King of Kings

Is 9:6-7

 

1. Now, we are seven days before Christmas. Before seven centuries before the birth of Christ, God revealed to the prophet Isaiah that the Messiah will be “Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace” and his peaceful kingdom of justice and righteousness will expand endlessly and forever. He will be the King of kings! In Christmas, we welcome Jesus Christ as our King and kneel down before him as our Lord!

2. When Handel’s Hallelujah chorus is majestically sung, all audiences stand and show respect to the King of kings and the Lord of lords. They say that this practice was originated by the standing of England king George II. Since the Roman emperor Constantine took off his crown and knelt down to Christ, all the kings in the West have been crowned by the authority of Christ and they declared that Jesus Christ is their King. His Kingdom continuously expands and more kings and leaders submit to Him. Now the world’s super power USA’s leaders submit them to Christ: The President open the cabinet by prayer and the congress do the same. The Bible teaches that every knee will eventually bow down to Christ. In Christmas, we welcome Jesus Christ as our King and kneel down before him as our Lord!

3. In the last Sunday, I introduced David’s prophecy that the Messiah will be the Suffering Servant. Isaiah also prophesied the same truth in the famous Isaiah 53. Then, how can we reconcile both seemingly contradictory images of the Messiah: the King of Kings and the Suffering Servant? First, the Messiah is “Prince of Peace”. Human kings are all self-made, and they attempt to expand their kingdoms by war and terror. They enjoy temporary success of expansion, but they all fail sooner or later because they prefer war than peace. Of course, they want peace, but such a peace is a false peace because it is selfish and egoistic. They destroy other’s peace while they do not want that their peace is disturbed. But Jesus does not want that his kingdom is expanded by war and terror but by love and sacrifice: “Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death--even death on a cross! Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”(Phil 2:6-11) Do you see the difference of results? The kingdom of Christ continuously expands while all other kingdoms always fail. To truly welcome Christ as the Prince of Peace is to be a man of peace.

4. Second, the Messiah is “Everlasting Father”: “Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David's throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever.” There arose so many powerful kings in human history. Alexander the Great, Genghis Khan, Caesar, Napoleon, and Hitler occupied great land by invasion and attempted to rule the world eternally. But all of them failed. Napoleon Bonaparte confessed his failure in the lonely island of St. Helena: “Alexander, Caesar, Charlemagne, and I have founded empires.  But on what did we rest the creations of our genius?  Upon force.  Jesus Christ founded his empire upon love; and at this hour millions of men would die for him.” Yes, the Kingdom of Christ is eternal and He is the eternal King! To truly welcome Christ as the eternal Father is to be a man of eternity. God “has also set eternity in the hearts of men.”(Eccl 3:11) Apostle John gave a crucially important advice not to love the temporary but the eternal: “Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For everything in the world--the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does--comes not from the Father but from the world. The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever.”(I John 2:15-17)

5. Third, the Messiah is “Mighty God” and “Wonderful Counselor”. Christ was almighty as the Son of God but he did not use that mighty power carelessly. When a man becomes powerful, he becomes proud and uses his power carelessly like Saul, the first king of Israel. This misuse and abuse of power result in the loss of power sooner or later. The Kingdom of Christ is eternal because the King is “wonderful Counselor”. Christ rules the world and leads world history with his great wisdom and wise providence that his skill of government tolerates diversity and waits for maturity. God is longsuffering even though He is almighty. To truly welcome Christ as the mighty God and wonderful Counselor is to be a man of wisdom and longsuffering. We need patience and tolerance to achieve something really. Even God does! Therefore, the Suffering Servant is the King of Kings! We wait for Christmas, as we wait for our King to follow and learn from him, that is, imitatio Christi as a citizen of His eternal, heavenly and universal Kingdom.