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Why should we remember Jesus Christ risen from the dead and royal? To begin, remembering is an important aspect of being human. Animals don’t record history or study it. They have no command to honor their father and mother. Animals lack the ability to contemplate and consider a command. They live by instinct. Few of them can learn and then it is only basic problem solving. Their memory serves their instincts. Our memory serves our moral person. It is the bank we draw from to make our ethical decisions. Like the Lord Jesus, we learn through what we suffer (Hebrews 5:8).

We Remember What Matters Most

We don’t remember everything, though. Who has the RAM for that? No, we remember the important things, don’t we? We remember things like birthdays, anniversaries, and partings. As a nation, we do the same thing. July 4th, 1776, is our nation’s birthday. Thanksgiving is an anniversary. November 22nd, 1963 (Kennedy Assassination), January 28th, 1986 (Challenger Shuttle Disaster), or 9/11/2001 are all partings.

The Apostles’ Fatherly Instruction

Those of us that are parents sometimes sit our kids down and say “This is important, mark this, remember this.” Most of the time we do this around life-changing events or mistakes we make, etc. The Apostles, as the first fathers in the faith trained by the Lord Jesus, use a fatherly tone with us in the Scriptures sometimes for the same reasons. Paul, in his final letter to Timothy, takes this tone with his son in the faith: “Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, the offspring of David, as preached in my gospel.”

Remember Jesus Christ: Risen from the Dead

Paul says, “Remember Jesus Christ (2:8a).” But what about Jesus Christ does he want us to remember? And why? First, “Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead (2:8b).” The resurrection is the first piece of important content we are told to remember. We are to place in our memories the truth that the Twelve Apostles, as well as James the Lord’s brother, the five hundred brothers who saw him at once, and the Apostle Paul who saw Him “out of time” all attest to the resurrection of Jesus Christ. All continued their witness until death themselves, even when faced with the specter of a gruesome one.

Resurrection and Divine Power in Peter

Further, their witness of Jesus’ resurrection was attended by the power of God. Like Jesus’ miracles affirm His Messianic claim, the Apostle’s miracles also affirm their testimony. In Acts 5 we see the power of God among the Twelve: “Now many signs and wonders were regularly done among the people by the hands of the apostles. And they were all together in Solomon’s Portico (Acts 5:12).” Peter is especially singled out as the leader of the Apostles: “so that they even carried out the sick into the streets and laid them on cots and mats, that as Peter came by at least his shadow might fall on some of them. 16 The people also gathered from the towns around Jerusalem, bringing the sick and those afflicted with unclean spirits, and they were all healed (Acts 5:15-16).“

Resurrection and Divine Power in Paul

We see the Apostles Paul affirmed in this way as well. “And God was doing extraordinary miracles by the hands of Paul, 12 so that even handkerchiefs or aprons that had touched his skin were carried away to the sick, and their diseases left them and the evil spirits came out of them (Acts 19:11-12).” Paul tells the Thessalonians that he knows that God “has chosen you, 5 because our gospel came to you not only in word but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction (1 Thessalonians 1:4-5).”

The Purpose of Divine Power

What role do these miraculous works of divine power play? They affirm the message. What message? That Jesus of Nazareth is the Messiah. John 10:24 the Jews say, “How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.” Jesus tells them plainly “I and the Father are one (John 10:29).” In response they pick up stones to stone. We shouldn’t blame them. It is a hard saying. Under normal circumstances, stoning is the right response for a man making Himself One with God. 

However, Jesus’ word is accompanied by miracles and those miracles witness to the truth of His message. “If I am not doing the works of my Father, then do not believe me; 38 but if I do them, even though you do not believe me, believe the works, that you may know and understand that the Father is in me and I am in the Father (John 10:37-38).”

The Resurrection is the greatest work of the Only Begotten Son. The greatest miracle. But we must put it into context. Jesus Christ is risen and royal. He must also be the son of David.

Remember Jesus Christ: Offspring of David

Why is the “offspring of David” something to remember? The answer is that God made a promise to King David. The king wanted to build God a permanent house in Israel. Six times in the Book of Deuteronomy God says that he is going to choose a place to make His “Name dwell (Deuteronomy 12:11, 14:3, 16:6, 2, 11 26:2).” He meant that when they entered the Promised Land they would begin to offer their corporate sacrifices and celebrate some of their festivals in Jerusalem on Mt. Zion. God would no more dwell in a tent, the Tabernacle. When they settled in their permanent land God would build for Himself a permanent house, the Temple. 

God’s Covenant with David

By 2 Samuel 7 David had pieced together that God was going to make a permanent house for Himself to replace the Tabernacle. That is what God meant when He said He would make His Name dwell there. So, David set his heart on preparing to build such a house. However, because he was a man of war with bloody hands, God would not allow him to build it. Instead, God told David that He would build David a House—meaning his family—and that one of his sons would build a House for God and a Kingdom of God on the Earth that would last forever.

When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. ¹³ He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. ¹⁴ I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son. When he commits iniquity, I will discipline him with the rod of men, with the stripes of the sons of men, ¹⁵ but my steadfast love will not depart from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away from before you. ¹⁶ And your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me.^[a] Your throne shall be established forever.’” ¹⁷ In accordance with all these words, and in accordance with all this vision, Nathan spoke to David. (2 Samuel 7:12–17)”

A Greater Son Than Solomon

Like us, they read, “When he commits iniquity, I will discipline him with the rod of men, with the stripes of the sons of men (2 Samuel 7:14b)” and immediately thought about King Solomon. But they also sensed more. That there was a Son of David yet to come, a greater Solomon. What do the people shout as Jesus rides into Jerusalem in the Triumphal Entry? “And the crowds that went before him and that followed him were shouting, “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest (Matthew 21:9)!” Six verses later, what is it that sets the chief priest’s teeth on edge? 

“But when the chief priests and the scribes saw the wonderful things that he did, and the children crying out in the temple, “Hosanna to the Son of David!” they were indignant, 16 and they said to him, “Do you hear what these are saying?” And Jesus said to them, “Yes; have you never read, “‘Out of the mouth of infants and nursing babies you have prepared praise’ (Matthew 21:15-16)?”

Bethlehem and the Son of David

Why do Matthew and Luke record Jesus’ lineage from David and His place of birth in Bethlehem, the City of David? Why does Herod kill all the children two years old and younger around Bethlehem? How does he know to send the wise men there as scouts to locate the King of Israel so he can murder Him?

Lion of Judah

The rabbis have connected Nathan’s prophecy in 2 Samuel 7:1–17 to Micah’s prophecy in Micah 5:2. They also saw echoes of an earlier prophecy: “The scepter not departing from Judah’s feet sounded an awful lot to them like an everlasting Kingship—which of course requires an everlasting Kingdom as a consequence (Genesis 49:9–10).”

The Dilemma of Lineage and Kingship

However, at this point in their history, how do you overcome the natural generation dilemma? Joseph, Jesus’ assumed earthly father, the rightful king of Israel, is a carpenter in Nazareth. He doesn’t even live in the land of Judea, which is the inheritance of the Tribe of Judah, his tribe. The Davidic Dynasty ended centuries ago. The Jews began to look for someone to come out of nowhere. One of the reasons that they reject Jesus as Messiah is because they knew where He was from: 

“Some of the people of Jerusalem therefore said, “Is not this the man whom they seek to kill? 26 And here he is, speaking openly, and they say nothing to him! Can it be that the authorities really know that this is the Christ? 27 But we know where this man comes from, and when the Christ appears, no one will know where he comes from (John 7:25–27).”

The Declaration of Jesus’ Identity

What happens, however, when you place: 

• The life of Jesus was filled with miracles and capped off by the greatest miracle of all, His Resurrection, His assumed father’s lineage, and his birthplace in Bethlehem. 
• Next to 2 Samuel 7’s Son of David, that establishes an everlasting kingdom” and Genesis 49’s Son of Judah that will never have the scepter depart from between His feet? You get Jesus Christ: Risen and Royal.

“Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, 2 which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy Scriptures, 3 concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh 4 and was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord, (Romans 1:1–4)” You can see it sandwiched there between Jesus’ lineage and His resurrection. Together, they declare Him the Only Begotten Son of God. 

Scripture Illuminated by the Resurrection

These truths together then act like a vortex that begins to suck in and explain the mystery passages of the Old Testament. Passages like Psalm 2:7-8, “I will tell of the decree: The Lord said to me, “You are my Son; today I have begotten you. 8 Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession.” How could God establish an eternal Kingdom? Through Jesus Christ: Risen and Royal, that’s how. God sent His Divine Son to build it. He sent someone a man who was not only David’s son but David’s Lord. “The Lord says to my Lord: ‘Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool (Psalm 110:1).'”

Conclusion: No Gospel Without the King

We must remember Jesus Christ, risen and royal because there is no Gospel unless Jesus meets the conditions to be the King of Israel. He is the Lion of Judah. The Son of David. He is the only resurrected.

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