Today we're going to do the Davidic Covenant. This is the last of cycle two. Now in cycle three what we're going to do is we're going to go over all three of those categories. We're going to start the first couple of weeks looking at Moses, looking at the law, looking at the first five books of Moses and doing an overview of them, okay? And toward the end I will use this handout to go over with you what I'd like you to do in preparation for the classes, okay? But for right now just hold on to this. We'll go back to to that handout. Today, as we conclude Cycle 2, Cycle 2 has been of the topic of covenant and covenants. The overarching covenant of grace that is made up of these covenants, these supplemental covenants, covenants that build on one another covenants that expand on one another, covenants that move us closer to the coming of the Lord Jesus. So remember, the covenants are to reveal more about God. while remaining true to the promises already made, but revealing more about God, maybe more clearly about God's promises to his people, and preparing the way for the Messiah to come. So in that sense, the covenants are all eschatological. They're pointing, they're moving, they're progressing as a story would through chapters to a conclusion. And when you see the Bible as these subsequent, successive, supplemental covenants, you see the storyline better, and then you understand that the New Testament is nothing less than the final act. It's the beginning of the consummation, right? It's the end of the story, the great climatic ending of this wonderful story of God. So let's review a few things, because it's been a few weeks, right? I hope you had a good break. Happy New Year. It's been a couple of weeks, so let's review a few things. In Cycle 1, we learned the overview that begins with creation and that ends with consummation or new creation. And what was it we want to remember about Cycle 1? Everyone help me out here. We remember creation, and then fall, and then, and then, Okay, so cycle one was about looking at that big picture, big story overview that emphasizes the unity of God's story, but shows it to us in creation and with the goal of new creation. And in the middle there, real sin against God, a fall, a rebellion of man, and then the redemption of man by God's grace. Okay? We'll review that. We were remembering the one covenant of grace and then the subsequent or successive supplemental covenants that begin with creation. All right. We begin with Adam. We'll just use starting with Adam. And then we would have what covenant follows Adam, the covenant with Noah. And then what covenant? Abraham. And then what covenant? Moses. And then what covenant? David. And then what covenant? Christ fulfilled in the new covenant. Right. With the coming of Jesus Christ. So we see that, again, it's one story. But these covenants make up on speaking of story, it makes up like chapters of the book that we can remember. So we've looked together in cycle two at the chapters of creation. We've looked at the chapters of Adam briefly and Noah. We've looked more specifically at the chapters with Abraham and then Moses. And today we're going to look, we're going to move from Moses to David to Christ. All right. Let's begin by reading Acts 13. Turn in your Bibles to Acts chapter 13. We're going to read 26 to 39. And the reason I want to start with this chapter is I want us to see how in this sermon that Paul is preaching, how his interpretation includes how Christ fulfills the promise to Abraham, the covenant to Abraham, the covenant with Moses, and the covenant with David, okay? So the reason why we're looking at Acts 13 here is to show you that under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, the Apostle Paul sees Old Testament history, particularly as it's revealed through the covenant with Abraham, Moses and David as being fulfilled in Jesus Christ. All right. And before we read this, remind me of the three very simple aspects or parts of the promise that God makes to Abraham and Abraham's covenant, because these three parts or these three promises or three aspects of the promise to Abraham are continued on. to the coming of Christ and even to the new creation. What are those three things? A seed, a land or a place of dwelling, and a blessing to all nations. All right, very simply. We could say more, but that's in its simplest form. I think that we want to remember is you're remembering that God is promising a seed, all right? He's promising a land or a place where he will dwell with his people, all right? And he's promising a blessing, that this will be a blessing to all the nations, okay? To all the world somehow. And we see that coming in Christ. So let's look then at Acts 13, and then we'll talk about it for a moment as a beginning place for the Davidic covenant. Why don't we pray? Our Father, our God, thank you so much for your covenantal love for us. Your steadfast love endures forever. Lord, we thank you that you have covenanted with your beloved Son and your Holy Spirit before the foundation of the world to decree this great salvation plan. And in the fullness of the time, we thank you that the Lord Jesus came to accomplish this salvation in our own humanity, in the incarnation, in his death and resurrection and ascension. We thank you. Lord Jesus Christ, that you have sent forth your Holy Spirit into our hearts so that we have hope, that we have a renewed heart, so that we have the grace and the power that you possess on high in order to fulfill the covenant privileges that you've given to us. We thank you that You have condescended to set your affection on sinners like us, and we are grateful. Lord, may you bless us with all hope and peace as we believe today, as we trust in you, as we do this study. Help your servant as he decreases so Christ may increase as that climax, as the great subject matter and character of the scriptures, as the great shepherd of the sheep through the blood of the eternal covenant. May he be glorified and may your church be built up and edified. Help us, O Lord, to understand these things, we pray. In Jesus' name, Amen. All right, so reading this passage from Acts 13, again, what we're looking at is Paul's interpretation of Old Testament history, and specifically the covenants made with Abraham, Moses, and David, and how they are fulfilled in Christ. And that's the overview for today's class that we want to really focus on. Acts 13, Paul's preaching, he says, sons of the family of Abraham and those among you who fear God. To us has been sent this message of salvation for those who live in Jerusalem and their rulers, because they did not recognize him nor understand the utterances of the prophets, which are read every Sabbath, fulfilled them by condemning him. And though they found in him no guilt worthy of death, they asked Pilate to have him executed. And when they had carried out all that was written of him, they took him down from the tree and laid him in a tomb. But God raised him from the dead, and for many days he appeared to those who had come up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who are now his witnesses to the people. And we bring you the good news that what God promised to the fathers, this he has fulfilled to us, their children, by raising Jesus. As also it is written in the second Psalm, you are my son, today I have begotten you. And as for the fact that he raised him from the dead, no more to return to corruption, he has spoken in this way, I will give you the holy and sure blessings of David. Therefore, he says also in another psalm, you will not let your holy one see corruption. For David, after he had served the purpose of God in his own generation, fell asleep and was laid with his fathers and saw corruption. But he whom God raised up did not see corruption. Let it be known to you, therefore, brothers, that through this man forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you, and by him everyone who believes is freed from everything from which you could not be free by the law of Moses. You see, all three aspects of those three successive supplemental covenants that God made, beginning with Abraham, to Moses, to David, to Christ, that it's in Christ's person, in his death and resurrection, that all of those promises are fulfilled. And you see the importance now of how to take together those what seem to be three different covenants, three different ways of God dealing with man, and seeing that they're just three aspects of one important revelation of the Lord Jesus. Notice even in the beginning in verse 26, Paul is addressing everyone as sons of the family of Abraham and those who fear God, and those who fear God were those Gentiles who had believed in the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And so he's saying to all of you believers, Abraham is your father, you know, whether Jew or Gentile, he's addressing them as believers, as children of Abraham by faith. And then he goes on to say that though they had read the prophets, again, emphasizing the part, the second part of the Hebrew canon, though they had read the prophets and had that read every Sabbath, There was a veil over their eyes. They could not believe. They couldn't understand. In actuality, they were used by God as instruments to fulfill his decree of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ for sinners. Unbelievable, mysterious in God's good Ways and it tells us then that God raised him from the dead But he arose from the dead and he was a witness and verse 32 He says we bring you the good news that what God promised to the fathers now This is what's so important beloved. The gospel has always been the same gospel and That gospel that we're talking about in as three parts as seed, a land or a dwelling and a blessing to the nations is the gospel in summary, because it was always pointing forward to Jesus Christ, whether in the time of the old covenant, in a time of promise or in the new covenant, in the time of fulfillment. It was all about the Lord Jesus. It was always one way of salvation. It's very clear here, isn't it? All right. And so the covenants help us to see how how vast, how broad, how varied is God's grace in the way that he's preached the gospel. It also emphasizes that God has always been faithful to preach the gospel to every generation. And so we're told in verse 33 that all the promises made are fulfilled by raising Jesus, and in fact, it's a fulfillment of the second Psalm. Now, what's significant about the second Psalm, someone? Beloved? Anyone? What's significant about the second Psalm? It was written by David. And what does it specifically say in verse six? Let's look at it. Someone read verse six through eight. Verses six through eight. Very good. You hear that? So this psalm is being fulfilled, Paul is saying, so that this particular psalm about a decree that God has set his king on Zion's holy hill. He set his king at his right hand on his throne. That the Lord said to me, more importantly, you are my son. Today I've begotten you. Ask of me, I'll make the nations your heritage and the ends of the earth. your possession. You see, we can see all three elements of the promise made to Abraham. Where is the promise of the seed, beloved, in just these three verses? The promise of the seed, the seed of the woman, the seed of Abraham. Yes, sir. Rick. That's OK, too, but yes, sir, I was trying to find it in verses six through eight, but that's OK. Yeah, of Psalm 2, verses 6 through 8 there. You are my son. Excellent. You are my son. All right. And where's the land or the dwelling? Yes, Zion, my holy hill. And where is the blessing to the nations? Yes. Yes, yes. See, that's what's so beautiful when the New Testament opens up and we have these pagan Gentiles from the East who are making this long trek to come and bow down and honor on behalf of kings, or perhaps they were kings, but they were regal representatives at least, who came to honor Christ, that the nations and the kings of the nations are already bowing before the Lord Jesus, even as a babe in Bethlehem, because of the power of the Holy Spirit. because of the power of God's word and spirit to open the eyes so that even through promise, one can see Christ as the old covenant saints were called to. Even through a babe, someone can see through word and spirit. And even through an adult, even through a crucifixion, one can see with God's eyes through spirit and word, the Messiah. And so we have all three of these, very important. And then look at the end of what verses 38 and 39 say, that here we're connected with really what we call maybe the problem of the Mosaic covenant, right? Although the Mosaic covenant, remember what we talked about, is part of the covenant of grace. And it was all about grace, right? The law itself showed sinners what? What is the law's purpose? One of its very important purposes in being revealed. What was the law revealing about God? Who He is, God's righteousness, His righteous demands. And yet from believing perspective, it is freedom. It's freedom to live as we were created to live, you see? But as sinners, we don't see that. We're slaves. But God says, I'm going to make you sons. By my grace, I'm going to take you from slaves to make you sons, and they're going to teach you how to live. But sinners don't initially see that without sovereign grace. And what does sinner see? They see something that makes them feel more deeply their slavery, their depravity. Because to love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength in your neighbor as yourself, that's a problem. We love we too much. I love me too much. Only sovereign grace can free you from such a curse. And we weren't meant to live that way. We weren't created to live that way. So sin's a deep problem. So when we are given it in 10 bold commandments that summarize the righteousness of God and his demands for everyone, Everyone will be judged according to the law of Moses. Everyone, because the law of Moses, remember, is written where? In every man's heart. Romans 2. So. What David's son does particularly, what Christ does. His first 38 and 39, listen, let it be known to you, therefore, brothers, that through this man, forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you. And by him, everyone who believes is freed. Freedom, liberty, freedom from which you could not be freed by the law of Moses. Remember Romans 8, 3 and 4, read it later, it's very helpful. Remember what it says. For what the law was powerless to do, it wasn't that the law was bad. But what it couldn't do, it couldn't change hearts, it couldn't change men. What the lawless powerless do, God did. In the sinning of his son, in the likeness of sinful flesh in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit. Isn't that wonderful? That's good news. So as believers, we never want to say that the law hinders us, there's a burden. The law of God is never a burden. His commandments are not burdensome to believers. His commandments are the ways, the way to life, the way to more freedom. They're not the way to salvation. Only Christ, only God through His sovereign grace saves and redeems us. But He redeems us to live freely for Him as it's written in the law. That's why a believer can go back and sing and say and confess with David in Psalm 119, oh, how I love your law. Oh, how for a season I know what it was to live in disobedience to the law. And I saw the consequences of that. I saw how it ruined me on the inside. It ruined my relationships. It was that disobedience that taught me how important it is to follow your law, Lord. Keep my eyes from looking at worthless things and help me to look at your law and help me to see a light to my path and a lamp to my feet. Oh, Lord. Oh, how I love your law. It makes me wiser than my teachers. It makes me wider, wiser than the eldest of men, the most experienced of men, the most knowledgeable men, because it's your righteousness. Oh, God, you see, that's the freedom. And so when we look at acts, what we want to see, beloved, that acts 13 very important passage, isn't it? Have you read that passage recently? Did I put that on your this week? OK, well, maybe you did. Isn't it fascinating how you see these three elements? You see Abraham, right? Because the address is to those who are believers like Abraham. You see Moses, what the law of Moses couldn't do, even though it was the most righteous revelation of God's character and will. And we see David. OK, so this helps us to see this Moses to David to Christ particularly, because then we see that all of those elements are leading up to Jesus Christ, Jesus Christ. And the way that we can remember this just from this passage is something like this. Because we're doing Davidic covenant, we'll call that will remind us that here this is pointing to David's greater son, the Lord Jesus, right? What might the Moses aspect be pointing us to with regard to defining Jesus Christ? How would Jesus fulfill the part that's revealed in Moses? How might we write that down? Okay, yup, yup, okay. The son of righteousness, okay, good. Anything else? The one he says in the Sermon on the Mount Jesus the Lord says that I didn't come to abolish the law and the prophets But I came to fulfill them, right? So Jesus is the fulfillment Fulfillment of the law, right So many other ways that we could say that but and then Abraham what would we say about about Jesus with regard to Abraham and He's the seed of Abraham ultimately. And this is, he's a seed of the woman and particularly the seed of Abraham or the offspring of Abraham. And this verse, I'll read it again just to remind us, okay? I think one place where we can see in the New Testament that's crystal clear about the unity of the entire scriptures or the entire story is Galatians 3.16. Go there for a moment. We've read this before, but it's worth, I'm looking at again, I think. All right, so Galatians 3.16. Paul is talking in the context of righteous living, living by faith, that the righteous shall live by faith. And that the true sons of Abraham are believers in Christ. Listen to chapter 3, verse 16, beloved. Now the promises were made to Abraham and his offspring or seed. You see that? And listen, let's say the rest of it together, especially if you have an ESV. You ready? It does not say, and to seeds or offsprings, referring to many, but referring to one, and to your offspring, who is? It's very simple, isn't it? So the promise made to Abraham was ultimately a promise made to Christ. and through Christ to us. Look at verse 26 and following. In verse 26, in Christ Jesus, you're all sons of God through faith and being sons of God, we are sons of Abraham, children of Abraham. Verse 27, for as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ, there's neither Jew nor Greek, there's neither slave nor free, there's no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. So the unity that is in that promise that God makes to Abraham, the unity of Abraham's seed and Christ, also includes a diversity. And that is those who believe, whether Jew or Gentile, who are united to Jesus Christ by faith. And so we're told that we're all one in Christ Jesus, verse 29. And if you are Christ's, you ready? Then you, are Abraham's offspring or seed, heirs according to the promise. Isn't that wonderful? Have you ever seen anything so clear that emphasizes the uniqueness of the Lord Jesus, and at the same time, the unity of Jesus and believers? It makes you think, doesn't it? When the Apostle Paul, when he's on the road to Damascus and the Lord Jesus appears to him and he says to Saul at that point, he says, why do you persecute me? Because Jesus sees a unity between himself and believers. If you remember in Jesus's high priestly prayer in John 17, he talks about I and the father are one, but his prayer is for us to realize our unity in him. That his inheritance is our inheritance. His spirit is our spirit. His inheritance of the world is our inheritance. That's beautiful. Well, these things I think we've looked at before several times. They're always good to review. But let's look more now distinctly at the Davidic covenant promises. I gave you a handout, and I hope you have that before you. It's the one that starts on the second side. It's on the back side of your handout. It just starts with three promises to Abraham. Do you see that? The three promises to Abraham, Moses, Israel, David, and Christ. Do you have that? All right. Everybody have that before them? I'd like to just walk you through this and see how, what we're looking at here is how these covenants are still part of one greater covenant of grace, okay? So how the covenants made with Abraham, Moses, and David are part of a greater covenant of grace, okay? How the covenants expand and supplement the ones before them. So for instance, Once God makes a promise to Abraham for seed, land-dwelling, and a blessing to the nations, he doesn't take it away when he presents the Mosaic Covenant. He supplements it. He says something more about it. He reveals more of himself and more of his promise. When he gets to David, he doesn't say, well, everything I said to Abraham and Moses shall be forgotten. No, he then supplements it. He says something more. He expands, OK? Never supplanting, but always supplementing, OK? All right, so let's look at how we can do this. So if you look at the first category on the column to the left, you see Abraham. Another Abraham, we've talked about this, that Abraham was promised a seed, a people, a family, all right? Abraham then was promised a land, a place, a kingdom, and then Abraham was promised a blessing to all, to be a blessing to all, that God's righteous rule through his king, all right? And in Moses, we learn this, that as far as the seed was, what did God reveal to Moses based on the If you were at the last class, you remember some more, perhaps. But how did the seed take more shape? How did God give us more understanding about the seed promise that was made to Abraham in the Mosaic covenant? Setting Israel apart, good. So it was going to be through the people of Israel, through a holy nation, God was going to set apart Israel, the holy nation, or the priesthood of believers to be the means through which the people through whom he would bring his promises. And then under Moses, with regard to land or dwelling, what was the promise, the expanded promise that we learned about? The promised land. Yeah, the land of Canaan. Good. And then through Moses, the blessing to all, it would be that God would rule over his redeemed people through his righteous law. So in other words, Israel was to be this picturesque, typological kingdom of God on earth for the whole world to see how wonderful it is to live as sons of God through faith and living righteous lives so that the world would be drawn and attracted to it. So that was to be the blessing. And were some people drawn to Israel through the righteous lives of believing Israel? Yeah. In Matthew's genealogy, who are some of the people who joined Israel that are mentioned formally even in Jesus' genealogy? Can you think of two? Rahab and Ruth. Good. It's not going to be as much as will be with the coming of Christ and the day of Pentecost. That's going to be an explosive kind of revival. to the nations. So, if Israel was, beloved, in the Old Covenant, supposed to be like a magnet, a draw to the nations, once Jesus rises from the dead and is seated at God's throne and pours out His Spirit, it is a mission to the nations. So, in the Old Covenant, you could summarize it as Israel was a magnet, example, priesthood to the nations that would, by God's grace, bring the nations in. But in the fullness of the time, at Pentecost particularly, The mission was to God to go through the nations. That's why when Jesus is has resurrected and ascended, he says, all authority in heaven and earth has been given to me. Go and make disciples out of all the nations. You know, go now out and make nations, make disciples. But it was always the point I'm saying here is it was always in seed form in Israel being set apart. The purpose of Israel was at that in that sense, evangelistic to some degree. But here's where you have to hold it together. They were also, and this we'll have to look at when we get there, they were also used as instruments of judgment. But that's really no different than preaching the gospel, is it? Because if you preach the gospel today of salvation and people reject it, what happens? The judgment of God is falling on them. So it's very similar in that way. It's just different. So now looking at David, and this is what we want to focus on today, particularly in the Davidic covenant, is that the seed now is revealed as who? Who is the seed now more particularly? So the seed was, in general, the seed of the woman, the seed of Abraham, and then Moses, it is a people, all right? With David, it is now whom? A son. So you see, it's gone from collective Israel to one. There's a narrowing process that we want to note in Progressive Revelation. That's why I emphasize the eschatological sense of reading the Bible, is that there's a progress going on in the storyline you don't want to miss. It's why you want to stop, and in every passage you're in, you want to look back to what's gone on before, retrospectively. You want to look around to where you are in the passage, circumspectively, and you want to look forward prospectively to how it's fulfilled in the big picture. OK, always do that in interpretation and you'll find all kinds of goodies to talk about, all kinds of things to think about our great God. So. The collective Israel becomes one person. Has that ever been a question for you when you get to the prophets and Isaiah is speaking of Israel as God's son and collectively they're talking about, you know, he will talk about how God's son is is crushed for the iniquities of the people. You know, even modern Jews, Orthodox Jews today will interpret that as that's Israel's burden to be crushed for their iniquities. They'll see that that's their burden. But what Isaiah is doing is very beautifully and very distinctly under the inspiration of the Spirit. He's saying that there is a sense in which Israel is collectively the seed of Abraham. No doubt about that. But then he talks about one that the virgin shall conceive from Israel. The woman will give birth who is a virgin. That he's he from Israel. He, the son, wonderful counselor, the mighty God. That one, he will have the anointing of the Spirit above measure. You see? And so there's that tension that we have to wait on the coming of Christ to be relieved. And what it does is that tension between collective and distinct one, singular, is union with Christ. It's that all of the believers are united to Jesus Christ by faith. the true seed of the woman, seed of Abraham, one greater than Moses, David's greater son. And then with the land, beloved, how is that expanded upon? What do we find about David that's special? There's two very important things, and if you're in our congregation, we're about to get there in the David series, and it is so exciting when we're coming up. We have some hard times to still go through with David for three or four more sermons, but then we're gonna get to this big, big, big event in the Old Testament. I mean, it's big. The biggest thing that's happened so far in redemptive history, really, what happens? David's son, what happens? Yeah, there are two things at least that we want to remember. First of all, that David establishes the city of God on earth, Zion. He establishes the city of God on earth and he brings the ark, which is the throne of God. So the throne of God on earth now sits in Jerusalem. That's what David will accomplish. And two, his son will build the temple. His son will build the dwelling place where God will dwell with men. All right? And so that land will be Zion, and it will be characterized as an eternal kingdom, particularly after the exile with the prophets. But the promise to David in his covenant, it's that one of his sons will sit eternally on his throne, right? And then finally, the blessing to all, what will that be? Well, there's something spoken of with David over and over in his kingship, in his service as king, and that is that he gives the people rest from their enemies. He brings shalom. He brings well-being, peace. So the king and submission to the king, so the king rules over all according to God's law. The king rules over all according to God's law given through Moses. And as the king rules according to righteousness, according to God's law given through Moses, so by faith he gives rest to all those who believe. He brings refuge to them. And that will be a blessing to the whole world. Now, let's go to the last part of the fulfillment with Christ. With seed, it's David's greater son that we've looked at. With the land, we're taught that it doesn't just symbolize, it doesn't just point to us in a piece of real estate in the Middle East, but that that land points to a heavenly city, right? That Zion on earth points to heavenly Zion, all right? So in the Old Testament, in Psalm 37, the psalm says, Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the land. When Jesus comes, he expands on what that means in the Sermon on the Mount. He says what? Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Hebrews 11 verses 8 through 16 talks of Abraham's hope was not in a city or a temple just merely made with hands in the Middle East, in Canaan, in the promised land, but his hope was in a heavenly kingdom whose architect and builder was God. You remember those scriptures? Okay? So the land becomes this wonderful, glorious cosmos, the whole cosmos. The whole new heavens and new earth. Isn't that wonderful? So that's what brings us back from creation to new creation or consummation. And then finally, the blessing to all. How would we see the blessing to all in Christ the King? We've already mentioned it briefly. How is that? It starts on what important day? Pentecost. I should say it doesn't necessarily start because it's always been open to all sinners to come and find submission to Israel's king. Right. Right. True. But what happens is it is pronounced and it's particularly advanced forward. All of those that mission that Israel had, it's advanced forward with the coming of Christ spirit on the day of Pentecost. And what is what happens on Pentecost? Yes, sir. Yes. Amen. And what do we find in the book of Revelation? At the end of the story, we find that every tribe and tongue and people and nation are calling out to Christ the King, King of kings and Lord of lords, David's greater son. It's beautiful. So he comes to us in worship, or we come to him in worship. no matter what our background is. Let me write a few things for us to remember then here with seed as a summary. We've looked at it, but let's just do it as a summary. The seed, if we haven't If we haven't made this clear, let's do so now. The seed is that under the Davidic covenant promises, the seed ultimately means that the promises are made to David's son, who is also God's son. Very important. This is where we begin to see the revelation of God is to one, son of David, who will also have the very attributes of God, who will be God himself in the flesh, who, while the promises have been fulfilled through the covenant so far to women who were barren and God brought life, this woman that David's greater son and God's son will come will not be a barren woman, but a virgin. To exaggerate, to, if you will, magnify the power and might of God, that no man could have performed this deed. That he's no man's mere son. He's God's son. Conceived by the Holy Spirit of the Virgin Mary. Powerful. But also the land dwelling, we want to remember that the promise is that God will build a house through his son. So it's God's, so I'm sorry, let's do this. It's David's house or dynasty. David's dynasty. David's dynasty or house. which is also whose house and dynasty? God's. God's dynasty and house. So the further revelation here is what? That through David, it'll be his son, it'll also be God's son. David's house will endure, but this will be God's house. That's the wild, the most wondrous ending of all, is that the house is going to be a place where God dwells in the new heavens and earth with his people without sin, without suffering and death. But in order to accomplish that, God's house and dwelling will be in our humanity again. I thought he's taken a tabernacle, housed among us. See, John's on to that. And so John, by the inspiration of the Spirit, tells us that David's dynasty and house. And then the blessing to all is David's rule where he gives peace, shalom. Right. All right. Now. All right. So there's three things I want you to remember about the covenant promises, these are All right, so there's three things I want you to remember. You ready? Son, house, and throne. Young people, get in your head that this son, and this is just a smiley face, it's not trying to be a picture of Jesus, but it's to help us to remember. It's a son, it's a man, it's a person. Son, and then you can do a house. You see the same hairdo, but it's a house now. And they should have asked me when they were making Chinese alphabet. And then thrown, of course, you can do something like that, OK? And then maybe it looks like a goalpost, but it's not. All right. It's thrown, OK? All right. Now, I want us to turn, in the last few moments we have, I want us to turn to three scriptures, OK, to end us with the Davidic covenant. And I want us to plug in all that we've done today, to the best of our degree. decree to the best of our ability. Davidic covenant memory that I'd have you do is remember these symbols, sun, house, and throne, because those are the three elements in your mind that can capture your imagination when you're reading that middle part of the Bible with the story of David. The decree is made in Psalm 2. Remember, I've decreed that my king will sit on Zion's hill, right? So there's a decree. And that happened when? When does a decree of God occur? Speaking in human terms, trapped within time, how would we say it? Before the foundation of the world, right? From eternity past, although that's just humanly kind of trying to finitely grasp at the idea, but Psalm 2. The Davidic kingdom is promised in 2 Samuel, particularly 7, and then Psalm 89. Psalm 89 is a marvelous psalm for seeing God's steadfast love and particularly the three elements of his son, his house, and his throne that we'll look at in just a moment. And then the fulfillment of the Davidic covenant you always want to remember is Matthew 1, with the genealogy, particularly. Actually, we'll just put Matthew 1, but particularly with the genealogy and Romans 1, 3 through 4. We've read the decree, Psalm 2, but let me emphasize a couple of things. In a decree we are saying that it was an agreement, a covenant that was actually made before the foundation of the world between the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. That's why in Hebrews 13 you hear of this thing called the eternal covenant. All right, so there's this eternal covenant, and this covenant that's made before the foundation of the world. That's why Paul will say, like in Ephesians 1, 3, right? That we were chosen in him, when? Before the foundation of the world, okay? Jesus Christ will pray to the Father upon completion of his earthly ministry. He will say, these are the ones you've given me out of the world. They were already promised to him when he came into the world. Is that wonderful? You were promised to Jesus Christ before the foundation of the world. He came to secure that relationship with you. Unbelievable. To the promise. I'm going to look today at Psalm 89 in just a few verses. So if you have Psalm 89, let's open it up. So we see 2 Samuel 7. And when we get to that part of our study. when we're doing the prophets and the former prophets particularly, I will draw out another thing that sometimes can be a bit of a stumbling block for folks to understand how that 2 Samuel 7 is talking about Solomon, but it's then also talking about Jesus. All right, so let's just hold off on that. We don't wanna say too much today. So let's just say that when we're referring that, we're talking about that it's a fulfillment in Solomon initially, but not ultimately. OK. It's a prophecy about Solomon initially, but not ultimately. OK. And so let's look at Psalm 89 together. A few verses there. I just want to point out to you. OK. This is a psalm. That begins in verse one. Praise or exaltation of God for his steadfast love for his covenantal love Okay, covenantal love and loyalty and says I will sing of the steadfast love of the Lord forever with my mouth I'll make known your faithfulness to all generations For I said steadfast love will be built up forever in the heavens. You will establish your faithfulness You have said you ready. I have made a covenant with my chosen one. I have sworn to David my servant. I So there we see that David is particularly a chosen one of God, but is he the chosen one? No. Ultimately, it's made with David's greater son, but it is made with David. Verse 4, I will establish your offspring forever and build your throne for all generations. So there we have the son and we have the throne particularly, okay? Now, look over at, if you will, verse 19 now of Psalm 89. In Psalm 89, verse 19, it says, of old, you spoke in a vision to your godly one. You said, I've granted help to one who is mighty. I have exalted one chosen among my people. Did we talk about that today? that there's one chosen among the people. You see that singular in the collective, okay? So the one from Israel who's particularly chosen. And I have exalted one chosen from the people. Verse 20, who is that? I have found David my servant. With my holy oil I have anointed him so that my hand shall be established with him. My arm also shall strengthen him. The enemy shall not outwit him. The wicked shall not humble him. I will crush his foes before him and strike down those who hate him." That's the rest from the enemies. That's the victory. That's the conqueror. My faithfulness and my steadfast love shall be with him, and in my name shall his horn or his strength be exalted. I will set his hand on the sea and his right hand on the rivers. He shall cry to me, you are my father, my God, and the rock of my salvation." God has revealed himself as father, but never so clearly as this, that God's son will call God father in a very special way as a chosen one, that he'll be unique in that way. So God's fatherly love is further shown in David's covenant. Verse 27, I'll make him the firstborn, the highest of the kings of the earth. My steadfast love I'll keep for him forever and my covenant will stand firm for him. I will establish his seed or offspring forever and his throne as the days of the heavens. Beautiful, huh? Eternal throne. It'll never end. His house, his dynasty, his rule, his name, his seed. And then at the end, look at verses 49 or verse 49, I should say. Because of the exile, beloved, many ask. What happened to the promise made to David? Because even the psalmist asked in the exile, he says, Lord, where is your steadfast love of old, which by your faithfulness you swore to David, because in their experience, beloved, they're not experiencing at that time in exile. In Babylonian captivity or even afterwards. under foreign powers, they're not experiencing these promises of grace that were made to David. And so their question is, until the coming of Christ, is this the time you'll set up, you'll return the... That was on the apostles' mind, remember, on the day of Pentecost, as they were awaiting Jesus? Is this the time you're going to restore the kingdom to Israel? And so those are the promises. But look at the... The genealogy tells us that he is, he has. So Matthew's gospel opens us, which we'll do, Lord willing, next year. Matthew's gospel opens with a genealogy that tells us, Israel, at this time, I'm going to show you that my promises to David, to his son, to his house, to his throne will be fulfilled. in Jesus Christ. And so it begins the book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David. And we're taught very particularly, verse 17, all the generations from Abraham to David were 14 generations from David to the deportation to Babylon, 14 generations, and from the deportation to Babylon to the Christ, 14 generations. And that emphasis is that Jesus Christ is that greater son. Jesus Christ is the one who will realize the promises of God's dynasty or house. And Jesus Christ is the one who will take the throne, not in earthly Zion, but the throne at God's right hand at the heavenly Zion. That's why at the end of the Bible, beloved, you see an earth where the king and his throne now will rule over heaven and earth and the cosmos. It's amazing. Romans 1, 3 and 4, and then we'll close. Romans 1, 3 and 4 is another fulfillment, beloved, that we want to remember. Romans 1, did I say 1? Romans 1, 3 and 4? Romans opens this great gospel letter about the righteousness of God opens with these words. In Romans 1, 3, concerning his son, you ready? God declared to be the son of God in power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ, our Lord. So there you have the son, the son of David, the son of God. You have the house, his very body, the dwelling place of God in his humanity. You have the resurrected one. seated at God's right hand in glorious power by the Holy Spirit. And you have Him seated particularly on a throne. But one day, He's the one who will judge the living and the dead. And God has appointed the living and the dead. And every person who's ever lived, from Adam to the last person, but for His own, whom He died for, who came to Him in heaven, where I will rule and reign over you forever. enemies of suffering, enemies of persecution. And all of these promises are yes and amen in Christ. Whatever you want, that God has promised to Christ is your right. So that ends cycle two of covenants, covenant and covenants. It gets us from Moses to David to Christ. And Lord willing, next year we'll begin looking at the law, the prophets and the writings more in initially Solomon, ultimately Jesus Christ. Yes, ma'am. In 2 Samuel 7, it's first Solomon, but then, so that's, I want to put an emphasis, it's initially Solomon, it's ultimately about Jesus. And what we have with Solomon is, there's this, this is why I didn't want to get into it today. There's a part of 2 Samuel 7, 14, where it says, when this son commits iniquity, I'll discipline him. All right. And so the initial of that is Solomon and his son and Israel will break apart into division and then into exile. And that will be on the initial fulfillment will be Israel will suffer exile or death, a kind of death. Right. But ultimately, that points to Jesus Christ, who was crushed for our iniquities, not for his own sins, but for ours. But I didn't want to say all that today because I don't want to try to give too much. There's so many wonderful things in there. No, but that's a good question. I just say keep those two things in mind. There tends to always be with the prophets an initial fulfillment and an ultimate fulfillment. Always think of that. When we get to the prophets, I was going to say that as part of our interpretive key, is always remember there tends to be an initial You know, fulfillment, like even the Virgin shall conceive has a initial fulfillment in Isaiah's time, right? But the ultimate fulfillment is the Virgin Mary. Does that help? So when you do that, sometimes it, well, that's enough to save today, right? So take this handout, and this is what we're going to close with, OK? What we're going to close with today is this is what I'd like you to do in your journals from now on. So if I could get you just two more minutes, and we'll dismiss, all right? But this handout is to give you an idea of what I want in your journals before you come to each class. Now, from now on, beloved, in cycle three, you won't hear from me every week about what to prepare for. What I'd like you to do is just know that if we're doing Moses for the next few weeks, just read as much as you can in Moses, all right? And when we're doing the prophets, read as much as you can in the prophets. But what I'd like you to do for the rest of the time, if you haven't already started on this, I want you to do this to the best of your ability, is this is either a note card or a journal page, okay? And what you want to do is you want to put up the biblical book there, Genesis. Then you want to give the part of the three, one of the parts of the three parts of the Hebrew canon, Torah, Moses, all right? And then just remind yourself that that's law, all right? Then do a simple outline, just a simple outline. Like Genesis could be very simply chapters 1 through 11 and chapters 12 through 50. That's a very simple outline of Genesis. That will do. That's a wonderful way to remember Genesis, okay? The main theme, try to do it in one to two sentences. So you're thinking Genesis. It might be something alliteration. I like alliteration. So, you know, it might be something like creation, culture, call, and covenant. And then, you know, put those together. That might be the theme of Genesis. I've been trying to do this myself, and I work with alliteration sometimes, so that's why it helps me. But it might be something like that. creation, culture, call, and covenant. And then three things at least. Now, you remember in the beginning of the class I gave you a more detailed list, right? You can use the more detailed list. I'm happy if you do. I want you to learn as much as you have the ability and time to do, okay? All right? But the three things I'd like you to always ask of Scripture that I think will be beneficial to you, that I want to teach you, are at least these three things. Number one, how is God self-revealed? How is the self-revelation of the Triune God revealed in this passage? or in this book, okay? So how is the triune God revealed? In Genesis, that's easy, right? He'd be revealed as who? Creator, covenant Lord. Something like that, right? And that helps you to really worship Him and pray to Him. I want you to remember that these are for meditation purposes, for memorization, for worship, okay? Then FCF, very helpful, a fallen condition focus. How does it address our sins? You might say in Genesis, man, we're desperately wicked. Man is continually wicked in every motivation of his heart, according to Genesis six. That's a fallen condition focus that's being addressed in us. Abraham's called out of darkness into the light. That's who we all are in our fallenness. Does that make sense? So that's what you're looking at when you're talking about falling condition focus. And then finally, application and two parts to this. How do I better know and love God? How can I better know and love God? And how can I faithfully live? OK. Yep, good. Do you have any questions? Justin, you good? You have any questions? Good. All right. Anybody? Yep. Everybody, raise your hand. Any questions? We good? All right. So cycles one and two, look at that. We've made quite a completion. Look at that. We have made progress. Unbelievable. Now, the hard thing to do now is to try to keep moving while looking at all these wonderful, deep, biblical books, all right? And stay to some level, have a depth, but at the same time, keep moving or we're never gonna make it. All right, so pray for us. All right, who wants to pray for us and close us and give thanks to God for the Davidic covenant?