The Kingship of Christ in The New Covenant

The Perfect Fulfillment

If we are to rightly understand the Scripture we must see the beauty and consistency of the covenants made across the history of the Bible. Out of His grace and mercy, God has covenanted with us even though we are not worthy of the blessings He has bestowed upon us. He promised to send the seed of the woman to crush the head of the serpent (Genesis 3:15). To the patriarch Abraham He gave the blessed gift of a promised son who would make his descendants as many as the sand on the seashore which is ultimately fulfilled in Christ (Genesis 12:1-3 and Galatians 3:29). He covenanted with Noah as he came to dry land as well as the people of Israel with Moses at Sinai (Genesis 9:8-17 and Exodus 19:5-6). God gave David the covenantal promise of a descendant on the throne forever pointing to Christ’s eternal reign over His kingdom that has already begun (2 Samuel 7:12-17, Luke 1:32-33, Matthew 28:18-20, and 1 Corinthians 15:24-26). Ultimately, Christ in the New Covenant is the fulfillment of all that the Old Testament “covenants of promise” pointed forward to (Ephesians 2:11-13).

The Old Covenant promised The Prophet who would come as the Messiah (Deuteronomy 18:18). Jesus is The Prophet who has come (John 1:45, Acts 3:22-23, and Acts 7:37). All of the Old Covenant sacrificial system and priesthood pointed forward to the perfect sacrifice of Christ who would lay down His life perfectly for the sins of His people who never have to offer sacrifice again (Hebrews 10:11—14). He is our high priest as foreshadowed by the Old Covenant (Hebrews 9:11). In the New Covenant, we must give attention to the reality that Christ is not only our prophet and priest, He is our king! The same text which speaks of Christ’s perfect sacrifice also says that He has “sat down at the right hand of God, waiting from that time until His enemies should be made a footstool for His feet. (Hebrews 10:12-13). Christ is reigning now, He is conquering now, He is taking dominion now, He is building His kingdom now, and if we are to be faithful to Him we must realize the totality of His role as our priest, prophet, and king!

A Truncated Covenantal Theology

Failure to see the supremacy of Christ as our priest leads to a disastrous distrust in His finished sacrifice on the cross, hence why some would blasphemously argue we should continue the sacrificial system today. A neglect of His role as our prophet will lead to us seeking to run outside of His sufficient revelation of Himself in the pages of Scripture to all kinds of
“extrabiblical revelation” which is not a faithful action as the people of God.¹ These two points must be fought against if we are to rightly see the glory of Christ. This article is focused on His kingship because it is this point that I am convinced needs to be given a robust understanding amongst conservative evangelical circles today, especially in the light of the glory of the covenantal promises of Scripture.

To say that Christ is not truly reigning now is to cut the legs out from under biblical covenantal theology. It was promised in the Old Covenant that when the Messiah came He would come to reign over His kingdom. Isaiah 42:1-9 and 49:1-7 are overflowing with references to the justice the Messiah would bring to the nations. Take Isaiah 49:5-7 as a specific example:

“And now the Lord says, he who formed me from the womb to be his servant, to bring Jacob back to him; and that Israel might be gathered to him—for I am honored in the eyes of the Lord, and my God has become my strength—he says: ‘It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to bring back the preserved of Israel; I will make you as a light for the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.’ Thus says the Lord, the Redeemer of Israel and his Holy One, to one deeply despised, abhorred by the nation, the servant of rulers: ‘Kings shall see and arise; princes, and they shall prostrate themselves; because of the Lord, who is faithful, the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you.’” -Isaiah 49:5-7

How do we actually know this text is being fulfilled right now today? It is because Paul and Barnabas literally quote from Isaiah 49:6 when preaching the Gospel (see Acts 13:47-48). Psalm 2 calls on the kings of the earth to bow before the Son lest He be angry and they perish for He holds the rod of iron of authority over the nations. In Revelation speaking to the church of Thyatira, Jesus says that He will give authority to the one who conquers over the nations granting them to rule them with a rod of iron as He has already received authority from His Father (Revelation 2:26-27). To fail to understand all of this will result in a lack of understanding of Christ’s ability to command us as individuals as our king, an insufficient theology of the public square to address magistrates today, and a lack of deep theology showing how to obey Christ in every realm of life. To only see Him as our prophet and priest would be to relegate obedience to Christ as only pertaining to matters of salvation and heaven while not seeking to honor Him as Lord today. All of which is precisely many of the issues we see within numerous evangelical circles today.

Applying The Kingship of Christ

As believers of the New Covenant, we know the reality that Christ Jesus is our king. Part of the promise of the New Covenant is that He would put His law within our hearts (Jeremiah 31:33). Since He is the Sovereign we are obligated to obey Him and to teach all He has commanded to the nations (Matthew 28:18-20). The only way to be brought into the New Covenant is to submit to Christ by the power of the Gospel that brings salvation. As a result of the redemption given to us solely by grace, we seek to live by and declare all of His Word. Therefore, some who claim the name of Jesus while totally despising His commandments is walking in a way that testifies for a lack of love to Christ because our love for Him is expressed by obedience (John 14:15). A people who seek to build a rule or framework for life that is not in direct submission to Christ and His Word is refusing to live underneath His kingship.

Applying this directly, the New Covenant people of Christ should seek to submit to His will in every area of life and strive to bring others into submission to Christ through the proclamation of the Gospel and the entire Word of God. Why could the early church declare the truth so boldly in the face of powerful opposition? Because Caesar is not king, Jesus Christ is the Sovereign Authority which means even Caesar is obligated to kiss the Son or face His wrath (Acts 17:7 and Psalm 2). In terms of the public square, for us to build a public theology or approach the realm of government in a way that is not explicitly in submission to Christ and built upon the foundation of Scripture is to reject His kingship in the New Covenant as His people seeking to apply His Word in all of life. As a New Covenant member, if I strive to honor Christ only in my heart and soul but not in how I approach the culture, then I am failing to recognize the reality that Christ is not only priest but also king, and I am duty bound to serve in light of the whole of who Christ is or I am being disobedient.

As the New Covenant people, we must follow Christ and live in light of His work as our prophet, priest, and king. May we rejoice in the salvation He has given to us even as we proclaim the riches of His grace to the nations. Let us see the sufficiency of His revelation in the Scripture as our prophet knowing that He has revealed everything we need to know in order to honor Him. May we honor Him as our king as we seek to obey Him as individuals in all walks of life and then unashamedly call the rulers of the earth into obedience to His entire Word. This is our calling as His people and He is with us to the end of the age empowering us every step of the way (Matthew 28:20). The glory of Christ in the New Covenant should fuel us to pursue all of this as we seek to praise His name. He is indeed king, and He is not an incompetent king at all. No, my friends, He is building His kingdom which shall last for eternity. What a blessed privilege it is to be an ambassador of that kingdom today even as we look forward to its consummation when He returns!

Sources

¹ The heavens testify to the glory of God according to Psalm 19. I have in mind here individuals who claim to be giving a message from God or who would say we should add to the sufficient Word of God. Such talk is driven by a lack of understanding of the sufficiency of Scripture which is a direct attack against the sufficiency of Christ’s work as our prophet.