Our Beliefs : Sermons : Sermon Archive - 2003 : November 23, 2003
Christ the King Is, Was, and Will Be
End Time 4 - Christ the King
The Apostle Paul often used sporting events to describe elements of the Christian life. As we look at the book Revelation, I'd like to do the same thing. Picture your Christian life as a football game. If you win the game, you go to heaven. If you lose the game, you go to hell. Obviously, it's a very important game -- it is The Game. Jesus is your coach. It's halftime. No matter how old you are, your life up until now was the first half of the game. The rest of your life is the second half.
As you go to your locker room for that halftime pep talk, what locker room would you be in -- the side that's winning or the side that's losing at halftime? Amazingly, you already know the outcome of the game -- you win because Christ already won the game for you with his life and death. But as we stop and look at how our individual game is going, how often do we act as if our victory is in doubt? Maybe you've come to this halftime pep talk with complete confidence that not only are you winning but that you will win. That's great! But maybe you've come to this halftime pep talk with not so great a confidence. You might be struggling with a particular sin that Satan is using to crush your confidence in your victory. You might see unbelievers scoff at Christianity with seeming impunity. Maybe your doctor just told you that your second half will be very short -- only 6 months long and your game will be over. You might be dealing with death in the family or hardship, a feeling of loneliness, hopelessness, uselessness. It might not be so crystal clear whether you will win the game or not. You might be feeling that you're so down at halftime that there's no way you can win. I don't know where you are at halftime -- only you know that. But God knows also. That's what the book of Revelation is all about. Jesus through the apostle John gives you a halftime pep talk. He shows you that your victory is assured by showing you himself -- Christ the King, who is, who was, and who will be. Our realization of who Jesus is -- our Prophet, our Priest, and our King -- will give us what we need to play the second half.
The apostle John was writing Revelation as an encouragement to the Christians who lived in Asia Minor, which is in modern day Turkey. What a joy to know that "grace and peace" was theirs "from him who is, and who was, and who is to come, and from the seven spirits before his throne, and from Jesus Christ." The term "the seven spirits before his throne" is a strange expression. It is obvious that it is a reference to the Holy Spirit because then all three persons of the Trinity would be mentioned. It can also be translated as "the seven-fold Spirit." Isaiah 11:2-3 speaks of the Holy Spirit resting on Jesus, and the Holy Spirit is described with seven phrases: "The Spirit of the LORD will rest on him -- the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the Spirit of counsel and of power, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD -- and he will delight in the fear of the LORD." What an encouragement this would have been for the Christians in John's day who were daily feeling the pressure of persecution and even death for their faith in Jesus! The eternal God -- Father, Spirit and Son -- was constant in giving his people grace and peace through the forgiveness of sins. This encouragement was not just for those Christians at that time, but for all Christians of all time. It may have been easy to think that God had forgotten his people with everything that was happening to the early Christians. It's easy to think that today. But since God is, was and will be, he knows everything and is in control of everything. John describes this further in how he describes Jesus.
First, he calls him the faithful witness (verse 5). What are a witnesses to do in a court of law when they are called to the witness stand? They are to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help them God. Many people down through the ages have lied in court so they can try to escape justice. But Jesus is the faithful witness. That means that he can't lie. In his holiness, he must tell the truth. That ought to fill us with fear if Jesus is to be the witness at our trial. He would have to testify that we have used unkind words, thought many times only of ourselves, been poor examples of Christians time and time again in our lives. But what a joy to know that this same Jesus is the same one who knew full well who we are and what we are -- sinners through and through -- and still loved us. In fact, he loved us so much that he lived and died for us to take our sins away.
This past week was the 40th anniversary of former President John F. Kennedy's assassination. There were many witnesses to what happened, but no one is quite sure if Lee Harvey Oswald acted by himself or was part of a conspiracy to murder the President. I learned something from the shows that were on about it. I didn't realize that in making his escape, Oswald allegedly murdered a police officer before being apprehended. On the same day that Kennedy was buried, that police officer was buried. Both were horrible tragedies, not just because they were murdered, but because they died in the first place. Death was not a part of this world until Adam and Eve brought it into this world. Now death is part of life. Just looking at the footage of the Kennedy assassination makes you sick to your stomach. But if you get too sick to your stomach, you can just turn the TV off or walk away from it and hopefully forget it.
When God saw our deaths caused by our own sins, it made him sick, too. So sick, in fact, that he didn't want to just walk away from it. He couldn't because he loved us so much. Instead, he decided to save us. The only way to do that was to take our death on himself and suffer for us so we would live forever.
We can see how that plan was put into effect in our text. As the faithful witness in the Old Testament, Jesus foretold what he would do. Immediately after the first sin, the plan was put into effect. The first gospel promise was made: the Seed of a woman would crush Satan's head and so free us from death and sin and the devil. Then throughout the Old Testament era, Jesus proclaimed his promises in different ways, revealing more and more of the Savior to come, so that when Jesus entered human history as a human baby, and would eventually die in our place, believers would recognize him as the Savior of sinners. That is how Jesus acted as our Prophet, proclaiming through the prophets of the Old Testament how The Prophet would come to save his people. Jesus remained faithful to his promises -- he had to because Jesus is, was and will be -- our faithful God.
When Jesus gave himself as the ultimate sacrifice for sinners on a hill outside Jerusalem, he also showed that he was our Great High Priest. All the bloody Old Testament sacrifices among God's people of Israel pointed ahead to the Real Sacrifice. As a well-known hymn puts it, Jesus was "himself the victim and himself the priest." The writer to the Hebrews says it this way: "He does not need to offer sacrifices day after day, first for his own sins, and then for the sins of the people. He sacrificed for their sins once for all when he offered himself." (Hebrews 7:27) Our text puts it this way: that Jesus rose from death as "the firstborn from the dead" to assure us of his victory because his resurrection proves that God accepted Jesus' sacrifice -- our sins are forgiven! Verse 5 says the same thing: Jesus is the One "who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood." Yes, Jesus was also our Priest who gave his own life to save us from our sins. What a joy that was for the Christians in John's day, and what a joy it continues to be as we realize that the sacrifice is done.
And on this Christ the King Sunday, we also see great joy in knowing that Jesus was and is and always will be our King. John describes him as "the ruler of the kings of the earth." Jesus was a king by human descent from King David, but more importantly, he was and is and always will be the King of kings and Lord of lords, because Jesus is God himself. But he doesn't act as most earthly kings do. They try to acquire land and power and wealth. Jesus simply wants to rule in our hearts as our Savior and our Lord based on what he's done for us.
Why is it so important that Jesus was, is and will be? We know that he didn't just complete his mission and then leave us to ourselves to deal with our own sins and frustrations and temptations. As our Prophet, Jesus continually speaks to us through his Word, giving us encouragement and strength to face each day in him. As our Priest, Jesus continually speaks to his heavenly Father on our behalf, as our Mediator. Again, as the writer to the Hebrews says: "Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them." (Hebrews 7:25) Jesus is also still our King. He needs to be our King right now, and we to recognize him as such. One day many will find out too late that he is and always was their King, but they failed to recognize him as such. In looking forward to that Judgment Day, John says, "Look, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him; and all the peoples of the earth will mourn because of him. So shall it be! Amen." One day all people will see Jesus for who he is, even those who put him to death thousands of years ago, even those today who live only for themselves or try to seek a way to heaven outside of him.
But thanks be to God that by his Spirit he called us to believe in Jesus as our Prophet, our Priest, our King -- our Savior. We will not weep that day like the rest of the world, because we know that finally our complete redemption has come and we will have the goal of our faith -- a life of happiness with Jesus forever in heaven. But even now, we have the victory through faith in our Savior, who did everything for us to bring us to heaven.
Is such a complete victory possible? Not only is it possible; it is reality! If we have any doubts about our victory already being won through faith in Jesus, just look at what Jesus says of himself in the last verse of our text: "I am the Alpha and the Omega," says the Lord God, "who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty."
It's halftime, fellow Christians. You've just heard another pep talk from your Savior God. But it's not just based on emotion as we continue in our struggle as Christians -- it's based on fact, on a real Prophet, Priest and King who is and was and will be. If you have ever had a fear of losing this "game" of life, then put your fears aside -- you won't lose, you've already won. Well, halftime is over. Now go out and play the second half, assured of your victory. Amen.
