In the Kingdom of God: I am a King
What? I am a king? What do you mean by that? (I can hear you asking in your mind.😅)
Before you got all excited and (perhaps) confused, I would like to share a few verses from the Bible.
Rev 1:5-6 To Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood, and has made us kings and priests to His God and Father, to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.
“You are worthy to take the scroll,
And to open its seals;
For You were slain,
And have redeemed us to God by Your blood
Out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation,
And have made us kings and priests to our God;
And we shall reign on the earth.”
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| Source: Internet |
So, what are we? Why, we are kings. We are priests. You (and I) have been made a king and a priest.
Who made us kings and priests? Jesus.
For whom (or unto whom) have we been made king and priest? Unto God.
Having clarified this truth about our identity as a king, it is good for us to see the roles/ duties/ functions of this identity - of being a king. (We will look at us being a priest in my next entry.)
Now, when one hears the word 'king', one usually picture a man sitting on a throne, wearing a robe of silk, with a crown on his head. That is, after all, the traditional (fairy tale 😅) image of a king.
So, what does it really mean to be made a king, by Christ, in the kingdom of God?
I would like to borrow from bible teacher, Derek Prince's, teaching.
Derek Prince described these 3 functions (priest, prophet and king) in his teaching on the Fatherhood of God. I would like to use his words (in the reference of a family) to shed some light on what a king and a priest is to be. He taught that every father carries 3 roles in and to his family - as a priest, as a prophet and as a king.
As a priest, a father represents his family to God, in intercession and prayer. (Man to God.)
As a prophet, a father represents God to his family. (God to man.)
As a king, a father rules or governs his family on behalf of God. (Man to man.)
So, taking that analogy, I see a two-fold ministry or purpose (or role) of a king:
1) To rule on earth, on behalf of God.
We are to govern and administer, not for ourselves, but for God.
2) To reign on earth, on behalf of God.
We are to reign, even as Rev 5:10 tells us that 'we shall reign on the earth'.
And with this two-fold roles, comes two aspects of our kingly office - responsibility and authority. As with all earthly kings and rulers and governments, they have in their hands: responsibility and authority.
And it is precisely the same with us, who are kings to our God. We are to govern and to reign with responsibility and authority - to do it well, so that 'Your Kingdom come, You will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven'. A responsibility and authority not of ours, but from God.
But you might ask, what is it exactly that we are to rule, govern and reign? It's not like we're running a government or operating a company/ business. Or anything of that sort.
Good question!
Yes, maybe you're not ruling a country or managing an organisation or managing anything big scale even. Well, neither am I. 😄
Then the question really comes to this - yes, I am a king in Christ, who is to reign and to rule and to bring God's kingdom order here on earth. But over what?
I would like to think that the answer is simply this: our life.
In every area where God has placed us in. Be it our family life, our work life, our ministry life, all areas/ parts of our life.
That includes our church, our family, our relatives, our friends, our workplace, our social/ hobby places, our daily interaction places like the mall, the grocery stores, the restaurants etc. All these are our areas of ministry.
And you might also ask, "What if I don't feel like I'm operating in that responsibility and authority? I feel like I am far from reigning in life."
Here, I would like to borrow these words from Ps Ashok RK on reigning in life.
Romans 5:17 "For if, because of one man's trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ."Romans 5 tells us that by receiving the gift of righteousness and abundant grace we are meant to reign (to exercise the highest influence, to control) in this life on earth. We have been equipped to reign as we have been made new creatures in Christ. We have been made the righteousness of God and have already overcome the world (1 John 5) and the spirit in the world (1 John 4) by virtue of our being born again, our union with Christ, our position in Christ and our faith. We are not at the mercy of things in this world, we are more than conquerors through Christ.
What a most wonderful truth!
As I pondered upon this truth of being 'more than conquerors through Christ' and that we are to rule and reign here on earth, I was reminded of what took place at creation. When God made man, He said this - “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” (Gen 1:26).
Let them have dominion.
Beloved in Christ, as kings in Christ,
1) We should (and we shall) govern the areas of ministry (influence) that God has given unto us on behalf of God, according to His will and delight. That is our responsibility.
2) We should (and we shall) reign in life. Reign in every area of ministry (influence) that God has given unto us. We have overcome the world and the spirit of the world. We have dominion over the world. That is our authority.
It is as the Scripture tells us: Jesus has made us kings unto our God.
