Kings and Chronicles: Our Reigning King

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Tonight's study is fairly straightforward, so I don't plan to spend to much time discussing it. The Bible is full of stories about kings: kings in the land of Canaan, Egypt, Israel, Babylon, Persia, Rome, and more. But it is the king who has reigned on the throne of Heaven since time began who the Bible obviously devotes much of its text to. 

In the Old Testament, it was prophesied that Jesus would be king. Isaiah 9:6 says, "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. Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this."

The Gospels speak several times about Christ as king. When the angel Gabriel came to Mary in Luke chapter one, he said these words: "He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David: And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end (vv. 32-33)." When the wise men from the east came searching for Jesus they said, "Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him (Matthew 2:2)." In Matthew 27, the Roman governor Pilate was questioning Jesus and said, "Art thou the King of the Jews?" Jesus answered this by simply saying, "Thou sayest." And finally, when Jesus was lifted up on the cross to die, the Romans mocked Jesus by putting a sign over His head in several languages that said, "This Is Jesus The King Of The Jews."

Like we saw when people called Jesus a prophet, He did not deny what they were saying. Jesus knew who He was and is and also what He had come to do. You may be wondering what all of this has to do with the books of Kings and Chronicles. Well, I have tried to look at different characters in the books and see where Christ fits in. Kings and Chronicles give us the records of the kings of Israel and Judah from the end of David's reign, through the Divided Kingdom, and all the way to the destruction of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar. What do all kings have in common? They reign over a kingdom. All of the kings we see in these books had their kingdoms come to an end. Each of them died and passed the kingdom on to their sons until they were eventually destroyed. But Jesus is not like any other king. Just like Gabriel said to Mary, "of His kingdom there shall be no end."

Stay tuned throughout the week for updates. Next Sunday we will look at Jesus Christ in the books of Ezra and Nehemiah as the Rebuilder of the Broken Down Walls of Our Lives.