"Jesus Fulfills the Kingship" Sermon: Acts 13:13-43

“Jesus Fulfills the Kingship”
[Acts 13:13-43]
May 9, 2010 Second Reformed Church

The prophet Nathan told David, “but [the Lord’s] steadfast love will not depart from [your son], as I took it from Saul, whom I put away from before you. And your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me” (II Samuel 7:15-16, ESV).

Paul, Barnabas, and John Mark finished their work on the island of Cyprus and prepared for the next leg of their journey, but an argument between Paul and John Mark sent John Mark back to Jerusalem. It’s not spelled out in the Scripture, but the indication is that John Mark, initially – and we’ll see more of him later in the book of Acts, did not believe the Gospel should be preached to the Gentiles – the non-Jews.

So Paul and Barnabas sailed to Perga in Pamphylia – a south-central port city of what today is Turkey, and from there they went to Antioch in Pisida – which was in central Turkey – it’s not the same Antioch as the Antioch in Syria.

And they went to the synagogue on the Sabbath and sat down. It was normal that a passage would be read from the Law and a passage from the Prophets and then the rabbi would ask someone in the congregation – preferably a visitor – a stranger – if he had a word from God for the people. Paul was one of the visitors that Sabbath, and he stood up to speak:

Paul’s message is very similar to the one that Stephen gave before he was stoned, under the urging of Saul. Paul begins by addressing them – Jews and non-Jews – as those who fear God – and Paul immediately unifies and shocks them by saying that “The God of this people Israel chose our fathers and made the people great....” That may not sound shocking to us, but Paul is addressing Jews and non-Jews, and he tells them that the God of Israel is the God of the Jews and the non-Jews, and Abraham is the father of believing Jews and non-Jews. This would have been shocking – Paul was effectively saying what he spells out in great detail in the book of Romans – the Israel of God is not a biological people, or a land-locked people. The Israel of God is all people – no matter what their heritage – who believe in the Savior that God sent. Everyone who believes in Jesus Alone for Salvation is a member of the Israel of God. You and I who believe are part of the Israel of God.

Then, like Stephen, Paul enumerates all the good things that God has done for Israel: It was God Who chose the fathers and made Israel a people. It was God Who made us great in Egypt and then delivered us. It was God Who put up with us in the wilderness and kept us alive for forty years and then led us into the Promised Land, destroying the seven nation. Then God gave us the judges and Samuel, the prophet. Then we asked for a king, and God gave us Saul. Then God removed him and gave us David, a man after God’s Own Heart. Do we understand the greatness of this God Who has cared for us and preserved us for generations?

Then, through the offspring of David, God gave us the Promised Savior, Jesus. This Jesus was proclaimed by John the Baptist before His Coming, and John said that he was not worthy to untie the laces of the Savior’s sandals.

The Message of Salvation was sent to us, and it was sent to Jerusalem in the days of Jesus, but the Pharisees, and the Sadducees, and the Scribes, and the Priests, and the Rulers did not understand the prophecies that are read every day in the Temple and the synagogue, and in their sinful ignorance, the condemned Jesus, the Savior, the Greatest of God’s Gifts to us.

But they couldn’t find a way to execute Him, so they had to bring Him to Pilate to be crucified, and once He had fulfilled all the prophecies about Him, He was taken down from the tree and buried – and as we celebrated a few short weeks ago – this same God raised Jesus from the dead on the third day, and He appeared to many witnesses – who were alive at the time the New Testament was written, so they could be interviewed and questioned and they were found to all be in agreement that Jesus is alive.

Jesus is alive. Paul and Barnabas were bringing the Good News to the faithful God-fearers in Antioch in Turkey – it is the same message of Good News that is preached from every true church:

In the second Psalm, we read that God said, “You are my Son, today I have begotten you.” The only way that Jesus could take upon Himself the punishment for all of the sins of all of we who believe and credited us with His Righteous Life – His Holiness – is if He is God in the Flesh. God the Son incarnate, taking on the full human Person of Jesus of Nazareth, lived perfectly under the Law of God, died for we who would believe, and rose from the dead because He is Innocent.

Although Jesus remained until the third day in the tomb, God preserved Him and did not allow His Body to experience decay, as it is recorded in Psalm 16, “You will not let your Holy One see corruption.” Corruption of the flesh is an effect of sin in us, and Jesus has no sin in Him. He was born like Adam and Eve were created, so death could not corrupt His Body, and death had to release Him – alive.

David served God while he was alive, and then he died, and his body saw the corruption of the grave, and God did not raise him from the dead. Still, God kept His Promise to David: “And your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me” (II Samuel 7:6, ESV).

It is of Jesus that these words are spoken in Isaiah 55:7, “I will give you the holy and sure blessings of David.” Such was the promise given to Mary, the mother of Jesus, “He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to 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” (Luke 1:32-33, ESV). And He fulfilled Isaiah’s prophecy: “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder; and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish 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 this” (Isaiah 9:6-7, ESV).

Jesus, we see, fulfills the kingship – Jesus is the Final and Eternal Son of David Who is the Eternal King of Kings – reigning from His Throne. God raised Him to be King over we His people. As Jesus said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me” (Matthew 28:18b, ESV). What does it mean for us that Jesus is King, reigning on the Throne of David?

First, it means that Jesus intercedes for us before the Father. The author of Hebrews writes, “For Christ has entered, not into holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true things, but into heaven itself, now appears in the presence of God on our behalf” (Hebrews 9:24, ESV). Jesus, the Perfect Human Being, Who is also the One God, appears before His and our Father, to represent us – satisfying God’s Justice by presenting Himself having died for each and every one of our sins and also having lived a perfect life, fulfilling every point of God’s Law, so God sees us as perfect and holy in Jesus’ Name.

Second, since Jesus is still a living human being and He was received to the Throne of the Son of God, we can be sure that just as Jesus, in His Physical Body, has been received into the Kingdom of God, so shall everyone who believes in Him be received in our physical, yet perfected, bodies. Paul writes, “[God] raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus” (Ephesians 2:6, ESV) and “But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself” (Philippians 3:3:20-21, ESV).

Third, as King of Kings and Lord of Lords, He sends God the Holy Spirit to indwell us and to lead us away from the desires of the flesh and this world and to conform us into the Image of Jesus – desiring those things which are above. “If then you have been raised with Christ, seek then things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God” (Colossians 3:1, ESV).

And fourth, as we have already seen, Jesus is the Almighty King who governs all things: “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me” (Matthew 28:18b, ESV). Since that is true we can be confident in all of His Promises to us – we can turn to Him and know that everything we ask according to His Will, He will do for us.

Lastly, Paul says, “Let it be known to you, therefore, brothers, that through this man forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you, and by him everyone who believes is freed from everything which you could not be freed by the law of Moses.” What is Paul saying?

First, he says, as we have already said, Jesus forgives us for our sins.

But he also says, second, that all we who believe in Jesus are free from the condemnation of the Law of Moses. Why would the Law of Moses condemn us? Because no one can keep the Law of Moses perfectly. What does that mean? It means that the Law of Moses was never intended to be a way of salvation. Do we understand?

God has given humanity His Law and told us to keep it. But it is not possible for us to keep the Law, because we are sinners. Therefore, it was never God’s intention that we would save ourselves from our sin through the Law.

There are those who say that the Jews find salvation through the keeping of the Law and the rest of humanity finds salvation through faith in Jesus. That is ridiculous No human being born with Original Sin – with a sin nature – with an inclination towards sin – which every mere human being after Adam is born with – none of us can merit salvation through keeping the Law. Even if we were to keep it perfectly from birth, we are born sinners, so we are born lost – dead in our sins, as the Scripture says.

No, our works contribute nothing to our salvation. Our Only Hope is found in the Holy Man, Jesus, God Incarnate, the Almighty King Who sits on the Throne of David and rules all of Creation. He is the Only One Who can bring us before His Father and say, “This one is pardoned by My Merit; I have chosen this one for Myself through My Sacrifice.”

So salvation is not about good people or bad people, or Jews and Gentiles – Jews and non-Jews. Paul says, “Beware, therefore, lest what is said in the Prophets should come about: ‘Look you scoffers, be astonished and perish; for I am doing a work in your days, a work that you will not believe, even if one tells you.’”

Don’t scoff at the message of the Good News of Jesus Christ. Don’t scoff at being told that you and I can do nothing to make ourselves right with God. Don’t scoff at being told that salvation and life and hope are all of Jesus – the Almighty King Jesus – the Son of David. Or you and I will find ourselves astounded and perish. We will hold up our filthy rags that we call good deeds and perish.

Humility is what is called for – to throw ourselves at the feet of the King – to ask Him for the mercy that He promises to all those who will believe. And He will save us from our sin and the Law and make us a people for Himself, by Himself. Isn’t that Good News, indeed?

The people of Antioch thought it was good news. They begged Paul to come back and preach to them again on the next Sabbath. And Paul and Barnabas urged them to continue in the Grace of God.

Let us pray:
Almighty God and King, we thank You for the Good News of Salvation through Jesus. Help us to remember that Jesus is Sovereign over all things, including our salvation. And let us rejoice that we do not need to find some scheme to work our way to Heaven – if such a thing were possible – but only need to humbly receive the Work already accomplish by our Brother and Sovereign King, Jesus. For it is in His Name we pray, Amen.