Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus. the founder and perfecter of our faith. Kings, they have a total claim on people's lives, time, and taxes. We're not used to that these days. Many see kings as relics of a bygone era.
But today, we'll see why Christ is the long-foretold King of Kings and what that title means. Stay with us. From the Moody Church in Chicago, this is Running to Win with Dr. Erwin Lutzer, whose clear teaching helps us make it across the finish line. Pastor Lutzer, nowadays kings are largely ceremonial, but this was not so long ago.
And you know, Dave, there are still parts in the world where the king is in authority, and oftentimes there are countries that have to exist under a wicked king. But when we think about Jesus Christ, he is the King who has delivered us. He came to redeem us. And even as we submit to him, we are well aware of the fact that it is not only because we want to honor him, but in the process. we finally find out why we are in existence.
And during this time, even as we think about Christmas Eve, we think of Bethlehem, but we also think of the empty tomb, and we think of the King of Kings ruling in heaven. We here at Running to Win are so deeply grateful for the many of you who support this ministry. And perhaps you've heard me say this before, but we have a special devotional that we would like you to have. I've written this 365 daily devotional, pairing it with the writings of our founder, Dwight L. Moody.
And for a gift of any amount, it can be yours, and this is one of the last days that it is available. simply go to rtwoffer.com, that's rtwoffer.com or pick up the phone and call us at 1-888. 218. 9337. And now let's hear about the King of Kings.
Right.
Well, I would say that there is. A War Against Christmas. It's interesting that Ravi Zacharias, who grew up in India, said that the Buddhists and the Hindus used to send his family, his Christian family, Christmas cards. And then, of course, there would be the same respect that would be returned. But here in America, it doesn't seem as if we can do that.
Some people want to. say that we shouldn't say Merry Christmas. One of the things that you don't want to tell these people, please don't tell them. When they tell us that we should say happy holiday, don't tell them. that the word holiday actually comes from holy day.
Because if they found that out, you couldn't even say happy holidays anymore. People who want the place scrubbed clean. of Christian influence. and the Judeo-Christian impact. But the question is: what is Christmas really all about?
How do we connect the dots? Is it only a baby in a manger? To many people, it is. It's more than that, so much more than that. In the tenth chapter of the book of Isaiah, You'll notice that there is a statement made, more than one statement, about the mighty Assyrian army.
In fact, it's likened unto a forest of Lebanon, and Lebanon had huge forests of cedar trees. And in a dramatic poem in the 10th chapter, the prophet talks about how all those trees are going to be cut down. I won't read the entire poem. As it comes in the last part of the tenth chapter, but I will read the last two verses of chapter 10. Behold, the Lord of hosts will lop the boughs with terrifying power.
Remember, he has now given a description of an army that looks like a forest. The great in height will be hewn down, and the lofty will be brought low. He will cut down the thickets of the forest with an axe, and Lebanon will fall by the majestic one. God is going to take this forest and cut it down. But that's the way we need to understand the context of chapter 11, verse 1.
There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, a branch from his root shall bear fruit. In contrast to this mighty forest, Which is going to be cut down by God. There is going to be a tree, maybe an oak. Because I'm told that when you cut down an oak tree, the life still remains in the tree, and from that tree a shoot can come. There is going to be one who is going to be blessed, and he will be the king.
Coming from the shoot of Jesse, and Jesse, you remember, is the father of David.
So we could say he's in the lineage of David, and he will come. He is king, and that's part of the Christmas story.
So, very briefly, let us look first of all at the origin or the coming of the king there in verse 1. There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his root shall bear fruit. Notice how quietly this sapling is going to grow. No newspaper events, no newsmen are going to publish it. It's just so quiet there in the forest, nobody even sees it, just like the birth of Jesus.
Quietly coming into Bethlehem with no fanfare. The shepherds have to be told about it, but they're the only ones that really do arrive at that time. You say, well, what about the Magi? They come two years later, nearly two years later. You know those Christmas cards?
where you have the wise men gathering around the baby. in the manger. Those Christmas cards are inaccurate. They are unbiblical. It took a long time for the Magi to get there.
And there in Bethlehem Almost unseen by the human eye, except for those who were there, Jesus comes, and He's the sapling, He's the root. Out of the stump of David. But you'll notice that he is a very profitable one. He does what the forests of Lebanon could not do, namely, he bears fruit. And the scripture says, he shall be fruitful.
He will accomplish God's work. And you and I, by the way, are to be fruit-bearing Christians. Did you know that if you are not a fruit-bearing Christian, According to the 15th chapter of the book of John, you really have no reason to be as a Christian. It says that if you are not fruit-bearing, he will chop down those branches that do not bear fruit. God wants us to be fruit-bearing.
The fruit of the Spirit, yes. The fruit of evangelism, all that is part of it.
So that's the coming of the king, and in verse 2 you have his anointing, which really took place when Jesus was baptized. You'll notice it says, the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord. If you can imagine a menorah Think of the main candlestick, the main beam that holds up all of the other candles as the Holy Spirit. It is the primary one. And then on each side there are three candles, making a total of seven.
It is as if here the Holy Spirit is the middle one, and then you have six others that are manifestations of the Holy Spirit. And that's why it lists it: a spirit of wisdom and understanding, of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord. It's going to introduce the kingship of Jesus, and when he was anointed there. And in his baptism, the Holy Spirit of God came upon him. And that coming was to enable him to die, but it was also to enable him to rule, as we shall see in a moment.
And Jesus is introduced as the anointed king. And because he has wisdom, nobody can ever fool him. Because he has all power, nobody can ever defeat him. And because he has holiness, nobody can ever accuse him. We all long for politicians who can be believed.
We long for politicians who don't have to rethink other decisions. We long for those who'd be able to rule us with righteousness and justice and truth. And Jesus is presented in this text as fulfilling that responsibility.
So we've considered very briefly the origin or the coming of the king, the anointing of the king, and now we get to his rule, the rule of the king. Before I go into that, I need to tell you that in the Old Testament, this era of the church was not seen, it was not predicted. That's why so many Old Testament prophecies go directly from his birth. and his coming into the world to his reigning as king. And there is no interruption in the text.
If you're here on Christmas Day, I'm going to be speaking about a passage where we will see that one phrase talks about his first coming, and the very second phrase continues on talking about his second coming without any break. And this is what confused the Jews during the time of Jesus. One of the reasons that they didn't accept him as Messiah is they believed that when Messiah would come, all of the messianic promises of the Old Testament would be fulfilled. His rule, his reign, his kingship, his taking this world and setting it right. That's what they expected.
And they were not wrong in thinking that would happen. They were only wrong about the timing as to when it would happen. And that's why when Jesus left them under the heel of the Roman Empire. They rejected him and that's why when Jesus was crucified on a cross, even though his death was predicted in the Old Testament, when Jesus was crucified, they turned against him because they said, this cannot be our Messiah dying in defeat and humiliation. And being nailed on a cross by Roman soldiers.
This is not the Messiah that we were looking for. and they didn't understand that he is the Messiah they were looking for, just give him time. Time.
Now we live at a time in our own day when people have always been looking for utopia. They've been looking for a rule and a time when society is going to be free of injustice. Communism promised that. Once we do away with this class society and we have a classless society, there will be bread for everyone. Justice will rule.
Well, you understand how communism ended in repression. and in massacre. During the 60s, there were many people who were saying that the young people should revolt so that they can come up with a new society that would be free from injustice. A society that would finally be a utopia. The name Herbert Marcuse probably means nothing to you, but in the 60s he was popular on college campuses, particularly in Europe and also somewhat in the United States, urging young people to overthrow the establishment and to build their own society.
What incredible naivete. In fact, there are many people, many people who have wrong ideas because they have a wrong view of human nature. They think to themselves, if I were in charge, there would be no injustice. If our party were elected, we would take care of all of the wrongs. And they forget that this world is deeply cursed, and so is the human heart.
I heard something the other day that set me back, and then I realized how true it was. It was a doctor who said that every baby that is born into the world is a potential criminal. It's not very encouraging, is it? But it is very true. The seeds of all kinds of wickedness exist in our hearts.
And that's why we can never establish this utopian society. But I want you to know. It is coming. It's on its way. What I've decided to do is to answer some questions about the coming kingdom and quote many verses from the Bible, or at least some verses, and read others so that we get in our minds what it was that the Jews were properly expecting and what it is that the Bible predicts Jesus will someday do on this planet Earth.
First of all, the question is this. And by the way, You remember, God said to David, He said, I'm going to make you a covenant, and you're going to have a son who is going to rule over your kingdom forever. For at least a very, very long period of time, when forever gets swallowed up into eternity. He says, I'm going to give you a son that is going to rule. And when Jesus was born, it was, you remember, the angel who said, He shall be great and shall be called the Son of the Highest, and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David.
And he shall rule over the house of Jacob forever. That's what we're talking about today. We're talking about the words of the angel.
So let's answer several questions. When will this period of the rule of Christ take place that we're going to discuss? The answer is after his return. It says in the book of Zachariah chapter 14, his feet shall stand in that day upon the Mount of Olives, which lies before Jerusalem on the east, and the Mount of Olives shall split. And cleave in the midst thereof, toward the north and towards the south, and there shall be a very great valley.
It is when Jesus Christ returns.
Now, in a sermon, I can't sort out all of these ideas as to where the various resurrections take place and so forth, but the rule that we are speaking of is not a rule that you and I will see. In this world, apart from the return of Jesus. And that's what Advent is all about. They look forward in the Old Testament to his first coming, we look forward to his second coming, and we have that sense of anticipation. Anticipation is a good word.
Today, I happen to speak to someone who's a prayer partner of mine who also parks cars for the church. And he told me he's missed the last two Sundays parking cars and helping you find parking places. That's a real sacrifice. I told him, I said, that's a real ministry. I said, when people come here, they are going to remember how you helped them park a car.
Possibly more than they will remember the sermon that was preached. I hope that always won't be true, but it's certainly Could be true, but that's what I told them. But he said after being gone two weeks, he said, I have such a sense of anticipation today. He said, being gone just makes the anticipation build.
Well, that's what they had in the Old Testament. That's what we have in the New Testament: the anticipation of Jesus returning to earth in glory. to establish his kingdom. You say, well, where will this kingdom be located? What is the capital?
The capital is going to be Jerusalem, and I believe it's the Jerusalem on this earth, even though the topography of the area is going to be radically changed. It is there that Jesus is going to rule. Let me quote to you from Isaiah chapter 2. In that day, many people shall come and say, Let us go unto the mountain of the Lord, unto the house of the God of Jacob. For we shall walk in his paths.
And we shall follow him, for the law shall go forth from Zion, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. And he shall judge among the nations, and shall make judgments for many people. And they shall beat their swords into plowshears, and their spears into pruning hooks. Nations shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore. The question for you, has that ever happened?
I'm told that those words are on the carved into the United Nations building.
Well, If I might be a little bit flippant, I'll say, good luck, good luck. You really think that you are going to put an end to war through the United Nations? You can try, and we should do all that we possibly can to put an end to war, but it will not happen in the present era. That awaits an era when Jesus rules, and it says, The law shall go forth from Zion and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. And He shall judge the nations.
And shell. rebuke many people. Notice what the text says here in chapter 11. It speaks, for example, of verse 9, They shall not hurt or destroy in my holy mountain, for the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. That has not happened, that this earth is filled with the knowledge of the Lord like the waters cover the sea.
You say, Well, where will we be during this period of time? Will we be in the millennial kingdom? Yes, we may be participating there in the rule of Jesus, but we will not have these earthly bodies. The people that we are speaking about today who will be in that period do have earthly bodies. In fact, as we shall see, they will still even die, but you and I will already be glorified.
Because when Jesus returns to earth, it is then that we are glorified. And many of us believe that he will come in two stages. First of all, for his church, and then later on, with his church in glory. But either way, whether you believe in one stage or two stages, by then we will be glorified, and we shall have the same bodies that Jesus had when he was here on earth. You say, yes, but Jesus is going to rule in his present glorified body.
Yes, when he was here on earth, he ministered to the disciples in his present glorified body. In fact, he even ate fish with them along the Sea of Galilee, or at least prepared breakfast for them.
So we will be in that kingdom also. but not in earthly bodies as the others shall be.
Now, let's Look at what it's actually going to look like. What is this rule going to look like?
Now, Notice in verse 3 it says, And his delight shall be in the fear of the Lord. He shall not judge by what he sees. or decide disputes by what he hears. But with righteousness he shall judge the poor and decide with equity for the meek of the earth, and he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked. Righteousness shall be the belt of his waist and faithfulness the belt of his loins.
First of all, we can say universal peace and prosperity. Justice finally. over this cursed world. Verse 6, you'll notice what happens to nature. It is at least partially redeemed.
The wolf shall lie down with a lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with a young goat, and the calf, and the lion, and the fatted calf together. A little child shall lead them, the cow and the bear shall graze, their young shall lie down together, and the lion shall eat straw like an ox. Verses 8 and 9 say that children can even touch what today are poisonous snakes, and the children will not be bitten, nor will they have poison in them. Wow.
So the wolf, the Bible says. shall lie down with the Lamb. And uh the interesting thing is that uh Today, whenever you have a wolf lie down with a lamb, if you notice very carefully, when the wolf stands up, the lamb is missing. But in those days they're actually going to get up together. You see, what God is going to do is He's going to redeem nature.
Nature was put under a curse. And even the appetite of these animals is going to be changed in such a way, and even if you interpret this in some symbolic sense, the fact is that the animal kingdom will be affected because they also were adversely affected because of the entrance of sin into the world. And so as a result, God says, I'm going to redeem even the animals. And no longer will they be killing one another, but they will live in peace among one another.
So there's going to be universal universal peace and prosperity. The curse will be partially, at least, lifted. Yeah. Uh You know what really excites me? Even though we may be wrong about some of the details, the fact is that God is going to redeem nature.
In fact, he's going to redeem the entire earth. Imagine that. and one of the things that should delight us at all times. is that this King, this Redeemer, this Creator, came to this earth, and of course that's why we have Christmas Eve, that's why we have Christmas Day. We celebrate His coming at Bethlehem, but we look beyond Bethlehem.
and we recognize that he turned out to be the Saviour of the world. And we honor him, we worship him, and I hope that even during your celebrations today, tomorrow, or in the days to come. It will always be with a focus on what Jesus Christ has done for us. And even as we anticipate the end of this year, and of course, the beginning of a brand new year. Perhaps you have heard me say before, but we have a special resource, a brand new book.
It's entitled Running to Win. It's a 365-day devotional book. That will give you a verse of scripture every single day with a commentary briefly written by D. L. Moody and then myself.
We pair together, as it were, as we write this devotional, so that you might be able to begin every single day at the foot of the cross. reminding yourself of who you are in Christ. inspired by the truth of God's Word. Let me give you some contact info. Go to rtwoffer.com.
That's rtwoffer.com or call us at 1-888. 218-9337.
Meanwhile, even as you anticipate Christmas Eve, We pray that in whatever celebration you participate, you may always remember it's not about us. It's about our wonderful Savior. Uh Yeah. You can write to us at Running2Win 1635 North LaSalle Boulevard, Chicago, Illinois, 60614. Running to win is all about helping you understand God's roadmap for your race of life.
The baby Jesus will be a baby no longer when the thousand-year reign of peace dispels the darkness of war and suffering. His rule will be absolute and that future will be glorious.
Next time on Running to Win, we'll let Isaiah lift our spirits by reminding us again of the future reign of Christ the King on this earth. plan to join us. Thanks for listening. For Pastor Erwin Lutzer, this is Dave McAllister. Running to Win is sponsored by the Moody Church.
