Ephesians 4:3-6; One Lord – The Mediatorial King, part 5.

Class Outline:

 

Tuesday, March 23, 2021

 

When the Lord establishes His government it will be centered on His glorious Person - Judge (judiciary), Lawgiver (legislature), King (executive).

 

ISA 33:17

Your eyes will see the King in His beauty;

They will behold a far-distant land.

 

ISA 33:22

For the Lord is our judge,

The Lord is our lawgiver,

The Lord is our king;

He will save us —

 

We are currently studying Jesus as the one Lord and one Mediatorial King as foretold by the OT prophets.

 

Through the eyes of the OT prophets we have seen His nature, His origin, and His character.

 

4. The Ability of the Coming Ruler

 

Isa 42 exhibits to our view the Servant of Yavah, the Messiah. His mode of operation is described as being not violent but peaceful. The effects of His influence are represented as not natural but spiritual. God pledges power to Him for His success.

 

ISA 42:1-4

"Behold, My Servant, whom I uphold;

My chosen one in whom My soul delights.

I have put My Spirit upon Him;

He will bring forth justice to the nations.

2 "He will not cry out or raise His voice,

Nor make His voice heard in the street.

3 "A bruised reed He will not break,

And a dimly burning wick He will not extinguish;

He will faithfully bring forth justice.

4 "He will not be disheartened or crushed,

Until He has established justice in the earth;

And the coastlands will wait expectantly for His law."

 

Pilate said, “Behold the man.” God says, “Behold My Servant.” Chosen means that He has been set apart for a definite purpose.

 

Israel is also called “My servant.” She has some of the same attributes as “the Servant,” but that is because She was to be like Him.

 

ISA 42:19

Who is blind but My servant,

Or so deaf as My messenger whom I send?

 

Israel is elsewhere also described as having some of the same attributes. The solution is simple. They, and we, are to be like Him; but that doesn’t make us Him. He alone is viewed in ISA 42:1-4, but we, the body of Christ, are the fullness of Him (EPH 1:23), united to Him, His co-workers and representatives on earth. Israel, not then as united to Him as the church now it, was nonetheless to be holy as He is holy, and serve God fully as He would when He arrived. By means of His work for us, we are also to be servants of God, endowed with power by the Holy Spirit, witnesses of the truth and grace of God to the world, full of peace, bringing forth justice, and not getting disheartened when we suffer.

 

Great ruler: high character, good will, nobility, intelligence, wisdom, and strength to carry out the good.

 

In human governments we wish that rulers would have high character, good will, and noble intentions. But we find that even that is not enough. There must be intelligence and wisdom. On top of their good character, good rulers must know what needs to be done and then have the ability to carry it out - strength.

 

During the all too rare times of peace and prosperity, having no internal or external conflicts, weak rulers are satisfactory. But in the face of internal distress and external danger, leaders have to be wise and strong. A great government would strike the balance between righteousness, wisdom, and power, and if any have come close to it, it has been very short lived.

 

The Lord is wise, good, and strong.

 

ISA 11:1-4

Then a shoot will spring from the stem of Jesse,

And a branch from his roots will bear fruit.

2 And the Spirit of the Lord will rest on Him,

The spirit of wisdom and understanding,

The spirit of counsel and strength,

The spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.

3 And He will delight in the fear of the Lord,

And He will not judge by what His eyes see,

Nor make a decision by what His ears hear;

4 But with righteousness He will judge the poor,

And decide with fairness for the afflicted of the earth;

And He will strike the earth with the rod of His mouth,

And with the breath of His lips He will slay the wicked.

 

Micah sees Him as a Ruler who will stand and rule as a shepherd “in the strength of Yavah” and be “great unto the ends of the earth.”

 

MIC 5:4-5

And He will arise and shepherd His flock

In the strength of the Lord,

In the majesty of the name of the Lord His God.

And they will remain,

Because at that time He will be great

To the ends of the earth.

5 And this One will be our peace.

 

As for His ability and power, Isaiah pictures Him in figure as a foundation stone which is “tried” and “precious” and “sure” in ISA 28:16.

 

ISA 28:15-18

Because you have said, "We have made a covenant with death,

And with Sheol we have made a pact [Judah signed a pact with Egypt who promised to help them against invading Assyria].

The overwhelming scourge will not reach us when it passes by,

For we have made falsehood our refuge and we have concealed ourselves with deception."

16 Therefore thus says the Lord God,

"Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a tested stone,

A costly cornerstone for the foundation, firmly placed.

He who believes in it will not be disturbed.

17 "And I will make justice the measuring line,

And righteousness the level;

Then hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies,

And the waters shall overflow the secret place.

18 "And your covenant with death shall be canceled,

And your pact with Sheol shall not stand;

When the overwhelming scourge passes through,

Then you become its trampling place.

 

No longer will the art of governing be the art of compromise between what ought to be done and what can be done. In vv. 7-8 God shows us the banquet table of the Judean leadership who have just signed the deal with Egypt. They are drunk and congratulating themselves on their statecraft. In vv. 9-13 we find them making fun of Isaiah who has warned them. They say that the prophet speaks at them as if they are children. He instructs line upon line, order upon order as if they are stupid. In their drunkenness they laugh together over the foolishness of the prophet and his simple message and revel in their own pride. Nations and kingdoms, over and over, throughout history, have suffered under leaders just like this. The promises of the coming King and the justice and righteousness of His kingdom are given to us to bolster our hope.

 

The Lord will do His perfect will. And He shall “not fail or be discouraged, until He has set judgment in the earth.” (ISA 42:1-4)

 

Do not fear. Do not be dismayed. Do not fret. All things work together for good to those who love God. The King is coming. As surely and historically and literally as He came the first time and entered His city on the colt, as was fortold that He would, He will come again and deliver the world from evil. All will be judged then and the nations will no longer be deceived.

 

The reign of Christ on earth will be so far reaching and complete all over the world that even the little bells that decorate horses will have written on them, “Holy to the Lord.” (la-Yavah kodesh)

 

ZEC 14:20-21

In that day there will be inscribed on the bells of the horses, "HOLY TO THE LORD." And the cooking pots in the Lord's house will be like the bowls before the altar. 21 And every cooking pot in Jerusalem and in Judah will be holy to the Lord of hosts; and all who sacrifice will come and take of them and boil in them. And there will no longer be a Canaanite in the house of the Lord of hosts in that day.

 

This name was engraved on the gold plate that adorned the brim of the high priest’s turban. In the Lord’s Millennial Kingdom, it will be written on practically everything. Bells on horses are trivial. This reveals that the agelong distinction between secular things and sacred things will disappear. God’s name will be everywhere. It seems that the people born into the Millennium who have rejected Christ, having to live surrounded by His sacred name and laws, will despise Him.