The Kingly Office of Christ

Tonight we're on lesson 15. Now we're looking at the kingly office of Christ. This is our last lesson in Christology. The last six lessons, we've been looking at His three offices of prophet, priest, and king.

As we mentioned back in lesson number 10, all three of these offices — that of prophet, priest, and king — were figures or prefigures of who Christ is and what Christ would do. A mediator was someone who was anointed by God to be a go-between between Israel and God Himself. And so in the Old Testament, we had the office of prophet who spoke on behalf of God. We had the office of priest who made sacrifices and interceded for Israel. Then we also had the office of king. And Christ is all three. He is both prophet, He is priest, and He is king. So let's begin by looking at Bible point number one.

The office of prophet, priest, and king mutually imply one another in Christ. Christ was different from all the Old Testament officers because you could only be one. You could be a king, but you could not be a priest. Or you could be a prophet, but you cannot be a king. Well, Christ is prophet, priest, and king. Christ is always a priestly prophet and a prophetical priest. Christ is always a royal priest and a priestly king. Together, these accomplish our redemption.

Christ is our prophet to save us from the ignorance of sin. Isn't that what He is? He's the Word made flesh, right? He's already come here to reveal the truth of God to us as the prophet of God.

He is our priest to save us from sin's guilt.

He made sacrifice for us, and that was Himself, right? He was the Lamb of God who took away our sins. And He is our king to save us from the dominion of sin in our flesh. He frees us from sin. Sin shall not have dominion over us because He's broken that power by giving us a new heart and filling us with His Spirit.

As King, Christ sanctifies — that's the first blank. Sanctifies means to set apart — and redeems. It's the second blank. It means to rescue, to ransom, to bring out of bondage. You would redeem someone who was a prisoner, for example, or you'd redeem someone who is a slave. And Christ redeems us from the prison house of sin. He redeems us from being slaves to the world, the flesh, and the devil.

As King, Christ sanctifies and redeems His people. He has rescued — that's the third blank — rescued us from the domain of darkness and brought us into His kingdom. In Old Testament times, the kings were famous for rescuing the people of God. Think about King Saul, right? He was one who they looked to as not just king, but as the champion of the people. And then along came David, right? And David was even a greater champion than Saul was. A king would go out to battle. A king would go out and fight the enemy. A king would wage war and rescue his people, protect his people. And that's what Christ does.

1 Corinthians 1:30 through 31, we looked at this in week 10 regarding Christ being prophet, priest, and king. It says, "But of Him you are in Christ Jesus." In other words, you're in Christ Jesus because of God, "who became for us wisdom from God" — that's His prophetic office. He's the one who saves us from the ignorance of our sin, right? As our prophet. "And righteousness" — that's His priestly function. He made a sacrifice for us. His own righteousness was accredited to us so that we might stand innocent before God.

"And sanctification and redemption." Sanctification and redemption are what we call His kingly work, setting us aside as a people for Himself. That's sanctification, and redeeming us from the domain of darkness. "That, as it is written, 'He who glories, let him glory in the Lord.'" Flip over on the back.

The idea of Christ being a king was long ago prophesied in the Old Testament. Look at Jeremiah 23:5 through 6.

"Behold, the days are coming," says the Lord, "that I will raise to David a Branch of righteousness" — speaking from David's house, a Branch, capital B, a Branch of righteousness. He'd be a righteous king, a righteous offspring of David. "A king shall reign and prosper and execute judgment and righteousness in the earth. In his days, Judah will be saved and Israel will dwell safely. Now this is the name by which he will be called: the Lord our righteousness." The chief thing that a king does, that King Jesus does, is He delivers us from sin.

He is the Lord our righteousness, right?

Look at Luke 1:30 through 33. This is the angel speaking to Mary. "Then the angel said to her, 'Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God, and behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name Jesus. He will be great and He will be called Son of the Highest, and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David. And He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end.'" Every king that's ever lived has died, right? The ones who are still alive today, they will die, right? But Christ is the one who's king forever.

Look at Acts chapter 2. This is on the day of Pentecost, Peter's sermon, verses 29 through 33.

"Men and brethren, let me speak freely to you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried." He was Israel's greatest king and he's dead and buried. "And his tomb is with us to this day. Therefore, being a prophet and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him of the fruit of his body, according to the flesh, he would raise up Christ to sit on his throne." Saying that God allowed David to have prophetic utterance — we see in the Psalms that from his lineage, Christ would sit on the throne. Verse 31: "He, foreseeing this, spoke concerning the resurrection of Christ, that His soul was not left in Hades, nor did His flesh see corruption. This Jesus God raised up, of which we are all witnesses. Therefore, being exalted to the right hand of God and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He poured out this which you now see and hear."

David had prophesied that in the resurrection, Christ would be sitting at the right hand of the throne of God, right? He is king forever. He walked this earth. You wouldn't think He was a king, so to speak, in His humility, right? And He came down here not to rule over an earthly kingdom, but He came down here to lay down His life for us. But upon His exaltation, His glory was revealed, His glory was restored, and now He rules on the very throne of the universe.

Colossians 1:12-14 says, "Giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light, He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins." He's saying that God has taken us from the domain of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of His Son.

If you're a king, you have a kingdom, right? You have a people. The king of England has a kingdom. He has a dominion. It's England, right?

We are the dominion of Christ. We are the people of Christ, and He is our king. He has saved us by His own blood. Flip over on the front.

The application for number one: have you been rescued from unrighteousness?

Unrighteousness is the blank. We have many things that we desire to be rescued from. Maybe you want to be rescued from debt. Maybe you want to be rescued from a bad situation at work. Everything would be better if you could work somewhere else, right? Maybe you want to be rescued from a bad spot in your family. Maybe you hate your family or you have friction with your family, right? And you're saying, I need this to be made better. I need healing here. I need deliverance from this situation. All those things are things that we may long for, but your greatest need for deliverance is from your sin.

You cannot deliver yourself from your sin. Only King Jesus can. He laid down His life for us. He is the king of righteousness.

Bible point number two: as the second person of the Trinity, the eternal Son has always — that's the blank — has always had the dominion of God over all things.

Before the world was created, He was king.

When the world was created, when the universe was created, He was king. When He was in His earthly ministry, He was king. This is all before His exaltation, right? He's always been king over all things. In the incarnation, this dominion was invested in humanity when Christ became the God-man.

In other words, once Christ took on flesh, that was great news because His kingship that had always been was now being conferred upon perfect man — the God-man, Jesus Christ, who was God made flesh. This was not a new realm — that's the second blank — not a new realm or exercise of power. In other words, by conferring this on humanity, this was not something He wasn't already king over.

But this is a sharing of His kingship here.

This was not a new realm or exercise of His power, but the divine rule exercised in humanity through the person of Jesus Christ, the God-man. This was the beginning of restoring — that's the third blank — of restoring mankind into the dominion for which he was originally made and appointed to in the garden.

In Genesis chapter 1, verse 28, it says, "Then God blessed them, and God said to them, 'Be fruitful and multiply, fill the earth and subdue it.'" Adam and Eve were to be fruitful, to multiply, to fill the entire earth. That's beyond the scope of the garden. They were to make the world the garden. They were to conquer the wilds of this world and make it His kingdom, make it His perfect Eden. We were supposed to fill the earth and subdue it. Subdue is what a king does. A king subdues his enemies. He conquers his enemies.

"Have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves on the earth."

So God gave them their position in the garden to rule the world. That was what humanity was meant to do at the very beginning. A man tossed aside that responsibility even before the first outward sin by allowing the snake into the garden and giving him a place, right.

And in the rebellion, they said, "I can be as God, I can be as king," when God had already given them everything. He had given them rule over this world. So Christ, when He took on humanity, this was the beginning of restoring humanity to the meaning that God originally intended man to have and exercise.

Psalm 103:19 says, "The Lord has established His throne in heaven, and His kingdom rules over all."

He established His throne in heaven from the very beginning. He's always been king and His kingdom rules over all. Is there any place where God is not king?

So His kingdom rules over all, right. So in the farthest reaches of this universe — I don't know if there's life outside of Earth, but let's say that there's some kind of mold growing on Mars — God is king there, right? He's king everywhere. Flip over on the back.

Colossians 1:15 through 17: "He is the image" — speaking of Christ — "of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation, for by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers, all things were created through Him" — through Christ — "and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist." All authority, all thrones are Christ's. They were created by Him and for Him, and they would not exist apart from Him.

Look at John 18:36 through 37.

This is before Pilate. "Jesus answered, 'My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, My servants would fight, so that I should not be delivered to the Jews. But now My kingdom is not from here.' Pilate therefore said to Him, 'Are You a king then?' Jesus answered, 'You say rightly that I am a king. For this cause I was born, and for this cause I have come into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice.'"

Then also look at just the beginning of the very next chapter, John 19:1 through 5. This is Christ sharing His throne with humanity.

"So then Pilate took Jesus and scourged Him. And the soldiers twisted a crown of thorns and put it on His head, and they put on Him a purple robe." Why did they put a purple robe on our Savior?

Because He's king, right? They were mocking Him. "Then they said, 'Hail, king of the Jews!'" They knew what was at stake. "And they struck Him with their hands. Pilate then went out and said to them, 'Behold, I am bringing Him out to you, that you may know that I find no fault in Him.'" What a hypocrite. "Then Jesus came out wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. And Pilate said to them, 'Behold, the man!'"

When Christ took on humanity in the incarnation, it was to restore humanity to the throne that God had originally placed before men — that it would come at infinite cost.

And Christ paid that cost at Calvary. Flip back over on the front.

The application is this: rejoice — that's the blank — rejoice that the King has come to save humanity.

Rejoice that Christ has come, that He has conquered death, He has conquered sin, and whosoever believes in Him will not perish but have everlasting life.

Bible point number three: Christ's kingship is a sovereignty of the divine human Redeemer.

It belonged to Him from the moment of His birth, but was fully exercised in His exaltation. Exaltation is the first blank.

Christ's kingdom is described interchangeably in the Gospels as the kingdom of heaven and the kingdom of God. When you read through the Synoptic Gospels — Matthew, Mark, and Luke — you'll see Jesus often talk about His kingdom. You don't see that in John; it's a different type of Gospel. But Matthew, Mark, and Luke, you see that. Sometimes He says it's the kingdom of God. Sometimes He refers to it in His parables or His teachings as the kingdom of heaven. Those terms are used interchangeably. I put just one reference for you to look at. If you look at Matthew 13, and you see what Jesus says there about the kingdom of God or the kingdom of heaven, and you look at the people He's speaking to, you look at the exact circumstance in which He's teaching and His exact didactic instruction that He's giving, then you look at the same one over in Mark 4 and Luke 8, and it's the exact same circumstance, it's the same message, but sometimes He speaks of it as the kingdom of God, sometimes He speaks of it as the kingdom of heaven. So when you see that, don't be confused. They are one and the same.

I'll only mention that because later on — in about, I guess, 40 lessons — when we get to eschatology, this makes a difference. I'm not going to get into it in depth tonight, but there are some particular streams of eschatology that say that Christ is in no way king right now, particularly over the church, and they go to great lengths to try to distinguish between the kingdom of heaven and the kingdom of God. Whereas if you just do your 3D Bible study, or you do a basic inductive Bible study, and you compare passage to passage, Scripture to Scripture, you'll see that it's referring to one and the same.

In Christ's exaltation, perfect humanity receives all reward and honor in Christ.

So when Christ was exalted, His perfect sacrifice was extended to all men as king, and all honor and glory are now conveyable to men who are in Christ Jesus. The divine throne of the universe is now occupied by the divine man, Jesus Christ. "There is not one square inch in the universe over which Christ does not cry out, 'Mine.'" That's the second blank, "Mine." It's a quote from Abraham Kuyper — or Abraham Kuyper, however you want to pronounce it. He was a great Dutch theologian, and also the premier of the Netherlands. So he was both a politician and a theologian, a brilliant man, and it was called Kuyper's Square Inch. He says that there is nowhere where Christ isn't king. Every inch of this universe is His.

When we think of children, we try to correct them when they're not sharing, because a lot of times they'll grab something from their brother or sister and say, "Mine," right? We dare not correct Christ when He says, "Mine." Everything's mine. The table that you're sitting at is Christ's. This building is Christ's. Your body is Christ's. The air you breathe is Christ's. It's all His.

By virtue of His kingly office, over all things in heaven and earth, for the glory — this is the third blank — the glory of God, and the execution of God's purpose of salvation. Salvation is the fourth blank. He rules over everything, both in heaven and earth, for His own glory and for your salvation.

John 3:35: "The Father loves the Son and has placed all things in His hands." All things are in Christ's hands. Remember when we were little, what did we sing? "He's Got the Whole World in His Hands," right? All things have been placed in Christ's hands by the Father. You, me, everything. All dominion, all scepters, all crowns — all the crowns are Christ's. Flip over on the back.

Hebrews 1:1 through 4, we've referenced this before. This is in regards to Christ's exaltation after He had completed His work of redemption. It says, "God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things." Christ is the heir, the owner of all things. "Through whom He made the worlds, who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become so much better than the angels as He has by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they." He merited all reward, all favor, all perfection by His perfect obedience. So He is worthy of inheriting God Himself. He is the express image of God. If you go on and read Hebrews chapter 1, just that one chapter, it shows His supremacy over the angels and over every throne. It's all in Christ.

We see this also in Ephesians 1:19 through 21: "According to the working of His mighty power, which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality and power and might and dominion and every name that is named, not only in this age" — meaning right now — "but also in that which is to come." He will always be on His throne, always above every power that you can imagine or fathom.

Philippians 2:9 through 11 — we know that the prior verses talk about His humiliation. This talks of His exaltation. "Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."

His exaltation to the throne of the universe, when every knee is bowed, that glorifies God when we exalt Christ as king.

The application for number three is: exalt. Exalt Christ above all people and all things. Do you ever exalt people above God?

How about — do you fear people more than you fear Christ?

How about things? Do we ever put things above Christ, right? What did Jesus say? "You cannot serve Me and mammon," right? You've got to make a choice. Let's exalt Christ above all things and all people.

Bible point number four: in regards to the universe at large, Christ's kingdom is a kingdom of power. That's the first blank. He upholds, governs, and judges the world. World is the second blank. And we've already read verses tonight about that, how He upholds all things by the word of His power, right? All things were created by Him and for Him, and in Him they consist, or exist.

Jesus Christ, who in His humiliation was creation's burden bearer — remember? In His humiliation, He suffered for us, right? He became obedient even to the point of death, the death of the cross.

He is now forever exalted as the scepter bearer. Scepter is the third blank, scepter spelled S-C-E-P-T-E-R. It's the little ceremonial rod that the king wields in his hands as a symbol of his power, of his divine right. If he extends the scepter, you come near to him, right? If he withdraws the scepter, your favor is lost. Christ is the scepter bearer of the universe.

Matthew 28:18 says, "And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, 'All authority — all authority — has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.'" That's everywhere. All authority, all dominion — not some, but all — has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. And what is that actually the prelude to?

The Great Commission, right? He prefaces the Great Commission by saying, "Hey, I have all authority and all power in heaven and earth. Go ye therefore into all the world and make disciples of all nations." You're going under His royal edict, under His royal protection, right?

That guarantees that your mission will be successful.

Maybe you share Christ with 100 people and only one comes to know the Lord.

That's success. That's what God ordained, right? We just be faithful to declare and to make disciples, to make converts, and once they're converts, teach them to observe all things whatsoever that the Lord has commanded.

Flip up on the back.

Revelation 1:4 through 5: "John, to the seven churches which are in Asia: grace to you and peace from Him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven spirits who are before His throne" — this is a Trinitarian statement here — "and from Jesus Christ," verse 5, "the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler over the kings of the earth." Christ rules over every king of this earth. You may have seen this week — Macron, who is the president of France, he was about to get off his jet and his wife popped him upside the head. It wasn't meant to be caught on camera, right? Well, let me tell you something. Christ can reach down and pop any king on the head that He desires, right? Because His arm knows no limits, right? And His power is unchecked.

Look in Revelation 17:14: "These will make war against the Lamb, and the Lamb will overcome them" — will overcome them — "because He is Lord of lords and King of kings. And those who are with Him are called, chosen, and faithful." He guarantees us the victory, right? We've been called by Him, we've been chosen by Him. He has given us His faithfulness, and He is the one who is the King of kings and Lord of lords, and the Lamb will prevail, right? His kingship is based upon His priesthood because He died for us as our sacrifice. He delivers us, right? So that's why the Lamb is pictured throughout the book of Revelation as the one who is on the throne.

Flip back over on the front.

The application is: trust that Christ reigns when it is hard to see. Trust is the first blank. Trust that Christ reigns even when it is hard to see. Sometimes in life you think, how can Christ really be on the throne, right? Things are not going good for me. They're not going good for the world.

I always like to bring up the example of Isaiah 6, which we're all very familiar with. Isaiah 6:1: "In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of His robe filled the temple." King Uzziah became king when he was but a teenager, and he ruled for — I believe it was 56 years — before his death. So there were whole generations that were born knowing nothing but King Uzziah. And God blessed King Uzziah. Second to David, he was the greatest king of Israel. He had great success on the battlefield.

Because of his success on the battlefield, he brought great economic prosperity to Israel. Kings and nations from afar were afraid of him, so they paid tribute to him, and the coffers were filled with wealth in Israel. He was a great builder, built aqueducts and made their fields green because of his ingenuity. God blessed him in so many ways that at one point late in his career, he let that go to his head.

As king, he decides to go into the temple and try to offer up incense and make sacrifice to the Lord. That was reserved for the Levites, and he was not a Levite, right?

And so God struck him with leprosy and he was banished from the kingdom. And when he died, the people were heartbroken. You know, they don't understand this. He was our guy, you know, and now he's fallen. What are we gonna do? Will we ever find a king like Uzziah?

But in the year King Uzziah died, "I saw the Lord sitting on His throne, high and lifted up, and the train of His robe filled the temple."

Christ is always on the throne. Even when everything else has fallen apart around you and it doesn't make sense, Christ is on His throne.

Bible point number five: in regards to His church on earth, Christ's kingdom is a kingdom of grace. Grace is the blank for number five. Christ rules the universe in power for the good — good is the second blank — for the good of His bride, the church. That's the third blank.

Christ founds, legislates for, administers, defends, and augments His church on earth. In other words, Christ, in regards to the entire universe — as we read in point four, His kingdom is a kingdom of power — but He rules the universe for the benefit of the church.

So in respect to the church, His kingdom is a kingdom of grace. Everything He does is for the church. Some bullet points here: Christ gathers His church. Who founded the church?

But Christ, right? Let me read to you a few verses. Acts chapter 2:46 through 47 says, "So continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved." He's the one who plants the church, who makes the church, right? Acts 13:48 — I'm not gonna read it — it says that all who were appointed believed, right? We get to John 17:2; let me read that to you.

We often overlook this. This is in Christ's high priestly prayer, 17:1 and 2. "Jesus spoke these words, lifted up His eyes to heaven, and said: 'Father, the hour has come. Glorify Your Son, that Your Son also may glorify You, as You have given Him authority over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many as You have given Him.'" Christ is the one who gathers His church.

Christ is the one who governs His church. We all know Ephesians 5. We've been reading through the book of Ephesians on Sunday morning, and that Christ does all things to govern His church. He is referred to there as the head of the church: just as Christ is head of the church, the husband is head of the wife. What does head mean? That means authority, right? He's the one who governs His church.

Ephesians chapter 2, let me read that to you — I'm sorry, 2:19 through 22. "Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord."

In ancient times, when they would build a building, they would choose a cornerstone that was trusted, that was strong, and that was true. And they'd lay all the other stones upon it. And those stones in connection to that cornerstone would receive their shape, receive the actual footprint of the building, right? And their strength was dependent upon that cornerstone. Christ is the one who strengthens His church, and He governs His church and gives us a pattern to follow, right? United to Christ, He is our cornerstone. We are living stones in His temple.

Christ equips the church. We should know this very well. What is Ephesians 4? He gave some prophets, right? Some teachers, some apostles, for all these different gifts for the edifying of the body, for the building up of the body.

Acts chapter 1, verse 8 — remember what they are told. This is there at the ascension of Christ. Let me read this to you. Acts chapter 1, verse 8: "But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth." Christ is the one who equips His church for its mission.

Christ protects the church, does He not? 2 Thessalonians 3:3 says this: "But the Lord is faithful; He will establish you and guard you from the evil one."

He protects His church as any man would protect his bride, right? You would step in front of a moving car or step in front of a bullet for your loved one. Christ does that for us. If you think of John 17:15 in His high priestly prayer, what does He say? Let me read this to you. "I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one," right? And what does He say in Matthew 16:18? That the Lord builds His church and that the gates of hell shall not prevail, right? He protects His church.

He also perfects the church. In Ephesians 5, it talks about how Christ loves us and gave Himself for us. And just as a husband should love his wife and give himself for her, he should wash her with the washing of the word that he can present her a spotless bride. That's what Christ does for us in sanctifying us, right? He is the one who perfects His church.

In Revelation 19, when we have the picture and the description of the marriage supper of the Lamb, it says "it was given to her to be arrayed in white fine linen," right? Who gave her those robes? Christ, the groom, right? Ephesians 1:22 through 23 says, "And He put all things under His feet and gave Him to be head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all." Christ, His kingdom in regards to the church, is a kingdom of grace, and it's for us.

The application is this, number five: depend on Christ — depend is the blank — to supply your need. Does anyone know Philippians 4:19?

"Amen. My God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus," right? We can count on the Lord whether it's the church needing protection, the church needing righteousness, the church needing to be equipped, the church needing direction to be governed, whether it's the church needing to be gathered and grow. I would love to see 100 people here on Wednesday nights. I know you would too, right?

Pray that that would happen, right? The Lord builds His church. Who knows what could happen, right?

Bible point number six: in regards to His church in heaven, Christ's kingdom is a kingdom of glory. Glory is the blank. His heavenly kingdom of glory is but His earthly kingdom of grace made perfect and complete. Complete is the second blank. In heaven one day, we'll all be gathered there with all the saints, and our sanctification that we struggle with in this life will be made perfect. We'll be glorified, right? We'll be given those white robes at the wedding feast of the Lamb, and how beautiful it will be.

Christ rewards His redeemed people with the full revelation of Himself upon the completion of His kingdom in the resurrection and judgment. Remember, we talked — when we discussed the exaltation of Christ — that it began in His resurrection, and it proceeds as He sits on the throne of God, but it culminates in His judgment, right? When every knee will bow and every enemy will be defeated, even death itself will be cast into the lake of fire. And that's what we're gonna see in heaven. And what a glorious thing that will be. We will be glorified — that's the third blank — we will be glorified with Him.

1 John 3:2 says, "Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be. But we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is."

Don't get discouraged. In this life there are so many times when we wonder, are we really progressing? I don't feel any more righteous than I was yesterday or the day before. But the righteousness isn't from you, it's from God, right? And He's working that in you. That's why we go through trials, right? That's why we go through difficulties. That's why sometimes sickness comes into our life. It's for His glory and His character to be worked in us. One day, when we reach heaven, we'll be ready. What a glorious day that is going to be.

Application for number six: in light of this hope, purify yourself now. Purify is the blank. It should say "in light of this hope" — I left off the "of," forgive me.

The reference here is 1 John 3:3. We just read 1 John 3:2, saying that we don't know what we're going to be, but we know that we're going to be in His likeness. The very next verse says, in light of this, purify yourself now. In other words, get prepared for heaven now, right? Every day say, Lord, I'm Yours, mold me, make me, right? Conform me to the image of Christ. Be in His word, follow His path, be like Christ. So when you get to heaven, there won't be much of a change, right? The idea is to be as close to Him now as possible, such that it's very natural the very minute we arrive in heaven.

Bible point number seven: Christ's kingdom is eternal. That's the first blank. While it can be said that His mediatorial kingship over the universe at large will be fulfilled when the last enemy is destroyed — 1 Corinthians 15 talks about this — when death is put into the lake of fire, you could say, well, His rule over the universe is done, because there are no more enemies to defeat, right? It was said about Alexander that he wept, for there were no more worlds for him to conquer, right? When he had conquered most of the known world. Well, Christ will have conquered all enemies at that point. But even then He will still be eternally king.

He will always be the King of kings and the Lord of lords as the head — that's the second blank — as the head of the church. He is forever united — that's the third blank — united to His church in glory. He will always be our head. We will always be His body.

Remember, what did Adam say? And his only words recorded before the fall were when his bride was presented to him. And he says, "Bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh," right? In some manuscripts, that's even quoted in Ephesians 5, speaking of Christ being our head and the church being His bride, that we are bone of His bone and flesh of His flesh, talking about our union with Him — it's so close, right? We are one body and He is our head. And He'll always be our head in glory.

He will forever govern, sustain, and bless His people. That's what He does throughout all eternity. He will be pouring out His blessings, revealing God the Father and sharing His inheritance with us. That throne that Christ shares with His Father will be shared with us. We will reign with Him and share in His heavenly inheritance.

Hebrews 1:8 says, "But to the Son He says: 'Your throne, O God, is forever and ever. A scepter of righteousness is the scepter of Your kingdom. You have loved righteousness and hated lawlessness. Therefore God, Your God, has anointed You with the oil of gladness more than Your companions.'" Flip over on the back.

Look in the Old Testament, speaking about the coming Christ and the scope of His kingdom and the duration of His kingdom. "For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given, and the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of His government and peace there will be no end, upon the throne of David and over His kingdom, to order it and establish it with judgment and justice from that time forward, even forever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this." Guaranteed — Christ reigns forever. He never lays down His scepter.

Daniel 7:13 through 14, which is another Old Testament passage where the prophet gives us a picture of Christ coming into the throne room of the Ancient of Days upon His ascension: "In my vision in the night, I continued to watch, and I saw one like the Son of Man coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into His presence. And He was given dominion, glory, and kingship, that the people of every nation and language should serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and His kingdom is one that will never be destroyed." He's invincible.

The application for number seven is this: live, live in the light of your heavenly citizenship. You can look up Philippians 3:20 through 21 later this evening or later this week, saying that we are citizens of heaven, we're people that are in His kingdom. And as a result, we need to live like that. Live knowing that you are in a kingdom that will never fade away.

Last point, Bible point number eight: we cannot — "not" is the first blank — we cannot have Christ as our prophet and priest. You can't say God is the Word made flesh, God is the Lamb of God. You can't have Him as prophet and priest unless we also have Him as our king.

As our prophetical king, He rules us through His word, right? His word — how do we know what pleases God? It is His word, and He is the Word of God. He is the express image of God; therefore He is a prophetical king.

As our priestly king, He is the Lamb that sits on heaven's throne. He's the Lamb of God that was slain for us, so therefore He sits — He's been highly exalted to the right hand of God. And on God's throne, He makes war with our enemies. That's what the book of Revelation tells us about the Lamb. It also says that the Lamb is our temple, and the Lamb is our light, and the Lamb is the one from whose throne flows the waters of life.

Just as we must never think too little of the cross of Christ, we must never think too little of His throne. That's the second blank.

Christ is king.

We are His subjects. Look to Him always. So the first blank is "not," the second blank is "throne." Christ is king. We're to always look to Him. He always sits upon His throne, and we are always His subjects. "Come before His courts with praise and singing. Know ye that the Lord, He is God. It is He that has made us, and not we ourselves. He is the Lord" — the people and the sheep of His pasture.

Joshua 24:15 says, "Choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve."

Luke 6:46: Jesus says, "But why do you call Me 'Lord, Lord,' and do not do the things which I say?"

If He is king, if He is Lord, we are subject to Him. We are subject to Him as our prophet and as our priest — and we cannot have Him as those unless we also have Him as our king. Flip over on the back.

2 Peter 1:10 through 11: "Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your call and election sure. For if you do these things, you will never stumble. For so an entrance will be supplied to you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ." In other words, follow Him. Continue as being a disciple. Continue in the word, and you will have entrance into His eternal kingdom, right? Those who fall away, who never produce fruit, they've never been in His kingdom, right?

Flip over on the front. Application: trust and obey. We're gonna be singing that hymn this coming Sunday. Trust and obey — those are the two blanks — the King of kings and the Lord of lords. You can trust Him that He is for you, that He rules over the universe for the benefit of you, the church. You're the apple of His eye, He laid down His life for you, and no one can snatch you from His hand.