Distorting the Kingship of Jesus Christ

Isaiah 9.1-7

In this sermon of the Advent series, we will focus on one of the primary purposes of Jesus's coming. Jesus came to rescue us so that we can live under his kingship. Many of us have been taught that Jesus is the true king. However, many of us have a skewed understanding of what Jesus's kingship means. This also leads to a skewed understanding of salvation and of the gospel.

Our skewed understanding is very similar to the misguided expectations of the people of Israel. God, through Isaiah, promises that Jesus will be Israel's king. Jesus will destroy Israel's oppressors and establish an everlasting kingdom. The people of Israel understood these promises primarily from an economic or a military perspective since they were focused more on their circumstances (i.e., living in need and under the oppression and captivity of the Assyrians, Babylonians, Persians, and eventually the Romans).

We too place too much focus on our circumstances. Therefore, our desires for Jesus's kingship and salvation are also misguided: his kingship often means that our prayers and desires will be granted so that we live a comfortable or predictable life; his salvation often means that our life is filled with success or meaning. But the kingship and salvation of Jesus Christ are so much more than a life of comfort, predictability, success, or meaning!

In this passage, Jesus's kingship is not set to destroy military opposition, to grant us a satisfactory life, or to address any other circumstantial influence that is of secondary importance. Rather, the primary purpose of Jesus's kingship is to destroy our sin. He achieves this by being born as a vulnerable infant, living the perfect life of obedience to God, dying for the penalties of our sin, resurrecting to give us the power to live a life of worship, and returning to complete fully this gift of salvation.

This passage therefore reminds and challenges us to focus on the primary essence of the kingship and salvation of Jesus Christ. He came to destroy our sin so that we can live a life of worship unto God.

Questions:

1. What comes to mind when you think about Jesus being your king?

2. What specific aspects of Jesus's kingship were highlighted from this sermon/passage? In what ways do some of these specific aspects bring much comfort to you?

Do any of these specific aspects expose the ways that we've been focusing on secondary/superficial benefits from Jesus's kingship (rather than focusing on the primary purpose of Jesus’s kingship)?

3. The emphasis of the entire book of Isaiah is that our sin needs to be removed so that we can worship God. This enables us to understand Isaiah 9.1-7 better as well as salvation in general. Are we sometimes disappointed that one of the primary purposes of the gospel is to destroy our sin and to enable us to worship (i.e., do we sometimes prefer other benefits, like meaning, success, comfort, etc.)?

Share in your own words why true salvation is the destruction of sin and the ability to worship.