TITLES OF CHRIST
KING OF KINGS
DR. JIM DIXON
REVELATION 19:11-16
APRIL 30, 1989
In the 19th chapter of the book of Revelation, our passage of scripture for today, the Bible describes the second coming of Jesus Christ using the symbolism of apocalyptic language. Every word chosen by the Holy Spirit is designed to reveal the royalty of our Lord Jesus Christ. “The heavens are open and Christ comes, followed by the armies of heaven. He comes on a white horse, the preferred mount of a conquering King. On His head are many diadems, crowns of royal majesty. His eyes are like a flame of fire. Nothing is hidden from His sight. From His mouth issues a sharp sword. The very words of His mouth are words of power able to smite the nations. He will rule the nations with a rod of iron. He will tred the winepress of the wrath of the fury of the Lord God Almighty. He sits in the seat of ultimate authority. He is the source of final judgement. He is King of Kings and He is Lord of Lords.”
Throughout history there have been many kings, many lords. There can only be and will only be one supreme King, one supreme Lord. King of Kings, Lord of Lords that One is Jesus Christ. When He comes again, He will establish His eternal kingdom in all of its fullness. But even now, you see, His kingdom lives and this morning, as we examine this title “King of Kings and Lord of Lords,” we will study the meaning of the kingdom of Jesus Christ.
In the Bible the word “kingdom” has two meanings. These comprise our two teachings today. First of all, the word “kingdom” is sometimes used in the sense of realm. This is the concrete usage of the Greek word “basileia,” the Greek word “kingdom,” the meaning “realm.” A place, a geographical landspace with boundaries, with limits. When historians speak of the kingdom of France or the kingdom of Great Britain, they are speaking of a geographic landspace with limits and boundaries, but in what sense does Jesus Christ have a realm? In what sense is the kingdom of Christ a place? You can’t drive down the road and enter the kingdom of Jesus Christ. There’s no sign there that says, “Entering Christ’s Kingdom.” Where is the kingdom of Jesus Christ? Where is the realm?
In Virginia today, there lives a man who is 28 years old. He is entitled King of Kings, Light of Men, Shadow of God on Earth. You might think, “Well this guy has got to be crazy,” but he isn’t. This man is a billionaire. Most would say that he has many billions. No one knows how wealthy he is. Some say his wealth is almost beyond calculation and comprehension. This man, living in Virginia today, has 600,000 subjects in the State of California. He has 200,000 followers in Texas, in Houston, Dallas, and San Antonio, and so it is with states all over the United States. Even Washington, D.C., this nation’s capitol, even there he has 15,000 subjects. But, you see, this nation is not his realm. His realm is overseas. His realm is 636,000 square miles called Iran. His city is called Tehran. His seat is called the Peacock Throne. This man living in Virginia called Reza Pahlavi was exiled from Iran in 1979 with his father. His father, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, better known as the Shah of Iran, and today, the 28-year-old Reza Pahlavi has taken the title “Shah.” He has taken the title “King” but, you see, he is a king in exile. He is a king in waiting. His great enemy is the Ayatollah Khomeini and the radical Muslim front. He can’t wait, he can’t wait, to return and claim his realm.
Well, you see, there’s a sense in which Jesus Christ is like that. Jesus Christ is a king in exile. Jesus Christ is a king in waiting. His realm is much larger than 636,000 square miles. His realm extends far beyond the Caspian Sea and the Persian Gulf. His realm encompasses this entire planet called earth. The Bible says “The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof” but, you see, the Bible also tells us that right now this realm called earth belongs to Satan. Jesus Christ Himself said “Satan is the ruler of this world.” He’s the king of this world and the people of this world knowingly or unknowingly live to serve him and they live to honor him but his realm, Satan’s realm, is stolen and it is temporary. One day, you see, Jesus Christ will come again and He will claim what is His, “and the kingdoms of this world,” the Bible says, “will become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ and He will rule forever.”
Now the Bible makes it very clear that the realm of Jesus Christ extends far beyond this earth. The Bible says His realm consists of “ta panta”…”all things.” His realm encompasses the cosmos, the Greek word “kosmos, the creation itself, the universe. One day He will claim what is His. If you’re a Christian, if you believe in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, then it is promised that you will be part of that realm. He has a place for you in all of eternity. If you’re truly a Christian, that’s the blessed hope and you look forward to that.
Right now, if you look at this world, the stolen realm of Satan, you’ve got to be frustrated. When you read the newspapers and when you watch television and when you go to the movies, aren’t you just a little frustrated? Aren’t you vexed just a little bit in your soul when you see the erosion of Judeo-Christian values? The growing promiscuity? When you realize that pornography is a multibillion-dollar business in America and drugs literally epidemic on the campuses of this country? But you see, Christ wants us to understand, we’re not called to simply curse the darkness. We’re called to go into this world, into this stolen realm of Satan, and be light. We’re called to take the love of the gospel into a world of hate, to be salt on the earth, and it is promised that one day, indeed, His kingdom will come.
Well, the word kingdom not only means realm. The word kingdom has a second meaning, a more frequent meaning in the Scriptures. The word kingdom also means “reign.” This is not the concrete usage of the word kingdom but the abstract one. In this sense, the kingdom is not a place but it is an action. It’s not static but it’s dynamic. Jesus Christ reigns and He reigns already. His reign has already invaded this realm. Jesus Christ says “the kingdom of heaven, is in the midst of you.”
You know, Shirley MacLaine loves to quote Jesus Christ. She particularly likes to quote His statement “the kingdom of God is within you.” She Says, “You see Jesus Christ was saying exactly what I’m saying; that God is in everything and in everyone. God is pantheistic. If you want to find God, all you have to do is look within yourself because you’re part of God and God’s part of you, a pantheistic god.” But, you see, that’s not the teaching of the Bible. That’s the teaching of the Eastern religions. God created you but He is not in you unless you embrace the reign of the Son of God, Jesus Christ. Then and only then, as you embrace the reign of the Son of God, He sends His spirit to come within you.
What did Jesus mean when He said, “the kingdom of God is within you?” The Greek words are clear. Literally, the meaning is the kingdom of God is in the midst of you. He didn’t say that to an individual. He didn’t say to an individual “the kingdom of God is in the midst of you.” He said it to a group, a group of people called Pharisees as He stood in their midst. He said to them, “the kingdom of heaven is in the midst of you.” He was inviting them to embrace His reign and He invites you today to embrace His reign.
If you’re a Christian, you’ve already entered the kingdom of Jesus Christ and you’ve already received the reign of Christ in your life. But be careful. Be careful because a lot of people say they are Christians and they’ve not really embraced the reign of Jesus Christ. You see, if you’ve embraced the reign of Jesus Christ, there’s going to be two evidences. Above all else, there will be the evidence of obedience if you’ve really embraced His reign. We’re not saved by obedience. We’re saved by grace through faith in the Son of God as Lord and Savior. But if you’ve really taken Him as Lord and Savior, if you’ve really accepted His reign, the fruit of obedience is going to be manifested in your life, in your behavior.
Jesus said, “Why do you call Me Lord…Lord, King, and not do what I tell you to do?” “In that day,” He says, “many will say Lord and He will say I never knew you.” A lot of people, when they think of obedience, they think of a long list of don’ts and there are a lot of don’ts in the Bible. Don’t steal. Don’t kill. Don’t commit adultery. Don’t practice fornication. Don’t bear false witness. You see, all of these don’ts test our obedience, particularly in a world that is so fallen and racing towards judgment. But obedience in scripture is not simply a list of don’ts. It’s also a very long list of do’s. “Rear your children. Bring them up in the nurture, in the admonition of the Lord. Love thy neighbor as thyself. Go ye into all the world and make disciples, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Bring the full tithes into My storehouse.”
The world has rarely seen what a church totally submitted to the reign of Jesus Christ can do. This last week, Bob and I and Mike Sadler returned from Birmingham, Alabama. We went down there to the Briarwood Presbyterian Church. The Briarwood Presbyterian Church is one of the greatest churches in the southeastern portion of the United States. They just completed a $32 million facility with 300,000 square feet. Now that would mean nothing, perhaps a Monument to somebody’s ego. You See, it’s not like that. This is a facility that really is facilitating ministry and it’s impossible for me to share with you the impact that that church is having on the community and on the city and on the world as they reach out to the poor and to the rich as they share the gospel of Jesus Christ.
They have an excellent elementary school, a middle school, and they have an unbelievable high school. They have a theological seminary. They have full-time staff sent to nine college campuses. They support more than 400 missionaries, at home and abroad, all over the world through 125 mission agencies. Every year they give $2.5 million to world missions. Every year. They have more than 500 people a week involved in music ministry and 205 full-time paid staff. You might think “Well, this has got to be a church of 100,000 people,” but it isn’t. It’s smaller than this church. It’s a church of 2,800 people. They have 700 to 1,000 less people a Sunday than we have when it isn’t snowing. But, you see, their people are totally committed, absolutely committed, and they have shook the earth with the gospel of Jesus Christ.
This church, our church, is only seven years old and some of you are new Christians. You’ve just recently accepted Jesus Christ. Some of you have not yet embraced Christ in His reign. We love you and we care about you. But there is no doubt that in the years ahead God is going to call this church to greater commitment, and this staff to greater commitment, and all of you who take the name of Jesus Christ because, you see, Jesus Christ wants to reign. Through you, He wants to change the world.
Acceptance of the kingdom of Christ is not only expressed in obedience but it is expressed as well in a second quality, the quality of trust. You see, if you’ve really embraced the kingdom of Christ, there’s going to be two evidences in your life: obedience and trust. You’re really going to trust His sovereignty if you’ve embraced His reign.
Now when you look at children, they tend to have a lot of trust in their parents. When Drew and Heather were very young, when they were just babies, I remember laying on the floor in the family room on my back and I would take them one at a time and I would kind of bounce them in the air, and as they leave my hands they would kind of fly up there and they would laugh. They loved it. I didn’t send them, you know, ten feet. I didn’t launch them, but you know, 6 inches or a foot, and, you know, they trusted me completely. They laughed. They loved it. Then, you know, when we went swimming and they were just babies and they had just learned to walk, they would stand there by the edge of the pool and they didn’t know how to swim and I would come close and I’d be in the water and I’d say “Jump to Daddy.” They wouldn’t hesitate. They would jump because, you see, they trust me. That’s what Jesus Christ wants of you: total obedience and total trust.
You know, the disciples came up to Christ one day they said “Lord, teach us to pray. Teach us how to pray.” Our Lord Jesus, of course, gave them the Lord’s Prayer but He didn’t mean for them to take that prayer and just repeat it over and over again, and He doesn’t mean for us to take that prayer and simply repeat it over and over again. There’s nothing wrong with that, but that’s not what He intended. He didn’t say, “When you pray, pray this.” He said, “When you pray, pray like this.” You see, He gave us a pattern. He gave us an example. He gave us the ingredients that are meant to be part of prayer every day. One of those ingredients is this kind of statement “Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done.”
Do your prayers daily include that kind of statement? Do you call on the authority of the kingdom of Christ? Do you really say daily “Thy kingdom come.” Do you want His reign in your life and all the circumstances of your life and then are you able to say “Thy will be done”? Do you trust Him daily?
We need to trust ourselves to Christ’s reign every day and also our families and our children. You know, most every night I go in and I pray with Heather and Drew before they go to sleep, and sometimes after they’ve gone to sleep I go in there and I pray over them. I look at them and they’re sound asleep and they look so angelic when they’re like that. I know it’s kind of a scary thing being a dad. I don’t know how you feel about parenting, those of you who are parents, but I think it’s a scary thing. I know how much Drew and Heather want to have friends and how much they want to be liked as all children do. They want to get good grades, but it’s hard to learn the discipline of studying. Life isn’t easy growing up, particularly in this world, a far different world than the world that we grew up in, where there are so many drugs, so much promiscuity, and the values of this world do not reflect the values of the kingdom of Jesus Christ. So I pray over them.
Sometimes I wish I could control them. Do you ever wish you could control your kids? Just kind of make them and mold them? But we don’t have that kind of power. We can nurture and we can instruct and then ultimately we have to trust. We have to trust our children to God, trust our children to Christ and to His reign and say “Thy will be done.” If they live or if they die, trust them to the Lord.
You know, it’s kind of a crazy world we live in. People do strange things with their time. Do you really want to use your time to honor the kingdom of Christ and to honor the priorities of Christ?
In 1967, a report was given to a Senate subcommittee. It said that by 1985, the average American worker would work 22 hours a week, 27 weeks a year, and retire at the age of 38. What happened? It seemed reasonable at the time. In a post-industrial age when the advent of computers and satellites and robotics and all the wizardries of 20th century technology, it seemed like surely the American worker was going to be more efficient and the gross national product would increase and the workweek would shrink. But, you see, just recently in the most recent Harris poll, they found that since 1973 the average American, since 1973 to today, compared with 1973, the average American has 37% less leisure time today. The average American worker works almost 20% longer and there’s just not enough time. We co-op our kids. The average father, we are told, spends less than 20 minutes a day talking to his son or daughter. Those same children spend 3 to 5 hours a day watching television. Something is wrong with the way that we use time.
TIME MAGAZINE just recently wrote an article on this whole subject of time and how we use it. They say time is shrinking. People just don’t have enough hours in the day, and they predict that in the 1990’s free time is going to be more precious than anything to the American people and that free time will be to the American people in the 1990’s like money was to the American people in the 1980’s. People, they say, will do anything for money in the 80’s, and in the 90’s they’ll do anything for free time. I think TIME MAGAZINE is wrong. I think people will continue to live for money and for prominence in the 1990’s as they have in the 1980’s, and because people will continue to live for money and for prominence, they will continue to have too little time. They’re just not going to have time for all the things that Jesus Christ cares about. How about you? Do you really want to honor Jesus Christ?
Queen Elizabeth I, when she died in 1603, on her death bed, she said “All my possessions for a moment of time.” But her time was up. I don’t know how much time I have in this world. You don’t know how much time you have in this world. I do know that beyond this world, heaven waits for me and I have all the time of eternity itself, but in this life my time is finite and I want to use my time, I really want to use my time to honor Jesus Christ, to obey Him, to have the priorities He would have me have, and to trust all the results to Him. Do you want that?
Jesus Christ said “Seek first My kingdom and My righteousness and I’ll give you everything you need.” Let’s close with a world of prayer.