November 9, 2025 Sermon: He Will Reign Forever: Mary’s Child and David’s Covenant
We are starting a short, three-week series today that’s going to look closely at indicators or hints in the Old Testament about the promise of the coming deliverer of Israel, the coming King, the coming Messiah.
So this is about messianic prophecy, a heads-up about a better tomorrow, a series of strong hints about a better future that was to come, located in the ancient text of the Hebrew Bible.
Even in the earliest pages of Scripture, God was already whispering the name of His Son; history itself is written in the ink of promise. These ancient prophecies don’t just tell Israel’s story—they tell ours. They remind us that history isn’t random; it’s guided by promise.
Each prophecy is like a thread of gold running through human failure, proof that God’s plan never panics or pivots; it proceeds. Time’s tight this morning after our memorial for Gracie, so today’s message will be concise—but rich. Think of it as a highlight reel of God’s promises.
If you’re going to want to dive deeper, if your interest is aroused, I would encourage you to join the Bible study that is happening after the service to get deeper into the material.
The birth of Jesus was so momentous that all of human history now measures time in relation to it.
So, if you shout out the year you were born—like I was born in 1962—that means you and I were born that many years after the Messiah’s birth.
Our very lives are dated by the Incarnation.
Every calendar, every clock, every sunrise still bears silent witness that God entered time; eternity took up residence in the ordinary.
At the very least that should tell you that there is something very special about the birth of Jesus.
When starting something like this, it’s always good to begin at the beginning.
Does anybody want to take a guess at what is the first Messianic prophecy in the Old Testament?
I. The Promise in the Beginning — The Seed Who Will Crush the Serpent
In Genesis 3:1–14, we have the account known as the Fall of Humankind. The serpent tempts Eve to eat from the forbidden tree. By the way, it never says “apple”—just fruit. Sorry, Apple iPhone Inc.
Eve eats the fruit and gives some to Adam, and they realize they are naked and hide from God.
When God confronts them, they each shift blame: Adam blames Eve, Eve blames the serpent, and the serpent doesn’t have a leg to stand on.
As a result, God pronounces consequences on the serpent, on Eve, and on Adam. That’s the essence of those verses.
Here we learn that rebellion always carries fallout, but mercy still sprouts in the cracks of judgment; the curse cannot choke divine compassion.
Then we have: Genesis 3:14 So the LORD God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, ‘Cursed are you above all livestock and all wild animals! You will crawl on your belly and you will eat dust all the days of your life. 15 And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; HE WILL CRUSH YOUR HEAD, AND YOU WILL STRIKE HIS HEEL.’”
This is called the protoevangelium or the first gospel, the first sign of good news after the very bad news of the Fall.
This is delivered quickly… too quickly for despair to set in and completely overwhelm our first parents, Adam and Eve. God promises a deliverer born of a woman who will crush evil.
Right at the scene of the crime, grace appears holding a future in its hands—God announcing rescue before Adam can even explain himself.
What does this say to us? What’s a good takeaway? Even in judgment, God plants hope—the seed of redemption begins here. Actions have consequences. If I drop this cup, what will happen? It will smash and make a mess.
Is there any chance that won’t happen? No, unless one of you leaps up to catch it before it hits the ground. Shall we try that? Maybe not. Adam and Eve’s action of falling for the temptation, of succumbing to the words of the serpent, happened because it appealed to their pride to “be like God.”
Of course this was an attempt to bend the fabric of reality, to twist what is true, to live a lie. God, who does not want His creation live a lie, responds with justice—but also mercy. Even as He pronounces judgment, He plants hope.
Hope is the green shoot of Eden that keeps breaking through concrete centuries later in Bethlehem’s soil.
The conflict between the serpent and the seed points toward a future child, not just an idea. And this hope is not a philosophy, it's not an idea, it's not a program.
It is toward a future Child. A person, yet unborn.
II. The Promise to David — A King Whose Throne Will Never End
2 Samuel 7:12 … I will raise up your offspring to succeed you, your own flesh and blood, and I will establish his kingdom. 13 He is the one who will build a house for my Name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. 14 I will be his father, and he shall be my son… my love will never be taken away from him, as I took it away from Saul, whom I removed from before you. 16 Your house and your kingdom shall endure forever before me; your throne shall be established forever.
Here God continues with His plan. He covenants with King David that a son of his will reign forever.
Earthly kings come and go—Solomon, Rehoboam, the divided kingdom—but God’s promise stands.
Even when the crown tarnished and the palace crumbled, the covenant kept breathing; grace does not expire when structures fail.
The true Son of David will reign not from a palace but from a cross, and not from gold, but from wood.
Not crowned first with jewels, but with thorns. His crown will be of thorns before it is of glory.
This is the shocking beauty of redemption—that God transforms instruments of suffering into symbols of sovereignty.
And we have, from today’s reading:
Psalm 2: Why do the nations conspire and the peoples plot in vain? 2 The kings of the earth rise up and the rulers band together against the Lord and against his anointed… 6 “I have installed my king on Zion, my holy mountain.” 7 I will proclaim the Lord’s decree: He said to me, “You are my son; today I have become your father.”
The nations conspire and plot and rage, but the King has already been chosen. God’s sovereignty isn’t a reaction; it is a revelation, in line with God’s covenant with David.
Heaven never scrambles to improvise; the throne has been occupied since before time learned to tick.
This too is a prophecy about the coming Messiah. It also shows the nature of the relationship between God the Father and the King, the Messiah: You are my Son.
III. The Fulfilment of Time — The Seed and King Arrive
Fast forward a thousand years. The soil of prophecy, long watered by faith and waiting, finally breaks open. Paul writes: Galatians 4:4–5: “But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship.”
This is the Apostle Paul looking back and reflecting on prophecies fulfilled:
“When the set time had fully come, God sent His Son, born of a woman…” In the answers to prayer, and to prophecy,God’s timing is perfect.
The seed promised in Eden and the King promised to David converge in one Person.
The cradle in Bethlehem is where eternity met vulnerability, where prophecy put on skin and breathed among us.
Not an idea, not a metaphor—a birth. The divine becomes human to redeem the human.
This is the collision of heaven’s perfection with earth’s pain—and somehow love survives the impact.
This is the perfect synchronization of prophecy and incarnation—like threads drawn tight across centuries, meeting in the cradle of Bethlehem, where eternity took its first breath.
IV. The Angel’s Announcement — The Covenant Kept in Mary’s Child
Luke 1:30–33: “But the angel said to her, ‘Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God. You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.’”
The angel’s words to Mary echo in 2 Samuel 7: “He will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever.”
The announcement to Mary was not new information—it was the ancient promise reborn, the melody of Eden sung again in Nazareth.
The eternal throne now has a name: Jesus—the name which means “God saves. The King of glory enters history through humility.
The incarnation isn’t a suppliment to prophecy—it’s the heartbeat of it. It is the climax. God Himself steps into His own story.
The Reign of the Incarnate King
Because the King has come:
The serpent’s head is crushed—evil has an expiry date.
The covenant is kept—God’s promises stand unbroken.
The King’s reign is personal—He reigns not from afar but within us through His Spirit.
The incarnation, the birth of Jesus in human form, means that God is not distant, not even a little.
When we feel abandoned, it is not because God has left but because pain has muffled His nearness; Emmanuel still abides in the silence between our sighs.
That distance we sometimes feel isn’t real. Pain and emotion can blur our vision, but the truth is unchanged: God has drawn near—in Jesus, God with us.
Our emotions and our pain can trick us into thinking that God is far away or that He doesn’t care. But hear this and absorb this, please: God has drawn near to us in Jesus.
He has given us this massive heads-up, these messianic prophecies that we are just beginning to explore in this three-part series.
The heads-up is that since the beginning of humanity’s journey on this planet, God has had a plan. One plan. Not a plan A and a plan B if necessary.
And…the incarnation reveals that God is with us. He has come in the Christmas story to let us in on a wonderful secret that He never meant to be a secret: that He is with us, for us, and in us.
He’s come so close that He fills each of His followers with His Spirit, so that we are the temple of God.
1 Corinthians 3:16 says, “Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in your midst?”
This shows that God’s presence no longer rests in a building but among His people.
1 Corinthians 6:19–20 says, “Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honour God with your bodies.”
Each believer personally becomes a dwelling place of God’s Spirit.
John 14:16–17 records Jesus’ promise: “I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever—the Spirit of truth. … He lives with you and will be in you.”
God moves from being beside His people to being within them.
Ephesians 2:21–22 says, “In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.”
Together, the Church becomes the living temple of God’s presence.
So let me try to wrap this all up with a neat little bow:
The Promise Kept in Flesh and Blood
Genesis looked forward, David waited, the prophets longed, and Mary conceived.
Heaven touched earth — the eternal became infant.
The seed and the king are one and the same: Jesus, the Christ.
He will reign forever — and His kingdom will have no end.
“Genesis hoped, David believed, Mary received — and Jesus came.
And so with all this there comes an invitation. I’ve just given you a pretty intense introductory crash course on Messianic prophecy. How’s your brain? Sorry if that was a lot to process.
But the invitation is this: Will you let this King reign in you? Will King Jesus find in you a place to dwell by His Spirit?
Will you come to Jesus in faith, not necessarily grasping all the details I’ve given, but understanding that God has done all He has done in Scripture because He loves you;
He has done it all in order that we might believe, and in believing personally receive His promise to reign in you, in me.
That we might know that Jesus is the Messiah, that Jesus laid down His life on the cross for you and me, in order to fix what was broken in our relationship with God, in order to enable us to cross the chasm that separates humanity from God?
If this is what your heart longs for — peace with God, forgiveness, and new life — then pray with me.
Lord Jesus, I thank you that you are the promised king, the promised Messiah.
I thank you that you are, and you have revealed to me that you are the son of God.
I think you that you lay down your life for me upon the Cross, that you suffered in my place on the cross.
Lord Jesus, I repent of all that has kept me from you, my pride, my self-sufficiency, my sin. And I lay it down at the foot of your cross.
Come into my life, Lord Jesus. Fill me with your promised Holy Spirit.
Empower me to live faithfully for you. Strengthen my faith every day, and make me a light in this dark world.
I think you that you have saved me. I think you that my name is now written in heaven. In your perfect and Holy and matchless name, I pray.
