David Jeremiah - King Jesus
In her 2011 Christmas broadcast, Queen Elizabeth said, "Jesus was born into a world full of fear. The angels came to frightened shepherds with hope in their voices. 'Fear not,' they urged, 'we bring you good tidings, great joy which will be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David, a Savior who is Christ the Lord.'" In that same message she said, "It is through the lens of history that we should view the conflicts of today, and so give us hope for tomorrow".
I like what she said, but I want to change just one word. I'd like to suggest that it's through the lens of prophecy that we should view the conflicts of today, and so give us hope for tomorrow. History is important. No question about it. The Christian faith is grounded in historical facts. The birth, death, burial, and Resurrection of Jesus Christ, that's history, profound history. But anyone can look backward. The only ones who can truly peer into the future are those who study the Word of God and what God has said in scripture. In the Bible, he tells us what's going to happen someday. And the same Jesus who died and rose from the dead will come again and reign in this world, and he will reign for a lot longer than Queen Elizabeth.
Queen Elizabeth was on the throne for a remarkable 70 years and 214 days. But King Jesus is coming to be on the throne for 1,000 years. And if it be all right with you, I came here today to brag on my King, to brag on King Jesus, because he's my King. And understanding the return of Christ and his reign and what's going to happen when he comes to this earth gives us a great deal of hope for tomorrow. When we see what's going on today in America and Europe and Russia and China, we realize the history of our times is moving in a prophetic direction. Perhaps sooner than we realize, this world will be under the political control of King Jesus. If Jesus were to come in the Rapture today, just seven years later we'd be serving with him in the kingdom, ruling over all the earth. Not just Jerusalem, not just Israel, but over all the earth.
The Bible presents Jesus not just as Savior, not just as Messiah, not just as friend, but Jesus is our King. And at this very moment, he's already sitting on the throne next to his Father in heaven, making intercession for us. But the Bible tells us we enthrone him as King in our hearts now, and one day he will literally be king over all the earth. I want to talk to you about the glory and majesty and power and authority of King Jesus and his kingdom. He's the redeeming King and we see that in the way he's addressed in the Bible. This is straight from the scripture, so let me just cycle through these names because they're all interesting. First of all, the Bible refers to Jesus as King of the Jews. That's interesting because it only is found in the Bible at the birth of Jesus and at his death.
Remember, at the birth of Jesus, the wise men came, said, "We are come to seek out He who has come as the King of the Jews. We want to know, where's the King of the Jews"? And then at his death, it was a discussion. When Jesus stood before Pontius Pilate, the governor asked him, "Are you the King of the Jews"? And Jesus said, "It is as you say". Addressing the mob before him, Pilate shouted, "Do you want me to release to you the King of the Jews? What then would you want me to do with whom you call the King of the Jews"? And their response was, "Crucify Him"!
And Pilate handed over Christ for crucifixion along with a strange order for the executioners. He said, "I want you to make a sign and nail the sign on the top of the cross". And this is what the sign said, "THE KING OF THE JEWS". That was our Lord's title in his birth and in his death, uttered by the Magi, the Magistrates, the mob, the markings on his cross, and ultimately, by the Master himself. But the Bible tells us also he's the King of Israel. In a similar way, Nathaniel, in John 1:49, said, "Rabbi, You are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel"!
And on Palm Sunday, when the men and women celebrated Jesus's arrival in Jerusalem, this is what they sang. "Hosanna! 'Blessed He who comes in the name of the Lord!' The King of Israel"! Five days later, as Jesus suffered on Golgotha, one of his enemies shouted sarcastically, "If He is the King of Israel, let Him come down now from the cross, and we will believe Him". According to this and other scriptures, Jesus is the only rightful, everlasting heir to the throne of David. He's the King of Israel. He's the King of the Jews and he's the King of Israel. And the Bible tells us, here's one I love, he's the King of Kings. In Revelation, there's a beautiful picture of this. It describes Jesus in heaven just before he returns. "He has on His robe and on His thigh a name written: KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS".
And we live in a disturbed world, men and women, don't doubt that and don't debate it. We know better. But none of today's politicians or leaders or villains or rogues will ever gain supreme authority, not even the coming Antichrist. All will falter, all will fail, for only Jesus is King of kings and Lord of lords. One day, every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess that my King is King of kings and Lord of lords. And then, one of the things that surprises people about the kingdom, the Millennium, the coming Golden Age, is that it won't just happen in the Middle East. But when Jesus sits on the throne in Jerusalem, he will govern the whole world. He will be in charge of everything that happens on planet Earth. That's why his fourth title is King over all the earth.
The prophet Zechariah adds this title to our Lord. He says, "The Lord shall be King over all the earth. And in that day it shall be, 'The Lord is one,' and His name is one". When King Jesus is King of the earth, every knee shall bow and every tongue confess. He will rule over the entire world. Finally, he's the King of glory. The last royal title is found in Psalm 24. Psalm 24 reads like this. "Lift up your heads, O ye gates; and be lifted up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in. Who is the King of glory? The Lord of hosts, he is the King of glory". That's our Lord's Millennial title. He's the King of the Jews, He's the King of Israel, he's the King of Kings, the King over all the earth, and he is the King of glory. He alone is truly great.
Among the famous figures of history, only a few have been known as "the Great". These characters are like monuments on the pages of history, like kings who had extraordinary power, or left an unusual mark. Like, in the days of the Bible we have Cyrus the Great and Darius the Great, Xerxes the Great, Herod the Great. Between the Old and New Testaments, the world was changed forever by the rise of Alexander the Great. Europe also came under the sway of Charles the Great. Most of these men were not as great as they thought they were. They were full of failure and sometimes guilty of heinous crimes. But here's the interesting thing, men and women.
The greatest king in history isn't among them. Jesus was never called Jesus the Great or Christ the Great. He is great, of course, and greatly to be praised, but his greatness isn't derived from a comparison with other kings. He's in a class by himself. He stands absolutely alone in history. Yes, he's Jesus the Great. He doesn't call himself that because he doesn't have to. He's the King whose power is absolute, whose reign is infinite, whose throne is unconquerable. He's an indescribable King, for he reigns without beginning of days or ending of life, and he is "the ruler over the kings of the earth," Revelation 1:5. He's our Messiah. He's our intercessor. He's the compassionate servant, the humble teacher, and the selfless Savior. But never forget this, men and women. He is Christ the King.
That speaks to his sovereignty. That says he's in charge of it all, that his Word is the final word. Nothing can stabilize our emotions like remembering we have a King in heaven who is in charge. He commands, he controls, and nothing is exempt from his preeminent power. That's why so many people find him so much an anchor for their souls. Is he your King? I know he's your Savior if you're a Christian, but it's one thing to have Jesus as your Savior, it's another thing to have him be your King. You see, he doesn't want to just be your resident in your life, he wants to be the president of your life.
And when you put him on the throne, you're saying, "Lord Jesus, thank you for being my Savior. And now I want to take this moment and ask you not just to be my Savior, but I've been trying to do a lot of things on my own and I'm making kind of a mess out of it, if you want to know the truth. So I'm gonna put you on the throne of my life and I'm not gonna do anything unless we talk about it, unless we discuss it, unless I get your go-ahead on it".
You say, "Well, that's kind of simple". It's dynamically life-changing when you do that, when you realize you're not the pilot, you're the co-pilot, and you put Jesus where he wants to be. One day he's gonna be King on the outside, ruling over you from that perspective. But now he wants to be King on the inside. He wants to be your King. He's my King. The Bible also says that not only is he the king now, but one day he's going to be a King who reigns over the earth. When Jesus came the first time, he came as a redeeming King and he established a group of people, "Jesus followers" were called, and he reigns over us and we do his work and we come to the church every weekend to celebrate that we love God and we love Jesus, and we know he's the King.
But the Bible is mostly full of scripture telling us about what's gonna happen when Jesus comes back at the end of the Tribulation and sets up his kingdom on this earth. So many people have said that what will happen then is the reverse of the curse, for in the early parts of the Bible we realize what happened when sin entered and the curse was placed upon the world. If Adam and Eve hadn't sinned, we'd be living in a much better, different world. But that world is coming back, and in the kingdom we'll have the world that we would have had if there had been no sin.
Robert Strauss was a brilliant political strategist who served under several presidents, from Jimmy Carter to George H.W. Bush. He made this interesting statement about the world in which we live. He said, "Everybody in government is like a bunch of ants on a log floating down a river. And each of them thinks he's guiding the log, but he's just going along with the flow".
Isn't that true? Have you ever noticed the self-importance of all of the government officials? Everybody thinks they're running the show. They're not running the show. They're just going with the flow. That can be said of all the rulers of history. All have died, or will die, and none has risen from the dead. All of them have dominated the headlines for a period but none has divided history in two like Jesus did. The rulers of this world enjoy limited authority for a limited time. Only Jesus possesses infinite authority for all eternity. There will never be a time when he is not King. So what will it be like when Jesus is King? I want to give you a little taste of that today in this message.
When I was in seminary, one of my teachers was a man by the name of Dwight Pentecost, very quiet teacher but brilliant. And he wrote a book which, in many respects, is the encyclopedia for prophetic students. It's called, "Things to Come". It's about that thick. The print's very small, and so you have to be determined to read this book, but it's filled with wonderful truth.
And in this book, in one section of the book, he makes a list of all of the characteristics of the thousand-year reign of Christ when he's on it. What is it gonna be like? And the list that I'm gonna give you today isn't even close to being a full list, it's just a whet your appetite list, what it will be like. First of all, when he reigns on this earth, his kingdom is universal. He will rule over a universal kingdom. Our Lord's kingdom will be based in Jerusalem, Israel, on its expanded geography, and it will be the dominant nation in the earth.
You know, Israel gets a lot of attention now for a nation that's 70 miles wide and 263 miles long. It's like a little postage stamp when you see it on a map, surrounded by nations that want to annihilate it. But from that place in the Millennium, our Lord's reign will spread northward to Russia, eastward to Asia, southward to Africa, and the Pacific Rim, and praise the Lord, it will spread westward into Europe and the Americas, and the entire globe will spin under the axis of Jesus. All the nations will sway to his authority. We need to remember that when we read the headlines. One day, all of this craziness is gonna stop and we won't have to deal with it anymore.
So the kingdom is universal. "He's the King over all the earth," says the Scripture. And then his kingdom is physical. This King will have an intimate relationship with his subjects, and nothing expresses that like the way he deals with the infirmities that will enter into the kingdom. "Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. And the lame shall leap like a deer, and the tongue of the dumb sing. For water shall burst forth into wilderness, and streams in the desert". The miraculous presence of the Lord will change everything. Sickness will be destroyed, and all of these maladies that I've read in this verse will be nonexistent.
The same prophet said this in another place. "They shall build houses and inhabit them; they shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit. They shall not build and another inhabit; they shall not plant and another eat; for as the days of a tree, so shall be the days of My people, and My elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands". The book of Ezekiel talks about the topographical changes that will take place in the Middle East, turning the wilderness into a paradise. When you go to Israel now, some of that is already happening. The Israelites have figured out a way to make the desert fruitful and they have arbors and gardens and they brought in soil and they care for the irrigation. It's quite an amazing thing. But in that day, all of it will be miraculous by the authority of the King, and the Dead Sea, even, will be given a life-giving pronouncement to be a giving lake.
Right now, here in our world, we're subject to a lot of issues. Here on the West Coast, we have earthquakes and wildfires. In the middle of the country, they have tornadoes. On the East Coast, they have hurricanes. Natural disasters can kill hundreds of thousands of people, but during the reign of Christ we won't have to worry about any of those plagues. And the one who said to the Sea of Galilee, "Peace, be still," will bring peace and stillness to the whole natural world. And I'm thinking about all the stuff that's gonna be missing in the kingdom. I hope you'll join me in that quest. So the kingdom will be universal, it'll be physical, and then, of course, it'll be spiritual. His kingdom will be a time of spiritual revival.
Satan, as you know, will be bound, and Jesus will be in control and we'll see a heart awakening that is unprecedented in history. According to Zechariah, the entire nation of Israel will return to Jesus. Zechariah 12 says, "I will pour on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and supplication; then they will look on Me whom they pierced... In that day a fountain shall be opened for the house of David, for the inhabitants of Jerusalem, for sin and for uncleanness". During the Millennium, what is going on right now will be reversed. What's going on right now?
When I first started preaching years ago, I would have to say there was a general understanding and appreciation and reverence for the things of God. Even people who weren't Christians, they kind of admired those who were. Many of them would say something like, "I'd be a Christian right now, but it'd be inconvenient and I don't want to change my life". But there was a respect for God and a respect for Christians. How many of you know that's not true anymore? In fact, as a pastor, one of the things I have to think about, and all you who are teachers in this room, you should think about it, too, you can't assume the knowledge of the Bible and the knowledge of Christianity that you once could because many people have gone to churches where the Bible hasn't been taught regularly.
And so, you may say something you think everybody knows, but you better explain it, because there's a lot of people out there that don't know. That's not because we're ignorant. It's not your fault. That's where our world is. But listen to me. When Jesus is on the throne again, the knowledge of the Lord will fill the land and you can go and talk to anybody about Jesus because they'll all know about him. It won't make any difference where you are or who you are or where you've been or where you're going. Run into somebody and say, "How's Jesus doing with you today?" because everybody will know the Lord and his name will be on the tongue of all those in the Millennium. What a day that's going to be. His kingdom will be spiritual.
"No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, 'Know the Lord,' for they shall all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more". His kingdom is universal and physical and spiritual and it's ethical. Here's a few things that won't be in the kingdom. No more homelessness, no more riots, absolutely no more anti-Semitism, no more thievery. You think of all the bad things that are happening in our world today that are new to us that we haven't known before. Those things are all gone.
The white-hot holiness of King Jesus will purge them out, and we won't live in a world that's troubled by all this evil that makes us say every night, "Why don't they do something do something", Isaiah says, "The King's delight is in the fear of the Lord, and He shall not judge by the sight of His eyes, or decide by the hearing of His ears; but with righteousness He shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth; He shall strike the earth with the rod of His mouth, and with the breath of His lips He shall slay the wicked".
The psalmist adds, "The King will judge Your people with righteousness... He will bring justice to the poor of the people; He will save the children of the needy, He will break in pieces the oppressor... For He will deliver the needy when he cries, and the poor also, and him who has no helper... and precious shall be their blood in His sight". When King Jesus is on the throne, the nation and the world will be filled with the knowledge of the Lord. And finally, the kingdom is eternal. One of these days, the thousand-year reign will be over, and the Bible says, "And the kingdoms of this world will become the kingdoms of God," the kingdoms of eternity.
So, there'll be just a transition. When the thousand-year reign is over, we go right from the 1,000 years into our eternal, heavenly spot with the Lord Jesus. "The Lord is King forever and ever..." That is what we're looking forward to. We have a King who is never gonna outlast himself. He's never gonna be replaced. We don't have to worry about his successor because he doesn't have one and he doesn't have a predecessor either. He's the holy King and he lives in the ever-present and listen to me, all these wonderful things I'm saying about him, he's my King, the King of my heart. He's on the throne of my life and I love my King and I'm so honored to serve him, and I hope you feel the same way.
This King who will one day reign on this earth is the same King who wants to reign in your life and sit on the throne of your heart. You don't have to do life alone. You don't have to make all those mistakes and wonder, why did I do that? For the same sovereign King who's at the throne of the Father wants to be on the throne of your life. Right now on earth he is the King. You know, there are only 43 monarchies left on earth, only 43, most of which are ceremonial in nature. It's more common today to have presidents and prime ministers, or in some areas, we all sadly know, they're our dictators. But as our politics and democracies have evolved, the world has deteriorated.
And one global Think Tank issued a report on the world in 2024, which said, "2024 will be a year of ballots and bullets. The elections held in more than 70 countries will serve as a stress test for democracy". We don't know where this is all gonna lead us, but ladies and gentlemen, there is one thing we can predict with certainty. One day, the world's throne will be occupied by Jesus Christ, King of the Jews, King of Israel, King of Kings, King of all the world.
Remember, it is through the lens of biblical prophecy that we should view the conflicts of today and find our hope for tomorrow. That's where we're headed. Things are gonna get better. They may get a little worse before they get better, depending on how long the Savior waits, but we got a great future ahead of us. And a little bit of the greatness of that future is in our hearts just to keep us hungry for when it will be the law of the land. What a thrill it is to know the King and to address him in that way.
The "Travel" magazine recently ran an article for people who wanted to visit the seven most beautiful thrones in the world. Three of them are in India, another one is in Russia, and there's a dragon throne in China. The sixth throne is St. Edward's Chair in Westminster Abbey in England, and the seventh is the Silver Throne of Sweden, which is designed to express purity. You can find all of these thrones in the history books, and you can find the Silver Throne in the Hall of State in the Stockholm Palace.
But none of these seven are really very significant. Some are used for ceremonial occasions but most are just for people to come and look at. They're tourist traps. The glory has faded, the power has seeped away, and it makes you wonder, what kind of a throne is King Jesus gonna have? I want to end today by telling you that his throne is under construction. But one day, he will have a throne in Jerusalem and it will be something to see. There's one other throne I want to tell you about and that's the one that matters most. It's the throne God has placed in our hearts. Of all the kingly titles of Jesus Christ, the one that is most personal to you and me is when we say:
Lord, you are my King. You are my King. I vacate the throne of my heart, Lord, and I give it to you. I want you to rule and reign in my life. Under my control, I make too many mistakes and get in too many messes. Forgive me for ever thinking I could be my own monarch, that I could ever chart my own destiny. So here and now I say, in the words of an old hymn, King of my life, I crown you now, thine shall the glory be.
The moment we receive Jesus Christ as Lord, a coronation takes place inside of us. Jesus becomes the King of our lives and we give him the glory. So I want to urge you to let Jesus Christ be your King. You say, "How will that change me"? You won't go off doing crazy things without having a discussion. You will talk to the Lord about the thing. You say, "Well, he's not in", oh, yes, he is. He's your King. You're his subject. He wants to know what's going on in your life. And he will give you direction, he will send you to the right scriptures, to the right sermon, to the right person. He will show you the way. You can count on it. You can either do life as a Christian on your own and be miserable and frustrated the rest of your life, or you can install Jesus Christ as King on the throne of your heart and watch him do the things he wants to do.
He wants to make his name famous through the influence that you give him. I hope you will do that. And then, of course, he can't be your King unless, first of all, he's your Savior. You can't install Jesus Christ as King on your life throne unless you, first of all, invited him to come and forgive you of your sin, and you've become a Christian. Only Christians can install Jesus as King of their life. So the question I want to ask you as we close today, and I've been asking this every week, and I'm not going to stop, is Jesus Christ not just your King, but is he your Savior? Have you ever trusted him and asked him to forgive your sin and to come and live in your life?