Advent: Jesus Came To Reign as Your King

And they came to Jericho. And as he was leaving Jericho with his disciples and a great crowd, Bartimaeus, a blind beggar, the son of Timaeus, was sitting by the roadside. And when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out and say, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” (Mark 10:46–47).

 

Why did Jesus, the Son of God, come to earth over two-thousand years ago—his first advent? And what awaits us at his return—his second advent? As we noted last week, these are the questions we should always ask, but they are especially fresh on our minds in the Advent season. And there are a myriad of ways to answer this question from Scripture. We saw last week that according to Mark 10:45, Jesus came to serve and to give his life as a ransom. And at his return, he will welcome us home into the kingdom of God. This reality of Jesus bringing the kingdom of God to us and bringing us into the kingdom of God dovetails with this week’s devotion that looks at another answer to the same question of why Jesus came. That answer: Jesus came in order to reign as your king.

 

Blind Bartimaeus in Mark 10:46–52

Immediately following Jesus’ proclamation that the Son of Man came to serve and give his life as a ransom, we see Jesus pass through Jericho. And as he is leaving a blind beggar named Bartimaeus called out to Jesus, saying, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” (10:46). He immediately faced stiff rebuke from many people who told him to be silent, but Mark tells us, “he cried out all the more, ‘Son of David, have mercy on me!’” (Mark 10:47). We can learn something from Bartimaeus both regarding our human condition and our faith. And we learn something about the object of our faith as well.

 

Condition: Blind Beggar

Nothing is coincidence in God’s redemptive narrative. Bartimaeus’s condition, then, is not merely circumstantial. It is rather a gracious picture that God gives us for our instruction. We are all Bartimaeus. Apart from Christ, in our sin we are all blind. We are blind to our depravity and blind to our need for God’s mercy. And we are all wretched beggars. However, in our blindness we actually think that we are rich as we hold close the sinful treasures we’ve collected not realizing that those sinful treasures are sucking the very life and wealth that God promises to give us from his repository of riches in glory. In our sinfulness, we are like the Laodiceans, over whom Jesus makes this pronouncement, “For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked” (Revelation 3:17). We are blind beggars in need of God’s mercy. But here’s where we learn about something else from Bartimaeus. We learn about saving faith.

 

Saving Faith

Bartimaeus may be blind, but he has eyes to not only see his condition but to see the cure, or rather ears to hear his cure pass by. And true to his description, Bartimaeus begs. And what does he beg for? He begs for mercy to receive his sight. This is a picture of saving faith. Saving faith recognizes one’s helpless, wretched condition. Thus, saving faith recognizes the need for mercy and begs for it. And saving faith finds the object of their faith in Jesus, who happens to be the Son of David.

 

The Object of Our Faith: The Son of David

Why did Bartimaeus call Jesus the Son of David? What do we learn from that title? Bartimaeus called Jesus the Son of David because he recognized Jesus as the promised King, the promised Messiah. Jesus is the promised Son of David who would reign on God’s throne over God’s kingdom forever (2 Samuel 7:12–13; 1 Chronicles 17:11–14). He is the promised just and righteous Davidic king of Isaiah 9:6–7:

For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore.

His is the promised son of David who is also the Son of God, whom God will establish as king on his holy mountain, over all the nations (Psalm 2:6–8). When Bartimaeus cries out to Jesus calling him the Son of David, this is who he cries out to, God’s promised king—even if he doesn’t realize all the implications of that title. He is the servant king who opens blind eyes and sets the captive free (Isaiah 42:1–7). And Bartimaeus receives the blessing of this king, restored sight, and he runs after him (Mark 10:52).

 

Jesus Came to Reign as Your King

Just to confirm everything we’ve just seen, the biblical narrative in Mark immediately moves to one of the most iconic scenes in all of Scripture. Jesus enters into Jerusalem, riding on a donkey’s colt as the people sing for joy. The picture clearly fulfills Zechariah 9:9, “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; righteous and having salvation is he, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.” The people’s song of choice is Psalm 118:25–26, which speaks of God’s salvation. The scene is clear: Jesus is the promised, long awaited Son of David who has come to save his people and reign over them as king. And reign Jesus does. However, the path was not what we’d expect.

Remarkably, such fanfare would not mark Jesus’ final path to the throne. Rather, it is through the cross that Jesus worked the salvation Zechariah 9:9 and Psalm 118 prophesy. And it is through the cross that Jesus the Son of David ascended to the throne of heaven to reign forever (Acts 1:6–11; 2:22–36; Hebrews 1:3). Indeed, Jesus came to reign as king and he does reign as king right now on the throne at the right hand of God. But Jesus also came to reign as your king on the throne of your heart. The cross, salvation, and Jesus’ kingdom is for you.

 

Jesus’ Second Advent: Jesus Reigns as King, the Root and the Descendant of David

Jesus is the promised, long-awaited Son of David who came to reign as king. And Jesus is the promised, long-awaited for Son of David who came to reign as your king. We see ourselves in blind, begging Bartimaeus. And we see that King Jesus, the promised Son of David, came to save those who cry out to him for mercy. We also see ourselves in the people of Jerusalem, rejoicing at the arrival of this promised Son of David, the long-awaited king. And we see that through the cross, King Jesus, the promised Son of David does indeed reign on the throne right now in heaven. But he will come again to reign on earth as well. Is it any wonder why the last time Jesus ever describes himself in Scripture, he chooses to say, “I, Jesus, have sent my angel to testify to you about these things for the churches. I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star…Surely I am coming soon.” (Revelation 22:16, 20). Jesus will come again to earth to reign on David’s throne forever.

 

Remembering Jesus’ First Advent, Looking to Jesus’ Second Advent

Jesus came to reign as King. Jesus reigns on the throne in heaven now and on the throne of our hearts now. And Jesus will come again to reign on earth with his people forever. This is why Jesus came. This is what we remember and this is what we look forward to this Advent season.

 

 

What is the Gospel?

“The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.” That’s how Mark begins his Gospel. Similarly, Jesus’ first statement in Mark is: “”The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel” (Mark 1:15).

But what is the Gospel? What are we to believe?

Consider these eight elements of the Gospel stated or implied in this passage.

1) God is King!

Jesus says the Kingdom of God is at hand. Who is king in the Kingdom of God?

  • Not Joe Biden
  • Not Donald Trump

God is king in the Kingdom of God.

And though we see all around us sin and misery and disaster, rebellion against God, anger at God, despising of the name of Jesus, God assures us: “I am in control; I am bringing about My wise and good purposes.”

In Daniel 7, God appears on His fiery throne, with ten thousand time ten thousand standing before Him. Then one like a Son of Man comes to Him – picturing Jesus coming to the Father – and the Father gives Jesus “dominion and glory and a kingdom” – that is, all authority. Daniel then tells us He is the king not only of the Jews, but of all peoples and nations. His kingdom will never end; He reigns forever.

So God is King. Jesus is King. No one rivals His power. As Jesus says in Matthew 28, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me.”

Thus the Gospel begins with this truth: God is King. Jesus is King.

2) His Kingdom is at hand!

God gave Daniel that vision more than 500 years before the time of Jesus. The people have waited centuries for God’s Kingdom to come. Finally, John the Baptist comes to prepare the way for the promised King, in fulfillment of prophesies through Isaiah and Malachi. John knows he is only a forerunner, saying, “After me comes he who is mightier than I” (Mark 1:7). Finally, the time is at hand (Mark 1:15). The return of the King is soon.

3) This is terrible news for God’s enemies

The Gospel, the Good News, is terrible news for those who remain God’s enemies.

From the first man and woman, from Adam and Eve, all men have been rebels against God. All of us are “by nature children of wrath” (Ephesians 2:3). We have rebelled by saying:

  • We know better than God how to run our lives
  • We know better than He who we really are
  • We know better than He how we can have security, joy, fulfillment

Since God created us to love Him, to delight in Him, to show what He is like, we have thus violated the very purpose of our creation. God therefore has a perfect right to dispose of us – as we would dispose of a mug that leaks when we fill it with coffee. Indeed, the Apostle Paul tells us in that when Jesus comes from heaven, He will inflict “vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might” (2 Thessalonians 1:7-9).

You do not want to be among God’s enemies on that day. But you need not be His enemy:

4) This can be Good News for you!

Mark says this is the beginning of the Good News of Jesus for you do not have to remain a rebel against God. You do not have to suffer the eternal punishment away from the Lord who is the source of everything good in you.

How can that happen? I can I change from being God’s enemy?

  • You don’t have to make yourself presentable before God
  • You don’t have to do some great task to prove you are worthy
  • You don’t have to do thousands of acts of penance

Instead, Jesus says you must simply “repent and believe the Gospel.” That is, you must repent and believe the four elements of the Gospel we’ve already stated: God is King, the Kingdom of God is at hand, this is terrible news for God’s enemies, and this can be Good News for you. And you must believe the four remaining elements:

5) Jesus is the Son of God

We see this in Mark 1:11. Jesus comes to John the Baptist at the Jordan River. John baptizes Him, lowering Him under the water, and raising Him up. Then: “A voice came from heaven, ‘You are my beloved Son; with You I am well pleased.’”

If Jesus is the Son of God – what must be true about Him?

Picture your biological children. Or picture your biological parents. Can’t you see your likeness in them? There is a family resemblance to you, isn’t there?

Just so with Jesus.

Jesus is the Son of God, “the exact imprint of His nature” (Hebrews 1:3). Indeed, Jesus tells His disciples. “He who has seen me has seen the Father” (John 14:9).

  1. Jesus is man, but without sin

So Jesus is the Son of God – but as we have seen, Daniel 7 calls Jesus the “Son of Man.” Indeed, Jesus refers to Himself by this title dozens of times.

The son of Mary, the one born in Bethlehem, who grew up in Nazareth, who taught in Galilee, who was crucified rose from the dead outside of Jerusalem, was a genuine man. Like you and me, He ate, He drank, He got tired, He had flesh and bones. He was human. Really human.

He was like us in every way except one.

Jesus is the only human who never sinned, who never rebelled against God. That’s why God says at His baptism: “With You I am well pleased.”

  1. Jesus died for the sins of all who believe the Gospel

Jesus tells His listeners, “Repent and believe in the Gospel” – because that is the only way to be put right with God. Your sin, your rebellion, your arrogance separates you from God. You are by nature under His wrath, condemned to that eternal punishment. But if you believe in this Gospel, if you believe in Jesus as Lord, Savior, and Treasure, God takes your sin, your condemnation, and assigns it entirely to Jesus hanging on the cross. Once Jesus takes the punishment you deserve, you yourself, united to Him, become well-pleasing to God. For when God looks upon you, He sees His well-pleasing Son.

Thus, the only possible forgiveness of sins is through faith in risen Savior.

8) Finally: God not only saves us from condemnation but God grants us Himself!

John says, “I have baptized you with water, but He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit” (Mark 1:8). That is: In Christ, you will be covered with, filled with God Himself!

Once the Spirit fills you, He bears fruit in your life: Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control (Galatians 5:22-23). Thus, by the Spirit God is transforming you into the likeness of Jesus. You are being made like Him now and will be perfected on the Last Day.

Thus the Gospel includes not only freedom from condemnation, but freedom from slavery to sin now, and the promise of perfection when Jesus returns:

  • No more sin
  • No more temptation
  • No more lust
  • No more jealousy
  • No more fits of anger

God will delight in you as He delights in His Son, and you will delight in Jesus as the Father delights in Him.

This is the Gospel, friends. Know it. Believe it. Proclaim it. Live it. Submit to your King. Rejoice in Your Savior. By the Spirit, walk as children of light. And eagerly anticipate Jesus’ return.

[This devotion is based on part of the October 3, 2021 sermon on Mark 1:1-15. You can watch that service at this link; the sermon audio is available here.]