A Question That Confuses Many Christians (but really shouldn’t)

Is Jesus Christ King? I mean, is He King over all things, right now?

If you ask this question to most any Christian, the answer of course will be a resounding, “Why, yes! Of course Jesus is King.” However, if you press the issue and begin to probe a bit about what this actually means, and what is meant by “the Kingdom of God,” things can get muddled pretty quickly.

While Christians agree with the concept that Jesus is King, what they actually believe this means can vary. Many think of Jesus as “King” today in a spiritual, heavenly, personal, King of the universe, “floaty” sort of way. But when it comes to Jesus in fact being Lord and King over the earth and its inhabitants, right now… well, not really, at least, not yet. Maybe. Many believe we are still waiting for that to happen.

Does the New Testament portray this message? Here are some things Jesus said,

“Now after that John was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel (good news) of the kingdom of God, And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel (good news).”

Mark 1:14-15

“From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

Matthew 4:17

“Now is the judgment of this world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out. And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.”

John 12:31-32

I remember when I first began to realize that the gospel in the New Testament was the “gospel of the kingdom.” What everyone was looking for was the kingdom. What Jesus had come to bring, and what the good news was all about, was the kingdom of God in the world. Did Jesus come physically into this world to announce this gospel of the kingdom, saying to the people of that day “the kingdom is at hand,” telling people to believe this good news, only to mean that thousands of years later He would literally become the King of this world? Did He mean He would become our personal King—King in our hearts—but not King of this world for another few millennia?

I do not intend to attempt to answer all of these questions in this article. Truthfully, I am still seeking answers to some of these things myself. I bring this up to cause us to think. And some serious thinking we should do, because, I will be blunt, I have become more and more convinced from the Bible that some modern prevailing beliefs in this area have been quite wrong about this very important doctrine. Bad doctrine has bad consequences. We in the church in America are paying the price. I believe if we will set aside our pre-conceived ideologies and simply look at the message the Bible is actually portraying concerning the first coming of Christ into the world, we will be utterly amazed.

It is very hard to step back from ingrained ideas and truly look at things from a completely unbiased and open perspective. In his commentary on the book of Acts, theologian Albert Barnes said it this way,

“There is nothing so difficult to be removed from the mind as prejudice in favor of erroneous opinions. Such prejudice will survive the plainest proofs to the contrary. It will often manifest itself even after all proper means have been taken to subdue it. Erroneous opinions thus maintain a secret ascendency in a man’s mind, and are revived by the slightest circumstances, even long after it was supposed that they were overcome, and in the face of the plainest proofs of reason or of Scripture.”

Albert Barnes, Barnes’ Notes on the New Testament-Book of Acts

I will say this much. I do not believe we are waiting for the King to finally take His throne—the King IS enthroned, ruling the nations today. The King has come, has won the victory, has ascended into heaven, has gone to His coronation crowned as King of Kings and Lord of Lords, and His reign is already realized. When Jesus “sat down at the right hand of power” He took the throne. I believe we are long overdue to rid Christianity of a truly “erroneous opinion”, one that strips Jesus Christ of His place of authority and power in this world right now, and refuses to acknowledge that He is bringing the nations to Himself.

Some will say, “Well, it sure doesn’t look like it to me!” We may not think this is how the story should play out when reading and watching the news, for example. But I submit that it is much more important that we read our Bibles properly than it is to read the news properly. We must read it for what it is in point of fact saying, and then acknowledge it and submit to it, regardless of what we see when we look around. Things often do not look to us the way they actually are in God’s stories. If you had been present at the crucifixion of Jesus, and you placed your human eyes upon that bloody man hanging on that crucible on Golgotha, you would have never known that the greatest victory in the world was taking place. The story wasn’t over yet. Yes, Jesus Christ is King today, just as the scriptures say He is. And, as the famous hymn states, “Though this world with devils filled may threaten to undo us,”—the story isn’t over yet—”we will not fear for God hath willed His truth to triumph through us.”

While much progress has been made over the last two thousand years, Christ’s church still has a lot of work to do in bringing the nations to the King Who is actively sitting in power at the right hand of the Father in the heavenly places. So while “without are dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie,” (Revelation 22:15) as citizens of heaven, we continue to establish kingdom outposts wherever we are planted, bringing up the next generation of the hands and feet of Christ, and inviting all to come and gladly obey the command to bow the knee to King Jesus.

And when the greatest of all days does eventually come, and the King sets His feet back onto this planet, then every knee, willing or unwilling, will bow, in heaven and on earth.

While there is always so much to learn, and we will never understand everything fully, there are some things that really shouldn’t be confusing. Is Jesus Christ King in this world? Yes. Yes, He certainly is. No, I am not waiting for Jesus to come and finally become the King one day. He is King right now. The kingdom is here, in the midst of us (Luke 17:21). He is ruling through His people. He is ruling in the midst of His enemies (Psalm 110:2). Let us go and teach the nations.

And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations… Matthew 28:18-19

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