King Jesus
It makes no sense to have a kingdom without someone to ruler over it. A king is necessary for a kingdom to function. The study of who is to be the king of this kingdom provides a unique perspective to better understand the kingdom. If the kingdom already exists, then the king rules over the kingdom by the rules that the kingdom already contains. Or, if the king exists first, then the kingdom becomes a reflection of the king. The kingdom is predominately shaped by the king who rules over it.
In the case of the kingdom of heaven; the king, Jesus Christ, has existed from the beginning. The first page of the Bible describes how God made the world. When it became time for God to create man, the record oddly reflects that God was not alone.
Genesis 1:26 “…Let us make man in our image,…”.
The Bible records that God did not make man by himself. How often have we heard that God made man, as if He was alone? Yet God says, “us”. To whom was He speaking? It was His son, Jesus. Several thousand years later, the prophecy that Jesus was to die as the sacrifical lamb for our sins was foretold by the prophet Isaiah.
Isaiah 53:7 “He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter,…”
Less that two thousand years later, the third book in the New Testament, Luke 2: records the birth and early life of Jesus as a man upon the earth.
Since Jesus, the king, existed before the kingdom of heaven, it requires that we study the king to reach a better understanding of the kingdom. I have chosen to examine three chapters from the book of John (the fourth gospel) to provide a basis for this study of the king Jesus.
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Last modified 22 Jun 2005