03 Jesus: The Ideal Servant-King

by Krisan Marotta | Jan 20, 2021 | 01 Podcasts, Matthew

The third of three plenary addresses given by Dr. Erika Moore during the 2013 Women in the Word Workshop, October 2013. Dr. Erika Moore is a Professor of Old Testament and Academic Dean at Trinity School for Ministry. She is also one of my favorite teachers, especially when she teaches on the Old Testament.

I am grateful to link to a small portion of her work here on Wednesday in the Word.

The following are notes I took from her talk.

Kingship

God did not take His people out of bondage in Egypt to put them under bondage to the law.
The law reflects God’s holy character. As citizens of God’s kingdom, we ought to reflect our holy king. This is what citizenship in the kingdom of God looks like.
In the book of Joshua, the covenant King keeps His promises and gives His people the land of promise.
The book of Judges is about the failure of the Israelites to keep their part of the covenant. The promised land that was to reflect kingdom glory and be a light to the nations becomes corrupt. “Everyone does what’s right in their own eyes because there is no king.”
In the books of Samuel, the people want a king to be like the other nations, rather than having God as king.
See Deuteronomy 17:14-20.
The King is to keep the law when he takes the throne. He is not to be like other kings.
Israel’s first King, Saul, fails and God announces the kingship will continue through David.
The Tabernacle was appropriate while Israel was on the move. But now that they are settled in the land, God no longer needs a mobile home.
See 2 Samuel 7:3-16
When David brings the ark to Jerusalem, he is publicly demonstrating his desire to associate his kingship with God’s kingship (2 Samuel 6).
Kingship requires proximity. God desires to be with His people.

Merging of kingship in Israel with God’s kingship

Solomon “sat on the throne of the Lord as king” (1Chronicles 29:22-23).
Opposing the Davidic King is opposing the Lord (Psalm 2:1-12).
David’s reign was intended to be a shadow of the final form of kingship yet to be.
David’s failures are recorded. Solomon broke all the commands in Deuteronomy 17 about kingship.
The Kingdom moves with gathering momentum toward judgment of God.
The northern kingdom is sent into exile by the Assyrians. The southern kingdom is taken into exile by the Babylonians.
God chastens His people but still keeps his covenant.
As the nation crumbles, the prophets start talking about the promise of the kingdom as a future event when someone from the line of David sits on the throne.
In 539 BC, the Lord raises up the Persian King Cyrus to allow His people to return from Babylon.
Whether or not Israel remains faithful, God will remain faithful and raise up a Davidic king.
See Ezekiel 37:21-28.
Even if Israel repeats the sins of the past, God will keep his promises.

New Testament

NT begins with kingship (Matthew 1:1; Luke 1:30-33; John the Baptist’s message is repent for the kingdom of God is at hand; Mark 1:14-15).
The central focus of the gospel is the kingdom of God.
The kingdom is at hand because the king has come.
Jesus brings the kingdom, but it comes in stages. We accept by faith that the ultimate fulfillment of the kingdom is still in the future.
In Jesus’ lifetime, there was misunderstanding about what the kingdom would look like and how it would come (e.g. Matthew 3:7-12).
In Matthew 11:2-6, we see John the Baptist is confused. He asks, where is the judgment? Am I following the wrong one?
Jesus answers, the kingdom is coming, but it is coming in stages. Judgment will come but it has to fall on the king first before it falls at the second coming.
When Jesus refers to himself as the “Son of Man”, he is talking about his divinity, not his humanity (Daniel 7).
In Daniel 7:13-14, the Son of Man is given authority, glory & sovereign power.
Mark 2:10 – the Son of man authority to forgive sins.
Mark 2:28- The Son of Man is lord of the sabbath.
Mark 13:25 – all will see son of man coming in power.
Mark 14:62 – sitting at right hand of power.
But the son of man is also the suffering servant.
The kingdom comes through suffering, no politics.
Mark 9:12; Matthew 20:28

The kingdom today

In Acts 2:29-25, Peter declares that the throne of David transferred from Jerusalem to heaven itself where Jesus is seated at right hand of father.
“To be seated” is to be in a position of exaltation and power.
Hebrew 1:1-4 – Jesus is upholding all things by the word of his power by sustaining, guiding and moving it toward his purposes.
Matthew 28:18-20 – He is seated as King but his kingdom is not fully consummated yet.
We will live like our king in suffering & persecution, but it won’t be this way forever.
Revelation 19:11-16 – He will defeat the kingdoms in a final way, and the kingdoms of this world will become the kingdoms of our God.