Into the Blessing of Establishing God’s Throne (Luke 2:8-14) 12/20/2020
The Answer of the 1st 2nd 3rd RUTC:
Into the Blessing of Establishing God’s Throne (Luke 2:8-14) 12/20/2020
Last week we looked at Paul, who used to persecute the church and oppose the gospel but later became a historical vessel for evangelism that saved the age. The core of the pulpit last week was the blessing of gospelization. If people who are saved by the gospel enjoy the blessing of gospelization, they will experience inevitable and deep healing, vessel for the gospel, and changes in their posture toward life and be used for world evangelism.
Today is Christmas Sunday. Due to Covid-19, Christmas this year will be quieter than usual. However, it may be more meaningful. If you look at the passage, the shepherds were quietly tending their sheep when God sent his angels to notify them of Christ’s birth. Verse 9 says, “An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them.” Verse 13-14 says, “a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”
Even if you are alone. May Christmas this year be a time of enjoying God’s grace and angels singing. This blessing is called establishing God’s throne.
- What is the blessing of establishing God’s throne?
1) It is enjoying the glory of the triune God who saved us and desires to save the world through us.
① “Throne” means “seat of the King.” It is not just any seat. It is the glory of the triune God itself. That triune God created universe and is governing over it. Following the corruption of Adam, Satan is dragging this world into corruption and suffering, but God is in the position to declare judgement upon Satan himself.
② The Bible says that there are entities that surround the throne.
They are armies of angels that fulfill God’s word and help the chosen people of God (Isaiah 103:19-21). There are even more important beings. They are the saved people of God that develop holy perseverance and stand before God. That is the vision of seven spirits and 24 elders in the book of Revelations (Revelations 4:4-5).
2) What does it mean to enjoy the blessing of the throne? It means that God’s people are enjoying the glory of our God in heaven here on earth.
① If we are truly the ones that have been saved, given God’s love, and are people who will be used by God, then God will be with us with that very glory of the throne. He will show us and allow us to feel it in our lives. The 900+ praises of Fanny Crosby, who lost her sight in her childhood and lived as a blind woman her entire life, shows this very blessing. Most representative piece is “Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine! O, what a foretaste of glory divine!” With what kind of heart do you sing these praises?
② When you do God’s work, and face crises and tribulations, God undoubtedly mobilizes his angels. God speaks to you through His word and brings you into His deep place. That is true prayer. When Satan commits evil things and brings tribulations, God mobilizes his armies of angels to hold us (Exodus 14:19-20, Daniel 6:22). Especially when evangelists are proclaiming the gospel, the Christ of the throne intervenes and gives us evidence (Mark 16:19-20).
- When we enjoy the blessing of establishing the throne, there is evidence that comes from it. It is the peace that Christ gives.
“peace to those on whom his favor rests.” There are at least three types of peace.
1) It is peace with God.
Before we received salvation and realized the gospel, we were enemies with God. Christ reconciled that relationship between us and God through the cross, and now we are able to go forth before God inside the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 2:14-19). Why must we repent and hold onto the cross even after our failures and still go before God? That is the only way things will open up.
2) it is the inner peace that springs up within us.
Even with all the money, power, and fame, non-believers do not have true peace. They suffer from depression, panic disorders, substances, and mental illnesses. Believers cannot be deceived by Satan. We are deceived because we cannot transcend our environments, realities, physical things, and our own standards. Look upon Christ and the things above. Even if all sides are blocked, the door above is open. That is when you can have true peace (John 14:27). That is the kingdom of God that takes place within us (Romans 14:17). That is when the forces of darkness that tried to deceive us give up and flee away.
3) Peace within the world.
It goes beyond overcoming all problems. Wherever you go, conflicts and warfare will change into peace. “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God” (Matthew 5:9). Wherever you go, whomever you meet, in your families, workplace, church, and in all other fields, you will make and relay peace.
- This is when we can truly do God’s work that God desires. That is called the mission.
1) God allows us to do the things that non-believers and people who do not know this blessing cannot do.
① They do not know and will not understand. They cannot see nor can they go.
Joseph, who went as a slave, saved Egypt that was full of idols. Deacon Phillip saved Samaria, where everyone else refused to acknowledge. Persecutor Paul staked his life and saved Rome, the end of the earth of that age.
② Those places were the ends of the earth, desolate places, abandoned places, and empty places of Acts 1:8.
That is the field of Nobody, No way, No time, Nowhere, and No answer. It is going to places that others cannot, opening the paths, and making that time God’s time. It is giving the answer to wherever you go.
2) In all the fields that we go into, the kingdom of God, in which the power of the throne works upon, takes place.
① The forces of Satan will break down, and the work of the Holy Spirit will surface (Matthew 12:28). God desires us to fulfill this kingdom of God on earth.
② Why is this world so difficult? It is due to mankind’s greed and the work of Satan. However, there is an even more important reason.
It is because we are not able to act as a watchman. That is why the prayer and evangelism of one person is so important. It does not matter if you do not see immediate answers. Our prayers will be accumulated up in the heavenly throne through angels (Revelations 8:2-5). It does not matter if you do not see immediate results. The seeds that you have sown for evangelism will undoubtedly become eternal fruits (Galatians 6:7-9).
Conclusion – The core of the blessing of establishing the throne is enjoying the glory of God in this earth. It became a deep spirituality and deep prayer. May you have that deep time with Christ, who is our main character during this Christmas season.