Historical past data the rise and fall of numerous principalities and empires. Take Winston Churchill as a considerably current instance. Through the Second World Struggle, the prime minister loved 83 p.c approval of the folks. By July of 1945, two months after the conflict ended, he and his Conservative Get together skilled a crushing defeat. Swept out of energy, their reign was over.
This occasion displays a key characteristic of the story of human historical past. “Earth’s proud empires,” penned the hymn author, “move away.” However the Bible presents us with a special image. Isaiah 9 describes a kingdom that may final endlessly. It’s no bizarre kingdom, and on the throne is not any bizarre King:
Of the rise of his authorities and of peace
there will probably be no finish,
on the throne of David and over his kingdom,
to ascertain it and to uphold it
with justice and with righteousness
from this time forth and forevermore.
The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do that. (Isa. 9:7)
The Context for Isaiah 9
In its fast context, Isaiah 9 speaks of a kid to be born, revealed within the New Testomony as Jesus of Nazareth. He’s the true King and Shepherd of Israel, in whom is to be discovered the peace our world wants.
Extra broadly, we additionally know that the e book of Isaiah as a complete has a context. The prophecy of chapter 9 comes on the heels of the guarantees of God which have preceded it.
Centuries earlier, on the finish of the interval of the judges, Israel had declined into ethical chaos. The e book of Judges itself concludes, “In these days there was no king in Israel. Everybody did what was proper in his personal eyes” (21:25). Consequently, the folks had determined appointing a king can be the answer to their dysfunction. With each reluctance and graciousness, God gave them a king—however kings got here and kings went, as monarchs inevitably do, every failing in a single diploma or one other.
Jesus is the true King and Shepherd of Israel, in whom we discover the peace our world wants.
By the top of the Previous Testomony, we sense a eager for one who will sit on David’s throne because the true king. This longing, we perceive, was fulfilled within the angelic pronouncement to Mary:
The angel stated to her, “Don’t be afraid, Mary, for you may have discovered favor with God. And behold, you’ll conceive in your womb and bear a son, and also you shall name his title Jesus. He will probably be nice and will probably be referred to as the Son of the Most Excessive. And the Lord will give to him the throne of his father David, and he’ll reign over the home of Jacob endlessly, and of his kingdom there will probably be no finish.” (Luke 1:29–33)
Not like these earlier than Him, this King would haven’t any successor. No person would come after Him; nobody would change Him.
It’s this King, the Lord Jesus Christ, to whom Isaiah 9:7 factors. And this verse outlines a number of qualities of God’s kingdom, defining for us what it is and what it shouldn’t be.
A Boundless Kingdom
God’s kingdom, we be taught, is unbounded, each geographically and temporally. Earthly kingdoms have boundaries. We’d like passports to maneuver from nation to nation. Boundaries enable us to learn historical past and say, “There was a time when there was a Roman Empire, a Greek Empire, a British Empire,” and so forth. However not so with God’s kingdom.
The non secular nature of the dominion Christ proclaimed didn’t make sense to His contemporaries. Jesus informed Pilate, “My kingdom shouldn’t be of this world” (John 18:36), and to the Pharisees Jesus defined, “The dominion of God is within the midst of you” (Luke 17:21). In different phrases, the place the King is, there the dominion is as properly.
As Christians, it’s essential we grasp this side of the dominion. Believers, Hebrews tells us, have come to Mount Zion already (12:22). As we dwell inside our allotted nationwide boundaries, we’re members in the end of the invisible kingdom of God—a kingdom established by peace, framed by justice, and outlined by righteousness.
The place Jesus is, there the dominion of God is.
These realities reshape our priorities. How we reply the primary query of the Heidelberg Catechism—“What’s our solely hope in life and loss of life?”—issues an incredible deal greater than the place our youngsters are educated or whether or not we’ve secured the borders of our nation. Whereas the latter points are vital, the previous is of higher significance for the Christian.
An Everlasting and Common Kingdom
Somewhat than being temporal or native, God’s kingdom is everlasting and common. The prophet Habakkuk tells us that a lot:
For the earth will probably be crammed
with the data of the glory of the LORD,
because the waters cowl the ocean” (2:14).
The expansion of God’s kingdom isn’t a results of army, cultural, or political conquest, by which the kingdoms of this world usually enhance their dominion. As an alternative, this kingdom grows because the Gospel is proclaimed within the energy of the Holy Spirit.
We shouldn’t equate this lack of bodily pressure with weak point, although. Daniel, describing the approaching of the dominion, footage it as a rule that “shall break in items all these kingdoms and convey them to an finish” (2:44). So forceful is the divine kingdom that even as we speak, it’s taking floor inside nations against its rule. In locations like mainland China, sub-Saharan Africa, and South America, God’s kingdom is rising one renewed coronary heart at a time.
A Highly effective Kingdom
Isaiah 9:7 concludes with a phrase on the highly effective working of the dominion: It’s by “the zeal of the LORD of hosts” that God establishes His rule.
After the angel informed Mary in regards to the coming King and kingdom, the virgin requested, “How will this be …?” (Luke 1:34). It’s nearly as if Isaiah anticipated this query on behalf of his preliminary readers. The occasions Isaiah describes and wherein Mary participates wouldn’t transpire in an bizarre course of affairs. For all this stuff to happen, God, immeasurable in His energy, needed to be concerned.
“The zeal of the LORD of hosts” is a big biblical phrase. If we expect alongside the strains of godly jealousy, we’re heading in the right direction. It’s the image of a involved father for the purity of his daughters. It’s the jealousy of an oncologist for the eradication of the most cancers he finds in his sufferers. This jealousy, this “zeal,” is fully proper and good.
We’d say it this manner: The blessings described in Isaiah 9 are tied solely to the one who sits on the throne. We can’t divorce the King from His kingdom.
In his beloved youngsters’s e book The Final Battle, C. S. Lewis lets the reader in on an trade between Lucy and Aslan, king of Narnia:
Lucy stated, “We’re so afraid of being despatched away, Aslan. And you’ve got despatched us again into our personal world so usually.”
“No worry of that,” stated Aslan. “Have you ever not guessed?”
Their hearts leaped and a wild hope rose inside them.
… “Your father and mom and all of you might be—as you used to name it within the Shadow-Lands—lifeless. The time period is over: the vacations have begun. The dream is ended: that is the morning.”
What’s Lewis describing? The superb non secular actuality described in 1 Corinthians 2:9: “No eye has seen” (it’s invisible), “nor ear heard” (it’s inaudible), “nor the guts of man imagined” (it’s inconceivable), “what God has ready for many who love him.”
As a result of God’s kingdom is everlasting, we by no means have to depart. As a result of it’s common, it’s for anybody who involves Christ with humble religion. And since it’s highly effective, we are able to take pleasure in assurance regarding our membership inside its realm. We will belief within the King and His kingdom fully.
