"In the presence of God, who gives life to all, and of Christ Jesus, who gave a good confession before Pontius Pilate, I charge you to keep this command without fault or failure until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ. God will bring this about in his own time. He is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings, and the Lord of lords, who alone is immortal and who lives in unapproachable light, whom no one has seen or can see, to him be honor and eternal power. Amen."
~1 Timothy 6:13-16
In our series on the names of God, we come next to the name King of Kings, which signals for us the fact that He is our Supreme Ruler, that Jesus reigns above all earthly rulers.
While this might sound like it goes without saying (and while it should!), unfortunately it oftentimes doesn't seem to in the way we as Christ-followers actually live our lives.
Down throughout history we have seen this to be true, and it is true again in our current day and age. All too often professing believers will, essentially, "bow down" to earthly rulers instead of holding their full allegiance only for the King of Kings Himself.
This has been done in a multitude of different ways over the course of history all the way up to today. We see proof of it anytime someone idolizes a certain party, President, King, or other political leader above Christ and His ways. It occurs anytime someone sacrifices allegiance to the "Jesus Way", as Phil Wickham calls it, on the altar of political expediency or toeing a party line. We see it when the government is used as a sword against those who differ from us (crusades, anyone?).
This is never the right course of action, no matter how tempting it might be. There is but One true King, the King of Kings, our King Jesus, and to Him alone belongs our ultimate allegiance, worship, surrender, and support. While God did institute earthly governments, and we are to obey earthly rulers He has set up, that obedience is to stop the moment that earthly ruler calls for us to do something that is contrary to the way of Jesus.
Take heart, though, dear sister. Though it may seem scary to let political expediency go in favor of following Jesus even when it is hard and not politically correct to do so, it is worth it. Our King of Kings isn't just the ultimate Ruler. He is a holy, all-wise, loving, kind, good Ruler. And He can be trusted every moment of every day.
Reflection Questions:
1) Have you ever been guilty of bowing to lesser kings?
2) How might the Lord be calling you to bow the knee ultimately only to Him as your King of Kings? What would that look like in your life?
3) How do you see havoc being wreaked when we get things backwards and bow to earthly kings rather than to our heavenly One?
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