So secure is (King) Jesus in who He is – the Father’s beloved Son – that He is free to serve rather than tyrannize His subjects, and to deal gently rather than harshly with the lowest and the weakest of them (Mt. 12:20; 11:25-30). Astonishingly, it is by the very means of His lowly service that all earthly tyrants will be subdued, and all nations made His possession (Zech. 9:9-10).
To Fulfill All Righteousness, Tabletalk, April 2004, p. 19, Used by Permission.
The story of Christmas celebrates the fulfillment of God’s promises and the incarnation of God in human flesh. That meaning is memorably captured by John 3:16. God loves, and God gives in order to save… It meant giving rather than getting, and Christ gave until He was empty; but His obedience led to an empty tomb and ultimate vindication that will culminate when throngs in heaven and on earth and under the earth, not just a host of angels, will bow down and sing glory in the highest to the One whose name is above every name.
Luke – Exegetical Commentary, Zondervan, www.zondervan.com, 2011, p. 129-130.
The only monarch who ever deserved that man should fall down before him was a child of poverty, whose life was spent in teaching, and who died an ignominious death.
Quoted in: John Broadus, Matthew, Judson Press, 1886, p. 21.
What we’re asking people to do is to come into a kingdom and submit their lives entirely to a King, an absolute monarch who has the right to determine everything without our consultation and who has revealed His will to us in the pages of the Word of God and calls on us to live in absolute submission and obedience to that revelation.
Responses to the Kingdom: Peace or Punishment. Sermon originally appeared (https://www.gty.org/library/sermons-library/42-135/responses-to-the-kingdompeace-or-punishment) at www.gty.org. © 1969-2008. Grace to You. All rights reserved. Used by Permission.
A kingdom is a domain ruled by a single monarch who has absolute sovereignty, who functions with unilateral authority, whose will is non-contradictable, authoritative, absolute. It is not representative, it is not democratic. The will of the people does not rule. The will of the people virtually has no impact. The duty of the people is to submit. The duty of the people is to obey. The duty of the people is to fall under the standards and commands that are determined by the king and do whatever it is he asks. This is true of the kingdom of God… The kingdom of God has come and those of us who know Christ are in it. We are in it and the Lord Jesus Christ is our King.
Responses to the Kingdom: Peace or Punishment. Sermon originally appeared (https://www.gty.org/library/sermons-library/42-135/responses-to-the-kingdompeace-or-punishment) at www.gty.org. © 1969-2008. Grace to You. All rights reserved. Used by Permission.|Responses to the Kingdom: Peace or Punishment. Sermon originally appeared (https://www.gty.org/library/sermons-library/42-135/responses-to-the-kingdompeace-or-punishment) at www.gty.org. © 1969-2008. Grace to You. All rights reserved. Used by Permission.
Because of our Lord’s exalted status, the day will come when all of creation, beginning at the return of our Lord and throughout eternity, will bow the knee and confess that Jesus is Lord (see Philippians 2:10-11). Believers will do that willingly and joyfully. All the rest of creation will do it against their will. Bottom line, in the end all will surrender to the lordship of Jesus Christ. The Book of Revelation, chapter 5, verses 13-14 declares, “And every created thing which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all things in them, I heard saying, ‘To Him who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb, be blessing and honor and glory and dominion forever and ever.’”
Sermon, The Cast-Iron Cultivation of Humility, Philippians 2:5-11, November 6, 2022.
