soul-ravishing truths for Christians.
Geoffrey R. Kirkland
Christ Fellowship Bible Church
The most comforting doctrine to my own heart is the sovereignty of God. That God reigns as the sovereign King over all stirs my heart to worship, humbles my soul with trembling, and comforts my being with assurance. The God of Scripture is absolutely sovereign over everything. And for that, He deserves all glory, honor, and praise. And for that, we must worship Him, trust Him, adore Him, enjoy Him, delight in Him, and live for His glory!
1. The Lord is the ETERNAL King.
God’s kingship never began nor shall it ever end. God rules as King as human leaders come and go. As the earth rotates and totters and as nations rise and fall, He remains constantly eternal, never changing, and never ending.
2. The Lord is the UNRIVALED King.
God shares His kingship with no one. No one can rival Him for He alone rules over the infinite galaxies and over all gods. He is Lord over the nations and God over all creation. None can rival Him, compete with Him, or triumph over Him.
3. The Lord is the POWERFUL King.
To be the sovereign King over all, the Lord must have power. And this He does! He is all powerful. Every ocean wave comes and goes at His direct decree. Every star remains in its place at His perfect command. Every person lives and moves and dies in God’s unchanging plan. Every molecule in all of existence is owned, formed, carried, and directed by the active power of God.
4. The Lord is the MERCIFUL King.
Many kings in history were ruthless and arrogantly violent. Our God, however, is a King of mercy. Full of mercy, full of tenderness, full of kindness, full of love, and full of undeserved, unabashed, unlimited, undiminishing mercy!
5. The Lord is the UNCHANGING King.
Human kings change. They are born, they age, they change, they die, they’re forgotten. But not the Lord! He rules as the always-ruling King. The Lord ‘reigns’, the psalmists say. He never began to reign. Nor shall He ever cease reigning. Indeed, He cannot change His kingship. He always reigns since Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. He is unchanging in His sovereign rulership.
6. The Lord is the EXCLUSIVE King.
When the Apostle John was carried to heaven in Revelation, he was gripped by a throne. And the throne in heaven had one who was seated upon it -- God. He shares His throne with no one. No rivals, no rulers, no rich leaders, no renegades can share the sovereign throne with Christ. He is the Lord, there is none other. He is the Lord alone. He reigns alone as the exclusive King!
7. The Lord is the PERFECT King.
Human kings make foolish decisions, act foolishly, and many may die because of the. Not God! He is absolutely perfect in His ways because He governs all His ways by His perfect character. He is perfectly good in His nature, in His essence, in His joy, and in His actions -- all of them. His Kingship is governed by his perfect goodness. This comforts the believer’s heart. Our King is perfect in His character and in His dealings with the affairs of men.
8. The Lord is the ABSOLUTE King.
God reigns absolutely in that His kingship is total; it’s not qualified or diminished in any way. He reigns absolutely over every thing that has ever happened. He has entire, absolute, pure, perfect, supreme authority over all things! He reigns always and ever as the absolute King over everything!
9. The Lord is the PROTECTIVE King.
A king is to protect his subjects. And so it is with God. Our God, the sovereign King,protects all His own. What glorious, soul-ravishing comfort to know that this sovereign King over all creation protects me since I’m hidden in Christ and united to Him inseparably and eternally. Every moment of my existence is under His sovereign protection and fatherly care.
10. The Lord is the SAVING King.
The Lord is the King who saves. This King stooped in humility to save selfish, vile sinners by His own sovereign love. He saves -- not just from an invading army. He saves His people from Himself -- from His own future wrath. What a God! What a King! This King deserves worship who saves sinners for His glory!
11. The Lord is the HEAVENLY King.
Every other king who has lived was confined to this world -- to space, time, and one location. The Lord has fixed His throne in the heavens and His sovereignly rules over all. He, as the heavenly and sovereign King, does whatever He pleases in the heavens, on the earth, in the seas, and in all deeps!
12. The Lord is the CONDESCENDING King.
What human king would ever humble himself to associate with the lowest of the low and then die for that humble, low, unattractive rebel? None! Yet our God, the King of the ages, humbled Himself by taking the form of a man and became obedient to death, even death on the cross to take divine punishment in the stead of His own people. What overwhelming and condescending love!
13. The Lord is the INTIMATE King.
Few people could have such intimacy with a mighty King. And every child of God enjoys the everlasting intimacy with God Almighty -- the one, only, true King of heaven and earth. We can approach this King with confidence, speak to Him with boldness, address Him as our Father, and find comfort, provision, and love from Him as precious Savior. He is our infinite and intimate King.
14. The Lord is the ACTIVE King.
God reigns actively. He never stopped reigning. He never ceased His active, perfect governing of the affairs of the universe. Every situation falls under His direct and sovereign decree for His glory. None can bump God off the throne or occupy His thought so as to distract Him. His eye always rests upon His precious ones whom He loved and died for. He actively rules over all!
15. The Lord is the FAITHFUL King.
How many kings and rules of this world made promises but never kept them and lied to get their agenda to succeed. But not God. He is the God of truth and always is a God of truth, of faithfulness, of trueness. Every promise He makes to His people, as the perfect and able King, He faithfully keeps them.
16. The Lord is the GLOBAL King.
It would be little comfort to a person if the king only had power over a particular district of the land. But consider, O believer, our God reigns as sovereign King over the heavens and the earth. None can stay his hand against God and thwart His purposes. He globally rules. There’s not a leaf of a tree, or a drop of rain that falls, or an insect that roams the dust of the earth, or a giant meteor that falls outside of His perfect power. Indeed, no man at any place can ever thwart God’s will or resist His purposes. God is globally good and globally God and globally King!
17. The Lord is the VICTORIOUS King.
I suppose that everything so far would be good but if God was not the victorious King then there might be the possibility that He could fail, or be overthrown, or triumphed over by a bigger and greater threat. But no! Our God is the victorious King! He is King of kings and Lord of lords and He, alone, holds the divine scepter so all nations fall beneath His feet in submission and will bow at the name of Jesus Christ! Our God reigns victoriously! Yours, O LORD, is the greatness, and the power, and the glory, and the victory, and the majesty … You exalt yourself as head over all! (1 Chron 29:11).