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Spirit of the Word - Covenant Eschatology - Introductory Note - New Stuff
From the Kingdom Of God series - Part 13 by J. Preston EbyCROWNING THE KING WITHIN
Men would rather crown Jesus King in Jerusalem, Israel or in London, England than in their own hearts. Let us suppose that Jesus is crowned King in the city of Jerusalem - suppose He returned in that same nail-scarred body; suppose He sat upon a throne ruling over the Kingdom of God on earth in the Holy Land, at Jerusalem. I can tell you, dear ones, that every airplane flying to the Middle East would be loaded with people going to see Jesus. Every mail-bag would be full of letters from those sick and afflicted, those in difficulty and trial, and gifts of homage to manifest men's gratitude and love. You yourself, let us say, are on one of those airplanes. And I do not doubt for one moment that even many who read these lines would be scrambling for tickets to Israel! The Ben-Gurion International Airport, when you arrive after your long flight, is blocked with planes from every nation.
After circling the airport for a dangerously long time you land, and board one of the multitude of tourist buses headed from Tel Aviv up to Jerusalem. Far as the eye can reach, the traffic creeps over the highways in an endless stream. You do not mind the scorching sun, the choking dust, the rude drivers, the elbowing crowds. You are in the Capital of the Kingdom of God on earth, and you will see Jesus!
Yonder, at last, in the far distance, are the glittering spires of the Holy Hill, above the burnished temple dome beneath which He sits. But what is that dark seething mass stretching for miles and miles between you and the Holy City? They have come from the north and from the south, and from the east and from the west, as you have, to look upon their King. They wish that His hands might be placed upon their head; that His arms might be thrown around them; that His eyes of compassion and love might be fixed upon them, and His voice of power fall into their ears. But it cannot be. You have come to have an audience with the King, but you will not see Him! They have been there for weeks, months, years, and have not seen Him. They are a meter or two nearer, and that is all. The thing is impossible. It is an anti-climax, and absurdity. It would be a social outrage; it would be a physical impossibility.If there were only one hundred million saints of God in the whole world, gathered out of all ages, and each scheduled a personal interview with Jesus; should Jesus spend only ten minutes with each; it would be exactly 1901.3 years before your turn would come, and then another two thousand years before your next ten minute audience with the King! And during all that time Jesus would not have attended to any matters in the entire universe other than these interviews twenty-four hours a day, unceasingly for millenniums! It should be obvious to every thinking mind that knowing Christ and crowning Him King and communing with Him and walking with Him must be upon some basis other than His individual, physical, appearance upon a material throne somewhere in the world!
So He says to all today who would crown Him in Jerusalem or in London or in any other place where He might be found, "It is very kind and earnest of you to come so far, but you mistake. Go away back from the walls of the Holy City, over the sea, and you will find Me in your own home. You will find Me where the shepherds found Me, doing their ordinary work; where the woman of Samaria found Me, drawing the water for the noon meal; where the disciples found Me, mending nets in their work clothes; where Mary found Me, among the commonplace household duties of a country village; where, since the day of Pentecost, all who have sought Me have found Me— within their very own
hearts." "If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with Him. Yet a little while, and the world sees me no more; but you see me: because I live, you shall live also. At that time you shall know that I AM IN MY FATHER, AND YOU IN ME, AND I IN YOU" (Jn. 14:19-20,23).Would that I had language to express a truth so infinite! The visible incarnation of God in the physical man Jesus Christ must of necessity be brief. Only a small circle could enjoy His actual presence, but a great and glorious and universal kingdom like the Kingdom of God needed a risen and glorified King. "I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send Him unto you...even the Spirit of Truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it sees Him not, neither knows Him: but you know Him: for He dwells with you (as Jesus), and shall be in you (as the Spirit). I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you" (Jn. 17:7; 14:17-18). It was expedient for the whole body of Kingdom subjects that He went away. He would be nearer man by apparently being further. The limitations of sense subjected Him while He stayed. He was subject to geography, locality, space, and time. But by going away in glorification He was able to return in mighty
Spirit-power, the incorruptible river of God's divine and eternal life, to flow and flow and flow, age after age, unceasingly, unlimitedly and untiringly into humanity as LIFE. My soul shouts a thousand hallelujahs that He went away! And He has come again. The King of glory has come to His temple of living stones and is crowned in the throne room in the hearts of redeemed men, new creation men, the sons and daughters of the Most High God! Should Jesus be crowned in the flesh, it would no more bring the Kingdom of God to earth than crowning any of the other kings of the world. We are to crown the Lord, the Spirit, as King in every place in our being, outer and inner.It was the humiliation of France, in the fifteenth century, that her king Charles VII, was not crowned in the proper city, where former kings were crowned. Joan of Arc, burning with the high resolve to remove this dishonor, and have the king crowned in Rheims, emerged from obscurity, gathered an army, drove the enemy back from one point to another, until she dislodged him from Rheims. The king came then. The crown was placed upon His brow in the right place; and the fair maiden, Joan, bowed at the foot of the throne, the tears of joy streaming down her beautiful cheeks. Where are we to crown our King? We are to crown Him in the most sacred and authoritative chamber of our nature from whence proceed the impulses and propensities of our spiritual life. Jesus taught His disciples to pray, "Your kingdom come, Your will be done in earth, as it is in heaven." So then the Kingdom of God originates in the realm of spirit (heaven) and finds expression in the physical realm (earth). If you walk after the spirit you will live, you receive the crown of life, the crown which IS LIFE, the dominion of life out of your spirit. The authority of life is in the spirit, even the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus. And this Spirit of Life is in YOUR SPIRIT, AND FROM THENCE HE WOULD BE CROWNED AND RULE IN LIFE OVER THE KINGDOM OF YOUR BEING.
Ah, the thing of importance is that the King be crowned in the right place. We are to crown Christ as King in every place of authority in this earth, but first and foremost, in every human heart.
The Kingdom Of God - Part 13 (2nd) - BACK
Spirit of the Word - Covenant Eschatology - Introductory Note - New Stuff
