..per Mission.. The Fourth Sunday in Advent, 21 December 2014, Concordia Lutheran Mission, Terrebonne, Oregon. “The Son of David, Jesus, Establishes God’s Everlasting Kingdom by the Gospel.” II Samuel 7:12-13. And when thy days be fulfilled, and thou shalt sleep with thy fathers, I will set up thy seed after thee, which shall proceed out of thy bowels, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build an house for my name, and I will stablish the throne of his kingdom for ever. Introduction. Where did people of Israel get the idea that the Messiah would be the Son of David? People got this idea from this passage. In this passage David and all men learn that the Messiah would be the Son of David, i.e., David’s Seed. The Son of David builds David’s House by making men His Offspring through the Gospel. Through the Gospel, the Son of David communicates to men the forgiveness of sins creating, thereby, saving faith in the hearts of men and making them His children and sons of David. The forgiveness of sins Jesus, the Son of David, won for men on the Cross, dying for the sins of the world. The only Son of David who ever died for the sins of the world is Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus of Nazareth is the Son of David who builds David’s House, the Church, by the Gospel. I. The Son of David is Jesus of Nazareth, the Crucified Christ who Atones for Sin through the Cross. A. The Promised Seed (Child) is the focus of men since the fall of Adam. Ever since the fall of Adam, the faithful have focused on God’s Promised Seed or Child to come because this Child would deliver men from the dreadful consequences of the fall of Adam. Through the fall of Adam all men are subject to death and eternal damnation. The Apostle St. Paul writes: For if by one man’s offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ. Luther writes: This first comfort [of the Seed of the Woman], this source of all mercy and fountainhead of all promises, our first parents and their descendants learned with the utmost care. They saw that without this promise procreation would indeed continue to go on among people as well as among the other living beings, but that it would be nothing else than a procreation to death. And so that gift which was given by God to our nature is here made greater, nay, even made sacred; for there is hope of procreation to death. And so that gift which was given by God to our nature is here made greater, nay, even made sacred; for there is hope of a procreation through which the head of Satan would be crushed, not only to break his tyranny but also to gain eternal life for our nature, which was surrendered to death because of sins. For here Moses is no longer dealing with a natural serpent; he is speaking of the devil, whose head is death and sin. And so Christ says in John 8:44 that the devil is a murderer and the father of lies. Therefore when his power has been crushed, that is, when sin and death have been destroyed by Christ, what is there to prevent the children of God from being saved? In this manner Adam and Eve understood this text. Their consolation against sin and despair was their hope for this crushing, which was to be brought about in the future through Christ. And through the hope based on this promise they will also rise up to eternal life on the Last Day. The Seed of which Luther here writes in the Seed of the Woman promised in the Garden of Eden who would destroy the works of the devil and deliver man, thereby, from the devil’s work of sin and death. Moses writes: And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel. While all the faithful keenly focused on this passage, so also did the devil because it destroys his work of tyranny over man of sin and eternal damnation. Luther writes: Since it was stated: “I shall put enmity between you and the woman,” [Satan] was hostile and suspicious of all those who gave birth from that time on until Christ was revealed. From this we see the devilish source of feminism’s hatred for motherhood. Feminism’s hatred of motherhood springs from the venom of the devil implanted in the Garden of Eden. Through the campaign against motherhood, feminists do the bidding of the devil to teach men to despise a Savior born of a woman by teaching men to despise motherhood. By teaching men to despise a Savior born of a woman, the devil seeks to separate men from their Savior and keep them under his thumb. The faithful, however, carefully followed the Seed of the Woman down through history. Even though Eve was mistaken as to the person, we can see in the birth of Cain – and his name also because Cain means “gain”, meaning she and Adam thought he was the Promised Savior through Whom they would gain deliverance from sin, death, and the power of the devil and life eternal – nevertheless we see her faith ardently focused on the Promised Seed of the Woman. Moses writes: I have gotten the Man, the LORD. Next we find that the Seed of the Woman descends from Shem, one of Noah’s sons. Moses writes: And he [Noah] said, Blessed be the LORD God of Shem. From there we find the Seed of the Woman descends from Shem’s descendant Abraham. Moses writes: And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed ... . From Abraham the Seed of the Woman descends from Abraham’s son Isaac. Moses writes: And I will make thy seed to multiply as the stars of heaven, and will give unto thy seed all these countries; and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed ... . Next we find that the Seed of the Woman descends from Isaac’s son Jacob. Moses writes: And thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and thou shalt spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south: and in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed. From Jacob’s son Judah we learn the Seed of the Woman will descend. Moses writes: The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be. Finally, the Seed of the Woman descends from Judah’s son, David. So we read in II Samuel 7: And when they days be fulfilled, and thou shalt sleep with thy fathers, I will set up thy seed after thee, which shall proceed out of thy bowels, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build an house for my name, and I will stablish the throne of his kingdom for ever. This passage explains David’s astonishment a few moments later in this same chapter. In II Samuel 7 we read: Then went king David in, and sat before the LORD, and he said, Who am I, O Lord God? and what is my house, that thou hast brought me hitherto? And this was yet a small thing in thy sight, O Lord God; but thou hast spoken also of thy servant’s house for a great while to come. And is this the [doctrine of the Man my Lord, the LORD God ]. David is at the zenith of his power as king of the most powerful nation in the history of mankind, and yet God blesses him even more by announcing to him that his Son will be the Seed of the Woman, the Messiah, the Savior of the world. No greater blessing could be bestowed upon a man. After all the blessings David already enjoyed, he would now also be the father of the Savior of all men. The Son of David would be the Messiah. Men from around the world to the end of time would call their Savior David’s Son. No greater renown in heaven and earth can be had than to have one’s name attached to God’s Glory, which Glory is His Mercy in Christ toward fallen, sinful men. B. The Son of David Atones for the sins of the world through the Cross. But how could the Son of David, being a man, bear the such a great burden? How could David’s Son bear the eternal and infinite burden of the wrath of God over men’s sins? How could David’s Son fulfill all the everlasting obligations of all men to God? While indeed the Son of David is True Man, He is also the True Almighty God. The prophet Isaiah writes: For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon His shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. The Son of David can shoulder the burdens of all men who have lived or ever will live because He is the Almighty God in the flesh. The prophet Micah makes this point clear again when he teaches us that the Son of David, born in the City of David, Bethlehem, is also the Almighty God from everlasting: But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel: whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting. Consequently, because Jesus, the Son of David, is the Almighty God in the flesh, He can and did bear the burdens of all men and fulfill all our obligations to God. Jesus fulfilled all righteousness for all men, including suffering and dying on the Cross for the sins of all men. The Apostle St. Paul writes: For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be the righteousness of God in him. II. The Son of David Establishes David’s House and God’s Kingdom, the Church, through the Gospel. A. Jesus, the Son of David, establishes David’s House and God’s Kingdom, the Church, through the Gospel. Christ, the Son of David, did not stop with the Cross to work for men, but through the Cross fashioned for all men the adoption of sons through the Gospel. The Apostle St. Paul writes: But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. Through the Gospel, Christ places His Blessed Work of the Cross upon them and men become the sons of God. The Apostle St. Paul writes: For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. Through the Gospel, Christ builds David’s House and God establishes His Kingdom forever. The Apostle St. Paul writes: Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints, and of the household of God; And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone; In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord. In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit. Luther writes that God’s House is found where His Word and faith is found: I think everyone knows that “God’s house” means where He dwells, and that He dwells where His Word is, be it in the field, in church, or on the sea. On the other hand, where His Word is absent, He is absent, nor is His house there; but there the devil dwells, though it be a church of gold blessed by all the bishops. But where God’s house is, there is pure blessing, grace, and life, as the psalmist says: “We bless you from the house of the Lord.” You are blessed, because you are in the Lord’s house. God says (Ex. 20:24): “In every place where I cause My name (that is, My Word) to be remembered, I will come to you and bless you.” In this passage this verse in the psalm [Psalm 118:26] had its origin. Wherever God sends out His Word, by which His name and work and not our name and work are praised, there He also comes with pure grace and every blessing, as Moses declares. But wherever the devil sends out his word and it is accepted, he follows with his curse and eternal destruction. The world, however, does not believe this and considers and praises the devil as God, his curse as a blessing, and his lies as truth. B. God’s House is the House of Life Eternal. Because the Church is the House of God, there we have also life eternal. For this reason, Isaiah calls Christ “the Everlasting Father ” because Christ fathers us into life eternal by His Passion. The Apostle St. Paul writes also writes of life eternal coming through the Blessed Work of the Son of David: But after this the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared, Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; Which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour; That being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life. Conclusion. Because the Son of David is the Messiah, He alone builds God’s Eternal House and Kingdom, i.e., the Church, through the Gospel. Through the Gospel He builds God’s Church by giving to men the forgiveness of sins He won for all men on the Cross, making them sons of God and members of the Eternal, Royal House of David and God’s Everlasting Kingdom unto life eternal and the resurrection of the body. Amen.
Posted on: Sun, 21 Dec 2014 23:22:21 +0000
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