p. 6 | Art Thou a King?

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Jul 1, 1902

Art Thou a King?

It is a wonderfully high calling to which we are called. Being delivered from the power of darkness and being translated into the kingdom of God, means something. The question of forms and creed will take care of itself when we get the true life within us; for when that life is accepted, Jesus will be made manifest to the world through us, and that through forms which he has himself established.

The question of keeping the commandments of God is not an arbitrary one,—that certain arbitrary requirements have been made for us, and then in reward for keeping these requirements God gives us a place on his throne. No, but in keeping these requirements there is great reward; for keeping the commandments puts one upon a throne—not visibly perhaps just now; but when a man is a king, it makes no difference whether he is on a throne or not.

When Daniel was sent to Babylon as a captive, Nebuchadnezzar was on the throne. When the king was in trouble, Daniel was the one who got him out of his difficulties, and as a consequence of that Daniel was given a place of power. Who was king, Daniel or Nebuchadnezzar? At the close of that interview “the king made Daniel a great man, and gave him many great gifts, and made him ruler over the whole province of Babylon, and chief of the governors over all the wise men of Babylon.” Why?—Because it had been proved that he knew more than all they; because he was in touch with God, and because God worked through him and revealed the true kingship of character.

Notice the experience of Nebuchadnezzar. When the so-called wise men of Babylon could not tell the king his dream, the record says, “For this cause the king was angry and very furious, and commanded to destroy all the wise men of Babylon.” The man who gets angry and very furious is not a king. He may sit on a throne, but he is not a king. In the experience of the third chapter of Daniel, when Nebuchadnezzar commanded the three Hebrews to worship the golden image which he had set up, and they refused to do it, “then was Nebuchadnezzar full of fury, and the form of his visage was changed.” In the fourth chapter we see Nebuchadnezzar in a different place. A man who gets angry and very furious is like the beasts that perish, and the king was made to realize this, and all the people saw it; for he went out and dwelt with the beasts for seven years. That is where he placed himself, when he was on the throne. He had the privileges of a king, but he was lacking in the character of a king. He had the character of one much lower, and God’s providence opened the way for him to occupy that place.

The time will come when every king will have a throne, and every one who is not king will have no throne. True kingship comes through the grace of Christ, and is a real experience of restoration from the service of sin to kingship,—to royal service. We read that man was made a little lower than the angels; and further, that the angels are all “ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation.” That is, they are sent to men on the earth who are “heirs of salvation.” Man is lower than the angels, therefore the angels minister to him. When Jesus was made a little lower than the angels, the same thing was observed. After he was tempted by Satan in the wilderness, angels ministered unto him. He who occupies a high place is the one who serves; and he who serves the most and the best, occupies the highest place. That is God’s estimate of kingship and character.

God’s Estimate of Character

In order to take such a view as this of our daily experience, we must believe the Word; we must believe in God, we must believe in God’s estimate of character, and accept what he says concerning it, rather than take the estimate of the world. When this is done, then we may expect God’s approval, but not man’s. When Jesus was here, simply revealing that very fact among men, going in and out among them as one that serves, they did not approve of his way. They said he was beside himself. They saw wonderful works, but because they could not estimate him on their basis, they would not accept him, and so rejected him. But on the day of Pentecost,

Peter stood up, and, as recorded in Acts 2:22, said, “Ye men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know.” In spite of their disapproval, he was approved of God. That was Jesus himself. It is not to be expected, then, that those who really follow him, who reveal his character, will be approved of the world. The servant is not greater than his lord.

When those who were in authority commanded him to be led forth to execution, and when the soldiers carried out the bidding of Pilate, it did not look as though he were a king; but there was no day in all his experience on earth when his kingship shone forth more clearly than on that day. That was the day that he resisted not; it was the day when, suffering on the cross, he said, “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.” It was that day when he told those who were sympathizing with him and weeping for him, not to do so, but to save their tears for themselves and their children. And it is a curious fact to note that of all the people who were there, only one recognized that he was a king. Even those who had seen his wonderful works forsook him and fled. But the one who did recognize him was the thief who hung on another cross by his side; for he said, “Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom.” He believed that day, even under those adverse circumstances, that Jesus had a kingdom, while those who were in the place of leadership, as teachers of the people, were the very ones to urge Pilate to put him to death.

The Test of Kingship

The tests of this kingship are very simple. With most of us the throne is simply in our own homes; and he who in the relationship of the home, in the daily and ordinary duties of life, and in the common things that come up, and usually in the simplest things, can show that he is king over himself, whose words are words of wisdom, and who makes it clear that his purpose is simply to serve and help others, is revealing the character of a king; he is priest to minister to others. You see from the very nature of the religion of Jesus Christ, when one knows what it is, and experiences it for himself, he will be a minister. He cannot see any one in need without feeling a desire to help him. Christian Help work, missionary work, is not something that has to be tacked on to a religious experience as being a thing that a Christian ought to do, and therefore must do; but it is the very life, the essence of it. It is the thing itself. He does it because he is a king and priest, and he is king and priest because he has been washed from his sins. In the Revised Version, in Rev. 1:5 the word “washed” is rendered “loosed;” so it reads that he is loosed from his sin, by the blood of Christ. Loosing implied bondage; as when Christ said of the woman bound, “Ought not this woman . . . be loosed from this bond?” To be loosed from sin is to be loosed from bondage. “Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”

He who is born again, becomes a child of God, and then by submitting to that life, his life will be described by the ten commandments. God says to every one who accepts his life, “Thou shalt have no other gods before me.” That is natural; for when he submits to God wholly, he will have no other gods before him, and thus this command becomes a promise. So with all the commandments. And when we know this for ourselves, it will be but a statement of fact, “Here are they that keep the commandments of God.” And when this can be said of a people brought out from every people, nation, and tongue, “Here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus,” then the Lord will come. For the next thing noted in the record after it is stated that a people stood there who kept the commandments of God, was that John saw a white cloud, and on the cloud sat the Son of man.

Then the gospel preparation for the coming of the Lord is that we shall be made kings and priests unto God, by being loosed from the bondage of sin; and when we occupy the place of kings, and are priests because we are kings, we shall minister. Such as we have we shall give to others; just as Peter did at the Gate Beautiful. When the man asked alms, he said, “Such as I have give I thee.”

Then to sum the matter up, we see that we are made to be kings and priests that we may serve, and this will reveal itself in our everyday life, in the little things, the most commonplace ways; it will reveal itself in service, in ministering, in that self-control, that power that controls the temper and the tongue, and every high thing that would exalt itself against God, and brings every thought into complete captivity to the obedience of Christ. “Art thou a king?”