Baptism/Amazing Grace: A Conversation Over Lunch, Part 16

You said something about God giving believers crowns and making them kings. Are you kidding? I’ve never heard such a thing!

Are you sure you aren’t taking some very symbolic language all too literally? After all, if Jesus is the One King, how could we be kings, too?

This is a little off the beaten path, but why buy me lunch to hear what you already know? We have to start in —

(Gen 1:26-27 NAS) 26 Then God said, “Let Us make man in  Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of  the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all  the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”  27  God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.

The word translated “rule” is radah, and it’s the word used  for the rule of king or of a nation over another. Now, if one of the themes of the Bible is the restoration of mankind to God’s original place for man, then we will surely must see evidence of God working to  restore kingship to mankind.

The Genesis account is echoed in the Psalms —

(Psa 8:3-9 ESV) 3 When I look at your heavens, the work  of your fingers,  the moon and the stars, which you have set in place,  4  what is man  that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you  care for him?  5  Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly  beings and  crowned him with glory and honor.  6 You have given him  dominion over  the works of your hands; you have put all things under  his feet,  7 all  sheep and oxen, and also the beasts of the field,  8  the birds of the  heavens, and the fish of the sea, whatever passes  along the paths of the  seas.  9 O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your  name in all the earth!

The Psalmist sees us as already having dominion over the creation.

Remember Paul’s words —

(Eph 2:8-10 ESV)  8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,  9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast.  10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

We were created to be kings, ruling over the earth.

(Dan 7:1 ESV) 18 But the saints of the Most High shall  receive the kingdom and possess the kingdom forever, forever and ever.’

(Dan 7:21-22 ESV)  21 As I looked, this horn made war  with the saints  and prevailed over them,  22 until the Ancient of Days  came, and  judgment was given for the saints of the Most High, and the  time came  when the saints possessed the kingdom.

(Dan 7:1 ESV) 27 And the kingdom and the dominion and the  greatness of the kingdoms under the whole heaven shall be given to the  people of the saints of the Most High; their kingdom shall be an  everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey them.’

As we like to sing, “And he lives forever with his saints to reign …”

Daniel is not easily interpreted, but there’s clearly the idea that the saints will possess a kingdom and that all others will serve  and obey them. In those days, kings were also judges — the supreme court of the land — and so giving judgment to the saints puts them in the place of kings. It’s hard not to read this as a prediction of the rule of God’s saints.

(Rom 5:17 ESV)  17 For if, because of one man’s trespass,  death reigned  through that one man, much more will those who receive  the abundance of  grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in  life through the one  man Jesus Christ.

(1Co 6:2-3 ESV)  2 Or do you not know that the saints  will judge the  world? And if the world is to be judged by you, are  you incompetent to  try trivial cases?  3 Do you not know that we are  to judge angels? How  much more, then, matters pertaining to this  life!

(Eph 2:4-7 ESV)  4 But God, being rich in mercy, because  of the great  love with which he loved us,  5 even when we were dead in  our  trespasses, made us alive together with Christ–by grace you have  been  saved — 6 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in  the  heavenly places in Christ Jesus,  7 so that in the coming ages  he might  show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward  us in  Christ Jesus.

(2Ti 2:11-13 ESV)  11 The saying is trustworthy, for: If  we have died  with him, we will also live with him;  12 if we endure, we  will also  reign with him; if we deny him, he also will deny us;   13 if we are  faithless, he remains faithful– for he cannot deny  himself.

(Rev 5:9-10 ESV)  And they sang a new song, saying,  “Worthy are you  to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were  slain, and by  your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe  and language and  people and nation,  10 and you have made them a  kingdom and priests to  our God, and they shall reign on the earth.”

(Rev 22:3-5 ESV)  3 No longer will there be anything  accursed, but the  throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his  servants will  worship him.  4 They will see his face, and his name will  be on their  foreheads.  5 And night will be no more. They will need no  light of lamp  or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign  forever and ever.

Most of these passages speak of our becoming kings in the future, but  Rom 5:17 and Eph 2:6 seem to speak of a present reign. However, both  passages speak of our reigning either “through” or “with” Jesus. You  see, we are part of Jesus — being his body and having been baptized  into him.

I don’t claim to fully understand this, but the idea is, at least, that because we are in Jesus, like Jesus, we reign. We don’t  reign independently of Jesus, but our being in Jesus makes us royalty  and kings.

1 Cor 6 has puzzled many, because Paul declares that we will be  judges — when we typically think in terms of having to face the  Judgment. But in those days, there was no separation of powers. The king  was also the supreme court. Paul’s final appeal was to Caesar — not  the Roman supreme court, and Solomon was famous for his wise decisions  as a judge.

Therefore, if we are or will be kings, we will also be judges.  Interesting …

While we’re on the subject, I should point out that we are also  priests — which is a much more familiar doctrine, but it fits in with  all this.

(Exo 19:5-6 ESV)  5 Now therefore, if you will indeed  obey my voice  and  keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured  possession among all   peoples, for all the earth is mine;  6 and you  shall be to me a kingdom   of priests and a holy nation. These are  the words that you shall speak   to the people of Israel.”

(Isa 61:5-6 ESV)  5 Strangers shall stand and tend your flocks;   foreigners shall be your plowmen and vinedressers;  6 but you shall  be  called the priests of the LORD; they shall speak of you as the  ministers  of our God; you shall eat the wealth of the nations, and in  their glory  you shall boast.

(Rev 1:4-6 ESV)  4 John to the seven churches that are in  Asia: Grace to you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to  come, and from the seven spirits who are before his throne,  5 and from  Jesus Christ the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the  ruler of kings on earth. To him who loves us and has freed us from our  sins by his blood  6 and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.

These ideas blend together in –

(1Pe 2:9 ESV) 9 But you are a chosen race, a royal  priesthood, a holy  nation, a people for his own possession, that  you may proclaim the  excellencies of him who called you out of darkness  into his marvelous  light.

We are not only priests, but royal priests — and “royal” means we’re  both priests and kings. Now under the Old Testament, this was quite  impossible, as only Levites could be priests, and only a descendant of  David, of the tribe of Judah, could be a king. But as Hebrews teaches  us, Jesus was a priest after the order of Melchizedek, that is, a priest  of the God Most High not from Levi.

And so, you see, we’re also kings and priests, although we’re also from  the wrong tribe. Most of us aren’t even Jews. Rather, we find our  priesthood and kingship in Jesus.

Now for the point. Who in the Old Testament received the Spirit?  Well, judges and kings. And what are we? Well, judges and kings.

And why did God give them the Spirit? Because their duties as judges and kings required divine assistance. God wanted his people to have wise  judges and righteous kings, and so he equipped them with his own  Spirit.

So what does this mean we’re supposed to do? Go around issuing decrees? Issuing court decisions? What?

Well, no. We are to be kings and judges and priests of the same kind  as Jesus — that means, we get to be the kind of king of who will lead his troops in battle from the front — willing to die for the cause. And yet we  are to be peacemakers. Like Solomon, we are to resolve disputes and  bring peace to the land.

Like Josiah, we are to read the Law to the people and warn them against idolatry — and be willing to die for those for whom we reign. Like  David, we are to sing God’s praises in the assembly. We might even  compose a psalm or two.

And, yes, like David, we are to lead God’s armies into war, but not against God’s people. No internal wars allowed! Rather, we lead an  assault against the gates of Hades — defeating even death by the hand  of God.

(2Co 10:4-6 ESV) 4 For the weapons of our warfare are not  of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds.  5 We  destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge  of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ,  6 being ready to  punish every disobedience, when your obedience is complete.

(1Ti 1:18-19a ESV) 18 This charge I entrust to you,  Timothy, my child, in accordance with the prophecies previously made  about you, that by them you may wage the good warfare, 19 holding faith  and a good conscience.

We are kings who serve, sacrifice, bring peace, and judge. But we don’t seize authority or kingship. Rather, our authority comes from our  service and submission. It’s an upside-down kind of kingship — a  kingship not yet fully realized but nonetheless sure.

You see, like Jesus, we are cruciform kings — filled with the Spirit because it takes God’s help to be that kind of King.

So why faith in Jesus? Well, because no one can be a king and a priest like Jesus without knowing Jesus and being equipped by the Spirit of Jesus.

Salvation is not merely about going to heaven. It also includes being restored to the image of God — to the original image given us in Creation. And to be in God’s image is to be in the image of a ruler — a ruler who loves others so much that he dies for them.

And you cannot be like Jesus if you’ve never met Jesus.