Sunday, January 24, 2021
John 18: 33-37 “Then Pilate entered the Praetorium again, called Jesus, and said to Him, ‘Are You the King of the Jews?’
34 Jesus answered him, “Are you speaking for yourself about this, or did others tell you this concerning Me?”
35 Pilate answered, “Am I a Jew? Your own nation and the chief priests have delivered You to me. What have You done?”
36 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.”
37 Pilate therefore said to Him, “Are You a king then?”
Jesus answered, “You say rightly that I am a king.”
Now, here we see Jesus answering two questions from Pilate—“Are you king of the Jews?” And, “Are you a king?”
Jesus’s answer is startling, at least for Pilate!
He replies that He is the King of a kingdom that is totally unlike anything Pilate knew a kingdom to be.
Jesus specifies that His kingdom is not comprised of a weaponized army like the Romans had that would grab sword and arrow and fight for Him.
This was a head scratcher for Pilate, who would have told you he knew all about every kingdom existing on earth at that time.
But here Jesus is telling him of a kingdom he knew nothing about.
After telling Pilate about His kingdom, Jesus then says straight up: “You say rightly that I am a King.”
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Now, speaking of kings, we have just gone through a grueling election that has left some happy and some sad.
Tens of thousands of those that are sad are also disillusioned, because they clung to the words of many high-profile, self-proclaimed prophets who emphatically predicted in the name of the Lord that the Trump administration would serve a consecutive second term.
Their words left no wiggle room.
But sadly, some of them are looking for a way to lay blame on others for their failed prophecies, which is why I feel I need to say something…
Some are blaming the church for not supporting their candidate at the voting booth.
Others are saying that Trump won but it was stolen.
Still others are saying it’s due to lack of faith.
Whatever you happen to believe, I want us to get a bigger picture from a Biblical perspective:
FACT: When God speaks a prophetic word saying that something will happen, no demon in hell or man on earth can stop it!
For instance, Daniel the prophet predicted the rise and fall of four world empires right down to the order in which they would appear—including which nation would displace and replace the next.
The Babylonians Daniel lived under in captivity would be replaced by the Persians, the Persians by the Greeks, and the Greeks by the Romans.
By the Spirit of God, He even described the characteristics of these nations, right down to the personality of the rulers that would head them up.
Against all odds and centuries of time, it went down just like he prophesied.
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Another example: God spoke through His prophets that His only begotten Son would be
born in Bethlehem,
would become a Nazarene,
would be a light to the Gentiles,
would be betrayed for 30 pieces of silver,
would die on an instrument of execution unknown to the prophet that predicted it,
would be buried in a rich man’s borrowed tomb,
And would resurrect on the third day!
Against insurmountable odds it ALL happened just as the prophets predicted, though men and devils did everything they could to stop it.
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But this did not happen with the prophets that predicted a 2nd term for President Trump.
As a result, tens of thousands of Christians that believed them are disillusioned, and some are experiencing a crisis in their faith.
The bottom line is: If it didn’t happen, they prophesied out of their own spirit, not God’s—and it is no ones fault but their own.
Moses wrote, “This is the way to know: If the thing he (a prophet) prophesies doesn’t happen, it is not the Lord who has given him the message; he has made it up himself. You have nothing to fear from him” (Deut.18:22 LB).
Bottom line: If God had predicted it, it would have happened—no matter what men or devils did!
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That said, I came today with a word of encouragement.
I want to look at two things we need to remember in order to get our minds off of distracting politics and back onto Kingdom business.
First,
- This world is not our home
As born again, blood bought Christians, we serve a King and a kingdom that transcend all the kingdoms of this world!
Since Jesus’s kingdom is not of this world, neither is ours!
The Bible says “He (God) rescued us from the power of darkness and brought us safe into the KINGDOM of his dear Son,” (Col. 1:13 GNT).
The moment you were saved, you changed both kings and kingdoms.
Satan is the evil taskmaster we once served, but now we have a new King!
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And when we changed kingdoms, we also became CITIZENS of our new kingdom.
Philippians 3:20 “For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ;”
“Citizenship” means we’re under a new government, with a new King and new laws.
This is what the Sermon on the Mount is all about!
Jesus clearly lays out in Matthew 5-7 the rules and laws governing how we’re to behave in our new kingdom!
We quickly note that the kingdom of God all Christians are citizens of is totally unlike the world around us.
It is a kingdom where:
*Forgiveness is a lifestyle
*where prayer is offered for enemies
*it is a kingdom where worry is forbidden
*where daily prayer is practiced
*where material things are secondary to spiritual riches
*where judging others hypocritically is forbidden
*where the King of the kingdom is number one!
*where the teachings of the King are the guidebook for life
And much, much more!
So this world is not our home…heaven is!
The writer of Hebrews proclaimed:
Hebrews 13:14 “For here we do not have a lasting city, but we are seeking the city which is to come.”
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Then the 2nd part of our bigger picture is:
- God is sovereign over all nations and kings
Sovereign means “God is sovereign over the whole world, and everything that happens in it. He is never helpless, never frustrated, never at a loss—He is in complete control.”
It may not always look like it, but the fact is that no ruler of any kingdom remains in place one second beyond the permission of God.
The Bible says, “It is God alone who judges; he decides who will rise and who will fall” (Ps. 75:7 NLT).
For instance, when the kingdom of Babylon was in its prime, Daniel predicted the temporary downfall of its king—King Nebuchadnezzar.
He told him he would live like an animal in a field until he realized that:
“The Most High rules in the kingdom of men, gives it to whomsoever He will, and sets it over the lowest of men” (Daniel 4:17 NKJV).
In other words, God’s the boss of His universe!
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And when Babylon was about to fall to the Persians, Daniel prophesied to their last king, Belshazzar, that Babylon was finished THAT VERY DAY.
And he rebuked Belshazzar, saying: “The God who holds your breath in His hand and controls your destiny, you have not glorified!” (Dan 5:23 NKJV).
The Bible says “That very night Belshazzar was slain,” and the Persians took Babylon before the sun rose the next morning!
In this fading world, all kings die…all presidents die…all dictators die, and few of them are ever remembered.
Paul talks in 1 Cor. 2:6 about, “…the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing.”
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But here’s my encouragement to all believers today:
—There is one King, one name that will continue forever…the Lord Jesus Christ!
Other kings have come and gone.
Other kingdoms have come and gone.
And most of them have at one time or another challenged Christ our King with weapons or intellect.
But they have all died—except the King of all Kings!
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So let’s turn our eyes onto our heavenly, soon coming, triumphant, victorious, redeeming, soul-saving, life-changing, devil-stomping King of all Kings.
Let’s put our hand to the kingdom plow and carry on with the Kingdom business of carrying His gospel of salvation to our sin sick world.
The harvest is white! His return is at hand!