Christ Our Universal King

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.