The Kingdom of the Father

Hi, this is the Human Proclaim podcast, The Messages of John Fawnville. You're listening to season four called Pray This Way: The Divine Pattern of Righteous Prayer. Here's message number 5 in the series called Righteous Prayer Focuses on the Kingdom of the Father. Let me ask you a question. Why are you created?

Why are you here? When I went to public high school, I was told by my biology professor that I came from an ape. And I was told that there was no rhyme or reason to my creation. Or just simply a cosmic accident that just all of a sudden happened? Just like that smoothie I drank for breakfast this morning.

You just throw it all in the blender and turn it on and out pops a human. Just a big cosmic mistake. See, you're created for no purpose. You live your life for no purpose. Other than how much you can accumulate while you're here, and then once you do that, you go into eternity for no purpose.

So you're created for no purpose. The purpose of your life, you think, is just to get all you can while you're here or while you're getting it. And then when you're done, there's no purpose.

So why are you here? Why are you on this earth? Why are you created? Jesus answers that in this second petition, your kingdom come. Jesus in Matthew chapter 6 is giving us two fundamentally different ways to relate to God in prayer.

In chapter 6, verses 5 through 8, he condemns the unrighteous prayers of the scribes and Pharisees because we've seen their relationship to God was based on a distorted understanding of the Father. They didn't even know the Father. And so therefore their prayers are unrighteous. In contrast, Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount and the Lord's Prayer here. He commends to his disciples a pattern of righteous prayer.

And he focuses us on seven themes of righteous prayer. And all these seven themes focus on God the Father. These seven things reveal the character of God the Father and show how adopted sons of the Father pray to their Heavenly Father.

So the first thing that we saw is that righteous prayer focuses on the knowledge of God as Father. That is, Jesus from the very beginning roots prayer in the highest privilege of the gospel, namely adoption. Second. Righteous prayer focuses on the honor of the Father. A sure mark of true teaching in the church is that it always aims to glorify God, not men.

And that's exactly what Jesus says right here in Matthew chapter 6, verse 2, and Matthew chapter 6, verse 5. He says that the Pharisees and the scribes. Love to pray prayers in public so they can be praised by others. Jesus says, if you truly pray, you want to praise your Heavenly Father. Hello his name.

And so we saw last week that this petition, hallowed be your name, honoring God's name. Flows from the address, our Father. You have to know who the Father is, He's perfectly revealed to us in His Son. And so the first petition, the opening address, Our Father. Then you have the first petition which flows from this opening address: Hallowed be your name, our Father, hallowed be your name.

And then the second petition is implied in the first petition. In other words, if we are acknowledging God as our Heavenly Father, what's more natural than an adopted son to want to see his Father's name honored? And then Jesus says, if our Father dwells and reigns in heaven. then it is incumbent upon us as his subjects in his kingdom to want to acknowledge him as king. To follow him and not to deny his royal majesty, but to hallow his name.

And so, from this hallowing of God's name, recognizing, acknowledging His Lordship, His kingship. arises from an attachment to his kingdom. And so Jesus says, here's the third theme in prayer. They're all interconnected. When you pray, Jesus teaches us to ask our Father in prayer, your kingdom come.

So the third theme that he teaches us is simply this. Righteous prayer focuses on the kingdom of the Father.

Now, beyond all question, the Bible says that God is a great king. Americans have a particular aversion and reservation about kings. Yeah. Our whole country was founded upon a revolutionary act of throwing off the yoke of a king. We like a r a democratic republic.

But to be a Christian It's to be a citizen of a kingdom. and the subjects of the absolute rule of a great king. Listen to Psalm 47, verse 2. For the Lord, the Most High, is to be feared, a great king over all the earth. Listen to Psalm 95 verse 3.

For the Lord is a great God and a great king above all gods. Psalm 103 verse 19, the Lord has established his throne in the heavens and his kingdom rules over all. Our God is a great, great. King. And so in this second petition, Jesus teaches us that the Father's adopted sons, that is, the true subjects of the Father's rule, Pray.

for the consummation of their father's kingdom. Your kingdom come.

So if we are to understand this petition and pray it correctly, There are three important questions that we have to ask and answer. First, what is the kingdom? Your kingdom come, what is it? Second, how does the kingdom come? And third, what does it mean when Jesus says to pray, your kingdom come?

I tried desperately hard to do this in one message, and again, because of my inadequacy as a communicator, I can't fulfill that goal.

So, we are going to answer the first question today: What is the kingdom? I'm going to attempt something that I've never done but always wanted to do at Paramount Church. I'm going to preach the whole Bible to you from Genesis to Revelation in one message. I'm gonna do it. It might take a little time, but I'm going to get there.

But I'm going to go super fast.

So, what I want you to do, and this is what we need to learn anyway: faith comes from hearing.

So sometimes it's just best to sit down and even though you don't even get one tenth of what I'm getting ready to say, just let what I'm going to announce to you act on your life. Because listen, part of the whole Aspect of preaching in church is not so that you understand and remember everything I say week after week. It's so that you come right now in the moment so the kingdom of God's rule and reign can invade your life and change you in your seat right there. That's the purpose for preaching.

So listen very carefully. Here we go, all right? What is the kingdom? The kingdom is both the rule of God and the realm in which he rules.

So... To summarize briefly, we define the kingdom of God, your kingdom come. Here it is, it is God's people. in God's place Under God's rule and blessing. That comes from Graham Goldworthy and Von Roberts.

I'm not going to footnote everything I say, but if you want to know a lot of what I'm saying, read Graham Goldsworthy, Michael Horden, Vaughn Roberts, and there's a couple other guys, Herman Witzius.

Okay, enough footnotes. I'm not original this morning, that's the point. I just want to get that on tape. God's people in God's place under God's rule and blessing. That's the kingdom of God.

And when we pray, your kingdom come, we have to keep in mind that this second petition by Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount, the Lord's Prayer, is given in the context of Jesus' fulfillment of the promises or covenants of the Old Testament.

So, you can't understand your kingdom come until you understand the whole story of the entire Old Testament.

So, while the term kingdom of God is not used in the Old Testament, the concept is found everywhere. In fact, listen, the rule of God, the kingdom of God, the rule of God is not only the very heart of the Old Testament message, it is the unifying, binding theme of the entire Scripture. And the particular architectural structure that binds this whole kingdom of God theme together is the great king's covenants or promises that he makes with his subjects. God's covenant promises are his kingdom promises. He rules over his creation, over his subjects through his covenants.

So, I want you to go all the way back. You don't have to turn there, just in your mind, go all the way back to Genesis 1 and 2. And in the Old Testament, God's kingdom, God's people and God's place under God's rule and blessing, God's kingdom is first revealed in the Garden of Eden where there is a covenant of works. In Genesis 1 and 2, we see the pattern of God's kingdom created in time. This creation account in Genesis 1 and 2, listen to what it does.

It reveals God as Creator and it establishes His right to rule as a great king over His creation. He's the great suzerain. The great king. Cicerin is just simply another name for king. In creation, Adam and Eve were God's people.

They lived in God's place, the Garden of Eden, under God's rule and blessing.

So, to live in this kingdom under his rule and realm is to enjoy his blessing. What is your reason for being created? God created you. He created man to show us what kingdom life is supposed to be like. Life for God's people and God's kingdom consists in enjoying an intimate relationship with Him in His presence without any fear, but total joy and blessing.

Eden, listen carefully. The Garden of Eden, where it was a place where God dwelled, you know what it was? It was a garden temple, it was the temple. of God. It was a dwelling place.

It was a holy sanctuary. It was a holy garden of God. God created Adam to be his priest, to take care and guard his garden temple. And as God's servant priest, God placed Adam under a covenant of works. Genesis 2, 15 through 17.

And he told Adam, he said, Adam, to reach the goal of eternal life, you must remain obedient in your covenant responsibilities. You must take care of the garden as a gardener, and you must protect it as a guardian. You are the priest. You are the servant. You have to obey these covenant responsibilities.

And what happens? Tragically, Adam failed in his covenant responsibilities. And so we come to Genesis 3.

So we have the pattern of the kingdom, Genesis 1 and 2. We come to Genesis 3. We have the perished kingdom. Again, this comes from Von Roberts, these little subheadings. Just for the footnote.

We come to the perished kingdom, Genesis chapter 3. And rather than Adam exercising his priestly authority over the serpent and executing judgment on the serpent, Adam allowed his wife Eve to enter into a covenant with the devil. And Adam, the Bible says, turned his back on his covenant Lord in a self-willed act of idolatrous rebellion. And Hosea chapter 6, verse 7 says that Adam transgressed the covenant. That's Genesis 2, 15 through 17.

And because of his covenant violation, God banishes Adam from his place, from the garden temple, from his presence where blessing was dwelling. Genesis chapter 3, the Lord God sent him out from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he was taken. He drove out the man, and at the east of the Garden of Eden, he placed the cherubim and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life. Consequently, Adam and his wife Eve, and all men now, because we're all in Adam, are no longer God's people, they're driven out. They're no longer God's people living in God's place, the garden, the temple garden, under God's rule and blessing.

Instead, man, instead of enjoying God's presence and blessing, His relationship with his Creator, who is now his judge. Is marked by separation, fear, dread, cursing, judgment, and death. Adam broke the Lord's covenant by failing to give perfect obedience. Failing to submit to the rule of his creator. And subsequently, he suffered the curses of the covenant.

And because Adam was a covenant representative for all of humanity, by his sin, sin and condemnation came into the whole world. The Apostle Paul, Romans chapter 5, verse 19, one trespass, that's Adam, led to condemnation for all men. Adam's failure directly impacts our condition before God, the great king. All men are no longer counted as the great king's loyal subjects, God's people in God's place under God's rule and blessing. In Adam's fall, we all died and encounter condemnation and death.

We're all rebellious subjects of God's great kingdom. And so, listen, obedience as the way to the tree of life. was forever cut off by man. Whoever by their own obedience Tries to obtain eternal life now, since the fall has occurred, that is, to enter back into God's presence in His garden temple. Would meet death because God put a cherubim, an angel with a flaming sword, so that if you tried to enter back into the gate where you were kicked out east of Eden, you would be slaughtered by the angel.

Because you can't come back into God's presence, into his garden temple by your obedience, because you have failed to keep the covenant responsibilities.

So, therefore, there has to be a different way. If man is to reach this goal of the tree of life, God, the great king, would have to send a new Adam. He would have to send a new Adam who would submit to his rule and reign, who would obey his covenant, who would obey his will, who would keep his law and exercise judgment on the devil and crush him on behalf of God's people. And the good news. Is that God the great king?

Who is now God the judge? becomes, listen, the promise-making, promise-performing God, a savior, and he gives the promise of a serpent crusher in Genesis 3.15. And this brings us to the promised kingdom. It goes from Genesis chapter 3 all the way through Genesis 17. And the great king who is creator and now judges becomes a great savior.

And the king is seen as a promise making and performing God on behalf of his rebellious subjects. In his great love, God, the king and creator, makes a promise to restore his kingdom, to bring his rebellious subjects back under his rule and blessing. And his initial promise of restoration is given immediately after Adam's rebellious fall in Genesis 3:15. Listen to the first gospel in the Bible. I will put enmity between you and the woman and between your offspring and her offspring.

He shall bruise your head and you shall bruise his heel. Genesis 3.15 is commonly referred to as the proto-evangelium, the first gospel. This is the first good news in the Bible. Because Adam broke the first covenant, the covenant of works, Genesis 2:15 through 17, God himself makes a second covenant, a covenant of grace. And so, this brings us to the second question: somewhat, how does the kingdom come?

Briefly, this week, here's how God's new rule and blessing comes to us. It comes to us by way of promise, sheer grace, no longer working for our own obedience because we've blown it under the first covenant. We can't go back into the garden through our obedience because we broke it. And the angel was put there and said, never again will you come into my presence through your obedience. It has to come through the great king's promise.

And so immediately after Adam's fall, God makes this unilateral, unconditional promise to send the serpent crusher, the offspring, the seed of Adam and Eve, who will defeat Satan and obtain victory for God's people. This promise of the serpent crusher, this champion seed, this offspring, becomes the central unfolding story of the Bible from now on. How do you read the Bible? The rest of the Bible, from Genesis 3:15 to Revelation 22, is simply this. It is the unfolding story.

of how God the great king is faithful to maintain the offspring of Eve and fulfill his promise to send the serpent crusher to restore his subjects to his kingdom so they can enjoy intimacy and blessing no longer judgment and death. That's the whole Bible story right there. And so we see that God will fulfill. How will he maintain Eve's offspring? See, this champion serpent crusher.

How will he do this? He would do it by a series of unfolding covenants in the Bible. And so in Genesis 1 through 11, We see God's faithfulness to preserve the offspring of Eve in the birth of Seth because Seth was born in the place of Abel, who Cain had murdered. Abel was supposed to be the offspring, and we got a problem. Houston, we got a big problem.

The offspring has been knocked off. It's not going to happen. And God raises up Seth in the place of Cain. And then we come to Genesis 6 through 9, which is a Noahic covenant. Every time you see the rainbow out in creation, remember the Noahic covenant.

In Genesis 6 through 9, God protects Noah and his family in the flood judgment. And by this covenant, God sustains and upholds the natural order of creation so that his promise of the serpent crusher can be preserved through eight people. And Paul says in Galatians 4:4, eventually, in the fullness of God the Father's timetable, he comes. In Genesis chapter 10, we see God's faithfulness carried out in Noah's descendants, which leads to Shem, and in Shem's descendants, which leads us, listen, to Abraham. In Genesis 11, which brings us to the Abrahamic covenant of Genesis 12 through 15.

And so the genealogies of Genesis 5 and Genesis 11 are the links between God's promise of the serpent crusher and Genesis 3:15 and the Abrahamic covenant and Genesis 12 through 15. This is how the seed gets to Abraham. And so when we come to Genesis 12, we learn that God's initial promise in Genesis 3, 15 is more fully revealed to us. It details God's covenant with Abraham.

So I'm just going to quickly take you through the Abrahamic covenant, Genesis 12 through 17. Here we learn that it is by God's gracious, unconditional covenant with Abraham that the offspring of the serpent crusher will come through Abraham's seed. and re-establish God's kingdom. Entrance into God's kingdom, Genesis 12 through 17, teaches us, based upon Paul's reading in Romans 4, teaches us that if you are to come into God's kingdom, it has to come through faith alone and the God who makes a promise to justify the ungodly. For what does the scripture say?

Abraham believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness. In Genesis 12, God calls Abraham and in Galatians 3 verse 8 when he calls Abraham, Paul says in Galatians 3 verse 8, God preached the gospel to him. And he preached the gospel to him in Genesis chapter 12, verses 1 through 3. He makes all these unconditional promises. And if you read Genesis 12, 1 through 3, over and over and over, God says, I will, I will, I will, I will, I will.

And Abraham says nothing. He's just a recipient of an inheritance. God makes all these unconditional promises that through Abraham's offspring, Galatians 3, 16, God will reestablish his kingdom and bring blessing, reversing the curse, to all the nations of the earth. The heart of God's covenant promise with Abraham is summarized in his promise in Genesis 17, verse 7. I will be your God, and you shall be my people.

That's what God's trying to do. That's the purpose for your life. Out of unspeakable and undeserved love, the great king promises to bring his rebellious people back into his kingdom to enjoy this intimate relationship with him in his presence. How will he achieve this? He tells you in Genesis 15, God ratifies his gracious promise to Abraham with a covenant-cutting ceremony.

Let me just quickly explain to how you this works. How will God do this for Abraham and the blessed nations of the earth? You see, the covenant-making ritual was common in Abraham's day. It was the way a covenant was made and ratified. The oath made in this covenant-cutting ceremony was dead serious, literally.

What do I mean by that? The person who took the oath was saying that if he broke the covenant, he would have to become like the severed animals which he walks through.

So while Abraham is sleeping, he's not walking with God through the severity of halves of the animals. Genesis 15 says, he is sound asleep. He's not doing anything. He's not walking. He's not working.

God, the great king, the suzerain, walks alone through the severed halves of the animals, and God's oath and actions are utterly astounding, and here's why. Because as the sovereign king, Lord of the Covenant, God the great king absumes the obligations, including the death penalty, to fulfill his promise of oath to Abraham. He says to Abraham, essentially, who is the great king. I would take a blood oath and invoke death upon myself if I fail to uphold my promise to you today. And while Abraham sleeps and has no obligations placed upon him, God, the great suzerain king, walks by himself through the severed halves of the animals.

And then we come to Genesis 17. And in Genesis 17, we're given circumcision. Circumcision is the sacrament of the Abrahamic covenant, which guarantees, it is the sign and seal, the guarantee that the covenant God made with Abraham is true. This bloody sign of circumcision signified God's covenant with Abraham that when God walked through the bloody severed halves of the animals, he's going to keep it for you. And so circumcision served as a sign and seal, that is a guarantee of God's promise to Abraham and his descendants that through Abraham's offspring, God would reestablish his kingdom so that his people could once again enjoy an intimate relationship with him.

And listen to what circumcision shows us: Genesis 17:7. I will establish my covenant between me and you and your offspring, and after you throughout their generations, for an everlasting covenant to be God to you. And to your offspring after you. He's going to bring his people back. And Paul says when he reads this account in Romans chapter 4 verse 11, circumcision was the sign and seal, the sacrament of the righteousness that Abraham had by faith in the promise of God.

He says he received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. The purpose was to make him the father of all who believe, Abraham is our father, without being circumcised, so that righteousness would be counted to them as well. Entrance into the kingdom comes by believing in the promise of God. And it justifies and makes you righteous. Entrance into God's kingdom does not come by your obedience.

The angel has been placed in front of the garden temple, wielding his sword. You cannot come back in through obedience. You have blown it. It has to come through faith, and grace, and the promise of the great king. And so entrance is not a wage to be earned.

It is an inheritance freely bestowed as a gift by the great king, Romans chapter 4, verses 4 through 5. And so as the sacrament of circumcision served as this sign and seal to assure God's people of his promise, I will be your God and you will be my people.

So from Genesis 18 through 2 Kings, the scriptures record for us how God promises to Abraham are partially fulfilled in the history of Israel.

So that brings us to the partial kingdom, Genesis chapter 18 all the way through 2 Kings. And from the Exodus event, God demonstrates his sovereign kingship over Pharaoh and he redeems his people from slavery in Egypt. Why? Because he had made a promise to Abraham. Because he had made a promise to Adam and Eve, and he is a faithful, promise-keeping, performing, serpent-crushing, sending God, king.

In Exodus chapter 6, verses 6 through 7, God tells Moses to tell the people of Israel why he's going to deliver them. I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. And listen, and I will deliver you from slavery to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm, with great acts of judgment. I will take you to be my people, and I will be your God. And you shall know that I am the Lord your God, who has brought you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians.

He's just simply reating God's promise to Abraham, I will take you to be my people, and I will be your God. He's faithful. His mercies are new every morning. Great is his faithfulness. God graciously makes Abraham's descendants, Exodus 19 verse 5, his people, quote, his treasured possession.

And this brings us to the Mosaic covenant. In Exodus chapter 19 and 20, and Mount Sinai, the great king, gives Israel his law, the Mosaic covenant.

So that they might live under his rule and enjoy his blessings in the land of Canaan, just as Adam and Eve enjoyed God's presence and blessing in the temple garden of Eden before they fell.

So, the land of Canaan is a typological picture of the Garden of Eden all over again. God's blessing in the land of Canaan is seen chiefly in his presence with his people and the tabernacle. But as the story of Israel unfolds, we see that God's firstborn son, Israel, continued to sin and rebel, turning against him and seeking to serve other gods. Therefore, as the story unfolds, God the great king responds by judging them and allowing their enemies to defeat them. And so the people of Israel cry out.

And as they cry out, God remembers, it says over and over, he remembers his covenant with Abraham. He hears their cry for deliverance, and he raises up judges. Who come to defeat their enemies by the power of the Holy Spirit and restore peace to the promised land of Canaan, God's people and God's place under God's rule and blessing. But the peace doesn't last, and the people rebel again. And even the judges, who are signs of God's grace, are all unfaithful.

The unfolding story of the Bible leaves you longing for a better leader who will bring about an everlasting deliverance from God's enemies. And this is why the book of Judges ends with these words: In those days there was no king in Israel. No king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes. And so the book of Judges simply points us to the longing for a king who will come and establish his kingdom, his reign and rule and blessing among God's people.

And that brings us to the Davidic covenant in 2 Samuel chapter 7. In 2 Samuel chapter 7, God the great king comes and makes a promise to David. Which focuses less on David and more on David's son, the son of David. Listen to that phrase: the son of David. And the Lord promises to David, listen, 2 Samuel chapter 7, beginning verse 12.

When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name. And I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son. When he commits iniquity, I will discipline him with the rod of men, with the stripes of the sons of men.

But my steadfast love-that is, he made a covenant and he'll never break it. That's steadfast love. My steadfast love will not depart from your son, the son of David, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away from before you. And your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me. Your throne shall be established forever.

What a promise. What a covenant. Thus, the purpose of God that initially focused on Adam and Eve comes to be concentrated now on the Son of David. The serpent crusher comes from the son of Abraham, the son of David. This serpent crusher.

Israel thinks as the high point in the partial kingdom comes under the rule of David and Solomon. In 1 Kings chapters 9 and 10. We read of the great blessing that God's people, Israel, in God's place, the land of Canaan, enjoyed under God's rule and blessing, which was mediated through King Solomon, the son of David. But a major, major Houston problem occurs again in the story. When we come to 1 Kings chapter 11, we discover that the son of David, Solomon, Is unfaithful and he fails to fulfill the conditional aspect of the Davidic covenant.

And Solomon's unfaithfulness. The sons unfaithfulness. Adam, the sons of unfaithfulness. Israel, the firstborn sons, unfaithfulness. leads to the kingdom of Israel being split in two.

And that brings us to the prophesied kingdom. The prophesied kingdom includes all the latter prophets, which is Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and the twelve minor prophets, Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther. And we come to the prophesied kingdom, and during the time of the divided kingdom, the Lord sends prophets who are actually like covenant attorneys. And they have a two-fold message sent by God: a message of judgment and a message of hope. God first sends his prophets to prosecute as covenant attorneys his case against his rebellious people.

They repeatedly reminded the people of Israel of the conditions of the Mosaic covenant. and warned them of the imminent judgment if they did not repent. And what we see in 1 and 2 Kings is that king after king in both the north and the southern the northern kingdom and the southern kingdom proved to be disobedient, unfaithful, and consequently. The people are brought by God to the ultimate execution, the ultimate curse of the Mosaic covenant. And they're put into exile just as God the king had warned in his law in Deuteronomy chapter 28.

And so consequently, 200 years after the kingdom of Israel divided into two parts after the failed son of David. The northern kingdom of Israel goes into Syrian captivity in 722 BC, and they're never to return. And 136 years later, in 586 BC, the southern kingdom of Judah goes into Babylonian captivity. where God's people remain in exile for 70 years. God's people, Israel, were no longer in God's place, the land of Canaan, under God's rule, the Mosaic covenant, enjoying God's blessing.

They were now in cursed Babylonian captivity, receiving the judgment of the covenant. And so all of the historical marks of the partial kingdom are completely undone. God's people are banished out of God's presence, the land of Canaan, just like Adam and Eve were cursed and banished east of Eden. They're under covenantal curse, not blessing. But because God is faithful to keep his unconditional promises to Abraham and to the son of David.

In Adam and Eve, God sends prophets during the southern kingdom's captivity in Babylon to announce the message of hope. And so you come to the book of Ezekiel, the prophet Ezekiel. And the prophet Ezekiel in Ezekiel 33 through 39. Seven chapters looks ahead and he proclaims to the people in captivity a glorious day of restoration. In Ezekiel chapter 36, verse 21, Ezekiel says to Israel, God's firstborn son, you have failed to hallow God's name.

He says, You have profaned God's name among the nations. Hallowed be your name. You've broken that. But he prophesies that God in grace will act to vindicate his great name. How?

By establishing a new covenant. And here you have the promise from the prophets of a new covenant with his people. And listen to what God promises about this new covenant. I will take from you the nations and gather you from all the countries and bring you into your own land. I will sprinkle clean water on you and you shall be clean from all your uncleanness, from all your idols.

I will cleanse you and I will give you a new heart and a new spirit I will put within you. I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh and I will put my spirit within you and yes, cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules. You shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers and you shall be my people and I will be your God. The promise to Abraham is repeated by Ezekiel in the new covenant here. And then we see from the latter prophet Jeremiah, in Jeremiah chapter 31, that this new covenant, Jeremiah says the new covenant will not be like the old covenant.

It won't be like the Mosaic covenant that Israel had broken. The people of God's restoration is powerfully set forth in Ezekiel's vision of the dry bones in Ezekiel 37. The final portion of Ezekiel's prophecy from chapters 40 to 48 focuses on a new temple. Guess who that might be? Christ and his church.

Which dwarfs the glory of Solomon's temple. Ezekiel prophesies that all the nations of the earth will come to this temple and receive blessing. And the hopeful prophecies given to God's people while exiled in Babylon created this hopeful, eager expectation for returning to their home. They were expecting, after hearing the prophet's message of hope, God's kingdom will be established in such a way that when we return, we're going to be top of the charts nation again. We're going to be on top.

And when you read of the return of God's people to the land of Canaan, the Old Testament story proves to be a complete disappointment. Eventually, a new Jerusalem and a new temple are built. And Graham Goldsworthy says, you have the structure of the kingdom appearing to be in place. but the substance isn't. The people are still largely disobedient.

The new temple is nowhere near as glorious as Solomon's temple. There is no king. There is no magnificent reign of the Son of David, and the nation is still under the rule of a foreign power, the Persian Empire. And so the prophets Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi, along with the narratives of Ezra and Nehemiah, clearly reveal that the restored nation coming out of the exile is not the kingdom of God that both Daniel and Ezekiel prophesied for them. Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi continue as God's covenant attorneys to prosecute God's judgment for the people's ongoing disobedience to the Mosaic covenant, and they warn them of impending judgment.

But they also look forward and proclaim a message of hope. They look forward, listen, to the coming king and his kingdom. Malachi, the last book of the Old Testament, chapter 3, verse 1. Behold, I send my messenger. And he will prepare the way before me, John the Baptist.

And the Lord, the King, who you're looking for. will suddenly come to his temple. Here he comes. And the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts. All three prophets, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi, point forward to the glory that's to come.

And so as we come to the end of the Old Testament and Malachi, we see that the Old Testament story is a story without an ending. It is incomplete. The Old Testament ends with God's people still not under God's place, enjoying his rule and blessing. Rather, it ends with them looking forward to the fulfillment of God's promise to send this serpent crusher who will be the son of Abraham and the son of David. And God's people are eagerly waiting for the fulfillment of this promise for his king and his kingdom to bring the salvation of his people.

And that brings us to the four gospels, the presented kingdom. and four hundred years of silence pass. And then we read the opening words of Matthew in Matthew chapter 1, verse 1. The book. of the genealogy of Jesus Christ.

The son of David. the son of Abraham. This is astounding. The long wait since the serpent crusher of Genesis 3:15, Matthew says, Here he is, it's Jesus Christ. And so we see in the Gospels that these God-fearing Jews of Jesus' day were eagerly waiting for the arrival of the king and his kingdom.

Mark chapter 15, verse 43. Mark describes Joseph of Arimathea. As a respected member of the council of the Sanhedrin, who was also himself looking. For the kingdom of God. Luke chapter 2 verse 25, Luke describes Simeon as righteous and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel.

Simeon declares in Luke 2 verse 26 that the Lord Christ the King has come to bring his kingdom and salvation for all peoples. Abrahamic covenant, Luke 2, 28 through 32. And so Matthew begins his gospel by declaring that Jesus is the great king who fulfills the Abrahamic and Davidic covenants. He is the son of Abraham. He is the son of David.

He is the serpent crusher of Genesis 3:15. He is the new Adam, and he is the true Israel of God. He is here. In Mark chapter 1, verse 15, as Jesus begins his public ministry, he declares his preaching: the time is fulfilled. And the kingdom of God is at hand.

Repent and believe in the gospel. Jesus declares that in him the kingdom of God is at hand. And this term kingdom of God in the New Testament is set against all of the background Old Testament material that you just heard. And Jesus said, all that you just heard is at hand in me. And Jesus, this kingdom has come.

It is inaugurated. It is presented. It is already, Matthew chapter 12, verse 28. Jesus says to the Pharisees: If it is by the Spirit of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. Jesus is the kingdom.

He is both God and man in right relationship. He is both the Lord who rules and he is the true subject of God's rule. He's an obedient son of David. In Matthew chapter 4, verse 23, Matthew says that Jesus went throughout all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the good news, gospel of the kingdom, and healing every disease and every affliction among the people. Jesus' teaching, Matthew says, his preaching, his healing ministry, all worked to confirm his message and his messianic identity that he was the king and his mission to prove that in him the kingdom of God had come and arrived in him.

And the Jews, having seen these mighty deeds that Jesus performed, held him as a political conquering king in Matthew chapter 21, verse 9. The crowds followed him and were shouting, Hosanna to the son of David, the king. He's here. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest.

This was a shout of political victory, not spiritual. They misunderstood the whole thing. Because Matthew carefully shows us in his gospel that he moves Jesus away from these nationalistic expectations of a violent warrior king who has come, but he has come as Israel's king, Messiah, to usher in the kingdom of God and bring salvation to all of God's people in a surprising way. In his first coming, Matthew says that Jesus the king must first be the suffering servant. Matthew chapter 16 verse 21, Jesus says that I must go to, I must go.

What hopeful words. I must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes and be killed and on the third day be raised. And such a thought from a first century Jewish mind was utter unthinkable. But we have to keep in mind that in Jesus the kingdom of God has come but is not yet fully come in its fullness. It is already but not yet.

The kingdom is also a future. This twofold aspect of God's kingdom was completely misunderstood by the Jews. It was a stumbling block, the Apostle Paul says, to the Jews. And yet, Jesus, by his life, death, burial, and resurrection, must institute the new covenant. And this brings us to the new covenant.

Luke 22 verse 20. Because Jesus has to first deal with the problem of the subjects' rebellion in his kingdom and forgive their sin to bring them back in to his blessing. And so in Luke 22, verse 20, Jesus says to his disciples on the night before he's crucified, this cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant. And my blood. The prophecy of the new covenant from Jeremiah 31.

Jesus says, I'm fulfilling Jeremiah 31 in your presence right now. Do you hear that? Jesus says, the prophecy of Jeremiah 31 of the new covenant is being fulfilled in your presence through this cup right here. And so like Adam and Eve, the people of Israel, all men are banished from God's presence, living under his judgment, stand in need of being brought back in an intimate relationship so they can address him as our father. And so, what is the gospel?

It is the announcement that God's kingdom has come in the life, death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth, the Christ, the Lord and Messiah, and fulfillment of Israel's Old Testament scriptures. That is the gospel. And Jesus' resurrection, Paul says in Romans 1, powerfully testified that he was both Messiah and King and that what he accomplished on the cross, namely the salvation of God's people, it was finished and completed perfectly. And so through his first kingdom, Jesus presented, he inaugurated the kingdom of God, but he did not consummate it. And so 40 days after his resurrection, Jesus bodily ascends to his Father's right hand, which leads us to the proclaimed kingdom.

That's Acts all the way to Revelation 20. That's you and me right now. We live in the proclaimed kingdom. And before Jesus ascends into heaven, his disciples still don't understand fully the nature of his kingdom, so they ask him, Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel? And Jesus said to them, It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority.

This is the Father's kingdom. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea, and Samaria, and to the end of the earth. And you and I are in the end of the earth, part of that verse. And then Luke writes in Acts chapter 1, verse 9, and when he had said these things, they were looking on, and he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. And Jesus ascended to the Father's right hand as the conquering king.

Bully Victorious. Then pouring out the spoils of his victory on his people called the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost. And he says there will be a delay before I come. And the reason for this delay is I'm going to pour out the spoils of my victory called the gift of the Holy Spirit on the church, who will proclaim the word of the kingdom called the gospel so that all nations will have the opportunity to come into my kingdom. And so the Bible says that we live in the last days, and the last days begin on the day of Pentecost.

When God sent the Holy Spirit to empower his church to proclaim this gospel, Just as he promised to Abraham, all the nations of the earth will be blessed. We've proclaimed this gospel in Jerusalem, that happened, in all Judea and Samaria, that happened, and to the end of the earth, that's happening right now. And this brings us to the final aspect of the kingdom of God, the perfected kingdom. This is Revelation 21 and 22. And we have the consummation of God's kingdom with the second coming of Christ.

The hope of the gospel, the second coming of Christ, is that Eden will be restored. The scriptures end where they begin in a garden temple. John says in John 1:14 that Jesus is the Son of God, come incarnate to tabernacle among us. He is the tabernacle, the temple. He is the new temple that Ezekiel prophesied of.

And he came to create the temple who is united to him called the church. And as a result of his obedient, faithful work as the last Adam, as the perfect son of David, as the offspring of Abraham, as the serpent crusher from Genesis 3, 15, John in Revelation 21, 1 through 4 says that the holy city, the new Jerusalem, that is the church, you and me, will once again enjoy unhindered, intimate fellowship with our Creator God, King. I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride, adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with him as their God.

The goal of God's covenant kingdom promise to Abraham in Genesis 17, 7, I will be your God, and you shall be my people, which was first created in Eden, foreshadowed in the Old Testament, tabernacle and temple. Is now realized in the second coming of Christ Himself, and Christ is the temple where God's people will dwell with God, and He will be their God, and they will be with Him forever. And so, what I want you to see is this as we finish. Just one more minute. God's promise of the serpent crusher in Genesis 3.15.

His promise of the offspring of Abraham in Genesis 12, his promise of the son of David in 2 Samuel 7, his promise of a new covenant and a restored, glorious kingdom by the prophets is fully realized, fully consummated, and brought to realization in the person and work of Jesus Christ, the last to Adam. History thus flows from creation to new creation. It begins in a garden temple, and it ends with Christ as the temple, the dwelling place of God with man. When Christ comes the second time, God's people, Jew and Gentile, Christian from every tongue, tribe, nation, and people in the whole earth. will once again be in God's place, the new heavens and the new earth under God's rule and blessing.

And John tells us in Revelation 11, 15, these words, then and then alone the kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ. And he shall reign forever and ever. Amen. Thanks for listening to the Hymn We Proclaim podcast with John Fawnville. Him we proclaim as a ministry of John Fondill of Paramount Church in Jacksonville, Florida.

You can check out his church at paramountchurch.com. We look forward to next time.