KING’S REIGN
DR. JIM DIXON
LUKE 1 :26-33
JOHN 18:33-38
REVELATION 19:11-16
SEPTEMBER 12, 1993
In 1876, King Otto ascended the throne of the kingdom of Bavaria. Otto was not fit to be king. During the fourteen prior years he had been in imprisoned in his room by his family. They said he was a raving lunatic. But Otto did not care. He enjoyed being locked in his room because he had great conversations, he said, with the spirits who lived in the drawers of his chest of drawers.
When he ascended the throne in 1876, his motto was, “A peasant a day keeps the doctor away,” because, you see, it was King Otto who believed that if he killed a peasant every day, he would have health and longevity—that as long as he kept killing peasants each day he would not die. Every morning he would rise from his royal bed. He would go to his royal window there in his bedroom, look out in the courtyard, take a gun, and kill a peasant. Fortunately, there were two guards, two royal guards, who were concerned for the people. One of the royal guards, every morning, very early, would come into the king’s chamber and put blanks in the king’s gun. The other guard would go into the courtyard every morning, putting on a peasant outfit. He would put on a different peasant outfit each day. When he heard the shot, he would fall as though he were dead. Such was the reign of King Otto of Bavaria.
Now, I think most of you have very little interest in King Otto. You probably care as much about King Otto as you do King Kong. You really have little interest in the kingdom of Bavaria. After all, the kingdom of Bavaria ceased to exist almost 100 years ago. I think if the truth were known, most of us have very little interest in current kingdoms. Most of us have very little interest in kingdoms that exist today.
The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan and King Hussein is not of major interest to most of you. Even the United Kingdom of Great Britain and northern Ireland is not of paramount importance to most of us. The truth is that we do not view kingdoms as having a great deal of relevance to our daily existence. Yet, the Bible tells us that there is one kingdom of supreme importance. the Bible tells us there is one kingdom that is critically related to our daily lives and our daily existence. There is one kingdom that demands our supreme allegiance, and that kingdom is the kingdom of God, the kingdom of heaven.
The message of our Lord Jesus Christ centers on the subject of the kingdom of God. If you go through the gospels and the synoptics and you read the parables of Christ (and Christ taught in a parabolic style), you will find that virtually every parable begins with these words, “The kingdom of heaven is like…” because, you see, Jesus Christ wants His people to understand the nature of the kingdom of God. Even the gospel centers on the subject of the kingdom and we are told that Jesus Christ came proclaiming the gospel, saying “Repent. The kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
Now, this morning as we seek to understand the message of the kingdom and the nature of the kingdom of God, I have two teachings and the first is this: The kingdom of God is the reign of Jesus Christ. As we come to the New Testament and we read its teachings, we understand that the kingdom of God is the reign of Jesus Christ. In the Old Testament, we see prophesied that the Messiah would come and He would reign over the very kingdom of heaven. That’s why in Isaiah 9 we read, “Unto us a child is born. Unto us a Son is given. The government shall be upon His shoulders. His name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace, and of His kingdom and of its increase there shall be no end.” The Bible says, Jesus Christ is King of Kings and He is Lord of Lords. The title “Lord” is the title of kingship, reflecting the reign of Jesus Christ. The tragedy is that many Christians today do not really understand what it means to call Jesus Christ King and Lord. Many Christians today do not really understand what it means to say that Jesus Christ reigns.
Today is the birthdate of Jesse Owens. Jesse Owens was born on September 12, 1913. In 1950, the Associated Press said that Jesse Owens was the greatest athlete of the first half of the 20th century. Jesse Owens had two moments of supreme triumph in his life. The first took place in 1935 in a Big Ten track meet when he set three world records and tied another in less than one hour’s time. The other took place in 1936 at the Berlin Olympics when Jesse Owens won four gold medals and he won the hearts of the German people despite the presence and prejudice of Adolph Hitler.
Now, for four years following the Olympics, Jesse Owens was referred to as the “reigning Olympic champion.” Sometimes we use the word “reign” in that sense. We speak of the reigning Miss America. When the Broncos won the AFC Championship, we spoke of them as the “reigning AFC champions.” Now, of course when we use reign in this sense it doesn’t mean to rule. When we use reign in that sense, it simply means that someone has been triumphant. They have been victorious. They’ve reached some measure of ascendency. Our English word “reign” has the potential to be used in that way but the Greek word that is used in the Bible for the reign of Jesus Christ ALWAYS means “rule.” It means that Jesus Christ rules. I tell you on the basis of scripture, that in order to enter the kingdom of Jesus Christ… In order to enter the kingdom of heaven, you and I must accept the rule of Jesus Christ. We must embrace His reign.
Now, I think in Christian pulpits, church pulpits, for centuries sometimes there has been a false gospel. I know when I was growing up I often was told that I could enter the kingdom of God if I would just receive Jesus Christ as Savior. I was told that I would enter the kingdom of heaven if I would just ask Jesus Christ to be my Savior, if I would just come forward at an altar call and ask Jesus Christ to forgive me of my sins because of His shed blood on Calvary’s cross… If I would just ask Him to be my Savior, I would enter the kingdom of heaven and be given eternal life.
As I’ve been studying the scriptures over the last 20 years, it seems to me at least that the Bible is clear that that message that I heard was incomplete because you really can’t have Jesus Christ as your Savior until you embrace His rule. You can’t have Him as savior until you accept His reign, until you take Him as Lord, until you say, “Sit on the throne of my life, I want to live for you.” It’s at that point that He becomes your Savior. It’s at that point that His grace and mercy are poured out upon you. It’s at that point that you find salvation and the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit of God when you resolve that you are going to embrace His rule and His reign and you take Him as Lord.
Now, today you hear many Christians speak of Christ as their friend. Jesus Christ is our friend. I think friendship with Jesus Christ is precious. How amazing that the Son of God offers to be our friend. But again, I think for many Christians the focus on friendship kind of is not the biblical emphasis because Jesus Christ is King of Kings, Lord of Lords, Son of God and He reigns, and He wants to sit on the throne of our heart.
I’ve had times in my life where I’ve made a lot of mistakes and I’m always so grateful for the friendship that I have with Jesus Christ, but I tell you what inspires me day-by-day is my knowledge that He is Lord. That is what makes me want to please Him. It is what makes me want to live for Him.
There’s this great statement of Jesus Christ where He said, “Greater love hath no man than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends.” But, of course, oftentimes we don’t look at the next few words, because Jesus Christ said, “Greater love hath no man than this that he lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you.” It’s all related to His reign. It is all related to His rule. It’s only when you embrace Him as King, when you ask Him to come and sit on the throne of your heart and you accept His rule, that He becomes your friend.
Bob had us all pray last week for Paul Anderson. Paul Anderson, of course, is fighting for his very 1ife and gravely ill. Paul Anderson was the gold medalist in the Olympics long ago. He was called the ” strongest man in the world,” super heavyweight power lifting champion. I only heard Paul Anderson speak one time. It was in Glendale, California. It was at a father/son banquet.
I remember how amazed I was when I saw Paul Anderson come into the room and have to turn sideways just to get through the door. He was so broad. I remember how impressed I was as a kid seeing him take a 275-pound dumbbell in one hand a just fire it above his head and then another 275-pound dumbbell in the other hand and he did the same. He was alternating them. I tell you that is unbelievable.
Now, at this father/son banquet, the first person who spoke was Mike Garrett, who was the Heisman trophy winner and the great running back for USC. He got up there at the father/son banquet and he told all the dads that they needed to develop friendships with their kids and that they needed to be a buddy to their son. It was a good message. When he sat down and Paul Anderson came up to the podium, it was obvious to everybody there that Paul Anderson was grieved. I mean he was really grieved and you could tell he was really struggling with something. When he got up there, he made it very clear that while he thought it was good for a dad to be friends with his son, he thought it was more important to be a leader. I remember, he pounded the pulpit and he said that dads need to be a leader, a leader, a leader, as he pounded the pulpit again and again.
Now, the message that Mike Garrett gave was true. Parents, moms and dads, need to befriend their children. But you see, the message that Paul Anderson gave was truer still, of greater importance, because parents desperately need to be leaders in the home. Now, if this is true in the home in the relationship of parent to child, I think God wants us to understand this is supremely true in our relationship with Him. As we come to Christ, we understand that while we have a friendship with Him, His primary role in our life is to lead because He is King, because He is Lord, because He rules and because He reigns. A Christian is someone who truly has embraced the reign of Christ, the rule of Christ and thereby has entered the kingdom of God.
Now, a second and final teaching relating to the subject of the kingdom of God is this. The kingdom of God cannot be established politically. The reign of Jesus Christ cannot be established in this world politically. The Bible tells us how Jesus Christ was speaking to scribes and Pharisees and He said to them, “The kingdom of God is in the midst of you.” Jesus was not making a political statement. He was not speaking of the Roman government. He was speaking of the spiritual presence of the kingdom.
Jesus said to Pilate, “My kingdom is not of this world. My kingdom is not from this world.” Now, this means many things, but I think one thing God wants us to grasp this morning is that we cannot establish His kingdom politically. The words “politics” and “police” have the same derivation. They come from the same Greek and Latin roots. Politics have to do with the establishment of civil laws by civil government enforced by government. But you see, the laws of Christ, the commandments of Christ cannot be legislated politically or by earthly governments.
A few weeks ago when Barb and I took Heather out to college in California, we wanted to, that first day, drive as far as we could. I remember in times past, sometimes in driving to California, we would spend the night at Richfield, Utah, or maybe St. George, but this time we drove all the way to Las Vegas to spend that first night. We got into Las Vegas about 10 PM. Barb and I had never spent the night in Las Vegas. We were driving by the freeway, and we were looking for a place to stay and we saw this big, incredible hotel that looked like Disneyland or something. It was called Excalibur. We thought “Well, let’s try to stay there.” We went to the Excalibur and the Excalibur has 4,000 rooms, and they had two rooms left. Actually, this was a Tuesday night late in August in Las Vegas. There were four thousand rooms at the Excalibur and two rooms left!
We took the room. It was $49 a night. We thought, “What a great deal!” We later found out that in Las Vegas there’s a lot of hotels where you can get rooms a lot cheaper. In fact, we saw where the Sands Hotel had a special for $10 a night and two free meals. Ten dollars a night and two free meals! I mean, that was a wash. But you see, in Las Vegas, they make their money off the gambling. All the money comes from the gambling. When Barb and I went downstairs and we looked at the casino in the Excalibur, we were just stunned. I mean, it was as far as you could see there were slot machines. As far as you could see there were blackjack tables. As far as you could see there were sports information up on the walls and people just gambling everywhere… just a sea of gamblers.
We walked down the strip. Barb and I had never walked down the strip before. It was 10:00 at night as Barb and Heather and I walked down the Las Vegas strip, 100% at 10:00 at night. We went into other hotels as we walked down the strip. You go into the casinos, and they were all the same. Just a sea of people gambling through the night in Las Vegas. Barb and I had an all-you-can-eat buffet at the Excalibur for $2.99. Unbelievable. But you see, they make their money off the gambling.
Of course, as you walk down the streets in Las Vegas, you see newspaper racks with newspapers, and they had that but next to the newspaper racks they had these other racks with pornography, and it was free. You didn’t have to put a coin in the rack. You just take free pornography out of the rack. I am sure in Las Vegas they’re trying to develop an appetite in people for some of the strip shows and some of the floor shows that are there. I am not saying there are not wholesome shows in Las Vegas. I know there are, but I think it’s safe to say there’s a lot of shows in Las Vegas that are far less than good.
In Las Vegas, we were told, there are tremendous problems with drugs and, of course, tremendous problems with promiscuity. I think a lot of Christians are not aware of the fact that in Las Vegas there are a lot of Christians, a lot of people who really love Jesus Christ. I’ve been told (I don’t know whether this is true) that among large cities, cities above 100,000 people, Las Vegas has more churches per capita than any other city in the United States more churches per capita—and that’s not because of the wedding chapels that are in the casinos. These are actual churches. There are more churches per capita and there are a lot of men and women who live in that city of Las Vegas who love Jesus Christ and who have embraced His reign and who have accepted His rule and they live for Him. And why? They don’t live for Him because it’s been legislated by the American government, obviously. They’ve made a spiritual decision in their hearts to embrace the reign of Christ and they live and they walk in the power of the Spirit.
As we look at Christian history, we see times when Christians have said “Well, we need to take our culture and we need to legislate Christian morality. We need to bring the culture unto the reign of Christ politically.” There have been Christians in Christian history who thought that way. One was John Calvin. I am sure many of you have heard of John Calvin, one of the great reformers of the 16th century, one of the great leaders of the Protestant reformation. John Calvin was a brilliant man. He was an excellent, powerful preacher. He had tremendous gifts in administration and organization. He was a great leader. He was called the greatest theologian of his age.
Of course, today he is known for the theology of Calvinism expressed through the acrostic TULIP. It is a theology of predestination. I think when you read Calvin’s Institute, you discover that Calvin probably was not as Calvinistic as many Calvinists today. And yet I think when you look at the life of John Calvin, clearly, he loved Christ. But I think one of the most remarkable failures in his life was his effort to establish a Christian commonwealth in the city of Geneva. He tried to establish what was called a “Christian Republic.” He tried to establish the kingdom of God in Geneva politically, taking over the government. It was amazing the transformation that occurred. I mean, at one time, Geneva had been incredibly promiscuous, and all of that changed. It had been kind of a wild city. All that changed.
At one time, Geneva had been a very dirty city, very much litter everywhere, and even that changed. Geneva became almost like Singapore today where you don’t even see a piece of paper on the street. It is so clean. Of course, there were many good things that happened in Geneva during that period of the Christian Commonwealth, but it ultimately didn’t work. It didn’t work because you can legislate the kingdom of God politically. You just cannot do it.
You see, what happened in Geneva was the people and the government decided, “Well, how do we enforce a biblical commonwealth? How do we enforce the teachings of Christ?” Well, they had to punish those who disobeyed scripture and the teachings of Christ. They had to punish those who disobeyed scripture. they wound up burning people at the stake if they were anti -trinitarian or if they were out of harmony with the teachings of Christ. What a tragedy. What a tragedy.
I think, as Americans, it is very important for us to understand that Puritans were primarily influenced by John Calvin. We need to understand the Puritans were primarily influenced by the teachings and theology of John Calvin and in England the Puritans were not simply trying to purify the church of England. They were trying to purify the English government and they wanted to make the English government Puritan. When that failed, those Puritans that came over to the colonies. Those Puritans that came over to America wanted to establish a biblical commonwealth here. They wanted to establish a Christian republic here. They wanted to establish a culture and a society where the teachings of Christ were legislated governmentally.
John Cotton, who was the great spokesman for the Puritans in the Massachusetts Bay Colony, taught that the church and the state had to hold hands and together submit the culture to the teachings of Jesus Christ. That is what John Cotton taught.
Now, Roger Williams, who founded the Rhode Island colony, was a Christian minister, though not a Puritan. He disagreed with John Cotton. It was Roger Williams who said, “No.” He said, “Earthly governments cannot be an extension of the kingdom of God.” Roger Williams said what happened in Israel was unique—that the nation of Israel was ordained of God and the people of Israel, the people of God. But he said now the true people of God are the church. The true people of God are people who believe in Jesus Christ and the church is the new Israel and you really can’t try to make an earthly government into an expression of the kingdom of God. He said something gets twisted. Something gets warped.
When our nation was established, when America was established, it was the view of Roger Williams that won out, not the thinking of John Cotton. So we have religious freedom in America today. Of course, tragically, freedom of religion has been perverted into freedom from religion and we see a culture in decline. I think we all care about that culture. I think we all care about the erosion of Judeo-Christian values. I think we all care about the growing crime in the cities. I think we all care about the breakdown of the family. But the answer is not to seek to establish the kingdom of God politically. The kingdom of Christ grows spiritually.
I am not saying, “As Christians, we shouldn’t be involved in the realm of politics.” I think we should. I have said that in times past. I’m not saying that, as Christians, we shouldn’t be involved in government. I think we should. I think we should be fighting the decline of Judeo-Christian values in our culture. I think we should be active politically but, you see, it’s a fine line. It’s a fine line between seeking to be salt and light in a fallen culture and then seeking to establish the kingdom of Christ politically. You just can’t do that. The kingdom of Jesus Christ grows spiritually and that is to be our primary focus.
The mandate for the growth of the kingdom of Christ is given in Matthew 28 in the Great Commission. “Go into all the world and make disciples, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you. Lo, I am with you always, even to the close of the age.” That is the spiritual growth of the kingdom of Christ, and we have been given this commission that we might take the gospel to the nations, that we might seek to bring men and women into the kingdom of Christ, inviting them to embrace the reign and rule of Jesus Christ that they might have Him as Savior and Friend, and this call is upon all of us in our communities and in our places of work. It is our call together as a church to help each other to grow in submission to the reign of Christ, that we might be the people He wants us to be.
I had a lot of things I wanted to say this morning. I do not have time. Perhaps we can have a follow-up message on some of what I had wanted to say. I think what God wants us to understand this morning is simply this: The kingdom of God is the reign of Jesus Christ. We enter that kingdom when we accept His rule, when we say we want to live for Him. That is when we are born anew. That’s when we are regenerated by the Holy Spirit and that’s when we receive Christ as Savior. The kingdom of God and the reign of Jesus Christ cannot be established politically. Somehow it gets twisted. We are to be involved in politics, but the kingdom of Jesus Christ is established spiritually as we take the gospel to our neighborhoods, to our city, to our state, to our nation, to the world. Let us close with a word of prayer.