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Pastor Ralph Shupe Jones Ave. Church of God Oak Hill, WV |
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BIBLE
The Conquests of the King by Ralph Shupe
In the late Dr. Gilbert Stafford’s book Theology for Disciples, he notes that many church members relate to the Christian faith as though it were a jigsaw puzzle never put together. They have the pieces they believe make up the puzzle, and from time to time they pick up a piece for examination, but they never have the joy of seeing how it fits into a fuller picture. He went on to say that systematic theology seeks to put those pieces together so that people can see their faith as a whole.
I have never been one who is willing to spend hours of my time putting puzzles together; however, it gives me great pleasure to allow the Holy Spirit to take the pieces of the “Prophetic Puzzle” that reveals Jesus as the “Conquering King” and enable me to put them together so others can see the complete picture. I believe that once one determines the truth about each piece and its exact location, one will readily see that He came not as a king who destroys lives, but as one who gave His life that others could live.
A close examination of religious leaders in the days of Jesus will reveal that they had all the pieces of the “Prophetic Puzzle” at their disposal, but they refused to allow Jesus and the Holy Spirit to help them put the puzzle together so that they could see Him as their Messiah. He came to deliver them from sin’s bondage and not that of the Roman Government. He, and later His followers, laid out the pieces before them but the Jewish people did not like what the picture revealed. In their minds they were looking for a King to rule over them, but the picture revealed the One Who wanted to reign within their minds and souls.
Today, when it comes to seeing Jesus as the “Messiah-King” and all that pertains to His Kingship and Kingdom, many in the Christian faith are eager to examine the pieces of the puzzle, but they, too, fail to allow the Holy Spirit as teacher and “Keeper of the Pieces” to help them put it together. When that happens they fail to see the true meaning of His role as “Conquering King,” and misunderstand that part of the puzzle as it pertains to the whole. They do what we tried to do as children: force the pieces to fit where they do not belong.
Failing to properly identify the “pieces” in their day and ours has led to a lot of confusion as to what Jesus came to conquer and the type of King He came be. If those in His day had taken time to compare His birth records with prophecy, they would have noted that He was born in Bethlehem and not Nazareth. Even then they would have had difficulty distinguishing between the literal throne of David and the spiritual one of Jesus because of their militant mindset. Sad to say, there are still those today who struggle with these pieces of the puzzle and fail to see the beauty of the whole.
John the Baptist’s revelation in John 1:29 that Jesus was the Lamb of God Who takes away the sins of the world, should speak loud and clear to us that He came to conquer sin and not sinners. Dr. O. L. Johnson noted years ago, in dealing with the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem, that lambs are born in stables not palaces. One would expect a militant king to be born in a palace among royalty, not in a barn among the animals. For a God Who is not willing that any should perish but all come to repentance, it is inconceivable that Jesus would come as a militant king to conquer and destroy those for whom He was sent to die that they might live. It is interesting to note in John 6:15 following the feeding of the five thousand that Jesus perceived that they were going to take Him by force and make Him their King. His immediate reaction was to depart from them and find a place in the mountains where He could be alone. If He had come as a conquering King to fight against the Roman army with the intentions of setting His people free from physical bondage, that would have been the perfect time for Him to have accepted that role. He would have gained an instant army of soldiers willing to join Him in defeating the Romans and establishing His kingdom.
Jesus made it clear to Pilate in John 18:36 that His kingdom was not of this world; but if it was then His servants would fight so that He would not be delivered to His enemies. As He told Peter in the Garden of Gethsemane, He had more than twelve legions of angels at His beckoning call who could deliver Him from the authorities who had come to take Him prisoner. He didn’t need to join forces with humanity then or at any time in the future to conquer His enemies by fighting literal battles. The very fact that He had all of heaven at His disposal to literally destroy those who opposed Him so that He could set up an earthly kingdom and did not do so should reveal the spiritual and not literal nature of the kingdom.
An all important piece of the puzzle that enables us to see the role He played as the “Conquering King” Who came to conquer sin and not people is found in Zachariah 9:9. Zachariah told the daughter of Zion to rejoice greatly and shout for her King was coming to her. He described Him as being just and possessing salvation, lowly and riding on a donkey, a colt, the foal of a donkey. Militant kings would ride stallions and not donkeys, but the King of Peace came riding a donkey. The truth is, He never intended to use physical force to establish His kingdom. Because they failed to see this vital piece of the puzzle their shouts of affirmation given Him as He rode into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday turned to shouts of “crucify Him” as He walked out of the city a few days later carrying His cross. Understanding the importance of that piece of the “Prophetic Puzzle” enables us to know that He walked out, not as a defeated King who did not have the power to bring His kingdom into existence, but as King of Kings and Lord of Lords, the conquer of sin, death, hell, and the grave.
There is one final piece of the puzzle that is yet to be put in place and will complete the picture in the “Prophetic Puzzle.” It is one that each of us will witness firsthand when He comes again. Paul wrote about it in 1 Corinthians 15 where he states that Jesus must reign until He puts all His enemies under His feet with the last enemy to be destroyed being death. We know that He is presently reigning in His kingdom and has already conquered sin and death, so when He comes again there will be nothing else to conquer. He will, however, destroy sin, death, hell and the grave in the lake of fire. Paul goes on to say that the end will come at that moment, the kingdom will be complete, He will deliver up the kingdom to His Father, and become subject unto Him.
I submit to you that when all the pieces of the puzzle are put together there is nothing that reveals a militant King sent to conquer the world literally, but a King who has brought salvation to a dying world by conquering sin and death through the sacrifice of His own life.
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