By Chin Min Fook28 July 2007
What is an earthly King?1. In our modern worldly understanding, a king as mentioned in our dictionaries is termed as ‘a ruler or sovereign who inherits his position’.
2. Human kings are the ‘fortunate ones’ who are appointed by his fellow peers at first (better fighter, taller, craftiest etc) and then his children and the further generation will inherit that position as well, until they are overthrown by rebellion or when they have no more successors.
Divine Kingship3. When it comes to God as King, the mystery is that no one appointed God as king (because God has no beginning and no end) and he is king by virtue of him being creator of all heaven and earth and because God is creator, God has the right to rule and his creation is the realm where His rule is exercised.
4. God has always been king even from eternity past (we call it time immemorial in law – don’t even know when it started but it did so long ago).
5. Unlike human kings which envisage as nobles who try to be ‘divine’ in their rule thus exercising attributes which are not natural to them (no control over things, powerless, sinful) (thus many human kings claim to be sons of heaven etc to gain divinity), God’s kingship is totally based on His unchanging divine character and divine attributes (not put on or pretend divinity or majesty).
The kingship of God according to the bible6. The kingship of God according to the bible :
a) It is timeless because God is eternal – numerous scriptures demonstrate that God has always possessed absolute sovereignty over all his creation and that He rules as king eternally.
(Psalms 10 : 16 – The Lord is King forever & ever)
(Psalms 74: 12 – But you, O God, are my King from of old) (Jer 10:10 ¬– But the Lord is the true God, He is the living God, the eternal king)
(Psalm 145 : 13 – Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and Your dominion endures through all generation)
(Lam 5 : 19 – You, O Lord, reign forever, Your throne endures from generation to generation).
Therefore God’s kingship is timeless because God is eternal. (no problem if no successors/heir)
b) It is universal because God is omnipresent – since God is omnipresent, the bible clearly makes reference to the unlimited scope of God’s sovereignty over his kingdom.
(1 Chron 29 : 11-12 – Yours O Lord, is the greatness & the power & the glory & the majesty & the splendor, for everything in heaven & earth is Yours, Yours O Old is the kingdom. You are exalted as head over all)
(Psalms 103 : 19 – The Lord has established His throne in heaven & His kingdom rules over all)
(Psalms 139 : 7- 12 – Where can I go from your spirit?)
(Psalms 23 : 4 – Even though I walk thru the valley of shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me)
God the king rules over all, even hell itself. There is simply no realm outside of God’s authority & rule.
Therefore God’s rule is universal because God is omnipresent (no problem with war/conquerors – rules all things – no competitors – there is none like Him)
c) God is all knowing, so in His wisdom He may appoint representatives to administer his rule. (but because he is all knowing and all wise – omniscience – he is always in control)
God deals his sovereignty thru men, some of whom recognize it (David, Joseph), some reject it (Hitler), some are ignorant of it (most leaders are) but in all situations, he alone is all knowing and sovereign.
So therefore even if there is a good human king or even a bad one, God is still in control and in every situation and God’s will and purpose will be executed and fulfilled. Eg – used Pharoah for his purpose to deliver Israel out of Egypt, used Joseph to save lives in Egypt during famine (Gen 45 : 7-8).
d) God is sovereign and as King he can perform miracles (because he is sovereign)
(Psalms 135 : 6-10 – The Lord does whatever pleases Him, in the heavens and on earth)
Therefore God’s rule and authority cannot be diminished or eliminated by any rebellion. At the day of judgment, the status of God as the Eternal & Almighty king will never change.
The problem in recognizing God as King7. A little story (respect is not fear). There was a pastor who shared that once he preached a sermon on the fear of the Lord as King. At the close of the service, he chatted with one member of the church, who said that he liked the sermon but in the light of the gospel of love in this modern time, maybe ‘respect’ would be a better word than ‘fear’. Of course the pastor didn’t agree to that because the word of God is clear. Yet it got him thinking even deeper on the issue of the fear of the Lord, and he came to understand that respect is appropriate between equals. For eg. he had a neighbour who is an ardent Roman Catholic and in many doctrinal issues, he disagrees with his neighbour but still, they remain good neighbours because of mutual respect. But when it comes to our God, it was different, he feared God and would not dare to disagree with God or do anything that will offend or displease God, at least not deliberately. It was much more than just respect, it was as if his whole life and his whole being depended solely on God’s grace, mercy and love (his whole existence and every and all aspect of life depended solely on God).
8. JI Packer says in his book knowing God that ‘our faith is feeble and our worship empty because we don’t understand the majesty of God.’ He also points out that ‘we are modern people, and modern people, though cherish great thoughts of themselves, have as a rule small thoughts of God. When the person in church, let alone the person in the street use the word ‘God’, the thought is rarely of divine majesty’.
9. Martin Luther told his disciple Erasmus – ‘Your thought of God are too human’. Someone said that, God has made man in His image and we are now returning the favour to him by confining God into our image. We perceive and tailor the image of our Lord to what we need him to do or what we want Him to be (the meek shepherd). Theologian Dr. Carl Henry observes that the church have too much tamed its fear and reverence for God, and it now seems as if Christ were serving us rather than we serving Him.
10. We also most of the time equate God the King to earthly kings and that really is no basis for comparison if you understand the difference between the 2. A weak, transient, powerless, ineffective and flawed human king compared to an eternal, infinite, almighty, all knowing yet perfectly good, gracious, merciful and loving King. There is no comparison between the 2.
2 suggestions 11. How to get right idea of God :
a) To remove from our thoughts of God’s limit that would make Him small. (look at Psalms 139, the view of God of the patriarch, the view of the apostle of our Lord Jesus & how they live in reverence and fear of the Lord).
b) To compare God the King with powers and forces which we might regard as great. (seeing nature – Isaiah 40)
Our King - Personal yet Majestic12. Yet in spite of Lord’s majesty, our Lord has always been personal with His creation (look at his relationship with Adam from the beginning). (walking with Adam, conversing with Adam, asking questions etc in Genesis).
13. Man’s relationship with our Lord was broken after the fall and man’s sin caused the direct link to God to be temporary cut off. (that is why in the old testament they needed blood of animals sacrifice, only chosen people can approach God etc). (even Moses wasn’t allowed to see God’s face and glory because he will die if he did – Exodus 33).
14. Today we Christians are very blessed because our King, the Lord Jesus Christ in His grace, came down to redeemed us and took our sin and guilt by dying on the cross, so we do not need to fear the judgment of God and we can approach the throne of God with confidence and boldness, because of the redemptive and finished work of our Lord Jesus Christ. (Hebrews 10 : 19-24).
15. Our Lord Jesus even made us his sons, heirs and friends. (So we are all prince but do we live like one?) (but remember my point that he doesn’t actually need heir coz he is eternal – God is so gracious, so merciful).
What happens when we give reverence to our King?17. This King of ours is not like the earthly kings we know. Our Lord Jesus came not to make us slaves (but to set us free) nor did He come to make us lose confidence of our standing with Him because God continues to grant us His overwhelming grace, mercy and love each day. Yet I believe that our Lord also wants us to understand and cultivate this fear and reverent for Him in our lives for our own good and benefit.
a) When we understand the majesty and greatness of God, it doesn’t stop our speech in silent fear but it is to releases our praises to God and it gives us a desire to share our Lord with others.
b) It is not the end of all hope but it is the beginning of hope (because we have a good King) – Psalms 147 : 1- 11. (it is like spring rather than autumn).
c) It doesn’t kill initiative and personal growth (an authoritarian ruler) but it stimulates it.
d) It doesn’t make people worry about punishment, judgment and brokenness, but it leads them to comfort, hope and reconciliation (with God & one another) and even much blessings.
Conclusion18. Let’s understand that we can never put our Lord any higher than where He is. He has always been and will always be the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, whether you or anyone acknowledge it or not. (Phil 2) The only choice we have is whether to enthrone Jesus as King of our lives.
19. John the disciple, recorded as the disciple whom Jesus loved, and the one who rested on Jesus bosom as recorded in the gospel of John, was someone who was very close to our Lord Jesus. But yet in Revelation 1 : 17, this same John wrote that when he saw the glorified Christ, he fell at the Lord’s feet as though dead. (Do you stand in awe and reverence of our glorified Lord?)
20. Our Lord Jesus calls us his friends (but the full text is that only if we obey his commands). Anyway that is His prerogative but to us, He must always be our Lord, Master and King foremost.
21. The closer we get to Jesus, when we truly know him and experience Him, the more we will see His greatness and His majesty. His act of love, mercy, grace, goodness, kindness, faithfulness is all possible because of His greatness. No wonder John the Baptist can proclaim that ‘He must increase and I must decrease’ simply because he saw and understood the greatness and majesty of God. (Do we have such humility when approaching our Lord?)
22. I pray that in this short time we have, we are able to listen to the Holy Spirit prompting and telling us that we must get to know our Lord Jesus Christ as our Lord, Master and King once again as how he would want us to know Him from His word and His revelations to us.
23. Gen Sondhi (the coup general) is a close friend of the Thai King Bumipol, yet in meeting the King, he still crawls in the presence of the King and sit at the King’s feet when talking. (What about us, how do we approach our Lord and King?
