Born to Be a King!

Born to Be a King!
The marketers have it all wrong.
The Infant-King didn’t come to stay a babe in the manger.
He came to take back His kingdom!
by Randy Maxwell

"Behold your King!"

Once again, Jesus stands there looking anything but royal to human eyes. A mere five days earlier, amid exuberant shouts of "Hosanna to the Son of David: Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!" palm fronds were waved in honor of Jesus’ arrival in Jerusalem. Though He wore no royal diadem or monarch’s robe, He was surrounded by the trophies of His earthly ministry—the once blind who could now see; the cripples who now leaped and danced before the Savior’s procession; the lepers who once were outcasts, now taking center stage among the throng hailing Jesus as their king. It was a scene of unmatched joy and triumph.

But now, five days later, the scene has darkened considerably. As the One who was pronounced "blessed" now emerges from the Praetorium in the governor Pilate’s mansion, He’s streaked with blood, bits of flesh hanging in bloody strips from His lacerated back. His eyes are barely visible beneath purplish-black lids swollen to twice their normal size. His lips and face also bear the marks of a savage beating at the hands of bored soldiers. To add to their fun, these soldiers have made a crown of thorns, pressed it forcefully onto Jesus’ head, and hammered it down into His temples with a four-foot-long stick that they made as a mock scepter (See Mark 15:16-19).

It is this view of Christ that confronted the multitude when Pilate, the weak-willed and troubled Roman governor, pointed at Jesus and shouted above the clamor, " ‘Behold your King!’ " (John 19:14). If He is a king, or the Son of God as He claims to be, He doesn’t look it now.

But this isn’t the first time that appearances have been deceiving.

The stable

A cave for animals is hardly the place for royalty, yet the Creator of the universe chose a feeding trough for a cradle. He didn’t look like a king as He cooed from the straw, His gurgles and cries mingling with the bleating of sheep and lowing of cattle. Yet, shepherds bowed low before the Babe, worshiping Him as heaven’s Commander and earth’s Redeemer. And men of great wealth and learning crossed a continent to lay their gifts before the Boy-King of Bethlehem.

Jesus didn’t look like royalty during the years that followed either. Not during His wilderness fast and temptation. Not when He hung out with publicans and sinners (See Matthew 11:19). Nor when He fell to the ground in Gethsemane, writhing beneath the weight of the sin He had come to bear.

And now He stands before Pilate.

"Are you the king of the Jews?" Pilate asks Jesus.

" ‘My kingdom is not of this world’ "(John 18:36), Jesus answers. "My kingdom is from another place."

Truer words were never spoken. Jesus is indeed a King, but a King far different from any this Roman puppet—or any human for that matter—has ever seen.

The kings of earth rule by selfishness. The kingdom Jesus presides over is governed by unconditional love. It is a place where lepers are touched, sinners are welcomed, and the despised and hated are embraced.

The Ceasars and Herods have nothing to worry about. Jesus is not there to usurpkill His rivals. He is there to die for them, so they can live and reign with Him. Earthly kings kill their enemies to establish their thrones. This King dies for His enemies to establish His.

" ‘You are right in saying I am a king,’ " Jesus says. " ‘In fact, for this reason I was born, and for this I came into the world’ "(John 18:37).

The marketers have it all wrong. The infant King didn’t come to stay a babe in the manger. He didn’t come to be a porcelain figurine in a pristine nativity scene. He came to live, love, and die among human beings . . . and to take back His kingdom! Jesus didn’t look like a king that weekend, but that wouldn’t be the last they’d see of Him.

Jesus told Caiaphas, the chief priests, and the entire Sanhedrin, " ‘In the future you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven’ "(Matthew 26:64).

The promise

This is the promise of the Second Coming, the hope that every follower of Jesus holds dear: the day our King is finally and fully revealed.

When He came the first time, a few shepherds and pagan astronomers came to welcome Him. When He comes the second time, "He is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him" (Revelation 1:7).

Make no mistake. When Jesus comes again you won’t have to catch it on CNN or on the Internet. You won’t have to worry about missing out on the great event. "Every eye will see him." There will be nothing secret about His return.

The first time He came, it was with the tender cooing of a baby. The second time, He "will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise" (1 Thessalonians 4:16).

The first time, He was "oppressed and afflicted, . . . he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth" (Isaiah 53:7). When He comes the second time, He rides on a white horse and on His head are "many crowns" (Revelation 19:12).

No angelic army was called upon the first time to deliver the Creator from His tormentors. But the second time, "the armies of heaven follow him, riding on white horses and dressed in fine linen" (Revelation 19:14).

The first time He was called a bastard, accused of blasphemy, and mocked for claiming to be a king. The second time, "on his robe and on his thigh He has this name written: KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS" (Revelation 19:16).

Jesus was born to be a king. His kingdom was established by His blood. It lives on in the hearts and lives of everyone who believes on His name. Wise men and women still seek Him. Do you?

Jesus has promised to come again and take His faithful subjects home to be with Him (See John 14:3). You can be among them if you bring Him the gift of your heart and ask Him to rule it. "Confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, [and] you will be saved" (Romans 10:9).

And when He comes, once again the trophies of His earthly and His heavenly ministry will surround Him—the once blind who now see; the cripples who leap and dance before the Savior’s procession; the lepers who once were outcasts, now joining the rest of the believers and unnumbered hosts of angels (See Matthew 16:27; 24:31; 25:31) in hailing Christ as their king. It will be a scene of unmatched joy and triumph.

No longer a babe in the manger. No longer an innocent victim on the cross. He is the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end; our King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

Oh, come let us adore Him. . . .

Behold, your King!

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This article is from the December, 2001, issue of "Signs of the Times".