Authority

  The Book of Revelation describes Jesus Christ as 'Lord of lords and King of kings' (Revelation 17:14). This is a Hebrew way of expressing a superlative; it means Jesus is the supreme King. With our tradition of democracy, these titles may come as something of a shock to Western readers. 

  A good starting point is to consider the king's role as judge in the ancient world. A society needs laws and courts in order to function. Often the king served as the supreme judge, the final court of appeal; his ruling was final and provided stability. In human history we have had a number of corrupt judges and kings; nevertheless, the court system has provided order and safety and has eased, if not relieved, the human need for justice. 

  Jesus will return to judge the living and the dead. Whereas human judges have failed in giving justice, He will succeed. His judgement is just: being God, He knows all of the relevant information and has a perfect sense of justice. 

  Jesus says at John 5: 25-30 (NKJV), 'Most assuredly, I say to you, the hour is coming, and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God; and those who hear will live. For as the Father has life in Himself, so He has granted the Son to have life in Himself, and has given Him authority to execute judgment also, because He is the Son of Man. Do not marvel at this; for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice and come forth—those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation. I can of Myself do nothing. As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is righteous, because I do not seek My own will but the will of the Father who sent Me.' 

  Notice why Jesus has been granted authority to judge humanity - 'because He is the Son of Man'. In other words, because He Himself is human. Jesus has authority to judge us as King of kings because He became human - He knows exactly how things are from our side of the justice problem.

  But what about the king's role as supreme military commander? Jesus is the Supreme Commander of Heaven's armies. The buck stops with Him. Unlike earth's wars, however, God's wars are fought for the right reasons and against the right foes. The warfare of the angels and Christians is against spiritual forces of wickedness (Ephesians 6:10-13). Satan means 'enemy' or 'adversary' in Hebrew, as does his title in Greek, Diabolos, from which we get our word 'Devil' (compare French 'Diable'). Satan is the enemy of God, the enemy of humanity, and the enemy of justice. It is against Satan's forces that Christ and His army wage war; Christ's aim is to save people from darkness and to bring them into His Kingdom of love and light. When Christ returns as King of kings on His white horse, coming as the great commander of Heaven's armies, He comes to overthrow Satan's evil kingdom and his puppet-ruler, the Antichrist. Understand that the Antichrist is a wicked ruler who has been persecuting Christians and waging war on earth; his overthrow is just.

  Lastly, there is the king's role as leader of the nation, his authority absolute in all things. This perhaps is the hardest for us Western Christians to accept. Free will is a major topic in Western theology: we discuss it with relation to love and salvation. Here it is relevant to obedience. True obedience is given willingly, not compelled by superior force, and this is one of the reasons why Jesus truly is King of kings. He doesn't force Christians to be obedient to Him by using His godly power to make us do things. Jesus asks us and we have the right to say no. We give Him our obedience truly when we do so out of love and reverence for who He is. Jesus has earned our love; John says, 'We love Him because He first loved us.' (1 John 4:19, NKJV.) How much better it is to be King of the Willing than to be King of the Compelled! 

  Psalm 22:3 (NKJV) says, 'But You are holy, enthroned in the praises of Israel.' God has always been King and will always be King. But we enthrone Him in hearts when we truly worship Him in spirit and truth. We think of kings as people who have everything. What can we give to Jesus, by whom all things were made? We can give Him our love.

God bless.