1 Timothy 6:15 (HCSB)
“He is the blessed and only Sovereign,
the King of kings, the Lord of lords…”
Growing up, I had the privilege of traveling all over the world, and also all over the United States. My dad was a history teacher. So, each summer we went… somewhere. Due to his love of history, our travels were chock full of visits to significant places of importance such as monuments, museums, cathedrals, university campuses, landmarks, etc. Castles and palaces were also common destinations.
One of the first things that we visited on our first ever trip to Europe was Buckingham Palace in London, England. There, we watched and admired the choreographed pomp and circumstance of the changing of the guard. There was one thing that I remember most vividly, which struck me more than anything else that day. It was not the palace itself, the grounds, or the even palace guards. It was the gleam in the eye of the British on lookers. They had such a look of pride and enthusiasm which went beyond anything that I had felt or experienced there. Looking back, I now have what I didn’t have then, that they did…
An allegiance of praise… for a monarch.
As an American, I think it’s harder to gain a proper understanding of sovereignty than it is for those who live under or in the company of a monarchy of some sort. People like the British can potentially better appreciate and embrace the concept of sovereignty, because they are used to living in the midst of one. As for us Americans, our nation was founded upon the rebellious attitude of denying kingship. To have any sort of reverence for a king, culturally, is now a completely alien notion to us.
Scripture though, commands us all, everyone everywhere, regardless of our cultural influences, to honor God as King. However, He’s not to be recognized as just any old king, nor as just some king among other kings. He is to be treated as the Sovereign… King of kings.
Now, scripture says that we ALL already know this. But, we suppress it. It explains that we are all not only aware of God, but that we also know that He should be reverenced by us…
Romans 1:18-32 (HCSB)
“For God’s wrath is revealed from heaven against all godlessness and unrighteousness of people who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth, since what can be known about God is evident among them, because God has shown it to them. For His invisible attributes, that is, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen since the creation of the world, being understood through what He has made. As a result, people are without excuse. For though they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God or show gratitude. Instead, their thinking became nonsense, and their senseless minds were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man, birds, four-footed animals, and reptiles.
Therefore God delivered them over in the cravings of their hearts to sexual impurity, so that their bodies were degraded among themselves. They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served something created instead of the Creator, who is praised forever. Amen.
This is why God delivered them over to degrading passions. For even their females exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones. The males in the same way also left natural relations with females and were inflamed in their lust for one another. Males committed shameless acts with males and received in their own persons the appropriate penalty of their error.
And because they did not think it worthwhile to acknowledge God, God delivered them over to a worthless mind to do what is morally wrong. They are filled with all unrighteousness, evil, greed, and wickedness. They are full of envy, murder, quarrels, deceit, and malice. They are gossips, slanderers, God-haters, arrogant, proud, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, undiscerning, untrustworthy, unloving, and unmerciful.
Although they know full well God’s just sentence — that those who practice such things deserve to die — they not only do them, but even applaud others who practice them.”
But, why would the unbeliever ignore the obvious and not acknowledge God as Sovereign?
1 Corinthians 2:14 (HCSB)
“…the unbeliever does not welcome what comes from God’s Spirit, because it is foolishness to him; he is not able to understand it since it is evaluated spiritually.”
Once a person is exposed to the Gospel and is filled with the Holy Spirit, their mind then changes regarding the Sovereign. Their heart longs for their Creator, their King. Such a person then screams for His presence through the Holy Spirit. Such a person desires to be submissive and humble to God’s authority, because they then have the mind of Christ…
1 Corinthians 2:15-16 (HCSB)
“The spiritual person, however, can evaluate everything, yet he himself cannot be evaluated by anyone. For who has known the Lord’s mind, that he may instruct Him? But we have the mind of Christ.”
We must share Christ, so that our Sovereign King may be praised…
Psalms 47 (HCSB)
“Clap your hands, all you peoples;
shout to God with a jubilant cry.
For Yahweh, the Most High, is awe-inspiring,
a great King over all the earth.
He subdues peoples under us
and nations under our feet.
He chooses for us our inheritance —
the pride of Jacob, whom He loves. Selah
God ascends among shouts of joy,
the Lord, among the sound of trumpets.
Sing praise to God, sing praise;
sing praise to our King, sing praise!
Sing a song of wisdom,
for God is King of all the earth.
God reigns over the nations;
God is seated on His holy throne.
The nobles of the peoples have assembled
with the people of the God of Abraham.
For the leaders of the earth belong to God;
He is greatly exalted.”
Godspeed, to the brethren!
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