STUFF ABOUT GOD AND CHRISTIANITY | Dr. Ron Braley
“We have no king but Caesar,” the Jewish high priests exclaimed to Pontius Pilate, who would send Jesus to be crucified. Conversely, we experienced a flurry of “No Kings” protests on June 14, in opposition to President Donald Trump’s authoritative measures. Have a king; don’t have a king … Which is it? Like it or not, the Creator of the universe is king and owns everything, whether people demand a human king or defy any kingly rule.
The Jewish people understood the Creator’s name to be represented by the four Hebrew consonants YHVH. We who have been adopted into his family pronounce it Yehovah or Yahweh, depending on how you consider the V.
The apostle Paul explained nearly 2,000 years ago that YHVH made everything and is king over all in his realm and our created world (Acts 17:24). So, the heavens and the Earth are his throne (Matthew 5:34).
YHVH owns everything and was recognized by the Jews as their king until about 1,000 BCE.
Selfishly, we generally want what others have. Such was the case with the 10th-century BCE Jews, who decided to be governed by a human monarch like other nations: “Now appoint a king for us to judge us like all the nations … Give us a king to judge us.”
The Lord said to Samuel, “They have rejected me from being king over them.” (1 Samuel 8:5-7) The Jewish people would eventually have a puppet king under the Roman leaders and then … none.
Yet, YHVH was, is and always will be king, whether humans recognize his sovereignty. Old Testament King David expressed this in Psalm 47:2 and 7: “For the Lord Most High is awesome; he is a great king over all the Earth” and “For God is the king of all the Earth … God reigns over the nations, God sits on his holy throne.”
Similarly, New Testament Paul wrote this about YHVH, the one true king, in 1 Timothy 6:15: “He who is the blessed and only sovereign, the king of kings and lord of lords.”
So, what about the future? YHVH will eventually tire of our nonsense and immoralities and redo everything. Then, his realm and ours will become one again as was the case in Eden, as we find in Revelation 22:3-5: “There will no longer be any curse; and the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it … And there will no longer be any night; and they will not have need of the light of a lamp nor the light of the sun, because the Lord God will illumine them; and they will reign forever and ever.”
Summary
Like it or not, you have a king that is above all and rules over everything, including you and even Trump. Soon, I’ll contrast what that king loves against what he hates. What he loves, first. Meanwhile, choose your king well!
God’s blessings and peace.
Braley, a Taylorbased minister, Air Force veteran, husband and father, earned a Master of Divinity degree from Regent University in 2018 and a Doctor of Ministry from the same school in 2021. Contact him at stuffaboutgod@ronbraley. com.
