We have spoken of Christ as prophet, the One who reveals God to us. We have spoken of Him as priest, the One who sacrificed Himself for us. If we were to see Christ’s life in order, we see how He fulfilled these two offices in order. Christ came to earth and through His three-year ministry, revealed the things of God to the people listening, warning the hypocrite Pharisees of the coming judgement that would be fulfilled in the destruction of the temple. He then went willingly to Jerusalem, knowing that it would lead to His death, but taking the cup upon Himself as our high priest, and taking the wrath of God. But what next? The next chapter in Christ’s ministry is His glorious resurrection, in which He conquered death once for all and ascended to heaven. The Apostles’ Creed summarizes it this way: “on the third day, He rose again from the dead. He ascended into heaven, where he sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty, whence He shall come to judge the quick and the dead.” The Lord Jesus Christ is a King, and not just a king, the King.

This kingship has already begun. Christ’s kingdom is now, an aspect that many Christians today forget. They ask, how can He be ruling now? Look at the sorry state this world is in. Sinners abound. Suffering is everywhere. The world is going to hell in a handbasket, how can the Prince of Peace be the One ruling all this? To answer this question, we have to take a step back for a second. It is, in all honesty, quite arrogant for us to look at the time and place we live in and bemoan the evils thrust upon us. Taken into the context of all of human history, our time suddenly would not seem so bad. The comforts we enjoy today, and the freedom we enjoy today, though by no means guaranteed to be permanent, are extraordinary in comparison to most of history. Christians wailing at the suffering we face under the current American regime belittle the suffering that the martyrs endured under Nero, Bloody Mary, Stalin, Mao, etc. I do not deny that the direction America is headed is concerning. Yet to look at our period in history as if we are uniquely suffering in the history of the church is quite laughable.

Secondly, and this is a more important point, our ultimate standard of truth is not our interpretation of history; it is the Scriptures. If the Scriptures say that Christ is indeed ruling here and now, then indeed He is, and we must accept that all is going according to His sovereign plan and rest in that. So what do the Scriptures say: “Then comes the end, when He delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power. For He must reign until He has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death. For ‘God has put all things in subjection under his feet’” (1 Corinthians 15:24-27). In the end, Christ will hand the kingdom over to the Father, but not until all things have been subjected to Him. The kingdom that we are speaking of Christ spoke of often. He told the Pharisees that though they would not see it in the visible ways they thought they would, that indeed “the kingdom of God is in your midst” (Luke 15:24).

Christ has been given all power and dominion, and thus He rules His kingdom. For now, this means the bringing in of God’s elect from every nation. Christ will not stop ruling in this way until the last of the elect is brought into the fold. All God has determined to save shall be saved. Yet, there will come a time when this reign will look much different. Instead of a King who graciously allows evil to exist that many sons may repent, there will come a day when that King will judge the nations, and evil will no longer be allowed to endure. There will come a time when this kingdom that He rules will be pure, when it shall have no sin. All those who do not submit to Christ as king in this age will be forced to submit to His judgement in the age to come. No, it is not this day, but no man knows when that day is.

So we must remain steadfast, for we know that Christ’s reign is a glorious truth. We serve the King of kings, the Lord of lords. Whatever suffering we must go through, He has ordained it already and endeavors to work it all out for our good! How could we serve a God who does not rule and reign with such sovereignty? Let us therefore continue to proclaim the kingdom which is already here, serving in confidence because we serve such a king that works all things for His own glory.