King Jesus

"The Light of the World" by William Holman Hunt

As we saw yesterday, when in the second article of The Apostles' Creed we call Jesus the "Christ," we are calling him the anointed one, our great prophet, priest, and king. I want to take a few moments today to focus on Jesus' kingship.

When Jesus was on trial under Pontius Pilate, Jesus confessed to him: "You are right in saying I am a king. In fact, for this reason I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me." (John 18:33b-37) In this confession before Pilate Jesus made it clear that he came not as a worldly king to rule over a political kingdom, but he came as a spiritual king to rule in and through the hearts of his people.

I remember when I was ten years old and I was taken by my parents to see the crown jewels in the well-guarded Crown Room of the Tower of London. There I saw all the diadems of the British monarchs of eight centuries--from William the Conqueror to Queen Elizabeth II. My mind was dazzled by seeing a fortune in glittering gems and gold worth an incalculable sum of money.

Yet, think of this: if the Christian faith is true, right now Jesus is seated at the right hand of God the Father, reigning as King of kings and Lord of lords. He has on his head a crown far more resplendent than any crown in the Tower of London, or anywhere else for that matter. His majesty is greater than any earthly king who has ever lived or ever will live.

The key questions are these: have we recognised Jesus as our king? Have we allowed him to come into our hearts and rule our lives? Is there some room in the castle of our lives to which we are trying to prevent his access and entrance? If so, perhaps it is time to surrender the keys of every room in our lives to him. After all, Jesus has the right to rule.

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