KING OF KINGS

Here we are at the last lesson in the Introduction.  WWHHAATT!!!!!!!!  You have to be kidding me!  This was just the introduction?  

We’re talking about a bunch of History, and in the midst of all of that a long succession of kings, kingdoms, and empires.  As we study the individual cities and states that the Apostles wrote to, we’ll look at their kings, and the crazy, and also cruel things they did throughout history.  For the moment, I want to talk about Jesus,the King of kings, and the Lord of lords.  These were titles He never gave himself, but were ascribed to Him later by the Apostle Paul, and John.  (See: 1 Timothy 6:15, Revelation 17: 14, Revelation 19: 16, ) In a bitter touch of irony, Pontius Pilate mockingly declared Jesus to be the king of the Jews as they hung Him on the cross.  Jesus was MORE than the King of the Jews.

What could Pilate the Roman Prefect of the great Empire have to fear from an unknown zealot who’d been handed over to him by his own people.  It was barely worth his time to deal with the situation. To Pilate, Jesus was just another in a long history of messiah’s. The history of the land of Canaan was filled with would be kings, upstart city kingdoms, and small insignificant rebellions.  In his mind, this Jesus was just another slave of Rome.  He would be hung on a cross just like every other rebellious slave.  It would be just one more tree in a forest of crosses that dotted the roads between Rome, and its far flung holdings.  Pharaohs had come and gone, The Assyrians, Persians, Babylonians, Philistines, and Greeks had all failed in their attempts to establish lasting kingdoms.  Like every good Roman, Pilate believed that the Roman Empire would be the last great kingdom, and it would last forever.  The man who stood before him, this Jesus couldn’t even scrape together a handful of supporters to defend him.  The man’s ‘disciples’ had all disappeared when he was arrested, with only a few women left to weep and cry as Pilate  pronounced his judgment on him.  Herod had told him about outlandish rumors of healings, and miracles done by this ‘Jesus’, but the man standing before him could barely stand. If he was a sorcerer, or great magician, he was keeping it well hid. 

King indeed!

Little could Pilate know that the beaten, bleeding man who stood before him would one day establish a worldwide Kingdom called Christianity.  Little did he know that Jesus would influence the affairs of men from lands as yet undiscovered. The unseen Kingdom of Jesus would change the affairs of mankind from that day forward, and it will do so forever.  Jesus was a different King, a servant King, a lowly humble peasant king whose Kingdom wasn’t enforced with military might, but enshrined in grace and love.

As we’ll discover as we go further into our study, the kings of the ancient kingdoms were cruel, and ruled by the carnal nature.  Most of them viewed themselves as being more than just kings.  They saw themselves as gods, and their exploits were sung everywhere they went until they died, or were killed in battle. Then a new king would arise, and shine briefly, and then be forgotten soon after they too died.  The crimes these rulers did to their subjects were never punishable, because they were....kings.

It would be the lowly son of a young girl from the tribe of Judah that would change the course of history more than any other king before Him.  Jesus was everything ancient kings had hoped to be.  Where King Darius claimed to be the defender of the truth, Jesus said, “I am the truth.”  The kings of Persia, Medea, Greece, Egypt, and yes even the Philistines hoped to be seen as placed in rulership by their gods. They claimed to know the way, while Jesus boldly declared “I am the way.”  The ancient kings would dress themselves in golden splendor, and sit on thrones plated in gold, Jesus declared, “I am the light of the world.”  The ancient kings ruthlessly murdered opponents in hideous forms of torture, while Jesus mildly restored the ear of a guard when Peter picked up a sword to defend Jesus.  Ancient kings would gather vast armies and send them on great campaigns to conquer and destroy.  Jesus would send disciples in front of him to declare that “the Kingdom was at hand.”  When the King of kings would arrive, He would quickly get to work healing, delivering, and restoring lives.  The Kingdom of God brought new hope to a beleaguered humanity; Individual Worth!

Prior to Jesus, the individual had no rights. The world Jesus was born into didn’t recognize individual worth.  Eighty percent of the population of the civilized world were slaves to one ruler or another.  The only way a person could be ‘free’ was to live on the fringes of society, or to be born into power.  Power was defined in physical strength, prowess in combat, financial strength, or dynastic birth. The only equalizer throughout history was death.  Everyone dies!  Even in death, your wealth was plunder for the bandit willing to dig up your grave.  The oppressor, could be overcome, and become the oppressed.  The cycle went on and on through thousands of years. Then Jesus came and offered citizenship in an eternal kingdom.  Even this idea wasn’t new.  What was new was who was offered citizenship.  God’s offer of eternal life was predicated upon one simple premise; Belief in the atoning work of Jesus Christ.  Eternity no longer belonged to the powerful, noble, or religious adherent. As if to add insult to injury, Jesus made it clear that every human being could have eternal life through believing in Him.  His was an unseen kingdom, and its power would eventually change the way governments ruled, secure rights, and liberties for every human being, and lay the foundations for the individual rights we enjoy today.  

Sadly, the power of the carnal nature is insidious, and pervasive. It would take nearly 1700 years for men to fully embrace the message of Jesus.  When Jesus left this earth, He left behind His Church to advance His kingdom. The Church would stumble and lurch its way forward through outright persecution, and sadly through corruption from within. The carnal nature would infiltrate the Church, and subvert believers into inaction, and impotence.  Still, despite the deception of the evil one, and our own carnal nature, Holy Spirit guided and directed the church in its mission to bring the Kingdom of God to earth.  Many lost their way, because they listened to their carnal natures, others lost hope, but the Church has never failed. 

The message of the Kingdom persisted because Jesus was a king unlike any other before, or after Him. With His death, and  resurrection, He defeated the grave, and made us eternal children of God.  Not just to one, or a few, but to as many who are called.  Jesus gave mankind their individual worth.  Many internal battles have been fought, with most people barely being able to live a victorious personal life.  Yet, the Kingdom of Grace and Love has changed the world in ways we’ll soon discover.  Hold your head high Christian, be a jubilant church, the kingdom is at hand and will be until Christ returns.  

Now, our study can begin in earnest.  WHEW!!!

NO LONGER SLAVES

Now that we have looked at the founding of our great nation, and visited the memories of those who were instrumental in shaping our Constitution, it is time to return to Christ Jesus, the author, and finisher of our faith. It is time to place Him in HIStorical context, and put in motion the faith that He gave us over 2,000 years ago. It is time to give credit where credit is due, and declare the righteousness of God before it is too late.  It is time to become the Church militant, and make war against the gates of hell.  This isn’t a call to physical arms, but a call to spiritual warfare unlike any in the history of the Church.  

Let me reacquaint you with the scene from the gospel of Matthew 16: 13-20.  This is the passage I wrote to you about when we began this study. Jesus had taken a boat to Caesarea Philippi, and walked with the disciples to the temple of Pan.  It is hard for us to picture this site as it existed at the time of Christ. It is nothing but ruins now, and the worship of Pan no longer happens.  At the time Jesus and the disciples visited it, it was a typical Greco-Roman structure standing on a rocky escarpment flanked by a huge grotto filled with water.  It is said that people would come to the grotto which was called the “gate to hell”  and offer a goat to the god ‘Pan’.  For any Jewish man, this would be a terrifying place.  Not because they were afraid of the false god that it was built to, but because of their fear of the one true God who deemed places such as this as unclean.  

As they come upon the scene, I can imagine people whispering about the group of men, and wondering what they were doing there.  In my mind, I am sure that Jesus’ name was being whispered through the crowd. Maybe they thought he was a prophet coming to declare war on the Roman god of virility?  Maybe He was going to announce his Messiah status?  What better place to reject the gentile Roman government than the seat of one of their gods.  Instead, Jesus asks the boys, “Who do the people say that the Son of man is?”  

The whispers were audible, and the disciples were listening; “Some say that you are John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and still others, Jeremiah, or one of the other prophets.”

This was a quick reply, and one to which they probably had addressed before as Jesus created huge crowds.

In this instant, I believe Jesus was taking them on a life affirming journey of their faith.  I can imagine him pulling them around him like a cloak, “But who do you yourselves say that I am?”  

I don’t think Peter wasted one second in his answer: “YOU ARE THE CHRIST, THE SON OF THE LIVING GOD.”

I can imagine the others nodding their heads, and smiling at one another.  Maybe this was the moment when Jesus would declare his divinity, lay aside His earthly robe, and crush the Roman rule over God’s people. Maybe by declaring Jesus as Messiah, it would spur the Son of God to action. Surely, every angel in heaven stood ready to crush the Roman empire, and establish the Jews as the chosen rulers of earth.  

I can imagine Jesus seeing the hope in their faces, and the courage that always arises when the Lord is revealed.  He stares across the crowds gathered to give their sacrifices, and the heathen temple where the unholy gave gifts to a god that was not God.  He looked down at the stone platform they were standing on and put his hand upon Peter’s shoulder; “Blessed are you, Simon Bar Jona, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but my Father who is in heaven.”

You have to stand back from this for just a second and go ‘Wow!’  I want this said about me!  I want that kind of praise from the son of the creator.  

“And I also...  (Please don’t read the scripture so fast!!!!!!)  say to you,” 

Not only had the Father revealed the Son to Peter, but now Jesus is going to personally reveal what the Father’s plans are for the knowledge Peter was just given.  AND I ALSO, SAY TO YOU!!!

“You are Peter, and upon this rock, I will build MY CHURCH, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it.”  “I will give you the keys of the Kingdom of heaven; and whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven.”  

There was no sudden appearing of an angelic host, no fire leaping from out of the putrid grotto in front of them, there was no thunder, no lightning, or any other sign that the Kingdom of God was about to overtake the earth.

This was Jesus’ declaration of war, and His army numbered twelve simple men.  The enemy was given notice!  Jesus was going to make war in the heavenlies and the Church would be His army.  The Church would be built upon the rock upon which they stood.  Not the physical platform, but upon the freedom of Christ invading men’s fearful hearts.  Jesus would walk into the very pit of hell and wrest the keys of hell, and the grave from satan.  Men would no longer be slaves to sin, and the war was on.  The Church was Christ’s chosen means of setting men free.  

I began this study telling you how much God hates slavery.  On the other hand, it is humans who love enslaving one another, and the carnal nature is always revealed by oppressors, no matter who they are, but it only takes an instant in time for the oppressed to become the oppressor, and for the slave to become a master. From that moment, the kingdom of grace and love was set in the hearts of men, not upon stones, tablets, or even upon sheets of paper written nearly two thousand years later.  We are part of that Kingdom!!  This great nation is but a pale shadow of that Kingdom, yet even in its blurry silhouette, the radiance of the Kingdom of God is revealed.  

As we turn our attention back to the pages wherein liberty is proclaimed, we are going to look at how Jesus Christ, and His church has destroyed the idea of slavery, and how we as the Church can continue the task of proclaiming liberty to the captive.

We can see the power of the carnal nature all around us as the truth is revealed. The oppressed want to be the oppressor. The victim wants retaliation, and retribution.  The injured want to inflict injury, and the wounded wishes to draw blood for the wounding. The Kingdom of Grace and love isn’t about these things.  Jesus probably disappointed the men who were looking for Him to call down fire from heaven to consume the wicked.  Hell was put on notice that day that it would no longer be able withstand the Kingdom of God. God’s faithful were a mighty army who would not be resisted!

Did you think Jesus was only speaking of spiritual matters?  Did you think He enjoyed seeing lives of hopelessness?  We must see with spiritual eyes into the affairs of mankind, and speak freedom.  NEVER again will the Church sit idly by as men inflict cruelty upon another.  As we saw from John Locke, William Penn and the host of founding fathers, courage is born of faith, and faith reveals God.  Let us be as brave as those who set this nation in motion.