We read in the Christmas story that the announcement to Mary about the Son that would be born to her included a far-reaching prediction, “He will be great and will be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father, David. And He will reign over the house of Jacob forever and of His kingdom there will be no end” (Luke 1:32–33). Thus we are introduced to the idea that Jesus came in order to become a King.
The traditional reading of the Christmas story usually includes the visit of the wise men from the East. In Matthew 2:2 their question upon arriving in Jerusalem was, “Where is He who has been born King of the Jews?” So once again the coming of Christ into the world was accompanied with the idea that He came to be a King.
Turning point
The coming of the promised Messiah to God’s chosen nation would take a sad and disappointing turn. The majority of Israel, accompanied by their religious leaders, ended up failing to recognize and honor their promised King, thereby rejecting Him. That crucial turning point was poignantly expressed by Jesus in Matthew 21:43: “The kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a nation bearing the fruits of it.”
Rather than Israel becoming a missionary people who received the gospel and shared it with others, in that prediction Jesus opened the way for His kingship to expand directly to include people beyond the children of Israel. In the language of Revelation 7:9, His kingdom will ultimately include redeemed persons out of “every tribe and tongue and people and nation.”
How can we explain the inclusion of such a diverse representation in His kingdom? The one-word explanation must be grace. Only divine grace can explain the present make-up of God’s family. We can do no better than describe the present kingdom as a Kingdom of grace.
The end result will be the fulfillment of the prediction of the loud voices in heaven which were heard to say, “The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ and He shall reign forever and ever” (Rev. 11:15). At that future time, He who came as King of the Jews will be the “King of kings and Lord of lords” (Rev. 19:16). The promised realization of God’s plan will result in what we can only describe as a Kingdom of glory.
In the meanwhile rather than being like earthly kingdoms with identified and protected boundaries, this Kingdom of grace takes the form of kingly rule over a spiritual family made up of believing persons from among all the earth’s peoples, crossing all boundaries of gender, nationality, color, culture and language. Today following the emphasis found in the New Testament we refer to this believing people as the Church. Thus in the vacuum created by Israel’s refusal to receive Jesus as “King of the Jews,” the gospel’s advance resulted in the calling out of the Church as the people of God. Instead of becoming in actuality the King of the Jews, Jesus became the Head of the Church.
On the personal level the King of the Jews seeks to become the King of each of our lives. If we but allowed, He would occupy the throne of our hearts from which to rule over our thoughts, actions, reactions and words.
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