No King: Jesus as King in America

It is difficult for Americans to conceptualize or strongly to imagine a king and a kingdom, which then includes the King, Jesus Christ. The whole idea of a king smacks the American idea of freedom. The king would take control in a kingdom, which means an American person subjects himself to that king, something apparently in contradiction to freedom. To most Americans, freedom means you do what you want to do or choose to do.

At this point, it would do well to consider that Americanism is not freedom per se, but liberty. Liberty is freedom, but freedom under the law, or freedom to do what is right. That makes sense when someone thinks of the biblical foundations of our republic. A republic in and of itself is different than a democracy, in a major way because it is not mob rule. A republic expects representatives, who represent the people, but the public elects them to do what is right. They aren’t rubber stamped or else the country would just take a poll on every issue, especially today with our technology in the United States.

When Jesus talked about freedom, it was freedom from sin. He said in John 8:32-36, “The truth shall set you free” because whoever commits sin as a lifestyle or habitually is a servant or a slave of sin. Obeying Jesus as a habit is freedom. This all relates to our purpose for existence. God did not put us on earth to fulfill our dreams or to pursue our own desires, but to do His will or pleasure. Not only the future, but the present means Jesus Christ as King.

Psalm 110:1-2 sees Jesus as ruling now in the midst of His enemies, but later with a rod of iron. That is just reality, even as the Gospel of Matthew evinces. People may say Jesus is King, but it isn’t real to them as seen in their lack of subjection to Him. It’s not as though they really want or like to do what He wants them to do through the institution through which He rules today: the church.