JESUS AS KING

Pilate therefore said to Him, “Are You a king then?” Jesus answered, “You say rightly that I am a king. For this cause I was born, and for this cause I have come into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice.”  (John 18:37 NKJV)

 Our Lords royalty is suggested by the opening paragraphs of Matthew's gospel, which emphasizes His descent from David; the wise men asked for Him who is born King of the Jews, and Herod feared His rivalry. All through the gospel narrative, stress is constantly laid on the fact that He was King of the Jews and King of Israel, and it ends with the regal claim that all power and authority in heaven and earth had been entrusted to Him.

Jesus never abated His claim to kingship, but always made it clear that His ideal was very different from that which was current among the Jews. His conception of royalty was borrowed from Psalm 72:4, where the King is said to judge the poor of the people, and save the children of the needy. It was the collision between His idea of kingship and that of the Pharisees, which brought Him to the cross.

For us the lesson is clear. We must begin with the recognition of the royal claims of Christ to our respect and obedience. He only becomes Savior, in the fullest meaning of the word, when He has been enthroned as King in our hearts. With invariable precision He is described, first as Prince, then as Savior, and that order cannot be altered without injury to our soul life (Acts 5:31; Romans 10:9; Hebrews 7:2). The whole content of the New Testament is altered when we view the royalty of Christ as the chief cornerstone, not only of that structure, but of the edifice of character.

Let's not be afraid of Christ as king. He is meek and lowly, and full of understanding of the problems of our life. He shared our life, and was so poor that He had to trust in the kind offices of a friend to supply His physical needs, and in the palm branches of the peasant crowd for His palace and the carpeting of His royal procession; but as we watch it pass, the lowly triumph swells in proportions until it represents the whole race of mankind; and the generations that preceded His advent, and those that follow, sweep down the ages of human history, proclaiming and acclaiming Christ as King. (Revelation 15:3-4).

PRAYER

Father God may our hearts overflow with good thoughts so that our mouth may speak of our King. While we adore Him as wonderful may He become to us the Prince of Peace. Enable us to put the government of our lives upon His shoulder and of His government and of our peace let there be no end. In His name, Jesus, I ask these things, AMEN.

God's Daily Promise

Promise #362:
My Son has made you to be a kingdom of priests to be with Me forever.

Revelation 1:5-6 (WEB)
5 and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To him who loves us, and washed us from our sins by his blood; 6 and he made us to be a Kingdom, priests to his God and Father; to him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen.