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About Jesus Steve Sweetman King
Of "The
First Noel" is a Christmas carol classic. We
sing, "born is the King of Israel", but do we understand what
we sing, or do we simply mouth the words to create a warm fuzzy feeling?
The
phrase "born is the King of Israel" could have been inspired
from the angel's visit with Mary. The
angel told Mary that she would give birth to a son without the
assistance of a husband. If
that wasn't hard enough for her to understand, the fact that her Son
would be given "the throne of His father David"; would
"reign over the house of Jacob forever; and, His Kingdom would
never end", would be equally as hard to understand. (Luke 1:32 and
33) These words make Jesus
"King of Israel'. In
the denominational church I grew up in, I recall this passage being read
every Christmas. I don't
recall any explanation to its meaning.
Maybe no one had an explanation.
Maybe this passage was too hard to understand.
Or, maybe no one believed Jesus would be a literal king over a
literal
What
the angel told Mary was the continuation of a prophetic message that is
seen throughout the Old Testament. It
is good hermeneutics for us to understand these prophetic words as Mary
was expected to understand them. To
create a new understanding that Mary would not have been expected to
understand is bad Biblical interpretation.
So, when the angel told Mary that Jesus would be "King of
Israel", (my paraphrase) even though there was no national Has
Jesus ever been a literal King of a literal Israel? Not yet, but as countless
Old Testament prophecies have predicted, He will.
He will rule from a place of authority where King David once had
His throne, as the angel told Mary.
From a literal
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