King of Kings and Lord of Lords: A Sermon for Christ the King Sunday
1 Timothy 6:13–16 NKJV
I urge you in the sight of God who gives life to all things, and before Christ Jesus who witnessed the good confession before Pontius Pilate, that you keep this commandment without spot, blameless until our Lord Jesus Christ’s appearing, which He will manifest in His own time, He who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone has immortality, dwelling in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see, to whom be honor and everlasting power. Amen.
Today is Christ the King Sunday on the Christian calendar in which we remember that Christ is not only Savior but King as well. The celebration arose because the Kingship of Christ was being subjugated to the role of Jesus Christ in redeeming us from sin. It has gone so far in the some corners of the Church that some feel that making Christ one’s Lord is optional. One must accept Christ as Savior. It would be good to accept Him as Lord as well but not essential. But what does the Scripture say about this? There have been many books written on this subject which time would not permit this morning to discuss in detail. So, this morning, I want to zero in on one of the texts which talk about the Kingship of Christ. We will look at 1 Timothy 6:13-16 this morning.
Paul wrote this first letter to Timothy near the end of his life. He may have written others to Timothy besides the two we have in the Bible, but the Lord caused these to be recorded for us to overhear. In this epistle as in the Epistle to Titus, Paul is concerned in maintaining the church and provide for its continuation before the return of Christ, however long that might be. He talks about the qualifications for church leaders (elders). He is concerned that sound doctrine be passed down to the next generation of the church. He is interested in the moral conduct of the members of the church. He wished to establish a means of government to provide for the order of the church.
After telling Timothy of these things, he goes on to solemnly charge Timothy to keep what Paul had commanded him. He does this in the presence of God the Creator of all things and Jesus christ who witnessed the good confession before Jesus Christ. God, as Creator owns the universe. It is His and not ours. This implies the right of being King of the Universe as well. He is not just ruler over the church or even the Earth, but the Cosmos. The second part of the charge is interesting. Why does He mention Christ’s confession before Pilate? When we look at this in the Gospel of John we see that part of the dialog between Jesus and Pilate concerned the nature of Christ’s claim to Kingship. He tells Pilate that He is a King, but that His Kingship is not of this world. (John 18:36) He is not a king like Caesar. The problem among the Jews is that Caesar was the type of king they really wanted. this goes back to the Book of 1 Samuel when Israel asked Samuel for a king just like the other nations. (1 Samuel 8) They did not want God to rule over them. This is why before Pilate they would solemnly confess that they had no king but Caesar. (John 19:15) They did not want Jesus to be their king. Their views on Jesus soured soon after He fed the 5000. They numbered the men for battle and were about to take action. they tried to seize Jesus and make Him king. But instead of taking this crown, he sent His disciples away and withdrew. The only crown He would bear in this world was the crown of thorns on His head by which he bore the curse of sin on our behalf.
However, we must not think of Jesus as being some sort of spiritual or philosopher-king. This reduces Jesus to being a Savior. But when we read what Paul wrote to Timothy, we realize that Jesus’s Kingship is an absolute one. Paul calls Jesus “the blessed and only potentate”, “the King of Kings and Lord of Lords”, and who alone possesses immortality. It adds that He now lives in unapproachable light that no one can see or ever see. It is He who is worthy of the doxology of everlasting power and glory. To this Paul adds the solemn “amen.”
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You might say at this point: “Wait a second preacher!” Isn’t Paul referring to God with all this praise, the one we call the “Father?” They would see this as saying that when Jesus returns, He will show us the Father. These words are certainly applicable to the Father, but what about the Son, or the Holy Spirit for that matter? Do we not confess One God in Three Persons, co-eternal, co-equal in power and glory? Do we not read in Matthew 28 that we are to baptize in the “name” of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost? Just before that, does it not say that ALL authority in Heaven and Earth has been given to Jesus? Please note that there is only one name but three persons connected by “and” which is a co-coordinating conjunction which joins elements of equal weight. There is no doubt that Jesus who has authority over Heaven and Earth is certainly a king. and as King of Kings and Lord of Lords, he rules over all temporal kings as well. Caesar followed the example of oriental despots in calling himself by this title. for example, Herod was a client king to Caesar. Even Jesus acknowledges the divine right of kings when in His confession before Pilate He tells him that he would have no power over Him at all unless it had been given it from above, that is heaven and not Rome. (John 19:11) People do not have any authority over Jesus in their own right, but Jesus Christ has power over all people high and low.
When we go back to the beginning of the passage we read, it refers to God (Father, Son, and Spirit) who gives life to all things. Now we need to look back to the beginning of John’s Gospel where it says: “In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.” We also read in John 5:26:
John 5:26 NKJV
For as the Father has life in Himself, so He has granted the Son to have life in Himself,
John 5 is important because it teaches us that the Son is of equal glory to the Father and shares in all the prerogatives of the Father. We can also read this from Revelation 19:16-17:
Revelation 19:16–17 NKJV
And He has on His robe and on His thigh a name written:
KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS
Then I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the birds that fly in the midst of heaven, “Come and gather together for the supper of the great God,
Here, the returning Jesus is explicitly given the title “King of Kings and Lord of Lords.” This shows the full divinity of Jesus Christ.
We also read in John 5:23
John 5:23 NKJV
that all should honor the Son just as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him.
Finally, we can look at Philippians 2:6-7:
Philippians 2:6–7 NKJV
who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men.
I could quote many other Scriptures in support that Jesus is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, one God in three persons, equally share in the rulership of the universe. But in a special way, we look to see how this applies to Jesus. The text talks about the invisibility of the Godhead. When Jesus ascended, He returned to the glory He laid aside to become flesh and dwell among us. Paul tells Timothy and us that no one has or has ever seen God in His fullness. Moses got a glimpse from the cleft of the rock, but only of the hinder parts. Others, such as Daniel had great visions which made those who saw God in this way feel like they were totally undone. Isaiah saw the feet and train of the LORD in the Temple, but the seraphim covered the rest from His view. Peter, James, and John saw the transfigured Jesus and were so overwhelmed that they fell asleep (a euphemism for death. They did not see the fulness of the Godhead as it was still veiled in the flesh of Jesus to some degree. As Charles Wesley puts it:
“Veiled in flesh the Godhead see. See the incarnate Deity. Pleased as man with man to dwell, Jesus our Immanuel.”
The invisibility of God the Father is clearly attested to. Yet Jesus told Philip and the other disciples” He who has seen me has seen the Father.” (John 14:9) We must see God through the veil of Jesus’ flesh. He is the visible representation of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
Now let us come back to the question whether it is necessary to receive Jesus as Lord and King as well as Savior. If we are to be saved, two things must equally be true. A Savior must be able to save, or there is no salvation. One might be willing to rescue a person from drowning, but if that person cannot swim, how can he save the drowning man. In order for us to be saved, then, Jesus must be able to save. As He is the One by whom and for whom all things are created and have life, He is able to save. He has life within Himself and is able to raise the dead. He who spoke the creation into being from nothing is certainly able to recreate us free from sin. There cannot be any salvation apart from the fact that Jesus is Lord. We do not make Him Lord. He is Lord by nature. We do not crown Him King. Instead, He has crowned the Christian and made the Church a Kingdom and Priests. We cast our crowns before Him who is King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
The second thing that must be true in order for us to be saved is that Jesus must be willing to save. This is also clearly demonstrated throughout Scripture. We summarize this willingness in the oft quoted John 3:16. the Son descended willingly from the Father and tabernacled among us. or as the creed says: “And for us and for our salvation became man.” It was a willing Jesus who made the good confession before Pontius Pilate and went to the cross. So it is the able and willing Jesus who saves us.
We should also notice that “is” is a present tense verb. Jesus is already King and seated at the Father’s right hand in glorious majesty. This is not something which will become true later when Jesus returns. The Kingdom is not just some future reality. The Gospel of Luke records Jesus as saying “The Kingdom of God is within you. Jesus, in the Sermon on the Mount uses the present tense “is” in His beatitudes. to the poor in Spirit He says “Theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.” (Matthew 5:3) He also tells those who are persecuted for righteousness's sake: “For theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.” (Matthew 5:10). He then follows with Blessed are YOU when ...”
Christ the King Sunday marks the end of the Christian year. In this we are comforted in our sorrows that some day, we shall see the King and the Kingdom in a different light. Going beck to the Sermon on the Mount we have a promise that the pure in heart “SHALL see, God. Note that “shall” is a future tense verb. The day is coming that God’s will will be done on earth as it is in Heaven. For this we pray earnestly. We pray in hope because we know how Scripture ends. the unfettered rule of the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords shall be manifested.
But as we wait for the King, what do we do? This is what the season of Advent which begins next Sunday tells us. Advent is actually the first season of the new Christian year. It is meant to be a time of preparation for the return of Jesus. Sometimes Advent gets mixed together with Christmas. Christmas is the season of the first advent when Jesus was born on Bethlehem of Judah according to the prophecy of the Old Testament. this season certainly needs to be celebrated, but Advent is to prepare us for the Second Coming. The fact that it comes first in the year tells us that all that we do and think is an act of preparation.
We see in the solemn charge to Timothy that Paul addressed this charge in the context of maintaining Divine order in the Church. The Church is not a democracy but an absolute Monarchy. The King of Kings rules over the Church as its head. He does appoint leaders who are called to minister in the congregations.They operate as clients to the King of Kings who had made them princes in the church to maintain order and doctrine. The leaders of the church are responsible and accountable to Jesus for their ministry. This hierarchy of authority in the Ancient Church is seen in the authority of the Apostles. They committed this authority to the next generation of leaders such as Timothy. The problem is that after several generations, especially after Christianity became the accepted religion of the Roman Empire that abuse of power and corruption set in. The leaders of the Church thought they were potentates in their own right, forgetting or just paying lip service to the King of Kings. This has been a sad turn of events.
The feast of Christ the King was established not just because Jesus was losing authority in the church but the popes, cardinals, and the leadership of the churches no longer held the influence they once did. The Church’s authority was reduced to moral influence rather than holding political power as well. Even in the secular realm, the idea of Christian monarchs were either disappearing or diminishing. Democracy was taking root even in places where authoritarian kings and emperors once ruled. So, people like Kuyper in the Protestant realm and Catholic theologians felt it necessary to make themselves authoritative again by promoting Christ as King.
Whereas it is true that Jesus is King and Potentate over all creation and earthly kings as well, we should stick to observe the absolute rule of Jesus in our church by emphasizing that Jesus is both Lord and Savior. The time of the complete reign of Christ at His appearing is drawing near. We do not need to try and make Christ King and set up the fulness of the Kingdom on our part. What we need to do is to rule well in the church as an example to the world. The New Testament says little about the operation of secular governments other than saying we should pray for them and to give no rightful cause for them to persecute us. It was far more important to recognize the Lordship of Christ and how this affects the operation and worship of the church by obeying what he has charged us to do, which is to preach the gospel and nurture the converts that they might be able to win others.
