Who is he who is to be born at Christmas? The angel Gabriel, resplendent in holy light,
tells us, “He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give him the throne of
his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his
kingdom there will be no end” (Luke 1:32, 33).
But what is a King?
The concept of God as
Monarch, sole ruler, is a lost concept in today’s world. The closest we get to it is constitutional
monarchy, or arbitrary dictatorship, neither of which adequately conveys the
idea of monarchy. Constitutional
monarchy is a titular headship, and arbitrary dictatorship, especially in this
world, can end with rebellion and death.
An understanding of the
concept of monarch starts predictably “In the beginning.” In the beginning Elohim created the heavens
and the earth. Elohim, in English is
God, and is at the outset a plural word giving the first hint of the
Trinity. Elohim created humankind out of
the dust of the earth and breathed His Spirit, the Breath of Life, into
humankind.
It is one thing to talk about
this fundamental reality in generalities; it is quite another to speak of it as
a personal reality. Elohim is your
creator. He created you out of the dust
of the ground, and to dust shall you return.
Elohim has breathed into you, as an individual, His own Breath of
Life. You are a created thing, a thing
created by Him in His image, a thing utterly dependent on Him for each breath
you draw, a thing not only created by Him and sustained by Him, but also loved
by Him; not only a created thing but a person in your own right, a beloved
child.
He is your Father Almighty;
all things have their being at His divine fiat, His spoken word. All that exists, exists because He has
spoken. Nothing exists without the sound
of His voice. There is none before Elohim
and none greater than Elohim. He is the
original and only cause.
His very name “Elohim” is a
plural of majesty, and a revelation of the multiplicity of His being. He is the Triune God at the very beginning;
His voice is the Living Word, the Logos, His Son, eternally begotten before all
time. He utters His voice, and the
Eternal Logos goes forth. All things
were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. At the culmination of all things, He will
utter His Voice, and the earth will melt.
His creative Spirit hovers
over the waters and breathes Life into all living things, to each according to
His kind. The Spirit, even as is the
Father and the Son, is omnipresent, omniscient, and omnipotent. He is the Anointing resting on the Son, and
all who are called by His name, “Christians”, little anointeds. That anointing rests on you as his beloved
child.
Tertullian, in Against
Praxeas, says, “I know that monarchy indicates neither more nor less than a
single and sole empire!” The Father
shares His kingdom with His Son and Spirit, administering His kingdom, through
the hosts of angels, the armies of the Lord.
This kingdom, this heavenly empire is eternal. Even Nebuchadnezzar was humbled, and
confessed, “At the end of the days I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted my eyes to heaven,
and my reason returned to me, and I blessed the Most High, and praised and
honoured him who lives forever, for his dominion is an everlasting dominion,
and his kingdom endures from generation to generation; all the inhabitants of the earth are
accounted as nothing, and he does according to his will among the host of
heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth; and none can stay his hand or
say to him, "What have you done?" (Daniel 4:34-35).
In his lectures on St. Cyril,
Bishop James Stanton remarks, “The heading of this lecture in Greek is not
really about the “unity” of God, but God’s monarchia, God’s singular,
sovereign rule. This word was very important to the early Christians. There is nothing mightier than God, and
nothing challenges Him. Though He may be described with various terms – good,
just, etc. – there is no variation in Him.
He is all of these things at once. He is perfect in power, wisdom,
knowledge and love. “He foreknows the
things that be; He is holy, almighty, and excels in all goodness, majesty and wisdom.”
He exceeds every being in everything. In a word, God is transcendent. Quoting Moses,
Cyril asserts that there is nothing like God.
It is this utter uniqueness and transcendence of God that compels and impels
Christians.” (James Stanton: The Catechetical Lectures of St. Cyril).
The 17th Century French Bishop, Jacques
Bousset unfolds the absolute power of the monarch, “The royal power is
absolute. The prince need render account of his acts to no one. "I counsel
thee to keep the king's commandment, and that in regard of the oath of God. Be
not hasty to go out of his sight: stand not on an evil thing for he does
whatsoever pleases him. Where the word of a king is, there is power: and who
may say unto him, What do you do?
Whoever keeps the royal commandment shall feel no evil thing." … I
do not call majesty that pomp which surrounds kings or that exterior
magnificence which dazzles the vulgar. That is but the reflection of majesty
and not majesty itself. Majesty is the image of the grandeur of God in the
prince. The power of God makes itself felt in a moment from one extremity of
the earth to another. Royal power works at the same time throughout all the
realm. It holds all the realm in position, as God holds the earth. Should God
withdraw his hand, the earth would fall to pieces; should the king's authority
cease in the realm, all would be in confusion” (J.H. Robinson, ed. Readings
in European History 2 vols. (Boston: Ginn, 1906), 2:273-277).
That
Sovereignty is given by the Father to the Son, “I
saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one
like a son of man, and he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before
him. 14 And to him was given dominion
and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve
him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and
his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed” (Daniel 7:13-14).
In His birth of a Virgin, he who comes as a child comes as
the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. “For to us a child is born, to us a son is
given; and the government shall be upon(1 )his shoulder, and his name shall be
called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of
Peace. Of the increase of his government
and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom,
to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this
time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this” (Isaiah
9:6-7).
We have a King. Jesus the Son of God. He alone has the divine right of kings. This is not mere pomp and ceremony, although
that is included. The King is
Omnipotent, Omnipresent, and Omniscient.
Before Him every knee shall bow, in heaven and on earth, and under the
earth (Philippians 2:10).
Who are you? Who am I?
We are citizens of the kingdom, servants of the king, children of the
king, before we are anything else. To
deny our citizenship is to deny our identity, and if effect to be lost. To claim that kingship for our own is to
place ourselves in the place of the King of Kings. That was the core of the rebellion of Adam
and Eve. That refusal of the sovereignty
of God, and our place as beloved creation is to lay claim to ourselves for
ourselves. George MacDonald reminds us,
““The one principal of hell is – ‘I am my own.’”
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