 Let's discuss the Messiah. Before we get into the subject, let's first talk a little bit about why this topic draws people's hearts, attracts people's attention. In the second chapter of Isaiah, the prophet tells us they shall beat their swords into plowshares, their spears into pruning hooks. Nations shall not lift sword against nation. They shall learn war no more. The prophet is speaking about a glorious age of peace, brotherhood, harmony at the end of time. And this message has a universal appeal. People look forward to. They yearn for a time when there's no conflict. There's no fighting. There's no war. There's only peace. And the prophets associate a person, a righteous king, with this glorious age at the end of time. For example, in Isaiah chapter 11, it speaks about a righteous king ruling in a time when the knowledge of God covers the earth like the waters cover the sea. This righteous king came to be known as the Messiah. So when people speak about yearning for the Messiah, hoping for the Messiah, or the Messiah, they're speaking about this universal yearning, this hope for the glorious future of mankind. And the word Messiah came to represent that yearning that mankind has for a future of peace, a future without war. So what is the Bible? What is the Jewish Bible? When I say the Bible, I mean what Christians call the Old Testament. So what is the Jewish Bible? What does the Bible teach us about the Messiah? Well, let's word the question this way. What is it that the author of the Bible wants you to know about the Messiah, to know with confidence and with clarity? What piece of information about the person of the Messiah does the author of the Bible want to make sure that you won't question. You know, clearly this has to do with the Messiah. These are the qualities of the Messiah. Now, there are actually many details and many qualities that we could talk about. But I think there are two qualities. There are two qualities that I want to focus on over here. And as far as I am able to tell in all of my interactions with Jews, with Christians, with atheists, with any student of the Bible, these are two qualities that everyone acknowledges that the author of the Bible associated with the Messiah. And these two qualities are King of the Jews sitting on the throne of David. These concepts, King of the Jews, the throne of David are almost synonymous with the Messiah. As far as I could tell, no one ever disputed that these are personal qualities of the Messiah. King of the Jews, throne of David. Now, even though the prophets teach us that the Messiah will rule over all the nations, but it is clear from the prophets that first and foremost, the Messiah will be a King of the Jews. And many references in Scripture, Ezekiel 37, Ezekiel 34 are two references. Look it up, read about it. So I suggest that instead of trying to figure out details that are in question disputable, let's focus on what the author of Scripture made abundantly clear. The Messiah is going to be a King of the Jews. He's going to sit on the throne of David. Let us try to absorb the full weight of these simple truths. What does it mean to be the King of the Jews? What does it mean to be the King of any nation? If someone were to tell you that you were chosen to be the King of a nation, you could think of the advantages of royalty, the privileges, the honor, the fame. But if you're a responsible, a moral, an ethical person, you will realize that if you're chosen to be the King of a nation, any nation, it's not about you, it's about the nation. It's not just a privilege, it's a responsibility. The responsibility of the King of any given nation is to lead the nation to its destiny. And the Messiah is no different. The responsibility of the Messiah, the role of the Messiah is to lead his nation, the Jewish people, to its destiny. So if we understand the destiny of the Jewish people, we will understand one of the primary, one of foundational teachings about the Messiah. When the Bible tells us that the Messiah is sitting on the throne of David, what the Bible is telling us that the Messiah will not be operating in a vacuum. He will not come in to a blank page. He's going to be continuing something which began way back when. He's going to be continuing the legacy of his ancestor, David. In fact, the entire concept of the Messiah is a fulfillment of a promise to King David. God promised to King David, and this promise is recorded several times throughout the Bible. Psalm 89 is one place where you could read about it. Second Samuel chapter seven is another place where you can read about it. God tells David, your throne, David, is going to be established before God forever. So if we understand the legacy of David, we understand what the throne of David stands for, that's another way of understanding what the Bible is teaching us about the Messiah. Because again, the two truths that the Bible makes very clear about the Messiah is that he is King of the Jews and that he is sitting on the throne of David. So let's start with the destiny of the Jewish people. What is the destiny of the Jewish people? Because again, as the King of the Jewish people, the Messiah's responsibility to lead Israel to her destiny, the destiny of the Jewish people begins with a promise to Abraham in the book of Genesis. God promises to Abraham that God will make a great nation out of his children and all the nations of the earth will be blessed through that nation, through the children of Abraham. So this is the destiny of the Jewish people to be a blessing to all the nations. This promise to Abraham is recorded in Genesis chapter 12 in Genesis chapter 17, chapter 18, chapter 22 and chapter 26. In the book of Exodus, we see how God brings this promise to fruition through suffering in Egypt, through the miracles of the Exodus, the splitting of the Red Sea, the Sinai Revelation, having God's trustworthy prophet, Moses, living amongst them and imparting God's teaching to them, the construction of the Tabernacle, God's presence coming to dwell in the Tabernacle. We see how God created and formed and forged a nation for himself. How is this nation now going to be a blessing to the nations of the earth in fulfillment to the promise to Abraham? Because again, that is the destiny of the Jewish people to be a blessing to the nations of the earth. Ideally, what is supposed to happen is that the Jewish people are supposed to be obedient to God, follow God's law and they will experience God's blessing. God's temple will be in their midst and that means that God will make his love for them open and manifest. The nations of the earth see the Jewish people standing in this special relationship with God and they see how Israel experiences the blessing of standing in a relationship with God and they are inspired and uplifted and they follow Israel's example. And in the Messianic age, this ideal will come to fruition. Isaiah chapter 60 describes how the light of God will shine upon Israel and all the nations will walk by that light. The verse that we quoted earlier in the book of Isaiah about the nations not lifting sword against nation, learning war no more in chapter two in the book of Isaiah. It speaks of the teaching of God coming forth from the temple that's in Jerusalem in Zion. In other words, the people of Israel with their temple stand in this beautiful relationship with God. The nations that see the relationship, they see the blessing that's inherent in the relationship and they are inspired to learn from it, to enter into their own relationship with God, to follow the message of God that's relevant to them to practice justice, mercy, morality. That is the ideal. We tasted a bit of this ideal in the days of Solomon, in the days of Hezekiah, in the days of some of the righteous kings of the Davidic line, in the days of Solomon we had a temple and the purpose of the temple, like it says in first Kings chapter eight, was in order that the nations of the world know that there is no God but the God of Israel and the nations of the earth that were around the land of Israel saw the blessing that Israel experienced and they learned from it. The miracles that God did for Hezekiah in the days of Hezekiah taught the nations around the land of Israel about the greatness of God. So in a miniature aspect we experienced this ideal in the days of Solomon and the days of Hezekiah, in the days of some of the righteous kings. But throughout most of our history we were disobedient, we sinned and we did not live up to this ideal. And therefore we experienced curse, we experienced dispersion, exile and suffering. But even in our suffering and even in our exile we still play a part in God's plan for all of humanity and we are still walking towards our destiny, towards that promise that God promised to Abraham. Because you see, God promised that His truth will never depart from our midst. No matter how much we sin, no matter how much we stray, God will preserve His truth in our midst. This promise is recorded in many places throughout Scripture. Psalm 78 is one place that you can read about it, how God planted His testimony in Jacob, He established His teaching in Israel, and that will never depart from us. And in all the nations of our dispersion, wherever we walked we carried the basic points of God's message. Did we live up to that message? No, not necessarily, but we still carried that truth with us. And many nations and many individuals from the nations benefited from learning about God's message through us. They learned about how all of humanity is equal before God, how God loves justice and mercy. And people were inspired to enter into a relationship with God, to improve their own relationship with God, and to improve their relationship with their fellow man on the basis of the message that they absorbed from interacting with the Jewish people. But by and large, most people looked at us. They saw the message that we were carrying, they heard that message, a message about one God, about God desiring justice and mercy from simple human beings, from sinful human beings, and they looked at our message. They saw our suffering, they saw the curse that we were experiencing, and they came to the conclusion that the reason we were suffering and the reason we were experiencing exile and dispersion and curse is because our message is wrong. They didn't interpret our suffering as an indication that our behavior is off, that we are not being loyal to our message, but rather that our message is wrong. And throughout Scripture, we find that the nations taunt the Jewish people, where is your God? For example, in Micah chapter 7, our enemies taunt us and say, where is your God? The prophet speaks on behalf of Israel and says, I bear the wrath of God, and our nations are saying, where is your God? In other words, the nations see how we're suffering and how we're not experiencing God's blessing. They see the message that we're carrying, and they're telling us, if you guys are carrying the true message, why is God not with you? And God promises that ultimately what will happen is he will intervene into human history on our behalf. The arm of the Lord will be revealed upon those who are loyal to God's message, who are still carrying God's message. Again, it's not a vindication of our behavior, it's a vindication of our message. And the arm of the Lord, we know what the arm of the Lord is. It's very clear. In Isaiah chapter 51, the prophet directly talks to the arm of the Lord, and he describes the arm of the Lord as the one who brought Israel out of Egypt, crushed her enemies, brought Israel through the dry land, through the sea on dry land. So the arm of the Lord is when God's strength and might is manifest here in this world in open and obvious way on behalf of his people, crushing the enemies of his people, not the personal enemies of Israel, but rather those who stand in the way of Israel's message. So the arm of the Lord will be revealed in open and obvious way over the people of Israel. And at that point, our message will be vindicated. And the people, the nations of the earth will see, they'll see how those who hoped to God from their state of sin, from their state of imperfection were vindicated. Not, again, not the behavior is never vindicated. In fact, in Ezekiel chapter 39, when it describes our vindication, it says that when we're vindicated, the nations will know that it's because of our sin that we were exiled. In other words, not because our message was wrong, but because our behavior was wrong, but our message will be vindicated and the arm of the Lord will be revealed upon us. Isaiah chapter 52 speaks about this, Psalm 98 speaks about this, how all the ends of the earth see the salvation of our Lord. They see the salvation of God and they see how the nation who hoped to God from their sin, from their imperfection is vindicated. Again, it's the hope of Israel that will be vindicated. So even in our exile, we are still God's witnesses. We still serve God's purpose to bring the world to its destiny. What does all this have to do with the Messiah? What does it have to do with the throne of David? David, King David, in his lifetime, ruled over Israel in one of the ideal times. The temple wasn't actually built in David's times, but in the first book of Chronicles, chapter 28 and chapter 29, we learn how David prepared the materials for the temple, how God gave the architectural details of Solomon's temple to David through prophecy. In second Chronicles chapter 3, we read how the place where Solomon built the temple was built on the place that David found. This is described vividly in Psalm 132. So David directed Israel towards its destiny in the ideal way, in the way of Israel experiencing an open and manifest relationship with God in a way that's open and obvious towards the people all around them. And David didn't just do this by preparing physical materials, by preparing a place, because the temple is not just a geographic, building on a geographical location. The temple is an expression of Israel's love and obedience to God, and that's where God comes to dwell. So David guided Israel in obedience to God and loyalty to God, and it bring out the heart of Israel in love towards God. But David's career didn't end with his death. In the second book of Samuel chapter 23, the prophet gives us a very brief description of David. It says he was the man that was exalted, that was lifted up to be the Messiah, the anointed of the God of Israel. And then it gives us another little description. It tells us, I'm going to quote the words in Hebrew, On ne'im zami'ra is Israel. Generally these words are translated as the sweet singer of Israel. I think a more accurate translation would be the one who gives pleasantness and beauty to the song of Israel or to the songs of Israel. In other words, the bumper sticker description of David is the author of the Psalms, the sweet singer of Israel. You see, David lived a very colorful life. He experienced victory and defeat. He experienced glory and shame. He experienced guilt and he enjoyed forgiveness. He sinned and he came into favor. He experienced God this favor and he experienced God's favor, repentance coming into favor of God after sinning. And David composed songs from each of these situations. He looked in the Psalms, you find a song or several songs giving expression to a heart that trusts in God from a situation of sin, from the struggles of success, failure, victory, defeat, honor, shame. And David gives expression of a heart that's trusting God, yearning for God, hoping to God from each of these situations, from each of these emotional places. And as Israel traveled through the travails of exile and the troubles and the sufferings of exile, they found guidance and direction in the songs of David. David is still our king today. David still gives us direction. He teaches us how to hope to God, how to trust in God from every situation. And David actually gives articulation to the message that Israel carries throughout history. David speaks about how God is close to all who call upon him in sincerity. That's in Psalm 145. David speaks about the beauty of God's law, the love that's inherent in observing God's law in Psalm 19 and in Psalm 119. David, throughout the Psalms, speaks about the love of God, feeling the love of God in every facet of existence, experiencing the kindness of God in every breath of life. That is the message of Israel. And that is how David leads us still while we're in exile. So David led us in the time of when we were loyal to God, when we were obedient to God in an ideal time. And David still leads us through our suffering. He guides us with his songs, with the book of Psalms. When the Messiah comes, the Messiah will be a king of Israel. He will lead Israel to its destiny. He will sit on the throne of David. He will continue the legacy of David. He will not contradict the message of David. He will not oppose the message of David. He will not oppose the message that Israel has been carrying throughout its long exile. He will confirm it. He will affirm it. He will pick up the tune where David, his ancestor, left off. He will bring the message of David out into the light. He will inspire Israel just as David his ancestor did before him with his own humility to God. Messiah, as David his ancestor before him, will emphasize his own helplessness before God and teach mankind the joy that's inherent in recognizing that helplessness, not fighting that helplessness, but recognizing God's love and embrace that's inherent in every breath of life. And the Messiah will just take David's legacy and bring it to new heights. He'll build a temple in Jerusalem. He'll bring Israel to loyalty to God. He'll bring Israel to a great and beautiful relationship to God. And the nations of the earth will walk by that light, the walk by the light that flows from the people of Israel as the prophet Isaiah promised in chapter 60. He'll, the nations of the earth will walk by the light that flows from the temple that the Messiah will build in Jerusalem as Isaiah described in chapter two. All the nations of the earth will come and rejoice together with the people of Israel and worship God together with the people of Israel and the temple in Jerusalem under the leadership of the Davidic king. So again, what does the Messiah, what does the Bible teach us about the Messiah? The Messiah is the king of the Jews. That means he will lead Israel to its destiny, the destiny that was promised to Abraham, and he will do so by fulfilling David's legacy, by continuing the legacy of David, of expression of humility before God, of singing the praises of God, the Messiah will pick up the tune where his ancestor David left off.