The Sure Mercies of David Part II
a sequel to
the Christmas Lesson
Luke 1:23-38
January 5, 2025
Two weeks ago I used Isaiah 55:3-9 for much of the Christmas
lesson,
as somewhat of an
introduction to last week’s theme “The Sure Mercies of David”
I want to repeat v. 3 and the first part of
v. 4 of Isaiah 55, to start today.
3 Incline your ear, and come unto me: hear, and your soul shall live;
and I will make an everlasting covenant with
you, even the sure
mercies of David.
(Romans 10:17 - “....faith cometh by
hearing and
hearing by the word of God.”)
Read Romans 10:8-18
“If any man have ears
to hear, let him hear.......Take heed what ye hear”
(Mark 4:23-24a; Luke)
“Take heed therefore
how ye hear” (Luke 8:18)
4 Behold, I have given Him for a witness to
the people, a leader and
commander to the people.
God speaking to Moses had said, over 700
years prior to this in Isaiah:
“I will raise them up a prophet from among their brethren, like unto
thee,
and will put my words in His mouth, and He
shall speak unto them all that
I command Him. And it shall come
to pass, that whosoever will not hearken
unto my words which He shall speak in my name,
I will require it of him
(Deuteronomy 18:18-19)
Continuing to talk about Jesus Christ, the
Messiah, in
reference
to the “sure mercies of David” promised long ago by God.
Here are some other Bible passages
that relate to the "sure mercies of David":
a kingdom, and
that His mercy will not depart from Him.
12 And when
thy days be fulfilled, and thou shalt sleep with thy
fathers; I
will set up thy seed after thee, which shall proceed out
of thy
bowels, and I will establish His kingdom.
13 He shall
build an house for my name, and I will establish the throne
of His
kingdom for ever.
16 And thine house and thy kingdom shall be established for ever
before
thee: thy throne shall be established
for ever. (II Samuel 7:12-13, 16)
1 Now these be the
last words of David. David the son of Jesse said,
and the man who was raised up on high, the
anointed of the God of
Jacob,
and the sweet psalmist of Israel, said,
2 The Spirit of the LORD spake by me, and His word was in my
tongue.
3 The God of
ruleth over men must be just, ruling in the fear
of God.
4 And He shall be as the light of the
morning, when the sun riseth,
even a morning without clouds; as the
tender grass springing out of
the earth by clear shining after rain.
5 Although my house be not so with God; yet
He hath made with me
an everlasting covenant, ordered in all
things, and sure: for this is
all my salvation, and all my desire,
although He make it not to
grow. (II
Samuel 23:1-5)
_______________________________________________________________-
In Samuel 23:5, the Greek word translated as "sure" is "βεβαῖος" (bebaios),
which directly means "firm" or "certain" in English.
In Samuel 23:5, the Hebrew word translated as "sure" is "na'aman"
(נֶאֱמָן)
which literally means "faithful" or "reliable."
sure; secure, security, He kept it in Hebrew
θέλημα - thelaema - will/want/wish.
Haggai 2:7 - “And I will shake all nations, and the
desire of all nations shall
come: and I will fill
this house with glory, saith the Lord of Hosts."
חֶמְדַּ֣ת - to the desire ḥem-daṯ - covet - desire |
|
ἐκλεκτὰ - eklekta - chosen, selected,
Spurgeon Sermon 3442
The Desire of All Nations
And now observe
that these persons, according to another rendering of the
text, when
they come to build up the Church they always bring their desire
with them —
they bring with them the most desirable thing. The desirable
things of
all nations shall give the silver, and the gold, and so on. He that
comes to Christ brings
with him all he has, and he has not come to Christ
who has left his true
substance behind him. What, now, is the desire of all
the nations
when hearts are renewed? Well, silver and gold will always be
desirable,
and men who give their hearts to Christ will bring what they have
of that to
Christ. But the most desirable things of manhood are not metals
— dirt,
mere dross, hard materialisms — no, the
desirable things of
manhood are things of the soul, the heart, the
spirit; and into the temple,
the great second temple, there shall come, not
masses of gold and silver
merely, that can adorn with outward splendor,
but also love, and faith, and
holy virtue, more priceless than gems, far
richer in value than rarest mines.
Oh! what a
sight the
hear of
some of the first Spanish invaders going into the
and
seeing floors, roofs and walls made of slabs of gold, and standing
astonished. But oh! in the Church there are slabs of faith on the floor of
that great temple, and walls of love, of
Christian self-sacrifice, and roofs of
holy joy and Christian consolation. It is a
temple that makes spiritual eyes
flash with
gladness. What care they for the splendor of kings and princess.
But they
care much for the true, desirable things of nations — holy
emotions, holy desires,
ascriptions of gratitude, and devout acts of service
for the Lord God. Oh! how glorious is the second temple then, when
the
desirable men come to it, and bring with them all
the desirable things to
make it glorious in the sight of God.
And then
this temple, thus built and thus adorned, will continue. The text
implies that
“I will shake all nations.” The apostle says that this signifies the
things that
can be shaken; that the things that cannot be shaken will remain,
and that the desire of all nations
must be put down as a thing that cannot
be shaken. The
Church, then, shall never be shaken, and the precious things
that the
Church gives to her God shall not be shaken. Time will change
many things. Great
princes will be considered mere beggars by-and-by in
the esteem
of men who know how to judge by character. Great men will
shrivel
into very small things — when they come to be tried, even by
posterity.
And the judgment-day — ah! how will that try the great ones of
this earth?
But the Christian Church — the very gates of hell shall not
prevail
against her. Time shall not be able so much as to chip one of her
polished
stones. Her treasures of faith, and what not, the rich things that
God hath
given her — these things shall never be
stolen: they can never be
shaken. And then the crown of all is, “I will fill this house with
my glory,
saith the Lord.” This is the reason, the great charm of it all. God
Himself
dwells, as
He dwells nowhere else, in His glory. The Church, which we
think two,
and call militant and triumphant, is but one, after all, and GOD
DWELLETH IN IT!
Oh! if we had but eyes to see it, the glory of God on earth
is
not much
less than the glory of God in heaven, for the glory of a king in
peace is
one thing, but the glory of a conqueror in war is another thing,
though I
know which I prefer; yet if I transfer the figure, I have no
preference
between the glory of the God off peace in the midst of his
obedient
servants in his ivory palaces, and the glory of the Lord of Hosts in
the thick
of this heavenly war, as he conflicts with human evil, and brings
forth glory
to His saints out of all the mischief that Satan seeks to do to His
throne and,
to His scepter. God is known in the
in the
perfection of beauty, God hath shined.
God is in the midst of her: she shall
not be moved; and though the
kings gather together for her destruction, yet
His presence is the river, the
streams whereof make glad the city of
Yes,
glorious things may well be spoken of
as precious men, such gifts as precious graces,
such abiding character as
God gives,
and such
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, Counselor, The mighty
God, The everlasting
Father,
The Prince of Peace.
7 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.”
(Isaiah 9:6-7)
“The zeal of the Lord of Hosts will perform
this!” (Isaiah 9:6-7)
Inter-biblical
period - Church Age
Thus
Luke 1:26 - Here - the angel
Gabriel is sent to start
the process
that God planned from the
beginning of the world.
Revelation 14 is
tied in to my 24 lessons on The Danger of Being
Dissatisfied with One’s Lot in Life and the four so far on Non-inclusion
in
the
Revelation 7
Revelation 14:6 And I saw another angel
fly in the midst of heaven, having the
everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the
earth, and
to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people,
1 And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the
Him an
hundred forty and four thousand, having His Father’s name
written in their foreheads.
2 And I heard a voice from heaven, as the
voice of many waters, and
as the voice of a great thunder: and I
heard the voice of harpers
harping with their harps:
3 And they sung as it were a new song before
the throne, and before
the four beasts, and the elders: and no man
could learn that song
but the hundred and forty and four
thousand, which were redeemed
from the earth.
4 These are they which were not defiled with
women; for they are
virgins. These are they which follow the
Lamb whithersoever he
goeth. These were redeemed from among men, being
the firstfruits
unto God and to the Lamb.
5 And in their mouth was found no guile: for
they are without fault
before the throne of God.
6 And I saw another angel fly in the
midst of heaven, having the
everlasting
gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and
to every
nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people,
7 Saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and
give glory to Him; for the
hour of His judgment is come: and worship
Him that made heaven,
and earth, and the sea, and the fountains
of waters.
8 And there followed another angel, saying,
fallen, that great city, because she made
all nations drink of the
wine of the wrath of her fornication.
9 And the third angel followed them, saying
with a loud voice, If any
man worship the beast and his image, and
receive his mark in his
forehead, or in his hand,
10 The same shall drink of the wine of the
wrath of God, which is
poured out without mixture into the cup of
his indignation; and he
shall be tormented with fire and brimstone
in the presence of the
holy angels, and in the presence of the
Lamb:
11 And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and
they have
no rest day nor night, who
worship the beast and his
image,
and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name.
12 Here is the patience of the saints:
here are they that keep the
commandments
of God, and the faith of Jesus.
13 And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Write, Blessed are
the
dead which die in the Lord from henceforth:
Yea, saith the Spirit,
that they may rest from their labors, and their works do follow them.
See Rev. 13:8 mentions “....the Lamb slain from the
foundation of the world.”
The previous seven verses are
associated with the beast (anti-christ)
and the first part of this eighth
verse tells of those whose names are not
written in that Book of Life of
this Lamb, worship the anti-christ!
Gabriel
sent. Christ, the Sent of God! You/me are sent.
Whose side are you
on? ch. 11:23
Nazareth, a city of Galilee,
hidden in the hills. A rendez-
vous for the worst of people, a
proverbial place out of
which no good thing was expected. John 1:46
Gal. 4:4-5 - "....when
the fullness of time was come, God sent forth His Son,
made of a woman, made under the law, To redeem
them that were under
the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons." -
Rev. 3:14 - Christ, "the
Beginning of the creation of God"
A deeper interest should
gather around Jesus coming into
the world to save mankind from their sins, than that of
the beginning of the material universe.
Genesis gives to us the
account of the mysterious origin
of the material world - Luke gives us the account of the
mysterious origin of the new creation and the salvation
of man!
vs. 27-28 - Warning against worshipping Mary - the Lord
Jesus
is the one to be magnified - not Mary.
I would like to ask the women
folk, if you had lived in that
generation, would you have qualified to be the mother of
the Son of God?
Isaiah 7:14
We are living in a very evil
age - we count God's
commandment as nothing and commit fornication or adultery
as if eating a piece of bread or taking a sip of
water. Mary is
the original madonna (a title of
respect)- today you have a
cult star by the same name of which she is not
worthy. It is
alarming when more young people know more about Madonna
than democracy.
v. 29 - Receive what is written - being assured that the
same
power
of the Highest by which the crucified Jesus
was
raised from the tomb where He had lain for three
days,
was able to overshadow the virgin of Nazereth,
was
able to cause to be born of her "that holy thing"
which
was called the Son of God!
vs. 32-33 - "house of David" - a sure house - I
Sam. 2:35
Isaiah 9:6-7
"He shall be called the
Son of the Highest" -
A new king - an everlasting
Monarch!
"the throne of his father David"
Yet unfulfilled -
speaks of a restoration of
It has been 2000 years
since Gabriel spoke of a
kingdom that would have no end!
1948 -
This thing was not
done in a corner!
"This thing was not done in a
corner" is a phrase from the Bible, specifically
Acts 26:26, where the Apostle Paul
is telling King Agrippa that the Christian
message was not spread in secret
or hidden away, but was openly proclaimed
to many people; essentially
meaning it was not done in a secluded place,
but was widely known. (Google)
Today the Jews are looking in all
the wrong places -
It is Jesus, Jesus, Jesus and Him
Only!
The Jews have been
kept distinct even though
intermingled with the nations of
the world and today
are waiting His coming - “Who hath herd such a thing?
Shall the earth be made to bring forth in one
day? Or shall
a
nation be born at once? for as soon as
brought
forth her children.” (Isaiah 66:8)
v. 33 - the dignity and power
that Christ shall attain -
its duration - "forever" -
its extent - "no end"
9 “Wherefore God also hath highly exalted Him, and given Him a name
which is above every name:
10 That at the name of Jesus every knee
should bow, of things in
heaven, and things in earth, and things
under the earth;
11 And that every tongue should confess that
Jesus Christ is Lord, to
the
glory of God the Father.” (Philippians 2:9-11)
That
in the dispensation of the fulness of times He might
gather
together in one all things in Christ, both
which are in heaven, and
which
are on earth; even in him: (Ephesians 1:10)
11And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white
horse; and He that sat
upon him was called Faithful and True, and
in righteousness He
doth judge and make war.
12 His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on His
head were many
crowns; and He had a name written, that no
man knew, but He
Himself.
13 And He was clothed with a vesture dipped
in blood: and His name is
called The Word of God.
14 And the armies which were in heaven
followed Him upon white
horses, clothed in fine linen, white and
clean.
15 And out of his mouth goeth
a sharp sword, that with it He should
smite the nations: and He shall rule them
with a rod of iron: and He
treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath
of Almighty God.
16 And
He hath on His vesture and on His thigh a name written, KING
OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS (Revelation 19:11-16)
v. 35 - In Christ we have the humanity and the
Divinity
in
one, each perfect and complete. What ever can be
said
of man, it can be said of Christ (except sin),
what
can be said of God can be said of Him.
"I and my Father are
one"
Psalm
118:22-23 Matt.
21:42
"This is the Lord's
doing, it is marvelous in our eyes"
Reminds one of the opening
words of Genesis at the
dawn of creation - "The Spirit moved (brooded) over
the face of the deep".
The Word was conceived in the
womb of a woman,
not after the manner of men, but by the operation of
the Holy Ghost, whereby a virgin was, beyond the law
of nature, enabled to conceive, and that which was
conceived in her was originally and completely
sanctified!
Holiness is not a mere
attainment, obedience to the
moral law - it is a new supernatural being - "born of
the Spirit" - "not born of blood, nor of the will
of the
flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God"
v. 37 - "with God nothing shall be impossible"
v. 38 - No demands made on Mary - just her consent.
Notice the
attitude of Mary - "Behold the hand-maiden
of the Lord, be it unto me according to
thy word"
She accepts the sacrifice -
she submitted herself of her
own free will to what she felt was the will & wish of
God!
Her innocence was vindicated -
Matt. 1:20
GOD IS THE SOURCE OF MARY'S
JOY!
Surely in all the world's
creation, His might had never
been shown as it was now about to be manifest in her!
In the Incarnation, God was
sending real help to His
people. It was the crowning act of mercy, and the
fulfillment of the promises made to Abraham and his
seed. Mary thus began with God's holiness and
passed
in review His power, His mercy, and finally His
faithfulness. All these are illustrated eminently
in the Incarnation.
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