It was dark days and the world was in disarray when the announcement first came to a people who were subject to a wicked king, “ The people walking in darkness have seen a great light…for unto us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders” (Isaiah 9:1, 6). The words of the prophet Isaiah came at a time when trusting God was no longer in the interest of the Israel. King Ahaz had decided, despite the fact that Isaiah had told him to “trust God” when faced with the invasion of an enemy, to take it upon himself to place the “government upon his shoulders.” For most kings, this was the normal way of life----they were kings and they ruled their kingdoms. Not so with Israel. They had a king, but he did not rule the kingdom. He was not to be the supreme ruler; rather, he was to be an administrator and was to faithfully serve the people under the hand of God’s authority. God’s people allowed a tyrant on the throne who had forgotten that when it came to His kingdom, God alone had the authority to rule and reign.
The repercussions of Ahaz (and other kings who choose to place the “government upon their own shoulders”) brought the people of God into even darker days under the rule of an empire not their own: Rome. During those days another announcement came, “Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger” (Luke 2:11-12). In the midst of living among the most powerful earthly kingdom to ever be upon the face of the earth in all of history, God announced that His king had now come to change the entire power structure of mankind. This time, however, it was not about lands, armies, empires, or politics. It was about coming to rule the unconquerable kingdom of the hearts of man and the human spirit. Although a few recognized that the “child was given” to rule and reign in their lives, many continued on in the same fashion as Ahaz and trusted in their ability to rule their own lives.
Psalm 89 speaks of God’s rule and reign over all of creation. It calls for men to bow before His throne and just as Isaiah promised, the psalmist recognized that one day that upon David’s throne, would sit one who would be exalted over all the “kings of the earth” and who would rule forever (Psalm 89:27-29). Today, that person is sitting on that throne. Do we recognize that? The psalmist goes on to describe something that is all too common in our world concerning this King---“You have exalted the right hand of his foes…” (Ps. 89:42). The psalmist recognized that because Israel failed to maintain the covenant relationship between and God and themselves, God turned them over to the authority of their enemies. The result is that for many, like in the days of Ahaz and in the days of Rome, nothing has changed and life remains under the rule of someone other than the One who is destined to rule.
Christmas is a powerful reminder that a King has come. He has not come to simply give us a warm and wonderful story that will be reproduced over and over until we lose sight of its true meaning. He came to be KING! He came in the hopes that we would no longer “exalt the right hand” of his foes and would exalt Him to the rightful place in our lives. In the bible, the “right hand” is symbolic of authority, rule, and power. Isaiah’s promise was that when the child was born, the “government will be upon his shoulder.” In other words, He was given the authority to rule and reign in our lives. We’ve been given this promise. We’ve been given this King to rule and reign our lives----but is His right hand exalted in our lives or that of his foes? The foes are no longer physical governments that attempt to dictate to how men should live; consequently, it is the government of men's hearts that stand to assert the “right hand” of authority over Christ. It is pride, greed, envy, lust, anger, bitterness, doubt, worry, and fear that represent the “foes” of this King. We cannot go through life after having encountered the King and then exalt the right hand of his foes in our hearts----otherwise, His coming to us would be in vain. We would be no different that the countless people who throughout the ages have missed the point: Jesus Christ has come to rule and reign as King over our lives. Either He is or He isn’t. A salvation that doesn’t have Jesus Christ reigning in our hearts and reigning over His foes is no salvation at all!
If there is any doubt as to why Jesus Christ came, it will one day be made crystal clear. This king is coming once again. In his first coming, he established a throne within the hearts of men. In his second coming, he will establish his physical kingdom. No longer will there be ANY foes to be found. Echoing throughout the heavens and the earth we will hear “The kingdom of this world has become the kingdom of our Lord and His Christ, and He will reign forever and ever” (Revelation 11:15). My prayer is that during this Christmas season you would remember that we have been given a King to rule our lives and because of that, we would actually allow Him to have that place in our hearts.
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