If we tap open our smart phones, we can click headlines and scroll unending content about wars, famine, and injustice. Reel after reel in the palm of our hands highlights the sorrow of people ruled by sin-ruled leaders. This is the way it is. Earthly rulers are human, and power corrupts even the most noble among us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Even David, the man after God\u2019s own heart, was not a perfect ruler. Even David, the young boy whom Samuel the prophet anointed (1Samuel 16:1), the worshipping shepherd, slaying lion and bear to protect his sheep (1Samuel 17:34\u201336). Even David, the budding warrior with faith larger than all the armies of Israel that slung a pebble right into the head of Goliath (1Samuel 17). Even David, the one the story of God seems to set up as the perfect earthly ruler. Even David would turn from righteousness, take a man\u2019s wife and lay with her, and then kill the honorable husband to try to cover his sin (2Samuel 11).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Earthly rulers cannot rule with perfect hearts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Even so, God blessed David. Not because He knew David would be perfect (God knew David would not) but because God had a perfect plan for David\u2019s line\u2014from the descendants of David, God would raise someone to rule on the throne of David forever (2Samuel 7:16).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This \u201cshoot from the stump of Jesse\u201d would come with wisdom, understanding, justice, might, righteousness, and faithfulness (Isaiah 11:1\u20135). This king would be unlike all others. This ruler would be the perfect redeemer of Israel\u2014and of the world\u2014to all who will believe (John 1:12\u201313).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But when Jesus came at first, His kingdom did not rule in the way we would expect. At His first advent, the King reigned as a humble, suffering servant (Isaiah 53). He led as a teacher, healer, and friend (Matthew 5:1, Luke 8:26\u201339, John 15:15). He ruled as our sacrifice for sin and our redeemer in His resurrection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This is our King.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Unfortunately, we are still ruled by earthly powers until Jesus comes back. Difficult bosses, complicated medical insurance that keeps you from vital treatment, unjust laws.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Where in your life are you longing for righteous leadership?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I think the message of the first advent of Christ is vital for our lives today as we await His return to make all things new (Revelation 21:5). Our hearts long for justice and truth to reign more than agendas and power grabs. Real people suffer and we cry out, \u201cHow long, oh Lord?\u201d And then we say with a release of breath, \u201cCome, Lord Jesus, come. As it was in the first advent, may it be in our time. Come, and bring your light.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
If we tap open our smart phones, we can click headlines and scroll unending content about wars, famine, and injustice. Reel after reel in the palm of our hands highlights the sorrow of people ruled by sin-ruled leaders. This is the way it is. Earthly rulers are human, and power corrupts even the most noble […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":89,"featured_media":72672,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[307],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-73037","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-advent25"],"acf":{"hero_background_image":false,"related_plans":[72991],"weekly_truth":false,"grace_day":false,"share_text":"#SheReadsTruth","devotional_text":"THE RIGHTEOUS KING WILL COME<\/b>
\r\nby Seana Scott<\/i>
\r\n
If we tap open our smart phones, we can click headlines and scroll unending content about wars, famine, and injustice. Reel after reel in the palm of our hands highlights the sorrow of people ruled by sin-ruled leaders. This is the way it is. Earthly rulers are human, and power corrupts even the most noble among us.<\/p>
\r\n
Even David, the man after God\u2019s own heart, was not a perfect ruler. Even David, the young boy whom Samuel the prophet anointed (1Samuel 16:1), the worshipping shepherd, slaying lion and bear to protect his sheep (1Samuel 17:34\u201336). Even David, the budding warrior with faith larger than all the armies of Israel that slung a pebble right into the head of Goliath (1Samuel 17). Even David, the one the story of God seems to set up as the perfect earthly ruler. Even David would turn from righteousness, take a man\u2019s wife and lay with her, and then kill the honorable husband to try to cover his sin (2Samuel 11).<\/p>
\r\n
Earthly rulers cannot rule with perfect hearts.<\/p>
\r\n
Even so, God blessed David. Not because He knew David would be perfect (God knew David would not) but because God had a perfect plan for David\u2019s line\u2014from the descendants of David, God would raise someone to rule on the throne of David forever (2Samuel 7:16).<\/p>
\r\n
This \u201cshoot from the stump of Jesse\u201d would come with wisdom, understanding, justice, might, righteousness, and faithfulness (Isaiah 11:1\u20135). This king would be unlike all others. This ruler would be the perfect redeemer of Israel\u2014and of the world\u2014to all who will believe (John 1:12\u201313).<\/p>
\r\n
But when Jesus came at first, His kingdom did not rule in the way we would expect. At His first advent, the King reigned as a humble, suffering servant (Isaiah 53). He led as a teacher, healer, and friend (Matthew 5:1, Luke 8:26\u201339, John 15:15). He ruled as our sacrifice for sin and our redeemer in His resurrection.<\/p>
\r\n
This is our King.<\/p>
\r\n
Unfortunately, we are still ruled by earthly powers until Jesus comes back. Difficult bosses, complicated medical insurance that keeps you from vital treatment, unjust laws.<\/p>
\r\n
Where in your life are you longing for righteous leadership?<\/p>
\r\n
I think the message of the first advent of Christ is vital for our lives today as we await His return to make all things new (Revelation 21:5). Our hearts long for justice and truth to reign more than agendas and power grabs. Real people suffer and we cry out, \u201cHow long, oh Lord?\u201d And then we say with a release of breath, \u201cCome, Lord Jesus, come. As it was in the first advent, may it be in our time. Come, and bring your light.\u201d<\/p>","share_image_height":"640","day_number":"10","scripture":"1 Samuel 16:1, 2 Samuel 7:8-16, Isaiah 11:1-5, Zechariah 9:9-10, Revelation 22:16","available":true,"ad_banner_name":"","ad_banner_image":false,"ad_banner_url":"","songs":"","key_verse":"","key_verse_reference":"","background_image":false,"background_color":"#FBF7F3","scripture_references":false,"share_image":false,"author_name":"","author_bio":"","guest_social_media":false,"show_ad":true,"ad_override":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73037","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/89"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=73037"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73037\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/72672"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=73037"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=73037"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=73037"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}