Transcription
Come on, let's give Jesus the glory. Come on, let's honor him. Jesus, we thank you. We're excited about you. We give you the glory, Lord. We open our hearts. We want you to speak into our lives today. Thank you, Lord. Amen.
Wow. So awesome. Wow. I want you uh uh going to look in your word in a moment. Open your Bible if you got one. I want to share a message that really uh has touched me very deeply. And uh as I got in and studied it uh I found it really impacted me more and more and more. And uh I want to call this message called the arrival of earth's king. The arrival of earth's king. And I also want to give credit to um a book uh called Daniel and the star chasers by uh it's by someone Stevens from Jubilee Ministries. And I got some of the research material from there. And uh if you wanted to get that book, then it's got all of the uh historical references that I will touch on today. So you can find the quotes there.
Anyway, so let's get going. I wanted to start with a uh a quote I saw. I watched uh something on Tik Tok this week. How about that? And uh what I saw on Tik Tok was an interesting thing. It was a guy by the name of Claus Schwab, our enemy. And uh and he's from the World Economic Forum. And this is what he had to say. Interesting what he said. He said, "God is dead. Jesus is fake news. And the World Economic Reform is acquiring divine power." How about that?
>> How about that? The arrogance and the lack of recognition of God. But I tell you what, the truth is Jesus is alive. >> Jesus is alive. He's risen from the dead. And he's a returning king. He's coming back.
So uh what we want to what I want to share about is I want to share about the coming of the king and I'm going to open up the bi the the story of Christmas in a way that you haven't seen it before. So a major theme through the Bible is the kingdom of God. It's right through from one end to the other. So when we talk about the kingdom of God, we're talking about a king. And a king can only be a king if he has something or someone he rules over. So whenever we see the kingdom of God, we're also referring to the king, the one who rules in that kingdom. And so the kingdom of God was prophesied from the book of Genesis right through to its manifestation in the book of Revelation. And when Jesus arrived, the first coming, there were spectacular manifestations. And I'm going to share with you some of the things that'll help you understand the story we call the Christmas story in a much different way. There were spectacular manifestations. I'm going to show you uh what some of those things were. And the key thing and the story that we're looking at is that the king has arrived. And he said, "I have not come to condemn the earth. I have come to save it." Earth's king arrived to save the earth. And if you're going to come to save something, you have to save it from someone. He came to rescue us. So that's why it tells us that good news, you know, good news, good tidings. Christ the King has come >> and he's come to save. I'm going to open up and show you some things and you'll find that the whole theme right through the Christmas story is not the baby in the manger. The whole theme is about the king arriving >> and the problem is as we'll see and I'll share with you some of the problems.
Let's just read a scripture in Luke chapter 2 verse going to read it from 8 through to uh 16. Uh and first of all, this is the manifestation of the king to the shepherds. Here it is. Now they were in the same country, shepherds living out in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. And suddenly, behold, an angel of the Lord stood before them. And the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were greatly afraid. In other words, they're just out minding their business out in the fields, and suddenly there's a display of the glory of God. THE SUPERNATURAL REALM OF HEAVEN opens up and suddenly they're surrounded by angels and it said the angel said to them don't be afraid behold I bring you good night uh tidings of great joy which shall be for all people not just the Jews all people for there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior who is Christ the Lord now notice what the angel announces he doesn't announce or focus on a baby in a manger His focus is the birth of a savior, Christ the Lord. The word savior means one who delivers, one who rescues you out of the hand of your enemies, one who heals, one who destroys. So he said, here's the good news. A savior, one who will deliver you has arrived in the earth. And then he goes on. He says, "Christ the Lord." The word Lord means Supreme Ruler. Or putting it back another way, you could say, "This is good news. I'm announcing the Supreme Ruler. The King over all the earth has arrived with a mission to deliver, to save, to rescue, and to set you free."
>> That a great That's a great message. A great message. He said, "This will be a sign for you. You'll find a babe wrapped in the swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of heavenly host praising God, saying, "Glory to God in highest, and on earth peace, good will to men." And when the angels had gone away from them to heaven, the shepherds said to one another, "Let us go to Bethlehem, and see this thing which has come to pass, which the Lord has made known to us." and they came with haste and found Mary and Joseph and the babe lying in a manger. You got to look past that nativity scene and see a deliverer, a king has arrived. The fact he's a baby doesn't change he's a king. The fact that he's a baby did not change. He's a deliverer.
>> It was only a matter of timing. >> Think about that.
The the the there was a manifestation also to the wise men and that's the one I want to focus on. This is the one that is just I tell you when you start to hear and understand this it will just amaze you and change your concept of the Christmas story. So let's have a look at the manifestation of the king. So first he was manifested and he was seen by the shepherds. Notice they had to go where he was to see him. They pursued him. Now he manifests to the wise men. Matthew 2 verse 1 through3. Matthew 2 1:3. Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king. So it specifies now it's in the days of Herod the king. That's the time in history when it happened. Behold wise men from the east came to Jerusalem saying where is he who's been born king of the Jews? We have seen a star in the east and come to worship him. And Herod the king heard this. He was troubled and all of Jerusalem with him.
Now, this is the passage I want to focus on and I want to show you things you have not seen before that are uh historical and also from the word of God. Notice there wise men from the east. And we want to know who were the wise men? What was the star that they followed? What were the gifts that they bought? Why were they important? What does this signify? And then we want to look at the two comingings of Jesus. So one of the challenges about Christmas is this that often the church portrays Christmas in a very soulish emotional way rather than bringing a clear statement of what this is about. So the world focus is on shopping on Christmas lights, Christmas trees, presents, gifts, partying, all that kind of thing. The church often focuses on the helpless child in the manger. a sweet picture of Mary, Jesus, and Joseph, and the baby. It's quite emotional. It's soloulish. But we want to have a look and see what really is the story. Now, notice that often in the story of Christmas, some of the facts around it are often either misstated, they're wrong, or they're understated. They actually hold back so you don't really comprehend what has happened. So, let me give you an example of that. The first thing about the wise men, mostly in the Christmas story, we see the wise men coming to the manger. They did not come to the manger. They came to a child who was nearly two years old and they came to him in a house. Let me read a verse to you in Matthew 2:11. When they, the wise men had come to the house, they saw the young child. So the wise men came to the house, not the manger, and they saw a young child. So it's about two years old. How about that? And they saw Mary's mother and they fell down and worshiped him. And when they opened their treasures, they presented gifts to him. Gold, frankincense, and myrr. So often we see the story and you see three camels, three wise men. But there's nowhere the Bible says there were three. It just said they gave three gifts. Didn't say there were three men. In fact, actually the truth is much different to that. Completely different to that. The truth is absolutely amazing. It's when you look at it, it's just amazing.
So first of all, let's have a look who the wise men were. Who are these wise men? We three, you know, men of Orient are, you know, that sort of these songs, you know, one on a camel and one in a car, you know. So, you hear these stories and songs and things like that. But who were the wise men? Who were the wise men? So, let's look at the verse again. After Jesus was born in Bethlehem, Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the east. Now, the word wise men is the word magos or um meaning a magician, a wise man, someone who interprets dreams. And so the magi were not kings. They're not three kings of Orient. They're not that at all. They are wise men. And I want to show you exactly what their role were because they came and they were the fruit of Daniel's ministry in Babylon hundreds and hundreds of years before. They are the legacy that he left after he had passed on. So the um first of all the magi were not kings. They were wise men. They were originally part of the kingdom of Paththeia. They were a relig a priestly tribe like the Levites in Israel were the priestly tribe. Then the magi were the priestly tribe among the Paththeians. Paththeia was a major world empire about the time of Rome. And uh they believed this one god and they believe he was opposed by a spiritual enemy on the earth. So they believed very much what the Jews believed and there's a reason because Daniel had taught them. So these men were instructed by Daniel.
So the role of the magi by the time of Jesus' day the magi or the wise men or magicians or whatever you want to call them these wise men these interpreters of dreams they now had an influence right through the whole of the eastern part of the earth and the magi belong to they were involved in Babylon they were involved with the g in Greece they were involved in Persia and they held important roles in government so they were government representatives here's what their roles were number One, they studied the stars to see what God is doing. So they were people who studied the signs and the stars. Secondly, they were people who interpreted dreams just like Daniel did. They were interpreters of dreams. And third, they were in charge of royal succession. They chose who would succeed the king. Or putting it this way, they were king makers. They chose in all of those empires the who would be the king. And so uh they were often also they were sent as an ambassador. So countries that had the magi would send them as an ambassador of their country to represent their country. So when you see these three wise men coming, you got to realize now they are coming as an ambassador of their country. They're not just coming in their own right. They're coming as a country or a governmental representative. So they when they were sent out, they were sent with the full ability to be able to represent their government and make decisions on behalf of their government. In other words, they had tremendous authority given to them. They could speak or act and their government would follow it. Okay? Now you you'll see as we get to the Christmas story what where this is leading. So they were involved in many empires. So they were involved in India. So magi came from India. They were involved in China. So magi came from China. They were involved in uh Persia. So they came from Persia. They were involved in Babylon. They're involved in Arabia. In fact, they were spread right through all the countries of the Middle East, right through up into Asia. So So that's who the Magi. I'm going to tell you a bit more about them in just a moment because when you hear the accounts of what they did, it's extraordinary.
So what was the star they followed? What was the star? Okay, then. So Matthew 2:2, it says, "Where is he who's been born king of the Jews? we have seen his star in the east and come to worship him. Now, one of the interesting things is that scientists have been able to use computers to recreate what the stars looked like in various periods of history. So, they've been able to go back and look at the star patterns about the time of Jesus' birth. They were able to look and put a display up so they could see what it looked like and then watch as it unfolded. And they were quite astonished. And here's why they were astonished. because there were is amazing unusual events over a span of about two years took place around the birth of Jesus and uh I won't go into too much detail of I just need to give you enough to just get you wet your appetite so you want to read more so first of all there was a conjunction of two planets Jupiter and Venus conjunction means they come so close to one another that you can't tell there's two they look like one giant giant star. One giant planet. See? And it looked like a giant star. So when you look at Jupiter, Jupiter is known as the king planet. The king planet. So ever you think of Jupiter, it's called the king planet. Venus is known as the morning star planet. It rises first thing in the morning. So what happened was there was a certain period of history where three times in the space of two years, the two planets came close to one another. How about that? And uh it's interesting. The night sky is divided up into different constellations. And the place they appeared together is in the constellation of Leo. Leo is the lion. Leo is the lion. Isn't it interesting that Jesus is known as the lion of the tribe of Judah? In other words, the prophecies right back in Genesis talk of a ruler coming out of Judah. He would be the lion. He's the lion of the tribe of Judah and he would be given the dominion.
>> So when they looked at the constellation, remember these are the wise men who understood what the star patterns meant. They looked at it and they saw in the constellation which characterized Leo the lion, the king, the ruler, the one who would have dominion, two stars came, two planets came together in very close conjunction forming a brilliant light in the night sky. Now all of you look in the morning and you see you can see Venus quite easily when there's a clear sky. It's the bright morning star. But when you get the two planets come together like that, it was excessively bright. In other words, you couldn't miss it. Now, there were a whole number of other things too, but I wanted you to get so so Jupiter and Venus appeared in the constellation of Leo. Leo's the symbol of dominion and rulership. Now, interestingly that the in the constellation of Leo, there's a chief star called Regulus and that symbolizes that symbol it's known as the king star. It's associated with rulership. So there were many other things happened. There were also alignments of planets. And here's another thing too. When you look at the planets, it looks like sometimes they follow a pattern like that. Three times over the course of two years, it appeared as though the king planet circled around this combination of these two planets. It's just amazing. Quite astonishing. So when they looked, they had never seen anything like this. And for those men who were trained in understanding the symbolism of the stars, they recognized a king is about to be born in the land of Judah. How about that? How about that? So the so and not only that, there were other things happened. There were spectacular displays of comets in the sky about the time of Jesus' birth as well. So those who understood patterns in the stars were stunned. conversely at the conjunction of the two planets and the brightness of the star and secondly where it took place and thirdly the fact that it seemed like it circled around the king's star. It's quite stunning for them and so uh these magi.
So who did the magi come to sing? See in Matthew 2:2 it says where is he that's born king of the Jews? We've seen his star. Now what were they looking for? Well, the first thing is the magi were descended from Daniel. Daniel was a young child who was captured and taken to Babylon and he served in the courts of Babylon and they taught him there about stars, about astrology, about all kinds of things. He was trained there. But Daniel purposed in his heart he would be faithful to God. He would not defile himself with what happened in that place. And the Bible tells us that God gave him great wisdom and understanding and ability to interpret dreams. What people don't realize and uh history tells us though is he became one of the highest respected magi in all of Babylon. And not only that, uh within 200 years of his death, he was considered to be like a god. His influence was so strong and he wrote hundreds and hundreds of papers, scientific papers, prophetic documents in the courts of Babylon and Persia. And so he taught his students that there would come a king, a king of the whole world and his kingdom would never end and his kingdom would rule over all kingdom. And he told them that the sign that that king was arriving was when there was a star in the constellation of Leo and everything came together the way he described it. So in other words, God gave him revelation. Now how did God know this? God knew the exact timing the planets would be in alignment was the time his son would come. He told Daniel hundreds of years before. So when these magi who studied the stars saw the sign, they knew a king was born. And not just any king. A king was born who would be the emperor of the whole world.
>> How about that? >> Isn't that amazing? Don't you love all of this?
>> And so you you read of course uh you know how Daniel like like all of us would have access to this writing of Daniel in Daniel chapter 2. It tells us in verse 44, remember uh the king of Babylon had this dream and he saw an image of the head of gold and chest of silver and so on and he saw a little stone come out and the stone beat the image and the whole image is shattered and the and the stone grew and filled the whole earth and the king was troubled and he sent to Daniel and Daniel explained the dream and he said that rock made without hands is the kingdom of God and it will strike every other kingdom and bring it to the down and then it will grow and rule the whole earth. So you understand these magi knew the scripture >> and they knew his teaching. They knew there's a coming kingdom and that every kingdom would fall before that kingdom >> and they're highly religious people and everyone there was very superstitious. So they were quite fearful when they saw this coming a response was needed. How about that? So he he uh so there so there's the story. So, so then they were sent to go as representatives. Now, we're going to talk about what why Hera got troubled in a moment. And they were to bring with them three gifts. Now, these three gifts, of course, you know what they were. Gold, frankincense, and myrr. Now, that remember, they came as representatives of government. These are governmental representatives. These are kingly ambassadors coming to acknowledge a king. See, they're coming to acknowledge a king. And so they bought with him gifts. And the gifts the gifts uh were used, those particular three gifts were used when someone wanted to form an alliance with someone who was equal to them or more powerful than them. So the symbol of them of the gifts is very simply this. Number one, gold. Gold acknowledged that Jesus is the highest royalty. It acknowledged his kingship. The frankincense acknowledged that he was the highest of priests in the order of his kingdom. And the myrr acknowledged he was the god man and he had a position above all others. So they came with gifts for this king which they understood was the king of all the earth. Isn't that amazing? That changes the story a bit, doesn't it?
So, and you notice there that Jesus throughout his ministry, life and ministry was declared to be a king. So, often when you get the focus on the baby, you actually miss who Jesus is. He is king. So, for example, the Bible prophesied he would be king. Notice in Luke 1 31 30-33, you will conceive in your womb, that's the angel talking to Mary, and bring forth a son and call his name Jesus. He will be great. He will be called the son of the most highest and the Lord God will give him the throne of his father David. He will reign over the house of Jacob forever. Of his kingdom there will be no end. So notice prophetically not only there but in many places Jesus was it was prophesied that he would come. He would be the king. He would be David's successor. He would establish the kingdom of God not just in Israel but over the whole of the earth.
>> Think about that. When Jesus uh preached, what was his message? The message was the kingdom. Matthew 4:17, "Repent, the kingdom of heaven is at hand." You know the verse, but you're not thinking clearly about it. He is the king saying, "His kingdom has arrived. An everlasting kingdom whose dominion will never end." He said, "The kingdom, the rule of the king has arrived. I'm inviting you to be part of that kingdom." He demonstrated his kingship by his miracles. So, he did miracles. He overcame demons, cast them out, overcame sickness, overcome all kinds of things. There was nothing he didn't overcome. He demonstrated his kingdom, though invisible at that point, is real, powerful, and can subdue everything. He declared he was king. In Luke 23 and verse three, Pilate asked him, saying, "Are you the king of the Jews?" And he said, "Yes." So, in other words, right through, you see the theme of kingship. When Jesus died on the cross, what did they write above him? Jesus, the king of the Jews. And when Jesus rose from the dead and was able to speak to his disciples for 40 days, what did he speak on? The kingdom of God. So, we see all the way right through both in history through the Bible. There's the prophecy of a coming king, the arrival of the king, the arrival of earth's king. There's when Jesus arrived, he was announced to be the king. When Jesus arrived, the magi thought he was the coming king. When Jesus came and began to grow in his life and ministry, he preached the kingdom, demonstrated the kingdom, said he was the king, died as a king, rose as a king, will come back as a king. It's amazing.
Okay, then. So now, so you notice we saw in that original verse, it said Herod was troubled and all of Israel. Now I want to share with you something from history. You can just bear with this. Why was Herod so troubled? That word trouble mean he was terrified? Why was Herod and all of Jerusalem terrified? They weren't just little, oh well, what's going on there? It says Herod the king was terrified when he heard the news of another king. And here's why. And when you hear this, you got to be amazed. And uh this is what terrified him. What terrified him was the presence of hundreds and hundreds of foreign troops and ambassadors of all of the Asian part of the world come into his territory unannounced. Now think about this. If you have a group of soldiers, hundreds and hundreds of soldiers, and you go into another country with armed soldiers, it is a declaration of war. That's what terrified him. Now, there were eyewitnesses. So, you can either look at what you see happening in contemporary church culture or you can read the eyewitness account of what he saw. And these can be tracked in history. So, I'm going to read out a few eyewitness accounts. And now you'll understand why Herod was terrified. Because mostly when we thought about it, we thought of a little baby in a manger and three wise men come and they got some camels and they got some gold and silver and frankincense or whatever they got. They said we sort of think that way. Now you got to stop thinking that way and actually understand what really happened. They didn't come in the manger. They came to the house where Jesus was staying. They came when he was a child of two and they came as ambassadors of their respective kingdoms to acknowledge and bow down and surrender their kingdoms to the coming king.
>> That makes a big difference to the story, doesn't it? Okay, so here's here's some of the people. And there were both non-Christian and non-Jewish eyewitnesses to this whole deal. So, let me read a few of them out. They're just they're stunning. There's a man called Sue Machen. He was a Chinese Persian historian and he was actually on the caravan. So he was there. So he just wrote what he saw. This is what he said. He accompanied them as a designated Persian court historian. The caravan of a hundred ambassadors along with servants, officers and military escorts by kings of the empire apathia. nine kings of the Kushan empires of the Indas, the Han Empire of China, the kingdom of the Babylonians and of the Arabs, the kingdom of Persia to Roman Syria in search of the new king of the Jews born in Judea at the time of Augustus. Now notice now all the people that have come. This is not just three wise men. We're talking about multitudes of wise men, ambassadors, and all the people they had with them. They took the food, who carried who the the armed escorts and everything. Here's another one. Notice I just couldn't believe it. It said a caravan of a hundred ambassadors along with servants and officers and military escorts. That's a lot of people. Hundreds and hundreds of people. And they come, look where they come from. Paththeia from the nine kings of Kushan empires in India. Han Empire of C and China, Babylonians, Arabs, Persia. Here's another one. This one here is a Paththeian historian and he wrote, his name is Barbborus, and he wrote, "A great caravan of camels, ambassadors, astronomers, 13 kings of the east during the days of Corin Corinius passed continually through the Estigate in Damascus from sun up to midday." That's how long the caravan was, sun up. So, you're talking quite early in the morning, maybe 5. From 5:00 a.m. through to midday, 12 was how long it took this train of camels and ambassadors to go by. You understand that's not a few people. This is a huge crowd of people.
>> And they pass through from sun up to sun to midday and they journey to route Jerusalem. Here's why. to seek an allegiance with and give homage to the newborn emperor thought to be born in Judea. Doesn't that change the story a bit? Here's another one. And this is a Greek Chinese historian who lived in Jerusalem. His name was Hu Lo. There was one there was only one time in history that the great empires of the east united under a single purpose. This was when the new king was born in Syria at the time of tumult in the heavens during the time of Pexramana declared by Lord Augustus under the governorship in Syria of Corinius. Now he's writing the same thing. He's saying this has never happened in history that the government leaders of all the empires came together with one purpose to acknowledge and give homage to Jesus the king of the whole earth. There's another one a Roman historian called uh Tessus uh when Corinius was governor of Syria and Herod was king of Judea. A caravan of more than 800 laden camels arrived from an eastern confederacy of 13 kingdoms uninvited. They just turned up >> and they turned up in Jerusalem searching for a king they claim was born in Judea whose birth was announced by the tumult in the stars. See, and they reported among the great and wise of the east, there was a persuasion in their great and ancient books of their priesthood and holy man written at this precise time the east would become mighty and those coming from Judea or Syria would rule the world. Rule the world. See what they're saying? And Herod was afraid his dominion would become a battleground between Rome and all of this confederacy. So he welcomed them. But now he's in a problem because Rome doesn't know about it. He hasn't told them that there's a king. He hasn't told them about all these people. He's absolutely terrified. When they heard of this in Rome, the Senate in the Senate, fear spread like a windb blown fire. The greatest kingdoms of the east had united and invaded the kingdom of Rome. The Senate didn't trust Herod. They feared his uncontrollable brutality would instigate a war between the greatest powers of the earth. You see the see the tension that was in the air when it says he was greatly troubled. Now you know why he was troubled. Here's another one. Aladdin historian 28 months after the uh turmoil in the heavens testified by our own astrologers during the day of Augustus. A caravan look at this. Of thousands of a thousand camels, armed escorts, emissaries, one unequaled in any known time or period of Rome, ceased upon the city of Suh Cesaria, then upon the city of Jerusalem to the great distress of Herod. Royal ambassadors from 13 eastern kingdoms had united and traveled this long way to be allied with the world ruler they say had been born during the turmoil in the sky at the time of the extra tax census. Now, now these are historians. These are documented his this is documented history. Now that changes your understanding of the whole story. You've no longer got three wise men and camels and a few gifts there in a manger. Now you have over a thousand camels with governmental representatives, military escorts, and all the supply chain. And they are all there and their purpose is this. They have united in they've come together for the first time in history the major kingdoms of the world with one thing to bow down and unite and give homage and accept Jesus as the ruler over the whole earth. Now isn't that something? Isn't it? Come on. Let's give him a clap. How about that? Here's an a qu a Christian historian Kbath. He says, "It seems obvious to me because of these historians, what happened is this. The rulers of the great kingdoms of the east united to give allegiance to the new great world emperor whom the heavens even declared would be mighty." Isn't that something? Isn't that something? So he having invite invaded the Roman Empire uninvited considered an act of warfare.
>> It's an act of warfare to do this. This this is and this put the whole of Rome into shock as well as Herod because what are they going to do? They've got to try and deal with this thing. And and so Herod's terrified he'll lose his life. So what Herod did was he did exactly what would be predictable of a man that kind. This is what he did. When the wise men were told by God, "Don't come back. Go the other way." He sent soldiers out to kill all the children that were about two years of age. And so there was a bloodbath right through Judea at that time. Now, that's not the end of the story. When the kings of the east, the 13 different kingdoms heard that their king had been killed, they then united and formed an army of over half a million soldiers to come and destroy Herod, Rome, and the whole of the Roman Empire. The panic was enormous. And the only way it was averted was this. Caesar Augustus himself said, "This man Herod is a crazy man. What he did is criminal. None of us agreed with that. He did it off his own bat. He's now sickening on his deathbed. But we guar we are absolutely convinced he did not succeed in killing the king. And so he averted war, which could have been the war of wars at that time." Isn't it? Interesting, isn't it? Doesn't it make the story so so much more interesting? The whole thing.
So, so the Bible tells now, so that's the first coming. So, I want what I wanted to do was to get your eyes off a little baby in a manger in a weak emotional story. I want to get your eyes on a KING WHO ENTER THE EARTH. EARTH'S KING CAME THE FIRST TIME AND THE EMPIRES OF THE EARTH UNITED TO COME AND BOW DOWN AND CALL HIM TO BE THEIR KING. All it depended was on one nation to say yes, this is our king.
>> And that was the nation of Israel. >> And they refuse their king. At that moment, if Israel had accepted this as the king, the kingdom of heaven would have come in full power into the earth. But because they rejected the king, they were set aside and a season of history where the opportunity FOR ALL OF US TO come and enter the kingdom of God by way of the new birth took place.
>> However, that's not the end of the story. Just as JESUS CAME THE FIRST time with great power, demonstration in the heavens, demonstration of witness in the earth, uniting of nations to come and submit to him, he will come again.
>> He will return again. The Bible talks from one end to the other prophesying of the comingings of Jesus. There are over 100 prophecies about his first coming that were fulfilled. You can look them up on the internet yourself. To have even gotten one right would be something. Three right, but more than a hundred prophetic utterances by different people over hundreds of years about the arrival of Jesus. How we would arrive, what his life would be like, how we would die, how we would rise from the dead. THIS IS ABSOLUTELY HAS TO BE THE HAND of God.
>> THE SIGNS AND THE STARS, THE HAND OF GOD. THE PROPHECIES THROUGH THE BIBLE, the hand of God. Psalm 19, the heavens declare, the word of God declares. SO IF ALL OF THOSE PROPHECIES CAME TRUE for his first visit to the earth as king, it is also absolutely certain the prophecies of his second coming will also take place. When Jesus came the first time, he came as a servant. This was what was so unexpected. The Jews were looking for a military ruler. Jesus came to destroy the true enemy which is the devil, demonic spirits, principalities and powers and sin and destruction they brought.
>> He came to deal with the invisible enemy to save mankind from the power of sin and the hold of Satan. When he returns the second time, it will be to establish his physical kingdom in all of the earth. When he came the first time, he established the nature of that kingdom. His kingship is a servant kingship. Notice what the Bible says in two, there's many places, but here's a couple in Isaiah 42:es 1-4. Behold, my servant, I will uphold, the elect one in whom my soul delights. I put my spirit on him. He will bring forth justice to the Gentiles. Verse four, he'll not fail nor be discouraged till he's established judgment in the earth and the coastlands wait for his law. So Jesus came to establish justice. He came to destroy the one who destroys men and women and families and bodies and people and finances. He dealt with it at the cross. Jesus said in Matthew 20, he said, "My kingdom in the kingdoms of the earth, they lorded over one another. They boss one another. They rule over one another." He said, "It shall not be so among you. If you want to be great in my kingdom, you must take on the nature of my kingdom, which is a servant kingdom. If you want to be great, you become the servant. Be a great leader, become a great servant. Become a great husband, become a great servant. Become a great person, become a great servant. Give your life. Learn to serve. Learn to add value to the lives of others. This is the nature of that kingdom. Okay? Jesus told us what it was like, demonstrated it.
When Jesus comes the second time, he's not coming as the servant king. Although his heart is to serve, he returns in a different way the second time. So if we have all of these prophecies, more than hundred fulfilled the first time, you can be sure when you read the prophecies about a second coming that these also are true. And so what does it say about him? It tells us that when he comes the second time, he comes as the warrior king. He came the first time as the servant king to deal with the invisible kingdom of darkness and to offer opportunity for us to participate in the blessings of his kingdom. But now when he returns, he now comes as the warrior king and judge of the whole earth. The judge of the whole earth. Let me give you a couple of of scriptures on that. Daniel, Daniel, of course, not surprising that Daniel saw it happening. That's why Daniel wrote of it. That's why they all followed him. He got revelation. Daniel 7:3 and 14. I was watching in night visions and behold, one like the son of man coming with the clouds of heaven. He came to the ancient days and they brought him there before him. So that's Jesus coming to the father. And it says, "Then to him was given dominion, glory, and a kingdom that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion which shall not pass away. His kingdom one that shall not be destroyed." This is the revelation that Daniel swed into the people that he trained, the magi, >> that there is one coming whose kingdom will be full of majesty and glory. He will dispatch all other kingdoms. His kingdom will never end.
>> And he added to that when it would happen. When Jesus comes, he comes as a warrior king to rule. Won't be some nice sweet thing like you saw when we read the Christmas story. In Revelations 19, John saw it. I saw heaven opened and a white horse and he who sat in him was faithful and true. Talking about Jesus, in righteousness he judges and makes war. Now, history has never seen this happen before. This is something as a church we must grasp hold of the reality of the kingdom of God now in our personal lives and relationships. And the hope, biblical hope is not that the weather will change and be nice and fine for Christmas. Biblical hope is not that you'll get your payriseise. Biblical hope is based on the return of Jesus Christ and our resurrection to rule with him. Now, notice what it says. It says he will return, judge, and make war. His eyes like a flame of fire. His head had many crowns, his name written that no one knew but himself. So John the Apostle saw Jesus coming. It stunned him. It took away his breath. He was staggered by what he saw and he comes to judge and make war. You have to understand when Jesus returns, he's coming as king to rule his kingdom and he will deal with everything that opposes his rule. The book of Matthew, he will remove everything that offends. So you got to watch you don't caught up in a extreme grace that just says I can just drift along and do whatever I want. We need to understand we're called to live a life that honors God under his kingship in each area of our life now. And that life we live now has a long-term and eternal reward. You're getting real quiet now. He comes with many crowns, meaning he rules over every realm of life. Peter saw it. He saw Jesus coming as a king to reign a thousand years. 2 Peter 1:16. We didn't follow cunningly devised fables. We made known to you the power and coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. We were eyewitnesses of his majesty when we were with him in the mount. He saw it. So, so you got witnesses now through the Bible. And then Jesus himself spoke in Matthew 16 in the last verse 27. He said, "The son of man shall come in the glory of his father and the angels to reward each man according to his work." In other words, he comes as king. He comes as judge and those who have served faithfully, those who have walked with him, he comes. This is your great day of honor and promotion. The Bible calls it, and probably many of you never studied it, the great and dreadful day of the Lord. It's a day coming, a period of a thousand years, which for some will be great and for others will be dreadful. He comes as the judge of the whole earth. Now is the time to know him. Now is the time to have a relationship with him. Now is the time to submit to his kingship and walk in the blessings of that kingdom. How about that?
See, Jesus was born a king. He served as a king. He died as a king. He rose victorious. He returns as king and judge of all the earth. Will you be ready for that coming? Will you live a life that honors him as a king? This Christmas, we don't come just to look and admire a baby in a manger, but like the magi. We come to submit oursselfves to our coming king. We come to honor him. The one who has come, the savior, the deliverer of the world, the one who has come to be the ruler of the whole earth. Your decision to acknowledge him starts today.
>> If you've already received Christ into your life, the Bible says you have been delivered, rescued from the power of darkness and translated into the kingdom of the son of his love. Colossians 1:13. You have been positioned in the kingdom. Now live a kingdom life. Prioritize God's order. Prioritize God in your personal life, your relationships, your finances, your marriage, how you do business, how you do life. Make the kingdom of God, seeking and pursuing it your first priority. Perhaps today there's some they need to just make the first step. For others, it's a perhaps a time to say, "I've lived carelessly. I've lived deceived by just a kind of a message of grace that allows me I'm forgiven. I'm going to heaven. The goal of God is not to get you to heaven. It's to prepare you for his coming kingdom.
>> Your decision is how you will live life today, tomorrow, the next day, next year. A life that honors him as your king. The Magi didn't see a baby in a manger. They saw a king. They didn't see some poor family with a little baby. They saw a king. They didn't see a woman with a child. And there was sort of little bit of uncertainty around where it was conceived from. They saw a king. At this Christmas, it's time for you to see your king and acknowledge him. The wise men travel two years, two years of travel to come and bow before the king. We can sometimes hardly make it to his service.
>> Why don't we just stand right now? Just going to go back into that song of come, let us adore him. Christ the King. He came. Earth's king came once. I live. Joy and I live for this. We live for his coming again. We live for an invisible yet real kingdom that's in our lives now, manifest through us now. But we're living for that day when he will come to reign over the earth. Perhaps you're here today and you've never given your life to Jesus Christ. Never acknowledged him in your life. You're living in another kingdom, a dark kingdom, a kingdom with no future hope or purpose. In one decision, you can do what the wise men did and knelt before Jesus and acknowledge he's their king. You could do the same thing. If you've today, you know, you're not walking with God. You've you've compromised in many ways. You've just become drawn back and passive. Make a decision today. I want a fresh surrender of my life to King Jesus. I want to give my life to him to serve him. As I end this year, I end close to my king and ready to serve him in the coming year. If that's you today, if you've been overcome by some addiction, overcome by some sin, overcome by something, don't just lie down. Get back up. Come back to your king. He is the king of kings. He's the emperor of the whole earth. Come to your king and bow to him and ask him for help today. He is deliverer. He is the Lord. Come on, let's sing. And if it's you today and you say, "God, you're speaking to me." Make your way to the front. Come today. Surrender your life. Surrender to him. Surrender to him. Bow to him. Bow to him. Give him the honor due to him. He's worthy of our glory. Come. Please come. There's some today. Maybe you need to give your life to Jesus. Come today. Make your way to the front. Some you know there's lukewarmness. Come and repent. Some you know you've fallen away. Come and repent.