reach the nations. As the Scriptures explain…He is not slow…but rather He seeks for those from every tongue tribe and nation.
2 Peter 3:9 - The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.
“When the Communists came to power in China in 1949, they expelled all the foreign missionaries. Back then there were 700,000 Christians. For decades no one knew what was happening to the church or if it even survived. But by 1980 there were at least 10 million Christians in China. Today there may be as many as 100 million.”
Nothing can stop it. There is no power, no policy, and there are no pundits that can reverse what God is doing.
4. Consider also:
This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. - 1 John 4:9-10
Psalm 100 says, “The Lord is good; His mercy is everlasting, and His truth endures to all generations” (verse 5).
He will always be merciful…always love beyond the nature of what you deserve. To all who will come to Him.
Note: For all eternity, we will be those who deserved judgement due to the past…but are living because of His everlasting mercy… a mercy with eternal merits.
5. C.S. Lewis
“…our lifelong nostalgia, our longing to be reunited with something in the universe from which we now feel cut off, to be on the inside of some door which we have always seen from the outside, is no mere neurotic fancy, but the truest index of our real situation. And to be at last summoned inside would be both glory and honor beyond all our merits and also the healing of that old ache.” -
-C.S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory, "The Weight of Glory", Ch 1, pp 15-16
C.S. LEWIS - HEAVEN
Your soul has a curious shape because it is a hollow made to fit a particular swelling in the infinite contours of the divine substance, or a key to unlock one of the doors in the house with many mansions. For it is not humanity in the abstract that is to be saved, but you - you, the individual reader. . . Blessed and fortunate creature, your eyes shall behold Him and not another's. All that you are, sins apart, destined, if you will let God have His good way, to utter satisfaction. . . Your place in heaven will seem to be made for you and you alone, because you were made for it.
-C. S. Lewis, The Problem of Pain, Ch 10, p. 147-148+
6. Consider also: Jesus, in one of His final moments with His Disciples prayed: “And now, Father, glorify me in Your presence with the glory I had with You before the world began” (John 17:5). The glory that Jesus had BEFORE the world began. The Bible describes the incarnation … God becoming man … in this way: “[Jesus] who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped but made Himself nothing … taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness” (Philippians 2:6-7). - Eternal – sermon contributed by Gordon Pike here: https://www.sermoncentral.com/sermons/eternal-gordon-pike-sermon-on-time-234143
7. C.S. Lewis, The Great Divorce, Chapter 9 (1946)
