To answer that last question, we need to refer to the book of Deuteronomy.
This book contains the final sermon Moses preached to his people before they crossed over to Canaan. This was even before they had judges to keep the peace. With uncanny foresight, Moses predicts Israel would ask for a king once they settled in. God knew what His people were capable of and in His wisdom instructed Moses to prepare them for that day.
You have to read this carefully.
Deut 17: 4-17
4 When you enter the land the LORD your God is giving you and have taken possession of it and settled in it, and you say, "Let us set a king over us like all the nations around us," 15 be sure to appoint over you the king the LORD your God chooses. He must be from among your own brothers. Do not place a foreigner over you, one who is not a brother Israelite. 16 The king, moreover, must not acquire great numbers of horses for himself or make the people return to Egypt to get more of them, for the LORD has told you, "You are not to go back that way again." 17 He must not take many wives, or his heart will be led astray. He must not accumulate large amounts of silver and gold.
18 When he takes the throne of his kingdom, he is to write for himself on a scroll a copy of this law, taken from that of the priests, who are Levites. 19 It is to be with him, and he is to read it all the days of his life so that he may learn to revere the LORD his God and follow carefully all the words of this law and these decrees 20 and not consider himself better than his brothers and turn from the law to the right or to the left. Then he and his descendants will reign a long time over his kingdom in Israel.
Now, Israel enjoyed a succession of kings. Some good, some not so good, and some plain rotten! Under their leadership, she rose to new heights of greatness and glory. But in spite of all their achievements, not one of them could fulfill Moses' requisites.
Remember King Solomon? His reign brought peace, prosperity, wisdom and worship to Israel such that neighbouring nations sat up and took notice. But even he was a notorious horse collector, a polygamist (700 wives & 300 concubines!) and indulged in opulent exhibitions of gold and silver!
I am convinced this passage of scripture was more than just a rule for royal hopefuls. It was a messianic requirement and only the real Messiah could fulfil this charge in every sense of the word.
Guess what?
Only Jesus, God's only begotten Son made the cut! He
- was a Jew by birth
- only ever borrowed a donkey and its colt (and didn't send his disciples too far to fetch them either!)
- never married &
- died poor.
From age 12, Jesus simply astounded people with his knowledge of the scriptures. He taught with authority unlike the religious scribes of his day. You'd never describe Jesus as a theologian for his was not intellectual knowledge of God but a spiritual intimate relationship with the One he called Father. He fulfilled every letter of God's law and observed the Jewish calendar, but he was NOT religious. In fact, he constantly irked the religious community by healing on the Sabbath, fraternising with‘sinners' and ignoring their tedious ceremonial forms.
Contrast that with today's enlightened ‘spiritual’ leader who strives to be theologically sound, politically correct and ecumenically unified.
God used Israel's monarchy to teach us about the kingdom of heaven. Saul disqualified himself but King David who succeeded him showed us what the coming Messiah would look like. David had many wonderful qualities but the one quality by which all succeeding kings were eventually judged, was his wholeheartedness in following God. The bible tells us it was David who won the title of man after God's own heart.
I Kings 15: 5 For David had done what was right in the eyes of the Lord and had not failed to keep any of the Lord's commands all the days of his life - except in the case of Uriah the Hittite.
Acts 13: 22-23 And when He had removed him (Saul) , He raised up for them David as king, to whom also He gave testimony and said, ‘I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after My own heart, who will do all My will.’ 23 From this man's seed, according to the promise, God raised up for Israel a Savior—Jesus—
It's important to note that although King David was God's choice, he was NOT the Messiah. David was a messianic witness to Jesus, the Anointed ONE.
The prophet Isaiah made an amazing prediction;
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 increase 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: 6-7
A mere human could never accomplish this. He had to be God and Jesus fit that description perfectly. He confirmed every prophecy spoken of him by complete and total obedience to God the Father.
Nobody could equal or surpass Jesus' achievements. No not one.
Not before. Not after. Not ever.
The author of Hebrews exhorts us to fix our eyes on ONE person.
Hebrews 3: 1-6Therefore holy brothers, who share in the heavenly calling, fix your thoughts on Jesus, the apostle and high priest whom we confess. He was faithful to the one who appointed him, just as Moses was faithful in all God's house. Jesus has been found worthy of greater honour than Moses, just as the builder of a house has greater honour than the house itself. For every house is built by someone, but God is the builder of everything. Moses was faithful as a servant in all God's house, testifying to what would be said in the future. But Christ is faithful as a son over God's house. And we are his house if we hold on to our courage and the hope of which we boast.
Here's another challenge for you.
Why didn't Jesus want to be king? After all he was a bona fide blue-blooded descendant of David's royal house. He could have joined the revolutionaries to overthrow the goverment and sent the Romans packing. The Jews had been waiting for more than 400 years since the last prophetic voice had faded. In their mind the coming of the Messiah would mean national unity and end of pagan rule. Israel could then begin her journey to reclaim her former glory.
When Jesus rode into Jerusalem (once the royal city of David), he had the crowd eating out of his hand. They believed he was the prophet and were prepared to make him their leader.
Read Matthew 21: 8ff
8 A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, while others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. 9The crowds that went ahead of him and those that followed shouted, "Hosanna to the Son of David!" "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!" "Hosanna in the highest!"
Jesus himself never denied he was the King of the Jews. Yet, why didn’t he try to fill the shoes of his ancient predecessor? Isn't that why He came? To ascend David's throne and establish God’s government eternally?
The answer is found in Jesus’ reply to Pontius Pilate.
35"Am I a Jew?" Pilate replied. "It was your people and your chief priests who handed you over to me. What is it you have done?" 36Jesus said, "My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jews. But now my kingdom is from another place." 37"You are a king, then!" said Pilate. Jesus answered, "You are right in saying I am a king. In fact, for this reason I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me."
Ready for this?
The kingdom Jesus came to declare is literally, I mean literally OUT OF THIS WORLD!
To be continued..
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