I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True. With justice he judges and wages war. His eyes are like blazing fire, and on his head are many crowns. He has a name written on him that no one knows but he himself. He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood, and his name is the Word of God. The armies of heaven were following him, riding on white horses and dressed in fine linen, white and clean. Coming out of his mouth is a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations. “He will rule them with an iron scepter.” He treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty. On his robe and on his thigh he has this name written:
KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS.
— Revelation 19:11-16 (NIV)
I’ve heard it said that everyone’s an athlete — but not everyone’s a good athlete. Of course, “good” depends primarily on context! For instance, I was a good high school athlete. Good enough to earn a volleyball scholarship to college, which in the small town I grew up in was good enough to get my picture in the local paper, thereby earning my mom bragging rights for at least a week or two! Mind you, the university I earned a scholarship to was a small school where student athletes from small towns could still make the cut.
By the end of my first collegiate season, I’d progressed from good to better as the result of hundreds of hours in the gym running drills, scrimmaging, and playing tournaments almost every weekend. By my senior year, I’d progressed into a pretty good volleyball player at the Division 1 AA level and was even recognized as Player of the Week by our local McDonalds, which earned me an extra-large serving of chicken nuggets and fries. It wasn’t the cover of Sports Illustrated, but it was still a big deal in my tiny corner of the sporting world!
However, not long after graduation my competitive context was significantly widened when I got invited to play in an exhibition game with a couple of other former collegiate volleyball players. For some sadistic reason the coach decided to put me at the net directly across from a very nice, very tall girl who’d been an All-American at a large, Division 1 school and was currently on the U.S. National Team.
I don’t remember how long it took for the ball to get set to her because I was just desperately trying to mirror her lightning-fast lateral movements in the hopes of blocking the ball she was going to try and slam onto our side of the court. But when it happened, everything came into hyper focus. I squatted so deep in preparation to block her attack that my bottom almost kissed the court, then I sprang upwards with what felt like the power of a cheetah. I jumped so high that both my hands and forearms soared above the net, effectively creating a flesh wall that would surely be impenetrable, even for an All-American.
Time stood still as I hung there suspended in space while simultaneously watching her left arm whip forward with such power and velocity that the leather volleyball exploded through my wimpy “wall” and struck me smack in the face so hard that it knocked me flat on my back. People who witnessed our lopsided encounter at the net described it as a rowboat going head-to-head with the Titanic. All these years later, I can still remember how little white stars danced in front of my dazed eyes and how that Sesame Street tune — one of these things is not like the other ones — played in my head after I was pancaked.
Not Just Any King
When Scripture describes Jesus as The King of all kings (1 Timothy 6:15, Revelation 17:14, and Revelation 19:16), it’s painting the portrait of One who’s different than all other kings, queens, emperors, presidents, prime ministers, chiefs, multi-starred generals, and rulers in human history. And infinitely more unique than the volleyball phenom I faced — who normally competed against world-class athletes like herself, not regular-class chicks like me.
Jesus is in a league completely by Himself. He’s transcendent; there’s never been and never will be a sovereign like our Savior. Which is why people had a hard time wrapping their minds around His reign during His earthly ministry. Even James and John, who were two of the three disciples closest to Jesus, assumed He’d ultimately rule over some type of humanish, hierarchical kingdom as evidenced by how they tried to curry future favor:
Then James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to him. “Teacher,” they said, “we want you to do for us whatever we ask.”
“What do you want me to do for you?” he asked.
They replied, “Let one of us sit at your right and the other at your left in your glory.”
— Mark 10:35-37 (NIV)
Geez Louise, they might as well have asked the Messiah to use His omniscience to help them pick numbers for the Power Ball!
The Only Savior Who Suffered
It’s not until the King of all kings condescends to a criminal’s death on a cross that a Roman centurion — who would hardly qualify as religious — recognized the supremacy of Jesus.
The title “centurion” indicates that he was an enlisted man who had the guts and gumption to rise through the ranks and become a military leader. Which means he’d surely seen his share of deceitful despots and cruel kings, given the greed and violence of the Greco-Roman era. Yet, as he watched the crucifixion that tough-as-nails soldier realized he’d been bowing to the wrong ruler:
At noon, darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon. And at three in the afternoon Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” (which means “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”).
When some of those standing near heard this, they said, “Listen, he’s calling Elijah.”
Someone ran, filled a sponge with wine vinegar, put it on a staff, and offered it to Jesus to drink. “Now leave him alone. Let’s see if Elijah comes to take him down,” he said.
With a loud cry, Jesus breathed his last.
The curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. And when the centurion, who stood there in front of Jesus, saw how he died, he said, “Surely this man was the Son of God!”
— Mark 15:33-39 (NIV; emphasis mine)
It wasn’t an imperial palace, a gilded throne, or hordes of adoring citizens submitting to His authority that convinced the centurion Jesus was divine — it was His sacrificial death. And since that first Easter weekend, Christianity is the only religion in the world whose belief system centers around a Savior who suffered. We’re the only ones who place our hope in a deity who was willing to die so that we could live. Only a king like that — who chose to lay down His crown and be crushed on behalf of His people — can rightfully be called The King of all kings.
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Lisa has been lauded as a compelling communicator, whose writing and speaking emphasize that accruing knowledge about God pales next to a real and intimate relationship with Jesus. Her resume includes over 30 years of church and para-church ministry leadership, including 6 years as the director of Focus on the Family's national women's ministry where she created the popular "Renewing the Heart" conferences, which were attended by almost 200,000 women, as well as a decade of touring with "Women of Faith," where she spoke to over a million women about the unconditional love of God.
