King of Kings
A stunning portrait of Jesus Christ is recorded in Revelation 19. John saw heaven opened and “behold, a white horse,” and “the one sitting on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war.” John goes on in this same passage to call Him “King of kings and Lord of lords.” John is writing about the end of all things when Jesus will come to “deliver the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power” (1 Corinthians 15).
As Paul told the ancient Corinthians, “Jesus must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet.” Make no mistake about it; Jesus is on a mission of destruction. He is leading a campaign to demolish every stronghold of evil. He is razor-focused on obliterating all outposts of the enemy of God. Jesus is a warrior of the highest order.
But YOU are not His target. Human beings are the spoils of His war. He came to rescue fallen humanity. His campaign is a campaign of love and grace. Hatred is the devil’s weapon. Love is God’s.
His campaign began in Bethlehem. That’s where He took on human flesh so that He could reverse the curse of sin and death. The first Adam opened a gate for evil to burrow deep underground in our lives. His action of disobedience led the rest of us into the enemy camp. Jesus came to blow up the tunnels of evil hidden underneath the surface of our lives. Jesus is at war with the sin that so easily besets us all.
He delivered His greatest blow to His enemy at the Cross where He “disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them” (Colossians 2:15). He paid the ultimate price to rescue us from the tyrants right to our lives. He crushed Satan beneath His feet. Sin has left us spiritually dead. Death is in our DNA. But Jesus makes us alive again by the power of His own resurrection. “He was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification” (Romans 4:25).
He continues to reign until every outpost of evil has been overthrown and demolished. He is toppling every outpost of darkness until all things are in subjection under His feet. Then He will deliver the kingdom to His Father and our Father. Then comes the end.
The last great enemy that He will eradicate is death. At the final resurrection of the dead, we will live to die no more. His plan to take back what is rightfully His will finally be fulfilled. Death will be no more. All people will be resurrected to one of two eternal homes. Living abundant lives in the presence of the God we love and serve, or living in eternal separation because of our choice to reject His offer of safe passage out of the enemy’s territory.
According to the Bible, Jesus is a warrior for the souls of men. He came to set us free from our spiritual bondage. He bravely marches to the gates of hell and challenges the evil one in a contest of spiritual warfare. Make no mistake about it. The “weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God and take every thought captive to obey Christ, being ready to punish every disobedience when your obedience is complete.”
To summarize what I’m saying to you, we are in a war, but human beings are never our target. We are champions of His love and forgiveness to all who come to Him. He will destroy all “rule, authority, and power” that stand in opposition to His righteousness. We will all stand on one side of the fallout of this war in the heavens. What’s your choice?
Standing and striving with you, church family,
Pastor Deric