Introducing the kingdom (introduce with Ex. 19:3-6)
1. Under the Old Testament law God said the Hebrews would be “His possession.”
2. Israel would be a “holy nation.”
3. Before the New Testament was instituted, Israel was even a “kingdom of priests.”
4. Ex. 19:6 tells us about an important historical fact.
5. God had a kingdom on the earth, but this kingdom was headquartered in heaven.
6. God ruled this kingdom from where He dwells.
7. Beginning tonight we want to take a little time to study about the word kingdom.
8. Tonight’s material serves as an introduction to this subject.
LONG AFTER THE INFORMATION IN EX. 19 WAS GIVEN, THE HEBREWS RECEIVED A PROPHECY.
a) The promise I have in mind is described quite well in 2 Sam. 7.
b) Verse 9 of 2 Sam. 7 says God had been with king David.
c) God had made David great and given him a lot of help defeating enemies.
2) Because David was a man, he would one day die (2 Sam. 7:12).
3) In spite of leaving this earth, David would continue to be great.
4) Verse 9 promises David’s name would become one of the most well known names in the world.
5) God would accomplish this by doing two things:
a) A kingdom would be established.
b) About a thousand years after this kingdom a special descendant would come into the world (Jesus).
6)
Let’s take a
look at 2 Sam. 7:12-14 – READ.
a)
Some of the
prophecies in the Bible have what is called a dual fulfillment.
b)
We might
compare these to a tool that has more than one use.
c)
A knife can
cut food, but it can also pry two things apart.
d)
2 Sam. 7
foreshadowed two different persons:
Solomon and Jesus.
e)
Solomon would
reign after David and establish a great kingdom (verse 12).
f)
Eventually
Jesus would come and, notice verse 13, “build a house.”
g)
Solomon built
a house.
7)
Long after
Solomon came someone else who was in the construction business.
8)
Jesus came and
He too build a house.
9)
Paul called
this house the church in 1 Tim. 3:15.
10)
As with any
construction project, a structure must have a location.
11)
Solomon built
the temple in Jerusalem.
12)
The second
building project was also in Jerusalem.
13)
We are through
with 2 Sam. 7 and are now ready for Isaiah 2.
14)
First Samuel
lays a foundation and Isaiah 2 takes us to the next stage.
15)
What Isaiah
said must have been pretty important because it was repeated by someone else.
16)
In the opening
verses of Micah 4 we find the same prophecy.
17)
For our
purposes we will look at and stay with Isa. 2:2-3.
18)
Isaiah looked
forward to a building project which would occur in the “latter days.”
19)
Here is what
he said – READ Isa.
2:2-3.
a)
700 years
before Jesus was born Isaiah referred to “Jehovah’s house.”
b)
He spoke of a
great attraction that would be of interest to all kinds of people.
c)
By this time
Solomon had already built the temple.
The kingdom of Israel had split.
d)
At this period
in history, Solomon and the physical Jerusalem were out of the picture.
e)
Isaiah looked
for to a building project which would unite people.
f)
“All nations”
would flow into the house of God.
g)
This is
another clue.
h)
Jews were
particular about their temple. They
didn’t want “all nations” in it.
20)
At the end of
verse 3 we find references to “Zion” and “Jerusalem.”
21)
Whatever was
going to be built would also be in the area of Jerusalem.
22)
Perhaps to
identify what was meant a description is given.
23)
God’s house
would be “above the hills” and have all sorts of “nations flowing
into it.”
a)
This is one of
the oddest statements in the entire Bible.
b)
On the outside
of this building there is guttering.
c)
Attached to
the guttering is a series of downspouts.
d)
Water flows
into the guttering and then moves downward through the spouts.
e)
What if we had
a rainstorm where the water went up the downspouts instead of down?
f)
Such a strange
sight would attract the attention of a lot of people.
24)
Isaiah used
this illustration to describe God’s house.
25)
Notice again
the description.
26)
The house
would be high above the hills and on a mountain but people would
flow UP to it.
27)
By wording the
point in this way he described something supernatural; a building from God.
28)
It certainly
could not be anything like the temple built by Solomon.
29)
By using both
the old and new testaments we can determine what was built.
30)
Back in 2 Sam.
7 it is described as a kingdom.
31)
Isaiah
presented it as something that would appeal to all nations and be built by God.
32)
He put the
time of construction as being in the “latter days.”
33)
Furthermore,
this kingdom is associated with the giving of a law and the “word of
the Lord.”
34)
When this
house was built, God would be providing a law as well as information.
35)
As we continue
to look at the Bible we find more and more information about heaven’s promise.
36)
Daniel,
another prophet, described this same subject in Dan. 2.
37)
Daniel was
living under Babylonian rule.
38)
The king of
Babylon had a bad dream that he wanted explained.
39)
After a series
of events Daniel came forward and explained what the dream meant.
40)
Daniel’s
explanation sheds lots of light on 2 Sam. 7 and Isa. 2.
41)
If you have
found the second chapter of Daniel, let’s read verses 39-40 – READ.
42)
When Daniel
spoke to the Babylonian king, Babylon was the world power.
a)
Daniel said a
change would occur.
b)
A time would
come when another kingdom would arise.
c)
Then a third
kingdom would come into power.
d)
Finally a
fourth new king would arise.
43)
Daniel spoke
these words about 540 B.C.—about 500 years before Jesus came into the world.
44)
Daniel knew
that before Jesus came along there would be 4 different world empires.
45)
As we look
back at history, we find that he was exactly right.
46)
Babylon was in
power when Daniel spoke these words and Daniel spoke about this kingdom.
47)
Babylon came
into power about 606 B.C. and lasted till 536 B.C.
48)
Not too long
after Daniel had this conversation with the king Babylon lost its dominion.
49)
A quick check
of history says the next world empire was the Persian kingdom.
50)
From 536-332
B.C. the Medes and Persians were in power.
51)
Then came the
Greek rule (321-146 B.C.). Daniel said
he saw four kingdoms (powers).
52)
What is of
special interest to us is that last kingdom.
53)
Verse 39 says
this kingdom would “rule over all the earth.”
54)
During the
existence of this fourth kingdom God’s great promises would be enacted.
55)
Who was
kingdom number four, and when was it in power?
56)
After 146 B.C.
the Romans came into the power, the people we read about in the New Testament.
57)
Romans ruled
from 146 B.C. to 400 A.D.
58)
Now that we
have this information let’s move down to Dan. 2:44-45 – READ.
59)
Verse 45
describes the four kingdoms as iron, brass, clay, silver and gold.
60)
Each
description was a perfect portrayal of the world powers.
61)
During the
time of the fourth kingdom (Rome), something would happen.
62)
Verse 44 says
another kingdom would be established.
63)
This kingdom
would “stand forever” (44b).
64)
Verse 45
associates it with a “stone” cut from a mountain and “without
hands.”
65)
How can a
stone be cut from a mountain without hands?
66)
Think back to
the point made in Isa. 2; people are pictured as flowing in an upward
direction.
67)
Both images
point to an act of God; deity doing some omething special and unique.
68)
Both Isaiah
and Daniel spoke about the kingdom promised in 2 Sam. 7.
69)
These men knew
what God had promised and that He would keep His word.
70)
At the end of
verse 45 we find Daniel’s words were “certain.”
71)
This man knew
beyond any certainty that his explanation was right.
72)
Take all this
information and mentally move forward to first century Israel.
73)
The right
kingdom (the fourth kingdom—Rome) was in power.
74)
A man by the
name of John the Baptist showed up and began preaching.
75)
He spoke about
the “kingdom of God” and said it was “at hand.”
Jesus then came along and began to say lots and lots of things about the
kingdom.
76)
What God had
promised long ago in the New Testament came into existence in the first
century.
a)
Jesus and John
were talking about the church.
b)
Church and
kingdom are often synonyms for the same group of people.
c)
How do we know
that?
d)
According to
Eph. 4:4-5, God has only “one body.”
77)
If the church
is one body and the kingdom is another, how could Paul say there is only one?
78)
The word church
describes those who have obeyed the gospel.
79)
Kingdom describes this same group but deals with
people who cannot be included in the church.
80)
I would
compare the thought to the Godhead.
81)
There is only
one God, but we know there are three components to Him, Father, Son, Holy
Spirit.
82)
There is only
body of the saved, but it is designated as both the church and the kingdom.
83)
Infants cannot
be a member of the church but they are saved.
84)
Thus, they can
be described as being in the kingdom.
85)
The church is
a body of people that needs rules for daily living and service to God.
86)
Being in the
kingdom says we will have both a king and His laws to follow.
87)
God went to a
lot of trouble to create the kingdom we know as the church.
88)
He wants
people to be a member of it and not any other.
89) Have we taken that step?