by ProfDave, ©2023
(Nov. 30, 2023) — Sunday was Christ the King Sunday at my church. Is He really? The universe is a mess. “Mother Earth” is sick, dying according to some. Mankind is sinking into insanity. America is a mess, not to mention the Middle East. We are all at each other’s throats. Just listen to the news! MAGA and CRT are both making it sound even worse. Is Christ really king of the universe? Should we throw Him out? Hold it! In the USA we already did. C.S. Lewis called earth, in his space trilogy, The Silent Planet – the one corner of the cosmos in rebellion against its king.
Reminds me of the innocent Christian Palestinians living in Gaza. They didn’t attack Israel, but they have to dodge IDF shells, try to live among the rubble, and get shot at by Hamas when they try to leave. We too suffer the wrath of God on our nation, the mess His enemies have made of the world, and the hostility of those who hate Him.
Kings are not elected. Christ is king because He made it all. So we cannot blame Him for the consequences of our rebellion. Those of us who are loyalists must understand the opposition we run into – we don’t fit in. Christians are traitors to The Rebellion. You see, Christ is my king. Is He yours?
God is king of the world. Do you know “The Lord’s Prayer?” Do they use it in your church every Sunday? We use it every week in Celebrate Recovery. It was the model Jesus gave to His disciples when they asked Him to teach them to pray as other rabbis did. Remember the words? It starts out identifying God as our daddy in Heaven, then holds up His name, His honor, as holy. Next it says “Thy Kingdom come!” Do we mean it? What do we mean?
If you are addressing a Father-God at all, you recognize a Creator of Heaven and Earth. He made it. It is His. He is large and in charge – whether we know it, believe it, like it or not. His nature, however, is both love and justice. For reasons we cannot fully understand, He has made us sentient and free beings – and put us in charge. In our free will, we earthlings have rebelled against Him – and He has let us go our own way. He is love and has made us to love Him but love can only be love when it is freely given. We are free to love or fight. “Thy kingdom come.”
“The Lord’s Prayer” invites us to choose to accept the “Great God our King” (as George Washington and the anthem “America the Beautiful put it). Will you have this king to rule over you or not? Just in case you don’t get it, the next line says, “Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” We have just pledged allegiance to a kingdom far bigger that the USA. When I was in grade school we pledged allegiance to the flag and prayed that prayer in opening exercises every day. That didn’t stop us from rebelling against both, of course, but at least we and our teachers mouthed the words. And the Ten Commandments were on the wall.
It is quite clear why we don’t do those things anymore. I wonder, is the state of our domestic tranquility the cause or the result of that change? Both?
Since I would like to see what this world would be like with the will of the Creator done as originally designed, I do not fear His kingdom coming into force down here. Even if I did not will it, I am in no position to stop it. It will come. So, let His kingdom come in my heart and His will be done in my life in the meantime. That is what the parables of Jesus in Matthew 25 are all about. What should we be doing in the meantime? I don’t know when the King is coming back, but I don’t want to be negligent in what God has entrusted to me, or be caught exploiting my fellows.
As a subject who has been received and pardoned for his treason, I have found my King to be a wise Shepherd, a loving Father, and so much more. “All His ways are pleasantness, and all His paths are peace.” I look forward to His coming in power and justice, to seeing Him face to face, and to dwelling in His house forever. Do you? If He is not your king, if you do not want to do His will or have it done around you on earth then you certainly won’t want to go to Heaven. If you do not know Him, if you pass this life in evading and resisting Him, then you will fear His coming and meeting Him in person. Heaven itself would be a place of horror for you. Think about it. Perhaps you, too, should make Christ your king.
Psalm 107 (11-14): “They had rebelled against the words of God and despised the counsel of the Most High. So he subjected them to bitter labor; they stumbled, and there was no one to help. Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble and he saved them from their distress. He brought them out of darkness and the deepest gloom and broke away their chains.” As long as you have breath you have choice.
David W. Heughins (“ProfDave”) is Adjunct Professor of History at Nazarene Bible College. He holds a BA from Eastern Nazarene College and a PhD in history from the University of Minnesota. He is the author of Holiness in 12 Steps (2020). He is a Vietnam veteran and is retired, living with his daughter and three grandchildren in Connecticut.