All Hail King Jesus!

My current favorite song on Kinship Radio is “This is Our God” by Phil Wickham. I love the part in the chorus where he sings, 

“He bore the cross, beat the grave

Let Heaven and Earth proclaim

This is our God, King Jesus!”

And I’ve been thinking a lot lately about Jesus as King. 

We all know Jesus is King, right?  I have long acknowledged Jesus as Messiah, Christ, and LORD. Kinship Radio’s mission statement is, “Kinship Radio exists to communicate that Jesus is Lord through worship and the word.” We have a huge radio tower proclaiming JESUS IS LORD in letters that can be seen for miles. We play wonderful songs all the time proclaiming Jesus as LORD and King, (“King of Glory” by Third Day and “King of Heaven” By Paul Baloche to name a couple) but I’ve come to realize His reign and rule a little more broadly lately and the true depth of the meaning of that is altering my perspective on my faith and my life.

When we proclaim the Gospel –the Good News– that Jesus died on the cross and rose from the grave to save us from our sins, shouldn’t that include something about His Kingship also?

The reason I say that is because Jesus was preaching the Gospel before He died on the cross and rose from the grave. We see this in Luke 7:22 where Jesus answers John  the Baptist’s question as the whether He is the Messiah:

“Jesus answered and said to them, “Go and tell John the things you have seen and heard: that the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, the poor have the gospel preached to them.” (NKJV)

Jesus was preaching the Good News that the Messiah, the Christ had come. Jewish people had been praying for centuries for the Messiah to come.

When Jesus preached in His hometown of Nazareth, He took the scroll and read the passage we identify as Isaiah 61:1-2:

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, for he has anointed me to bring Good News to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim that captives will be released, that the blind will see, that the oppressed will be set free, and that the time of the Lord ’s favor has come.”” (NLT)

And then with all eyes staring at Him intently,

“Then he began to speak to them. “The Scripture you’ve just heard has been fulfilled this very day!”’ (Verse 4, NLT)

This enraged those gathered there because, of course, this was Jesus the son of Mary and Joseph the carpenter. In their eyes He was a regular, familiar man, not the Anointed One, The King and Messiah they and their ancestors had been praying for all this time.

But He was –and He is.

The KING had come! When Peter and James and John and Paul and all the disciples preached about Him and wrote about Him after Pentecost, they referred to Him as Jesus Christ because “Christ” means “Messiah-King.” Jesus as King is an integral part of the Gospel –and it makes the Gospel even more glorious and wonderful and powerful! 

Let me give you an example: Years ago, when I was tempted by a particular sin, I began saying, “Satan, get behind me.” I said that, of course, because that’s what Jesus said to the devil when He was tempted in the wilderness. Then one day, I thought to myself, “Wait a minute… I don’t want the devil walking around behind me all day long, and Jesus most certainly did not tell the devil to go stand behind Dan Jones. So, when temptation would arise, I changed my ways and began saying, “Satan, go stand behind JESUS.”

That worked a lot better because that puts Jesus between me and the devil –right where he belongs.

But, when I think about it now in the light of Jesus’ Kingship, it’s even more glorious because it reminds me that Jesus is King over everything that ever was, is, or will be –including the enemy of our souls. As King, Jesus has dominion, power, and authority over absolutely every molecule of creation AND every ruler, power, and authority in the heavenly realms! 

And, as my LORD and King, Jesus is worthy of my allegiance and submission. I am most certainly a lousy king of my life. That was made very clear to me when I was a prodigal son. Why would I not relinquish my rebellion, my treasonous and mutinous attempts to be king of anything? He has adopted me into not only the family, but the Kingdom of God –and He has told me that if I abide in Him, I can ask whatever I wish in His name and it will be done for me. (John 15:7) He says people asking in His name, in the name of the King of all kings, will be able to move mountains. (Mark 11:23 and Matthew 17:20) 

And the King says over and over again, we have nothing –absolutely nothing– to be afraid of. 

Today’s Praise 

Ephesians 1:19-23

I also pray that you will understand the incredible greatness of God’s power for us who believe him. This is the same mighty power that raised Christ from the dead and seated him in the place of honor at God’s right hand in the heavenly realms. Now he is far above any ruler or authority or power or leader or anything else—not only in this world but also in the world to come. God has put all things under the authority of Christ and has made him head over all things for the benefit of the church. And the church is his body; it is made full and complete by Christ, who fills all things everywhere with himself.” (NLT)