The story of the world...

The Perfect Son of David and an Anxious and Dangerous World

(1 Chronicles 2:3-15, Preaching: Pastor Stephen Magee, April 16, 2017)

[3] The sons of Judah: Er, Onan and Shelah; these three Bath-shua the Canaanite bore to him. Now Er, Judah's firstborn, was evil in the sight of the LORD, and he put him to death. [4] His daughter-in-law Tamar also bore him Perez and Zerah. Judah had five sons in all. [5] The sons of Perez: Hezron and Hamul. [6] The sons of Zerah: Zimri, Ethan, Heman, Calcol, and Dara, five in all. [7] The son of Carmi: Achan, the troubler of Israel, who broke faith in the matter of the devoted thing; [8] and Ethan's son was Azariah. [9] The sons of Hezron that were born to him: Jerahmeel, Ram, and Chelubai. [10] Ram fathered Amminadab, and Amminadab fathered Nahshon, prince of the sons of Judah. [11] Nahshon fathered Salmon, Salmon fathered Boaz, [12] Boaz fathered Obed, Obed fathered Jesse. [13] Jesse fathered Eliab his firstborn, Abinadab the second, Shimea the third, [14] Nethanel the fourth, Raddai the fifth, [15] Ozem the sixth, David the seventh.

Judah

The author of this book had such a longing for the coming of an eternal King of Life in the line of David who would fix Israel and save the world. What do you think of the world? All good? A mix? All bad? Confusing? Are you afraid? Anxious? Angry? What are you going to do about it all? Take a step back and consider... and pray... and listen... Now hear the story of the world.

The Lord God Almighty made a world of life, but through the sin of the first man, Adam, death came into the world. God was not satisfied with death. He began a new plan that would completely defeat and eliminate death by the work of a King of Life who would one day be revealed to the world.

God's plan called for the multiplication of a great variety of people groups on the face of the earth. How many? Experts today say the shortest list includes about 10,000. Hmm? What are some of them? The Tharu people in Nepal, The Roma gypsies and the Romanians. So many groups, so much brutality, so much mixing, and forgetting... Lots of people, hard to figure out.

Out of all those people groups He made one people group to be His chosen people. We read their history in the Old Testament. They are called Israel, the name God gave to the father of twelve tribes from his sons. They are also called Jews because of one tribe, the tribe of Judah, which would one day be the tribe of God's chosen kings, from whom would come the King of Life.

God built up the people group of the Jews through various experiences of blessing and suffering. They were once slaves in Egypt, and the Lord rescued them through a man called Moses. God gave His people a Law through this Moses that included the Ten Commandments. It also contained many other statutes designed to keep the Jews separate from all those other mixing people groups until the coming of the King of Life.

Moses and His brother Aaron were teachers of the Law, but neither of them could be the King of Life because life would not come just by people knowing the Law. Something else was needed.

Now Er, Judah's firstborn, was evil in the sight of the LORD, and he put him to death.... Achan, the troubler of Israel, who broke faith in the matter of the devoted thing

Moses and Aaron were not even in the subgroup or “tribe” of Judah from whom God said the kings would come. The man from whom that group received its name had a firstborn son whose name was Er. Er “was evil in the sight of the Lord,” so it was impossible for him to be the King of Life. The Lord “put him to death.” Generations later, another descendant of Judah was a man named Achan. When God told His people to trust Him for everything they might desire, Achan saw some silver, some gold, and a costly cloak that He wanted for himself, even though the Lord had said that no one was allowed to take what Achan wanted. Achan was called “the troubler of God's people” because his sins led to the deaths of others and to his own death. Even within the chosen people group of the Jews and the chosen tribe of Judah from whom the King of Life would come there was a heritage of serious and deadly sin. And we and our people have sinned.

David the seventh

God gave the Jews the Bible, a system of worship, a land (Israel), a capital city (Jerusalem), and one family line in the tribe of Judah from whom would come all the remaining kings of that tribe. The first king in that family line was David. David and his son Solomon were two of the most successful and powerful rulers in the history of Israel, but neither of them could be the King of Life. Death would not be destroyed through a great military or political ruler.

After David and Solomon died, God continued to prepare the Jews for a future “David” who would be the King of Life. Prophets spoke of Him as a “David” although that would not be His actual name. See especially Ezekiel 34:23-24, 37:24-25. They also wrote of Him using the name “Immanuel” (Isaiah 7:14) which means “God with us.” King David died, and his body remaining in the grave (Acts 2:39), but he and others had written songs about Jesus (Psalm 10), his great descendant and master who conquered death, brutality, and even anxiety. We still live in a world that has these plagues, yet there is an eternal world coming where the perfect “David” reigns as our Resurrection King. What do we do every Sunday? Nurture one another in that sure hope.

Jesus alone has conquered sin and death for us. He did this with His sinless life and His death as our Substitute. Moses could not do it with Law. The first David could not do it with military power. Both men, though great, did not have what was necessary. To fulfill the plan of God, the perfect David, Jesus, the King of Life, needed to have nothing in Him that was “evil in the sight of the Lord,” and then He had to take our evil upon Himself on the cross. He could not be a “troubler” of God's people who “broke faith” with God. Only a perfect Man would do. His empty tomb is His sign of victory. Now that you know the true story of the world, what will you say and do concerning the resurrected King of Life? Mark's gospel needs your ending of faith.

Old Testament Reading—Psalm 10 – Arise, O Lord! The Lord is King forever and ever!

Gospel Reading—Matthew 6:25-34 – [25] Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? [26] Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? [27] And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? [28] And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, [29] yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. [30] But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? [31] Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ [32] For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. [33] But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. [34] Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.