God Makes Us Know Him

WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.040 --> 00:00:05.200 M Lord, as we come to your word now and consider the way in 2 00:00:05.200 --> 00:00:12.919 which you rescue your people after the exile, we asked that you would deepen 3 00:00:12.960 --> 00:00:18.519 our understanding in you and the promises of your salvation to us in Christ. 4 00:00:19.480 --> 00:00:23.600 We thank you that we belong to the promises that are testified here, and 5 00:00:23.640 --> 00:00:26.920 we asked that you would make that clearer to us, that we might hold 6 00:00:26.960 --> 00:00:30.760 fast to you, our God, who never lies. We pray this in 7 00:00:30.839 --> 00:00:36.479 Jesus name. Amen. Remain standing, if you're able, and turn your 8 00:00:36.479 --> 00:00:58.520 attention with me to the Book of Ezekiel, Chapter seven Ezekiel, Chapter I'll 9 00:00:58.560 --> 00:01:08.400 read Versus fifteen through twenty eight. The word of the Lord came to me, 10 00:01:10.280 --> 00:01:14.680 son of Man. Take a stick and ride on it for Judah and 11 00:01:14.719 --> 00:01:19.640 the people of Israel associated with him. Then take another stick and ride on 12 00:01:19.719 --> 00:01:25.239 it for Joseph, the stick of Ephrium and all the house of Israel associated 13 00:01:25.280 --> 00:01:29.159 with him, And join them one to another into one stick, that they 14 00:01:29.200 --> 00:01:33.439 may become one in your hand. And when your people say to you, 15 00:01:33.840 --> 00:01:37.000 will you not tell us what you mean by these? Say to them, 16 00:01:37.000 --> 00:01:40.760 thus says the Lord God. Behold, I am about to take the stick 17 00:01:40.799 --> 00:01:44.640 of Joseph that is in the hand that is in the hand of Ephrium, 18 00:01:45.120 --> 00:01:49.480 and the tribes of Israel associated with him him, and I will join with 19 00:01:49.519 --> 00:01:52.840 it the stick of Judah and make them one stick, that they may be 20 00:01:52.959 --> 00:01:57.599 one in my hand. When the sticks on which you write are in your 21 00:01:57.680 --> 00:02:00.400 hand before their eyes, then say to them thus, as the Lord God 22 00:02:00.959 --> 00:02:05.480 behold, I will take the people of Israel from the nations among which they 23 00:02:05.480 --> 00:02:07.960 have gone, and I will gather them from all around and bring them into 24 00:02:08.000 --> 00:02:12.560 their own land. And I will make them one nation in the land on 25 00:02:12.599 --> 00:02:15.439 the mountains of Israel, and one king shall be king over them all. 26 00:02:15.800 --> 00:02:20.680 And they shall no longer be two nations, and no longer divided into two 27 00:02:20.759 --> 00:02:25.120 kingdoms. They shall not defile themselves anymore with their idols and their detestable things, 28 00:02:25.199 --> 00:02:29.680 or with any of their transgressions. But I will save them from all 29 00:02:29.840 --> 00:02:32.759 the backslidings in which they have sinned, and will cleanse them. And they 30 00:02:32.759 --> 00:02:37.560 shall be my people, and I will be their God. My servant. 31 00:02:37.639 --> 00:02:39.960 David shall be king over them, and they shall all have one shepherd. 32 00:02:40.360 --> 00:02:45.159 They shall walk in my rules and be careful to obey my statutes. They 33 00:02:45.159 --> 00:02:47.159 shall dwell in the land that I gave to my servant Jacob, where your 34 00:02:47.159 --> 00:02:53.280 fathers lived. They and their children and their children's children shall dwell there forever. 35 00:02:53.919 --> 00:02:57.840 And my servant David, and David my servants, shall be their prince 36 00:02:57.919 --> 00:03:00.879 forever. I will make a covenant of peace with them. It shall be 37 00:03:00.919 --> 00:03:05.599 an everlasting covenant with them. And I will set them in the land and 38 00:03:05.680 --> 00:03:09.199 multiply them, and I will set my sanctuary in their midst forever. My 39 00:03:09.280 --> 00:03:13.759 dwelling place shall be with them, and I will be their God, and 40 00:03:13.840 --> 00:03:16.400 they shall be my people. Then the nations will know that I am the 41 00:03:16.439 --> 00:03:23.840 Lord who sanctifies Israel, when my sanctuaries in their midst forevermore, Amen, 42 00:03:23.879 --> 00:03:42.800 please be seated well. You may remember at the beginning More towards the beginning 43 00:03:42.879 --> 00:03:47.400 of the book Um, Ezekiel was given various signs to perform, like physical 44 00:03:47.560 --> 00:03:53.080 acts on which God had given to him, which then would he would use 45 00:03:53.319 --> 00:04:00.120 to make some truth known. And Ezekiel has commanded to do something similar to 46 00:04:00.199 --> 00:04:02.360 that. Here. I wonder if you were able to picture it in your 47 00:04:02.360 --> 00:04:06.599 mind, Um, and not, if not, I'll help you here right 48 00:04:06.639 --> 00:04:11.879 so once to imagine he he takes a stick some commentators think maybe it was 49 00:04:12.000 --> 00:04:15.759 a tablet of some kind, but some sort of piece of wood, and 50 00:04:15.800 --> 00:04:18.560 he takes it and he writes on it Judah. Right, so you've got 51 00:04:18.560 --> 00:04:23.600 one stick with Jude on it. And then take another stick and he writes 52 00:04:23.680 --> 00:04:27.839 on it Joseph, and then needs to hold them both in his hands, 53 00:04:27.920 --> 00:04:31.160 so it looks like one stick, right, like they're trying together. It 54 00:04:31.199 --> 00:04:34.160 reminds me kind of that sort of the opposite of that thumb trick, you 55 00:04:34.199 --> 00:04:40.279 know, where you looks like there goes together. Um. Anyway, two 56 00:04:40.319 --> 00:04:44.839 sticks as one as one um looking as one stick. And so when the 57 00:04:44.879 --> 00:04:47.439 people of Israel say, what's this about? You've got a couple of sticks 58 00:04:47.439 --> 00:04:54.639 in your hand Judah and Joseph, he is to tell them and this is 59 00:04:54.680 --> 00:05:00.240 no silly trick, um idiots. A sign, a sign that God and 60 00:05:00.240 --> 00:05:05.000 and a promise that God is going to take these two peoples in a way 61 00:05:05.079 --> 00:05:13.079 and bring them into one. You remember that maybe for for about three hundred 62 00:05:13.160 --> 00:05:19.000 years, God's people had been divided. God's people had been divided. They 63 00:05:19.519 --> 00:05:25.199 came into the land of Israel. They were that various tribes were um assigned 64 00:05:25.199 --> 00:05:29.480 to various regions. There was a united Kingdom under David for a little but 65 00:05:30.000 --> 00:05:34.000 Um then Ishbael chefs sort of separated, and then David regained control, and 66 00:05:34.040 --> 00:05:41.000 then it was united under Solomon, and then it was lost after Solomon. 67 00:05:41.079 --> 00:05:46.120 This great Kingdom of God, this one nation, these twelve sons of Jacob, 68 00:05:47.759 --> 00:05:54.199 the twelve tribes of Israel, were divided into these two kingdoms, with 69 00:05:54.560 --> 00:06:02.720 competing kings and competing uh systems of worship, and competing priesthood priesthoods brother against 70 00:06:02.800 --> 00:06:09.240 brother. It was an awful thing, and they often fought against each other. 71 00:06:09.240 --> 00:06:15.639 This was not how the people of God were to be established. Well, 72 00:06:15.639 --> 00:06:19.160 the profits when they come and they speak to Israel, we find there's 73 00:06:19.199 --> 00:06:25.040 the There are these hopes of reunion that would come in the future, hopes 74 00:06:25.079 --> 00:06:30.399 of a united kingdom, not united in some sort of halfway compromise where we 75 00:06:30.480 --> 00:06:33.319 say, okay, half of us will worship Bail and the other half of 76 00:06:33.399 --> 00:06:36.079 us will worship yeah. Wait, and then maybe together we'll kind of work 77 00:06:36.120 --> 00:06:42.800 it out. No two people, two separate people joining together into the one 78 00:06:42.879 --> 00:06:49.920 family that they were supposed to be under God. Consider these verses, Isaiah, 79 00:06:50.079 --> 00:06:56.160 the jealousy of Freum shall shall depart and those who harass Judah shall be 80 00:06:56.199 --> 00:07:00.399 cut off. A Freum shall not be jealous of Judah and jew this shall 81 00:07:00.439 --> 00:07:05.240 not harass ephre Um Jeremiah three eighteen. In those days, the house of 82 00:07:05.319 --> 00:07:10.160 Judah shall join the house of Israel, and together they shall come from the 83 00:07:10.240 --> 00:07:14.360 land of the north to the land that I gave your fathers for a heritage 84 00:07:14.879 --> 00:07:17.720 jose Ah one eleven. And the children of Judah and the children of Israel 85 00:07:17.759 --> 00:07:23.000 shall be gathered together, and they shall appoint for themselves one head, and 86 00:07:23.000 --> 00:07:26.920 they shall go up from the land. For great shall be the day of 87 00:07:27.000 --> 00:07:31.519 Jezreel. And so there are these hopes that the two will come together again. 88 00:07:32.959 --> 00:07:36.720 And one of the things that's interesting in this passage Um it's not just 89 00:07:36.839 --> 00:07:41.759 interesting, but I think it helps to helps us to feel the weight of 90 00:07:41.800 --> 00:07:46.920 what's going on. Here are the ways in which Um, the ways in 91 00:07:46.959 --> 00:07:51.040 which God speaks and names these people. And it's a little bit confusing if 92 00:07:51.040 --> 00:07:56.319 you don't know the history, because isn't Israel all of Israel and that sort 93 00:07:56.319 --> 00:07:59.519 of thing, And so we have to think just a little bit about how 94 00:07:59.519 --> 00:08:03.439 he's used names here. So the first thing to know is that Israel is 95 00:08:03.759 --> 00:08:07.360 another name for Jacob. Right, Israel is another name for Jacob, and 96 00:08:07.360 --> 00:08:11.600 so the twelve tribes of Israel or the twelve sons of Jacob represent the same 97 00:08:11.639 --> 00:08:16.959 thing. The second thing to know is that Israel as a people, as 98 00:08:16.000 --> 00:08:22.279 this family with this singular father Uh, who was the son of Abraham, 99 00:08:22.399 --> 00:08:26.519 this was a land as well, right, the land or the people of 100 00:08:26.600 --> 00:08:35.759 Israel. But when the kingdom was divided in sin and rebellion, then the 101 00:08:35.799 --> 00:08:41.440 southern kingdom was frequently called Judah and the northern kingdom was frequently called Israel. 102 00:08:41.519 --> 00:08:46.559 Right. So as these two are coming back together, um, the God 103 00:08:46.720 --> 00:08:50.360 is careful to make clear what is happening. So, for example, he 104 00:08:50.399 --> 00:08:56.240 says in sixteen right, on one stick for Judah and the people of Israel 105 00:08:56.279 --> 00:09:01.120 associated with him, all right, So he doesn't mean the northern kingdom that 106 00:09:01.240 --> 00:09:05.919 is associated with him. He means the people of the whole family that are 107 00:09:05.960 --> 00:09:11.279 associated with that Uh, that kingdom, the southern kingdom Judah. Does that 108 00:09:11.320 --> 00:09:16.200 make sense, okay? So the the the the the right, the people 109 00:09:16.240 --> 00:09:18.960 of Israel associated with Judah. And then on the other stick, right, 110 00:09:20.159 --> 00:09:22.240 Joseph, And then he adds this other name, the stick of e fre 111 00:09:22.320 --> 00:09:28.080 Um and all the House of Israel associated with him. So if you imagine 112 00:09:28.120 --> 00:09:30.879 the House of Israel as a whole, right, I'm kind of doing this 113 00:09:30.919 --> 00:09:35.200 distroem show the geography north to south. If you imagine the kingdom as a 114 00:09:35.240 --> 00:09:39.200 whole, Israel, and some of that kingdom is associated with Judah on the 115 00:09:39.200 --> 00:09:43.879 bottom, and some of that kingdom is associated with Joseph on the top, 116 00:09:43.080 --> 00:09:48.039 or also named ere Um. Here, that's the of these two groups north 117 00:09:48.080 --> 00:09:54.440 and south, all of Israel that are being brought together, these people belonging 118 00:09:54.440 --> 00:09:58.840 to Israel, these people belonging to Israel and and being brought together. Why 119 00:10:00.120 --> 00:10:01.960 he say efre Um, right? Why throw that in? Well? Ere 120 00:10:03.080 --> 00:10:07.919 Um was one of the sons of of Joseph, E fre Um and Manassa. 121 00:10:07.960 --> 00:10:11.360 And there's this interesting way in which they received this double blessing. And 122 00:10:11.360 --> 00:10:16.039 I won't get into all of it now, but in an interesting way. 123 00:10:16.039 --> 00:10:20.840 Um. When the twelve tribes are often named in the Old Testament, you 124 00:10:20.840 --> 00:10:24.159 don't see Joseph's name, but you see I fre Um and Manassa, it's 125 00:10:24.200 --> 00:10:30.200 partly because of this double blessing that was promised to them, and sometimes especially 126 00:10:30.240 --> 00:10:35.639 I fre Um sort of stands in for Joseph as as a tribe. So 127 00:10:35.960 --> 00:10:39.799 that's probably why e fre Um is being listed here. That's somewhat common. 128 00:10:41.519 --> 00:10:46.919 What's a little bit more uncommon is the name of Joseph. Why is Joseph 129 00:10:46.000 --> 00:10:52.159 being listed here? I think one reason for that, aside from just making 130 00:10:52.200 --> 00:10:58.399 sure we're um Ezekiel and everyone is clear who he's talking about, is he's 131 00:10:58.480 --> 00:11:05.440 calling to mind the story of Joseph and Judah back in Genesis. He wants 132 00:11:05.480 --> 00:11:09.399 to call to our mind a time when the brothers of Israel were separated. 133 00:11:11.399 --> 00:11:13.159 Do you remember what I'm talking about this? And perhaps you don't know this 134 00:11:13.240 --> 00:11:18.360 story, that there was a time when the twelve tribes, he's twelve brothers. 135 00:11:18.759 --> 00:11:22.759 We're having some problems, um boys, young men, something like that 136 00:11:22.960 --> 00:11:28.639 was going on and Joseph. The brothers were mad at Joseph, and they 137 00:11:28.759 --> 00:11:33.440 stuck a mental hole and they intended even to kill him and one of the 138 00:11:33.480 --> 00:11:37.840 brothers, Judah. Interestingly enough, Judah came and he said, let's not 139 00:11:39.000 --> 00:11:43.159 do this, and he comes up with this kind of alternate plan to sell 140 00:11:43.279 --> 00:11:46.200 him to some traders that were passing by get rid of their brother that way. 141 00:11:46.279 --> 00:11:50.519 But he says let's let not blood be in our hands this way. 142 00:11:52.799 --> 00:11:56.399 So as uh, There's a number of things that happened. Joseph is sold 143 00:11:56.440 --> 00:12:01.679 into slavery. Joseph, all kinds of crazy things happened to him. And 144 00:12:01.720 --> 00:12:07.840 then eventually, amazingly, he becomes second in command of Egypt. All right. 145 00:12:07.799 --> 00:12:11.879 God brings then a famine on the land, a famine that is affecting 146 00:12:13.039 --> 00:12:16.120 his family back at home, a family that he's been separated from for some 147 00:12:16.240 --> 00:12:22.159 time. And through God's providence and all these amazing events. If you haven't 148 00:12:22.200 --> 00:12:24.759 read it in a while, should go back and read this story. It's 149 00:12:24.759 --> 00:12:31.759 really amazing. Judah and his brothers leave his father and they go, leaving 150 00:12:31.120 --> 00:12:35.720 Benjamin at home. One of the other brothers leaves, leaves and goes to 151 00:12:35.879 --> 00:12:39.799 egypt Um to find food and the sort of thing. They end up meeting 152 00:12:39.799 --> 00:12:45.399 with Joseph, and and Joseph tells them to go back and get Benjamin and 153 00:12:45.519 --> 00:12:48.240 go back, and and they speak to their father, and Dad's like, 154 00:12:48.440 --> 00:12:54.120 no way, I've already lost my son. Joseph, he doesn't know what's 155 00:12:54.120 --> 00:12:58.759 happened. I'm not gonna lose Benjamin. Two. Do you know who pledges 156 00:13:00.159 --> 00:13:05.879 life and speaks on the brothers on behalf and and and sort of brings a 157 00:13:05.039 --> 00:13:11.600 resolution about it's Judah. Judah speaks up and he says no. He says, 158 00:13:11.720 --> 00:13:15.279 I will be a pledge to my father. We have to go this 159 00:13:15.360 --> 00:13:18.879 man, who he doesn't realize is his brother Joseph. He says, this, 160 00:13:18.879 --> 00:13:22.639 this man, he has commanded us to do this thing. We have 161 00:13:22.720 --> 00:13:28.320 to do this thing. We're dying here. And so he pledges his own 162 00:13:28.480 --> 00:13:33.919 life if anything would happen to his brother Benjamin. So they go, and 163 00:13:33.960 --> 00:13:41.799 then there's a bunch more drama, and eventually Um is revealed who who Um 164 00:13:41.960 --> 00:13:48.879 who Joseph is and Judah, as sort of the representative of his brothers, 165 00:13:48.000 --> 00:13:56.279 is reunited with Joseph and Benjamin as well, and the brothers are all back 166 00:13:56.320 --> 00:14:01.639 together and UM and the Lord word um, and we see the Lord's goodness 167 00:14:01.639 --> 00:14:07.000 in all of this. The family ultimately is preserved through these events. They 168 00:14:07.039 --> 00:14:09.600 get the food they need, they move into the land of Egypt, they 169 00:14:09.639 --> 00:14:16.039 become a very prosperous at least for a time, and then there's more story 170 00:14:16.080 --> 00:14:20.639 after that. The point here is that I think what's happening in his equel 171 00:14:20.720 --> 00:14:24.759 here is God is calling our minds back to this time, back to a 172 00:14:24.799 --> 00:14:31.720 time when Jodah and Joseph were separate, and they're being brought back together now 173 00:14:31.919 --> 00:14:35.679 by the Lord, by the work of the Lord. And he says, 174 00:14:35.720 --> 00:14:41.399 after all, I will do this. God's not just yelling at his people 175 00:14:41.480 --> 00:14:46.600 telling them to stop fighting. He says, I Am going to make you 176 00:14:46.639 --> 00:14:52.519 stop fighting. Later he talks about I will establish a covenant of peace with 177 00:14:52.639 --> 00:15:01.120 themselves and with him. So that's the first part of what he describes here, 178 00:15:01.200 --> 00:15:05.559 this joining of the people of Israel. But then he adds several other 179 00:15:05.639 --> 00:15:11.960 things. And what he happens here is God uses all these Old Testament images 180 00:15:11.320 --> 00:15:16.639 to create a picture for us of what Jesus will fulfill in the New Covenant. 181 00:15:18.639 --> 00:15:20.600 What are some of the things he mentions, Well, he says first 182 00:15:20.600 --> 00:15:24.000 of all that he will bring his people together. He will gather them from 183 00:15:24.039 --> 00:15:30.159 all around the world and bring them into their own land on the now mountains 184 00:15:30.159 --> 00:15:35.039 of Israel. He will establish them. He also talks about them being um 185 00:15:35.279 --> 00:15:39.120 established under one king. This was always part of the problem. A king 186 00:15:39.240 --> 00:15:46.279 whose power was contested, a king who couldn't maintain control, a king who 187 00:15:46.399 --> 00:15:52.759 wasn't righteous, who wouldn't lead his people under the Lord and then eventually competing 188 00:15:52.879 --> 00:15:58.840 kings. Well, eventually God promises here one king, one king over them 189 00:15:58.840 --> 00:16:03.039 all, and they shall no longer be two nations, no longer divided into 190 00:16:03.080 --> 00:16:08.799 two kingdoms. I'm skipping down a little bit. He describes in verses twenty 191 00:16:08.879 --> 00:16:14.240 four through who that king is going to be. He says it will be 192 00:16:14.360 --> 00:16:18.480 David, which is really remarkable because David's been dead a long time, so 193 00:16:18.519 --> 00:16:22.679 that should put a question in our minds. But what does he mean by 194 00:16:22.799 --> 00:16:26.600 David that He says, David shall be king over them, and they shall 195 00:16:26.639 --> 00:16:30.200 have one shepherd. More than that, Not only will he be king, 196 00:16:30.240 --> 00:16:33.879 but it's going to work. This kingdom is going to be a great kingdom. 197 00:16:33.159 --> 00:16:37.639 They shall walk in my rules and be careful to obey my statutes. 198 00:16:37.879 --> 00:16:41.559 They will dwell in the land that I gave to my servant, Jacob, 199 00:16:41.600 --> 00:16:45.480 where your father's lived, their children, their children's children children, and it 200 00:16:45.519 --> 00:16:49.159 will be forever. He will set them in the land, he says, 201 00:16:49.240 --> 00:16:53.360 they will multiply them, There will be obedience, They will have peace with 202 00:16:53.399 --> 00:16:56.399 one another, and they will have peace with God. He says, I 203 00:16:56.399 --> 00:17:02.159 will establish my sanctuary in their midst. I will dwell with them. They 204 00:17:02.159 --> 00:17:07.559 will be my people, and I will be their God forever. I will 205 00:17:07.640 --> 00:17:14.920 dwell with them forever. Finally, the last thing I'll mention is in verse 206 00:17:14.920 --> 00:17:19.480 twenty three, a corresponding truth to the things that we've considered already. He 207 00:17:19.519 --> 00:17:23.720 says, they shall not defile themselves anymore with their idols and their detestable things, 208 00:17:25.039 --> 00:17:27.799 or with any of their transgressions. I will save them from all their 209 00:17:27.839 --> 00:17:32.039 backslidings in which they have sinned. I will cleanse them, and they shall 210 00:17:32.079 --> 00:17:36.359 be My people, and I will be their God. So God not only 211 00:17:36.359 --> 00:17:38.519 promises to bring all of these things about, but he's going to fix the 212 00:17:38.599 --> 00:17:44.920 problem that caused the breaking and the sin and the disruptions and the lack of 213 00:17:45.039 --> 00:17:49.759 peace from the beginning. He's going to cleanse them from their sin, and 214 00:17:49.799 --> 00:17:56.880 he's going to save them from all their backslidings. So this is what he 215 00:17:56.920 --> 00:18:00.920 promises. This is another one of those passages and Ezekiel where he says, 216 00:18:00.240 --> 00:18:04.279 I will I will, I will, I will, promises of good news, 217 00:18:04.359 --> 00:18:11.200 promises of the Gospel. So the question for us now is were these 218 00:18:11.279 --> 00:18:18.000 fulfilled, and if so, how and what difference. Does that make for 219 00:18:18.079 --> 00:18:21.960 us? Did God fulfill his promise? And is there any way that we 220 00:18:22.400 --> 00:18:26.319 can be a part of that? Because if this kingdom exists, I want 221 00:18:26.359 --> 00:18:30.519 to be a part of it. If a kingdom of God that is established 222 00:18:30.519 --> 00:18:36.440 where his citizens obey his rules and seek after him. If a kingdom of 223 00:18:36.480 --> 00:18:41.319 God is established where there is a righteous king, ruling and holiness, where 224 00:18:41.359 --> 00:18:47.160 brothers are united together, and it's an everlasting place of safety and security and 225 00:18:47.240 --> 00:18:51.000 dwelling with God. Does that sound like a place you might want to be 226 00:18:51.039 --> 00:18:55.440 a part of. It's very different from a lot of the places and and 227 00:18:55.440 --> 00:19:00.359 and governments that we experience in this world. If that's something God is offering, 228 00:19:00.880 --> 00:19:06.119 we should be all ears about how it is we can receive that. 229 00:19:07.880 --> 00:19:11.039 Well. Of course, there's a lot more to the Bible right than right 230 00:19:11.079 --> 00:19:17.519 here um in Ezekiel thirty seven, and God tells us in the scriptures exactly 231 00:19:17.640 --> 00:19:22.519 how it is we have that kingdom and what has happened. It didn't happen 232 00:19:22.640 --> 00:19:27.240 right away, And as we see, there are some mysterious things about here, 233 00:19:27.440 --> 00:19:33.079 the everlasting nature of the kingdom, the king being his servant David. 234 00:19:33.920 --> 00:19:37.640 Ultimately, what we discover and I'm getting to the punchline here. This kingdom 235 00:19:37.920 --> 00:19:45.759 is given to us and fulfilled in David's son, Jesus Christ. Not just 236 00:19:45.920 --> 00:19:48.480 David's son, but the very son of God. So that when God says 237 00:19:48.599 --> 00:19:53.799 I will fulfill these things, he does he does. And not just through 238 00:19:55.039 --> 00:20:00.000 various means, although that's part of it, but even directly, even direct, 239 00:20:00.160 --> 00:20:04.160 the sending of the sun, the sending of the spirit, all these 240 00:20:04.200 --> 00:20:11.039 things are fulfilled in Christ. How do we know that this is going to 241 00:20:11.720 --> 00:20:15.759 be the remainder of my sermon? And it's gonna be a little bit thick. 242 00:20:17.200 --> 00:20:21.160 So I know you're sleepy and it's late, um, but try to 243 00:20:21.200 --> 00:20:23.440 bear with me, right, this is an important question. How do we 244 00:20:23.599 --> 00:20:29.720 know that these things are fulfilled in Jesus? What gives us certainty about that? 245 00:20:32.039 --> 00:20:36.559 One reason is that the New Testament, in various places, says that 246 00:20:36.599 --> 00:20:40.279 the Old Testament is fulfilled for us in Christ. He fulfills all the law 247 00:20:40.599 --> 00:20:45.720 and the prophets the scriptures tell us as one example. Another reason is that 248 00:20:45.799 --> 00:20:51.519 the scriptures tell us that the Old Covenant could have never remained. In other 249 00:20:51.559 --> 00:20:55.720 words, if all God is so, let me start again, it is 250 00:20:55.759 --> 00:21:00.680 impossible for God to just kind of continue on this evenant and not establish a 251 00:21:00.680 --> 00:21:07.759 new one, because embedded in the Old Covenant itself was obsolescence, right. 252 00:21:07.799 --> 00:21:11.279 We talked about planned obsolescence, right with digital devices and you know, TVs 253 00:21:11.359 --> 00:21:15.039 and phones and things like that. That was true the Old Covenant as well. 254 00:21:15.599 --> 00:21:22.640 It was never intended to be the Covenant which would last forever. It's 255 00:21:22.680 --> 00:21:26.680 what it wasn't its purpose. Hebrews eight seven puts it this way, for 256 00:21:26.880 --> 00:21:30.920 if the first Covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion to 257 00:21:30.920 --> 00:21:37.039 look for a second. If the first Covenant had been faultless, there would 258 00:21:37.039 --> 00:21:38.720 have been no occasion to look for a second. In other words, even 259 00:21:38.720 --> 00:21:44.960 if you never heard about the New Covenant, you would expect it just from 260 00:21:45.079 --> 00:21:51.160 the faults of the old Covenant. Faults not in any way that impugnes God 261 00:21:51.240 --> 00:21:56.200 of some sort of um northeasance or um making mistakes or not doing a good 262 00:21:56.279 --> 00:22:02.640 job, but faults um faults in the sense that it was never intended to 263 00:22:02.720 --> 00:22:07.119 do what the New Covenant would do had a different purpose, which the author 264 00:22:07.160 --> 00:22:10.559 of Hebrews spends a lot of time talking about, as does Paul and many 265 00:22:10.559 --> 00:22:15.480 other New Testament writers, we also have promises in the Old, in the 266 00:22:15.519 --> 00:22:19.960 Old Covenant, and uh in the Profits, that a new covenant would come. 267 00:22:21.039 --> 00:22:22.920 We've seen some of them in Ezekiel. We see it even here God 268 00:22:22.960 --> 00:22:29.119 says I will establish a covenant of peace. He points forward to something new. 269 00:22:29.799 --> 00:22:33.200 Jeremiah thirty one. Thirty one is another example. Behold, the days 270 00:22:33.240 --> 00:22:36.720 are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with 271 00:22:36.799 --> 00:22:41.599 the House of Israel and the House of Judah. Another reason that they were 272 00:22:41.720 --> 00:22:48.720 right to believe that the Old covenant um could not remain and wouldn't establish these 273 00:22:48.759 --> 00:22:53.359 things on itself is what the author of Hebrew says in Hebrews eight five. 274 00:22:55.200 --> 00:22:59.920 The things of the Old Covenant, particularly there the priesthood and the tabernacle, 275 00:23:00.160 --> 00:23:06.279 were always Here's what he says, a copy and shadow of heavenly things. 276 00:23:07.799 --> 00:23:10.880 He says that also of the Law as a whole, when he says in 277 00:23:10.920 --> 00:23:15.160 Hebrews ten of one, the Law has but a shadow of the good things 278 00:23:15.200 --> 00:23:22.279 to come in instead of the true form of these realities. The Old Covenant, 279 00:23:22.519 --> 00:23:32.240 Hebrews says, was shadows and types copies of something You can almost matter 280 00:23:32.279 --> 00:23:37.319 us. This is just me sometimes I imagine like lego models. Right, 281 00:23:37.000 --> 00:23:42.160 this is a lego model of the Eiffel Tower, a lego model of the 282 00:23:42.240 --> 00:23:48.119 taj Mahal or whatever. Right, it's a copy and a shadow of something 283 00:23:48.319 --> 00:23:53.480 else. Right, that's what the Old Covenant was like. The author of 284 00:23:53.519 --> 00:23:59.880 Hebrews says they were copies and shadows of what of heavenly things. Keep that 285 00:24:00.000 --> 00:24:06.960 in your mind. Underlying that heavenly things, of the true form of realities. 286 00:24:07.799 --> 00:24:11.599 Hebrew says they were established and based on heavenly patterns, the tabernacle in 287 00:24:11.640 --> 00:24:17.200 particular, in the priesthood. They're based on heavenly patterns that Moses saw on 288 00:24:17.240 --> 00:24:21.680 the mountain. Right, So it's not just a kind of philosophical thing. 289 00:24:22.519 --> 00:24:29.960 Moses was given, you know, blueprints based on heavenly, heavenly things. 290 00:24:30.960 --> 00:24:41.039 Now here's the kicker. Christ enters into those heavenly places as a priest and 291 00:24:41.240 --> 00:24:48.759 as a king, he enters into the true realities that the copies pointed forward 292 00:24:48.799 --> 00:24:52.319 to. In fact, he even said, the earthly one is going to 293 00:24:52.359 --> 00:24:57.119 be destroyed, and in three days arise, you know, cause a temple, 294 00:24:57.240 --> 00:25:00.400 you know, build a temple? How can you old it? In 295 00:25:00.440 --> 00:25:06.440 three days? We were told he was speaking about his body, you're speaking 296 00:25:06.480 --> 00:25:12.599 about on what he would do through his death and resurrection. Thinking about him 297 00:25:12.680 --> 00:25:18.799 as a priest, Hebrew says, for he has entered not into holy places 298 00:25:18.839 --> 00:25:23.279 made with hands. Think of the temple and all. It's, you know, 299 00:25:23.480 --> 00:25:29.160 a cruchman's think of the curtain, right, and the pre high priest 300 00:25:29.240 --> 00:25:33.440 going back behind that curtain. That's he didn't do that. What did he 301 00:25:33.480 --> 00:25:37.519 do? Christ has entered not into holy places made with hands, which are 302 00:25:37.599 --> 00:25:45.160 copies of the true things, but into Heaven itself, he says, now 303 00:25:45.240 --> 00:25:51.559 to appear in the presence of God on our behalf. So going back to 304 00:25:51.599 --> 00:25:57.759 his equel and I hope you're tracking with me here we based on these things 305 00:25:57.799 --> 00:26:02.880 that we know then, or that they knew then and that were revealed later 306 00:26:03.319 --> 00:26:07.319 in Christ, we can have a lot of confidence that these things would not 307 00:26:07.480 --> 00:26:14.039 be fulfilled in their final form exactly and literally in the way that he says. 308 00:26:14.119 --> 00:26:18.599 Here David, for example, maybe coming back to life and ruling as 309 00:26:18.640 --> 00:26:23.039 a king, he means something else. He must mean something else, because 310 00:26:23.079 --> 00:26:30.160 this forever consummated form of the kingdom wouldn't happen according to the old types and 311 00:26:30.200 --> 00:26:34.200 shadows, right, they were pointing forward to true realities. They were pointing 312 00:26:34.240 --> 00:26:40.079 forward to great, greater things. And what we see then in the New 313 00:26:40.119 --> 00:26:45.480 Testament is that the work that Christ did brought about those effects that are promised. 314 00:26:45.559 --> 00:26:52.519 Listen more from Hebrews chapter nine. Picture in your mind what Jesus did. 315 00:26:52.759 --> 00:26:56.960 He entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of 316 00:26:57.000 --> 00:27:02.359 blood of goats and calves, but by means of his own blood, thus 317 00:27:02.400 --> 00:27:07.720 securing eternal redemption. Does that sound familiar? Eternal redemption? That's what he's 318 00:27:07.720 --> 00:27:12.319 talking about here right, Uh, a life forever more, a forgiveness and 319 00:27:12.480 --> 00:27:18.039 which we will live with and in God forever. He continues, for if 320 00:27:18.079 --> 00:27:22.599 the blood of bulls and goats, and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the 321 00:27:22.599 --> 00:27:26.880 ashes of a heifer sanctified for the purification of the flesh, how much more 322 00:27:26.920 --> 00:27:33.200 will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit, offered himself without 323 00:27:33.200 --> 00:27:37.440 blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God. 324 00:27:37.759 --> 00:27:44.559 That's language just like Ezekiel uses here right, the purification saving us from 325 00:27:44.559 --> 00:27:49.880 our backslidings, cleansing us right, that language of purification, so that they 326 00:27:49.920 --> 00:27:55.480 will be my people and I will be their God, so that they will 327 00:27:55.519 --> 00:27:59.160 walk in my statues. They will have a heart of flesh, not a 328 00:27:59.200 --> 00:28:03.240 heart of stone. That's what Hebrew says here. Jesus offered himself to do 329 00:28:03.440 --> 00:28:08.319 this thing, to accomplish this thing. It's because of passages like this that 330 00:28:08.359 --> 00:28:15.240 we know Jesus fulfilled this. It's not just a guess. It's what happened 331 00:28:15.799 --> 00:28:22.839 in history. It happened. And he's not only a better priest after a 332 00:28:22.880 --> 00:28:27.519 new order, he's also that son of David who would rule forever. If 333 00:28:27.519 --> 00:28:32.720 you were here with us this morning, you heard about the angel Gabriel right 334 00:28:33.519 --> 00:28:37.559 coming to Mary and speaking to her and talking to her and saying that a 335 00:28:37.680 --> 00:28:42.359 son of David, a son of his house, this one would rule on 336 00:28:42.400 --> 00:28:48.480 the throne of David forever. If you would turn with me to Psalm one 337 00:28:48.559 --> 00:28:52.960 hundred and ten. This is an import important passage for considering these things, 338 00:28:52.960 --> 00:28:57.319 and it is applied to Jesus in a number of ways throughout the New Testament. 339 00:28:57.359 --> 00:29:06.799 Psalm one and ten. Let's turn. They're together. Don't worry, 340 00:29:06.839 --> 00:29:18.279 I'm getting close to the end. Some um the Lord says to my lord, 341 00:29:18.359 --> 00:29:23.079 sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool. The 342 00:29:23.119 --> 00:29:27.319 Lord sends forth from Zion, your mighty scepter. Rule in the midst of 343 00:29:27.319 --> 00:29:32.440 your enemies. Your people will offer themselves freely on the day of your power 344 00:29:32.920 --> 00:29:36.640 in holy garments from the womb of the morning, and the do of your 345 00:29:36.680 --> 00:29:40.839 youth will be yours. The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind. 346 00:29:41.240 --> 00:29:45.160 You are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. The Lord is 347 00:29:45.160 --> 00:29:48.279 at your right hand. He will shatter kings on the day of his bath. 348 00:29:48.319 --> 00:29:52.359 He will execute judgment on the nation's, filling them with corpses. He 349 00:29:52.400 --> 00:29:56.319 will shatter chiefs over why, over the wide earth. He will drink the 350 00:29:56.359 --> 00:30:02.359 brook by the way. Therefore he will lift up his head. So here 351 00:30:02.400 --> 00:30:07.359 in someone ten we have one who has prophesied about who is a priest forever 352 00:30:07.880 --> 00:30:11.119 after the order of Melchizedek, which if you want to go and read Hebrews, 353 00:30:11.119 --> 00:30:15.559 he explains all what this means, and how he's a priest but of 354 00:30:15.599 --> 00:30:21.119 a different order, right, which is what we're saying about everything. A 355 00:30:21.240 --> 00:30:25.759 tabernacle of a different order, of a priesthood of a different order, and 356 00:30:25.799 --> 00:30:29.799 a king of a different order. Not only is he as a priest, 357 00:30:29.920 --> 00:30:33.480 as we are told in Someone ten, but he is a king as well. 358 00:30:33.799 --> 00:30:40.799 He will make the enemies. He will make God's enemies his footstool. 359 00:30:41.400 --> 00:30:45.880 So is Jesus the one who fulfills this. Is he not only that priest 360 00:30:45.160 --> 00:30:49.799 who goes into the heavenly places and offers himself as a sacrifice. Is he 361 00:30:49.920 --> 00:30:56.720 also the king? The answer is yes, he is David. He is 362 00:30:56.759 --> 00:31:02.000 the one who was, could come and would establish the dividic throne forever. 363 00:31:03.359 --> 00:31:11.839 Stephen in his um sermon right before his persecution, it's Um the nail on 364 00:31:11.839 --> 00:31:15.799 the head when he says, for David did not ascend into the heavens. 365 00:31:17.039 --> 00:31:22.279 David did not ascend into the heavens. But he himself says, the Lord 366 00:31:22.359 --> 00:31:27.240 said, to my Lord, sit at my right hand. Right did David 367 00:31:27.319 --> 00:31:30.799 go to heaven? Did David sit down at the right hand of God, 368 00:31:30.839 --> 00:31:34.480 the Father Almighty, from where he would judge the living and the dead. 369 00:31:34.960 --> 00:31:41.519 Would David establish all the enemies of God as his footstool? No? Who 370 00:31:41.559 --> 00:31:47.839 did the prophesied son of David, that David would go, and that David 371 00:31:48.359 --> 00:31:52.480 was Jesus Christ Hebrews one three of Jesus It says, he is the radiance 372 00:31:52.519 --> 00:31:57.359 of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature. He upholds 373 00:31:57.400 --> 00:32:04.720 the universe by the word of his pour After making purification for sins, he 374 00:32:04.880 --> 00:32:08.319 sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high. You hear this 375 00:32:08.400 --> 00:32:14.880 language of priest and king coming together in these verses Hebrews eight one. Now 376 00:32:14.920 --> 00:32:17.759 the point in what we are saying is this always helpful? Right when a 377 00:32:17.839 --> 00:32:22.599 preacher says that, Now the point and what we are saying is this, 378 00:32:22.200 --> 00:32:27.599 we have such a high priest, one who is seated at the right hand 379 00:32:27.759 --> 00:32:36.200 of the throne of the Majesty in heaven. That's the point, which is 380 00:32:36.279 --> 00:32:43.839 to say, that's how we know Jesus. Is this David. That Jesus 381 00:32:43.880 --> 00:32:47.960 is the one who unites Judah and Israel. And even more than that breaks 382 00:32:47.960 --> 00:32:53.119 down the dividing wall between the Jews and the Gentiles and brings all the families 383 00:32:53.240 --> 00:33:00.880 of the earth together to worship the Lord through the son of Abra Him, 384 00:33:00.920 --> 00:33:07.200 the son of Jacob, the True Israel, the son of David, the 385 00:33:07.279 --> 00:33:13.759 Son of God, which means those who are looking for the establishment of Israel 386 00:33:14.519 --> 00:33:22.079 in an earthly form need to look up. It's up. It's not going 387 00:33:22.119 --> 00:33:25.839 to happen here in this time and in this place, because it was a 388 00:33:25.880 --> 00:33:31.200 copy and a shadow of the heavenly realities to come. We're not looking for 389 00:33:31.240 --> 00:33:36.960 another kingdom here in this world. We are looking forward to the new heavens 390 00:33:37.160 --> 00:33:43.200 and the new Earth, and which God will rule over forever. That's what 391 00:33:43.279 --> 00:33:46.960 the land was pointing to. The temple was pointing to the Temple of the 392 00:33:47.000 --> 00:33:52.279 Lord in the heavenly places. The priesthood was pointing to the Priesthood of Christ. 393 00:33:52.319 --> 00:33:59.240 After the Order of Melchizedek, a new covenant was being anticipated. This 394 00:33:59.440 --> 00:34:05.960 can't be taken literally in a wooden sense. Instead, we read it as 395 00:34:06.000 --> 00:34:07.760 it was intended. We read it as God has given to us. We 396 00:34:07.840 --> 00:34:14.039 read it as it is fulfilled in Jesus. Jesus fulfilled these things, not 397 00:34:14.199 --> 00:34:22.280 by re enacting the old, but by fulfilling what the Old always pointed forward 398 00:34:22.320 --> 00:34:28.480 to. And in that sense it's very literal. These things were literally types 399 00:34:28.519 --> 00:34:32.519 and shadows of the things to come, and Jesus has literally fulfilled them and 400 00:34:32.679 --> 00:34:37.800 entered into the realities to which they pointed. And we know it's Jesus and 401 00:34:37.880 --> 00:34:43.480 not anyone else because He's the one that fulfilled all the prophecies. He's the 402 00:34:43.519 --> 00:34:47.079 one that Agel Angel Gabriel spoke of. He's the one that was born of 403 00:34:47.119 --> 00:34:52.039 a virgin. He's the one that lived the life that he did. He's 404 00:34:52.119 --> 00:34:55.440 the one that died on the cross. He's the one that rose from the 405 00:34:55.480 --> 00:35:01.119 dead, and as we read an ax A set ended into heaven and seated 406 00:35:01.519 --> 00:35:08.599 at the right hand the Majesty on high. He's the one that poured out 407 00:35:08.639 --> 00:35:13.639 his spirit on all of Israel, not just on the twelve tribes, but 408 00:35:13.760 --> 00:35:16.960 all all the nations of the earth, and then brought even the gentiles in, 409 00:35:17.119 --> 00:35:22.760 so that when Heaven comes and the consummation of it is all revealed at 410 00:35:22.800 --> 00:35:27.559 the peering of our Lord and glory, we will hear every tribe and tongue 411 00:35:27.880 --> 00:35:34.679 and nation declaring the glory of God. These this is the kingdom that he 412 00:35:34.760 --> 00:35:39.480 was will bring and reveal. It's the kingdom that He has already established, 413 00:35:40.039 --> 00:35:49.000 and he is even now drawing people into that kingdom. Our responsibility, then 414 00:35:49.079 --> 00:35:52.840 is to hear the call to wake up and see the reality of what God 415 00:35:52.920 --> 00:35:58.239 is doing, which has been begun and will be completed on his return, 416 00:35:59.239 --> 00:36:01.760 and instead of hearing that, and hearing of that kingdom and then just walking 417 00:36:01.760 --> 00:36:07.639 away from it is that we haven't heard anything important. We should seek after 418 00:36:07.679 --> 00:36:14.039 it first, above all things. Whatever it takes, we should make sure 419 00:36:14.119 --> 00:36:19.119 that we belong there, and praise God. It really doesn't take much. 420 00:36:20.800 --> 00:36:24.440 We simply trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. We trust the one that God 421 00:36:24.480 --> 00:36:30.079 has given to us, and we rest in him alone. It may mean 422 00:36:30.159 --> 00:36:32.000 giving up the things of this world, but really, what's to give up 423 00:36:32.639 --> 00:36:39.639 when this is what we're talking about. Let's pray, our Lord and King. 424 00:36:40.519 --> 00:36:45.880 We pray to you, oh God most High, through your son and 425 00:36:45.920 --> 00:36:50.519 by your spirit, that we might enter into your presence, through the one 426 00:36:50.559 --> 00:36:54.920 who lived and died for us, who now rules for us and and shatters 427 00:36:54.920 --> 00:37:00.800 all of our enemies, who dresses us and robes of righteousness, and who 428 00:37:00.840 --> 00:37:08.280 proclaims us as just through his work and his righteousness given to us. Lord, 429 00:37:08.400 --> 00:37:13.360 this kingdom that you have promised so long ago, we now see with 430 00:37:13.519 --> 00:37:19.519 clear eyes, um that it has been established, and that we can participate 431 00:37:19.559 --> 00:37:22.400 it, enjoy in it. And it is, as Jesus says, a 432 00:37:22.559 --> 00:37:28.559 kingdom that is not of this world. Lord, it is hard to remember 433 00:37:28.599 --> 00:37:32.199 this sometimes when the kingdoms that are of this world put so much pressure on 434 00:37:32.320 --> 00:37:37.559 us, and not just very this country or that country, but all of 435 00:37:37.599 --> 00:37:40.519 the things of this world. The very, it's various power and wisdom, 436 00:37:40.559 --> 00:37:45.559 it's various glories and strengths. That pressure comes to bear on our lives in 437 00:37:45.679 --> 00:37:50.960 various ways. And we fear it more than we ought to. We love 438 00:37:51.000 --> 00:37:54.880 it more than we ought to. Lord, teach us to look up. 439 00:37:55.800 --> 00:38:01.880 Teach us to set our hopes and our our sights on on Jesus Christ by 440 00:38:01.960 --> 00:38:08.920 faith, and as we do so, to throw aside every sin which clings 441 00:38:09.079 --> 00:38:15.360 so closely, and to run with endurance the race that is set before us. 442 00:38:15.679 --> 00:38:20.320 Did we pray this in Jesus name, Amen, mm hm