Church of the Holy City

The Promise of the Messiah

The Promise of the Messiah
Rev. Dr. David J. Fekete
December 21, 2014

2 Samuel 7 Luke 1 Psalm 89

We hear a lot about the Messiah this time of year. Handel’s great choral piece is called the Messiah. We read the prophesies in Isaiah about the coming Messiah. And for Christians, the Messiah is identified with Jesus. The name “Christ” is the Greek translation of the Hebrew name, “Messiah.” So when we say “Jesus Christ,” we are saying “Jesus the Messiah.”
But what we forget is that the Messiah has a specific meaning. And one of the things that divide Jews from Christians is how we interpret the meaning of the term Messiah.
The term Messiah in Hebrew means “anointed.” To consecrate and establish the king’s rule, kings were anointed with oil. So the term Messiah means the “anointed one” or a king. But Messiah came to mean one king in particular: King David.
We heard in our reading from 2 Samuel the Messianic promise. In 2 Samuel 7, God promises King David that his descendants will rule on the throne of Judah forever. In 2 Samuel 7:16, God tells King David, “And your house and your kingdom shall be made sure for ever before me; your throne shall be established for ever.” Psalm 89, which we heard this morning refers to this promise.
Thou hast said, “I have made a covenant with my chosen one,
I have sworn to David my servant:
‘I will establish your descendants for ever,
and build your throne for all generations’” (Psalm 89:3-4).
But this promise was broken. Babylon conquered Judah and took away the rule of the king from David’s lineage. This was a shocking development in Israelite history and theology. God who rules the heavens made a promise to King David, and that promise was to endure as long as the sun and moon.
Once for all I have sworn by my holiness;
I will not lie to David.
His line shall endure for ever,
his throne as long as the sun before me.
Like the moon it shall be established for ever;
it shall stand firm while the skies endure” (Psalm 89:35-37).
Psalm 89 records the bewilderment the Israelites felt at this apparent divine lie,
Thou hast renounced the covenant with thy servant;
thou hast defiled his crown in the dust.
Thou hast breached all his walls;
thou hast laid his strongholds in ruins.
All that pass by despoil him;
he has become the scorn of his neighbors.
Lord, where is thy steadfast love of old,
which by thy faithfulness thou didst swear to David? (Psalm 89:39-41)
Since God can never go back on His Word, the Israelites came to the conclusion that the Messiah was going to come and take back His throne in Jerusalem. This is the source of all those prophesies in Isaiah we read about the coming Messiah. And this is what the Israelites expected of Jesus. We hear it in the angel’s words to Mary,
And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus.
He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High;
and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David,
and he will reign over the house of Jacob for ever;
and of his kingdom there will be no end” (Luke 1:31-33).
Since Jesus did not throw off Roman rule and assume the throne in Jerusalem, Jews do not believe that Jesus is the Anointed, the Messiah, the king from David’s line.
What happened was the birth of a new world religion, instead. Jesus reinterpreted what the Messiah was supposed to be. While claiming to be the Messiah, Jesus at the same time shifted the expectations of Jews. He spiritualized the nature of His kingdom. Telling Pilate that His kingdom is not of this world, Jesus claimed a kingship that is otherworldly. His kingdom is within, we should not look for it in the world, saying, “Here it is, or there it is!”
Even Judaism itself has changed dramatically since the time of Jesus. Rabbinic Judaism replaced temple sacrifices. Humane values have come to dominate Jewish observance. A rabbi I met through the Interfaith Centre told me that she believes that love for the neighbor is at the heart of Judaism. Loving the neighbor is found in the Old Testament, in Leviticus 19:18.
Now a days we are like those Israelites who were bewildered at the broken Messiah promise. We see church doors closing across denominational lines. The National Council of Churches USA had to undergo a radical streamlining and restructuring because churches were not able to donate as generously as before. And the reason churches were not able to donate as generously is simply because their numbers are falling. We church-goers wonder what’s going on. Is society becoming less religious? Is God becoming a thing of the past? Are we in what some people are calling a “post-Christian age?” We feel like exclaiming, as the Psalmist did, “Thou hast renounced the covenant with thy servant!”
I cannot renounce my belief in God, nor in His kingdom. I can’t believe that God is becoming a thing of the past. I don’t see religion dying, but changing. Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “Give me insight into today and you may have the antique and future worlds.” That is what we all need. I believe that religion is being transformed. But what it is becoming, I can’t see. We have the promise of the New Church in Revelation 21. We have that vision of the Holy City New Jerusalem coming down out of heaven. We have the promise of the tree of life whose leaves are for the healing of nations. We have, in other words, a promise of a reclaimed world of holiness. But what that reclaimed world will look like I can’t see.
Perhaps the old forms of worship can no longer hold the new wine of the New Church. We need to remember that the Swedenborgian Church was modeled after what we call the Old Church—that is traditional Christianity. Our worship service is adapted from the hymnal of the Anglican Church. And our founders had a rather grandiose notion that this denomination was the New Church described by John in the book of Revelation. Perhaps what we are witnessing is a new form of piety emerging as older forms are being transcended. The old modes of worship perhaps are not sufficient to embody the freedom and glory of the Holy City.
Our world has certainly changed dramatically within the span of one generation. In the first century AD, who could have seen the development of Christianity? Who could have predicted that that new religion would overthrow the powerful Roman gods and become the religion of the entire western world? The rise of Christianity and the transformation of Judaism were developments no one in the first century AD could have predicted. If religion as we know it does die out, I have every confidence that some new form of worship will emerge. Some new form of connecting with God will develop. Some new understanding of the relationship between God and humans and a new way of experiencing that relationship.
We are bewildered at the way things are going for organized religion. But there are many people who consider themselves spiritual, but not religious. Perhaps these free-thinking individuals will find a new, creative way to bring heaven to earth. I don’t know. But as a speculate about the future of religion, I know this: There is a God and His kingdom will endure.

PRAYER

Lord, in ancient days when you were in this world, people were overcome with wonder. Some thought you were the Messiah, the king who would liberate Israel and rule on the throne in Jerusalem. Some saw you as a divine wonder-worker. And some saw you as a political threat. Now, 2,000 years later, we see you as our Lord and Savior. We see that you came to this world to save it, and to shepherd us home. And now, we wonder about the fate of religion in this world. We see frightening signs of apathy and indifference. We wonder about the future state of Christianity, in fact, of religion at all. And yet, just as pious Jews couldn’t see Christianity arise, so we may be blind to a new unfolding of faith in this world. We know that you shall reign for ever and ever. And we know that your kingdom in the heavens and on earth is an eternal kingdom. We pray this morning for faith. Faith that your church is unfolding as you would have it.

And Lord, we pray for the sick. May they experience the power of your healing love. Fill them with the grace of your healing power. Comfort their family and friends. We pray for the grace of your healing power for all who are ailing in body or soul.