There never was, and there never will be a King like Jesus. It is easy for us to view Him through the abstract lens of His deity, instead of seeing Him as the expression of God’s compassion, and goodness. Without the help of Holy Spirit, our view of Him is that of a stoic, emotionless man sent to keep people from having fun. Yet, if you try and inform people of what life was like under ancient rulers, they won’t believe the tyranny, and utter disregard these ancients had for individuals. How do I know how God feels about humanity? By looking at what Jesus did while He was on this earth! How do I know what the Kingdom of heaven looks like? By looking at the King of heaven and what he did.
The Kingdom of heaven is life! Not just your heart ticking, and your brain spinning, but a life of wholeness, and healing. When Jesus entered into this vale, He didn’t come as a warrior king with a vast angelic army. He came as a lowly infant, lived among us, and became as we are. The Spirit of God put on the garment of flesh, so that He would know exhaustion, pain, sickness, and disease. He is touched by our infirmities! There is nothing we can go through in this life, that He hasn’t touched or seen. Throughout history, when the Kingdom would invade this earth, it would be to bring healing and life to all it touched. Every other king could only take life. They worked people till they couldn’t work anymore. They brought diseases with them from foreign lands they conquered. Jesus conquered sickness and disease. No other king has done this.
Jesus brought life to the downtrodden, giving them worth, and value. He knew the very number of hairs upon our head, knowing when they fell. Once liberty has been given, it can’t be taken away. They can lock you up, beat you, and even kill you, but the liberty of Jesus Christ can’t be taken away. No other King has ever done that! Only Jesus has set the captive free! The foundations of other kingdoms were built upon the emptied lives of slaves, and servants. No matter where you were in a kingdom or empire, you were still subject to the king. You couldn’t escape or run away from your fate. Ancient kings saw everyone as their subjects, and if you tried to escape, you were killed.
Ancient kings would try to invent cruel ways to kill rebellious subjects. The description of these horrors don’t need to be recounted here, but suffice it to say that death was often more preferable to the torture humans could inflict upon one another. Highways were often lined with the rotting corpses of those who dared to challenge the kingdom. Jesus opened up the gates of the Kingdom of heaven and paid the price for our entry into it. He prepared it for us, and is making everything ready for us to enter.
The King of Life allowed himself to be suspended between heaven and earth, offering his life for our salvation. His anguish allowed Him to be a caring loving King extending a hand of mercy, to all who reached out to Him.
More than anything else, He left His Spirit within us! His Spirit allows us to extend grace and love to generation after generation. There is a direct line of ancestry from the cross to a document stating that all men are created equal, and granted inalienable rights by their creator. His Kingdom is life, and He is the King of life!
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