Christ our universal King
Text: Daniel 7:9-10, 13-14; Rev. 1:4b-8; John 18:33-37
There are not many kingdoms in the world today and the kings of the remaining few have lost practically all the power and authority that kings used to have. These days it is sometimes very difficult to recognise a king because very often they dress and behave just like every one else. There is a story about the king of one of the monarchies in Europe. On a trip through his kingdom, he decided to spend one Sunday in Church, went to a small Church alone, sat down quietly and began to pray. A woman who claimed that he was occupying her seat interrupted him and told him to move somewhere else. He quietly moved to another pew without saying a word and sat down again. At the end of the service the minister announced the presence of the king and asked him to say a few words. That woman must have felt really embarrassed - not because she did not recognise the king but because of the way she had treated him. Many of us find ourselves behaving in the same way when relating to Christ. We not only fail to recognise Him as our King but we often treat Him with disrespect. Just as the Jews failed to recognise Christ because He did not act and behave in the way they wanted Him to so many of us today fail to recognise Him because He does not fit our idea of a king. The way we treat Christ does not change the truth that He is the King of kings since truth is not subject to the opinions of men. The truth remains the truth no matter how we view it. The truth is that Christ came into the world to bear witness to the truth about God, about Himself, the Holy Spirit, man, sin, salvation and all that man needs to know. The truth is that Christ is our universal King.
The Bible clearly teaches us that God has ordained Jesus Christ to be the king of the whole world. It reveals God’s plan of redemption to save the human race by sending a Saviour and King into the world. Israel became a nation to fulfil God’s purpose and all the prophecies about the coming king were fulfilled in Christ. At His baptism the heavens were opened and the Spirit of God descended on him like a dove and God pronounced Him ‘His beloved Son’. It is unimaginable that a king like Caesar would be obeyed more than Jesus Christ. Pilate recognised Caesar as a king and served and obeyed him totally. But he failed to recognise the King of Kings and had Him treated worse than a criminal. The prevalent idea of a king today, even in some Churches, is someone with power and authority to do what we want. This idea is completely opposite to that of those who lived during the time of the Christ, during the time of the Roman Empire. Then the idea of a king was someone with power and authority to do what he wanted. Caesar wanted to be the only one to be called a king and to call someone else a king was punishable by death. He had people like Pilate to enforce his will. He had to rely on human beings and military strength to impose his power and authority. Christ, however, is the King of Kings because He has been given all power and authority in heaven and on earth. He created and sustains all things by His powerful Word and He exerts the greatest influence in the history of the world. His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and His kingdom the one which shall not be destroyed. Everything depends on Him and this is why time is calculated from the day of His birth. He is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end, who is and who was and who is to come.
A worldly king has power and authority and is able to enforce obedience using human strength and human weapons. The King of kings, however, has power and authority, which is not derived from the world but from God. This power and authority is not to be exercised in the way that the world exercises power. It is exercised by loving and caring for people the way Jesus did. Jesus healed many who were sick, cast out demons and performed many miracles to show that He is the long awaited Messiah. He exercised His power by serving others, by forgiving others, by healing others, by giving to others and by sacrificing Himself for others. His power is the power of truth, the power of faith, the power of hope, the power of love and the power of life itself. All these point to His sovereignty and should convince us to accept and acknowledge Christ as our King? If Christ our King were to visit us would we continue doing the same things we always do? Would we continue saying the things we always say? Would we take Him with us everywhere we had planned to go? Or, would we, perhaps, change our plans for just a day or so? Would we be glad to have Him meet our closest friends? Or would we hope they would stay away until His visit ends? Would we be glad to have Him stay on forever? Or would we sigh with relief when he leaves? It would be interesting to know what we would do if Jesus Christ came in person to spend some time with us. Many of us take a lot of things about Jesus for granted. We say He is our King but we do not treat Him as such.
We can only enjoy peace, prosperity, and God’s blessings when Christ is our King. He sacrificed Himself for us on the cross and this should be reason enough for us to trust and accept Him as our King. He then forgives our sins, forgets them, breaks the power of sin and gives us the gift of the Holy Spirit as members of His Kingdom. The King has a Kingdom. We can belong to this Kingdom when we accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Saviour. Christ then actually comes to live in us. This is not accepting a religion or a philosophy but accepting a person, the King of kings, Jesus Christ. When we accept Christ as Lord He forgives our sins and reconciles us to God, thus saving us from the penalty of sin.
Salvation is not something we do, but something Jesus does for us. We cannot save ourselves any more that a drowning man can save himself. We are saved so that we can have a relationship with God. This relationship enables us to enjoy the enormous blessings of God. Without this relationship we miss out on God’s blessings. We can only enter the kingdom of God when we are ‘born of the Spirit of God’. Jesus explained what this means using the birth of a child as an illustration. A baby has no knowledge or contact with the outside world before it is born; in the same way every individual who has not been born of the Spirit of God has no knowledge or contact with God, or with the things of heaven and eternity. Before the birth of a baby, it is alive, has all the potentials of life, but does not have the ability to use them. It has eyes but cannot see, ears but cannot hear, and a mouth but cannot speak. God has always desired to fellowship and communicate with us and He makes us alive in the Spirit so that we can see and hear Him. We have another eyesight lying dormant in each one of us, waiting to be turned on by the Spirit of God. We have the ability to hear God through spiritual ears. He wants to talk to us and for us to talk to Him and this is only possible when God breathes His Spirit into us when we receive Jesus as our King. Imagine if two unborn babies could communicate with one another and one said to the other, “I don’t believe what I have heard about this life after birth.” To us that would seem ridiculous because we know about all the tremendous possibilities that lie before a young life as it is born into the world. But the same thing is true of spiritual life. Our spiritual life with Jesus as our King offers us tremendous possibilities but it requires that we are born of the Spirit of God and that we sacrifice our will to do the will of God. Jesus wants all of us to lead spiritual lives. He wants us to allow Him to rule our lives. Pilate allowed Jesus to be crucified with the words ‘King of the Jews’ written above his head in three different languages. Pilate himself did not believe what he had caused to be written. Are we like Pilate calling Jesus king and yet act as if we do not believe it? Is Jesus really your King? We need to believe and accept Christ as our universal King.
Belonging to Christ frees us from the fear of death and the Devil and enables us to step into a new dimension of living. This new life makes us see things with a new perspective and enables us to walk in the victory and freedom of Christ. This new life enables us to see the goodness of the Lord. It puts an end to our selfishness and puts a desire in our hearts to help others receive the same blessings we have received. Not only do we have a new life we also have a new awareness of eternal realities. God becomes so real that we can talk to Him and hear Him speak to us. He makes us aware that He has provided a map and a guide to help us. He makes us see the need to study the map, the Bible, which contains all the wonderful promises of God that now belong to us as His children. He also makes us see the need to spend time with our constant companion and guide, the Holy Spirit.
A little baby receives from its parents the nature and character of the family. That nature will develop as the child continues to grow. Many physical traits soon appear, eye, skin and hair colour. Bone size and height take a longer time to develop, but the image of the family can be readily seen. Sometimes we hear the remark “this child is truly the picture of the parents.” The same is true in the family of God. Being born into God’s family, means receiving the life and nature of Christ. We too are to develop into His image. The nature and character of His life is to grow in us as we grow in Him. Our divine destiny is to become like Jesus. We are to become like Him in our behaviour, in our way of speaking and in our way of doing things. We are to develop His character, which is the fulfilment of His New Covenant with His people. There is a story of a Jewish Rabbi who died of a heart attack after being informed that his son had become a Christian. In an interview with Peter he was asked what was so bad about being a Christian that he should have a heart attack. He replied that he, Peter, would never understand if it did not happen to him. Peter told him that it had happened to God and that His only Son also became a Christian. The Rabbi was now interested and asked what God did about it. Peter replied ‘He wrote a New Testament’. God has made available all that we need to live in His Kingdom. This Kingdom is real, it is present, and it makes demands on us. It calls us to obedience, to faith, and to love. It calls us to reflect the character of Christ.
Even though Jesus preached the truth about God and did a lot of good work, the rulers of Israel did not accept Him as their king. Because He attracted a large gathering and His teachings exposed their hypocrisy they became jealous and planned to get rid of Him. They did this by accusing Him of rebelling against Caesar by making Himself a king and forced Pilate to order His crucifixion. His death and resurrection, however, and the success of the disciples in spreading the gospel to the whole world in the past two thousand years prove that Jesus is the King of kings. Millions and billions of people have believed in Him and Christians all over the world are now honouring Him as their king. His teachings have brought about social justice and equality to many people and societies. The cross on which He suffered has become the symbol of comfort, hope and victory to the whole world. Are you enjoying these benefits? Is Jesus Christ your King? The only way to come before a King is by invitation. We can, however, always come before the King of kings because of an eternal transaction that took place on the cross on our behalf. Jesus Christ paid the price for our sin by taking our place. He was punished that we might be forgiven and have peace with God. The best way we can show our gratitude is to accept the One who saved us as our Lord. This is illustrated in the story of an orphaned boy, living with his grandmother. The grandmother died in the flames of a fire that destroyed their home as she tried to get upstairs to rescue the boy. A man who heard the boy’s cry for help climbed an iron drainpipe and came back down with the boy hanging tightly to his neck. Several months later, a public hearing was held to determine who would receive custody of the child. A farmer, a teacher, and a rich man all gave reasons why they felt they should be chosen to give the boy a home. The boy showed no interest in the proceedings at all and kept his eyes focused on the floor. Then a stranger walked to the front and slowly took his hands from his pocket, revealing horrible scars on them. As everyone looked at him in horror the boy suddenly got up and run towards him. This was the man who had saved his life burning his hands when he climbed the hot pipe. With a leap of joy the boy threw his arms around the man’s neck and held on to him. The other men silently walked away, leaving the boy and his rescuer alone. Those marred hands had settled the issue. This is what Christ our King did for us. He rescued us from a life overwhelmed by sin, under the control of Satan, and heading for the well-deserved judgement of God. His nail-pierced hands remind us of how He rescued us from sin and its deadly consequences. The king has rescued each one of us. The scars in his hands speak of His love for us. But we have to make a decision. Like the orphaned boy whom would you entrust your life to? There are many who want us but there is only one who can bring us the forgiveness, purpose and peace we need. He is Christ our universal King. Let us for a moment think about these words “Lord, remember me when You come into Your kingdom”. The condemned criminal who spoke these words acknowledged Christ to be a King. He believed that the King had a kingdom and he wanted to be included in that kingdom. He was assured of his inclusion in that kingdom with the words “Assuredly, today you will be with me in Paradise.” Today our decision can determine our eternal destiny. Let us speak to the Lord and accept Christ as our universal King so that we can be assured of a place in His Kingdom. Amen!
