Kingdom Roots

The Message to Mary Reading for context: Luke 1:26-38 When the angel came to Mary to announce the birth of Jesus, there was a notable omission: no mention of his death on the cross, that is, no words about the most noteworthy act of Jesus during his first coming to Earth, his sacrifice for the sins of mankind. Instead, the angel focused on something that would come later, the return of Jesus as King. The angel said Mary would give birth to a great King, who would revive the throne of King David. He would unite the house of Jacob into one kingdom again, and this kingdom would last forever. Meditate for a moment as you read the heart of the angel’s message to Mary: Luke 1:31-33 ESV [31] And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. [32] He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, [33] and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end. So, what are we to make of this message to Mary? Why would the angel leave out Jesus’s role as the Savior from sins and, instead, focus on his role as King of the Earth? The kingdom part must have been very important. Yes, important indeed, maybe even more important than we realize at first glance. If we step back and look at the whole body of scripture, we can see the theme of the kingdom of God woven throughout. The Old Testament Jews wrote prophecies about it. Jesus himself told parables about the kingdom. And New Testament Jews said the kingdom would come to Earth when Jesus returns. The kingdom they all discussed is the thread that unites the Old and New Testaments of the Bible. To these writers, the kingdom was, indeed, very important - they represented the return of Christ and his kingdom as the believer’s ultimate object of hope. Yet the cross was critical - there can be no kingdom without it. For Jesus, the cross was a waypoint on the road to establishing the kingdom, and his death on the cross clothed him with the power to be King of the Earth (Rev. 5:2-5, 9-10). And for humanity, the cross provided forgiveness of sins for all who would believe, a necessary step for entry into the kingdom that Jesus will establish. And without the cross, there can be no indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Herein we find the reason the angel made no mention of the cross in his announcement to Mary: he was looking beyond it, toward Jesus’s primary goal, toward the goal of the kingdom of God. It was a message meant for a first century Jew, one who believed the Christ would come to Earth as a King. According to the angel, Mary’s baby would sit on David’s throne, would reunite the tribes of Israel, and would form a kingdom that would never end. I challenge you to resolve how consequential the message to Mary should be to your faith. Question for reflection: What have you been taught about the kingdom of God? How does this teaching align with the angel’s message to Mary?   Daniel’s Kingdom on Earth Reading for Context: ‭Daniel 7:13-14, 7:27, 2:44, 9:25-26, 4:1-3‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬ There is one ancient figure who had much to say about Jesus as a future King - one who was personally connected to royalty and kingdom power - the prophet Daniel. Daniel came from Hebrew nobility, connected to the royal family in the kingdom of Judah. When he was still young, the Babylonians invaded Judah, and they took Daniel as a special captive, along with many other young Hebrew nobles and royals, choosing only the best of the best: the smartest, most skilled, and most handsome youths in all of Judah, only the ones worthy to work inside the palace of the King of Babylon. Daniel was the most exceptional captive of the bunch, proving his high character and using his skill in government so well that he obtained high office within the administration of three foreign kings. Just as Daniel witnessed earthly kingdoms in his profession, he also witnessed earthly kingdoms in his dreams. Look back to the angel’s message to Mary and compare it to this dream of Daniel: ‭Daniel 7:13-14 ESV‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬ [13] “I saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man, and he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him. [14] And to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed. Daniel’s theme about a kingdom ruled by a “one like a son of man” was strong and vivid, strikingly similar to the message Mary heard from the angel. Like we saw in the angel's message to Mary, Daniel said that God will give this King “dominion and glory and a kingdom.” He said that his kingdom will have “everlasting dominion” and will “not pass away” and “will not be destroyed.” Both the angel and Daniel prophesied about the same King. Daniel himself served many kings, foreign kings, and he knew how kingdom power worked. God gave him the ability to navigate the king’s court, and Daniel gave sound advice to many kings, even when the advice included bad news. Perhaps God chose Daniel to tell the world about the future kingship of Jesus because Daniel himself was familiar with kings and royalty. When Daniel saw visions of an eternal kingdom, with “one like a son of man” ruling the earth, he spoke of a real earthly kingdom, the one mentioned in the message to Mary, the one to be ruled by Jesus. For the Jews of Jesus’s day, the book of Daniel contained hope for a kingdom that would restore the former glory of Israel, a kingdom established by God and ruled by a great King. It was their expectation. They envisioned the Messiah coming to Earth, not as the Savior of sinners, but as a King of the Earth - as we shall see, Jesus is both. Question for Reflection: Do you believe Daniel wrote about an earthly King and kingdom? What do you think the Jews of Jesus's day believed?