BOOK OF HEBREWS
THE NATURE OF HIS KINGSHIP
DR. JIM DIXON
SEPTEMBER 30, 1984
HEBREWS 9:23
In Spain in the month of August in 1883 two children came out of a cave in the hill surrounding Barcelona. One was a boy in the other, a girl, but they were not normal children. They wore clothing made of material no one had ever seen before. They spoke a language which according to linguists, no one had ever heard before. Their eyes were shaped like almonds and their skin was bright green. The little boy died; the girl lived. She learned to speak Spanish. She told the authorities in Barcelona that they had come to that cave through the sky and that they had once lived in a land that was always in twilight. Those who research such things tell us, yet this is a manifestation, an example of extraterrestrial visitation to this earth. Certainly in the history of this earth, many mysterious things have happened. Many mysterious things have been discovered from pre-Columbian artifacts that seem to resemble spacecraft to alleged UFO sightings all over the world today.
To some these sightings, these instances are merely examples of fabrication and hallucination. But to others, they represent the truth that we live on a visited planet. The Bible tells us that we do indeed live on a visited planet, that the Bible is not referring to green children or UFOs or pre-Columbian artifacts. The Bible is referring to Jesus Christ. He is not of this earth and yet he visited this earth more than 1900 years ago. He came from heaven to earth and the Bible tells us that he will one day visit this planet again at the consummation, at the close of the age. And that event is called the Second coming of Jesus Christ. Now, from these two visits of Christ to this planet, one past and the other future, we learned two truths concerning the nature of his kingship, both of which are revealed in our passage of scripture. For today, from the first coming of Jesus Christ into this world, we learn that he is the servant king.
He has a servant’s heart. He delights in serving his Father and he delights in serving his people. The author of Hebrews in our passage of scripture for today tells us that before Jesus Christ first entered our world, before he first visited our planet, he said to the Father, sacrifices and offerings thou has not desired, but a body thou has prepared for me. Lord, I come to do thy will, oh Lord, as it was written of me in the role of the book, he is the servant king, come to do the will of his father come to serve his people.
In 1972, Barb and I went to the palace of Versailles outside of Paris and France. It is an incredible palace, and the gardens alone are 250 acres including the grand canal are which is a mile in length. The Palace of Versace was built by and for King Louis the 14th, he was called the Sun King and he regarded himself as borderline deity. The palace was more than a half mile in length. It had more than one hundred rooms including the great hall of mirrors. And in that palace, Louis the 14th had 4,000 servants to serve him. He built that palace over a period of 15 year, 50 years. Beginning in the year 1671, he used 30,000 men at a time to build that palace, most of which he never paid. But he did not care because he was worth it. Hundreds and hundreds of those people working on that palace died through infestation, through poor working conditions.
They died but he did not care because he was worth it. It cost him one hundred million to build that palace. He virtually bankrupted his nation and brought the people to their knees, but he did not care because he was worth it. In a time of drought, he installed 1,400 fountains in the gardens requiring and using more water than the entire city of Paris. But he did not care because he was worth it. Throughout history, there have been many rulers like that. They come not to serve, but they come to be served. And how unlike the servant king, our Lord Jesus Christ, when he came into this world, he said, I have come not to be served, but I come to serve and to give my life a ransom for many.
The Apostle Paul says, have his mind in you, which is yours in Christ Jesus. Although he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be clutched, but he had emptied himself, taking on the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of man, being found in human form. He humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even unto death on a cross. He is the servant king. He did not need to leave home, he did not need to come to earth, but he did it because he loves us. He was born in Bethlehem, and he might serve us. He lived a sinless life, and he might serve us providing the perfect sacrifice. He died on Calvary’s cross that he might serve us providing atonement for sin to all who believe in his name, he rose from the dead and he might serve us providing the hope of resurrection and eternal light, give sinned into heaven and he might serve us, and he might intercede through the prayers of the saints, the servant king.
And the Bible says that if you believe in him, if you would enter the kingdom of the servant king, then you too must become a servant. You too have been called to serve. He must view every relationship of life as an opportunity to serve another person in the very week that our Lord Jesus Christ went to the cross. On Thursday he was in the upper room with the disciples, and you remember how he gird himself with a towel and he began to wash the disciples’ feet. Their feet were muddy from traveling the dusty roads of Palestine and yet he knelt, and he began to scrub and wash those feet. Though he was king of kings, the creator of the universe, the son of God, he washed their feet, and he came to Peter and Peter said, Lord, you will never wash my feet. Jesus said, if I do not wash your feet, you have no part of me.
Peter said, Lord, not only my feet, but also my hands and my face. And when pe and when the Lord Jesus had washed their feet, he said, do you realize what I have done for you? You call me master and Lord and you are right for so I am. And if I then your master and Lord have washed your feet, how much more ought you to wash one another’s feet? I have given you an example that you should follow in my steps. He is the servant king, and he calls all of his people into service. If you are a Christian, you enter your marriage with this attitude that you have come not to be served, but you come to serve and to give your life. If you are a Christian, you should enter your work, your job, your employment, your career, whatever it is with this attitude that you come not to be served but you come to serve.
It does not matter how much authority has been vested in you, that authorities used to serve other people. If you are a Christian, you enter your friendships with this attitude. You come not to be served, but you come to serve. Jesus said, you know how the rulers of the gentiles love to Lord it over them and their great men love to exercise authority over them, but it shall not be so among you. For him who would be the greatest must be the servant of all. Even as the son of man came not to be served, but to serve and give his life a ransom for many. His first coming into the world proves he is indeed the servant king, and he calls his people to serve. Now his second coming into the world shows that he is not simply the servant king, but he is the omnipotent king having all power in the heavens and on earth, king of kings and Lord of lords glorious.
The author of Hebrews in our passage of scripture for today tells us that as Jesus Christ once visited this planet as he once came into this world, so he shall come again, not to deal with sin, not to his body as a sacrifice for sin, for he already did that once and for all when he died on calvary. But he will come to judge the world and he will come to save all those who are eagerly waiting for him.
–
He is the omnipotent king and all judgment, and all blessing is in his hands in the scriptures. His second coming of Jesus Christ is referred to by three titles. It is called the Epiphany, a Greek word meaning the appearing. For 1,900 years, no one has seen Jesus Christ. He left this world, and he went into the presence of the Father. He does not now appear, but one day he will appear when he comes again, and every eye shall see him. And the Bible says that all who love that appearing will receive eternal life. The second coming of Jesus Christ is also called the Parousia in the Bible, this is a Greek word meaning the presence or the coming. It was used for royal visitations. It was used to describe a Roman emperor who had journeyed to the villages and the cities and the towns throughout the Roman empire and presented himself before his people.
So it is that Jesus Christ will one day come at the consummation, and he will present himself before his people. The presence, the coming, the Parousia and the second coming of Jesus Christ is called the apocalypses. The word meaning the unveiling. There is a sense when Jesus Christ first came to this world, he was veiled. His glory, his deity, his majesty was veiled. He came as a suffering servant. The son of a carpenter from Nazareth, a Jewish rabbi. There were moments even in his first coming when his deity was manifested, when he calmed the sea and rebuked the wind. And the disciples said, who is this yet even the wind and the sea obey him when he healed the sick and the multitudes and when he raised the dead and when he was transfigured on the holy mountain. But these were merely brief glimpses of his deity and majesty.
You see, when he comes a second time, he will be unveiled for all to see that he is indeed the son of God, King of Kings and Lord of Lords. The book of Revelation says, behold he is coming with the clouds and every eye shall see him. Everyone who pierced him, and all the nations of the earth will cry out on account of him. He will come to judge the world; he will save his people and he will come to establish his eternal kingdom where he will reign and rule forever and ever.
This world has had many rulers, many who have reigned for a time on the earth. Historians think that perhaps the worst ruler, whoever was Elagabalus, certainly had the worst name. Elagabalus was a Roman emperor. He ascended to the throne in the year 218 ad at the age of 14 years, the most powerful man in the world.
But he cared little about the earth and he cared little about the people of the earth. He threw great banquets and great parties and great feasts, and he would invite citizens to come to his palace. No one dared refuse an invitation to one of his banquets, though they went with fear and trepidation because they knew that at best, they would have a miserable time and at worse, an untimely death. At his banquets, He would serve imitation food made of glass and marble. And etiquette demanded that his guests tried to eat it. Sometimes he would serve real food that was stuffed with poisonous spiders. He served pastries filled with lion’s dung. It is a matter of historical record that people literally left his palace, went home and died.
Sometimes he served good food, a great feast. He invited his guest to spend the night. They would wake up in the morning in a room filled with lions and tigers. If they survived the shock, they might find that the animals were tamed, or they might find that they were wild and they would literally be torn limb from limb, all for the entertainment of Elagabalus.
He built royal baths all over the city and he bathed in them once and then he ordered that they would be torn down at the expense of the people. He traveled through the city of Rome in his royal chariot, pulled sometimes by lions and sometimes by bears. He sometimes traveled through the city in a wheelbarrow pulled by naked women. Finally, after four years of reign, his own pretorian guard murdered him at the demand of his own grandmother. For him, the rule was a joke. People were toys, life was cheap. He may indeed have been the worst ruler this world has ever known, but this world has had many incompetent rulers and even the best rulers in the history of this world did little to change the surface of this earth.
And their rule, their reign was but for a short time. But when Jesus Christ comes again, he will reign forever. And for him, life is precious, and he takes his rule seriously. When he comes, he will literally change the surface of this earth. The Bible says in Isaiah 65, in Isaiah 11, that Jesus Christ will cause the deserts to bring forth bloom and the earth will give its produce. He will change the very nature of the animal kingdom and there will no longer be any carnivorous animals on this earth. A little child shall be able to lead a lion. The Bible says the peoples of this earth will be reunited to harmony in this world. He will beat our swords into plow shares and our spears into pruning hooks. Nations shall not lift up sword against nation. Neither shall they learn war anymore.
He will not make this earth perfect, and he will make the universe glorious. But this perfect world that our Lord Jesus Christ will create will not be for everybody. It will only be for those who love him. It will only be for those who believe in him. It will only be for those who put their faith in him. And when Jesus Christ comes again, the first thing he will do is he will judge the earth and he will decide between the hearts of men.
The Lord Jesus said in Matthew 25, when the son of man comes in power and great glory in all of his angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne before him shall be gathered all the nations, and he will separate them one from the other as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. And he will say to those on his right hand, come, oh, blessed of my father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from before the foundation of the world where I was hungry, and you gave me to eat. I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink. I was naked and you clothed me. I was sick and imprisoned and you visited me. They will say, “When, Lord, when did we do these things?” Jesus will say, in far as you have done it unto the least of these, my brethren, you have done it unto me.
But to those on his left hand, he will say, depart from me you workers of iniquity to the lake of fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry, and you fed me not I was thirsty, and you gave me not to drink. I was naked and you clothed me. Not I was sick and imprisoned and you did not visit me. And they shall say to him, when, Lord, when did we not do these things? And he will say, as far as you have not done these things to the least of these my brethren, you have not done them unto me.
It is oftentimes said that as Christians, we are saved by grace through faith. And that is true. The says that and the Bible is true. We are saved by grace through faith. We are saved by faith alone. But you see, the Bible tells us if we really have faith, if we really believe it is going to change our life, if we really believe in Jesus Christ, if we really have faith in him, it is even going to result in works. We are going to begin to want to obey him. We are going to begin to want to take his light to a world of darkness. We are going to begin to want to share his love in a world of hatred, we are going to want to serve him with all of our hearts. And one day he will come again, and he will judge between the hearts of men. Many Christians want to know when is he going to do that?
When is Jesus Christ going to come again? When is he going to establish a perfect universe? When is he going to save his people? When is he going to judge the world? On April 3rd, 1843, thousands and thousands of people went to the top of New England mountains, there to await the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Because William Miller, the great preacher and religious leader, had told his people that Jesus Christ would come again on April 3rd. Thousands of them were there waiting for Christ to come, but many of Miller’s followers were not on those mountains. They had taken their own lives and the lives of their families because the dead in Christ will rise first. And they wanted to rise first. Others of his followers had literally gone to graveyards, and they had put on shrouds to await the second coming of Jesus Christ. There it was said that the days preceding April 3rd found that the heavens were accompanied by signs and wonders, and everyone was sure that Jesus would come.
April 3rd came, Jesus Christ did not. On April 4th, 50,000 Millerites returned to their homes and their jobs in embarrassment. History’s filled with examples like that. Jesus Christ said, no one knows the day or the hour of my return. In the Bible, there are prophetic signs that will indeed accompany the return of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Many of these prophetic signs are being fulfilled in our time. Perhaps the key prophetic sign is the rebirth of the nation of Israel. Israel became a nation again in 1948. They reoccupied Jerusalem in 1967. That was no less than a miracle for they were scattered among the peoples of the earth. And that is all in fulfillment of biblical prophecy. Indeed, we may be the generation that will see the return of Jesus Christ to earth. But you see, the important thing is not when Jesus Christ is going to come.
The important thing is whether or not we are ready when he comes. Paul says, as for the times and seasons, you have no need to have anything written to you. For you yourselves know that the day of the Lord shall come like a thief in the night. When people say there is peace and security, then sudden destruction shall come upon them as travail comes upon a woman with child and there shall be no escape. But you are not in darkness, brethren, for that day to surprise you like a thief. For you are all sons of the day and sons of the light. We are not of the night or of the darkness. Therefore, let us keep awake and be sober for those who sleep. Sleep at night and those who get drunk, get drunk at night. But since we belong to the light, let us be sober.
Let us put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet, the hope of salvation. For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ who died for us, so that whether we wake or sleep, we might always be with him. You see, when he comes again, he wants to see us in the light. He wants to see us alert. He wants to see us following him and serving him. He does not want to find us on a mountaintop waiting. He does not want to see us in a graveyard clothed in shrouds. He wants to see us serving him in his great kingdom in this world. He wants to see us and find us obedient to his word. He wants to see us sharing his love with this world and his light with this world. That is how he wants to find us, that he might be able to stand before us and we look him in the eye, look him in the eyes, and to hear him say, well done, my good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little. I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master. Paul says, the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the archangels call with the sound of the trumpet of God and that dead in Christ shall rise. Then we who are alive, who are left until is coming, shall be gathered together with them in the cloud. We shall meet the Lord in the air. We shall always be with the Lord. He is the servant king, and he is the omnipotent king. He will one day come again. He will come to judge the world. He will come to receive his people unto himself. Shall we pray?