At our last gathering at The Table, we saw our Lord Christ as THE KING OF KINGS with all authority in Heaven and in earth.
We saw that the kings He rules over are those He redeemed unto God by His Blood.
We also saw that these kings have been given His authority to rule on the earth in concert with actions initiated from His Throne in Heaven.
That our activities as kings on the earth are to be initiated from Heaven were perfectly exemplified by our Lord Jesus even as He states in John 5:19:
So Jesus answered them, “I tell you the truth: the Son can do nothing on his own; he does only what he sees his Father doing. What the Father does, the Son also does.
Our Lord Jesus did nothing of His own self.
And twice, He declared that He did only what He saw The Father doing.
Furthermore, in John 14:10, He said:
Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father in Me? The Words that I speak to you I do not speak of Myself, but the Father who dwells in Me, He does the works.
He did not speak from His own soul.
And in John 12:49, He revealed the source of His words:
For I have not spoken of Myself, but the Father who sent Me gave Me a command, what I should say, and what I should speak.
He spoke what He was instructed by His Father to speak.
Our Lord Jesus initiated neither words nor actions from His own soul, but said and did only what He heard His Father in Heaven say and do.
Today, we will begin to walk the pathway to the reality of being His kings on the earth.
In other words, how do we walk practically in our restored dominion in our union with The Second Man?
How do our words become productive as it is written in Job 22:28?
Thou shalt also decree a thing, and it shall be established unto thee: and the light shall shine upon thy ways.
A key to the response to our question is revealed in the discussion our Lord Jesus had with a Roman centurion recorded for us in Luke 7:1–10:
We will however only read verse 8:
For I also am a man set under authority, having under me soldiers. And I say to one, Go, and he goes; and to another, Come, and he comes; and to my servant, Do this, and he does it.
The key to the centurion’s effective authority is that He was a man subject to the higher authority over him.
Consequently, He also could command the obedience of all those under him.
He derived his effective authority from being subject to higher authority.
The import of this is that if we would wield and effectively exercise the authority delegated to us by our KING, we must be subject to Him in all.
What does being subject to THE KING OF KINGS look like in our everyday life?
What are the practical ways in which we are to be subject to our KING?
We will begin to seek the response to our question by looking at how our KING was subject to His King when He walked here on the earth as a Man like you and me.
Our Lord Jesus made this declaration in Matthew 5:17–19:
(17) Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.
(18) For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.
(19) Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
He said He did not come to set aside the Bible, but to fulfill that which is written therein.
He acknowledged the scriptures as the infallible Word of God.
Furthermore, He stated that our relative positions in the Kingdom of Heaven are determined by our disobedience or obedience to the written word of God.
And He added that teaching others to walk in the light of the written word, or, on the contrary, teaching them to walk in the darkness of this world is also directly related to our standing in The Kingdom of Heaven.
Going further in the way our KING acknowledged the written Word of God as inviolate, we have recorded His healing of a leper in Matthew 8:1–4.
We would read the concluding verse 4:
And Jesus said to him, See that you tell no one; but go, show yourself to the priest. And offer the gift that Moses commanded, for a testimony to them.
He instructed the healed man to go to the priest and fulfill all that is required of one cured of leprosy in compliance with that which is written.
He taught others to obey that which is written.
We again see His acknowledgment and submission to men who had spiritual authority in His interaction with John the Baptist.
We would read the account of this engagement with His forerunner written for us in Matthew 3:13–15:
(13) Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to John, to be baptized by him.
(14) John would have prevented him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?”
(15) But Jesus answered him, “Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he consented.
God’s man of the hour at the onset of our Lord Jesus’ public appearance was John the Baptist.
He was a man prophesied in the scriptures who would prepare the hearts of the Jews for their long-awaited King.
Regardless of the truth that He was The King of Israel, our Lord Jesus submitted to him by being baptized of Him.
Here is the summary of what is being said thus far:
- Our Lord Jesus submitted to His God in His acknowledgment that the scriptures are the inviolate Word of God.
- And He, therefore, submitted to the men validated by the scriptures who were the custodians of the spiritual authority of His day.
Going further in looking at how our KING was Himself subject to higher authority, it is written thus concerning Him in Luke 2:51:
And He went with them and came to Nazareth, and He was subject to them. But His mother kept all these sayings in her heart.
This verse summarizes our Lord Jesus’ day-to-day life till He was about thirty years of age.
He was not only subject to those who had spiritual authority, but He was also subject to His God under His parents.
The consequence of our KING being subject to His King under His parents is revealed in Luke 2:52:
And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man.
He grew in wisdom and He grew physically, and both God and man were pleased with Him.
His Apostle Paul wrote about His learning curve of obedience in Hebrews 5:8:
Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered;
He learned obedience under His parents by the things which He suffered.
And if you would, He was prepared for His ultimate obedience unto death by His being subject to His parents.
Thus far we have seen that our Lord Jesus was subject to His God by being subject to men who had spiritual authority and also by being subject to His Parents until He was about thirty years of age.
There is yet one more platform under which He was subject.
In Mark 12: 13–17, our Lord Jesus was being baited by some Pharisees and Herodians in a discussion which was concluded in verse 17:
And answering Jesus said to them, Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s. And they marvelled at Him.
The Pharisees and Herodians had attempted to trap Him in tax-related matters.
And He evaded their snare by saying, to give unto Government that which is their due.
Simply put, our Lord Jesus was subject to the civil authority of His day.
Here is the summary of all that has been said:
There are three organs through which God rules on the earth.
These three in order of priority are:
1. The spiritual
2. The family
3. The Civil
Our Lord Jesus was subject to God under men who were the custodians of God’s authority in these three branches of The Kingdom of God on the earth.
Being subject to higher authority, He could effectively exercise the authority of The Kingdom of Heaven on the earth.
We will conclude our meal with a question by our Lord Jesus to you and me, written in Luke 6:46:
And why do you call Me Lord, Lord, and do not do what I say?
