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FUNDAMENTALS OF DISCIPLESHIP
DISCIPLESHIP 101
Part 9 – The King
Luke 17:20 And when he was demanded of the Pharisees, when the
kingdom of Elohim should come, he answered them and said, The kingdom of Elohim
cometh not with observation:
21 Neither
shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of Elohim is
within you.
Repentance from iniquity, repentance from sins, repentance
from dead works: We are bought with a
price. We are no longer our own. We belong to another. Life is not about “me.” Life is about the King.
Today, I want to discuss this matter that “Life is about the King.” Today, masses of believers around the world
call the Son of IAUE, “the Lord Jesus Christ.”
This compound name generates an emotional response born of tradition and
expectation from the congregation. A
pastor can sing it out with powerful voice, and the church responds on key; and
yet, “Lord” is not his title, “Jesus” is not his name, and “Christ” is not who
he is. (We covered this on 5/5/13, in
our very 2nd post in this blog.)
What we seldom hear him called is, “King.” This has resulted in a misunderstanding of a
great many passages of Scripture.
The New Testament opens with this verse:
Matthew 1:1 The book of the generation of Yahushua Messiah, the son of David, the son of
Abraham.
The very first sentence from the pen of
Matthew writing his message to the Jews is to identify Yahushua the Messiah as
the son of David, the son of Abraham. Matthew then proves his declaration by
showing the lineage of Abraham all the way down to Joseph, the husband of Mary
unto whom was born Yahushua.
Luke, writing his gospel to Theophilus, begins
with a set-up of the history of the three year ministry of Yahushua (which
would occupy the rest of his account).
He sets forth the facts regarding the birth of Yahushua, and moves very
quickly to his revelation to Israel as the Messiah at his immersion by John. Before moving to discuss his ministry, Luke
establishes the genealogy of Yahushua from Joseph and Mary back through David,
through Abraham, all the way back to Adam…and to Elohim.
Matthew’s genealogy traces him back to David
through the bloodline of David’s son, Solomon; and Luke traces him back to
David through the bloodline of his son, Nathan.
Matthew shows the bloodline of Joseph.
Luke shows the bloodline of Mary.
The significance of showing that the
bloodlines of both Joseph and Mary trace back to David was to prove one
thing. Yahushua was the rightful heir to
the throne of David. This is expressly
why Matthew’s very first verse of his gospel calls him “the son of David.” Yahushua was born, King of the Jews. At his birth, this is who he was; and who he
is still, today. By tracing him back to Abraham, Matthew connects him to be the
“seed of Abraham,” whom Paul later identifies in Galatians 3, to be “the
Messiah.” By tracing him back to Adam,
Luke’s gospel identifies him as the son of IAUE.
Understanding this sheds new light on the
interaction between the angel and Joseph.
Matthew 1:20 But while he thought on these things, behold, the angel
of IAUE appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David,
fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is
of the Holy Spirit.
Joseph knew he was a direct descendant of King
David, and as such, he had a responsibility to maintain a pure bloodline. If Mary had been unfaithful, their child,
their firstborn, would have been a bastard and not of the bloodline of
David. Joseph was told he had no reason
to fear being wed to Mary. Mary had her
own encounter with Gabriel, the archangel of IAUE; and she was told not to
fear, for the child would not be one of fornication but of divine implantation. She, too, knew she was a
direct descendant of David and was responsible to remain pure.
Once Messiah was immersed of John, fasted in the
wilderness and returned in the power of the Spirit, he taught constantly about
the Kingdom of Heaven/the Kingdom of Elohim.
Many of his parables began with, “The Kingdom of Elohim is like this…” His message, everywhere he went, was “Repent
for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.”
He was the King announcing the imminent appearance of his own kingdom.
Look at the awareness of this relationship
between being the son of David and being the Messiah in just the gospel of
Matthew.
Matthew 9:27
And when Yahushua departed thence, two blind men followed him,
crying, and saying, Thou son of David, have
mercy on us.
Matthew 15:22
And,
behold, a woman of Canaan came out of the same coasts, and cried unto him,
saying, Have mercy on me, O Master, thou son of David;
my daughter is grievously vexed with a devil.
Matthew 20:30 And, behold, two blind men
sitting by the way side, when they heard that Yahushua passed by, cried out,
saying, Have mercy on us, O Master, thou son of David.
Matthew 20:31 And the
multitude rebuked them, because they should hold their peace: but they cried
the more, saying, Have mercy on us, O Master, thou son of David.
Matthew 21:9 And the
multitudes that went before, and that followed, cried, saying, Hosanna to the son of David:
Blessed is he that cometh in the name of IAUE; Hosanna in the highest.
Matthew 21:15
And when the chief priests and scribes saw the wonderful things
that he did, and the children crying in the temple, and saying, Hosanna to the son of David;
they were sore displeased,
Matthew 22:42
Saying, What think ye of Messiah? whose son is he? They say unto
him, The son of David.
When they called him, “Master,” this was no
common usage of the term, as of simple respect for an elder, a wealthy person,
or a local leader. It was a term used to
acknowledge Yahushua as KING.
In our opening passage of Scripture, the
Pharisees were asking Messiah when the kingdom of Elohim was come. It was a half-taunt, half-terrified-of-the-answer
question.
Luke 17:20 And when he was demanded of the Pharisees, when the
kingdom of Elohim should come, he answered them and said, The kingdom of Elohim
cometh not with observation:
21 Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for,
behold, the kingdom of Elohim is within you.
In his answer, Yahushua revealed the divine
plan. His answer to the Pharisees
contained a key to the revelation of the mystery given to Paul; a mystery kept
hidden from the foundation of the world. The King intended to take up residence
within man; and to express his dominion through man. To accomplish this objective, he was going to
have to die, then rise from the dead, leave the world, indwell his disciples
with his spirit, manifest his authority and dominion through redeemed men and
women through signs and wonder, command repentance and preach remission of sins. Then, he would return to claim his throne on
the earth; but before that would happen, his kingdom would first be manifested,
made apparent, through the lives of his disciples in whom he, the King,
resided.
Before he left his disciples, Luke records the
following.
Acts 1:1 The former treatise have I made, O Theophilus, of all
that Yahushua began both to do and teach,
2 Until the
day in which he was taken up, after that he through the Holy Spirit had given
commandments unto the apostles whom he had chosen:
3 To whom also he shewed himself alive after his passion
by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days, and speaking of
the things pertaining to the kingdom of Elohim:
His final instructions to his disciples were
of the kingdom of Elohim.
4 And, being assembled together with them, commanded them
that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the
Father, which, saith he, ye have heard of me.
5 For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be
baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days hence.
For the kingdom of Elohim to be within them,
they first had to be born of the Spirit and brought into union with the spirit of
the King; and empowered by the Spirit of Elohim, Himself.
6 When they therefore were come together, they asked of
him, saying, Master, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to
Israel?
See, even at this moment of the King’s departure,
the disciples are asking if when the Holy Spirit comes, will that be when Yahushua
will take his place upon the throne of David?
They are speaking to their King.
They think of him as their King.
They are taking vows of allegiance to their King. Yahushua, in their mind, is first and
foremost their King.
7 And he said
unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father
hath put in his own power.
8 But ye
shall receive power, after that the Holy Spirit is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me
both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost
part of the earth.
Being a witness UNTO Yahushua, means they are
to be the advance guard proclaiming the dominion of the King, and demonstrating
his dominion through signs and wonders and the power of the gospel to change
men’s lives, setting them free from all captivity, from all forms of bondage to
sin. Repentance, which we have been
discussing for the past two weeks, is in its very essence, a commitment of allegiance
to the King; and a forsaking of all that opposes his reign in their lives.
Kingdom
heart: a heart that offers no resistance to the
performance of the will of IAUE.
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