Sermon Tone Analysis

WHO IN THE WORLD IS KING?

Based on Rev. 1:5

By Pastor Glenn Pease

Queen Victoria if England often expressed her wish that Christ would return before she died so that she could cast her crown at His feet.

When she did die, her son Edward VII ascended to the throne as king.

He had been a rather wild man in his younger years.

A man by the name of John Knox McEwen was concerned about the king enough to write him a letter asking him if his majesty was born again in Christ.

He received a gracious reply in which the king said he was the first man in all of England to express any concern for his soul, and he gave a simple testimony of how he had, like his mother, surrendered his heart and life to the King of kings.

John McEwen was 70 years old, and at 93 he was still telling others of his letter from the king.

John the Apostle is also in his 90's as he tells us about his letter, not from the king who bowed to the King of kings, but from the King of kings before whom he bowed.

John says in verse 5 that Jesus is the ruler of kings on the earth.

The Hapsburg family once ruled half of Europe.

Today, only one Hapsburg still rules over the tiny land of Leichenstein.

It is a 61 square mile country, and is the 4th smallest in the world.

Jesus, however, has gone from a carpenter who didn't even own a plot of ground to be buried in to the ruler of kings on earth.

You talk about a success story.

There is not another to match this one.

We can think of ourselves more highly than we ought, but we can never exalt Jesus beyond what he is worthy.

We too often do not exalt Him to the place He should rightly have in our minds and hearts.

If a hunter got out of a car and asked you to do something, you would not respond with the same enthusiasm as you would if a ruler or dignitary asked you for service.

The higher the authority the more we respond, and that is why it is important to stress the Lordship and Kingship of Christ.

It is easy to see why the world does not acknowledge Jesus as King.

Jesus is a total mystery to the world, and His success story is beyond their comprehension.

Helen Kramer expressed it so well in her play titled For Heaven's Sake.

Two well dressed business men with attache cases meet in a bar.

One has just been handed a track with the title Carry Christ Into Your Work.

He looks at it and sings this song of bewilderment.

"He was a flop at 33! His whole career was one of failure and of loss, But the thing that so distressful Is He could have been successful, But instead of climbing up, He climbed a cross!

He was a flop at 33!

He jumped from carpentry to preaching to the mob.

He never was adjusted So He spent His whole life busted,

And He never got promoted on the job!

He never saved a single cent,

And Dun and Broadstreet wouldn't list Him on their list,

He could not establish credit And you might as well be dead

At 33 as have your credit not exist!

He spent His time with fisher folk,

When there were more important contacts to be made.

He would contemplate on flowers And ignore the cocktail hours.

Its no wonder that He never made the grade!

Now you and I have never flopped,

And yet our names are never dropped

The way that they've been dropping His since He's been dead!

We've fought our way to the top.

We're both established as successful men of worth,

So the thing that puzzles me,

Is why that flop at 33

Is called the most successful man to live on earth?"

It is easy to see why Jesus is a mystery to the world.

But it is hard to grasp why even Christians sometimes ignore or deny the Kingship of their Lord.

Many commentators just skip over these words of verse 5 like they are a mere minor matter of no great significance.

John says that Jesus is three things here.

He is the Faithful Witness, the first born from the dead, and the Ruler of kings on the earth.

The first two are handled quite well by most commentators, but the third one is so radical and shocking in all of its implications that men are afraid to look at it honestly.

Many just skip over it in embarrassment.

The Living Bible robs it of its force by saying, "He is far greater than any king in all the earth."

That is a weak translation, for John says, "He is the ruler of the kings of earth."

Hal Lindsay in There's A New World Coming says, yes, He is what John says He is, ruler of the kings of the earth, but He is not now exercising His authority.

In other words, He is a ruler who is not ruling.

That is like saying somebody is the king of comedy, but he is just not telling any jokes now.

It is absolutely amazing how many different ways men try to find to avoid the truth of the present Lordship of Jesus Christ in history.

The big question the book of Revelation answers is the question, who in the world is in charge?

Who is in control?

Is history run by evil forces or good?

Will light triumph, or darkness?

John says right from the start that Jesus is Lord and King, and only those who submit to His Lordship will come through as victorious winners.

After His resurrection Jesus said it as plain as human language can say it: "All power in heaven and on earth is given unto Me."

All we have to decide is whether Jesus just exaggerated, or did He really mean it?

I believe He said what He meant and He meant what He said.

When He ascended in His glorified humanity to the right hand of God He became the supreme ruler of men.

He is not going to be the ruler of kings on earth, He is now the Kings of kings.

The fact that His Lordship will be clearly manifested to the nations in the future is no reason to deny the present reign of Christ.

The fact that so many do, however, is the reason I reject all man made systems of interpretation as absolute guides.

All of them have values, but none of them are absolute and infallible.

Those who lock themselves into any one system are forced to do too many foolish things with the Word of God.

For example, the reason why so many refuse to see and rejoice in the present Lordship of Christ in history is because, if they do, it will support a postmillennial emphasis.

The postmills stress that Jesus is Lord of history and that He will work through His church to take the Gospel into all the world and win this world out of darkness into light.

Many of the greatest theologians of American history were postmills.

The first president of Bethel was postmill, and Augustus Strong, whose Systematic Theology has been the standard text in Baptist schools and seminaries all over the land, was postmill.

When the two world wars of this century shook man's faith in the progress of history the Postmill view was forsaken by a great many Christians who became premills.

The big mistake of the premills, however, was in assuming that everything in the Post-mill system had to all wrong.

The fact is, they had an emphasis that is so Biblical that to deny it is to close your eyes to the light of the Word.

They emphasized the present Lordship of Christ in history that gave the church encouragement and strength to keep fighting for victory with assurance that whatever the cost and however great the odds, they would be victorious.

This positive Biblical attitude is far more beneficial to the church than the negative pessimistic attitude that evil is supreme in the world, and the forces of darkness are overwhelming everything, and, therefore, about all we can do is hope the ship doesn't sink for us before the Lord finally comes to rapture us out of this hopeless mess.

This kind of theology has left many Christians paralyzed.

They become indifferent to missions and any effort to change the world, for why fight a losing battle?

This is not the theology of the book of Revelation.

I am not a Post-mill, but when they emphasize what is a Biblical truth, then that is the fountain I drink at.

Why should we care which system is the best?

What we should care about is what is the Bible saying, and the system that brings more light out of any verse is the system I will follow on that verse.

On this verse 5 many of the pre-mills, which we will be following most of the time, have really missed the boat.

Part of the problem is the self tendency to ignore all other Christians of history and interpret this book in the light of your own limited concern.

Can you imagine how important this revelation of the present Lordship of Christ in history meant to the first Christians who received it?

They had to bow to Caesar, or in many cases die.

John is saying here that Jesus is Caesar's king.

Do not fear Caesar, and bow to no one less than the supreme ruler of men-Jesus Christ.

What an encouragement to those who had to die in the battle of light against darkness.

It is so much easier to die when you are assured you are under the supreme authority.

In verse 18 Jesus tells John to fear not.

He says, "I have the keys of death and hades."