"King and Country: the King Foreshadowed" by Chuck Pike

The one may be overpowered by another, two can withstand him, and a threefold cord is not quickly broken. Welcome everyone, and good morning. Um, so today we're going to be starting a new series here on Strength to Strength. The new series that we're going to be starting is called King and Country. So today we're going to be looking at, um, a topic called King and Country, The King Foreshadowed.

And then we have, um, actually seven parts altogether. Uh, King and Country, The King Arrives will be part two. Part three is King and Country, The King's Constitution. Uh, part four, King and Country, The King's Stories. Part five, King and Country, The King Inaugurated. Part six, King and Country, The New Humanity. And part seven will be King and Country, The King's Final Victory.

So today we have, um, the first part called, um, The King Foreshadowed. And, uh, for that we're joined by, uh, Chuck Pike. Chuck Pike is from the greater Boston area. His, uh, work some of you may be familiar with. Um, he's published by Scroll Publishing and also by the Historic Faith Project, uh, both of which, um, I believe some on this, um, group are familiar with. Uh, Chuck, uh, teaches apologetics from the Old Testament and, um, talks about how you can win people to Jesus from the Old Testament.

So we're going to get started here. Um, just keep in mind that as we go along, uh, keep your questions. Uh, you can actually submit them by chat, or if you're using Zoom, you will be able to, um, join interactively at the end. So we'll give, um, Brother Chuck here about 45 minutes or so, and then we'll, um, go to question and answer following that. So, um, Brother Chuck, if you would, um, introduce yourself and, uh, then go from there. The time is yours. All right. Well, Graham, uh, you did such a great job of introducing me. I really can't answer very much to that.

You did, did an awesome job. So I'm, uh, uh, I'm, uh, uh, I'm not seminary trained. I'm a, I'm a civil engineer by profession. I'm at the end of my civil engineering career, ramping up my work in the kingdom of God. Um, and, uh, as you mentioned, I'm in the Boston area, lead a, lead a house church here, do a lot of expository teaching, and, uh, love the Old Testament, do a lot of teaching out of the Old Testament as well. So let's, uh, let's begin with a prayer.

Father in heaven, Lord, thank you for your son, Jesus. Thank you for loving us, for creating us, for opening the door up for us to become part of your kingdom. Thank you for the wonderful king that we serve. And I pray that you will bless us all this morning as we reflect on the kingdom and the king as your plan from the very beginning. And that we see, we see so many prophecies about the king and the kingdom of the Old Testament. I pray that you'll use it to strengthen our faith, to equip, to equip, uh, us to, to, uh, to teach and persuade others and to, uh, to really fully embrace, uh, what the kingdom is all about.

And I ask your blessing in Jesus' name. Amen. All right. I'm going to, I'm going to share a screen now.

And, uh, let me go back here.

Okay.

All right. This is, uh, King and Country, The King Foreshadowed. So we're going to look at Old Testament prophecies about the king who was to come and, and the kingdom of God. It's a good intro to the, the series here. And, uh, one thing I think this can strengthen our faith and give us a perspective on the kingdom as, as Christians, but it's also really good for, uh, convincing others. I think the fulfilled prophecies, I've seen people who were atheists and who were agnostics who've come to faith by looking at materials like this from, from the fulfilled prophecies of the Old Testament. So it's good for both. We're going to hit a lot of scriptures today.

So if you, uh, more than in a typical lesson, because this is, we're, we're starting in Genesis and blowing through a lot of the Old Testament and, and looking at some New Testament scriptures as well. And you may want to just at least jot down the scripture references, uh, if, if you want to go back and check some of these things out later to see if, if what I'm saying is actually true or not. Uh, when I, uh, when I share my faith with other people, I, uh, throw down the, the, I throw the gauntlet down. I throw down the challenge. Uh, I, I say, if I could prove to you from the scriptures on the Old Testament prophecies that Jesus was the son of God, would you believe and follow him?

So this is, uh, this is a, a much more bold way than, than most people are used to sharing their faith. But, uh, but really this is, if you look in the book of Acts, that's kind of the, the approach that the apostles took that they proved from the scriptures that Jesus was the Christ using Old Testament prophecies. Uh, just backing up a little bit, we had before the class started a little discussion, uh, and, uh, Brian had asked if to what extent I was influenced what I'm teaching about the kingdom of God by David Brissot, and, and the answer was definitely I was. It opened up my understanding to the, the idea that the message that's preached, uh, really should be the kingdom of God, not more than just personal salvation.

It's the kingdom of God, and salvation, of course, ties in with that. And I think of, um, in the beginning, Jesus came to preach the gospel of the kingdom of God. That's what the gospel is. It's the gospel of the kingdom of God.

Uh, Matthew 24, Jesus says this gospel of the kingdom, Matthew 24:14, will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come. So this is Jesus. What Jesus preached, his expectation is that we will be preaching the gospel of the kingdom.

Uh, in Acts 28, it says at the end of the book of Acts, Paul dwelt for two whole years in his own rented house, received all who came to him preaching the kingdom of God. So this is what, this is what Jesus expected to be preached. This is what Paul's preaching at the end of the book of Acts in Rome.

And the, the preaching about the kingdom of God, we look at the example of Peter in Acts chapter two on the day of Pentecost in Rome. And also in Acts 13, Paul and a synagogue in Pisidian Antioch, which would be middle of Turkey today. They both, which is, which is a, a very full and interesting presentation of the kingdom. Both of them, although they use some, some of the same scriptures, some different ones, both of them come from this kingdom prophecies perspective that Jesus is the, is the promised king who was to come. And then in Acts chapter 28, I'm going to read verses 23 and 24. This is, uh, out of the New King James.

So when they had appointed him a day, many came to him at his lodging, to whom he explained and solemnly testified of the kingdom of God, persuading them concerning Jesus from both the law of Moses and the prophets from morning till evening. And some of them were persuaded by the things which were spoken, and some disbelieved. So this is what Paul was doing. He was convincing people about the kingdom of God from the law of Moses and the prophets. So he's using the Old Testament. He's, this is what Paul did in Rome. So this is what we're going to do today.

Uh, now I'm breaking, I want to break it down. A lot of the kingdom prophecies are associated with King David. So I'm going to look at prophecies that are before King David, prophecies associated with David, and then prophecies after David in the New Testament. Break it down, those three, those three areas. And then after that, we're going to look at how these things were fulfilled in the New Testament. That's basically an outline for what I want to cover today.

So question number one, uh, uh, throw this out for you to think about kingdom prophecies before David. So we'll start with, start with Abraham. Did the Lord make any promises to Abraham related to a future king or a future kingdom? Now, if you think about the pro, the, the promises that God made to Abraham, he promised that he would have many descendants. He promised that his descendants would inherit the land. So those are the, those are the promises that we think about first, most of us. But there's, there's then, there's this point in Genesis 17, verses 15 and 16. It says, then the God said to Abraham, as for Sarah, your wife, you shall not call her name Sarah, but Sarah shall be her name.

And I will bless her and also give you a son by her. And I will bless him and he shall become nations and kings of peoples shall be from him. So this is a promise of a line of kings, a lineage of kings would come from the son of, the son that Sarah would have, which is Isaac. So this is the, the, the promise of a king would go through Abraham and Isaac that the kings would come in the future.

And, uh, so we look at the prophecies. So this one says that the line of kings is going to come from Abraham through Isaac. And then there's a promise further on that's made to Jacob. And then, uh, it goes from Jacob to the 12 sons of Jacob and particularly to one of those 12 sons. So when, when Jacob is about to die in Genesis 49, he gives a blessing to each of his 12 sons.

And the first three to Levi, Simeon, and Judah are more like curses than blessings, actually. They're because of the sins that the first, the oldest three sons have committed, uh, they don't receive the great blessing. Great blessing comes to the fourth son, Judah. In Genesis 49, the very famous prophecy that's given about Judah. And it says here, we'll pick up verse eight. Judah, you are he whom your brothers shall praise. Your hand shall be on the neck of your enemies. Your father's sons shall bow down before you. Judah is a lion's cub. And from being a shoot, my son, you've grown up, he bows down and slept as a lion and a cub. And who shall rouse him?

The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from his loins until Shiloh comes. And to him shall be the expectation of the nations. So this is part of the, uh, the prophecy that's given to Judah, the, the, the fourth son. So it says here, part of this prophecy says, the scepter shall not depart from Judah. The scepter is the ruler's staff. This is something that a king would have. So the line of kings here is going to come through Judah. And this is Moses is giving this prophecy. It's in Genesis. And just, uh, you know, I mentioned to when I'm sharing, studying the Bible with people who are not Christians, I just say, look, just for perspective, Moses is writing about the, the prophecy here to, to, uh, that we read earlier to Abraham.

And then, and then this prophecy here at the end of Genesis, Moses is writing about 1400 years before Christ. So he says that the, the ruler's staff is going to come, is going to pass from a descendant of Judah.

All right. Now, so I want to, uh, to move on now to prophecies that are associated with David. Now, David is, of course, descended from the tribe of Judah. He is the second king over Israel. Saul was the first king who is from the tribe of Benjamin.

And David, so this is a little, uh, uh, a little more than a thousand years before the time of Christ. So David here, in Second Samuel chapter seven, he is, uh, Saul has died. David has become king. He's taken him, it takes him a while. He consolidates the kingdom. He comes into Jerusalem and he surveys the situation. He's, he's living in a palace of cedar himself.

And he, he looks out and he considers, wow, I'm living in a palace of cedar, but the ark of God is in a tent. So what's wrong with this picture? And so he has a great idea. He thinks it's a great idea anyway. He says, I'm going to build a temple, a permanent structure. And the, the ark of the covenant was living in the tabernacle, which is a portable tent, tent-like structure. He says, I'm going to build a temple, a permanent structure for God, a house for God. He thinks that's a great idea.

And, but God doesn't think that's a great idea. So he, God, the Lord comes to Nathan the prophet. Nathan originally thinks, yeah, that's sure, that's a good idea. And the Lord comes to, to Nathan at night and tells him, no, I don't want David to do that. David is not the one who's going to build a house for me. And this is a very significant prophecy that, uh, a lot of Christians are not very familiar with. Second Samuel chapter seven, it's, uh, it's the parallel account in First Chronicles 17. We'll start reading in verse 12. And so it says, when you're, this is the prophecy given to David by the prophet Nathan, what the Lord had told him.

He says, when your days, and now pay attention to this prophecy, to every word and every phrase in here. All right. Cause there's a lot, there's a lot packed in and every, every phrase is significant. So you got to really, it's easy to miss this. When, when your days are fulfilled and you rest and the word in the Septuagint is, is sleep with your fathers, I will raise up your seed after you who will come from your body and I will prepare his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name and I will establish his throne forever. I will be a father to him and he shall be to me a son. If he commits iniquity, I will chase him with the rod of men and the blows of the sons of men and his house shall be made sure and his kingdom shall be forever.

So this is a promise of the eternal kingdom. And, uh, it's going to be from one of the descendants of David. It says when you die and when you rest with your fathers, it's a poetic sleep is used throughout the scriptures, Old Testament, New Testament is a metaphor for death. So, uh, it says, you're not going to build my house.

One of your sons is one of your descendants, one who comes from your own body. So Solomon, David thought that must, must apply to Solomon. And David told that to Solomon. And in First Kings five, First Kings eight, Second Chronicles six, you read the accounts here of Solomon building the temple and then Solomon dedicating the temple.

And Solomon is convinced that the, that this prophecy applies to him. When he, when he goes, when he approaches, uh, the Hyrum, the king of Tyre, to get the cedars of Lebanon floated down to help in the construction, the timbers for the, for the temple, he tells him, you know, uh, the Lord told my father that I was going to build the temple.

And so that's why you need to help out and give me these, these, uh, cedars because, because I'm, I'm the one fulfilling this prophecy that was given. And then when Solomon dedicates the temple in First Kings chapter eight, he, he calls on the Lord to fulfill the rest of the prophecy. Basically what he says is, all right, you know, I'm the son of David. Check. I've built the temple. Check. Now, can you please give me the kingdom that's going to last forever? So that's, that's, that's his, he's, he's, he, he's convinced that this, this applies to him. God's answer is very, very interesting and very telling the way he, he gives him a kind of a conditional answer to this request.

Uh, uh, later on, I was reading in the, the early Christians and I stumbled on a few writers, like Panchus, who one in particular, who said this prophecy could not possibly have applied to Solomon. And cause most people would think, oh, it must apply to Solomon. The Jews certainly thought that they think he's the son of David. He built the temple. So, you know, he's, he must, must, this must have been a prophecy about him.

And so like Panchus points out, he says there are four reasons. Well, he's bad enough to have one reason. He said there are four reasons here why this could not have applied to Solomon. And let's think about the prophecy that I just read.

First point is, it says the promised descendant of David would be raised up after David's death. It says, when your days are fulfilled and you sleep with your fathers, I will raise up one of your own offspring. Okay. Now, was Solomon raised to the throne after David died?

No, he wasn't. In First Kings chapter one, there's this whole scene where one of David's other sons, uh, seizes the throne in David's old age. And then Bathsheba and some other people, uh, uh, intervene and, and Solomon, uh, is appointed king under David's authorization while David is still alive. Very unusual, but that negated the possibility because the promise says, after you die, I'm going to raise up one of your descendants to become king. So that's problem number one. Number two, so the kingdom would last forever. Did Solomon's kingdom will last forever? No, Solomon reigned for 40 years and his kingdom, anyway, you look at it, only lasted a few hundred years until the time that the Babylonians, uh, destroyed, uh, Judah and carried them off into captivity.

So his, his kingdom did not last forever. The number three, it says that the temple would be established forever. The Solomon's temple was destroyed by the Babylonians in 586. So it only lasted for, uh, 400 years or so. And then, and then the fourth thing, which I totally missed, it says, I will be a father to him and he shall be my son. And like Panchus says, Solomon was never called the son of God. He was only known as the son of David. So four reasons why it couldn't possibly have applied to Solomon. Most people think, oh, this must be Solomon. So this is from, like Panchus says, uh, lived 250 to 325, uh, AD, early Christian writer from, from Rome.

And you can find that in Ananias' Fathers volume four, page 113. Uh, if you have a hard copy set or it's available online also. Now this whole idea about the son of God, you know, as mentioning before we got started here that, uh, I've been doing some work in the Middle East and, uh, in people from Muslim countries, this whole idea of Jesus being the son of God causes people a lot of problems. One of the first things that the, that the Muslims will teach people is God can't have a son. So they say God can't have a son because they're thinking the son of God means God, the father has relations with Mary, a human being, and they produce an offspring.

And that's the son of God. He's the son of God. It says that's, that's not what Christians mean. That's they're totally not what they should be meaning when they talk about, uh, Jesus being the son of God. We mean he's the son of God before all ages. He always was the son of God. He was, he was, he was begotten before time. So he was, he was, he was begotten of the father. In that sense, he's the son of God. That's what we mean. So he means he proceeded from the father. The father didn't proceed from him. So that's, that's what we mean. And, and, and the Christians in the beginning would use illustrations when they say, when we say son of God, they say, for example, as the son up, up the sun that's in the sky is a ray of light proceeds from the sun that's in the sky.

So the son of God proceeded from the father. So that's, that's what we mean in that sense of son, uh, that he, he's, Jesus is not a created being. He always existed. His origin is in the father. That's what we mean when we say son of God. That just as the father has always existed, the son always has existed as well before all ages.

Uh, and this idea of the son of God, you know, said, I will be his father and he will be my son. So this goes back to, uh, um, to the prophecy that was given to David in Second Samuel seven.

Also, the, the whole idea that the Christ would come, the, the Christ, the word Christ means the anointed one. This is, this comes from, from, uh, a few places in the Bible and the Old Testament where it specifically mentions the Christ. In Psalm two, it says, why do the nations rage and the people meditate on vain things? The kings of the earth set themselves against the rulers together, together against the Lord and against his anointed. And, and, and the, when the New Testament writers are quoting from the Old Testament, they're generally quoting from the Greek Old Testament, the Septuagint, New Testament is written in Greek and they're, so they're, and that was the, that was the Bible, the early church, the Old Testament, you know, early Christian writers as well.

Um, even Jesus is quoting from the Septuagint from Psalm two, from this very Psalm in, uh, in Revelation two when he's quoting from, uh, a little further on in, in, in Psalm two. So what it says there and, and, uh, it says against the Lord and against his Christ. That's literally what it says. So it's, it's the Christ is the anointed one.

So it talks about the Christ will come and that the rulers will oppose him. And this term Messiah is the Hebrew term in John chapter one. It talks about the, the Messiah and Christ, those terms, the equivalent, uh, Messiah is the Hebrew term. Christ is the Greek word Christos. And then anointed one is English. They're all the same. It's the same thing in three different languages, but just it means the, the anointed one. Christ is the, the, is the title.

Um, Jesus' name, Christ's title. And John four says, the woman said to him, I know that when Messiah is coming, who is called Christ, when he comes, he will tell us all things. So it's the same, the same word in, in different languages. It's just the anointed one. And that's the word that shows up in Christ, the Greek in, uh, in Psalm two.

So it's a little further down in Psalm two, it says, let us break their bands and cast away their yokes from us. He who sits in the heavens shall laugh at them. The Lord shall mock them. Then he shall speak to them his wrath and trouble him his anger. But I was established as king by him over his holy hill of Zion, declaring the Lord's decree.

Then the Lord said to me, you are my son. Today I have begotten you. Ask of me and I will give you the nations for your inheritance and the ends of the earth for your possession. That last line there is, uh, it's, uh, quoted in Hebrews chapter one as well from Psalm two. So what, what we learn from Psalm two is the Christ, the anointed one is the son of God. So right, right back here, you are my son. Today I have begotten you. So he is referred to the Christ is the son of God who is the king ruling over God's kingdom. They're all referred to the same person. We learn that from Psalm two.

So the Muslims, ironically, they will say, we believe that Jesus is the Christ, but we don't believe he's the son of God. I say, well, Psalm two, I say the Christians didn't make this up. This is a thousand years beforehand. That's this comes from Psalm two of David. If you believe he's the Christ, he has to be the son of God by definition right here.

All right. So they just, they're confused about what we mean by son of God. So you have to explain it to them and, and, and explain that this isn't something Christians made up. This is something written a thousand years before by David and talking about the Christ.

So we learn from Psalm two that God will set his son on the throne as the king and that the rulers of the earth will conspire against his son and that Christ will rule as a king over all nations over the ends of the earth.

All right. Psalm 110, verses one to four, it speaks about this son of David. It says, the Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand until I make your enemies the footstool for your feet. The Lord shall send forth the rod of your power from Zion and rule in the midst of your enemies with you as the beginning of the day of your power and the brightness of your saints. I have begotten you from the womb before the morning star.

The Lord swore and will not repent means he will not change his mind. You are priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek. Uh, so let's, let's think about this. So David refers to him as my Lord. Jesus makes this point in Matthew 22. He says, uh, how can the, the Christ be the son of David who David refers to him as my Lord? David being the, the author of Psalm 110.

So he's both the son of David and the Lord or ruler of David. And also notice that in this passage, the two are referred to as Lord. The Lord said to my Lord, the Lord being the father and my Lord being the son. We'll refer to him.

He will sit at the right hand of God. And which is, it mentions that in Hebrews one also in Acts chapter two is Jesus now seated at the right hand of the father. And all his enemies will be made his footstool. Paul makes the point in First Corinthians 15 that the last enemy to be made his footstool will be death itself.

And then a priest in the order of Melchizedek. Now Melchizedek is mentioned, Melchizedek, you, you blank and you miss him. He, he's, he's, he shows up in Genesis 14 and he's mentioned in three verses of scripture and somehow he gets three chapters in the book of Hebrews devoted to him. So why is that? Well, because the significance of Melchizedek is because it says that, uh, the, the, the, the Lord, this Lord that David is referring to, this great king will also be a priest, but he'll be a priest in the order of Melchizedek, not like Levi. And so that's why, uh, it's, that's why this, this Melchizedek, the connection with Melchizedek is picked up and expanded on in Hebrews over the course of three chapters because of this statement in Psalm 110.

So he, he's like, as it explains in Hebrews five, six and seven, he's, he will be like Melchizedek in the following senses. He'd be both a king and priest. So the kings were all descended from Judah. The, the, they were supposed to be anyway, the, the, uh, and, and, and, but the priests were all descended from Levi. So all of a sudden you have a, you know, how could you, someone both be a king and a priest because they're descended from two different lines? Well, this king, future king would also be a priest like Melchizedek was. Melchizedek was both a king and a priest. He was the king of peace. He was the king of righteousness by his names.

And he was a member of a more ancient priesthood than the one of Aaron. And it was a priesthood that was not based on genealogy. And that he was such a great priest. He was a priest even to Abraham. And it says he's a, he's a, he's a member of an eternal priesthood. And he offered the bread and the wine. So these are the, these are similarities with Melchizedek. So this king would also be a priest like Melchizedek.

Um, so this promise that's made to David about the eternal kingdom is repeated in Psalm 89 and Psalm 132, where God doubles and triples down on this promise that he made. So he made the promise to David that, that one of his descendants would be on the throne over the kingdom that would last forever.

And he goes on to say in Psalm 89, uh, at great length, he says, once, once for all, I swore in my holy place, I would not lie to David. His seed shall remain forever, his throne as the sun before me. So this is after the time of David that the, the God is revealing. He says, I swore in my holy place, I will not lie to David. I will fulfill this promise no matter what it looks like.

And, uh, Psalm 132 says the same thing. Uh, the Lord swore to David this truth. He shall not reject it. I shall set upon your throne one from the fruit of your loins.

Uh, so we've looked at prophecies associated with David. Now I wanna look at prophecies that come after the time of David.

It's a famous prophecy. Isaiah nine, verses six and seven, unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given. The government will be on his shoulder. His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace will be no end upon the throne of David and over his kingdom to order it and establish it with judgment and justice from that time forward, even forever. The zeal of the Lord opposed will perform. This is a very famous, I think this is, uh, from Handel's Messiah, uh, uh, this, this part of scripture. And it says he will be upon the throne of David and over his kingdoms.

This is Isaiah is writing about 700 BC. And this is obviously referring to the same promise that had been given to David hundreds of years earlier, that this king over eternal kingdom would, would, uh, be on the throne of David.

Micah 5:2 is another, uh, well-known prophecy. It's repeated in the New Testament. It says, but you, Bethlehem, Ephratha, though you are little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of you shall come forth to me the one to be ruler in Israel whose goings forth are from old, from everlasting. So this is the promise that the ruler, the great ruler to come would come from Bethlehem, which was the city of David. Micah's writing, uh, long after David has died.

And, uh, this mysterious statement is goings forth are from old, from everlasting. This, this points back to the fact that, that the son of God was from everlasting, that he had, he was from before all ages, that, uh, he wasn't, that, that the, just the, the birth of Jesus is just the incarnation that the son of God always existed.

Uh, another kingdom prophecy, Ezekiel writing about 600 years before Christ, Ezekiel 34 is a wonderful passage in Ezekiel 34 about God is being upset with the wicked shepherds of Israel. And after rebuking them, God says, God goes, it's a wonderful promise at the end of, of Ezekiel 34. He says in verse 23, I will establish one shepherd over them and he shall feed them, my servant David. He shall feed them and be their shepherd. I the Lord will be their God, my servant David, a prince among them. I the Lord have spoken. So God says, I will raise up one shepherd over them, even my servant David. Now, David's been dead for 400 years now, but he's referring to this shepherd that he will establish as the prince over them to be the shepherd.

So this is, this is referring to the same promise of David. He's referring to him as David. In Daniel chapter two, there are a number of kingdom prophecies in Daniel, which is, so this would be, this would appear to be a low point for the Jews in that their, their kingdom has been, uh, smashed. The Jews are taken into captivity. The temple's been, the temple of Solomon has been destroyed. However, even in the midst of this discouraging situation, God affirms that he rules and that he will establish his kingdom just as he said he would. In Daniel chapter two, uh, the, the king has a dream which he bothers him greatly. And, uh, so he tells the wise man, you tell me my dream and then you give the interpretation and then I'll know that you're for real.

You're not just making something up. And Daniel, the, the spirit of God reveals to Daniel the dream and he interprets the dream. It's the dream of the four-part statue, the, the head of gold and the, the chest and the arms of silver and the, the, the, the, the belly and thighs of bronze and then the, the feet of iron and bay clay, the four-part statue. And so he goes through the four that the king of Babylon is the head of gold. After him will come another kingdom and then another one. And then in the times of the fourth kingdom, he says, in the days of these kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed.

The kingdom shall not be left to other people. It shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms and it shall stand forever. This is a kingdom prophecy that God will establish the kingdom that will last forever in the time of the fourth kingdom.

And I mean, historically, uh, the, the, the kingdoms in that part of the world would be, uh, Babylon first and then in the book of Daniel, that succeeded by the kingdom of the Medes and the Persians second. And then after that came Alexander the Great and the Greeks. And then the fourth kingdom would be the Roman Empire, uh, to rule over Israel.

Daniel chapter seven, interesting prophecy in verse 13. I was watching in the night visions and behold one like the Son of Man coming with the clouds of heaven. He came to the ancient of days and they brought him near before him. Then to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion which shall not pass away and his kingdom is the one which shall not be destroyed. So this is the, this is the, the, the, the vision about the Son of Man who would be over the kingdom that would, would not be destroyed, ruling over all nations. And Daniel nine is the 70 weeks prophecy, which, uh, I'm not gonna go into the details of it.

We're gonna look at this at a very, very high level, just in terms of the, the establishing the overall timeframe. Daniel nine, 24 to 26 is a famous 70 weeks prophecy. So it's the, uh, the word for seven and week is the same thing. So, uh, 70 weeks or 70 sevens says 70 weeks are determined for your people and your holy city to finish the transgression, to make an end for sins, to make reconciliation for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up the vision and prophecy, to anoint the most holy.

Know therefore and understand from the going forth of the command to restore and build Jerusalem until the Messiah, the prince. This is the, you know, in the Septuagint, it's Christ the prince. There shall be seven weeks and 62 weeks. The streets shall be built again, the wall, even in troublesome times. But after, and after the 62 weeks, Messiah shall be cut off, but not for himself. And the people of the prince who is to come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end of it shall be with a flood till the end of the war. Desolations are determined. So, all right.

So it's talking about Messiah, the prince, about Christ is coming. And it says when he's gonna come. So keep in mind, this is a, this is a message that's given to Daniel while Daniel is in, uh, in, in, in captivity.

And he says, all right, here's the timeline that, um, the Jerusalem will be rebuilt, including the temple. And then the Messiah will come. And then the Messiah will be cut off. Uh, and then the city, Jerusalem, will be destroyed.

All right. So that's, that's the, the, the sequence here. So Jerusalem at that time was destroyed, will be rebuilt, and which is to happens during the time of, uh, of Ezra and Nehemiah. And then Messiah will come and he'll be cut off. And it's the same expression Isaiah 53, he was cut off from the land of the living. That's a, that's a way of saying he's gonna be killed.

Uh, and the Septuagint says after 62 weeks, the anointed one shall be put to death. So that's what it's referring to. So he, he, he, the city would be rebuilt, then Messiah would come, then he'd be cut off. And then after that, the city of Jerusalem was to be destroyed and the temple would be destroyed, which happened in 70 AD. So that tells us, all right, 770 AD, this is, this is, uh, in Rome, this is the famous arch of Titus, which is the victory procession coming back into Rome after Rome had been destroyed by the general Titus. And they're bringing some of the articles from the temple and the victory procession back into Rome.

And the arch commemorates the destruction of Jerusalem in 8070, which is horrific. And, um, so this is a, a Judea Capta, uh, coin on the left here, which was issued in to commemorate this great victory by the Romans. And when the, the city was destroyed and the temple was, was, was obliterated. So, um, and actually the destruction of Jerusalem was, was something that Jesus prophesied as well. In Matthew 24, verses one and two, Jesus went out and departed from the temple and his disciples came up to show him the buildings of the temple. And Jesus said to them, do you not see all these things? Assuredly, I say to you, not one stone shall be left here upon another that shall not be thrown down.

So, so Daniel nine says Messiah be cut off after Jerusalem was rebuilt and before it was destroyed. So based on that, without getting into the details of the 62 weeks and, and, and the seven weeks and so forth, without getting into details, just from a high level, the Messiah had to come and be killed sometime between 444 BC and 70 AD.

It's gonna happen before according to Daniel, it was gonna happen before the city was destroyed, which happened in AD 70. So, uh, anyone who's still waiting for the Messiah to come, you've missed it by a couple of thousand years because he had to come and had to be killed by AD 70, according to the Jewish prophet Daniel.

All right. Now, now I want to, to, uh, move into the New Testament to pull all of this together, the, the, the different prophecies that we've looked at before David, associated with David and after David. And why is it that the New Testament begins in Matthew chapter one, verse one, the book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham? Well, it's the first thing you learn in the New Testament about Jesus is he's descended from David. Why is that important? Because the king had to be descended from David to fulfill the prophecy in Second Samuel chapter seven.

In Matthew two, in the account about the wise men, starting verse one, now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem and Judea in the days of Herod, they came, behold, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem saying, where is he who's been born king of the Jews? We have seen his store in the east and have come to worship him. And then in Luke chapter one, this, this, this statement by Gabriel to Mary takes on much greater significance, understanding the prophecies and the promise that was made to David. So think about this now.

Luke chapter one, verse 26. Now in the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a city in Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph of the house of David.

The virgin's name was Mary. And having come in, the angel said to her, rejoice, highly favored one, the Lord is with you, blessed are you among women.

But when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying and considered what manner of greeting this was. Then the angel said to her, do not be afraid, Mary, for you found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive and your woman bring forth a son and shall call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Highest.

The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David.

And he will reign over the house of Jacob forever and of his kingdom. There will be no end. Then Mary said to the angel, how can this be since I do not know a man? Then the angel answered and said to her, the Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the highest will overshadow you. Therefore also that holy one who is to be born will be called the Son of God.

John chapter two, after Jesus clears the temple in verse 13, says, so the Jews says, so the Jews answered and said to him, what sign do you show us since you do these things? Jesus answered and said to them, destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up.

He would raise up the temple of God. Of course, this is referring to his body, explains, explains there, which the disciples didn't understand at the time, but he was the one who would, he would, he would reveal the temple.

In Acts chapter two, Peter preaches on the day of Pentecost the message of the kingdom of God. And the points that he makes there in Acts chapter two, verses 29 to 36, he makes the, makes, makes the following points. He says, David, knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that the fruit of his body according to the flesh, he raised up the Christ to sit on the throne. Now we know what that's talking about now, 'cause we've covered those, those, uh, prophecies.

This Jesus God has raised up of which we are all witnesses. And the word raise up here is, uh, is actually, if you're, if you read in the Septuagint, that's what it says. Literally, it says, the Lord will, God's promise to David, I will raise up one of your descendants. And Peter says, look, he just did raise him up. Literally, he fit, you're thinking figuratively he's gonna raise up a king. He says, no, he just raised up one of the descendants of David. Literally.

Um, the word, the Greek word is an isteme, uh, but it's the same word found in Second Samuel seven, first Chronicle 17. So he was, he was Peter saying he literally raised him up. And Peter continued, he said, he's exalted at the right hand of God. It says, for David says himself, the Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand till you make your enemies your footstool. Of course, that's Psalm 110.

Therefore, let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made this Jesus whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ. So just, uh, just pulling it all together here, this is the, all these prophecies have been fulfilled. These are prophecies that are made 1400, 1700, 600, 550 years before Jesus was born. And the prophecies that we covered include, he is the promised king descended from Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Judah, and then further descended from the body of David. He was raised up to the throne after David died, unlike Solomon. He would reign over an eternal kingdom, which would never end. He would raise the temple, his body, one that would endure forever. He would be called the Son of God, just as was, was, was said to David to be known as the Son of God in, in, uh, in Psalm two and, and Second Samuel seven.