We're going to be in Deuteronomy 17. This is the third sermon of Solus Christus by Christ alone. We looked at prophet, priest, and now we're in King. Today is King. And we're going to start in Deuteronomy 17 14-20. These are the words of the living God, my friends. When you enter the land which the Lord your God gives you, and you possess it and live in it, and you say, I will set a king over me like all the nations who are around me, you shall surely set a king over you whom the Lord your God chooses. One from among your countrymen you shall set as king over yourselves. You may not put a foreigner over yourselves who is not your countryman. Moreover, he shall not multiply horses for himself, nor shall he cause the people to return to Egypt to multiply horses, since the Lord has said to you, you shall never again return that way. He shall not multiply wives for himself, or else his heart will turn away, nor shall he greatly increase silver and gold for himself. Now as it shall come about when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, he shall write for himself a copy of this law on a scroll in the presence of the Levitical priests. It shall be with him, and he shall read it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the Lord his God by carefully observing all the words of this law in these statutes, that his heart may not be lifted up above his countrymen, may not turn aside from the commandment to the right or to the left, so that he and his sons may continue long in his kingdom in the midst of Israel." These are the words of the Lord. Let's pray. Father, please bless the sermon, Lord, the proclamation of Your words. Speak through me, Father, as a vessel for Your message. Lord, I pray that we would know so much more deeply how Christ fulfills the office of King. And let us know so much more deeply, Lord, how that makes Him fit to be our Messiah, our Savior. Let us grow in adoration and love for Christ this day, and to come home with better understanding, Lord, of Your Word. God, help me to speak clearly, help it to be helpful to Your people, and let it always be true. I pray this all in Jesus' name, Amen. So, since close to the beginning of time, there have always been those who seek to rule, those who desire to be king. And it is often rare that we ever see benevolent rulers, good rulers in history. It seems most of them have seen the temptation of what they see to be unbridled power, and corruption then settles in on these men and women. Consider even King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. He set up the golden image, and that all must bow and worship that image. And anyone who didn't would be cast into the fiery furnace. And even though he recognized the God of Israel, the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, and that they didn't die in that furnace, shortly even after he recognizes that God, the one God, He says that he built Babylon the Great. He credits himself. He says, all this has been done by my sovereignty, for my own glory, and for my majesty. That's what Nebuchadnezzar says. He says, all this that I see, I've done it. So the Lord then causes Nebuchadnezzar to turn into a beast, it says in Daniel, and he was driven away into the wilderness and into the fields like a beast until he is to recognize that there is only one true and living God, and that that God is the ruler of all. What he has is borrowed rulership from the Lord God Almighty. You have men like Alexander the Great, king of Macedonia in the 4th century BC. Young leader, right? He was even taught by Aristotle things like philosophy, medicine, and science. He rose to power after his father Philip's assassination, which many believe that he was behind. He wasn't given the title Alexander the Great due to some sort of inherent goodness. He was brutal. He was ruthless. A man of violence, Alexander the Great. It's been said that he would sometimes get into these psychotic rages. Violent. He didn't seek peace for his homeland. He sought conquest for the sake of conquest. He wanted to conquer all. We can look back through history ever since Cain murdered Abel, and you have wicked men drunk for power. The Herods in the Bible were no exception. Paranoid, murderous men, wicked men. Herod accused his own sons of trying to kill him, and so he killed every single one of his adult sons. That's Herod. He had them executed. A man so desperate for power cuts off the family line for his throne in the process. Unreal. The Roman emperors were corrupt beyond measure and persecuted Christians, we know that. After the emperor Nero kicked his wife Poppaea Sabina to death, he castrated Sporus, a mere slave boy, and he married him. He dressed Sporus up in his murdered wife's empress regalia and said, this is my wife, he resembles my wife. And he would violate this little boy. That was Nero, Emperor Nero, just pure evil, pure wickedness, utter evil, my friends. You have English monarchs as well. Kings and queens who fall under the same spell. Drunk for power. Throughout time, history has shown men and women incapable of ruling according to God's standards. There have been very few who have feared God. But those are the ones where God has brought blessing to their lands. From the time of the giving of the law, the Lord has made it clear if the people obey him and his precepts, they will be blessed. And if they disobey, they will be judged. I think this principle extends even beyond covenantal Israel. I think the Lord doesn't bless wicked kings and wicked kingdoms. The people need needed then and we need now a king who will rule with justice, equity, love, and most importantly, one who will revere the Lord and uphold his commandments. In Deuteronomy 17, I read, God will choose this king, and He has. Jesus Christ is the only one capable of wielding, as Matthew 28 says, all authority. He is the only one capable of doing that. He is the chosen king. So let's consider now, according to God's Word, the history of Old Testament kings, Jesus' kingly qualities in his earthly ministry, and his present reign as King Eternal. The command for dominion from the time of creation in Genesis is the foundation for kingship in redemptive history. This, of course, has its climax and fulfillment in Jesus Christ, which undoubtedly affects all of humanity now and forevermore. God created man and woman to have dominion over the creation, he says in Genesis chapter 1 and 2. They failed to do this, as we know, when Adam and Eve did not practice dominion over the serpent. They should have They should have cast not only His lies out of their minds, but the serpent itself should have been cast out of the garden. But they didn't do that. They themselves were cast out then. Sin brought unrest to the creation, disharmony. Dominion can now easily become domination. corruption, and tyranny. It says in Genesis 6 5, Then the Lord saw the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was evil, only evil continually. And so the Lord responds to this with a worldwide flood to exterminate evildoers. And Noah arises as a new kind of Adam with the duty of the dominion mandate in a fallen world, starting over in a sense. But Noah's drunkenness and the Tower of Babel demonstrate sin was still affecting the dominion mandate. Later, God cuts a covenant with Abraham, promising to make his descendants as numerous as the sand on the seashore, as numerous as the stars in the sky. Many, many kings will come through Abraham, through that line of Ishmael and Isaac. The one who will come and rule for good is promised in Genesis 3.15, from the seed of the woman who will crush the head of the serpent. And that seed is through Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and then through Judah. A ruler would come through Judah that would bring prosperity and justice. Genesis 49 verse 10 says, when Jacob is blessing his sons, okay, he says this to Judah. The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler's staff from between his feet, until Shiloh comes, and to him shall be the obedience of the peoples. Shiloh is coming. Balak, king of Moab, is worried about Israel as they travel to Canaan, believing that they will not be able to overpower Israel. He calls for Balaam, a diviner, to curse Israel. Curse them so that they don't come to our land. Balaam gives four oracles, but God will not allow him to curse Israel. Just won't let him do it. And so he promises Balaam, through one of his oracles, he promises a star, a scepter will arise from Israel just like Jacob's blessing said. In Numbers 24, verse 17, it says, I see him, but not now. I behold him. but not near. A star shall come forth from Jacob, a scepter shall rise from Israel and shall crush through the forehead of Moab and tear down the sons of Sheth." And all of this undoubtedly points to the line of David. But David doesn't permanently destroy Israel's enemies. The promise is there though, through the Davidic line, a star will come and destroy his enemies for good. We read through the role of a king in Deuteronomy 17 in our text. The guidelines for a king set by God are radically different than what the ancient Near East nations understood about kings. Okay? Completely different. They believed the kings were a connection between the gods and man, sort of divine in a way. There would be no higher authority for them, and since their gods were invented and not real, the king could then dictate to the people what the gods had declared. Sounds familiar, right? You can just say what God has told to you. It's a recipe for corruption. In Israel, the king was not a god or divine by any means. The scope of his power would be limited. It would be understood by the king and all the people that Yahweh, the Lord of hosts, is their ultimate king, and He vanquishes their foes. He delivers the people. He did it. The earthly Israelite king was to follow the statutes of the Lord and carry them out himself. The law of God was to be their standard. The law worked as a way, as a balance of power or a way to keep him in check. The king was not to have absolute power as only God does. In verses 18 and 19, it says, he was to make a copy of the law, to read it every day, to obey it. This was to keep him humble and recognize where his true authority comes from. Fearing God keeps pride low. Does it not? Fearing God keeps pride low. Because being king comes with temptation, and it makes it clear about that. It says the king is not to acquire many horses. And that's because there's a possibility probably to limit foreign military alliances, to reduce the size of Israel's army so that they know it's God who delivers them. They are not to return to Egypt and make those foreign alliances. Trust in the strength of Yahweh and not in the army of foreigners. The king was not to acquire many wives for himself. This also limits foreign involvement as when treaties were made with Israel, The other nation would give a daughter, would give a concubine or a woman, and the king in Israel would get married to that foreign woman. And God says, as we read, not to do that, because the women that would come from these other nations, they worshiped false gods, and they would bring the wrong influence into the nation. And finally, the king was not to obtain excessive riches in silver and gold. This again puts limits on gifts and trade with foreign nations. It also keeps the king from becoming more wealthy and more powerful than his Israelite brethren. He's to be equal with them in a sense. In all these things, God's design was to not allow the king to trust in what most pagan kings trust in. Riches, power, wealth, foreign alliances. He was not to trust in those things that other foreign nations did. He is not to think that he is higher than God. At the end of the era of judges, it was understood that there was no king in Israel in those days, and everyone did what was right in their own eyes. There was no steady and consistent leadership for the nation. When Samuel was in his old age, the people asked for a king, since the latest judges, which were actually his sons, they did not walk in righteousness. They say, give us a king to judge us and go before us in our battles. Essentially, they display mistrust and lack of faith in God. He is to go before them in the battles. He is to help them and judge them. But they wanted a king. So God gives them the kind of king that they're looking for. He gives them Saul. But as we've talked about previously, Saul disobeys God on multiple occasions. He disobeys God in the sacrifice at the battle with the Philistines. He doesn't destroy everything utterly in the battle against the Amalekites. And so the Lord rejects Saul as king. 1 Samuel 13 v. 14 says, but now your kingdom shall not endure. The Lord has sought out for Himself a man after His own heart. And the Lord has appointed him as ruler over his people, because you have not kept what the Lord commanded you. God chooses now. God chooses now. He makes that clear. It's not just what the people want. God says he wants a man after his own heart. And this phrase could mean that maybe now it's God's choice, or it could mean now he wants a man who possesses godly character. David was tending the sheep at the time Samuel came to his father's house, and Samuel was basically going to all these different tribes and cities, and he was seeing, you know, is this young man king? Is he to be king? And he was looking at David's brothers to determine if they were king. He said, don't you have anyone else? He said, well, yeah, there's little David. He's out doing shepherd work right now. And it says that Samuel looked at him, and he was a ruddy-looking young man, but he was a handsome guy. And the Lord just tells Samuel, that's our future king right there. That's our king. David's rise to power shows that he's a man after God's own heart and willing to wait on the Lord. He fights Goliath and destroys the enemy as a young man. Saul tries to kill him over and over again, but David doesn't take matters into his own hands. But he waits to be king. He had so many opportunities where he could have killed Saul. But he didn't. He waited. He was pleading to God for Saul, in fact. And when Saul and Jonathan are killed in battle against the Philistines, David doesn't celebrate, he doesn't rejoice, he mourns, he weeps over the fact that a king of Israel is now dead and that his best friend, Jonathan, is dead as well. He mourns over their death. And so then David is finally anointed as king. He brings the tribes together as one nation. He consolidates the nations. He defeats Israel's enemies and pursues the Lord in all His endeavors. And even when confronted with sin, the adultery of Bathsheba, and the murder of Uriah the Hittite, David doesn't rationalize. He doesn't make excuses. When he hears Nathan the prophet call him out, he confesses in contrition his great sin. We see that especially in Psalm 51. Read Psalm 51, David's prayer of contrition. When judgment from the Lord falls on the people because of his sins, he asks God to put the Lord's hand on him and on his household instead. Not on the people. Put it on me. It's my sin. It's what I've done. And so, brothers and sisters, David has many flaws, he does, but he was God's choice. And from what we can see, he was a man who desired to please the heart of God. During David's reign, there was relative peace and blessing in the land. David wanted to build a permanent dwelling for God, no longer to be in a wandering tabernacle, but a glorious temple. Unfortunately, David was not permitted to build a temple because he had partaken in too many wars. There was too much bloodshed on David's hands. So God said, no, not you. God promised David's son would build him a temple, and he would establish David's house. God entered into covenant with David in 2 Samuel 7. First, God reminds David of all that he's done for him, taking him from pastor to prince. The Lord says, I've always been with you, and I cut off your enemies before you. Listen to this in verses 12 through 16. God says to David, when your days are complete and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your descendant after you who will come forth from you, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for My name, and I will establish the throne of His kingdom forever. I will be a father to Him, and He will be a son to Me. When He commits iniquity, I will correct Him with the rod of men and the strokes of the sons of men. But My lovingkindness shall not depart from Him, as I took it away from Saul when I removed him from before you. Your house and your kingdom shall endure before Me forever. Your throne shall be established forever. This covenant God made with David, this covenant is partially fulfilled in David's son Solomon. Solomon builds God a glorious temple. He asks for wisdom so he can be a good king to follow God and His precepts. He attempts to make dominion as he should. This period in Israel's history is a time of great peace and security. Other nations and rulers bring blessings and wealth and paid honor to Solomon and to Israel. They come and they travel afar and they give them gifts. Eventually, trouble is then on the horizon. Just like the warnings in Deuteronomy 17, Solomon begins to hoard much wealth. He amasses too many horses. He builds his army too large. And the worst of all, he has too many wives. Too many wives. He has 700 wives and 300 concubines. 1,000 in all. Why is having too many wives the worst? Don't answer that. I'll answer it. Marriages to foreign women become a gaping hole for false gods to creep in, like I said, and then turn the faithful to idol worship. That's what happened. That's what happened with Solomon. Solomon turns his heart away from the one true God, and so the Lord raises up their enemies. And Israel is then split into the northern and southern kingdoms. The northern Israel kingdom and Judah. Two separate kingdoms. It says here, Rehoboam is Solomon's son. He was even worse than his father. He makes things harder on the Israelites. And besides Hezekiah and Josiah, most of the kings to follow in Judah were evil in the sight of the Lord, it says. The kingdom fell then to Babylonian captivity in 587 BC. The kings, no doubt, were responsible for this. It was on them. They led the nation astray. God's covenant with David was only partially fulfilled, as I said. He promised He'd establish David's throne forever. An eternal kingdom, and the one to come would be as the Lord's Son. That Father-Son relationship wasn't established with any king after David. That was for the coming one. The chosen king. of this coming King. Isaiah 9-7 says, For a child will be born to us, a son will be given, and the government will rest on His shoulders, and His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace. There will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace on the throne of David. on the throne of David and over his kingdom to establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness from then on and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will accomplish this. A child is coming. A child is coming, and He will be mighty Counselor. His plans will never fail. He will be mighty God, El Gabor. He will be strong and possess divine power. He will be eternal Father. He shares in the same eternal nature and divinity of God. Prince of peace, because He will bring salvation and everlasting peace to His people. Isaiah chapter 11 gives another prophecy of this coming King. He will be a branch from the root of Jesse, of Davidic lineage, as promised. The Spirit, it says, will rest on Him. He will rule with righteousness and in the fear of the Lord. It says, and He will strike the earth with the rod of His mouth and with the breath of His lips He will slay the wicked. It sounds a lot like the book of Revelation when referring to Christ. Then a time of peace is described in Isaiah 11. It says, the lion will lay with the lamb, the leopard will lay with the young goat, and a baby will be able to play near the hole of a cobra. That's awesome. And finally, Zechariah 9 says more of this king. It says, Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout in triumph, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your King is coming to you. He is just and endowed with salvation. Humble and mounted on a donkey." Even a colt, a foal of a donkey. "'I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim and the horse from Jerusalem, and the bow of war will be cut off. And He will speak peace to the nations, and His dominion will be from sea to sea and from the river to the ends of the earth.' It will cover everything." Who is this humble king? How is his dominion spread so far and wide and what salvation is he bringing? Right? The failures of all the kings past led the people looking to these Messianic prophecies with great hope and expectation. They were sick of the wicked kings and leaders that they've had for so long. They were looking forward with these Messianic prophecies. And by the time of the first century, the people were looking for a king who was like David. A warrior. A warrior king who would drive back the occupying Roman government and bring Israel back to the golden age of David and Solomon. That's what they were hoping for. But they didn't take all of the messianic promises into account concerning Jesus Christ. More than the Romans, Jesus rebuked the covenant-breaking religious leaders of Judea. Now, their expectations weren't fully wrong. Just definitely the timing of things and not understanding maybe the true purpose of this coming King. He wouldn't just establish redemption and salvation for His people for a short reign. He would establish it for all eternity, paving the way to the everlasting Kingdom that is promised. In Jesus' earthly ministry, He demonstrated dominion. He had dominion over the created realm. His miracles, of course, were a large part of that. He calmed the wind and the storm while at sea in Matthew 8. The apostles said, who is this that even the wind and sea obey him? Who is this? They marveled. How does this man control the wind and the sea and the storm? He displayed his dominion power when healing illnesses, diseases, causing the blind to see and the paralytic to walk. The fallen creation throws these maladies at us, but he displays power over them as king. He can supernaturally make more bread and fish out of a few pieces to feed the 4,000 and 5,000. Wielding matter for his purpose and multiplying food, providing for his people is definitely a characteristic of a king having dominion. He also exercised that power over the spiritual realm. The demons recognized who He was. He could shut them up. He could cast them out. They had to ask Him where they could go. And they expressed that they were threatened by Him. Have you come to torment us before the time? They were threatened by Him. Adam didn't kick the serpent out, but Jesus does. And when Jesus begins His ministry, He proclaims, the time is fulfilled and the Kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe in the Gospel. Mark 1. He tells people that that's what He came here for, to preach the good news of the Kingdom of God. His dominion over creation in the spiritual realm is an indication of His right to the throne And the prophecies concerning him confirm that, no doubt. A king needs a kingdom. Remember the promise of an everlasting kingdom was sworn to one through the line of David. Jesus's power led people to wonder about his identity. Who is this? Is he a prophet? And we talked about that. Who is this man? And they say, can this be the son of David? Can this be the son of David? And that would have had weight. We hear that and we go, son of David. But now you get it. Do you get it? The Davidic covenant, that promise. Can this be the son of David? Then you have two blind men calling out to him, have mercy on us, son of David. The Pharisees understood this. They understood what son of David meant. And so they tried to destroy his likeness to the son of David by attributing Jesus's power to that of Beelzebul. the ruler of the demons. It says in Matthew 12 25-28, knowing their thoughts, Jesus said to them, any kingdom divided against itself is laid waste. And any city or house divided against itself will not stand. If Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then will his kingdom stand? If I by Beelzebul cast out demons, by whom does your sons cast them out? For this reason, they will be your judges. But if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you." The kingdom of God has come. Jesus' kingdom will stand because He is not divided. He stands with the Father and the Holy Spirit. And He says, if I do this by the power of the Spirit, which He has, then the kingdom of God has come upon them. Although the kingdom of God is likened to a mustard seed, it starts out small during Jesus' earthly ministry. The reality is it expands into a huge tree He says that even birds will be able to nest in. Like a few specks of leaven in dough, so will the kingdom grow to be a huge loaf of bread. We're seeing overwhelming evidence of this in our day. It started in Jesus' time and it's manifesting even right now. It's ever-expanding, brothers and sisters, it really is. And it's not just expanding in the hearts of men and women who have turned to Christ, it's being realized in the actual earth as Christians interact in the culture and politics and in their jobs and in the world. Being a Christian impacts all of this creation. He's growing His kingdom. In John 18, Pontius Pilate asked Jesus if He's a king. And our Savior, who cannot lie, says, you have said correctly that I am a king. He says, I am a king. He says, for this reason, He became incarnate to testify to the truth of His kingship. What Jesus came to establish didn't meet the expectations of the people for a lot of it. They didn't understand concerning His ministry. But what He did was necessary as King. Even thinking back to when He cast out demons or when He healed people, It's possible he told demons to be quiet about his identity or told the people he healed to not mention it to other people, right? He would say that, tell no one what has occurred here. He would do that when he'd heal people. It's possible he did all that so that they wouldn't start elevating him as the Davidic king prior to what he came to do. which was on the cross to suffer and die for the forgiveness of sin and redemption of His people. Jesus calls Himself the Good Shepherd. He says He has come to seek the lost, bring back those who have strayed, bind up the injured, and strengthen the weak. Even Peter is rebuked by Jesus when he disagrees that the Christ must suffer and die. He says, get behind me, Satan. You don't know what you're saying. I must suffer and die. No one associated that coming King with suffering. But the Messiah King cannot be separated from the suffering Messiah. Often in the Old Testament, God would call kings, especially David, My servant. My servant is almost like a royal title, and so the Lord calls Jesus the servant in Isaiah 52 and 53. In chapter 52, He says His servant will prosper. That He will be high and lifted up and greatly exalted. Kings will shut their mouths on account of Jesus. But it says His appearance was marred more than any man. Even His form, it says, was marred. He was humiliated in His crucifixion. In John 18, they asked in the garden, which one was Jesus? He said, I am. Which one of you is Jesus? And He goes, I am. I am He. That's the name of the Lord, Yahweh. He says, I am. And with all this power from His mouth, it says that the centurion guards flew back and they fell down. All He did was say, I am. I am He. That's royal power. He could call, he says, twelve legions of angels to come at His side if He so chose in Matthew 26. They mocked Him and they dressed Him up like a king. They put a robe on Him and a crown of thorns on His head. They mocked and said, Hail, King of the Jews, if only they knew the crown that He would receive for this. And yet, he was in exact control over his death and when he would yield up his spirit. The death of the king destroyed the power of death and the devil. His people can now flee the domain of darkness and enter into his kingdom. And the good news is, this king didn't stay dead. He didn't stay dead. Christ may have appeared defeated on that cross, but not only did it propitiate for sins, it sealed His kingship. Some may ask, if God the Father was already King over all creation, why does Jesus become King? What does Jesus get now that He didn't already have before? Those are good questions. We could go probably hours into all the reasons why, but let me give you a few. The God-Man, Jesus Christ, represents His people and His humanity, but is the perfect King due to His deity. Belcher says regarding this, in the resurrection and ascension of Jesus, He receives sovereignty in a way that He had not had previously possessed. More specifically, He received the Kingdom as a human being. In Jesus' exaltation, there is a reinstatement of the originally intended divine order for the earth, with a human being properly situated as God's vice-durant." Again, not that Christ, God from all eternity, co-equal to the Father and the Holy Spirit, didn't already have sovereignty before His incarnation. But now the Father gives Him authority and a kingdom in a new way. In a new way. A way that was predetermined from before the foundations of the world. The emphasis now is on His messianic kingship and lordship. He fulfilled the covenant of works, ushering in the covenant of grace. His incarnation didn't change His status as Son, but it elevated Him in His obedience. Philippians 2 v. 5-11, the Carmen Christi, the hymn of Christ, points to this. It says, Jesus existed in the form of God, but He did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped. but He emptied Himself, taking on the form of a bondservant of that of a man. He humbled Himself to the point of death, death on a cross." And what does it say now that He's done this? What does it say now that this has happened? Not what He did before His incarnation. But after the cross, what does it say now? It says, for this reason also, God highly exalted Him and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus, every knee will bow of those who are in heaven and on the earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. That is His exaltation. That is glorious. That is the glory He receives now the cross, the resurrection, and the ascension. Every knee will bow now. Would the world have known the name of Jesus if He didn't come? Would the world have known a king died on a cross if He didn't come? Because if He didn't come, He wouldn't have accomplished salvation for His people and He wouldn't be exalted again after His resurrection and ascension. Humiliation led to exaltation. In fact, I'd say Matthew 28, the Great Commission, which is post-resurrection, pre-ascension, that is the declaration of His enthronement. He makes it clear. All, all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me." Such a contrast to his previous words in his earthly ministry when he says things like, I can do nothing of my own initiative or authority. He says that in John 5.30 or John 18. He says, I can do nothing of myself. Now, all authority, he says, has been given to Him. It is in the same way He has given a name above every other name. He possesses unbounded kingship and unbridled lordship. That's why He's called the King of kings and Lord of lords. He is over them all. King over the kings and Lord over the lords. He is above them. And with that, He established His Kingdom. Our psalm today already said it. The Father says He has installed His King upon Zion, His holy mountain. He tells His only begotten, the one and only Son of His love, Jesus Christ. He tells Him if Christ would ask for the nations as His inheritance, if Jesus would ask for the ends of the earth as His possession, that He will give it to Him. He will give it. All He has to do is ask. And Jesus asked for it. Jesus asked for it. After the ascension, in Acts 1, Jesus went up. Jesus ascended. Go then to Daniel 7. It says, to see what happened, I kept looking in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven, one like a Son of Man. What did Jesus call Himself the most in His Gospels? Son of Man. One like a Son of Man was coming, and He came up to the Ancient of Days and was presented before Him. He came to the Father's throne." And it says, "'And to Him was given dominion, glory, and a kingdom, that all the peoples, nations, and men of every language might serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion which will not pass away, and His kingdom is one which will not be destroyed. He got what He came here for. He received it. That was His kingly coronation. He received His crown. He is King. He received a people for His own possession. And He received an unperishable, unconquerable kingdom. He has the crown rights, brothers and sisters. He has the crown rights. He also accomplished the dominion mandate, and I'm wrapping up here. Ephesians 1 says, Christ is seated at the right hand of power and is far above all rule and authority and dominion, whether spiritual or earthly. He's above it all. He's above every single thing and creature. And the Father, it says, puts all things into subjection under His feet. That is dominion. and He made Him head over the church, which is His body, it says. Jesus doesn't let the serpent deceive Him. He grabs that crafty old serpent of old, and He throws that serpent to the ground, and He crushes its head, and it's over. The strong man has been bound and waits eternal torment. And right now at this moment, Christ is reigning. He reigns right now. Your King is reigning right now as you sit here and you learn about His reign. He's reigning right now. All things are being put into subjection to Him, and His gospel is going forth, and more people know the living Christ than ever before. The kingdom of God is growing like a mustard seed. Now, does it look bleak sometimes? Yes, it looks bleak. It sure does. But He rules with a rod of iron and will carry out justice on His enemies. That is a promise. The Lord will have the vengeance, He says. And the last enemy to be defeated is death. Death will be swallowed up in the lake of fire that burns. And we, brothers and sisters, will dwell with Christ forevermore. This changes everything. You once did what was right in your own eyes. So did I. You once didn't have a king, but now you have a king. He is the perfect King. He abides impeccably to the standards of Deuteronomy 17. He is of our countrymen. He is the God-Man. He is not tempted with horses or chariots because He is omnipotent. He is all-powerful. He slays with the word of His mouth. Christ doesn't want or need many wives. He can never be led into idolatry. Christ has one bride, His church, and that's all He needs. That's all He wants. And if you are in Christ, you are His. He doesn't need riches of silver and gold. He created it. He has everything you could ever want. He is not tempted by it. His glory is His riches. His kingship is His riches. He is sufficient and needing of nothing. And He doesn't need to copy the law and read it daily because He is the author of it. He is the Word made flesh. He is the Lagos. He wrote it. He lives it. That's His very nature of righteousness and perfection and purity and uprightness. And we can have full confidence that our most holy and gracious King Jesus will never turn from the commandment, nor from the right to the left. He will never lead us astray. He goes before us in our battles and He guards our flank. David's descendant is given the promise to build the Lord a temple, and Christ did. He built the temple. We are the temple of the living God, now in which the Holy Spirit dwells. And He's not just king in heaven, He's been given everything. Where in all this creation is Jesus not Lord and King? Nowhere. Nowhere. Gentry says He is jurisdiction and command in every realm. Ecclesial, familial, personal, ethical, social, cultural, financial, judicial, legislational, political, and so on. He is King over it all. King over it all. King Jesus reigns. Revelation 11 15-17 says this, Then the seventh angel sounded, and there were loud voices in heaven saying this, The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and his Christ, and he will reign forever and ever. And the twenty-four elders who sit on their thrones before God, fell on their faces and worshiped God saying, we give you thanks. Oh Lord God, the almighty, who are and who were, because you have taken your great power and you've begun to reign. You've begun to reign. Let us to fall on our faces and worship the matchless Christ, King Jesus. Let's pray. Father, please bless the message that went out. Please let it impact your people, Lord. God, let us marvel at such glory that Christ has. He is our prophet, priest and king. Everything lined up so perfectly. Everything was pointing to Christ and His coming. Everything has its climax and pinnacle and culmination in Christ. Oh God, how do we get to be a part of this? How do we get to be a part of this, God, that we would be saved by this King, that this King would die for us? It's almost unbelievable that you gave us your grace, O Lord. Thank you for this series. Thank you for helping us to see how much greater Christ is than we ever could have thought. Pray this all in Jesus' name. Amen.