God’s Story Is Our Story: From Genesis To JesusSample

Reflecting on the last week: As Israel’s story unfolds, we get an increasingly clear picture of how God will undo the curse and restore creation. In 2 Samuel 7 we learn that God plans to work through the lineage of David to establish his kingdom on earth. He promises David a son who will have an everlasting kingdom on earth. This son, like all in David’s line, will be considered God’s anointed (“Messiah” in Hebrew) son. David realized that the eternal nature of this son’s reign would outreach anything he accomplished (Ps. 110), such that we might expect him to be more than a mere human. Readers of the Old Testament will recall God’s promises in Genesis to send a serpent-crusher through the family of Abraham and a lion-like king through the tribe of Judah (Gen. 3:15; 17:6; 49:10). So it is no surprise that Matthew begins part one of his three-part genealogy of Jesus with Abraham (Matt. 1:2), and begins part two with David (Matt 1:6b). Jesus is the long-awaited king, but his reign is different than that of worldly rulers. His crown was made of thorns. His throne was a cross. In Revelation, Jesus is announced as the “Lion of Judah,” but appears as “a lamb looking as if it was slain” (Rev. 5:5-6). Sacrifice lies at the heart of rule. But this does not mean he was a failure. His death disarmed sin and death, and his resurrection established an everlasting kingdom of life, love, justice and mercy. 

So what does all of this mean for us today? To answer that, we must ask what God’s covenant with David meant for Israel. It meant that Israel was faced with a perpetual question: would they give their trusting allegiance to the Davidic king or to someone else? Jesus’ disciples faced a different question: would they put their trusting allegiance in Jesus or the Roman Emperor? Today we ask something similar: what vies with Jesus for our allegiance and trust? Who will we trust not only with our religious sensibilities and moral values, but our whole lives? Our finances? Our vocational decisions? How we parent? How we date?