Long Live King Jesus!

The dumpster fire of the online world

The past few weeks on social media saw two different instances of figures making comments about Christian life and culture that, in my humble opinion, led to a series of faceplants, fumbles, and outright foolishness. First, Ligon Duncan, the Chancellor of Reformed Theological Seminary, appeared on the “Room for Nuance” podcast discussing Theonomy and Christian engagement (you can watch the episode here).

Duncan has been hotly criticized in the past few years, and rightly so, for writing the forward on Eric Mason’s book “Woke Church.” He also claimed that he has had racial “blinders” on making him negligent in the areas of social justice. He also refused to sign the Statement on Social Justice and the Gospel, in part, because according to Duncan, the only way to make sure our children don’t believe the LGBTQ lie is if we get the social justice issue right.

On this podcast, Duncan made some utterly ridiculous claims, ones that deserve a strong but cautious rebuke. He claimed that abortion abolitionists have been doing “nothing” until Roe v. Wade was overturned, and that the Pro-Life Christian movement has been doing all of the heavy lifting. This is a lie, or being most generous, a gross misrepresentation (see here). He slandered faithful brothers who have been doing good Gospel work in engaging their community and advancing the Kingdom of God, saying that they were “LARPing” Christian boldness, and he even went as far as to say that if they were locked in a room with real Christian men who are bold, they would curl up in the fetal position. Ligon also criticized theonomy in a way that would give a failing grade to one of his students, as well as claiming that political Christians today would love John the Baptizer and criticize Jesus because John called Herod a fox and was engaging the culture. Apparently, the Chancellor of a Reformed Seminary didn’t know that Jesus did in fact call Herod a fox in Luke 13:32.

And then we have “Christ is King” trending on X. I’ll try to be brief. Due to some of her comments and criticisms of Jewish people and Israel (some claim it was outright antisemitism – I’m not too sure), Candace Owens, a conservative media personality, saw her relationship with the Daily Wire come to an end. Cultural conservatives like Owens have made this phrase trend on X right now. Andrew Klavan, an ethnic Jew who is now a professing Christian and who also works at the Daily Wire, has said that the phrase itself is a dog whistle for antisemitism. Jeremy Boering, a professing Christian and president of the Daily Wire, has said the phrase is being used as a weapon. Allie Beth Stuckey, a Christian media personality, has said that the phrase, “Christ is King” is only to be used for the purposes of evangelism and not in a political context. Even certain Muslim media personalities are happy the phrase is trending. Some people are in fact using this phrase to mock Jesus, to mock Jewish people, and to further their hatred of Jewish people. Many right-wing personalities are using the phrase, including several non-Christians, as a trigger to spark debate and as click-bait. It’s a real mess on social media right now.

Not dressed to impress

As someone who affirms the total and complete sovereignty of God in all that comes to pass and who believes that all things happen according to His eternal decree, I am not surprised that both of these bombs, as it were, have went off right in the middle of Holy Week – the week leading up to the celebration of Easter, beginning with Palm Sunday. I believe that all of this fits together, and that the Lord wants us to understand something here; He wants us to see what He is doing and what the correct response to all of this should be.

Palm Sunday celebrates the day Jesus rode into Jerusalem to kick off the final week of His earthly ministry. As He rides in, the people celebrate and proclaim that He is indeed king. The people then quote Psalm 118:26 when they say, “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!” (Matthew 21:9). How does Jesus respond to scores of people saying that He is king and proclaiming that He is king?

First, He clears the temple. He flips tables and drives out the money-changers who were selling animals for people to use in their Passover sacrifices. This, among other things, is an indictment on unbelieving Israel that had, and was about to, clearly reject Christ as Lord and King. Second, Jesus curses the fig tree, another clear condemnation on unbelieving Israel which will experience the judgment of God fully in just forty years. Third, Jesus also quotes from Psalm 118, but His quote is yet another condemnation upon a Jewish people that was about to kill the Lord of glory. He quotes Psalm 118:22-23 when He says, “’The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; this was the Lord's doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes.’ Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people producing its fruits” (Matthew 21:42-43).

The seemingly impossible jigsaw puzzle

Here is how all of this fits together – Candace Owens and the other right-wing-leaning political figures who are saying, “Christ is King” don’t actually know what that means. They don’t understand that the same claim they are making is the very truth that will crush them under the weight of the wrath of God, because they have actually rejected the Kingship of Christ.

Now, men like Ligon Duncan - men who closed their churches and bowed to the State, men who claim that Jesus does not in fact have all authority on earth and that He does not in fact rule as a king right now – they also do not understand what it means to say that Christ is King, that His Law is a royal and eternal Law, and that His Kingdom subjects are required to obey Him the way He commands us to.

The original Jewish audience of the Lord Jesus also didn’t know what it meant to say that Christ was to be their king. They were expecting a military leader that would destroy Rome and free Israel, once and for all, from the oppressive rule of a foreign nation. They were expecting the Kingdom of God to be established in physical Jerusalem during the first century. They were way off.

All of this “missing” what it means to say and believe that Christ is King happened during the week celebrating the events where King Jesus was definitively crowned Lord and Ruler of the Universe, and where His obedience to the Father led to all authority in heaven and on earth being given to Him, and when at the time they took place, the vast majority of Jews also missed what was actually going on. It seems God does write the best scripts.

How to not lay down your palm branches in vain

What does it mean to say that Christ in King? How do we honour Him as king, and not miss the mark as so many people have? Well, we have to assert what the Scriptures declare to be true and tear down any teaching that comes against the truth of God (2 Corinthians 10:5).

Right off the bat, regardless of what squishy conservatives or Big Evangellifish say, the claim that Christ is King is a deeply political claim. For Christians in the first century, claiming the Lordship of Christ was tantamount to saying that Caeser, the political leader, was not Lord. This was an ideological assault of the spirit of the age. This, by the way, is why the Apostles and early Christians were punished, not for being Christians per se, but for being political revolutionaries claiming another King over Caeser. I would also add that the unified clarion call of every church that remained faithful to Christ during COVID lockdowns and mandates was, “No King But Christ!” We were ready to go to jail to assert that Jesus is King over not just our lives and our churches, but every power and every authority in the entire Universe.

Second, when we proclaim that Christ is King, we declare that all enemies of the King are treasonous traitors, and as such, they deserve the wrath of the King for their glad rebellion and defiance. To reject Christ as King is to put oneself squarely under the wrath of God, and unless such a person repents and bows their knee to Jesus, Jew and Gentile alike, they too shall perish (Luke 13:3 and 5, and this is right from the mouth of Jesus). This is why Israel in the first century saw the destruction of their temple and the end of their priestly and sacrificial systems. They had rejected Yahweh, they had killed His prophets, and then they killed His Son. The Lord definitively declared His divine divorce with ethnic Israel, and the events of 70 AD were Yahweh signing the document.

This might disturb many Dispensational sensitivities, but the Lord no longer has a covenant with ethnic Israel – they broke that covenant and God rightly judged them for it. Matthew makes this abundantly clear in His Gospel. Matthew, by the way, is the Gospel that makes much of Jesus as the King who is the descendant of David, the King whom the Lord promised would always sit on the throne. When the religious leaders come to see John Baptizing in the Jordan, John says, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bear fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father,’ for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham. Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire” (Matthew 3:7-10).

When Jesus is teaching during the Sermon on the Mount, which is also an indictment against the religious leaders, He is clear at the very end that those who reject Him and His teachings, which the vast majority of the Jews did, would find their house built on sand destroyed, and, Jesus adds the emphatic, “great was the fall of it” (Matthew 7:27). Matthew 23, an entire chapter where Jesus condemns the religious leaders and unbelieving Israel in seven “woe to you” statements, ends with Jesus saying this, “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing! See, your house is left to you desolate. For I tell you, you will not see me again, until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord’” (Matthew 23:37-39). That last little bit we have already dealt with. When they said those words to Jesus in Matthew 21, He also quoted Psalm 118 back to them, telling them that they would ultimately be destroyed for rejecting the Lord’s chosen Messiah. The point is that to reject the Kingship of Jesus brings upon oneself judgements and destruction, and even ethnic Israel was not immune from this wrath.

Third (I know, we went off on quite a tangent there), the crucifixion of Jesus was His coronation – it was where, through His obedience, He was lifted up as the Saviour and King of God’s people. The cross was not God’s Plan B. The cross was always God’s primary purpose in history. Jesus is the Lamb who was slain before the foundation of the world (Revelation 13:8). Peter is clear that Jesus was betrayed and murdered upon that cross as a part of God’s eternal decree, in accordance with His providential care and sovereign predestination (Acts 2:23 and 4:27-28). There is no other single moment in history where human beings witness all of God’s attributes displayed to their full measure. On that cross we see the fullness of God’s wrath, holiness, and justice. We also see the fullness of His mercy, grace, and patience. We see His love, His sovereignty, His omnipresence, His omnipotence – we see God most glorious through the sacrifice of His Son. We see all of this as Jesus is made King over all creation.

Long Live The King!

How is the faithful Christian to respond in light of the current cultural moment, specifically with what appears to be the suggestion that we retire the phrase, “Christ is King,” unless of course we are doing evangelism. Well, first of all, if anyone suggests we should not use that phrase, we should respond with a confident and gracious, “Christ is King! Bow before our great King Jesus or you too will experience the wrath of God.” The pagans did not invent this saying, and so we will not allow them to redefine and censor the Lord's own self-attested title and rule. But what if it offends someone? Guess what squish, the claim that Christ is King has always offended the enemies of God. The Jewish leaders conspired to kill Jesus because they said He was claiming to be King. His followers were tortured and murdered because they claimed that Jesus is King. If you are easily dissuaded from declaring Christ is King, I would be concerned for your soul.

Second, Jesus is King over your life, which means that He requires us to live accordingly as His Kingdom citizens. He commands us to pursue holiness, to obey His commands, and to be conformed to His image by His Spirit through the transforming power of His Word. But He is not just the King of your heart. He is the King of your marriage, your family, your church, your city, and your country. We gladly advance His Kingdom and push back against the darkness through the proclamation of His Gospel, by bringing every inch of creation under His Lordship, and by being both a city on a hill and salt preserving good in the face of evil and decay.

Finally, don’t forget what Easter is all about. Don’t miss the point as so many people have, from first century Jews to modern day Seminary professors. Yes, Jesus suffered, died, and rose again for the atonement of our sins, for our acquiring of His righteousness, and for the securing of our eternal salvation. Also, yes, Jesus was led into Jerusalem as a King, was about to battle with the greatest enemy of His Kingdom citizens (death), and He was summarily crowned King and ushered in His Kingdom rule and reign through His death and resurrection.

“I blessed the Most High, and praised and honored Him who lives forever, for His dominion is an everlasting dominion, and His kingdom endures from generation to generation” (Daniel 4:34).