King of Kings
Here in the Land of the Free, we don’t have a Sovereign—a king or emperor—holding the reins of power. We have a constitution and thousands upon thousands of individuals sworn to uphold it. We have a citizenry with the right to vote. We, the aggregate, are sovereign, though we, the individuals, are not, no matter how much we think we are. Every four years we are reminded of this as each of us invariably ends up less than satisfied with the government we, the aggregate, have chosen. Even in a properly functioning democracy one thing is certain: no one ever gets everything they want.
You would think we’d get used to it, but we never do. And if this makes us uncomfortable, the Bible will make us even more so. Christ is not a Republican or a Democrat. He’s not a Libertarian. He’s not even an American. His government is not a democracy; it’s a monarchy, and he is the King. One of the first things scripture does to its readers is kick them off the throne.
In the Old Testament we see that Adam did not create himself, Abraham didn’t call himself, and Israel did not make itself a great nation. The New Testament continues the theme. “You did not choose me, but I chose you” (Jn 15:16). We may not like the sound of it, but scripture makes it abundantly clear— we don’t make ourselves Christians.
“. . . he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will . . .” (Eph 1:4-5).
My most hair-raising realization after coming to Christ was that if he had not intervened, even though it was destroying me, I would have continued in the sin that I loved, driven by my godless desires until the end. My salvation was his doing, not mine. I knew it beyond a shadow of a doubt. The dead don’t raise themselves:
“And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast” (Eph. 2: 1-9).
In ages past God planned the kindness he would show me in the ages to come. I did not choose to be alive, but suddenly, there I was, trusting in God’s great love. And God’s sovereignty, that most un-democratic of doctrines, became a deep well of comfort. Comfort in knowing that what God has begun, even in sinful me, he is not only willing but able to complete (Phil 1:6). Comfort in knowing that even the sinfulness of man cannot thwart the promises of God (Gen 50:20). Comfort in knowing that whatever form our earthly government takes, the King of kings reigns over it (Dan 2:21). Comfort in knowing that “for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose” (Rom 8:28). And comfort in knowing that we who are chosen in Christ—the individuals and the aggregate—are predestined for glory:
“For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.
“What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?” (Rom 8:29-31).
