God With Us…In Our Struggles
December 11/12, 2021
Tim Doherty

No matter how dark or evil things get, no matter how difficult our struggle, we can have hope and we can offer hope, because God is with us. We are going to see again that there is hope. --But likely not in the way we think.

Promise to David:

A story of Good kings, Evil kings ... The LORD was willing to endure temporary evil because he knew His plan, that one day He would end evil, without ending us.

A GOOD KING: Hezekiah
· ____________________________________________
· Hezekiah battled evil by getting on His knees before God:
Then Hezekiah prayed before the Lord:
Lord God of Israel, enthroned between the cherubim, you are God — you alone — of all the kingdoms of the earth. You made the heavens and the earth. Listen closely, Lord, and hear; open your eyes, Lord, and see. Hear the words that Sennacherib has sent to mock the living God. Lord, it is true that the kings of Assyria have devastated the nations and their lands. They have thrown their gods into the fire, for they were not gods but made by human hands — wood and stone. So they have destroyed them. Now, Lord our God, please save us from his power so that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you, Lord, are God — you alone. II Kings 19:15-19 CSB
· God will fulfill His promises!

Just when it seems that evil is winning, God puts a stop to it. But not in the way we might think.
· The word through Jeremiah: _____________________
· The problem: ____________________________

Has evil won? NO.
· Matthew traces the ____________ line of kings, passing on the right to be king to the son, and the next son and the next .... all the way from David to Jesus. Along the way a whole lot gets pretty screwed up, pretty off-course. A lot of harm is done to a lot of people, and at many points life in the nation is anything but healthy. As a consequence for Jeconiah, his blood line would not flow all the way to that promised King “who would reign forever.”
· But that did not mean that God was out of options! Because there was another son of David; there was another line of descendants that would lead to—a daughter. - It’s not a line of kings. It’s just a long line of ordinary people whose names are in another geneology (Luke 3). THAT line leads to Mary, mother of Jesus. THAT’s the ____________ line from David to Jesus.

And so the LORD accomplishes two things:
· evil is judged.
· the LORD’s promise to David is fulfilled

Jesus is God with Us--God who steps into the middle of the mess and the struggle. No matter how bad it seems, no matter how bad it gets — God fulfills His promises because _______.

Jesus, the Son of David, THE Good King, DID come. We have HOPE in Jesus and in his promises to us!