Jesu Juva

“This Is Our King”

Text: Revelation 1:5b-7

In the (+) Name of Jesus. Amen.

He made us a kingdom. That’s what we just heard, in the reading from Revelation.

Usually when we think of kingdoms, we think of countries or lands. But He made US a kingdom. God’s kingdom is not a place, but a people.

He made us a kingdom by freeing us from our sins by His blood. Kingdoms rise and fall by wars and battles, and this kingdom is no exception. The battle was fierce and the warfare long. There was blood shed. The blood of God.

There had to be. This could be no bloodless coup, no bloodless battle. For to be in His kingdom, to be priests to His God and Father, we needed the forgiveness of our sins. And without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sins.

So Jesus did. He shed His blood for us. Because He loves us. In love He created the world. In love He redeemed the world. And in love, He comes now to save you and me. His love would let Him do no less.

And He is coming again, with the clouds. He is with us now. He is not absent, just unseen. But when He comes again, every eye will see Him, even those who pierced Him. For some it will be in dread. For us, it will be in joy.

This week, we remember that He was pierced. His head with a crown of thorns. His back with the end of the whip. His hands and feet with nails. And His side with a spear. And His blood that flowed from those wounds that brought Him death brought us life.

This week we hear the story again, and we picture in our heads what it was like. But one day we will see. For when He returns the holes will still be there. Not as signs of our sin, but as testimonies of His love.

I think of our soldiers who have returned from war, often horribly maimed. Some are blinded, some have lost limbs, some with traumatic brain injuries. When Jesus returns, He will not be like that, a horribly maimed Saviour - in His resurrection He is glorified. Yet He kept the holes. They are as precious to Him as you are. He keeps the holes that we see Him forever as the God who so loved the world that He bled and died for us. And that seeing Him like that, we thank and praise Him for such love. That to save a slave, God gave His Son.

So thanks and praise mark this Holy Week. We will thank and praise Jesus for all this, even though we see now only with the eyes of faith. This is not a week of mourning and sadness, but a week of solemn thanks and praise. So we’ll thank and praise Him tomorrow as we eat the Body and drink the Blood that was offered up on the cross for us. We’ll thank and praise Him on Friday in the darkness as we remember when the one who is the Light of the world was snuffed out in death. We’ll thank and praise Him on Saturday that all His words and promises of old are fulfilled in Jesus.

For He has made us a kingdom, and this is our King, to whom thanks and praise are due. A good and gracious King. A loving and merciful King. A King who came not to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for us. The work is done. The gifts are given. And we thank and praise Him for them. We do so now. And we will do so forever.

In the (+) Name of Jesus. Amen.