So we've just read from John, chapter 20, verse 31, that John wrote to us, wrote this gospel, that his readers might believe that Jesus is the Christ. And now we start with John, chapter 1, verse 19. Now this was John's testimony, this is John who baptized. This was John's testimony when the Jews of Jerusalem sent priests and Levites to ask him who he was. He did not fail to confess, but confessed freely, I am not the Christ. Verse 32, John 1, then John gave this testimony. I saw the Spirit come down from heaven as a dove and remain on him. I would not have known him except that the one who sent me to baptize with water told me, the man on whom you see the Spirit come down and remain, is he who will baptize with the Holy Spirit. I have seen and I testify that this is the Son of God. Now look at verse 40, chapter 1, verse 40. Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, was one of the two who heard what John had said and who had followed Jesus. The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother Simon and tell him we have found the Messiah that is the Christ. And he brought him to Jesus, Jesus looked at him and said, you are Simon's son of John, you will be called Seifas, which when translated is Peter. The next day Jesus decided to leave for Galilee, finding Philip, he said to him, follow me. Philip, like Andrew and Peter, was from the town of Bethesda. Philip found Nathaniel and told him, we have found the one Moses wrote about in the law, about whom the prophets also wrote Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of Joseph. Nazareth, can anything good come from there? Nathaniel asked, come and see, said Philip. When Jesus saw Nathaniel approaching, he said of him, here's a true Israelite in whom there is nothing false. How do you know me, Nathaniel asked? Jesus answered, I saw you while you were still under the fig tree before Philip called you. Then Nathaniel declared, rabbi, you are the son of God, you are the king of Israel. Hereins are reading, there's a response of thankfulness that's printed for us in our bulletin, the word of the Lord. Thanks indeed, let's pray. Today in the United States, if somebody says bowl game, we know what that's talking about. All right, bowl game, that's a football game, among college students that occurs in December or January, for teams that are at least mediocre now, because you know, big bucks, right? You used to be a fewer number of bowl games, but now you can sponsor it, and so there are lots of bowl games. So if you're six and five, you can be in a bowl game, something like that, you become bowl eligible. But we know what bowl game means, but if somebody 400 years from now found documents from us, and it's a bowl game, they might think what? It's a game with cereal bowls and ping pong balls or whatever, you know, bounce the ping pong ball and get it in the cereal bowl, and then you win, or something like that, a bowl game. Same spelling, B-O-W-L, but 400 years removed when football is no more, contrary to Peyton Manning's Hall fame speech. That was his big concern in this Hall fame speech that we continue playing football, even though it causes concussions. I love football, I hope we keep playing football. But things, means of words can get lost over the centuries. Something that was commonplace, something that everybody understood what it was without explanation. Add a few centuries, you'll own, add a different country, and it might not be understood. And so last week we looked at the word Christ, which is a Greek word, not an English word. We looked at the word Messiah, which is a Hebrew word, not an English word, and we talked about what those words mean. And like bowl game, those two words are grossly misunderstood today, because we've had, well, 20 centuries, and lo and behold, we're not living in Israel, or in Turkey, or in Italy, where the Bible was written. And so we've taken these terms bowl game, and we said, of course, I know what that means. That's when you set up cereal bowls in a circle, and some bowls count for 20 points, and some for 10. This is what I theorize. But we know today that such an understanding of bowl game, we're at to occur 400 years from now, let alone 2000 years from now, in Pakistan, would be a seriously false and inaccurate understanding of what we were talking about when we said bowl game in 2023, in the United States of America. So when we look at these terms, Christ and Messiah, if a first century Jewish Christian were here, and they heard 100 people in the United States defined Christ, they'd say wrong.
So last week we talked about the meaning of the word Christ and its Hebrew equivalent, Messiah, the entire gospel lesson, and so please listen to that if you haven't listened to it already. And for now, if you haven't listened to that, you're going to have to trust me. And you'll see what's going on here. But just in review, these four quick points from last week, John seeks to prove in his gospel that Jesus is the Christ. He states that specifically, and that's your introduction point A there, John seeks to prove specifically in his gospel that Jesus is the Christ. John 2031, he says, this is the reason knowing that three gospels have already been written. And I contend that one was in the mid 40s, that was the gospel Matthew, and then you got Luke in about 8060, and then you got Mark in about 8069. And John's writing this in 8090, most people contend, and I think that's a good contention there. So the three gospels were already in existence 21 years before John writes the gospel of John. So John explains why he wrote another one, why he, you know, redid the movie again 20 years later with new actors. But why he writes a new gospel, and he's writing to Jewish Christians to let them know that the Christ is Jesus. And that they didn't have to look for somebody else. The Christ they had been looking for was Jesus, and he says at the end of the gospel, these things, everything I've written is so that you would believe that. And so that you wouldn't look for another person as a fulfillment of the Christ, that you would be confident that the Christ is Jesus. So that's 2031. So be, thus it's important for us to understand that you're blank to understand John's and the Bible's definition of the Christ. It's important for us to understand. So we don't want John to, you know, to read and say, oh, that's great. You know, John wants us to understand the Christ is Jesus, and I understand Christ the mean of banana split. And Jesus is a banana split, right? John would be a gas at that. First century Jewish Christians would be a gas at that. First century Gentile Christians would be a gas at that because that's not what Christ means. Christ does not mean banana split. See, this is all from last week, we misdefined the word Christ. So we don't get the main point of John's gospel. We get other things. I mean, we're reading it. You know, the stories are true. And we see things Jesus said and read about things he did, but we don't get the point. Why they're there. So we misdefined and this is because we misdefined the word Christ. So we misdefined or so we don't get the main point of John's gospel. And indeed. So what does Christ mean? Well, first blank Messiah. That's the Hebrew word. Second blank and Christ, that's the Greek word. Both mean when you translate those words into English when you translate Messiah instead of just saying the Hebrew word. And when you translate Messiah into English, and when you translate Christ into English, they mean the anointed one. Did anyone catch what every single passage that Bob read this morning had in common? Every passage except that second Samuel seven passage had the word anointed. And that's why we were reading all of those passages. That's the point of reading all those passages. And everywhere it says that, it's got the word Messiah in there. That's the Hebrew word that's being used in all those passages there. And as Jesus is anointed, the Greek word is used because that's the language that the New Testament was written in Greek. And the Greek word that means anointed one is Christ. And so we simply state here, when Jesus is called the Christ, he's been called the anointed one. When Jesus is called a Messiah, he's been called the anointed one. So number one, everyone in Jesus' day, including Jesus who said Christ or Messiah, or have they been speaking English, when they were saying anointed one, they meant King. Who was the anointed one? What did that mean that somebody was anointed? What was the significance? They just, they weren't getting a thrill out of the fact that somebody had oil or water or the, or the, or the Holy Spirit put upon them. Oh, that's cool. I like when I see that. That's not why they were excited about an anointed one. They were excited because the person who got anointed by God's prophet was the King. That's why they were excited. And when Jesus talked about himself being the Christ, he was talking about himself being the King. So all these people understood this. Anyone in the first century reading the gospel of John, reading the gospel of Matthew, reading the gospel of Mark, reading the gospel of Luke, reading the book of Acts, when reading any of Paul's epistles, when they said Christ, they knew this meant the anointed one who is King over God's people. So a, there, there were lots of anointed Messiah, persons in the Old Testament, three types, that's your B, three types, or offices of people who were anointed in the Old Testament. People who received the verb Messiah, anointed or who were called as we talked about last week, 38 different times in the Old Testament, it calls somebody Messiah because that person was anointed and none of those 38 times where it's calling a person Messiah is talking about Jesus. You know, Jesus is the Messiah if you're going to speak Hebrew. He is the Christ if you're going to speak Greek because he was the one anointed as you saw with John in Matthew 3. So three types of offices or people were anointed in the Old Testament and were called Messiah's anointed once, 38 and all in the Old Testament. People were called the noun Messiah. And these people who were an all it meant it didn't mean they were son of God, it didn't mean they were the savior of sinners, it didn't mean they were divine meant none of that. It just meant they were anointed because that's what the word means. If you were a Messiah in the Old Testament and meant you were an anointed one. And we import wrongly, this is last week, sorry I'm digging a little bit into last week, we import wrongly into the word anointed one, into the word Christ, into the word Messiah, that it's son of God, eternally existing, coming to the earth to die in the cross for his people and that we should worship him. All those things are true of Jesus Christ communicates none of those things. The word Christ communicates none of those things. That's like reading the word banana and saying that means the son of God eternally existing who created all things who came to earth to die in a cross for your sins. It's just a misuse of the word Christ or Messiah. Again, 38 people in the Old Testament are called Messiah and it's not communicating those things about them and it's not communicating those things about Christ as true as those things are. Those things are true of Jesus. It's just no new Testament writer is saying that when they use the word Christ or use the word Messiah. Three types of people were Messiah anointed in the Old Testament. They were number one prophets. We saw this in 1st Kings 1916. Elijah is told to Messiah to anoint. Elijah to succeed him as prophet and that's the word used there. Messiah to prophets were anointed. Also anointed were priests and we see Moses is commanded to anoint Aaron and his sons as priests and again the word Messiah is there. So priests were anointed ones. They were anointed when they went into service. It's like when we ordain a person today we lay hands on the person. Back in the Old Testament they anointed the person with oil for that person to begin in his ministry as a priest or as a prophet. And then the third kind of person who was there we go that is three. The third kind of person that was anointed in the Old Testament the prominent anointing that we see here was with kings. And so 1st Samuel 151 Samuel says to Saul I anointed you. You were the Messiah Saul in 161. The Lord says I'm done with Saul. He's talking to Samuel. He says I'm done with Saul as king. I'm going to fill your horn with oil. I'm going to have you anoint Messiah someone else as king. Go to Bethlehem so it goes to Bethlehem and there's all this anointing to anoint finally David's scene and Saul anoints David to be king. And so kings and so you see those passages there Solomon then is anointed as king when Adonija and 1st Kings 1 announces that he's king contrary to God's choice. David knows well here's how I show who the choice the anointed king who succeeds me who fulfills the promises of 2nd Samuel 7 is. Well I'll have Solomon ride on my own you all my own donkey coming up from the kitchen valley on the east side of Jerusalem and he'll come up the hill and to the side of Jerusalem where the temple is you know ride into the city and he'll be anointed there by Zadok the priest. And so Solomon is anointed there before the people and it shows that Solomon is the anointed one the Messiah the king. So prophets priests and kings were anointed in the Old Testament see in Jesus day the Israelites had they had with them in their presence during Jesus day Jesus walked and talked they had anointed priests already right Jesus is always contending with the priests. They also had John the Baptist and he was a prophet so to so far two offices present when Jesus is there no one's looking for a prophet no one's looking for priests the God I'm already. These are anointed ones these Messiah people these Christ did people so to speak if we're going to speak in Hebrew or Greek. They had anointed priests John the Baptist a prophet was on the scene 2 and then D the type of anointed person they didn't have in Jesus day was okay look at your your one through three there process of elimination who didn't they have a king. Okay so the anointed type of person they had well they had priests that a prophet John the Baptist a very prominent prophet who was gathering tons of attention everybody knew about them the priests were going out there to ask who he was argue the Christ he says I'm not the Christ because they were asking about something different. So the type of anointed person they didn't have in Jesus day was a king so number two so the anointed one Christ a Messiah was a big deal in Jesus day and this wasn't anointed priest nor anointed prophets that were the big deal they had those the big deal the anointed one they were looking for was the king that was the missing piece of the puzzle. God said when he sent his people in the exile he said this before he sent them into exile in the Babylon and 600 BC he said you're going to go into exile but you're going to come back and I'm going to reestablish the priesthood I'll reestablish prophets and I'll reestablish a king in the line of David David will rain over you again and in fact he'll rain over all 12 tribes. Isaiah says this Isaiah says this Ezekiel says this I think a backup says this as well a son of David will rain over all God's people after the exile and so the people come back from exile in 538 BC and guess what they have the temple they have the priests Zechariah and Haggai are there as prophets promoting the construction of the temple and the mallet high comes later so they've got priests and they've got prophets but no king ever takes over. And so the restoration from exile has not happened the last time they had a king was depending on how you count it 598 BC or 586 BC and since then there was no king. So when Jesus is on the scene and he's entering into his ministry it's been 600 years since the people have had a son of David anointed one king over them. So the anticipation was immense God had promises on the table that were not yet fulfilled promises he had made before the exile that a son of David will rule over all my people And so people are not asking well when are we going to have anointed priests they had those when they returned from exile when are we going to have anointed prophets they had those when they returned from exile but they hadn't had an anointed and anointed king. So that's your A there because they hadn't had a king for 600 years since second kings 25 when God's people go off into Babylon 600 years they were without a king. So B the Jews in Jesus they were thus looking they were looking for the Christ the Messiah meaning the anointed king. We saw this this morning in John 120 John 125 John 141 we can see it in 328 425 429 726 727 731 741 to 42 both of those verses John 922 1024 1127.
That's the question and John they come to John the Baptist and say are you the anointed one and he says and he's clear about it I am not I am not the anointed one I'm a prophet but I'm not the anointed king that you seek. So everybody understood this when they read the gospel John everybody understood this when they were there in the presence of John when the the priests representatives were there asking him this question because they've been waiting for a king for 600 years they got it but we don't get that because we're not in that tension today of not having a king and having a king promised to us so they were searching for a king. They didn't have the understanding when they asked are you the Christ they weren't saying are you they didn't ask John are you the divine son of God come from heaven to die in a cross first ends and be our savior what they meant when they said are you the Christ are you the Messiah was are you the king and they were thinking in their heads the son of David who would sit on the throne in Jerusalem and rule our nation again and kick out the Romans any surprise why Jesus winds up on a cross. He's not there to sit on a throne in Jerusalem below and kick out the Romans and in fact in his last week as he shows kindness to Greeks and Romans he infuriates the Jews who say he must not be the Messiah he must not be the Christ because he's not worried he's not trying to kick out the Jews or sorry trying to kick out the Romans. He's being kind to them he's healing their sons he's healing their servants without him going to their house he's speaking the word and so they rejected him. They were looking for a king a human king who would sit in Jerusalem and rain over them so that they didn't have to be an occupied land anymore and pay taxes to another government who is off in another country in Italy in Rome. 741 other said he is the Christ still other said how can the Christ come from Galilee you see this why are they asking that question how can the Christ come from Galilee where did they expect the Christ to come from Bethlehem why did they expect the Christ to come from Bethlehem because you had to be a son of David and David was from Bethlehem. That had to be your genealogy you had to come from Bethlehem to be the king and so when people ask is he the Christ is he the king some people say he can't be he's from Nazareth that's in the land of Zebulin or naftily I can never tell which but up north they don't know he was born in Bethlehem and so that's the point of confusion and people say if he is from Nazareth. If he is a Zebulinite then he can't be the Christ because the king has to be a son of David has to be a Bethlehemite not just by where you were born but actually your genealogy this is why Matthew 1 and 2 are so significant Jesus because of his genealogy in the womb has to go to Bethlehem to be born because he's a son of David. So others said he is the Christ so others said how can the Christ come from Galilee does not the scripture say that the Christ will come from David's family and from Bethlehem the town where David lived that's quoting that's quoting John 741. So you see when people are engaged during Jesus' day on talking about whether Jesus is or not the Christ they're talking about the king. They're talking about the one descended from David who will rule over us as king and that's what we mean when we say Christ listen again. Others said he is the Christ still others asked how can the Christ come from Galilee does not the scripture say that the Christ will come from David's family and from Bethlehem the town where David lived. They were talking about the king and just insert the word king in there for in there for Christ and it makes sense. So what's going on 2nd Samuel 7 Bob read 2nd Samuel 7 for us the anointed king would always have his family roots in Bethlehem because God promised David that David would have an everlasting kingdom. The kingdom would never be taken from David as it had been taken from Saul. And so in 2nd Samuel 7 we call the Davidic covenant the covenant God makes with David the kingship will always reside in your sons. And that's why people are asking well if he's not from Bethlehem if he's not a son of David he can't be our king therefore he can't be the Christ he's not the anointed one. But we also see this understanding of the people in Jesus' day and other gospel books. Now please turn here with me so you're in John now just turn back a page probably in your Bible I don't know to the end of Luke. Luke 23 verse 2 I'll give you 4 seconds only because it's just the page. Luke 23 verse 2 this is the Pharisees that the Jewish leadership. They're accusing Jesus before Pilate. Look at the words they say. They began to accuse him, accuse Jesus saying we have found, they're talking to Pilate, we have found this man Jesus. So verding our nation he opposes payment of taxes to Caesar that's a lie. And claims to be Christ, comma, what? Say it. I can't. Okay now I know I'm an English major and you may not have liked English this is called an opositive. An opositive is where you say the same thing twice using different words. You say John, comma, the postman, comma, stops by our house between two and two 10 p.m. every day. John, comma, the postman. That's an opositive. You rename using commas. And that's what they've done. He claims to be Christ. And Pilate, we know you know Greek, we're talking to you in Greek. We know you know unknowing to what means. We know you know Christ means anointed one. But because you're a Gentile, you may not understand that for us to say the unknowing to one means to say the King. And so we're going to explain it to you. So you get mad because Caesar's the King and this man's claiming to be King. And that's treason so you should put them across. So let's look at that verse again, right? We have found this man subverting our nation. He opposes payment of taxes to Caesar and claims to be Christ. Which means if you say it like we're saying it as Jews, a King. This whole discussion of whether Jesus Christ, it's a discussion of whether Jesus is King. And Jesus owns it that he is the Christ. He owns that he is the King. So Pilate knows Greek. He knows that Christ means anointed one, but he doesn't know for sure that Christ means for them, King. So they explain it to them, to him. Now look back a little bit further, Mark 1531. So you don't have to, you know, you don't have to have an understanding of Greek or Hebrew or even a great understanding, the Old Testament to know that Christ means the King. You can just look at the gospels and they define what Christ is. So Mark 1531, Mark chapter 15 verse 31. This is Jesus is on the cross now. In the same way, the chief Mark 1531. In the same way, the chief priests and teachers of the law mocked him, mocked Jesus as he's up there on the cross. They're at the base of the cross. They're mocking Jesus. They mocked him among themselves. He saved others, they said, but he can't save himself. Now if you're the mocking, here's a sarcasm. Let this Christ, another positive, this King of Israel. See, they've just defined this, this Christ, this King of Israel. Now, something about Mark, Mark the gospel is written in Rome to Romans. It's written to Gentiles. And so Mark is making sure that the Gentiles he's writing to is writing this gospel. Understand also that when Jesus is being mocked for being the Christ, he's being mocked for being the King. What's being said here by the Jewish leadership is, oh, you think you're a King? Or shouldn't the King be on a throne and you're on a cross? Tell me about it, King. Yeah, I'll think I'll bow down to you as you're there on the cross, huh? See the mocking, the mocking is because Jesus is claimed to be a King, which means the Christ, which means the King, and he's on a cross. That's why it's mocking. So, Christ means King. It's the question that's being answered. It's defined for us clearly in Luke 23 and Mark 15. If you know Hebrew and Greek, which now you do, you know, that means anointed one. If you understand the three offices and the Old Testament that were anointed, prophet, priest, and King, that they already had a prophet, they already had priests, they needed a King. And so we use some logic and say, so what did a Jew mean when he said, could this be the Christ? He was not asking, could this be the priest? When he said, could this be the Christ and when they went to John the Baptist and said, are you the Christ? They were not asking, are you a prophet? See, so the question, could this be the Christ? The question, could this be the Christ? Was the question, could this be the anointed one? Dash, that is the King from the line of David. That's what we don't understand as 21st century United States Christians. That's what everybody understood in the first century. The question, could this be the Christ? Was the question, is this finally, at long last, after 600 years, the son of David, the God has chosen to rule over us as a people, so that we're no longer oppressed. Next thing to see in this line of understanding, so here are your blanks, I know I give you a bunch there and see, the question, could this be the Christ? Was the question, could this be the anointed one? The King from the line of David. Okay, they knew the King came from David 2nd Samuel 7. Next thing to understand in this line of understanding, number three. Jesus baptism, Jesus baptism was his anointing as King. How was the King anointed in the Old Testament? Often by a prophet. We see it with Samuel, Samuel's a prophet, and he goes and he anoints Saul for Samuel 151, and then he goes for Samuel 16 and he anoints David as King. We also see, and we saw in 1 Kings 19, when Elijah's told to anoint, he's told to anoint one, first anoint this King, and then anoint this, Elijah as a prophet as well. But Jesus baptism was his anointing as King. A, here's a common view, because that's confusing. Why does Jesus get baptized? Because John's baptism was a baptism of repentance. And so that's confusing because first Peter 2.22 says that Jesus was without sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth. So here's our statement here in A, Jesus baptism was not Jesus confessing. His baptism was not his confessing his sins and turning to God in repentance. That's ridiculousness. It's not his vicariously repenting of our sins for us. B, instead it was his anointing as King by God's prophet, John. God anointed his Kings through prophets often for Samuel 161, 151. We see these various passages here. So we looked at Matthew 3 verses 16 and 17. If you read about Samuel the prophet and then read the front of Luke, that gives the background to John the Baptist and talks about Zechariah, John the Baptist's father and his mother Elizabeth. And they couldn't have kids. And John the Baptist is miraculously born in Elizabeth's old age. So I can't speak until John the Baptist is born. And there's this prophecy about what John will be that he will anoint the King. That's what Zechariah understands. And that's what Mary understands in these two songs that we have going on in Luke. The parallels are John the Baptist is the new Samuel. He's the new prophet whose mission, his reason for being is to anoint the King. Look back in those songs in Luke chapter 1. There are about John the Baptist will anoint the King. Just like Samuel was born, read Hannah's song in 1 Samuel 1 and 2. She indicates that her son will anoint Kings. And he does Samuel. He anoints Saul and then he anoints Jesus. And so if you know the Old Testament, if you know Samuel, John the Baptist is coming to anoint the King. But in case you don't know, you can read Luke 1 and 2. And you see that that's exactly what's going on. And so John the Baptist anoints Jesus. And what this is, it's a king anointing. It's not a baptism for repentance. John the Baptist is confused at first and says, I should be baptized by you because I'm the one with sin. One who needs greater repentance and needs to be washed clean of his sins. And Jesus says, but do this John to fulfill all righteousness. Now what's righteousness? Being faithful to the covenant. What covenant are we talking about? The Davidic covenant. Jesus do this John. I need a prophet to anoint me as King before I start my ministry. Before I start my ministry as King, and Jesus was also a prophet and a priest, but before he starts his ministry as the anointed one, as the Messiah, as the Christ, this King, he says, John do this for me to fulfill all righteousness because a King needs to be anointed. He needs to be publicly anointed as King for all the people to see. Now beyond this, it gets doubled and doubled and doubled. What happens here is that then Jesus is anointed, right? And what happens to Jesus? That John sees and testifies that. The Spirit of God comes down upon Jesus. So it's not just an anointing with a substance, water, or oil. It's an anointing with the Holy Spirit, which David tells us, you know, that happened to Saul and to him as well. That they were anointed as King, but that God's Spirit dwelled upon them.
This is why David says when he sins with that Sheba, take not your Holy Spirit from me, because he had been anointed with the Holy Spirit to serve as King. So Jesus is anointed as King, like his father David, with the Holy Spirit. John is shown this by a dove because the Holy Spirit is invisible, but he's shown this by a dove. And then if you don't get it then, God speaks from heaven, God the Father, and says, this is my son with whom I am well pleased. I'm going to have you do this. Turn back to 2 Samuel 7 verse 13. So she sees this, she sees biblical thing, and understand this biblical thing that's going on. So if you don't get that Jesus' baptism is an anointing as King, you can pick up on it from what God promises to David in the what we call the Davidic covenant. The covenant God gives with his kings. Okay, so 2 Samuel 7. Now David wants to build a temple for the Lord, and the Lord tells David, no, not you, it's going to be your son. But beyond this, he promises to David in this covenant that the kingdom, the kingship will always be yours and in your house and among your sons. And so, look at verse 12. When your days are over, David, and you rest with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring to succeed you. This is not talking about Jesus in first place, who's talking about Solomon. Yeah, when David's days are over, God will raise up someone from David to succeed him, which is Solomon, who will come from your own body, and I will establish his kingdom. He is the one who will build a house for my name, who builds the temple. Solomon, get it, this is talking about Solomon. He'll be the house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. This is why people say, well, Jesus is from Nazareth, and he can't be king. Because of this promise, they knew the Davidic covenant that the king had to come from David, and that was a forever kingdom that God was not revoking. And then, and I will establish his throne, the throne of his kingdom forever. Now, verse 14, get this. Look there. I will be his father, and he shall be my son, who's God talking about. Solomon. In the ancient world, the king of a nation was considered to be the son of that nation's God. Now, we know all gods are false, but the one true God. But God says, this is true in my kingdom, that David, that Solomon, that David's sons, are my special sons. Doesn't mean they're divine, but they're my special sons. God is spoken of in the Psalms as the father of all Israel. So there's this sense that the children of Israel, the children of God, but yet David and his sons are the special son of God. Okay, so here's the promise. Beyond this David, beyond the ordinary me being a father to Israel, I will be his father, and he will be my son. And so what's God the father say when Jesus is baptized? This is my son. Do you get it, John? This is the king. And you're Samuel, and you're anointing the king. Anointing him not just with this water that you put upon him, but my Holy Spirit is coming upon him to undo him, to anoint him, to announce that he is king over my people, son of David. You know, Jesus and John were cousins, right? So John knew Jesus lineage. He knew Jesus was the son of David. You know, it's just like, you know, Matthew's spoken to when he found out Mary's pregnant, you know, the language of the angels, like Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, or what is in her is from the Holy Spirit. And so when in Matthew three in the parallels, Jesus is baptized, and God says, this is my son, he's quoting. God the father is quoting what he said to Nathan the prophet when he spoke to David and then David a covenant. He's assuring John, he's telling the people, this is the anointed one, i.e. the king, the Christ, the Messiah, and you've just witnessed his anointing. No less than the people in Solomon's day witnessed Solomon in the center of Jerusalem get anointed by Zedic, the priest. No less than David's brothers saw him and David's father Jesse saw him anointed by Solomon as king over Israel. This is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. So Jesus baptism was his anointing as king. Number four, number four. Thus after Jesus anointed as king, if you still didn't get it, let's just layer it on, folks, of what Christ and what Messiah means. If you still didn't get it, that Christ means anointed one, and that for anyone in the first century saying anointed one that it meant king, if you didn't get that, then you can look to the baptism and say, what's John the Baptist doing? He's anointed in the new king, anointed him with the Spirit. And God confirms that, speaks from heaven, says, this is my son. Now, Jesus, you know, just side point here, he's son of God like David in his humanity, but he's also eternal son of God, divine son of God, eternally existing. So he's both. He's both small S son of God and capital S son of God, all in one, and this is what Daniel 7, 14 talks about, which we'll get into later, that the king of Israel would eventually be also the son of God, divine son of God, and not just a human person that God adopted as his son, like he did Solomon and Solomon's descendants. Okay, so layered on top of this, so number four, thus after Jesus anointing as king at his baptism, guess what he goes out and preaches? He preaches that the kingdom of God was named. Get it? I've just been anointed king. So now folks, guess what? Here's the good news. The kingdom of God is at hand. You've been waiting 600 years. It's been far off. It has not been at hand, right? At hand is like, wow, that's close. But it's been far away. And now he says, the kingdom of God is at hand. I've been anointed as king. And in three and a half years, I'll be sitting on my throne next to God, the father, raining over all my people, all over the world as king. The kingdom of God is at hand, Jesus says. So that's what Jesus preaches. The kingdom of God was near. If you're filling out blanks, taking notes, please circle the word king that you just wrote there. Now circle kingdom that you just wrote there. After Jesus is anointed as king, he goes out and proclaims that the kingdom of God is at hand. And that people should repent and believe here's your blank. Believe this as the good news, which we know as an English translation of the gospel. What's the gospel according to Jesus? It's the kingdom. The gospel is that you have, I think I have it down here. Well, the gospel, I'll just say it. The good news is that Jesus is your king. Not Rahabalm, Solomon's son, kind of a loser. Not Manasseh, serious loser, son of David. God exiled himself personally with a ring put in his nose, led off in chains with this ring, that's in his nose, that's Manasseh's son of David, carried off in exile. But the good news is Jesus is your king. Here are the good news. The kingdom of God is at hand. So A here. And that's the Matthew 417 and Mark 115. After Jesus gets baptized, he goes for 40 days in the wilderness, and then he goes out and the first thing he says is the kingdom of God is at hand. Here are the good news. Believe the good news. The kingdom of God is at hand. So A, the kingdom of God was now near, because he, the king, had just been anointed or Messiah or Christ, if you want to speak Greek or Hebrew there. A or A1. Note Jesus' message is definition of the good news was not you can get your sins forgiven, nor I'm here to be your savior. These things are true. If you believe in Jesus, your sins will be forgiven. If you believe in Jesus, he will save you from what your sins have earned, from what your sins deserve. But this is not how Jesus presents the gospel. If you bend the church a while, you know this, and this is just the record we play over and over again. Jesus does not present the gospel as believe in me and your sins will be forgiven. It's never on his lips that way. Never zero times for gospels. Zero times just Jesus presents the gospel as believe in me and your sins will be forgiven. Now does Jesus forgive people? Yeah. Does he say your sins are forgiven? Take up your mat and walk. Yeah. But when he chooses words and he's kind of purposeful and accurate, Jesus is. Right? Kind of isn't sloppy with his theology. Here's the good news. The kingdom of God is at hand. Now, just background in this. If you have a good king, the temple's up and running. An Old Testament Israel. If you have a good king, the temple's up and running and sacrifices are being made and your sins are forgiven. So it's good news if you have a good king. If you have a bad king like Manasseh and you put idols in the temple and no sacrifices are being made, you're not getting your sins forgiven. That's bad news. But the good news is when you have a good king, a king like David. In fact, with Jesus, a king better than David, the standard of all kings after him. So Jesus' message, though your sins are forgiven, though you have a savior in Jesus, those are subcategories of king. The main category is king. So the Old Testament is dominated by this and the New Testament is dominated by this. Jesus presents the kingdom of God and the apostles present. The kingdom of God 120 times is the good news. They present Jesus as savior like, I think 32 times. In the whole, in the whole, all the gospels, 32, 32 versus 120. 120 times the kingdom of God, 32 times savior. So as you've heard before, we've got this flipped at 21st century Christians. We say, oh, we received Jesus as your savior and we say nothing about him as king, because we don't understand the main category as king. If you have a good king, the king saves you. He saves you from Philistines. He saves you from Moabites. He saves you from Babylonians. He saves you from Assyrian. You are safe. If you have a good king, because the king saves you. The king says, the liest, I don't care if he's nine feet tall. The Lord is with me and he's defying the armies of the living God. Let me add him. That's good news. The David arrives on the scene because he saves you. You are going to be slaves to the Philistines because you are trembling in your boots. That's who we are. We're trembling in our boots. But Jesus comes and as our king, he saves us, anointed in the chapter before, chapter 16, and in chapter 17 of 1 Samuel, he comes to the very next chapter he comes and he saves the people. Savior is a subcategory of kings. So it's okay to rejoice in Jesus as your savior, but just realize that's one of many things he does for you. Number two. Jesus wasn't there as the primarily, as the sin forgiver the Savior. He was there primarily as king, which includes those things. And that, that's your blank, that was the good news he announced and what he called the good news. Look, read all four gospels. See when Jesus says, believe the good news, he's talking about the kingdom right there. Believe the good news. That's what Jesus calls the good news. He's not being sloppy. That is the good news that you have a good king. B. So after 600 years, God's people now again had an anointed king. After 600 years, God's people now again had an anointed king among them to lead them, protect them, and give them blessed lives. Finally, do you think that was good news to them? To hear that they finally had a king? Because a king meant to them protection. Bless life. Temple up and running since forgiven. So see, this is what we need to. A king anointed by God to lead us, protect us, and give us blessing from God, both in our lives now, and after death. Jesus protects us in our lives as king, and he protects us from death. Just like the king in Old Testament days, protected the people of God in Israel, from death, from invaders, and in their lives that they would have abundance. Now, D, this that Jesus is the anointed king, Christ Messiah, is therefore good news. It's good news in life. Paul tells us in Ephesians 122 that God the Father has set Jesus on his throne at his right hand above all rule, power and authority for the church. Jesus is above the rule, authority, the dominion of Satan and his demons for the church. That's good news in your life. Your king, Jesus, not only sees all that's going on, but he sovereignly directs these things and he protects you in life. He doesn't let something happen to you that is not for your good. Therefore, we're at Romans 828. All things that happen happen if we've worked together for the good because for whom? For those who've been called according to his purpose. For his people. Jesus right now, and since the ascension, has been sitting at the right hand of God above all rule, power and authority, above all satanic and demonic things to protect you, his church, so that all things are working together for your good in your life. That's good news. You know, we talk about some people say, you know, who are non-Christians. Oh, it'll get better. They don't know. It could get worse. It'll all work out. They don't know. They have no assurance of that. I watched a series on Apple TV called Mr. Korman. It's Jason Gordon-Levitt. And he is an avowed atheist in the show. And one of the big themes in the show is what is life like if you think everything is by chance or by your own fault because there's no benevolent being above you making all things work out for your good. And so it's kind of a depressing show. If you're a person prone to depression, don't watch it. A lot of people write in the IMDB. They say, I couldn't get through it. But there is this benevolent dictator above us, Jesus, who's making sure all things work out for us. That's good news for our lives now. That means when I get a cancer diagnosis and it's pancreatic or something that, you know, you've got three months left to live, you know, one of those tough cancer diagnoses. That means, okay, I get to see Jesus faster. Now, that doesn't mean everything's joyful with that. I mean, those are very tough things. But it's absolutely God's goodness for you. And then, so that Jesus is anointed, King, Christ the Messiah is there for good news in your life and in your death, in your death. John 5.24, Jesus says, I tell you the truth. Whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned. He has crossed over from death into life. So Jesus being your king, if you believe the Father who said, this is my son with whom I'm well pleased. If you believe my Father, Jesus said, who said, I am the king. I feel like a sign fell on the ways. I am the king. If you believe this, you will not be condemned. You have eternal life. You will not be condemned. You have crossed over from death to life. Or as Jesus says in John 11.25, I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live even though he dies. So your king, when you die, makes you live on. So it's good news to have this, this king, summary. John writes his gospel book to prove that Jesus is the Christ. John writes his gospel book to prove that Jesus is the Christ. The Messiah and the Christ, as your blankster, the Messiah and the Christ, Messiah being the Hebrew word, Christ being the Greek word, both mean the anointed one. So as we talked about last week, if they had the English translators from the earliest days, just translated these words, it would have said anointed one there instead of us reading this Greek word as Christ. But they both mean the anointed one and refer to Jesus being the anointed king. The anointed king for God's people. The good news of the kingdom is that we have Jesus for our king. That's the good news. You know, Jesus, he's not just saving you from your sins. That's great. He's living and ruling and reigning over all principalities and forces in this world that would do you harm as king he's watching over you. As David said on that pinnacle in Jerusalem and watched over the kingdom, and when he got a report that some foreign army had invaded, David was there with his army protecting you. And Jesus is even better than that. He knows the army is coming before he gets word from somebody and he protects you in your life. So the good news is that Jesus is your king. It's good news because he as king leads protects and blesses us in life and when you die in death. It's good news because Jesus as king leads protects and blesses us in life and in death. Let's pray.