A King fighting for His people
Over the past few weeks, we have been talking about Jesus as king: Specifically, we're looking how the prophet Isaiah described Jesus for us.
The Old Testament is full of regerences to Jesus, God through the Old Testament is consistently pointing to the coming of Jesus.
He uses images and word pictures to build anticipation for the coming of Jesus.
I don't know if you remember when you were a kid going to the movies. Before the movie started, they had the "Coming Attractions."
TAhey would show you previews of the movies that we were coming to that could "build anticipation." This is what God was doing through the first half of the Bible.
He gave different hints as to what Jesus was going to be like
- For instance, we read in Hebrews that the Aaronic priesthood was a "picture of Jesus" but Jesus is better because His savrifice was once and forever.
- Again, David was a "picture" of Jesus, but Jesus is better because His reign will last forever.
- The vision of Jesus as holy is that we need to trust that Jesus is good,
- The vision of Jesus as Savior is that we must trust that Jesus loves us.
- The vision of Jesus as king of the universe is that we need to trust that Jesus is in control
Last week we talked about the fact that Jesus left his throne in heaven to come and live among His people. Isaiah calls Him Emmanuel, that is, "God with us."
The Christmas story is the story of a King sitting on His throne high and lifted who decides to come to the earth and live among His people.
This week we look at another aspect of King Jesus
Isaiah 9:6 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.
Mighty-God, this name is used of GOd in a few places in the Old Testament (Isaiah 10:21, Jerimiah 32:18)
The word "mighty" was often used by warriors. Isaiah's point is that the Messiah will be a "warrior King."
When we think of Juses, we think of Jesus as depicted on a flannelgraph from Sunday school. The guy with the winning smile and perfect hair.
The Jesus described for us in the New Testament was not a flour-child hippy. He was capable of ferocity.
Jesus cleansing the Temple
Matthew 21:12 And Jesus went into the Temple of God, and cast out all them that sold and bought in the Temple, and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers, and the seats of them that sold doves,
Matthew 21:13 And said unto them, It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves.
This is one of those stories we are so familiar with we lose sight of its meanin.
The point of Jesus cleansing the Temple was not about keeping people from selling things in God's hourse.
The Context:
the Jewish people were selling animals for sacrifice in the court of the Gentiles. There were so many ventdors it kept the gentiles from coming to worship Jehovah.
Matthew records the first part of the quote from Isaiah, "my house shall be a House of prayer," but leaves out the second part, "for all nations."
TAhe religious people Jesus is talking to would have known the second part of that verse, which meant they understood why Jesus was angry.
Jesus was angry because the religious people of His day were deliberately excluding non-Jewish people from worshipping Jehovah.
The actions of Jesus were more fierce thatn we thought.
Those of us who have grown up in church hear Temple and immediately associate that with the kind of church building we are accustomed to.
We think that Jesus turned over a table in the foyer of the Temple. But the court of the gentiles (the area that Jesus cleared out) covered about 30 acres.
This wasn't one table or two tables or ever three tables. This would have taken ours.
This meant that Jesus kept this level of ferocity for as long as it took.
We tend to think of Jesus as holy pushover, but Bible says that Jesus is a "Warrior King" who fights for His people.
Jesus is not a disinterested spectator in our lives.
He is invested in your life because He died for you.... this means He cares about what happens to you.
Your life has value!
This means your life is more valuable than you can imagine because of the price paid for you.
Jesus as a warrior king, fought for us on the cross and gave His own blood for us.
How does Jesus right for us?
1 John 2:1 My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous:
The Bible says that Satan accuses Believers "night and day before God" (Rev 12:10)
He says to God, look at the life of Your so-called people.
- Look at how they dis-believe you
- Look at how the dis-obey you
In those times, we have an advocate who will fight for us!
The word "Advocate" was used to describe something like a defense attorney. In Greek literature, it was used as a legal advisor, pleader.
Jesus pleads our case to the Father... but He doesn't say that we are innocent because we're not.
No, He says to the Father, I have paid their debt.
Our takeaway
As believers, we should have confidence that king Jesus is on our side! He is a Warrior King who will return to earth one day to set all things right.
In the meantime, He is our advocate and fights for us daily.
- Your boss may not have your back
- Your family may not have your back
But Jesus always has your back
This points us to Revelation 19, where Jesus is called the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.