This Sunday, November 24, is Christ the King Sunday in the church calendar. Churches all over the world observe the church year to one extent or another (Christmas, Lent, Easter, Ascension Day, Pentecost Sunday, etc.). Next Sunday, December 1st, the church year begins anew with Advent as we anticipate the coming of Christ in His incarnation.
But before we get to Advent, we will celebrate the reign of Christ as King, anticipating His return to earth to judge the living and the dead when He will set all things right, bring justice and righteousness to the earth – an end of sin, war, death, suffering, injustice – to eventually wipe away every tear so that there will be no more crying and no more night.
More than anything, the reign and return of Christ means that we will know the presence of the Lord – no longer by faith, but by sight. He will reign on the earth, and we will reign with Him.
Sunday begins a week of thanks for our nation as well. As Americans, we have much for which to be thankful. As the Church, we are most grateful because we are heirs of God and joint heirs with Jesus Christ. We are recipients of Christ’s inexhaustible riches that are ours by right of adoption.
As a grateful people, then, we will gather to exalt Christ as King in the power of the Spirit to the glory of the Father. Here are four reasons why:
1) He created us – John 1:1-4 “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. All things were created through Him, and apart from Him not one thing was created that has been created. Life was in Him, and that life was the light of men.”
2) He saved us – John 1:12-13 “But to all who did receive Him, He gave them the right to be children of God, to those who believe in His name, who were born, not of blood, or of the will of the flesh, or of the will of man, but of God.”
John 3:14-16 – “Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in Him will have eternal life. For God loved the world in this way: He gave His One and only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life.
3) He keeps us – John 10:27-30 “My sheep hear My voice, I know them, and they follow Me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish—ever! No one will snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all. No one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. The Father and I are one.”
4) He is Lord – John 17:5 “Now, Father, glorify Me in Your presence with that glory I had with You before the world existed.”
The Father has exalted Christ as Lord and placed all things in subjection to Him. Jesus reigns, and He is coming again.
Christ shed His own blood, bore God’s judgment, and set us free. This is why we worship. Thanks be to our God.
SSBC Worship Ministry 