The LORD’s Zeal for Christ’s Kingdom - a podcast by Rev. W. Reid Hankins

Sermon preached on Isaiah 9:1-7 by Rev. W. Reid Hankins during the Christmas Eve Service at Trinity Presbyterian Church (OPC) on 12/24/2021.















Sermon Manuscript







We’ve seen Isaiah prophetically announce Christmas in advance. His oracles especially emphasize the kingdom and kingship of the coming Messiah who would be born into this world. It is that kingdom I would like to further consider from this verse of Isaiah 9:7. Isaiah 9:7, “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. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this.” There are three things I’d like to point out about this kingdom that this baby Jesus would ultimately usher in. It is an abundant kingdom. It is a kingdom of peace. And it is a kingdom that will never end.







First then, Isaiah foretells the abundance of this kingdom. This is what the word “increase” in the Hebrew means here. It is a word that means abundance. It speaks of the great magnitude and wide breadth of the kingdom. The Greek translation (LXX) translated it as “greatness”. In other words, in English we might hear the word increase and think it refers to ongoing growth, as if to mean Christ’s kingdom will just always be expanding bigger and bigger. But the Hebrew seems to be better understood as referring to the fact that his kingdom will be big and abundant. In other words, it seems to be describing how the final outcome of Christ’s kingdom will be huge and expansive. The NASB translates it as “His dominion is vast”.







Think about this from the Old Testament vantage point, from the heights of David’s kingdom. This prophecy speaks about how Jesus will enjoy the kingdom of his forefather David. Under David and then Solomon, the kingdom was pretty expansive, in a relative sense. Compared to other kings of Israel, the kingdom of God’s people reached its geographical heights under David and Solomon. This was in fulfillment to God’s promises to Abraham, patriarch of Israel. God had promised Abraham and his offspring wide reaching geographical borders in the land of Canaan. Such was enjoyed under King David and especially King Solomon. And so, when Isaiah prophesies that the Messiah’s kingdom will be abundant, it will certainly not be less expansive than in David and Solomon’s days.







Yet, what we find in additional prophecy, is that the expansiveness of Jesus’ kingdom will actually be significantly larger. For example, Daniel 2 speaks of how the Messianic kingdom will grow to fill the whole earth. And in Daniel 7, it speaks of how the Messianic kingdom will break apart all the kingdoms of this world and be over all. And so additional prophecy tells us that Jesus’ kingdom is so expansive and vast that it will be worldwide.







And yet, Jesus would also later tell us an additional aspect of the abundance of his kingdom. He would say that his kingdom is not of this world, and that is why his disciples don’t use physical swords to fight for his kingdom here. That is an amazing and wonderful revelation. Jesus’ kingdom is a heavenly one that transcends the kingdoms of this creation. Before Jesus left this earth to return to heaven, he said he was going to prepare a place for us and would come back to bring us to that place. Then in the book of Revelation we are told that such would come to pass at the end, when God makes new heavens and a new earth, that then Jesus would usher in a New Jerusalem out of heaven and place it down here on a new earth. There, we will reign with Jesus in his kingdom which will be a kingdom that is worldwide in that new creation. This is the full extent of the vast and abounding kingdom that Isaiah speaks of here.

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