The King / Exodus 19:5-6 / Philippians 2:10–11
Introduction: A Needed Paradigm Shift
Well, welcome! Glad you’re hanging out with us. If you happen to be new, we are on the tail end of a series that we’re calling A Paradigm Shift. I don’t know what the experience has been like for you, but at least for me, it has been wickedly convicting. What we’re trying to do in this series is identify various aspects of what it means to follow Christ. We ask the question: What was the perception that the disciples had as they interacted with that issue? How did Jesus cause their paradigm to shift? In light of that, how do we typically see that issue, and what in us needs to shift as well?
Now, this is The Well, so I don’t know what you’re used to, but here we like to finish strong. If the series has been convicting, we’re not letting you off the hook quite yet. We’re going to get a running start on an issue that, to be candid with you, I’ve had so much fun playing with over the last couple of weeks in preparation for this message. It’s an issue that I’ve seen and heard about, but didn’t fully understand. Wrestling with it myself, I’ve made some observations that I’d like to share with you. I think it might help us shift our own paradigm on something Jesus brings up over and over again, but whose full context we often miss.
Jesus makes comments like, “Seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you as well.”
Matthew 6:33 (NASB)
’But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
What does it mean to seek first the kingdom of God? What does a kingdom really mean? Ultimately, we are talking about the kingly rule of God over the lives of people, and in return, a recognition of His authority.
When it comes to understanding the kingdom biblically—whether it’s called the kingdom of heaven or the kingdom of God—there are three biblical expressions of the kingdom:
- The Eternal Kingdom: Very simply put, from eternity past to eternity future, God is King.
- The Messianic Kingdom: At a specific point in time, a biblical expectation was created that a divine King would rule on earth. He would be called the Messiah, the Anointed One, the Chosen One, the Christ.
- The Mystery or Spiritual Kingdom: This was called a mystery in the Old Testament. The scope of human history shows that this mystery kingdom is the exact time frame in which we currently find ourselves.
The Eternal Kingdom
Let’s start from the beginning: the eternal kingdom. From a biblical perspective, from eternity past, God was on the throne. I get asked often, “If God created mankind, who created God?” God wasn’t created by anybody. He’s God! He existed before time began. From eternity past to eternity future, God is on the throne.
This is evidenced in Genesis 1 and 2 in the creation account. When God speaks the world into existence and forms mankind, He reminds us in the very act of creating that He is sovereign, infinite, and beyond time and space—while we are temporal, finite, and created. We have a beginning and an ending. Therefore, contrary to popular belief, the world does not revolve around us.
In fact, the Bible begins with a salvo of God’s kingship in Genesis chapter 1 verse 1: “In the beginning, God created.”
Genesis 1:1 (NASB)
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
God is King. He was King in eternity past, and He will be King in eternity future. The psalmist put it this way:
Psalms 145:13 (NASB)
Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, And Your dominion [endures] throughout all generations.
This first aspect of the kingdom is clear: God is King forever. Theologically, it’s called a theocracy—Theos meaning God, and kratos meaning rule. God rules.
The historical pattern, however, is that mankind does not enjoy submitting to an authority bigger than ourselves. We come by it quite naturally. In Isaiah 14, Satan is recorded as making seven “I will” statements, culminating with ascending to the throne of the Most High—essentially saying, “I will be God.” Satan led the first rebellion against God, and we follow that same pattern.
In Genesis 3, Satan comes to Adam and Eve. God had given them a clear command regarding one tree in the garden: do not eat from it or you shall surely die. Satan whispers, “God’s holding out on you. He knows that on the day you eat of it, you’ll be like Him, knowing good and evil.” In other words: God is subjecting you as a divine oppressor and holding back what life is really about. They bought into the lie. They decided a sovereign God’s commands were merely suggestions, and they chose to act as their own gods. Mankind was plunged into depravity.
The Promise of the Messianic Kingdom
Yet, the Messianic Kingdom has its seeds right there in Genesis chapter 3. In verse 15, we see the first mention of a singular male pronoun—He—who will one day come and crush the serpent’s head, while having His own heel bruised.
Genesis 3:15 (NASB)
And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, And you shall bruise him on the heel.’
They didn’t know His name yet, but this “He” was expected to be the Messiah, the Anointed One, the Christ. The entire rest of the Old Testament explains who He is supposed to be.
There are two crucial Old Testament keys regarding this Messianic Kingdom. First, in Genesis 12, God gives Abraham what could arguably be called the three most important verses in the Bible: the Abrahamic Covenant.
Genesis 12:1-3 (NASB)
Now the LORD said to Abram, ‘Go forth from your country, And from your relatives And from your father’s house, To the land which I will show you; And I will make you a great nation, And I will bless you, And make your name great; And so you shall be a blessing; And I will bless those who bless you, And the one who curses you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.’
God unconditionally promises Abraham three things: land, seed, and blessing. He promises that through Abraham’s line, one will come who will be a blessing to the entire earth. So we know from Genesis 3:15 that “He” is coming, and from Genesis 12 that He will come through the line of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (whose name was changed to Israel). This means He will be a Jewish Messiah.
Second, in 2 Samuel 7, God makes it even more specific. David wants to build God a temple, but God tells him, “I don’t need you to build Me a house. Instead, I’m going to build you a house—an enduring dynasty where one of your descendants will sit on the throne forever.”
2 Samuel 7:12-16 (NASB)
’When your days are complete and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your descendant after you, who will come forth from you, and I will establish his kingdom. ’He shall build a house for My name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. ’I will be a father to him and he will be a son to Me; when he commits iniquity, I will correct him with the rod of men and the strokes of the sons of men, but My lovingkindness shall not depart from him, as I took [it] away from Saul, whom I removed from before you. ‘Your house and your kingdom shall endure before Me forever; your throne shall be established forever.’‘’
As you trace the Hebrew Scriptures, you see that He will be a Jewish man from the line of Abraham and specifically from the family tree of David. Isaiah describes Him beautifully:
Isaiah 9:6-7 (NASB)
For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; And the government will rest on His shoulders; And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace. There will be no end to the increase of [His] government or of peace, On the throne of David and over his kingdom, To establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness From then on and forevermore. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will accomplish this.
Everything in the Old Testament points toward the One who will reveal Himself as the Messiah.
The King Arrives: The Gospel of Matthew
With that backdrop, Jesus enters the scene. The Gospel of Matthew traces this promise with precision. Matthew wrote primarily to a Jewish audience, which is why his gospel is filled with direct Old Testament quotations. Furthermore, out of reverence, Jewish readers avoided writing the name of God; thus, Matthew frequently uses the synonymous phrase “the kingdom of heaven” instead of “the kingdom of God.”
Matthew wants his readers to know that Jesus doesn’t just meet two or three qualifications—He meets hundreds of prophecies. Matthew’s gospel can be divided into three primary sections regarding the kingdom:
- Chapters 1–12: The Messianic Kingdom is offered by King Jesus.
- Chapter 12: The King is rejected.
- Chapters 13–23: The Mystery (Spiritual) Kingdom is revealed.
- Chapters 24–25: The Olivet Discourse, pointing to the ultimate fulfillment of the Messianic Kingdom at Christ’s Second Coming.
Look at how Matthew begins his gospel:
Matthew 1:1 (NASB)
The record of the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah, the son of David, the son of Abraham:
Right off the bat, Matthew lays his cards on the table: Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham. Chapters 1 through 3 demonstrate how Jesus fulfills every qualification. He is born of a virgin (Matthew 1:21–23), born in Bethlehem as prophesied in Micah (Matthew 2:5–6), called out of Egypt (Matthew 2:14–15), and surrounded by the weeping foretold during Herod’s slaughter of the infants (Matthew 2:17–18).
In Matthew 4, Jesus is tempted in the wilderness. Satan offers Him a shortcut to rulership:
Matthew 4:8-10 (NASB)
Again, the devil took Him to a very high mountain and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory; and he said to Him, ‘All these things I will give You, if You fall down and worship me.’ Then Jesus said to him, ’Go, Satan! For it is written, ‘YOU SHALL WORSHIP THE LORD YOUR GOD, AND SERVE HIM ONLY.’’
Satan says, “I will give You all the kingdoms of the world right now—no cross required.” But Jesus recognizes there is no crown without the cross, and He commands Satan to leave.
Immediately after, Jesus launches His public ministry with a specific proclamation:
Matthew 4:17 (NASB)
From that time Jesus began to preach and say, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.’
Jesus announces that the long-awaited Messianic Kingdom is at hand. In the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5–7), He outlines what kingdom life looks like under the rule of the King.
In our culture, we struggle to understand what it means to be subject to a king. Our nation was founded on the rejection of a monarchy. We elect our leaders; if we dislike their policies, we vote them out. A king is entirely different. A king possesses absolute sovereignty and authority. He doesn’t check the latest opinion polls to tailor his policies to your preferences. He rules as sovereign, and we are his subjects.
Jesus makes it clear that entrance into this kingdom is not automatic:
Matthew 7:21-23 (NASB)
’Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven [will enter]. ’Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ ’And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; DEPART FROM ME, YOU WHO PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS.’
Entrance into the kingdom requires genuine surrender and faith in the King.
In Matthew 10, Jesus sends out the twelve disciples with specific instructions:
Matthew 10:5-7 (NASB)
These twelve Jesus sent out after instructing them: ’Do not go in [the] way of [the] Gentiles, and do not enter [any] city of the Samaritans; but rather go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. ’And as you go, preach, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’
At this stage, the offer goes exclusively to the lost sheep of the house of Israel: “The kingdom of heaven is at hand!”
Even John the Baptist, sitting on death row, sends messengers to ask, “Are You the One who is to come, or should we look for someone else?” Jesus points to the evidence: the blind see, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor hear good news (Matthew 11:2–5). Everything confirms He is the King.
The Rejection and the Mystery Kingdom
Then comes Matthew 12. The crowds begin to wonder, “Could this be the Son of David?” But the religious leaders reject Him outright:
Matthew 12:24 (NASB)
But when the Pharisees heard [this], they said, ‘This man casts out demons only by Beelzebul the ruler of the demons.’
They attribute the power of the Holy Spirit working through Jesus to Beelzebul (Satan). The leaders of Israel officially reject their King, and in doing so, reject the offered kingdom.
Notice what happens immediately after in Matthew 13: Jesus begins to teach in parables. When the disciples ask why His teaching method changed, Jesus explains:
Matthew 13:11-13 (NASB)
Jesus answered them, ’To you it has been granted to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been granted. ’For whoever has, to him [more] shall be given, and he will have an abundance; but whoever does not have, even what he has shall be taken away from him. ’Therefore I speak to them in parables; because while seeing they do not see, and while hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand.
A biblical “mystery” is a divine truth previously hidden in the Old Testament but now revealed. Because the King was rejected, Jesus begins to speak of a new expression of the kingdom: the Mystery or Spiritual Kingdom. In Matthew 13 alone, He gives seven parables describing what this kingdom is like.
Later, in Matthew 16, Peter confesses, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God,” and Jesus gives him the keys of the kingdom (Matthew 16:16–19).
Yet the disciples still expected an immediate political kingdom. In Matthew 20, the mother of James and John asks Jesus if her two sons can sit at His right and left hands when He establishes His throne. When Jesus enters Jerusalem on a donkey in Matthew 21, the crowds cry, “Hosanna to the Son of David!”
Matthew 21:9 (NASB)
The crowds going ahead of Him, and those who followed, were shouting, ‘Hosanna to the Son of David; BLESSED IS HE WHO COMES IN THE NAME OF THE LORD; Hosanna in the highest!’
They wanted a conquering king on their terms. But just days later, that same crowd would scream for His crucifixion.
In Matthew 24 and 25, during the Olivet Discourse on the Mount of Olives, Jesus looks ahead to the end of the age—to the Tribulation and His ultimate Second Coming, when the Messianic Kingdom will be established physically on earth.
At the Last Supper, Jesus said He would not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes (Luke 22:18). Revelation 19 describes that glorious return—not on a humble donkey, but on a white horse, returning in absolute triumph to reign as King of kings and Lord of lords.
The Age of the Gentiles
After His resurrection, the disciples were still wrestling with the timeline:
Acts 1:6-8 (NASB)
So when they had come together, they were asking Him, saying, ‘Lord, is it at this time You are restoring the kingdom to Israel?’ He said to them, ‘It is not for you to know times or epochs which the Father has fixed by His own authority; but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.’
Jesus redirects them. It wasn’t about an immediate political restoration for Israel; rather, they were to receive the Holy Spirit and take the gospel to Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the ends of the earth.
What is this middle ground between the rejection of the King and His physical return? The Apostle Paul explains this mystery in Romans 11:
Romans 11:11 (NASB)
I say then, they did not stumble so as to fall, did they? May it never be! But by their transgression salvation [has come] to the Gentiles, to make them jealous.
Israel’s rejection opened the door for the gospel to go to the Gentiles. Paul continues:
Romans 11:25 (NASB)
For I do not want you, brethren, to be uninformed of this mystery– so that you will not be wise in your own estimation– that a partial hardening has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in;
A partial hardening has happened to Israel until the “fullness of the Gentiles” comes in. We are living in that exact window right now—the mystery kingdom, the church age, where God is calling out a people for His name from every nation.
Paul writes to the Ephesians about this incredible grace:
Ephesians 3:4-6 (NASB)
By referring to this, when you read you can understand my insight into the mystery of Christ, which in other generations was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed to His holy apostles and prophets in the Spirit; [to be specific], that the Gentiles are fellow heirs and fellow members of the body, and fellow partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel,
God has brought Gentiles into the covenant promises as fellow heirs through Jesus Christ. Christ is currently seated at the right hand of the Father. He is reigning spiritually now, and He will return to reign physically on earth.
Three Realities for Kingdom Subjects
Living in this mystery kingdom carries three profound implications for our lives:
- We have a King, and His name is Jesus. Your belief or disbelief does not alter the objective reality that He is Lord. A day is coming when every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.
- We are called to actively participate in His kingdom. Christianity is not a spectator sport. We are not called to coast comfortably until heaven.
- We will give an account of our stewardship. We will stand before the King and answer for how we handled what He entrusted to us.
In Luke 19, Jesus tells a parable to correct the mistaken idea that the kingdom of God would appear immediately:
Luke 19:11-13 (NASB)
While they were listening to these things, Jesus went on to tell a parable, because He was near Jerusalem, and they supposed that the kingdom of God was going to appear immediately. So He said, ’A nobleman went to a distant country to receive a kingdom for himself, and [then] return. ’And he called ten of his slaves, and gave them ten minas and said to them, ‘Do business [with this] until I come [back].’
The nobleman represents Jesus. The distant country is heaven. The minas represent the gifts, gospel, and resources He entrusts to His servants. His command is clear: “Do business with this until I come back.”
When the nobleman returns after receiving his kingdom, he calls his servants to give an account. The servant whose mina made ten more is rewarded with authority over ten cities. The one who made five is given five cities. But the servant who hid his mina in a handkerchief and did nothing with it has even that taken away.
Luke 19:26 (NASB)
’I tell you that to everyone who has, more shall be given, but from the one who does not have, even what he does have shall be taken away.
This parable is not about our salvation—our sin was paid for in full at the cross. This is about stewardship under the authority of our King. Have we been about our Father’s business?
Time for an Inventory
The tragedy today is that the human rebellion against kingly authority has simply become more sophisticated. We say, “I put my faith in Jesus, so I’m saved. But I’m too busy to serve. I’ve got my career, my double major, my side hustles, my rent, my bills, my plans.” It becomes all about my kingdom, my comfort, and my success.
Jesus did not call you to Himself to promote your kingdom. You have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer you who live, but Christ who lives in you (Galatians 2:20). He called you to advance His kingdom.
That means viewing every day, every conversation, every class, and every job as an assignment to proclaim Christ. It means living with a daily urgency, knowing our King could return at any moment. There is no comparison between servants—whether you have ten minas or five, the question is simply: Are you being faithful with what you have been given?
We have far too many Christians sitting on the bench, focused entirely on building their own mini-kingdoms. But you are not the king. It is not about you. What does it profit a person to gain the whole world and forfeit their soul?
When I was a kid attending Dry Creek Elementary, I grew up on a ranch with cows, chickens, and a pig named Wilbur. My dad was a traveling auto parts salesman. Before leaving for days at a time, he would hand me a chore list: “Son, when I get back, I expect these things to be done.”
I couldn’t negotiate that contract. I couldn’t say, “Dad, I’ll do two of these, but I’ve got Atari to play.” When he returned, the first question was, “Where’s the list?” If the work wasn’t done, we had a serious conversation.
As my earthly father, he gave me both the privilege of sonship and the responsibility of the household. How much more does our divine King expect of us? You have received incredible privileges: your sins are forgiven, there is no condemnation, you are justified, sealed by the Holy Spirit, and adopted into God’s family. But along with those privileges comes an assignment: you are an ambassador of the King.
When Jesus returns or calls us home, the greatest words we could ever hear are: “Well done, good and faithful servant.”
Does your life reflect His kingdom, or are you waiting for Him to serve yours? It’s time for a paradigm shift. Let’s get about our Father’s business.
Closing Prayer
Father in heaven, thank You for Your grace and mercy that calls us out of our selfishness and out of the personal kingdoms we try to build. Thank You for rescuing us from the domain of darkness and transferring us into the kingdom of Your beloved Son.
Lord, give us eyes to see and ears to hear the opportunities You place before us each day—in our workplaces, our classrooms, our homes, and our neighborhoods. Free us from comparison and make us faithful stewards of Your gospel. May our lives bring glory to King Jesus, until the day He returns to establish His kingdom forever. We pray all these things in Jesus’ mighty name. Amen.