Christmas, birthdays, a long planned for vacation, the birth of a child, retirement, these are all events that people look forward to. I’m looking forward to my sabbatical that’s coming up in just over a month. Everyone of us has or is looking forward to an event that gives us wonder, or peace, or excitement.
And it’s an event like this that brings us back to our series where we’ll be looking at the final pillar in what drives the Alliance to do ministry.
The first of these pillars is Jesus the Savior. What we looked at in the first week was the biblical claim that humanity is corrupted by sin. Because of humanity’s corruption, we are on a path to eternal death and separation from the eternal God who created us. When we experience the hurt and suffering of this world, we are only getting a small glimpse into what awaits us in the eternal death. But the biblical claim is also that God deeply cares for us and so enacts a plan to bring us back to himself. This is called salvation, a saving from the corruption of sin that was originally caused by Adam, the first human. So, because it only took one human to open the path of eternal death, it only takes one to reopen the path to eternal life. God takes that upon himself because all humans are tainted by sin. God the Son himself comes to earth fully taking on humanity’s flesh, yet not sinning. Then giving himself as a payment for our sin, which then gives anyone who would accept Jesus’ sacrifice the forgiveness of their sin, and moves them off the path of eternal death to the path of eternal life.
In the second week we talked about how God doesn’t just save us from sin, but saves us to holiness. The biblical claim is that God is holy, meaning he’s perfect, good and just. When he creates the universe, he creates it to be perfect as he is. Sin perverts that perfection and puts the creation into bondage. Jesus sacrifice breaks the bondage of sin and it’s power over those who would then allow Jesus to transform them, through the power of the Holy Spirit. This transformation is in a sense a reset of who we were originally designed to be. We were created to be loving, yet sin’s power leads us to hate. We were created to be just in how we treat people, but sin’s power leads us to gossip and tearing each other down. God’s work in the believer’s life is to bring them back to his holiness, a place where we were created to live in the first place. This process, is called sanctification, which means to be made holy, and it’s why the second pillar is called Jesus our Sanctifier.
The third pillar we talked about is Jesus our Healer. Because sin has ravished this creation, God is at work through his saving power to bringing both momentary healing, and eternal healing. Eternal healing comes through accepting Jesus as Savior and begins the moment we accept him and is fully realized at the end of our lives here, or when Jesus returns. But God still cares for our momentary or temporal hurts as well. Physical, mental, emotional, relational, social healing are all areas in which God works. The key to healing is not us, but God. We are to trust that God is working for our good. Temporal healing is used to point to his glory, but sometimes God doesn’t heal because there are lessons to be learned and trust that needs to be built. And if we really seek healing from God, we must be okay with whatever he has for us, whether that be healing or not. Because in the end, if we accept Jesus as Savior, then we are already eternally healed and every healing after that is icing on the cake.
With those three pillars in our minds let’s look to the last pillar of what drives the Alliance, Jesus our Coming King.
One of the interesting things we see within the Bible is the description of creation. Unlike most creation stories, where the gods use the enteral universe to reorganize things into other things, the biblical account shows us that the God of the Bible creates out of nothing. He speaks things into existence. Time is created, space is created, matter is created, all by the power of his Word. Then once these things are created, he focuses on a very particular creation, earth. Landmasses are separated from water, and all sorts of plant life bloom. Animals who take flight in the air, and dwell in the water, and on the land are created. And at the end of the creation an image bearer, known as humanity, is created. All this is good and perfect just as the Creator is (Genesis 1:1-2:3).
The imagery and the language that is presented in the first 34 verses of the book of Genesis, is that of kingdom language. Boundaries are set, rules are implemented, subjects are placed. And over it all is the King.
So, going forward in the biblical account, we see this King do kingly things. When is appointed care taker rebels and does the one thing that he’s told not to in Genesis 3, the King acts in judgment, sending the care taker out of his honored place, but the King also has compassion. There are consequences for the image bear’s sin, but the King gives his people clothes. And through the punishment enacts a way to bring back the care taker and all his kind.
And like a King, we see in the following chapters and books, blessings and judgments come. But each judgment is used to deal with the problem and to make a way for any one who choses to escape the judgment, a way out.
It’s then we come to Exodus 6:7, and the first time we see this King of Creation speak about his direct intentions of a particular people. When speaking to Moses, God states of the people of Israel, “I will take you to be my people, and I will be your God, and you shall know that I am the Lord your God, who has brought you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians.” The name this God uses of himself in the text is Elohim. That name carries with it the idea Divine Ruler or Judge. In other words, God is saying to Moses, that his intention is to be the God King of Israel.
So we begin to see this language through the rest of the Old Testament. The Psalmist speaks of God as King over and over again. “The Lord is king forever and ever; the nation perish from his land (10:16).” “Who is this King of glory? The Lord, strong and mighty, the Lord, mighty in battle (24:8)!” “For God is the King of all the earth; sing praises with a psalm! God reigns over the nations; God sits on his holy throne (47:7-8).”
The prophet Isaiah is brought into God’s throne room in the sixth chapter of his book, and there he is overwhelmed by what he sees, stating, “…Woe to me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts (v.5)!” Later on in Isaiah’s book, God speaks of his relationship with Israel in chapter 43:15, “I am the Lord, your Holy One, the Creator of Israel, your King.”
And in the tenth chapter of the book of Jeremiah, God speaks of his relationship with other gods that people worship, “But the Lord is the true God; he is the living God and the everlasting King. At his wrath the earth quakes, and the nations cannot endure his indignation (v.10).”
But the nation of Israel sought to reject God as their King just as the image bearer Adam did. In 1st Samuel 8:4-5 we read, “4 Then all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah 5 and said to him, ‘behold, you are old and your sons do not walk in your ways. Now appoint for us a king to judge us like all the nations.’” Though God grants their request, this doesn’t go well for the nation of Israel and they eventually descend into internal strife, civil war, and eventual destruction, because they choose not to follow their rightful King.
Yet even in this, God was still working, not just for the salvation of Israel, but for the whole world. And so we begin to see prophecies of a future King and kingdom that will be everlasting. In Daniel 7:13-14 we read, “13 I saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man, and he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him. 14 And to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations and languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed.”
And the prophet Zechariah also speaks of this future King when he writes in the ninth verse of his ninth chapter, “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; righteous and having salvation is he, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.”
So when we fast forward then to the New Testament, what do we see of Jesus?
At his birth the Magi from the east, come to Jerusalem nds ask, “…Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him (Matthew 2:2).”
Meeting Jesus for the first time, a man named Nathanael exclaims, “…Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel (John 1:49)!”
And what do we see Jesus do when he enters into Jerusalem on his purposeful way to die on the cross? He rides into the city riding a donkey, as the people begin to shout and rejoice and paraphrase from the prophet Zechariah, “Say to the daughter of Zion, ‘Behold, your king is coming to you, humble, and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden (Matthew 21:5).”
In Jesus first trial in front of the Jewish ruling council, as he’s being asked if he is the Savior of Israel, Jesus paraphrases from Daniel’s vision, “…You have said so, But I tell you, from now on you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power and coming on the clouds of heaven (Matthew 26:64).” Jesus claims that he is the king that was foretold and the Jewish leaders say he speaks blasphemy. And it’s because of Jesus’ claim to be the King of Israel, that they seek to have him executed by the Roman government.
It’s Jesus’ kingship that is questioned by the Governor Pilate at Jesus trial. We read in Matthew 27:11, “Now Jesus stood before the governor, and the governor asked him, ‘Are you the King of the Jews?’ Jesus said, ‘You have said so.’” Jesus accepts the title of king, but just like Adam and the nation of Israel rejected God’s rule over them at the beginning of creation and in Samuel’s day, they reject God’s rule once again. When Pilot presented Jesus to the people, we get this interaction in John 19:14-16, “14 Now it was the day of Preparation of the Passover. It was about the sixth hour. He said to the Jews, ‘Behold your King!’ 15 They cried out, ‘Away with him, away with him, crucify him!’ Pilate said to them, ‘Shall I crucify your King?” The chief priests answered, ‘We have no king but Caesar.’ 16 So he delivered him over to them to be crucified.”
Just as Adam rejected his King, just as the nation of Israel rejected their King, we see again humanity rejecting the King.
But it does’t end there. Jesus goes to the cross for the salvation of those that would accept it. He resurrects from the dead three days later, breaking the power of sin and opening the path to eternal life to all those who would accept him as Savior. And as his disciples looked on, the Bible claims he ascends to heaven where we read this in Acts 1:10-11, “And while they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes, 11 and said, ‘Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up for you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.”
So now a promise of Jesus’ return becomes a theme throughout the rest of the New Testament writings. We read that Jesus is coming again in places like 1st Timothy 6, where Paul ends his letter challenging his readers, “13 I charge you in the presence of God, who gives life to all things, and of Christ Jesus, who in his testimony before Pontius Pilate made the good confession, 14 to keep the commandment unstained and free from reproach until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, 15 which he will display at the proper time—he who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of king and Lord of lords, who alone has immortality, 16 who dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen or can see. To him be honor and eternal dominion. Amen.”
At Jesus’ return we get John’s vivid description of that day in the book of Revelation chapter 19, starting in verse 11, “Then I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse! The one sitting on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war. 12 His eyes are like a flame of fire, and on his head are many diadems, and he has a name written that no one knows but himself. 13 He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which he is called is The Word of God. 14 And the armies of heaven, arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, were following him on white horses. 15 From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rode of iron. He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty. 16 On his robe and on his thigh he has a name written, King of king and Lord of lords.” If that doesn’t give you shivers, are you even alive.
The book of Revelation ends with this, “20 He who testifies to these things says, ‘Surely I am coming soon.’ Amen. Come, Lord Jesus! 21 The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all. Amen (22:20-21).”
The Coming King’s return is both a joyful meeting of his people with their God, and a horrific moment for all others. It will be a day filled with overwhelming tears of happiness for those who have accepted Jesus’ salvation call, but for those who haven’t it will be filled with overwhelming tears of despair for the day to be saved has passed.
And on that day of the King’s return, we see a mix of joy and sorrow for God as well. The reason is because on that day the hope of God’s people will be fulfilled, they will be in his full presence, but all others will be sealed to eternal death. A death God has worked for all of human history to provide a way away from. We read, in 1st Peter 3:9, “The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient towards you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.”
In Paul’s first letter to Timothy he writes of God’s heart, “3 This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, 4 who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth (2:3-4).”
But not all people will, and on that day when Jesus returns and on that day when he judges as the King of Creation, there will be those who go to eternal life because they trusted in Jesus as their Savior, and there will be those who go to eternal death, because they did not believe him (Matthew 25:46; John 3:18).
So what must we do? If we have not put our trust into Jesus as Savior, we must, it’s the only way to eternal life. Because if Jesus is right, and he is the only way, then all other ways are wrong and will lead to eternal death. If he’s wrong, then the whole thing is mute and you can believe whatever you want. But the key to the Christian faith is the resurrection, an historic event that many people have tried to debunk, yet none have been able to.
If the resurrection of Jesus is true, that means he’s coming again. Which means we need to take seriously his words to repent and follow him. He’s either the greatest thing to ever occur to humanity, or he’s nothing. The decision we make about Jesus, is literally a decision for eternity. A choice that shouldn’t be made lightly in either direction.
If we are a believer, we need to take our role seriously as well. On that day when Jesus returns, our hope is fulfilled! Eternity awaits us! Perfect Joy, peace, healing, holiness, all awaits us! But there are people around us who won’t be joyful on that day. Who’s every experience of love, and peace will be replaced with horror at what awaits them in eternity. If we are not about the business of sharing the good news of Jesus’ death and resurrection, then we are not loving our neighbor as ourselves. We need to share the Gospel in word and in deed to a world that needs it more than anything else. Everything we have should be put to Gospel use, so that others may know the King of kings and Lord of lords, who is on the horizon of returning. A day of joy for us, a day for mourning for countless others.
So my challenge is two-fold. If you don’t believe, take seriously this question, is Jesus true? If he is, the eternal consequences are beyond the scope of our imaginations. If you do believe, engulf yourself with prayer and asking God this week, how will he use me to share the Gospel
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Let us not be like Adam or Israel who rejected the King of Creation, but rather embrace him and work for him until when he returns or calls us home to his glory. Amen.
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