Summer Session (7) Sunday School July 16

Coming back to our study about creation family being greater than chaos family.

And let's go ahead and begin with a word of prayer. Heavenly Father, we thank you so much for this day. We thank you for your love for us.

We thank you for your son, Jesus Christ. And I pray that as we read your word today and think about your truth, that you would give us the grace to have a hearty amen in our hearts, that we would fully agree and eagerly comply with your word and follow

Christ, loving him as you have loved us. We pray these things in Jesus name. Amen. So we are talking about creation family versus chaos family.

We live in a cultural moment where this is one of the hot topics of our day.

One of the controversies of our day. What is a family? What is a marriage?

What is male and female? And when Jesus was confronted with the controversies in his day about marriage, about family, he simply said, have you not read?

And he directed his audience to Genesis 1 .27, Genesis 2 .24.

He said, go back to the beginning. Think about the way that God created the family. How did God design the family?

That's where we should go for our answers. Rather than looking at the debate today, here's side A and side

B, and let's pick the most conservative side, just say no to the whole thing and say, how did

God design it from the beginning? Don't allow the controversy in the culture to hand you the categories that you have to deal with.

Go grab your categories from the scripture and then bring the debate to bear there.

So when we think about why there's chaos in the family, we studied through Genesis 3, very obviously it's because of sin.

It's because of sin. And sin brings death. The biblical idea of death is not non -existent, such as the pagans teach.

It is separation. God said, in the day that you eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, in the day that you eat of it, you shall surely die.

And they surely did. There was a separation in the relationship between Adam and Eve and their creator, a separation between Adam and Eve's relationships with each other, a separation between their relationships to the created order around them.

Separation upon separation upon separation. And indeed, isn't that what death is? A separation of the soul from the body.

And so the issues that need to be addressed in family, God knows best how to address those, and he says, go back to the way that it was all designed.

Go back to the original image of God, as we see in Genesis 1, 27.

Now in studying the family, Jesus puts us on the scent of what good family is by beginning with the image of God.

What does it mean to be made in God's image? Well, in Genesis chapter one, in verse 27, let's read verses 26 through 28 in Genesis one, to remind ourselves,

Genesis chapter one, verses 26 through 28.

Then God said, let us make man in our image according to our likeness.

Right? So everything that follows kind of gives us an understanding of what that means.

Let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, over the cattle, over all the earth, over all every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.

So it sounds like mankind, they're going to have this relationship to the created order, they're in charge, right?

They're going to have dominion over everything. There's going to be an expansive relationship to the created order.

They're going to be in charge of it. They're going to have to responsibly steward it.

Verse 27, so God created man in his own image, in the image of God, he created him, male and female, he created them.

So he created them in relationship. And we see in chapter two that he immediately made Adam and Eve together in a marriage, the primary human relationship from which every other human relationship is derived.

All of society is based upon that relationship being clear and understood.

Verse 28, then God blessed them and God said to them, be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth and subdue it, have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, over every living thing that moves on the earth.

So God's in charge, God makes them in his image, he blesses them, everything depends on Adam and Eve, loving

God, knowing him, living for him, following his word, we've been made and that God's image means that we've been made to love

God supremely, to love each other rightly, steward the creation responsibly. No other creature was made that way, not even the angels, not the apes, only those who are made in God's image, male and female, man and woman, you and I.

With that in mind, that's the beginning point to begin, to try to understand what is a good family, what is a creation family, what is a biblical family, what is a right family?

We have to begin with the image of God. The image of God though is tarnished by sin, ruined by sin.

Separation comes in our relationships between God, each other and the created order. So God in his mercy and his long suffering, according to his eternal plan begins to deal with humanity by means of covenants and covenants that we find in the

Bible where it says, hey, this is a covenant and they happen in history.

Right there. They really did happen. These were extremely important historical moments and these were moments in which

God was setting about doing things to help restore and to bring hope to those who've been afflicted by sin.

So God sets about making restoring and revealing relationships with man.

He formalizes with them as their creator. And the storyline of scripture takes us from the first Adam who fell in sin to the last

Adam, who of course is Christ. And the way that the story progresses is by ways of covenants.

And we began to talk about this last week with the covenant that God made with Noah. And we began to talk about the covenant that God made with Abraham.

And we're going to see how it flows into Israel and to David all the way to the new covenant. Now, this is a study about family.

So what is this? Why are we talking about covenants? Because if we want to know what the

Bible has to say about family, Jesus says, start with the image of God. And every single one of these covenants is formed in the shape of the image of God.

How God deals with Noah is in the shape of the imago dei, the shape of the image of God.

God says, here's how you relate to me, relate to one another, and relate to the world around you. Abraham, here's how you relate to me, relate to one another, relate to the world around you.

Same with Israel, same with David. And as we move forward through the Old Testament, every covenant that God makes, the picture just gets clearer and clearer and clearer that it's all heading somewhere to someone.

And all of it is heading straight to the last Adam, who is Jesus Christ, who is described for us as the image of the invisible

God. He is the image of God in perfection. And he brings about a new covenant, a new creation, and everything is restored ultimately in him.

So we are in the process of thinking, what does the Bible have to say about the family? And as we move through how

God deals with those made in his image, those he created in his image, we're looking at these covenants.

And unsurprisingly, these covenants have a lot to do with family. Now, I put it on the board like this because it's not simply a situation where you go into your

Bible and you say, well, let's see, let's look at family and Genesis and how did

Jacob do? Oh, he married four wives. Hold up.

Okay. No, that's descriptive of what went on. That's not prescriptive of how you ought to live.

But it's important, isn't it? It's God's word. It's God breathed.

It is profitable for our doctrine, for our reproof and our correction and our instruction that we may be adequately equipped for every good work.

But how are we to interpret it? How are we to understand it? Obviously, we're not going to model our families off of the way that David ran his family.

That would be bad. Okay, but how God deals with David has something to say about family in light of the image of God ruined in Adam, risen in Christ.

So that's how we're trying to read the storyline of scripture so that we can glean all that we can about family from the word of God in light of Jesus for our good.

Now, I've drawn it up in this way. We've talked about our metaphor of the parade floats along the main street of history.

And we have Noah's parade float, then Abraham's, then Israel's and then David's. And it's important that we see that each one builds upon the previous and is inseparable from the others.

All right, we're not going to grab one. Sometimes it's a very common way of interpreting the

Bible to hijack the Israel float, steer it out of the parade grounds and take it someplace else and enshrine it.

Okay, you could do that as well with Abraham. You could do that as well with possibly

Noah and so on, but they all hang together. They all hang together and they're all pointed in a particular direction to Christ.

They only have their significance and their meaning in him. So that's what we need to keep in mind as we move forward.

We left off talking about Abraham. And so let's turn over to Genesis chapter 12,

Genesis 12. And we're going to move through some of the key passages with Abraham and think about God's covenant with Abraham, how he made a covenant with him and what it has to do with family.

Do the same thing with Israel and David as we have the time. So in Genesis chapter 12, we read the

Lord, verse one, the Lord had said to Abraham, get out of your country from your family and from your father's house to a land that I will show you.

I will make you a great nation. I will bless you and make your name great and you shall be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you and I will curse him who curses you.

And in you, all the families of the earth shall be blessed. And this is how God speaks to Abraham.

And you can hear in just that language, Abraham, here's how you can relate to me. Here's how you can relate to others.

And I'm going to give you a land for you to possess. Here's how you relate to the world around you. So all three facets of the image of God.

But we read about families, don't we? Here in chapter 12, we read about families.

Now, Abraham, get away from your family. You're going to be a family and a nation unto your own self and through your seed, through your offspring, through your inheritance, there's going to be a blessing to all the families of the earth.

Now, if we want to know who those families are, who are the families of the earth, you just read Genesis 10, lists all the different families of the earth.

And then why are they all so different from each other? You know, why isn't it just one big family out there?

Well, that's Genesis 11 tells you the story of the Tower of Babel. So in light of all the families of the earth, chapter 10, and in light of them all being separated and at odds with each other in their sin, chapter 11, here's

God's dealings with Abraham. And through your seed, all the families of the earth shall be blessed.

Pretty big. Now, the full force of that blessing and cursing, it says, you know, those who bless you will be blessed, those who curse you will be cursed.

Now we could, of course, grab hold of the steering wheel of the Israel float, take it out of the parade and make a political statement on it, right?

You know, whatever modern political nation today allies itself with the nation of Israel will have prosperity in their world, but how does

Paul preach this passage, right? That's, that's a little more close to home for us, right?

How does Paul preach this passage? Galatians chapter three, verse eight, and the scripture foreseeing that God would justify the

Gentiles, the nations, the goyim in the Hebrew, the ethnoi, the peoples, the nations, foreseeing that God would justify the

Gentiles by faith, preach the gospel, good news of Jesus.

The scripture preached the gospel to Abraham. Isn't that interesting?

Now, preachers are prone to say that'll preach, but you know, my

Bible's never stood up on two legs, pointed the finger at me and says, thus sayeth the Lord. Never vocalize it.

So who, when you go back and you read in Genesis 15, who showed up to preach the gospel to Abraham?

The word of the Lord came to him in a vision. Jesus Christ showed up. And preach the gospel to Abraham and said, and you, all the nations shall be blessed.

So when we read in chapter 12 of Genesis, the Lord says to Abraham, and you, all the nations shall be blessed.

All the families of the earth shall be blessed. Who was it who was telling him that? Well, it was the word.

It was the word who is Christ. And he came and he preached to Abraham and said, and you, all the nations shall be blessed.

So, so, uh, the scripture preached the gospel to Abraham. Now verse 16,

Galatians three. Now to Abraham and his seed, now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made.

Uh, now God made a lot of promises to Abraham and, uh, and he kept on repeating them and they got bigger and they got better every time that God was dealing with Abraham, uh, the promises

Paul says was, was to Abraham and to his seed. Now, now

Paul says he does not say and to seeds as of many. Now, father

Abraham had many sons. Boy, did he have a lot of them. Okay. But the promises were not directly, ultimately concerning them, not seeds, plural seed, singular, who is

Christ. Paul says, enter your seed, who is Christ. See, Paul is a, he takes up the word of God and he, he looks at the, he looks at the words and he says,

Hmm, that's a singular there, not a plural. You see how precise he is with God's word. And so that's why, uh, we're looking at this and he's like, well, all the promises

God made to Abraham, surely they have to deal with Israel, but ultimately also deal with David.

And ultimately it's about the seed who is Christ. The promises as you know, second

Corinthians chapter one, verse 20, as many as are the promises of God in Christ. They are yes.

I have to go find them, whatever they are. They are yes in Christ. So, uh,

Abraham obeys the Lord and he travels to Canaan where God promises to give this land to his descendants.

And, uh, and when you read the chapter 12, he doesn't stop. He just keeps on traveling South, more and more

South. And he heads on down to Egypt because there was a famine in the land, which is a whole nother really interesting thing.

In chapters 13 and 14 of Genesis, Abraham proves himself worthy in dealing with wealth and his wandering and his warfare and his worship, but then he's left wondering about God's promise.

And so the word of the Lord comes to Abraham in a vision at night, comes into his tent, speaks with him,

Abraham doubts. He's like, man, my only heir is one born in my house,

Eliezer of Damascus. You know, how am I going? How am I going to be a great nation? Lord takes him outside the tent, points up at the stars.

So shall your descendants be. So shall your seed be. And Abraham believed and it was accounted to him for righteousness.

He believed in the promise of the seed. Uh, he was given a view of the shadow of Christ himself and Abraham laid hold of that shadow by faith and the righteousness of Christ himself was imputed to Abraham.

Well, then God made a covenant with Abraham in Genesis 15. Um, let's look at that briefly.

Genesis 15 verses nine through 10, and then we'll read verses 17 through 18. Uh, Abraham asked, how can

I be certain that my descendants will in fact inherit this land? Can you give me a sign? Can you, can you assure me that, you know, my descendants will come back 400 and some years later and inherit this land.

So God makes a covenant with Abraham Genesis 15 verses nine through 10. So he said to him, bring me a three -year -old heifer, a three -year -old female goat, a three -year -old ram, a turtle dove, and a young pigeon.

Abraham had all that because well, Abraham was pretty wealthy. He had a lot.

So he grabs it all. And what did they do? Then he brought all these to him and cut them in two.

Abraham cut them in two down the middle. That's the hard way of cutting an animal. Very messy and placed each piece opposite the other, but he did not cut the birds in two.

So he takes these animals. He cuts them in half the most bloody way possible. And then puts half a carcass over here and half a carcass over here.

You know, you can just drag it over here. Anybody ever butcher an animal, you know how messy this is. And then all of a sudden you have a path going down the middle and it's just covered in blood.

Half an animal here, half an animal here, half an animal here, half an animal here. And the idea of cutting a covenant in the ancient

Near East was that you would cut these animals, slice them in half, put them on either side, and you would walk together with your covenant partner down the middle and you would say for either of us to be unfaithful to the other, for either of us to break our promises to the other, it would be as to be parted like these animals.

Right. It's pretty significant, pretty strong. But Abraham does not walk down that path.

He was overcome by a deep sleep, horror and great darkness overcame him.

And God gave a sign and showed Abraham himself walking down that path.

And then God said in verse 17 and 18, you see this walking down the path,

God going down the path and then his promise, verse 17 and 18, and it came to pass when the sun went down and it was dark that behold, there appeared a smoking oven and a burning torch that passed between those pieces.

On the same day, the Lord made a covenant with Abraham saying to your descendants, I have given this land from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river

Euphrates. So that's a, that's a whole lot of territory. Uh, that's not just on the, um, west side of the

Jordan. That's a west side of the Jordan and a bunch on the east side of the Jordan too. Um, now this is a great promise.

Um, but there was great impatience and, uh, Sarah and Abraham, uh, looked at their situation and said, hmm, still don't have an heir.

So Sarah took what was forbidden and she offered it to her husband. Sound familiar?

And what was forbidden was procreation outside of God's design for marriage, right?

Which was the issue of the flood, right? The polygamy before the flood. So Abraham, Abraham heeds the voice of his wife, sound familiar?

And takes Hagar as a concubine so that she will have a son in Sarah's honor. And then of course there was a bunch of conflict and shame, uh, relationships got worse, not better, and then

God comes back to Abraham in chapter 17. What he does, he clarifies to Abraham, no, no, no, no, no.

It's not going to be Ishmael. It's going to be one from, from you and Sarah. Okay. That's going to be the promised heir.

It won't be by your works of the flesh. It'll be by my power, by my miracle. And he gives a sign to them, a sign that every son, every generation, uh, all the male children will be circumcised on the eighth day.

And God says, this sign is an everlasting covenant, an everlasting covenant.

Okay. Um, and the idea is, as we've already looked at the sign of circumcision, separation and succession, separation and succession.

There is an isolation of the promise of the seed, uh, that will be sure to come.

So Abraham, uh, listens to the Lord, believes the Lord. God gives them a son, uh,

Hagar and Ishmael sent away. And in chapter 22, uh,

God comes to Abraham just like he did in chapter 12 and said, go to a place that I will show you straight up the same language.

And Abraham says, okay. And he grabs Isaac and he heads off and he's led to Mount Moriah where he's instructed to offer

Isaac up on the altar. And Hebrews tells us that Abraham did so with the faith that God would raise the dead like, well,

God's going to keep all his promises to me through my seed. So if I kill him in obedience to God, God would just simply raise him back up from the dead.

Right? That's the kind of faith Abraham had. And in chapter 22, verses 16 through 18, in response to Abraham's faithfulness and Abraham's obedience,

God responds and says, by myself, I have sworn, says the Lord, because you have done this thing and have not withheld your son, your only son.

Blessing. I will bless you in multiplying. I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heaven and as the sand, which is on the seashore.

And your descendants shall possess the gate of their enemies in your seat. All the nations of the earth shall be blessed because you have obeyed my voice.

Something that we need to hone in on with these covenants is that although God makes promises that are in some fashion, unconditional, he's going to always keep his promises no matter what.

He also makes them conditional, right? He picked

Noah and Noah did what he was supposed to. Noah obeyed and God blessed him for it.

Abraham obeyed. He says, because you have obeyed my voice here, I'm going to bless you. Uh, what did he demand of Israel?

You better keep covenant. You get it. You keep my covenant from generation to generation. And if you don't, then all the curses of the covenant are going to come upon you.

Didn't he? And what about, uh, what about David? What did he say to David about his son? If your son, we're going to probably be singing that psalm this morning in church,

Psalm 89, reminded that if your son disobeys, then all kinds of chastisement is going to come upon him.

Okay. So what does God want in, uh, with those with whom he is making covenant?

What does he want from these servants with whom he is making covenant? He wants them to exhibit a, a faithful representation of what it means to be made in his image.

He wants them to love him supremely, love each other, rightly steward the creation responsibly. Uh, and when they do, he blesses them.

When he doesn't, uh, then he brings a curses and all kinds of problems happen. Right.

Um, that's important to keep in mind. God, time and again, emphasizes from Adam to Noah, to Abraham, to Israel, to David, that he is looking for a servant who will be obedient and faithful and righteous and please him.

Has he found such a man? Has he found such a servant? Indeed he has.

It's our savior, Jesus Christ. So, uh, when we think about the, the progression, just a little bit of a note of how it all kind of flows together.

Remember that when we read about the image of God, that not only is there this, uh, three way relationship,

God, one another, they created order, uh, but there was a creation mandate given with that description.

Uh, the creation mandate, be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, subdue it. And exercise dominion.

Okay. And that's the creation mandate that comes in part and parcel with what it means to be made in the image of God that naturally flows from being made in God's image.

Um, if you go find, if you go off to, um, uh, an Island with an isolated tribe, what are you going to find?

You're going to find male and female. Uh, you're going to find generations. You're going to find some semblance of a family.

You're going to find all kinds of sin. Uh, but you're also going to find them, uh, trying to, uh, to work the plants and animals around them to try to master them, uh, for their benefit.

Right. Um, you can find it in even more terrible, awful places like New York city.

I mean, same thing happens there, right? People are still trying to live in a particular relationship and people have a concept and an idea about a higher being or God or something greater than themselves.

All right. So if you, when we're made in God's image, we wear the uniform, you can ever take it off and you're either going to be wearing the righteousness of God himself, or you're going to be constantly in rebellion against that uniform code.

There's no way out of it. Um, so when we, when we keep that in mind, uh, let's think about the creation mandate.

Okay. Be fruitful, multiply, uh, fill the earth and subdue it and exercise dominion. Okay. Well, when

God dealt with Noah, uh, Noah comes out of the ark and, uh, what's the first thing

Noah does after he gets out of the ark and he makes, he does the, uh, does the sacrifices and so on. What does he do?

Plants a vineyard. Why would he plant a vineyard? Well, he's made in God's image and, and just like in Genesis chapter two, there was no man to till the ground, right?

It's his job to be fruitful. First thing he does is he, he, he, he's, uh, I gotta be fruitful. Gotta be fruitful.

Uh, what's Abraham's concern? What's his issue? What's he always on about?

Chapters 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18. You're calling me father of a multitude of nations.

And I've got, you know, no kids. Now I've got one kid, but you don't like him. And then now I've only got one more and now you want me to kill him.

Right. That's his issue. Right. Um, but you track with the story of Abraham, read past Genesis, read past Genesis.

Yes. Yes. His, his grandson, uh, Jacob named Israel came down to Egypt, 70 persons, but keep on reading because God in the beginning, the first, uh, the first 18 chapters of Exodus are about Abraham, about Abraham.

Time and again, God keeps on saying because of my promise to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, I'm going to deal with Israel in this way.

It was because of his covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, his covenant with Abraham, that God multiplied

Israel in the land of Egypt. He states it again and again. It was because of his covenant with Abraham that God sent all those plagues upon Egypt.

It was because of his covenant with Abraham that he redeemed the people of Israel up out of Egypt with all those mighty signs, including

Passover and brought them out into the wilderness and there, let them be hungry. Let them be thirsty.

Then fed them with, uh, uh, manna from heaven and water from a rock. That was, that all happened before he ever even said one word about making a covenant with Israel at Sinai in chapter 19.

Okay. So what do we find at the end of it? Uh, well, you know, it was no fruitful.

He was fruitful. Okay. What about Abraham? Did he multiply? Boy, did he ever multiply? Millions came up out of Egypt.

Millions. And then, um, okay, so be fruitful, multiply.

And then, uh, what did God tell Israel? And God made this covenant with Israel and, uh, he, he epitomizes his covenant with Israel in the law.

Read that in Deuteronomy chapter four. Okay. God says, uh, write down my covenant with you and it's the 10 commandments.

He gives us commandments in Deuteronomy five. And it's a summary of the story in Exodus 19 and 20 and so on.

So God says, here's the, the epitomization of God's covenant with Israel is the 10 commandments.

This is my covenant with you. And there's a lot more to the covenant, but that's a, that's a, that's an excellent summary of how

God was dealing with Israel and, uh, God said things to them, like, uh, you know, you need to put, uh, guardrails around the top of your house.

Um, you need to let your fields rest every seven years, you know, you give them all kinds of instructions and you know where the

Israel was when they received those instructions in the desert intense, they don't have houses.

They don't have fields, you know, now remember on the year of Jubilee, all that land needs to go back to whoever owned it in the first place land.

We're wandering around in the wilderness. What are you talking about God? But you see that the covenant that God made with Israel had everything to do about how they were going to live in the land.

What did he tell them about that land when they got there? What were they supposed to do when they got to the, to the promised land? Just conquer it.

How much of it were they supposed to conquer? All of it. What about all those

Canaanite tribes that God had been patient with for 430 years, giving them the witness of Mechizodek and Abraham, and was patient with their transgressions.

What about them now? Well, Israel is God's instrument of judgment to completely take them out.

So what was he telling them to do with the land in the Hebrew? Same word as in the creation mandate, fill the land and subdue it.

Right? Fill the land and subdue it. Be fruitful, multiply, fill the, fill the land and subdue it. And what was, what do you think

David's supposed to do? What's the deal with the king? Maybe to exercise dominion.

Do you remember King David? Ah, bear slaying, lion killing,

Goliath felling David. Let's say he was exercising dominion. And God dealt with David.

And in each one of these covenants, God is dealing with the image of God. In each one of these covenants,

God is dealing with the creation mandate. It's all heading somewhere though, and it's all progressing somewhere.

And that of course is to the last Adam who is Christ. And because it's progressing and it's in the shape of the image of God, it's always dealing with family.

So Noah and his wife and his three sons and each one of their wives, family, family, family,

Abraham, Abraham and Sarai, now Abraham and Sarah, here is your son and the promises from your son to your son, ultimately to your seed.

Israel, God makes a covenant with Israel and gives them a sign. And the sign is that of the Sabbath. What are you supposed to do on the

Sabbath? You and your household go sit in your tent and do nothing. Rest. You and your household, your whole household depends upon the

Lord. Depends upon God. That was the fourth commandment. The fifth commandment is right after it. What is that? Children, honor your father and your mother.

All right. Honor your father. Why? So that your days will be what? Long in the land.

Long in the land. Right? Um, this is where we have to read the

Bible the way it was written, right? So there have been many, um, and in God's wisdom,

I don't know why, but there have been sons and daughters who honor their father and mother and love their father and mother who die young.

And then the God fearing parents look at that promise and say, but, but, but. My son, my daughter, they were a good child.

They honored their father and mother and yet they did not live long. What about this promise?

God was making a covenant with Israel. His promise in the fifth commandment, which is a good thing for a parent, for, for children to obey their parents, obey their parents in the

Lord, in Christ, for this is right. Okay. That's still a good thing to do, but his specific promise in the fifth commandment was, uh, children, honor your father and mother that your days will be long in the land, in the

Eretz, in the land. Why? Well, right after you read about that in Deuteronomy five,

Deuteronomy six says, um, talk about this word to your children when you rise up, when you lie down, when you go out, when you come in, write it on your hand, on your forehead, on the doorpost of your house.

Why? Otherwise you're going to forget God. Just read all of Deuteronomy six. You're going to forget God when you get to the land and you're going to worship the false idols.

And then what was one of the covenant curses? If, if the generations of Israel kept on disobeying

God and, and rebelling against him and going after idols, God says, I'm going to kick you out of your land.

So it was dependent in the old covenant for each one to teach their neighbor and each one to teach the next generation, know the

Lord, know the Lord, know the Lord, know the Lord. And if they failed in doing that, then they would lose the land, be kicked out.

You see? So that's why, so the progression is through family and family is very important.

We get to, uh, we get to covenant God made with, uh, David in the second

Samuel seven, and it's repeated in Psalm 89. God tells David, um, my covenant is with you.

And when you enter into your rest, your son will build me a house, but I'm going to build you a house. I'm going to build you a house with an ever, with an eternal throne, everlasting throne, uh, and your descendants.

If, if your son disobeys me, then I'm going to correct him and chastise him. Right. And he did, didn't he?

Uh, we had, uh, we had good Kings and bad Kings, didn't we? There were some really good

Kings and there were some really bad Kings. Uh, and ultimately, I think it's very important to, uh, uh, to, to notice is that, um, one thing in second

Samuel chapter seven, let's look at verse 19. David is now responding to the Lord after the promise.

Remember David had said, look, I'm sitting in a house of Cedar. And you know, the, the ark of the covenant is, is in a tent.

How can this be? I want to build you a house. And then God says, uh, uh, no, no,

I'm going to build you a house. Your son, the son of David would build the temple and he did. And he is.

But here in second Samuel seven 19, uh, as, uh, David is responding to the, you know, to the generosity of God, to the grace of God and his promises to him.

David says, and yet this was a small thing in your sight. Oh Lord God. And you have also spoken of your servant's house for a great while to come.

And this is a, uh, maybe a question. Maybe you have different translation. Is this the manner of man? Oh Lord God.

I just, anybody else have something different in their translation? This is the custom.

Yeah. So it's a really interesting phrase. Uh, Hebrew scholar, Peter Gentry says this last phrase should be translated.

This is the instruction for humanity. This is humanities charter is

David's declaration here. Why, why, why would he say that? Because the king of Israel stands in the place of the whole nation.

The king stands in for the whole nation. There was a complaint that, uh, you remember how, uh, uh, Isaac and Abraham both tricked

Abimelech who was just the name of the king, like Pharaoh, but he was the king of the Philistines and he tricked him, you know, it was like, you know, oh, this is my sister, not my, not my wife.

And when Abimelech's complaining against, uh, Abraham about that, he's like, because he came under the direct, basically

God pointed a gun at him and said, you better not, and, uh, Abimelech complained to Abraham and said, would you destroy the whole nation?

Why? The king stands in for the whole nation. Okay. So, um, so the king of Israel stands in the place of the whole nation, but he stands in the place, um, of Adam as God's son.

Uh, God says of David's descendant, I will be a father to him. He will be a son to me. Well, wait, he already said that of Israel, Exodus four,

Hosea as well. He already said that Israel, he already said Israel was his son, but now he's saying the descendant of David is his son because the king stands in for the whole.

The king stands in for the whole and the king of Israel. What position does

Solomon have in the stories that we read? Well, he, he, he rules from a garden flowing with milk and honey.

Doesn't he read the description of Israel under the glorious reign of Solomon? Um, Psalm two, the covenant king

God promises is one whom he establishes on his holy heel and this one holds authority over all humanity.

The king that God promised to Israel was the king he establishes on Zion. And Psalm two says that king rules over all humanity.

So when David says, this is the charter for all humanity, he's, he's meaning this eternal throne that you have promised to me and the promised one to rule from my lineage, this matters to all of humanity, not just Israel.

Um, the, the God whom the Davidic king represents is not limited to a local region or territory like other pagan nations, right?

The God of Israel is the God over all. Now you hear a lot of that in Psalm 89, but, uh, dominion is achieved through the kingly image that God promised the lineage of David, he will bring about a new creation through his resurrection and reign through the spirit.

Paul says, Jesus Christ is our Lord who was born of the seed of David according to the flesh and declared to be the son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness by the resurrection from the dead.

And Paul says, this was promised in the prophets. This was promised in the prophets. This is how it all is all summed up.

Uh, one last thing to, uh, to consider, and let's, uh, we got about five minutes.

Let's read Jeremiah 33. Let's go over in Jeremiah 33. This will be helpful where we can kind of see how this all, uh, is, uh, wrapped up together.

So again, we're talking about, if we want to know what family is, Jesus says, begin with the image of God.

And when we consider the image of God, we see that that is dealt with progressively throughout the covenants that God makes every single one, a shadow and a type of Christ.

Ultimately inexorably, as we read the scriptures and we want to know about the family, we are led from creation to Christ in our consideration of what does it mean to be a family?

How is it that we're supposed to live and love one another and identify the family? Okay. Jeremiah 33 verses 14 through 22.

Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, that I will perform that good thing, which I have promised at the house of Israel and to the house of Judah.

That good thing happened. He promised in chapter 31, which is called the new covenant and, uh,

Hebrews quotes it and says, this is fulfilled in Jesus. Okay. So that good thing, which he has promised to the house of Israel, to the house of Judah, that's the new covenant that he explained in chapter 31 in those days.

And at that time, I will cause to grow up to David a branch of righteousness. Why? I thought

God promised David a son. Why is he going to get a stick? It's a metaphor. It's a metaphor.

And, uh, you know, it's really interesting. Uh, uh, do you know what town Jesus was from? Yeah, it's pronounced branch town.

Nazareth is branch town. And you have more than one promise in the old

Testament about a branch being raised up to David. Okay. So a branch of righteousness, he shall execute judgment and righteousness in the earth.

Sounds like Psalm two in those days, Judah will be saved and Jerusalem will dwell safely.

And this is the name by which he shall be called the Lord, our righteousness. Anybody who comes to the new Jerusalem on Mount Zion, according to Hebrews 12 means you come to Jesus and he's your righteousness.

He's your righteousness. Verse 17 for that says the Lord David shall never lack a man to sit on the throne of the house of Israel, nor shall the priests, the

Levites lack a man to offer burnt offerings before me to Kindle grain offerings and to sacrifice continually.

Uh, the kingship is going to continue somehow forever. And the priesthood is going to continue somehow forever.

And all the promises, all the prophecies are going to be fulfilled forever. Any takers for a prophet, priest, and King that would be

Jesus Christ. Okay. Uh, verse 19 and the Lord of the

Lord came to Jeremiah saying, thus says the Lord, if you can break my covenant with the day and my covenant with the night, so that there will not be day and night in their season, then my covenant may also be broken with David, my servant, so that he should not have a son to ran in his throne and with the

Levites, the priest, my minister. So two things here, he's obviously talking about the covenant that God made with David, you know, second

Samuel seven, Psalm 89, but notice he also talks about the covenant he made with a day and night that the seasons would always continue.

What covenant was that? God promised to Noah. God told

Noah day and night in their seasons will not end. This is my promise. Okay.

So Jeremiah is preaching the word of the Lord and he's connecting the covenant of Noah to the covenant of David.

That's a big ask. But then what else does he say? Verse 22, as the host of heaven cannot be numbered or the sand of the sea measured, oh, that sounds familiar.

Who did he say that to? Abraham, right? So I will multiply the descendants of David.

Oh, hang on a second. Now he said that to Abraham, but now he's saying it about David.

David, my servant and the Levites who minister to me. Somehow the children of Israel and God's covenant with Israel and all those holy things he called them to do as a nation of priests, all of this is going to continue through the descendant of David.

This is why this whole triangulation gets down to a single point, because it's passages like this in Jeremiah 33, where God is saying, he's saying,

Noah, Abraham, Israel, David, all the promises I've ever made are going to be fulfilled and kept in the descendant of David.

When I do that good thing that I promised, you know, that thing called the new covenant.

So we have four parade floats going in harmonious succession and expansion along the main street of history.

The four floats make their way to a town square. Let's call that the ruined, burnt out town square of the image of God.

Okay. They're all about the image of God. Expressive and centered on the image of God. And there the parade floats, all of their vast decorations and construction materials are repurposed to rebuild and remodel everything there.

Because the covenants restore the shape, the shape, the shape of the ruined image of God. And there they anticipate the resurrection of the image to come.

And so we see in the old Testament, people living in a kind of rebuilt town square. The people of the parade, they settle there, they make a life together, anticipating the last arrival of the parade.

Generation after generation, they live and wait down to the generation of Anna and Simeon. And finally the time comes, finally the time comes, the last float in the parade and in walks

Jesus of Nazareth. Actually, he rides in on a colt full of a donkey. Some welcome him, others despise him.

Some say he's not grand enough. He doesn't look exactly like the arrangements that they've made. But through his life, death, resurrection, ascension and enthronement, he makes an entirely new city.

One which perfectly expresses all the best and right hopes of the earlier parade. That's the big picture.

All right, let's close in prayer. Father, I thank you for the time you've given us in your word. I pray that it's been a blessing to our hearts.

And Lord, as we look forward to considering the reign of Jesus Christ and what it means for husbands and wives and parents and children and so on, that we would always rejoice in your truth.