The Reluctant King

(John 6:15)

What would you do if you had unlimited power? Would you use it for the good of your fellow man or use it to feather your own nest? Perhaps a bit of both? You know, help the under privileged but make sure you were comfortable yourself? Well we get an insight into the way the Lord thinks, and therefore how God thinks in this scripture.

Mans Way

It is the way of a man to seek power. The Lord knew it and he constantly upbraided the Pharisees and Sadducees and lawyers for their misuse of their position and authority. Jesus also warned his disciples about this problem so that they would not fall into the trap.

In the later letters of John and Revelation we see him talk about the Antichrist, or rather the many Antichrists that had and will arise. The primary problem that these men had was they took the place of Jesus Christ and tried to sit on his throne and take his authority for themselves.

This is the way of man in the world. They are proud, arrogant and self seeking. But this is not the way of God, and Jesus spent so much time trying to teach and warn his disciples about this issue.

The Lords Way

We get an insight into the Lords way in this scripture. The scripture says, “Perceiving then that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, Jesus withdrew again to the mountain by himself.”

Now if all of the people were going to come to a man and make him king, essentially deposing the existing ruler and set him up in their place, many men would be honored at such a thing. But what we see is that Jesus, when he realized this was happening, he left the people. Rather than seek the honor the people wished to bestow, he left them and went up on the mountain to pray by himself.

The reason he did this was shown in earlier scriptures in this and the previous chapter. Jesus said that he did not come in his own name but in the name of the Father. He came to seek the honor and glory of his Father, not to seek his own glory.

This is the way of the Lord. Humility, obedience and service to the Father. And it is the way that he showed his people to follow. He gave us the perfect example in the way he lived on this earth. For us the challenge is to live according to His standard. As he came to glorify and honor the Father, we too should honor the Son and give him the glory, not seek it for ourself.

King of Kings

When Jesus came he came as a servant. He came to serve the Father. He emptied himself of all the glory that he had with the Father to become a man and to suffer as a man even to die in the most horrific way so that we could have salvation.

But he was and he is the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. He came the first time as a servant, but when he returns the second time it will be in his full glory as the King of Kings. And even then he will still glorify the Father because he recognizes the authority of the Father and does not seek his own glory. He will come the second time not to deal with sin, he did that last time, but to take his throne and rightful place as King and to save those who are eagerly awaiting his return.

The time was not right when he first came to be a king, even though men wanted him to be the king. Instead he had a job to do to release man from the power of sin so that we could find life. Let us give him the honor he is due and take hold of the life he has offered us.

(Picture sourced from stock.xchng www.sxc.hu/ taken by SCapture)

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John

Hi! I’m John, the owner, author, and editor of this site. Over the past 50+ years as a Christian I have been teaching, preaching and writing about the Bible to help Christians gain a deeper insight into the scriptures that are easily understood. I also answer specific Bible related questions, so feel free to contact me.