KING JESUS – YOUR KING COMES TO YOU.

    ‘Now there were in the same country shepherds, keeping watch over their flocks by night.  And behold an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were greatly afraid.  Then the angel said to them,’ Do not be afraid, for I bring you good tidings of great joy , which will be to all people. ‘(Luke 2;11).  ‘For unto you is born this day in the city of David a saviour, Christ the Lord.

     The Christmas greeting is that of the birth of a saviour , who is to be a King. For the Saviour is also the Christ or Messiah which means that He is Prophet, Priest and King.   In the midst of all the singing and rejoicing of this special season, we overlook the kingship of our Saviour. . 

    Early in our Lord’s ministry, in John 1:49 ‘ Nathaniel said,’ Rabbi, You are the Son of God, You are the King of Israel.’  He understood the kingly nature of God’s dear Son.  This revelation came from the Father, notably the deity of the Lord Jesus and also His royalty. We must recognise and acknowledge who He is- not only the Babe of Bethlehem, but the Son of the eternal One.  The British Commonwealth holds her Majesty Queen Elizabeth in the highest love and regard.  While she is our Queen, she is not divine, nor as a believer in Christ, would she claim this.  She wo.rships  our Lord.

    This same beautiful truth is set out in the second Psalm, where the Lord says, ‘ You are My Son, this day I have begotten you.  Then the psalmist continued ( Psalm 2:6 )  ‘ Yet I have set My king on My holy hill of Zion.’ 1000 years before the Christmas Babe was born, this truth was clearly shown.  God owned Him as His Son, and recognised His kingship.  Do we?  Or do we lose sight of this marvellous, royal sonship. 

    670 years before the virgin birth of Christ in the town of Bethlehem, He was extolled as a Prince. Isaiah 9:6 gives His title as ‘Prince of peace.‘ A Prince is a king-apparent, waiting to accede to the throne.  He could bring peace, only through the blood of His cross. His title reminded Him and us that suffering was the pathway for all the blessing we receive. The Puritans wrote that He reigned from the throne, that is his cross, for they trusted in His ultimate victory over all evil, in dying for us.

    The prophet wrote further in Isaiah  9:7 that ‘Unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given, and the Government will be on His shoulder’ This means that our Lord Jesus must occupy a Throne, exercise dominion as He reigns and that His kingdom will have no end.  What an amazing grasp the prophets had of our Lord’s life and sufferings and total victory.

    In June 1941 around an old crackling radio in Egypt in WW11, I heard Winston Churchill promise ‘blood, sweat, toil and tears.’  He also predicted that in 5 - 10 years, he would claim victory for the free world.  As men moved out in the dark, their faces stained with tears, hope burned brightly within.  Should not we, the redeemed of the Lord, trust with blazing hearts in the promise of our great God and Saviour.  

    Isaiah 32:1 surprisingly shows another glimpse of our dear Lord for He is the ‘King Who shall reign in righteousness, and princes shall rule in judgment.  A Man shall be a hiding-place from the wind and a cover from the tempest.’ What a vast area the righteous King covered, offering extended justice with princes, to the Hiding-place of the Lord Jesus from every foetid blast of satan’s breath and protection from inevitable storms.  Corrie Ten boom, that saintly, Dutch Ambassador wrote of Him as ‘The Hiding-Place.’  He was exceedingly precious in abhorrent concentration camps.

    I marvel as I read the prophecy in Zechariah 9:9 that we are to ‘.Rejoice greatly O daughter of  Zion.  Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem. ‘ Behold, Your King is coming to you. He is just, and having salvation, lowly and riding on a donkey, a colt the foal of a donkey. ’ This prophecy increased my faith, with the detailed accuracy of God’s word,  and was fulfilled hundreds of years later to the perfect, minute part. Thank God.

    And now the fulfilment was gloriously seen in Luke 19:38 ‘ Blessed is the King, who comes in the Name of the Lord.’ Peace in heaven and glory in the highest. ‘ It was the day when the Passover lamb was chosen , to be examined for four days before it would be slain.  And He was our Passover, to be proclaimed as ‘Hosanna, blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord.’ Yet the common people recognised Him as their King. ‘They threw their garments on the colt, and they set Jesus on him.’  He mounted no conqueror’s horse–but an unbroken-in colt.  And He their King would soon be crucified.  

    Governor Pilate, under the emperor of Rome, challenged the Christ, namely  ‘Are You the King of the Jews? ‘, to which our Lord replied, ‘You say that I am.’ Luke 23:3  He could not deny such a claim. He was born a King, as Dorothy Sayers entitled her series that gripped England’s post-war radio audience.   Pilate’s wife urged him not to have anything to do with God’s Son, for ‘she had suffered many things of Him in a dream,’  Did she know Him as King and her Saviour?

    Pilate hated the Jews for bullying him into the trial of the Messiah, so he accurately and revengefully chose the superscription on the cross, ; ‘written over Him in letters of Greek, Latin and Hebrew,’ ‘THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS’ (  Luke 23;38) while John added ‘ THIS IS JESUS OF NAZARETH, THE KING OF THE JEWS.’ ( 19:19 ) 

In the hours of deepest humiliation and suffering, His kingship rang out.  Hallelujah.

    Paul broke into this strain in 1 Timothy 1:17 when he wrote ‘ Now unto the King, eternal, immortal, invisible, God only wise be honour and glory for ever and ever.’ He had thanked Jesus Christ Who had enabled him, because He counted him faithful, putting him into the ministry’ ( v12).  He is sovereign and He is King was Paul’s strong plea.  His attributes were His eternal nature, His immortality, for he was risen from the dead; and His invisibility to human eyes.  The dignified Queen Victoria stood to her feet when Handel’s ‘Messiah’ chorus sounded, ‘Hallelujah!  Hallelujah! He shall reign for ever.  Have you crowned Christ in your life?  Why not, this Christmas!

    ‘Jesus Christ is shown in 1 Timothy 6:15 as the blessed and only Potentate, King of Kings, Lord of Lords, who only has immortality, dwelling in unapproachable light. ’ In each generation,  many callous potentates have arisen, leaving desolation and ruin in train.  Only our beloved Lord Jesus is the powerful Ruler, truly blessed, leaving salvation, mercy and pardon to those who have received Him.

    John writes in the Revelation 15:3, that ‘those who have the victory over the beast, standing on the sea of glass, having harps of God and singing the song of Moses and the Lamb; Great and marvellous are your works, Lord God Almighty; Just and true are Your ways, O King of saints’.  Therefore, victory, singing and music are background for His perfect reign over His saints.  Heaven is glorious because of His Kingship. 

    In the great battle in which satan will be finally routed, thrown into the pit for 1000 years and finally into the blazing hell itself, Christ is shown as King. Revelation 17:14  comforts us, for ‘The Lamb will overcome them, for He is Lord of Lords , and King of Kings, and those who are with Him are called, chosen and faithful.’  God’s word exalts our dear saviour, the Lord Jesus, to the highest.  Praise Him as your King!  He is worthy