Jesus Is the King of Kings!

Epiphany Sunday, 1/5/14
Psalm 72


Jesus Is the King of Kings!
I. He rules over all.
II. He saves all.


You know how deceiving looks can be. As the saying goes, you can’t tell a book by its cover. What looks wonderful and great on the outside may be ugly and even dangerous on the inside. How many times have you opened a wholesome-looking container of food for the first time only to see and smell something far less on the inside?

The same holds true for people. We take great pains not to be taken advantage of by con artists. They look for all the world like genuine, honest people who only have our best interests in mind, but that couldn’t be farther from the truth.

But it works the other way, too. I’m sure you’ve received some amazing gifts that were wrapped in crude and simple ways. Likewise, we try not to judge a person by their looks. Rather, we try to get to know them for the loving, caring person that they are on the inside.

Looks could have been deceiving when the wisemen first laid eyes on Jesus. I don’t think there was a single thing inside the home of Mary and Joseph that would have indicated that the holy God in flesh and blood lived inside. I doubt that Jesus said or did anything that day that amazed them. He likely made the same movements and noises that billions of infants have made. There was no choir of angels that day nor any stunning display of almighty power.

But that didn’t matter. In spite of that fact that everything was so ordinary, the wisemen knew this was no ordinary child. In fact, he was the ultimate one of a kind. This child was the King of kings.

That’s precisely what the psalmist proclaims about Jesus more than 800 years before he was born. This child is special. Jesus is the King of kings. May that Savior richly bless his Epiphany words to us this morning!

Part I.

I was speaking to a good friend of mine the other day about courts of justice in our land. We were noting that too often laws that are meant to protect and help people actually bring unintended harm. That fact renders our courts not as being halls of justice, but the resolution of disputes. And in such resolutions, neither side wins everything. It’s not about justice; it’s about resolution and neither side is completely satisfied.

If you agree with that assessment, then the psalmist has some good news for us. In the opening verse he states, “Endow the king with your justice, O God; the royal son with your righteousness. He will judge your people in righteousness, your afflicted ones with justice.” It sounds like this royal son is just what our court system needs.

But that’s not what he’s talking about. Instead, he’s speaking about that child which the wisemen came to worship. As he showed once he began his ministry, Jesus was always just and right. He always made the perfect assessment of people and situations. He was never fooled even by the most clever of human plots against him. He always judged others perfectly. But most importantly, he will be the one to carry out the final judgment for all people. On that day he will right every wrong.

As people who have not always done what our God demands, in fact, as people who daily miss his mark of perfection, that doesn’t build our confidence. It may fill us with fear. But don’t miss what the psalmist proclaims. Jesus comes to this earth with the righteousness of God not to flaunt it before us or to condemn us with it, but to give it to us. In another place in the Old Testament Jesus was declared to be the Lord our Righteousness. The Son of God comes to this earth as a child in order to give us the righteousness that God demands. Jesus won that righteousness for us by living a holy life for us and by dying as the punishment for our sins. That righteousness becomes ours the moment we come to faith in Jesus by the working of the Holy Spirit. Jesus robes us in his righteousness. He makes us saints in the eyes of God as he washes away all our sins. On the Last Day he will declare before all people, “These are my holy people who belong to me.”

That makes him a King like no other. The King sacrifices himself so that we can belong to his kingdom forever. The King suffers and dies on the cross and then rises from the dead in order to crush Satan’s power. The King uses his gospel in word and sacrament to bring us into his kingdom and keep us in his kingdom so that he can share his glory with us forever. The wisemen who came to worship Jesus knew and believed those great truths about Jesus in spite of the fact that he looked nothing like a king. And they worshipped him as such. They opened their treasures and offered him their gifts of love and appreciation. These “kings” of the orient fulfilled what the psalmist writes here, “All kings will bow down to him.” On the Last Day kings throughout history will join us in bowing before him in joy; others will do so in fear and dismay.

Let there be no mistake about who this child is. Jesus is the King of kings. He rules over all.

We call them wisemen. The world would call them fools. What they did defies human reason. Outwardly speaking there was only one thing that made this child stand out in their minds—a star. How convincing is that? Look what ludicrous things even modern people believe about the position of the stars. And when the wisemen arrive at the home of Mary and Joseph, there’s no indication that this child is anything but the son of these two people. But their eyes of faith see him as he really is—the King of kings! Faith takes God at his word. This is none other than the eternal Son of God. And they place their trust in him.

How’s that going for you? You and I have never laid eyes on Jesus and yet we behold him with the eyes of faith. We place our trust in him and worship him. At the moment, that appears to be going well for us. But fears and doubts surround us. They poke into our hearts and minds every day of our lives. We confidently praise him as our King in here but not so confidently out there. We hear his gracious words of unconditional love and forgiveness here, but guilt and shame nag us out there. Is Jesus your King or not? He conquered sin, death and hell for you. He paid his holy life and innocent death for you to belong to him forever. By faith in him you are his. He is your King and he rules in your heart with his word of love to keep you his forever. Jesus is the King of kings!

Part II.

We hear about it every day—our country’s Affordable Care Act. The goal is to provide health insurance coverage for every citizen of our country. That sounds admirable, but there are skeptics. Maybe you have your doubts about this program. Will it really work?

That’s a common reaction in our imperfect world. As hard as we try to do something that will benefit others, people fall through the cracks either because of their failure or ours. So we do what we can to try to help as many as we can and try to be happy with that.

Imagine if that had been the attitude of Jesus when he came to this earth to do his work. Imagine if he had come to die for some but not all. Imagine if he had died for some sins—even most sins—but not all sins. You and I would then live each day in damning doubt. I could never be certain that he is my Savior.

But that was never his intention and it was never God’s plan. Listen again to the words of the psalm, “All nations will be blessed through him, and they will call him blessed.” It uses that familiar biblical phrase “all nations.” That’s God’s way of including every single person who has ever lived and will ever live. God did not exclude a single person when he planned to send a Savior. When Jesus came and did his work as Savior he did it for every person. He didn’t exclude anyone.

That makes him a blessing to every single sinner whether they recognize it or not. With complete confidence I can approach any person I meet and declare to them that Jesus is their Savior. He is a blessing to them. He wants to be an eternal blessing to them. Through his word of salvation he simply calls for them to believe it.

And by God’s grace you do. Of all the things you know, this truth is most astounding of all: Jesus loves me this I know, for the Bible tells me so. Even our children can sing and declare that saving truth. And it’s all by God’s grace, his undeserved favor. Jesus has accomplished our salvation from beginning to end. We do nothing; he has done it all. He has done it for all.

Jesus is the King of kings. He saves all.

By God’s grace we had the blessed privilege to celebrate Christmas once again this year. Christmas is the opportunity for us to wonder at God’s gift for us—his Son in human flesh and blood. Jesus is our gift. Jesus is for me, for you.

Today we have begun celebrating Epiphany and the focus shifts. We continue to celebrate that Jesus has come, but now we celebrate that he has come as the Savior for all. That truth is both our comfort and our motivation. When life seems unbearable and we begin to doubt our God’s love and power, Epiphany reminds us that our God does not withhold his love from anyone, not even me. Jesus is the world’s Savior. That means he is my Savior. But that truth is also our motivator. What can we do to bring Jesus to more people? What can you do? We can pray. We can bring our offerings for kingdom work. We can be the salt and light of the earth. We can tell people in simple terms what Jesus means to us. And then we let the King do his work of bringing people into his kingdom. Indeed, Jesus is the King of kings! Amen.