Part III
Jesus Christ as a King
IMPORTANT as are the prophetic and priestly offices of Jesus, his kingly office is none the less so; so far as grandeur and prominence are concerned, it presents a much more striking aspect than either of the other two.
When fulfilling his prophetic and priestly functions in the first century, he attracted but little attention from the world at large; but when he exercises the office of a king, he will influence the thoughts and actions of all mankind. Nevertheless, the former were the necessary preliminaries to the latter, and were intimately associated with it. When preaching “the gospel of the kingdom”, in the capacity of a prophet, he proclaimed that kingdom of which he is to be the king. And the offering up of his perfect sacrifice on the cross in the capacity of a priest, though foreordained of God, was directly brought about by his claiming to be the king of God’s kingdom.
Anyone, therefore, understanding Jesus as a prophet and a priest, must necessarily comprehend him as a king. It is because the two former are so much misunderstood that the latter is universally ignored or perverted; and wherever ignorance exists respecting his kingship, it is a proof that the gospel is neither understood nor believed, because the gospel of salvation is glad tidings of that age when he will reign, and of that condition of things in which salvation is to be enjoyed.
The nature of Jesus Christ’s office as a king has been already to some extent dwelt upon. Nevertheless, it is a matter of such great importance that it is necessary to enter more fully into details respecting it — to show on what it is based, what are its objects, and what the results which will flow from it. For this purpose it will be our duty to consider a covenant which Jehovah made with the second of Israel’s kings.