Living Under the Coming King
About this series:
Throughout 2023 all our teaching series will be looking at The Kingdom Of God. The essential goal is to help people understand the Bible’s teaching on the kingdom of God and raise confidence in God’s plans for his kingdom’s expansion / multiplication.
Our first series on the kingdom starts with an introduction to the king and his kingdom and then develops that biblical theme from the establishing of God's kingdom in creation to his choosing of a special people who would be set apart for him, how God's kingdom clashes with that of the world and the choices we therefore have to make, how we're to be a blessing while we live in the world but not of it, the promise of a coming anointed king bringing to reality the rule of God in / through the life of his people, the coming of the kingdom in a new way in Jesus as promised in the OT, what Jesus expected life in the kingdom of God to look like, what Jesus taught about the kingdom in parables, how the church relates to the kingdom and the future kingdom.
Preaching about The Kingdom Of God is a great way to address life as a church community - this is how life together under God’s reign should look like. And to address our lives in the world - demonstrating to those in our sphere of influence the reality of God and what life looks like when God is your king.
About this talk:
Scripture: Isaiah 61
The king reigns everywhere, over everything and everyone. And yet, until he returns and eliminates Satan and evil we do not see every place, thing or person submitted to him. Hence Vaughan Roberts writes, ‘That is what is meant by ‘the kingdom of God’; not the area where he rules (for he always rules everywhere) but the sphere where his rule is gladly accepted.’ And Isaiah 61, along with many Old Testament passages depicts what life looks like where his rule is gladly accepted.’
Isaiah 61 is part of Isaiah’s vision of a post-exilic future for God’s people, a new Jerusalem headed by the Servant-Messiah-King on whom Isaiah’s prophecies are focussed. Isaiah 60 has just spoken of the blessings that God’s people will enjoy and chapter 61 now brings into focus the one who will deliver those blessings.
“The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor,” v 1. The anointed servant brings freedom, favour and comfort (vs 1-2); he changes the fortunes of his people for his own name’s sake (v 3); he sets his people to work in rebuilding what has been broken down and to minister to him (vs 4-6); shame and disgrace will become instead a joyful double-portion inheritance (v 7); his covenant will be marked by faithfulness and justice, with his people being renowned among the nations (vs 8-9); the result is both delight in God and delight in what he has done (vs 10-11).
This is what life is like under the reign of king Jesus, who announces his manifesto in Nazareth by quoting Isaiah 61. Kevin de Young: ‘When Jesus read from the Isaiah scroll in Luke 4:16-21, his simple message was, in effect, “I am jubilee.” “I am good news for the poor because I can meet their needs,” Jesus was saying, “and good news for the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. I am good news for the captives in chains because I can them free (sic), and good news for those in spiritual bondage because I can be their deliverer. I am good news for the physically blind because I can restore their sight, and good news for the spiritually blind because I will open their eyes to the glory of God. I am good news for the oppressed because I hear their cries for justice, and good news for the spiritually oppressed because I will conquer sin, self, and Satan.”’
While we know that the fulness of all this will not be seen until Jesus returns, it is clearly his expectation that we will enjoy and demonstrate the foretaste of it now.
Application ideas:
Which parts of Isaiah 61 excite you most?
What are some of our hopes and vision for life under the rule of God (in your family, workplace, neighbourhood, Citygate)?
Why is Jesus the answer to all this?
Audio only
