Advent Trail December 13th - Luke 1:33

He will reign over Jacob’s descendants for ever; his kingdom will never end. (Luke 1:33)

Gabriel’s announcement that God will give to Mary’s child “the throne of his father David” is followed by two further statements which underline that kingship. Jacob, the grandson of Abraham, was one of the Patriarchs of the nation of Israel, from whom the Messiah would come, as we read on Day 2 (Isaiah 11:1-3). But the kingdom promised to David’s descendant would not be a passing earthly sovereignty but “a kingdom that shall endure for ever” (2 Sam.7:16).

The baby who will be born to Mary is this king who will bring about God’s eternal kingdom. And so this was the message preached both by John the Baptist as he prepared the way for the Messiah and then by Jesus himself at the very start of his ministry: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near” (Matt.3:2; Matt.4:17).

“I must preach the good news of the kingdom of God”, said Jesus, “because that is why I was sent” (Luke 4:43). Jesus had a profound sense of where he had come from and of why he had come. God had sent him to save people from the kingdom of darkness and to transfer them into his own kingdom through the forgiveness of sins (Col.1:13-14). In response to this, he calls us to “repent and believe the good news” (Mark 1:15).