THE KING OF KINGS
Luke 23:2
And they began to accuse Him, saying, “We found this man misleading our nation and forbidding to pay taxes to Caesar, and saying that He Himself is Christ, a King.”
The further a government drifts from God (which means it seeks to become its own god), the more it sets itself up for heavenly political action. The greatest political statement in the Bible is the declaration of Revelation 19:16 that when Jesus Christ returns to earth to rule, He will come as “King of kings, and Lord of lords.” Back in Revelation 1:5, John had seen a vision of the glorified Jesus, who was declared to be “the ruler of the kings of the earth.”
The Bible also says that “by [Jesus] all things were created … whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities” (Colossians 1:16). And He not only created heavenly and earthly kingdoms (v. 15), they are dependent on Him to “hold together” (v. 17) and exist by Him and for Him (v. 16). When Jesus was on earth, He was perceived as a political threat. At one of Jesus’ trials, the Jewish council brought Him to Pilate with this accusation: “We found this man misleading our nation and forbidding to pay taxes to Caesar, and saying that He Himself is Christ, a King” (Luke 23:2). The charge that Jesus forbade people to pay taxes was simply untrue, as seen in Mark 12:13–17. Earlier in His ministry, Jesus protested the evil of Herod’s reign (Luke 13:31–32). To talk about the activity of God the Father and God the Son both in history and in the future is to merge the sacred with the secular in the arena of politics.
REFLECTION: Why can’t we put politics in an unimportant, secular category? How do we know that God oversees all of history? How do political realities affect all of us? Remember to pray for those who make decisions that affect you and your community. God, You never divide the sacred from the secular because all things originate from You. Thank You that You are so wise and all-knowing and that You possess the ability to rule all things well.
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