Christ: Coming King - Revelation 1:4-8

Revelation 1:7-8 (ESV)
Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him, and all tribes of the earth will wail on account of him. Even so. Amen.
“I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.”

He is coming!   The Christian classic Christmas song, Joy to the World, ends with this refrain:

Joy to the world then we sing

Let the earth receive her King!

Joy to the world then we sing

Let the angel voices ring

Let the earth receive her King!!   That line could have been composed after mediation on this passage from The Revelation.   John stated to the early church, “Behold, he is coming with the clouds.”   The challenge with our earth today is that most people do not believe He is coming.   It has been almost 2000 years since John utter those words, through the ministry of the Holy Spirit.   Yet, God did say these words and they are as true today as they were then.  God is not constrained by our human minds and our earthy time lines.   God has a plan and He is brining more and more people into His Kingdom as that plan unfolds.    The point of the above verse is not to argue whether Christ is coming.  The point of the verse is to tell us what will happen when Christ comes again. That is the point of the book of The Revelation of Jesus Christ by St. John.   This is not an apologetic book about whether Christ comes.  It is a prophetic book about what will happen when Christ comes.   Notice that when He comes “every eye will see Him.”   Even they eyes of those who “pierced Him.”   Jesus is the Coming King.  He will return.   Everyone will see that return.  It will not be hidden.  Those who mocked His coming and scoffed as His delay will be in the group of visual learners.  They will all visual learn about His power and presence. Notice how Peter addressed the same scoffing:

 2 Peter 3:3-10 (ESV)
... knowing this first of all, that scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own sinful desires. They will say, “Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation.” For they deliberately overlook this fact, that the heavens existed long ago, and the earth was formed out of water and through water by the word of God, and that by means of these the world that then existed was deluged with water and perished. But by the same word the heavens and earth that now exist are stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly.
But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed.

HE IS THE COMING KING!

Christ: Sovereign King - 1 Timothy 6:14-16

1 Timothy 6:14-16 (ESV)
to keep the commandment unstained and free from reproach until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, which he will display at the proper time—he who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone has immortality, who dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen or can see. To him be honor and eternal dominion. Amen.

What is eternal dominion?   What is Lord of Lords?  To understand these terms we have to understand the context of this chapter of the letter to Timothy.  Paul wants Timothy to continue to carry out the mission of the Church.  Timothy is charged with obeying the commands from this book in an “unstained” manner and “free from reproach.”  How long is Timothy to minister in this way?  Until the Jesus returns in a “proper time.”  The words give us the truth that Timothy is to serve, faithfully, through any circumstances UNTIL Jesus returns at the “proper time” (a time of God’s own choosing).   What God? 

1. The blessed and only Sovereign God.   This is the only time in the NT that this phrase is used. It denotes that God is ruling the world.  

2. The King of Kings and Lord of Lords God.   These phrases have a long history in God’s word and denote that God is the Sovereign (big S) over those who believe they are sovereign (little s).   God has absolute sovereignty over all things.  Including other earthly and heavenly hosts.  

3. The Immortal God.   This speaks of God unchangeableness.   His immutability.    We can rejoice in the fact that God is bound only by one thing: His character.  God can not go against who God is.   

4. The God of unapproachable light.  This speaks to God’s glory.   Light speaks of purity.   God’s glory is often shown and spoken of in John’s writings as pure light (John 1:7-9; 3:19-21; 1 John 1:5-7).

5. The God who is unseen nor can be seen.  This ties into His unapproachable light because light cannot mix with darkness.  When light comes darkness is gone.   God can never mix with sinful humanity (which shows the need for Christ’s mediation).  

6.  The honored and dominion God.   This shows God’s might.  This thought is repeated in Revelation 5:13.  That God is the most powerful and full of might that gives Him dominion of all things, brings this entire doxology to a close.  

What is the  purpose of all these statements about God in the context of the statement of Christ’s return? Paul writes them to encourage Timothy to not lose heart in the battle agains sin and demonic forces that are trying to pull the church apart.  The “gates of hell” are fighting against the church.  We can rejoice that the most mighty, pure, unchanging, King of Kings and Lord of Lords Sovereign God is not only in charge, but fighting back ... through Timothy.   That is encouraging. Knowing we serve a Sovereign God gives us power and hope in ministry.  

Christ: Totalitarian King

Luke 1:32-33 (ESV)
He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.”

The above passage is a section of the angel Gabriel giving Mary the news about her soon coming virgin birth - her big reveal party, as we say today.   What Gabriel tells her is that she is going to have a boy.  But, not just any boy.  This boy will be conceived by the Spirit, and will be the Son of the Most High.   A key truth taught in this verse is the very end where it states of Jesus’ kingdom there will be “no end.”  The Greek word for “end” is the word “tello.”    The word is a very special word in the Greek as Aristotle made it famous.   For Aristotle, this word meant the final cause of something.   It meant that their was a formal design from something to have.   Gabriel tells Mary that Jesus’ kingdom will have “no” end.    In Mary’s mind (and our’s today) we think of a kingdom in earthly terms.   Yes, Jesus’ earl they kingdom would have no end as He will rule the entire earth.  But, defining it in terms of the kingdoms of this earth would make have an end; a “tello.”   Gabriel is telling Mary that, no, her son, Jesus, would have a kingdom that has no end.  Gabriel is speaking of the earthly kingdoms of this world, but also the expanse of the spiritual kingdoms over the spirit world and in the hearts of mankind.   Jesus is NOT limited to this earth.  His “tello” is broader than this.  The Jews were waiting for a King to crush Rome.  Jesus would be a King that crushes Rome (and all earthly kingdoms) but also conquers sin, conquers Satan, congers the pride of our hearts, conquers demonic hosts, conquers fill-in-the-blank.   Christ is the totalitarian King!   There is no tello with Christ kingdom!!

Christ: Benevolent King - Genesis 22:15-19

 Genesis 22:15-19 (ESV)
And the angel of the LORD called to Abraham a second time from heaven and said, “By myself I have sworn, declares the LORD, because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, I will surely bless you, and I will surely multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore. And your offspring shall possess the gate of his enemies, and in your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because you have obeyed my voice.” So Abraham returned to his young men, and they arose and went together to Beersheba. And Abraham lived at Beersheba.

The above passage is the end of the story of God asking Abraham to offer his son Isaac (his only son) on an alter on Mt. Moriah.   Abraham has already knew in his mind that Issac was God’s promised son to him and God had already said that through Isaac blessings would come.   Now, if God was asking him to sacrifice Isaac that meant only one thing:  God would have to either miraculously save Isaac through the sacrifice or would have to bring Isaac back to life if he died as a result of the sacrifice.  We do not see that in the above verse, but we do read about it in Hebrews:

Hebrews 11:17-19 (ESV)
By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises was in the act of offering up his only son, of whom it was said, “Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.” He considered that God was able even to raise him from the dead, from which, figuratively speaking, he did receive him back.

One truth in this passage that we might over look is the prophetic utterance the angel of the Lord said to Abraham.  He told Abraham that through his obedience God would bless him, his family AND THROUGH HIS FAMILY THE NATIONS.   The only way that will happen is through a descendent of Abraham that would have the power and position to bless the nations.  This is a prophecy about the coming of a King that would be in position to bless all mankind.   That would be the Messiah, Jesus Christ.    When reading the book of Revelation it might be easy to miss this obscure mention about the new heavens and the new earth and God’s purpose to heal the nations:

Revelation 22:2 (ESV)
through the middle of the street of the city; also, on either side of the river, the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.

Even though we see nation rise against nation throughout the history of mankind, God’s intent from the beginning is to restore the harmony that was seen at the Tower of Babel.  But, that harmony was in rebellion to God.   God has full intention to heal the nations and bring them in perfect harmony to His will.   All of creation will be blessed by the Messiah King. 

Christ: Conquering King - Genesis 3:14-15

Genesis 3:14-15 (ESV)
The LORD God said to the serpent,
“Because you have done this,
cursed are you above all livestock
and above all beasts of the field;
on your belly you shall go,
and dust you shall eat
all the days of your life.
I will put enmity between you and the woman,
and between your offspring and her offspring;
he shall bruise your head,
and you shall bruise his heel.”

When Adam and Eve sinned they radically messed up mankind’s path to and with God.   God immediately, however, gave man a promise that would be the golden thread that weaves through all the pages of Scripture.  That promise is contained in the above verse.   After man sins, God’s first attention was NOT to the woman or the man.  It was in the order of where the falling started.  First Satan, then the woman and then the man.  Satan is addressed because he set out to deceive mankind.  That is why God states that the woman (not Eve, but a prophetic woman ... Mary) would give brith to an offspring that will crush Satan’s head.   Even though Satan will bruise the heal of the offspring of this woman, the offspring will crush the head of Satan.   This is the promise of Christ coming as the conquering king that runs through out the Scriptures.   Notice that the verse states that the “seed” of the woman would crush Satan’s head.   As we know from our biology class, the woman does not have the seed.  The woman has the egg. It is man that supplies the seed.  This is the first and most important picture of the virgin birth of Jesus.   God, the Holy Spirit, would provide the seed to impregnate Mary.   This is the power of the virgin birth.  Not only would Jesus NOT have the sin of mankind (the man passes on the sin of Adam through each seed), but He would be the fulfillment of Genesis 3:15.  That is the power of this promise.  Jesus would come as conquering King to conquer man’s sin and Satan’s grip on us.  

Christ: Everlasting King - 2 Samuel 7:1-17

2 Samuel 7:16-17 (ESV)
And your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me. Your throne shall be established forever.’” In accordance with all these words, and in accordance with all this vision, Nathan spoke to David.

David’s kingdom was spoken by God as being “established forever.”    That is a powerful and assuring truth.  That truth is the reason for the virgin birth of the Messiah, Christ Jesus our Lord.   Jesus was a descendent of King David.  He will sit on the throne of the world forever and ever.  He may not be sitting there now, but this one of the first promises that a descendent of David would sit on the throne.  To do this Jesus would have to die and raise from the dead.   But, we can see that this promise was a prominent thought process of the Jewish mind in regard to their Messiah, King.   This is why in Luke 4 Satan tried to temp Jesus to allow “him” (the Devil) to give Jesus the kingdoms of the earth.  Note:

Luke 4:5-8 (ESV)
And the devil took him up and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time, and said to him, “To you I will give all this authority and their glory, for it has been delivered to me, and I give it to whom I will. If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours.” And Jesus answered him, “It is written,
“‘You shall worship the Lord your God,
and him only shall you serve.’”

The Devil had authority over the earth at that point and offered to give to Jesus his kingdoms.  But, to do so, would have meant that Jesus would have to worship Satan’s plan and not His Fathers.   God the Father had already giving Jesus authority over all things.   The Devil was dealing from the bottom of the deck.   Jesus would be king.  He would have to follow God’s plan to make Him king and He did - through the way of the cross.   

Hebrews 1:1-2 (ESV)
Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world.

Evil Men Reject God’s Authority - Jude

 Jude 1:8-9 (ESV)

Yet in like manner these people also, relying on their dreams, defile the flesh, reject authority, and blaspheme the glorious ones. But when the archangel Michael, contending with the devil, was disputing about the body of Moses, he did not presume to pronounce a blasphemous judgment, but said, “The Lord rebuke you.”

How we respond to evil can make us look exactly like the evil we are responding to, or it can show that we are different than that evil.   The book of Jude is small little book. The authors wanted to write to the church about their “common salvation” (vs 3).   But, instead he wanted to warn the church about false teachers who were acting in rebellion toward church leadership and toward Christ’s commands.  This is how he both describes them and, subsequently, makes an argument for his powerful letter:

Jude 1:4 (ESV)

For certain people have crept in unnoticed who long ago were designated for this condemnation, ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.

These false leaders have become, as stated above, people who “rely on dreams, defile the flesh, reject authority and blaspheme the glorious ones.”    The point Jude is making is that these false teachers have no respect for authority, or chains-of-command.   These are dangerous people to the Body of Christ.  Their rejection of authority and failure to honor what God honors can destroy the Church.   The comment that they “blaspheme the glorious ones,” is a reference that not only do they reject the human authority of the church, but the also reject the work God in the church through angelic hosts.   To put it simply:   They reject all authority that represents God.  To explain further, Jude gives the example of the actions of Michael (God’s highest “glorious one”) at the time of Moses’ death.   There are no other Old Testament references that Michale and the Devil had a fight about Moses body, after his death.  So, this is a new revelation from the Spirit.  To explain it might be that since Moses did murder an Egyptian, Satan was trying to lay hold of Moses’ body, claiming Moses as wicked.   Yet, God’s blood (at the Passover) cleansed Moses.  Or, it could be that Satan wanted to turn Moses’ corpse and burial site into a place for Israel to set up a false worship system around it.  We have no idea why Satan wanted the body of Moses but we do know Michael’s response.   Michael, God’s most powerful and favored angel, did not use that privilege, or any power, against Satan (God’s move fallen, evil and despised angel).   All Michael did is say, “The Lord rebuke you.”   The point Jude is making is that our privilege in Christ does not give us permission to become our own judge and jury and authority.    These false teachers were not submissive to Christ, or His church, or church leadership.  That is Jude’s point.  Jude is say that even Michael, who had power and privileges to act upon Christ’s behalf, did not use that authority, but submitted to the Lord by calling on the Lord to rebuke Satan.   How we respond to authority and evil situations shows as much about our character as those who are evil.   Jude will go on to mention Cain, Balaam and Koran as examples of those who responded in an evil way toward authority.   Our submissions to the authority and power of Christ reveals a heart that is submissive to Christ.   How we respond to evil tells us if we are like evil or we are submissive to the power of Christ over evil.