The Majesty of Jesus
By Tiffany Atkins
When you think of Jesus, how do you imagine Him? What words does He speak to you? Which attributes of His character do you think of first? Your answers may depend on what situation you are in, why you are coming to Jesus and how you are coming to Jesus.
Maybe you’re in trouble and you are relying on Jesus’ power and care for you to help you in that situation. Maybe you are feeling hurt or lonely and it is Christ’s love, compassion and comfort you seek.
Are you in darkness and you long for the light of the world to shine in? Or you’re in material need and you come to him as provider, the shepherd with cattle on a thousand hills. Maybe life around you is unstable and unpredictable and you come to the rock so that you have a firm place to stand.
Perhaps you are ill and you come to Jesus, the miracle-maker and healer. Or you are burdened by sin and pain and come to Jesus for his forgiveness and to release you from those burdens as the God-man who dealt with our sin and pain on the cross. Amazingly we can come to him for all these things and more amazingly, he meets us and helps us in each situation.
King of Kings
But how often do we come to Jesus as our King? How often are our encounters with Him based on our needs and wants rather than in worship and on bended knee before the King of Kings and Lord of Lords?
Jesus is kind, loving, compassionate, humble, merciful and gentle. He is also King.
As we grow in our faith in Christ, a crucial part of that journey is to know Jesus more and to understand more of His nature and character.
On his robe and on his thigh he has this name written: King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
Revelation 19:16
Jesus is unlike any other king. He is King of kings.
Good and Eternal King
There are good rulers and bad rulers. We only have to look at today’s headlines to know who the bad ones are. We also look forward to celebrating 70 years of Queen Elizabeth’s reign, I like to think she is one of the good ones.
Jesus is righteous and victorious. He loves the outcasts. He meets the needs of the poor and His salvation is available to all, whatever their rank or record. He is a good king.
But whoever the ruler, there are certain guarantees – their reign is limited – in longevity, in dominion, in power. Whether it brings celebration or mourning, their reign will end. Christ’s reign will not. He is an eternal king.
And he will be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Of the greatness of his government and peace
there will be no end.
He will reign on David’s throne
and over his kingdom,
establishing and upholding it
with justice and righteousness
from that time on and forever.
Isaiah 9:6-7
Humble King
Jesus renounced this majesty during his earthly life. From the poorest and humblest of births to his life in a backwater, Jesus opted for a life furthest from his heavenly majesty.
His best mates were fishermen and prostitutes. He had no earthly wealth and was dependent on the generosity of others for his livelihood.
He went to the places which respectable people avoided and broke cultural taboos. His death was demeaning and shameful and he invited scorn.
Jesus is a humble King.
He grew up before him like a tender shoot,
and like a root out of dry ground.
He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him,
nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.
He was despised and rejected by mankind,
a man of suffering, and familiar with pain.
Like one from whom people hide their faces
he was despised, and we held him in low esteem.
Isaiah 53:2-3
Servant King
Jesus came to serve. From the big picture of coming to dwell among humanity as a man and obeying the Father’s will, to the healing of a bleeding woman and washing of the disciples feet Jesus serves.
Ultimately this meant dying on the cross for us, that we could be reconciled to Him.
What a short sentence to sum up the work of the King of Kings fulfilling God’s redemptive purposes in history!
Jesus is a servant King.
Glorious King
One of my favourite passages in the gospels is the transfiguration. You’ll find it in Matthew, Mark and Luke so you get to read it three times! It’s that moment when we see the God-man who made Himself nothing, taking on the very nature of a servant, who made Himself in human likeness and has humbled Himself in obedience . . . revealed.
Marvel has mimicked this storyline umpteen times as super-heroes reveal their true identity, but, like our earthly monarchs, there is nothing really to compare. What would that moment have been like for Peter, James and John? What on earth went through their minds? What goes through our minds when we contemplate the majesty, splendour and glory of King Jesus?
For we did not follow cleverly devised stories when we told you about the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ in power, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty.
2 Peter 1:16
Jesus is a glorious King.
Loving King
So how do we come before Jesus? We can come to Him as we are.
But let us know more of the Jesus we come to and not limit His character to our present needs. It is because He is a good, eternal, humble, servant and glorious King that we can come to Him as we are.
It is because He has provided the means for reconciliation that we can approach Him at all! But why? It is because of Christ’s great love for us.
Jesus loves us immeasurably and beyond comprehension.
Jesus is a loving king.
So as we seek to know Jesus more, let’s pray Paul’s words:
And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.
Ephesians 3: 17-19
Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honour and glory for ever and ever. Amen.
1 Timothy 1:17
Talk to a Mentor
What hit home for you in this article? Would you like to discuss anything in particular?
Just fill in the form below and one of our mentors will get back to you as soon as possible.
Our mentors aren’t counsellors, but they are ordinary people willing to join others on their spiritual journey in a compassionate and respectful manner.
