- [Jon] The story of the Bible begins
in a place where Heaven and Earth are united as one,
the Garden of Eden.
- [Tim] And in that place, God installs his image,
Adam and Eve, who will be God's royal priests,
and rule all creation on God's behalf,
and this whole scenario is called God's blessing.
- [Jon] But they're led astray by a deceptive creature,
and they're exiled from the Heaven-on-Earth place
and lose their job as royal priests,
and humanity spirals down into violence.
- [Tim] But God promises that a future descendant
will come and defeat that deceiver
by striking his head while also giving up his life
so that all the world can experience
the blessing of Eden again.
- [Jon] This promise is passed on
to Abraham and his family
from whom this royal priest will come,
and this family grows and becomes a large people.
- [Tim] And so God invites all of Abraham's family
to become a kingdom of priests.
God will come and live among them in the tabernacle,
and that's where Israel's priests will do their work.
- [Jon] But that priesthood
gets off to a horrible start.
- [Tim] Yeah, and so when Israel
eventually becomes a nation,
their priesthood has become really corrupt,
and so the people start asking for a king.
- [Jon] And eventually, God raises up David.
- [Tim] King David.
And he's full of trust in Israel's God.
In fact, with God's help,
he defeats Israel's most powerful enemy.
- [Jon] All without proper weapons and without an army.
- [Tim] Now, not long after becoming king,
David goes up into the high hills
at the center of Israel's tribes
and he establishes a capitol city, Jerusalem,
otherwise known as Zion or the city of David.
And it's like a new Eden.
- [Jon] This is the same hilltop Abraham visited.
It's where he met Melchizedek
and it's where God provided a substitute sacrifice
for Abraham's failures.
- [Tim] Exactly.
And so David brings the tabernacle up into the city
so he can make this the place of God's royal presence.
- [Jon] And during the inauguration,
David's dancing with excitement.
- [Tim] Not only that,
he deliberately dresses like Israel's high priest.
And once the tabernacle arrives,
he offers a sacrifice
and makes this huge feast for all of the people
and he blesses them.
- [Jon] King David is acting like a new kind of priest.
- [Tim] Yes.
And God approves.
In fact, in the next story,
God promises that from David's line
will come a king who will reign forever
and build the ultimate new Eden,
a temple for God's presence.
- [Jon] David talks about this descendant to come
in a poem we call Psalm 110.
- [Tim] Yeah, David recalls God's promise
that one of his descendants will rule at God's right hand.
And he goes on to say that this future king will
be a priest like Melchizedek.
- [Jon] Yeah, Melchizedek, he's a priest king
that even Abraham honored.
Melchizedek's priesthood is older than Israel's priesthood.
- [Tim] Exactly.
- [Jon] But why can't David be that royal priest?
- [Tim] Well, David was pretty amazing sometimes,
but he also failed.
He slept with the wife of one of his soldiers
and then, in order to hide the whole affair,
he had that man killed.
- [Jon] That's horrible.
- [Tim] It is.
And his failures actually continued,
leading up to this key moment where Israel's enemies
were threatening to attack.
And sadly, David doesn't trust God
to deliver him like he did in his early days.
- [Jon] Right.
He counts all of his soldiers.
He's trusting his own power instead of trusting God.
- [Tim] And so God's not happy.
He brings severe consequences on Israel.
And David responds by surrendering to God
and by offering his life as a substitute sacrifice
on behalf of the people.
- [Jon] That's like Moses who offered himself
for the sins of people.
- [Tim] And it's like Isaac,
who was offered up for Abraham's sins,
but then God provided a substitute.
- [Jon] I see.
So there is a pattern here.
- [Tim] Right.
And it's this pattern that leads us to the story of Jesus.
He claimed to be the promised royal priest
that the story is pointing to,
the one who will bring the blessings of Eden
and restore humans to their lost calling,
to fulfill God's promises to Abraham and David.
And it's his story that we will look at next.
(gentle music)