Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe

Why?

In the U.S. we forcibly withdrew from the British Empire (Kingdom of England).

Much of the meaning is lost on us who also dispensed with the trappings of royalty.

I have usually thought about the feast in the context of the Sovereignty of Christ.

There’s plenty of biblical evidence for that.

Ac 2:36, Rev 1:5-6, 1 Co 8:5-6, 1 Ti 6:15, Hebrews, passim.

Acts 2:36 NABRE

36 Therefore let the whole house of Israel know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Messiah, this Jesus whom you crucified.”

Revelation 1:5–6 NABRE

5 and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead and ruler of the kings of the earth. To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood, 6 who has made us into a kingdom, priests for his God and Father, to him be glory and power forever and ever. Amen.

1 Corinthians 8:5–6 NABRE

5 Indeed, even though there are so-called gods in heaven and on earth (there are, to be sure, many “gods” and many “lords”), 6 yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom all things are and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things are and through whom we exist.

1 Timothy 6:15 NABRE

15 that the blessed and only ruler will make manifest at the proper time, the King of kings and Lord of lords,

A New Reason? or a New Image of Sovereignty?

Einstein and Niels Bohr

Quantum Physics introduces uncertainty and indeterminacy as fundamental facts of the physics of very small things

(eg, atoms and their parts).

Einstein hated uncertainty: “God doesn’t play dice with the universe.”

Bohr replied:

“Don’t tell God what to do.”

The Name of God

The meaning of God’s Hebrew name (revealed to Moses at the burning bush) is the subject of much debate.

Usually: ‘He who Is’ or ‘I AM who AM”, sometimes, ‘the Living One’.

Another proposed translation: ‘He-who-is-was-will-be’. (“The Name of God and Quantum Physics”, Dr. Yeshaya Gruber cited in the Notes for today.)

Indeed, quantum mechanics posits that the particles or waves that apparently make up our universe (and us) can exist in all possible states at once – until someone carries out a “measurement.” Once you measure the loca- tion of a particle, it “collapses” to a single specific location. Perhaps the name of God, YHWH, is similar: it commu- nicates Being in all states, dimensions, and times simultaneously – and if you try to define the meaning more specifically, you end up reducing it to just one aspect.

This is even more mysterious

and places God firmly in the realm of the unknowable; beyond our power of description.

This name of God invites us to acknowledge our utter dependance on God for “Life, the Universe and Everything”, Douglas Adams, The Hitchhikers’ Guide to the Galaxy © 1979, DelRay Publishers.

that it is Jesus whom God has made both Lord and Messiah; that he is God, I am not. Neither are you.

Next Chapter

Reflect on what this means,

Practise how to live this out;

and get better at it before this feast rolls around again.