In our earliest breaths, mankind was gifted a beautiful burden of responsibility: dominion over creation.[1] This took place before the catastrophe we know as “the Fall” recorded in Genesis 3; all creatures were blessed to “be fruitful and multiply,”[2] but only the species made in the Image of the Maker was tasked with stewarding the “very good”[3] creation of Genesis 1. But we, of course, live in life after the disaster of Genesis 3, wherein mankind’s authority of dominion was subverted and stolen by the serpent. It’s his now.[4] We, by virtue of buying into the devil’s delusional proposition in the Garden, are bound to the rotting prison that once was Paradise. There is a reason “all creation is groaning and waiting”[5] for the Deliverer to come. There is a reason “even the rocks” will cry out[6] if the Image Bearers do not beat them to this chorus:
Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the LORD!
Peace in heaven and glory in the highest![7]
We both need and await this King, this Deliverer promised as our exile began.[8] Recognizing this drew “Maranatha” from our lips to begin with.[9] Yet, in the same way it is possible to beg for a Saul you don’t need,[10] or beneficially preach the beautiful Gospel of the Kingdom with selfish motivation,[11] it is possible to profess the crown of Jesus whilst bastardizing the cross with which He purchased it.[12] Blame the internet perhaps, but we are seeing this poison Western Christianity more pervasively than since seemingly the Spanish Inquisition. The use of #ChristIsKing as it has trended this summer online not only betrays profound biblical illiteracy, but its mounting public proclamation exposes a disgusting pride that would so arrogantly take the LORD’s holy name in the vanity of such appalling self-serving perversions, all to fervently whitewash nationalistic power grabs.
But Jesus is not a nationalist.
He is, however, preeminent.
PECULIAR PREEMINENCE
Paul very helpfully expounded on this attribute in his letter to the Colossians, who themselves were suffering a confused Christology. A.W. Tozer once wrote, “Low views of God destroy the Gospel for all who hold them.”[13] Anemic Christology thus distorts the Gospel and impedes our ability to respond to it appropriately. Consider this rueful condemnation from the lips of Jesus:
But to what shall I liken this generation? It is like children sitting in the marketplaces and calling to their companions, and saying:
‘We played the flute for you, And you did not dance; We mourned to you, And you did not lament.’
For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, “He has a demon.” The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, “Look, a glutton and a winebibber, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!” But wisdom is justified by her children.”[14]
If Jesus plays you a pop song, the idea is you dance in response. If He plays a ballad in a minor key, you’re supposed to feel sad. But if we are confused about who He is and accuse Him of attributes and intentions He is not and does not have, we will not respond to Him appropriately or proportionately. So Paul’s words to the Colossian community serve us a daily calibration to the Person of Jesus:
He is the image 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 and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist. And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence.
For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell, and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross.[15]
This in tandem with another passage from Paul’s Philippian letter is breathtaking:
Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. 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.[16]
The demonstration of the manifold wisdom of God[17] in His own incarnate witness all the way from a cradle to a criminal execution sets Him apart from any other man or woman grasping for dominion since our disobedience ignited our exile from Eden. The “Lion of the tribe of Judah has overcome” “the world” because He is the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.[18] As the earliest patriarch rightly declared, “God will provide Himself a Lamb.”[19] And He did.
THE BLOODY CROWN OF ENEMY LOVE
So what does it mean for us today, or for our children, that this “Word became flesh” and “dwelt among us” was “[rejected by] His own” and executed outside the gates of the city He also claims as His own?[20] All this to be heralded THE KING OF THE JEWS in all major languages while asphyxiating in the nude?[21]
And what of the clearly defined intentions of God to conform us into His Image?[22] We may love victory, and celebrate that Jesus will crush the serpent and take back the dominion that is rightfully His;[23] but He does so while bearing the unpopular yet beautiful character traits of meekness and humility. The only way to be with Him forever is to follow this crucified, slaughtered King who so proudly bears His crown stained with the crimson of enemy love. It was His humble obedience that showcased His singular qualification to steward what Adam squandered.[24] We will reign on the earth with Him, under His leadership, if we follow Him on the narrow way of the crucified.[25] There is no other way to be with Him.[26]
It must disgust Him, then, that Christians have spent innumerable centuries leveraging the confession of His crown to build empires He has no part of and will dismantle when He comes on the clouds in power and glory.[27] At a minimum, our history should trouble us and serve as a warning when the dominionist fever spikes and we once again are permitting or participating in the conspiratorial clamor to “take back” geopolitical nations we are meant to actually serve and submit to,[28] prioritizing the proclamation of the Gospel of the Kingdom to all men everywhere.[29]
Who is willing to “become a bondservant” and “pour [themselves] out” much like a “drink offering,” even “unto death”?[30] Or must we insist on reconfiguring the biblical testimony in ways that cater to our own egos and ambitions? What would ever make us think that following Jesus would exempt us from the same narrow road He assigns us to, or that He would suddenly abandon His intentions to display His manifold wisdom through His people for His eternal purposes and glory?[31]
To put it simply, the mounting #ChristIsKing trend betrays our biblical illiteracy and unwillingness to actually obey King Jesus—especially when we’re violating the third commandment to continue the church’s unholy legacy of anti-judaic theological tradition and antisemitic civil practices and culture.[32]
MANDATES, MISSION, & CLEAN OBEDIENCE
At precisely the right moment, after a number of remaining prophecies introduced through Hebrew tongues have been fulfilled, the One “like a Son of Man” will come on the clouds in power and glory, split the sky, resurrect the saints, and make His triumphant way to the City of the Great King.[33] The Great King, unlike any other that has ever been or will ever be before He comes. Every kingdom of the earth will become His, and every capital will come under his theocratic jurisdiction anchored in the holy hill of God.[34] We will work under His leadership to fix the mess we have made, strip down our armories and artillery for scrap metal, and give ourselves to regenerative agriculture for the renewal of the world.[35] King Jesus will lead us into the restoration of all things, a concept synonymous with the restoration of the Kingdom to Israel.[36] This concept is affirmed in Jesus’ final exchange with His disciples and apostles before His Ascension, wherein He also illuminates what we are to do with ourselves in the meantime:
Therefore, when they had come together, they asked Him, saying, “Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” And He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority. 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.”[37]
Matthew recorded the following declarations, one a commitment and one a commission, bookends Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection:
This Gospel of the Kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness, and then the end will come.[38]
And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.[39]
It is worth noting that “nations” in the latter verse is ethnos, referring to tribal, ethnolinguistic people groups.[40] So every tongue and tribe is meant to receive the same kind of incarnate witness Jesus provided when He took on flesh and dwelt amongst us to declare the Father.[41] If we take Matthew 28:19 to mean we are meant to conquer and subdue geopolitical nations, we are no longer bearing witness to Jesus, but rather Muhammed. Who knew culture wars could so easily conflate Christianity with Islam?
Inconvenience is an illusion of persecution. But if we are meant to carry our own crosses, presumably the same way and to a similar end that Jesus carried His, we instead become servants of all ethnolinguistic people groups. We do not conquer and subjugate; we serve and wash feet. Nationalism, Christian or otherwise, is antithetical to the narrow way of the cruciform witness. They are mutually exclusive. We must not squander time and opportunities on the absurd culture wars and conspiracy theories Isaiah and Paul explicitly instructed us to avoid.[42] We must steward our numbered days to obey Jesus and behave like Jesus, in word and deed, “filling up what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ.”[43] If you want to affect redemptive change in your nation, William Wilberforce is a magnificent example of a man who leveraged politics to serve Jesus in a faithful manner. If you want control, power, and authority you can wield over your neighbors in religious superiority, better to swap #ChristIsKing for #AllahuAhkbar.
The Son of Man came to serve, and we shall do the same. If people around you hate you and berate you, remember the meek have a better inheritance when He judges the quick and the dead.[44]
Therefore Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people with His own blood, suffered outside the gate. Therefore let us go forth to Him, outside the camp, bearing His reproach. For here we have no continuing city, but we seek the one to come. Therefore by Him let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name.[45]
Stephanie Quick is a writer/producer serving with FAI. She cohosts The Better Beautiful podcast with Jeff Henderson. Browse her free music, films, and books in the FAI App and at stephaniequick.org.
[1] See Genesis 1:26
[2] Genesis 1:22, see also Genesis 1:24-30
[3] Genesis 1:31
[4] See Matthew 4:8-9; Ephesians 2:2
[5] Romans 8:22
[6] Luke 19:40
[7] Luke 19:38
[8] See Genesis 3:15
[9] See Genesis 4:26
[10] See 1 Samuel 8:1-10:1
[11] See Philippians 1:15-18
[12] The relationship between the cross and crown leading me to use this language is illuminated in Philippians 2:8-11; Hebrews 13:20; Revelation 5:1-7
[13] Tozer, A.W. The Knowledge of the Holy.
[14] Matthew 11:16-19, NKJV
[15] Colossians 1:15-20, NKJV
[16] Philippians 2:5-11, NKJV
[17] See Ephesians 3:8-12
[18] See Revelation 5:4-6; John 1:29, 36; 16:33; Revelation 13:8
[19] Genesis 22:8
[20] See Psalm 2:6; 48:2; Matthew 5:35; 27:31-25; John 1:1-4; 9-14; 19:17-20
[21] See Matthew 27:36-38; Mark 15:25-27; Luke 23:37-29; John 19:18-20; Hebrews 13:12-15; crucifixion victims were executed without clothing
[22] See Romans 8:29; 12:2; Philippians 3:10, 21
[23] See Genesis 3:15; Daniel 7:13-14
[24] See Romans 5:6-21
[25] See Revelation 5:9-10
[26] See Luke 9:23-26, 62
[27] See Isaiah 9:6-7; Revelation 11:15
[28] See Jeremiah 29:28; Romans 13:1-3
[29] See Matthew 24:14; 28:18-20; Acts 1:6-8
[30] See Philippians 2:5-11, 17
[31] See Ephesians 3:8-11
[32] We expound on these issues at length in Covenant and Controversy I: The Great Rage, available for free viewing here: https://youtu.be/P0LS88ESDTQ?si=1iOahnReBwiO1zbo
[33] Joel Richardson expounds on this in Sinai to Zion. The book and study guide are available for free here: https://joelstrumpet.com/resources/
[34] See Revelation 11:15; 19:11
[35] See Isaiah 2:2-4
[36] This is why the apostles used the language they did in Acts 1:6
[37] Acts 1:6-8, NKJV
[38] Matthew 24:14, NKJV
[39] Matthew 28:18-20, NKJV
[40] See Strong’s G1484 here: https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/g1484/kjv/tr/0-1/
[41] See John 5:37; 14:7-9
[42] See Isaiah 8:12; 2 Timothy 2:16
[43] See Colossians 1:24
[44] See Matthew 5:5; 2 Timothy 4:1
[45] Hebrews 13:12-15, NKJV
