There seemed to be a paradox with the Christ Child. How could a Baby also be a King? This daily devotional looks at how the Son of Man is also the Son of God and fulfilled prophesies.
Nuggets
- The Christ Child had to have a human as an ancestor.
- The Christ Child was King because He was the Anointed One.
- The #1 duty to complete the mission of the King is to be our lifeline for salvation.
- Jesus perfectly completed God’s Plan of Salvation.
Devotions in the Prophecy of the Christ Child series
We started discussing the prophecy of Christ the King in the last devotion. We really didn’t get too far.
Let’s dive back in and see how the prophecy was fulfilled.
Let's Put It into Context #1
The Holman Bible Dictionary defines prophecy as “reception and declaration of a word from the Lord through a direct prompting of the Holy Spirit and the human instrument thereof.”
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Prophecy is a divine revelation to mankind through the Holy Spirit of a future event. This was God telling us that we would be delivered.
Let's Put It into Context #2
The nuggets from the last devotion were the following:
- One of Jesse’s descendants was going to be the Messiah.
- Christ’s kingdom is in us.
- God will install His King — His Son — on Zion — Jerusalem, the place of worship.
- The Christ Child will have the title of King of kings and Lord of lords.
Son of Man as King
“But he kept silent and did not answer. Again the high priest questioned him, ‘Are you the Messiah, the Son of the BlessedOne?’ ‘I am,’ said Jesus, ‘and you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power and coming with the clouds of Heaven’” (Mk. 14: 61-62 CSB)
The Christ Child had to have a human as an ancestor. Brown described it this way. He wrote: “The real root of king and queen is ‘kin.’ The king is not the ‘able’ man but the ‘kinsman’ of the race.”
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So, the Christ Child had parents named Mary and Joseph, who had a low socioeconomic status. He had a great … great grandfather named David, who was a king, and great … great great grandfather named Jesse, who was a commoner.
But the Christ Child also had to be Immanuel. Erskine said that made Him God-man.
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Think of that. The Christ Child is a human baby, but He is the representative of the Sovereign God.
Cunningham used the term God-man. He explained it this way. He wrote, “It is not simply as God, but as Mediator — as God-man — that Christ executes the kingly office, and exercises supreme dominion, and is entitled to the profoundest homage and the most implicit submission. Christ’s kingship as Mediator is different from His eternal and unchangeable dominion as God, and rests upon a different foundation. We are to regard Christ’s kingly office as properly and fully developed at the time when God raised Him up, and gave Him glory, and seated Him at His own right hand.”
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The role of the Christ Child, as Erskine said, is to bring “… salvation of the elect that were given Him.”
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Son of God as King
“but to the Son: Your throne, God, is forever and ever, and the scepter of your kingdom is a scepter of justice. You have loved righteousness and hated lawlessness; this is why God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of joy beyond your companions” (Heb. 1: 8-9 CSB)
The Christ Child was King because He was the Anointed One. According to the Holman Bible Dictionary, anoint “describes the procedure of rubbing or smearing a person or thing, usually with oil, for the purpose of healing, setting apart, or embalming.” It really surprised me that a person can anoint himself. I always thought one person had to anoint another.
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Magee modernized the term. He wrote, “What they would have called anointing we now call consecration — the publicly and divinely ordered sanctioning and setting apart of a man for an office in which he is to minister unto men and for God.”
Going on, Magee explained the ramification of the term when applied to the Christ Child. He wrote, “When our Lord, then, is called the Anointed One, the Christ, it means that He is the One of all humanity, who is divinely consecrated and set apart to noble office and high service, and whose whole life and being is filled with the Divine light necessary for doing the work of that office — the Anointed, consecrated One, in whom all consecration and Divine unction centres for the performance of all offices.”
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Wow. The Christ Child has been called — anointed — to completed the highest service to God.
No, it isn’t just being born — or even dying. Others have been born and died in His service.
It is how the Christ Child lived. He was totally obedient to God’s laws and commandments.
Lewis reminded us that the Christ Child was King of all: mind and matter. Well, of course. He is the Creator, so He should be King of the creation.
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We need to have complete submission to Christ the King. We can’t say we give Him our lives, but then think totally different. We can’t say He is our savior and then not live like it.
The Mission of the King
“No one has ever seen God. The one and only Son, who is himself God and is at the Father’s side — he has revealed him” (Jn. 1: 18 CSB)
The #1 duty to complete the mission of the King is to be our lifeline for salvation. The Christ Child has been tasked with showing us the Plan of Salvation — and showing us God.
Jesus not only paved the way for us to be able to ask for salvation, but He also calls us and shepherds us into making a decision for Him. He is the way to God (Jn. 14: 6).
We’ve said before that God wants to be God of the little things as well as the big things. Jesus as King wants the same. There is nothing so insignificant that we can’t take to Him.
Lewis made an excellent observation. He wrote, “Think not that you are forgotten by the Saviour, or that your work or suffering is overlooked because you are poor, obscure, and feeble, and therefore, forgotten and overlooked by men. What men despise through ignorance may be most highly prized in another form. Filthy soot and the brilliant diamond are formed of the same material.”
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Elaine-speak. Christ as King does not forget us or ignore us because of whatever qualifier we want to put on the relationship. What is important to mankind isn’t to the King, and what is unimportant to mankind is prized by the king. We are all made in His image, and He wants all of us to be children of God.
Glossary
The flip side is that there is nothing too big for Him, either. If He created the universe, He can handle any problem in which we find ourselves.
Lewis also reminded us that good things come from the King. Backup for this would come from two different verses.
- We know that all things work together for the good of those who love God, who are called according to his purpose” (Rom. 8: 28 CSB)
- Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change” (Jas. 1: 17 ESV).
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It is the responsibility of the King to protect His people. The King will protect us from the barrages and blitzes of Satan.
One thing many don’t like to think about is that the King will govern us. Boston wrote, “Christ exercises His kingly office in ruling and governing His subjects: both externally, by laws, officers, and discipline; and internally, writing His law in their hearts, and persuading them by His spirit.”
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Bottom line, we need to give Christ as King His due and worship Him accordingly.
How Will Jesus Fulfill this Prophecy?
Oh, Jesus is King Jesus now. I know we talked before about when His kingdom actually starts. Do you think I could find it? No.
Glossary
If memory serves me, the debate is whether Jesus’ kingdom started after He got back home to Heaven or if it starts after judgment day. I think the consensus was it is now.
Macculloch agrees that “this prediction [of quick understanding in the fear of the Lord (Isa. 11: 3)] was fully verified in our Lord Jesus Christ, who was of such quick discernment and acute understanding in the dispositions of the human heart, that He could infallibly determine with respect to men’s characters, of which some memorable instances are recorded in the New Testament.”
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Jesus perfectly completed God’s Plan of Salvation. He was totally obedient to God and His laws and commandments. He was the perfect example for us, showing us God’s character and how He wants us to live.
Making the Connections
I never really thought of this before, so I am going to process while I type. What if Jesus was Savior but wasn’t King of kings and Lord of Lords?
That may have put Jesus comparable to the prophets. Israel had enough of those. Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and the rest — they performed their missions.
If Jesus would have just been a prophet, He could have still been an itinerant preacher. He just wouldn’t have been the One to save us from our sins.
If Jesus wasn’t the King of kings and Lord of lords, some of us would just ignore Him. Any further down the totem pole, we would find excuses to discredit His mission and message.
How Do We Apply This?
Not that some don’t discredit Jesus now. They do. Disciples need to witness to those who do not believe so that they, too, can gain eternal life.
Non-believers need to admit their sins, believe on Jesus as Redeemer, confess God as Sovereign Lord, and demonstrate that commitment by following the disciples’ job description.
The ABCDs of Salvation
If you have not become a believer in Christ, please read through the
Plan of Salvation and prayerfully consider what God is asking you to do.
A – admit our sins
B – believe His Son Jesus is our Redeemer
C – confess God as Sovereign Lord
D – demonstrate that commitment by making any changes needed in our lives to
live the way in which God has called us
The Disciple’s Job Description
Then, we need to worship Jesus as King. We are vocal in our love for Him. He are committed in our obedience to Him.
One day, we will worship Jesus as King 24/7/365. Let’s start now.
Father God. Your Son is King Jesus. He is the Savior of the world. Lord, thank You that His #1 priority is our spiritual condition. We believe He is our Savior and Redeemer. Amen.
What do you think?
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