Who In The World Is King? Series

Queen Victoria if England often expressed her wish that

Christ would return before she died so that she could cast her

crown at His feet. When she did die, her son Edward VII

ascended to the throne as king. He had been a rather wild

man in his younger years. A man by the name of John Knox

McEwen was concerned about the king enough to write him

a letter asking him if his majesty was born again in Christ.

He received a gracious reply in which the king said he was

the first man in all of England to express any concern for his

soul, and he gave a simple testimony of how he had, like his

mother, surrendered his heart and life to the King of kings.

John McEwen was 70 years old, and at 93 he was still telling

others of his letter from the king.

John the Apostle is also in his 90's as he tells us about his

letter, not from the king who bowed to the King of kings, but

from the King of kings before whom he bowed. John says in

verse 5 that Jesus is the ruler of kings on the earth.

The Hapsburg family once ruled half of Europe. Today,

only one Hapsburg still rules over the tiny land of

Leichenstein. It is a 61 square mile country, and is the 4th

smallest in the world. Jesus, however, has gone from a

carpenter who didn't even own a plot of ground to be buried

in to the ruler of kings on earth. You talk about a success

story. There is not another to match this one. We can think

of ourselves more highly than we ought, but we can never

exalt Jesus beyond what he is worthy. We too often do not

exalt Him to the place He should rightly have in our minds

and hearts.

If a hunter got out of a car and asked you to do

something, you would not respond with the same enthusiasm

as you would if a ruler or dignitary asked you for service.

The higher the authority the more we respond, and that is

why it is important to stress the Lordship and Kingship of

Christ. It is easy to see why the world does not acknowledge

Jesus as King. Jesus is a total mystery to the world, and His

success story is beyond their comprehension. Helen Kramer

expressed it so well in her play titled For Heaven's Sake.

Two well dressed business men with attache cases meet in a

bar. One has just been handed a track with the title Carry

Christ Into Your Work. He looks at it and sings this song of

bewilderment.

"He was a flop at 33! His whole career was one of failure and

of loss, But the thing that so distressful Is He could have

been successful, But instead of climbing up, He climbed a

cross!

He was a flop at 33! He jumped from carpentry to preaching

to the mob. He never was adjusted So He spent His whole

life busted,

And He never got promoted on the job!

He never saved a single cent,

And Dun and Broadstreet wouldn't list Him on their list,

He could not establish credit And you might as well be dead

At 33 as have your credit not exist!

He spent His time with fisher folk,

When there were more important contacts to be made.

He would contemplate on flowers And ignore the cocktail

hours.

Its no wonder that He never made the grade!

Now you and I have never flopped,

And yet our names are never dropped

The way that they've been dropping His since He's been

dead!

We've fought our way to the top.

We're both established as successful men of worth,

So the thing that puzzles me,

Is why that flop at 33

Is called the most successful man to live on earth?"

It is easy to see why Jesus is a mystery to the world. But it

is hard to grasp why even Christians sometimes ignore or

deny the Kingship of their Lord. Many commentators just

skip over these words of verse 5 like they are a mere minor

matter of no great significance. John says that Jesus is three

things here. He is the Faithful Witness, the first born from

the dead, and the Ruler of kings on the earth. The first two

are handled quite well by most commentators, but the third

one is so radical and shocking in all of its implications that

men are afraid to look at it honestly. Many just skip over it

in embarrassment. The Living Bible robs it of its force by

saying, "He is far greater than any king in all the earth." That

is a weak translation, for John says, "He is the ruler of