From “How to become a Christian”: Chapter 9 – God’s dilemma and the plan He made to solve it
Everything that God did during the time of the Old Testament was directed towards the coming of His Son to be the Messiah and to establish a Kingdom. This would make all the other kingdoms in this world seem small and insignificant by comparison. In fact, God’s intention all along was to tear down those other kingdoms and put them all under the authority of His Son, Jesus Christ:
20The word of the Lord came a second time to Haggai on the twenty-fourth day of the month, 21“Speak to Zerubbabel, governor of Judah, saying, I am about to shake the heavens and the earth, 22and to overthrow the throne of kingdoms. I am about to destroy the strength of the kingdoms of the nations, and overthrow the chariots and their riders. And the horses and their riders shall go down, every one by the sword of his brother.
Haggai 2:20-22 (ESV)
Everything that Jesus did and also everything He is going to do needs to be seen in the context of Him being a King who has a Kingdom. In fact, He is the King of Kings and His Kingdom is going to be perfect and eternal. We cannot say that of any other King or Kingdom that this world has ever known:
Thy kingdom is an everlasting kingdom,
Psalm 145:13 (RSV)
and thy dominion endures throughout all generations
So, even the things that God did long ago when He established the nation of Israel and later the royal line of David, were all being done to set the scene for the first coming of the King of Kings and for the establishing of His Kingdom. At His first coming Jesus died for us. At His second coming He will return to the earth to take up His position as King. He is going to overturn the ungodly kingdoms of this world and to replace them with His own Kingdom.
