Christ, the King – Acts 17:1-9

Paul, Silas and Timothy came to Thessalonica, basically driven out of Philippi.

It wasn’t that they were required by law, or even by force, to leave that city,

But because the hatred and anger of the people there was so strong . . .

For the missionaries to have remained would have made it very hard on little, newly established church.

And, humanly speaking, it was very unlikely that they would have been able to accomplish anything more even if they had stayed.

Notice that Philippi was a Gentile community and the persecution against them was Gentile, not Jewish.

So the missionaries moved south, passing through Amphipolis and Apollonia,

Where once again there wasn’t a Jewish presence,

And there was little if any chance of ever starting a mission.

But eventually they came to Thessalonica where there WAS a community of “diaspora” – emigrant Jews.

“And Paul, as his manner was, went in unto them,

And three sabbath days reasoned with them out of the scriptures,

Opening and alleging, that Christ must needs have suffered, and risen again from the dead;

And that this Jesus, whom I preach unto you, is Christ.”

It’s important that you notice the general direction of Paul’s evangelism.

Slowly and thoroughly over three week’s time, he proved from the scriptures

That the Messiah must suffer, die and then rise again from the dead.

Please notice that there was another step in the life and ministry of the Messiah which Paul didn’t take the opportunity to teach.

The Messiah was to suffer, die, rise and REIGN, but Paul didn’t get to the reigning ministry of Christ.

Besides, that the Messiah was to rule and reign was not a matter of debate among the children of Israel.

What WAS debatable was whether Jesus of Nazareth was that Messiah; that He was the Christ.

The Jewish synagogue should have been the best possible soil in which to plant the seed of the gospel.

It should have long been cultivated by the Holy Spirit with the plow of the Old Testament scriptures.

When the missionaries arrived and opened up their Bibles to reveal the prophesied life and ministry of the Messiah, all heads in the audience should have been nodding up and down in unison.

And when Paul went on to show that Jesus of Nazareth fulfilled all of those prophecies, everyone should have been jumping to their feet and then falling to their knees.

Unfortunately, the soil of THAT particular synagogue had not been well-cultivated.

And the hearts of the members there were neither humble nor well-taught.

A handful of the Jews believed Paul and received Christ, and so did some of the more spiritually-alert proselytes.

“But the Jews which believed not, moved with envy, took unto them certain lewd fellows of the baser sort, and gathered a company, and set all the city on an uproar.”

The unbelieving Jews apparently hired some of the local thugs,

And together they stirred up the rest of the Gentile community of Thessalonica.

They stormed Jason’s house, where the missionaries had been staying, but they found them not.

It could be that the brethren had learned about the attack,

And Jason had taken steps to hide his cousin somewhere else.

“And when they found them not, they drew Jason and certain brethren unto the rulers of the city,

Crying, these that have turned the world upside down are come hither also;

Whom Jason hath received: and these all do contrary to the decrees of Caesar,

Saying that there is another king, one Jesus.”

Notice the charges that they were laying against Paul and Silas:

That they had turned the world upside down – a gross exaggeration.

That they were encouraging people to rebel against the laws of Rome – a gross and detestable lie.

And that they were preaching that Jesus was a rival king to Caesar – which again was a misrepresentation.

Remember that these charges were being made by the unbelieving Jews.

If they were coming from the Greeks and Romans, the nature of those charges would have been different.

But this was unmitigated hypocrisy coming from these people,

Because, it was THEIR scripture and THEIR theology which taught that the Messiah would be king.

By accusing Paul and Silas, they were in effect condemning themselves.

Their problem was not that the Messiah would be king, but that Paul said that Jesus was the Messiah.

If they had made THAT charge before the Gentile mob, there would have been nothing but a collective yawn.

That was a Jewish matter and it didn’t concern the lost Gentiles at all.

Secondly, the Jews were detestably hypocritical because they were implying that Christ was an earthly rival to Caesar, when Paul undoubtedly declared that Jesus was then in glory awaiting the time of His return.

Once again, under the circumstances, the charges against the missionaries were trumped up, fabricated, and fictional.

Nevertheless, Jesus IS the Christ, and Christ IS a very special kind of King.

But Jesus Christ is a rival to Caesar only in the sense that He is a rival to every sinful son of Adam.

Let’s briefly consider Christ the King this morning.

Did you know that Paul directly refers to Christ as King in only two scriptures,

And they are not in the Book of Acts?

They are statements which Paul made to Timothy, his young son in the ministry.

I Timothy 1:15 – “This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief.

Howbeit for this cause I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might shew forth all longsuffering, for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on him to life everlasting.

Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honour and glory for ever and ever. Amen.”

And I Timothy 6:13 – “I give thee charge in the sight of God, who quickeneth all things, and before Christ Jesus, who before Pontius Pilate witnessed a good confession;

That thou keep this commandment without spot, unrebukeable, until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ:

Which in his times he shall shew, who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords;

Who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen, nor can see: to whom be honour and power everlasting. Amen.”

Also, before we move on, the only place in the scriptures where we read the words “Christ the King” are found coming from the lips of the unbelieving Jews:

Mark 16:31 – “Likewise also the chief priests mocking said among themselves with the scribes, He saved others; himself he cannot save.

Let CHRIST THE KING OF ISRAEL descend now from the cross, that we may see and believe.”

Why didn’t they believe the truth when they spoke the truth?

Consider the EMPIRE of Christ the King.

It extends from the smallest particle in the tiniest atom to the farthest star in the darkest part of the universe.

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

The same was in the beginning with God.

All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.

In him was life; and the life was the light of men.”

“In Christ we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins:

Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature:

For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him:

And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.

And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence.

For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell.”

What makes the empire of Christ greatly different from that of Alexander the Great or Caesar is that the Lord Jesus is king over both the living and the dead.

I suppose that if they were given enough time and enough power,

Some sort of human king, caesar or president might have the army and technology

Sufficient to claim every planet in every solar system as being a part of his domain.

But that dominion would have to begin and end with physically LIVING beings and inanimate THINGS.

But the dominion of the Lord Jesus reaches beyond things & living people, to those people who have died.

Paul exhorted Timothy with “the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom.”

And Jesus said, “For as the Father raiseth up the dead, and quickeneth them; even so the Son quickeneth whom he will.

For the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son:

That all men should honour the Son, even as they honour the Father. He that honoureth not the Son honoureth not the Father which hath sent him.

Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.

Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live.”

The kingdom of Christ not only EXTENDS over the living and the dead, but over the submissive and rebellious.

It is a rule in the HEARTS of His chosen people, believers and recipients of His grace,

But it also reaches to and over people like those Jews who would not have that man to reign over them.

They could deny His sovereignty until they were blue in the face, but it wouldn’t diminish his authority over them one iota.

As far as DURATION is concerned, the dominion of the Lord will last for ever.

He is “the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God,” and to Him shall be “honour and glory for ever and ever.”

Not only is Christ eternal, but He is imminently qualified in every way to be the King.

“As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him:

Rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving.

Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.

For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.”

If Paul had been given the time and opportunity to preach these truths to that unbelieving crowd in the synagogue of Thessalonica,

Someone might have retorted: “who gave this Jesus authority to be Messiah and king?”

And Paul’s answer might have been to quote Psalm 2:

“Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing?

The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD, and against his anointed, saying,

Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us.

He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision.

Then shall he speak unto them in his wrath, and vex them in his sore displeasure.

Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion.

I will declare the decree: the LORD hath said unto me, Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee.

Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession.

Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.

Be wise now therefore, O ye kings: be instructed, ye judges of the earth.

Serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice with trembling.

Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in him.”

Who is the King of glory? Who is the glorious King?

His name is Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of David, the Son of God.

He is not only the King of glory, but he is the Saviour.

And this brings us more specifically to the matter of HIS SUBJECTS.

In keeping with our subject for this evening: there are subjects, and there are SUBJECTS.

Think about the meaning of the word: subjects are those who are under the rule of another.

And that means that there are two kinds of subjects: willing and unwilling.

You ARE a subject of Christ; you are under the rule of the Lord.

But the question is this: are you DELIGHTED to be under His rule, or do you DESPISE it?

Do you love Christ Jesus, or do you wish that YOU were god?

Have you bowed your knee before His throne and sought His salvation, or are you trying to live into eternity on your own merits?

Christ is the King, but are you His willing subject?