In the 12th century, a German bishop introduced his world to Prester John, a “king and priest … who lives … in the remote East, and who, with all his people, (are) Christians.
“His fame and his wealth is so great that he uses an emerald sceptre only,” this bishop wrote.
Of course, this splendid king captured many people’s attention, and they grew even more excited in 1165, when Prester John himself apparently wrote a letter.
“I surpass all under heaven in virtue, in riches, and in power,” he boasted.
He even claimed to reign over “nearly all living animals,” including red lions, white bears, and fire-dwelling salamanders. Finally, he said, he owned a fountain of youth to keep him forever young.
Despite the obvious hoax, the lure of this magnificent kingdom and its king still inspired explorers during the next 400 years to find him and his kingdom, and not all returned.
But they didn’t have to risk their lives—or even leave their homes. They could have simply read Genesis 1 and 2.
When God created the world, He created a kingdom with a world of riches, fascinating animals, and people who would never die.
But then the serpent told those people about another kingdom, one where they would rule without God interfering. “Ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil,” he assured them.
Adam and Eve believed the hoax, and they abandoned the Kingdom where God ruled through love for a kingdom where death ruled through cancer, genocide, slavery, abuse, and pride.
And for about 4,000 years, no one could find this lost kingdom—until shepherds looked in a manger after the angels told them, “For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.”
About 30 years after this Christmas proclamation, this promised King no longer needed an angel’s testimony. His entire life testified for Him. Jesus spoke with the authority of God (Matthew 7:28, 29; Luke 4:32). He healed the lame, fed the multitudes, cast out demons, and “manifested forth His glory” (John 2:11). In fact, the Greek word that translators changed to “miracles” means “signs” or “indications,” proofs of Jesus’ potentate power.
Even Jesus’ death testified He came to reign.
“Now is the judgment of this world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out. And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me” (John 12:31, 32).
Then the resurrection crowned Jesus as the “KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS” (Revelation 19:16), who “is gone into heaven, and is on the right hand of God; angels and authorities and powers being made subject unto Him” (1 Peter 3:22). Peter particularly emphasized this when he identified Jesus as the Christ, or “Messiah” in Hebrew—the anointed King from David’s prophesies of Psalm 16 and 110.
Because of the resurrection, Jesus doesn’t just reign over disciples, however. He reigns through them. The Apostle Paul, for instance, likens Jesus’ resurrection to the ascension of a conquering king, who fills all and leads the church to unleash a revolution of righteousness (Ephesians 1:19-23; 4:9, 10).
This power apparently thrilled Paul as much as Heaven’s hope.
“I count everything as loss …that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection,” he wrote.
He also prayed the Ephesians would embrace “… the exceeding greatness of his power to usward who believe, according to the working of His mighty power, which He wrought in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead.”
Paul, of course, never minimized the importance of the crucifixion as he shared the gospel of the kingdom, and likewise, Christians today still rightfully attribute salvation to Jesus’ death. As the author of Hebrews wrote, “Without shedding of blood is no remission.”
But the apostles did not treat the empty tomb like a mere exclamation point at the end of a gospel that focuses primarily on the cross and Heaven. They treated the cross as the door by which people can escape the tombs of their lives and walk in “newness of life,” as Paul told the Romans.
“As Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life … For in that He died, He died unto sin once: but in that He liveth, He liveth unto God.
“Likewise, reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord,” he wrote.
So this Easter, may Christians worldwide sing with the saints of Revelation, “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain.”
And may they also lovingly serve Him as the King of kings and Lord of lords.
