Let's take our Bibles and look together in Revelation chapter one. We've been in this portion before, as we're studying through the different titles of our Lord Jesus Christ found throughout scripture, doing so alphabetically. We're in the Ps. We saw last time the Prince of Peace. And in this message, we're going to consider Christ the Prince of Kings. Christ the Prince of Kings. This is how he's described here in the revelation of Jesus Christ to John while he was on the Isle of Patmos. The book of Revelation, opens with this magnificent description of Jesus Christ. That's who it's about revelation of Jesus Christ, not revelations, but the revelation of Jesus Christ and not about times and seasons, but about Jesus Christ. So as you study through the book of revelation, if you're looking for anything, but the Lord Jesus Christ, you've missed it. And here we have the key in this very first chapter. Verse four says, John to the seven churches, which are in Asia, grace be unto you and peace from him, which is and which was and which is to come. And from the seven spirits, seven is the number of completion. So it's a way of describing the complete Godhead in the spirit, which are before his throne. here it is in verse 5, from Jesus Christ who is the faithful witness and first begotten of the dead and the prince of the kings of the earth unto him that loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood and hath made us kings and priests unto God and his father to him be glory and dominion forever and ever amen. What a beautiful depiction of the Lord Jesus Christ. Here, what I've just read in verse five, he's described in three powerful ways. One, he's called the faithful witness. I know people keep talking about being a good witness for Christ, but there's none that was more faithful as a witness to his father than the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the perfect revelation of God. And how is he the witness testifying of God the Father, not only in word, but in deed. There's none of us that could ever say that we've been faithful witnesses. We might be able to say, well, we've attempted to be, but how we fail and how we fall, but Christ is the faithful witness. the substitute, he had to answer to every requirement of God the Father for God to be just to justify that people that he came to represent, so there was only truth in him, no deviation. Secondly, he's called the first begotten of the dead, this talks about his resurrection and when it's the first begotten of the dead, It means that he's the first to have been raised from the dead by his own hand. He said that no man takes my life. I lay it down on myself and I take it up again, such as the commandment that I've received of my father. There were others that he had raised from the dead, but as far as being the first begotten from the dead, this would be as the father's representative. had paid the sin debt and now he rose from the grave and his resurrection from the grave is the evidence that God had justified that people for whom he died. So that resurrection, him being the first begotten of the dead, we can talk about the resurrection but the resurrected one would be a better way to speak of him is our hope of future resurrection because he lives, we too shall live. Paul wrote about that to the Corinthians in first Corinthians 15. I know you stop and think about some of what the scriptures declare here and it just seems impossible to believe that every one of those that has ever died will be raised from the grave. some unto eternal life, those that the Lord Jesus Christ paid their sin debt and some unto condemnation, those that had no ransom. If it were possible to go back and even dig up, sometimes you find bones and relics but everyone that has ever lived on this earth is going to rise from the dead. There's going to be one resurrection. of the just and the unjust is the way it's put there in Revelation 21. And as impossible as that seems, stop and think about how this world was created. God spoke the world into existence. And when Christ, the Archangel, he is the Archangel, the Prince of angels, we're going to be saying here's the Prince of Kings, but when he comes and descends from heaven and the sound of his voice is like a trumpet, all that are dead will rise. Those that he redeemed will be with him forever and those that were left to themselves will be cast into utter darkness. But that life is within this sun. And then the third description that we see here is that of what we want to look at in this message, the Prince of the Kings of the earth. That word Prince, it might seem a bit diminutive to think, well, Prince Kings, isn't a King over a Prince. but this word signifies one who rules and reigns. And so when it says he's the Prince of the Kings of the earth, he is overall the Kings of the earth. Let's not forget that whenever we get discussing politics and powers that be and rulers and presidents and all this, Every one of them stands based upon God Himself, the Lord Jesus Christ. And so this is an expression literally to tell us that He rules over all earthly authorities, not just ones that we deem good, but even the evil. So we're going to focus on this third title, Christ the Prince of the Kings of the Earth. And this is crucial. I believe in understanding in a world where rulers, earthly rulers rise and fall and men pay them homage. We see it whenever different ones are visiting one another, all the pomp and circumstance and everything surrounding these men. And yet they're just mere men. They live and move and have their being in the Lord Jesus, else they would be dead. It's like one man said, they put their pants on the same way as anybody else. And they sit on the pot the same way as anybody else. It's not, there's nothing that you're to look at to revere these men to think that somehow they're more dignified than others. Here, there's one overall who has their lives and their power in his hands. That's what this means here. The Prince of the Kings of the earth. Where the power seems to, and that's where man goes awry, tries to make it look like that's really within their hands. They might have the authority to rule, but they don't have the power to rule. That's the difference between human authorities and Christ himself. Christ not only has the authority, but the power, all power is given unto me in heaven and earth. And so this is an important lesson for us to see that where their power seems to be strong at one point, where nations seem to be in a position of great strength, given a certain amount of time, pretty soon there's a change. But one thing that never changes is who's seated on the throne. Our Lord Jesus Christ reigns supreme overall. That might be another way of understanding this title, the Prince of Kings. So let's look at that together. Number one, seeing this as Christ's supreme authority, different ways you could use the word sovereignty or whatever, but it describes his supreme authority. This phrase Prince of the Kings of the earth means that the Lord Jesus is the ultimate power over every earthly ruler, none rules, but what it's by the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is important because most of the time we think, well, he's ruling in his church. And so that's where his reign is his domain. No, it's over all the Kings. He's not merely one ruler among many. It says he is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. And this is certainly again, the revelation of Jesus Christ. When you get back to revelation chapter 19, same book and verse 16, he hath on his vesture and on his thighs, a name written name referring to his character. What's written King of Kings and Lord of Lords. I like the way the translators put that in all caps. to emphasize it because that's what it is. So if he's the one who has supreme authority, first of all, his authority comes from God, the father himself. This is God's son whom God, the father purpose should be exalted in Matthew 28, 18. When Christ was ascending into glory, he told his disciples, all power is what given unto me. Well, what was given unto him or by whom in heaven and earth? Well, it would have been given not from among men. There weren't, you know, when people say, well, we need to acknowledge Christ as King or make him King. No. That's not anything we do. He's already been made King. He didn't come down here to campaign to see how many people would choose him or even wait on earthly armies to give him any kind of authority here. When he says all power is given unto me, he's referring to his father. This was divinely given and therefore every earthly leader ultimately answers to him. Even in this life, they don't acknowledge it. They will in death. They will stand before him, or I should say, bow before him who has all authority. So his authority comes from God. But secondly, as supreme ruler, he rules over nations and kingdoms. There's no one man today that can say that they rule over nations and kingdoms. Everybody's got their little fiefdom where they rule and they're all trying to spread the borders and make them larger and enlarge their, their power. But there's none who has ever been able to say that they have ruled over all nations and kingdoms. Some have tried when you go back to Alexander, the great. The kingdoms that he conquered in his day, it is said that when he had finished, he sat down and wept because there was nothing more to conquer. But still, even though he stretched his authority over all of these different kingdoms that he conquered, yet he didn't have power over them. That's why eventually he fell. That's why his kingdom fell. That's why the Roman government, Roman empire fell. In essence, they stretched themselves too thin and whether they acknowledged it or not, they were really serving Christ's purpose. That's what I love about the book of Daniel. That vision that was revealed to Daniel showed that the outworking of all of these nations and kingdoms that were to come, whether it was Assyria, Babylon, Medes and Persians, Greeks, and then Roman, this was all serving Christ's kingdom. His kingdom is the only one that is eternal. This was written way before even Christ came to this earth. Look in Psalm chapter 2. I love this psalm because it glorifies the Lord Jesus Christ as the prince of all the earth, of the kings of the earth. In Psalm 2, We read here, why do the heathen rage and the people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth, that's what we're looking at. He's the Prince of the kings of the earth. Set themselves and the rulers take counsel together, who? Against the Lord and against His anointed one. That would be against Jehovah God, the Father and His anointed, who was that? Christ. saying, let us break their bands asunder and cast away their cords from us. But what he that sitteth in the heaven shall laugh. The Lord shall have them in derision." There he is, the Prince of the Kings of the earth. When it speaks of rulers who rebel against God or against His anointed Christ, Here it speaks in a pretty strong language that it's the Lord that laughs. You've heard that expression, who gets the last laugh? Well, the Lord always does. There's no government that can ever overthrow Christ's reign. And certainly that's been proven down through history. But thirdly, for him to have supreme authority, that means that he directs the course of history. We don't know one second from now what the Lord has purposed but looking back, we can see how the Lord has directed the history of this world and he's directed it for his glory and honor. Even though this world may seem chaotic right now and everybody positioning themselves and trying to juxtapose and build alliances and do all these things, guess what? The Lord Jesus is still on the throne and directing all things from his throne. You don't read anywhere in scripture that he's in control by the way. That's just verbiage that men use. Well, he's in control, controls all things. Get rid of that. Just rip it out of your dictionary. Now he directs all things. He has ordained all things. And there's not one thing that takes place in this world, has ordained it. Look in Daniel chapter 2 and verse 21. We're reminded of that here. Daniel chapter 2 and verse 21. It says here, he removeth kings and setteth up kings. So any kind of, I don't care if it's an overthrow or one king dying or staying in power long enough to fade away, lose their memory, all of these things, it's the Lord. And that's what's revealed right here through this dream that Nebuchadnezzar had in Daniel chapter two and verse 21. He changes the times and the seasons. Might be a peaceful time right now and then all of a sudden, whoa, now it's a time of war. He removed the kings and set up kings. He giveth wisdom unto the wise. This has to do with rulers. You stop and think about what some of these men that have no knowledge of God have to handle with regard to running their countries and nations. It's the Lord that's still giving them wisdom. knowledge to them that no understanding and that's who Christ is. Every leader, I don't care how powerful or how corrupt a dictator they may be because it's the kings of the earth, doesn't say just the good kings, but every leader is placed under his sovereign will to do with what he will. even when we see corruption and injustice. We rest in the fact that God is the one who has purposed it all and it is his purpose that will prevail. But secondly, that's how we see Christ's supreme authority. But secondly, his dominion over his people. I don't wanna ignore that, that there is a people that God has chosen by his grace out of all of fallen humanity and for that people He sent His Son into this world that He might pay their sin debt and redeem them unto God out of this fallen world. And so in that, we see where He is indeed the Prince. As children of God, we are not just subjects under Christ's rule as if, well, everybody is, so we're thrown in with a lot. No, there's something special and precious of how the scriptures describe the Lord's people as being redeemed and justified and called out by his authority and nothing being able to hinder. That's an amazing thing. Christ said, I'll build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. So this shows how he rules over his people and he rules both in love and justice. Where the psalmist says, mercy and truth have met together, righteousness and peace have kissed one another. How do you reconcile God's love with his justice? These that were given to his son deserve his wrath just like anybody else. And yet the scriptures say he loved his own under the end, but justice answered that love in that when Christ laid down his life, it's because God had loved this particular people, just like he loved his son. And therefore justice being satisfied, we, if we're the Lord's benefit from both His love and His justice. We don't need to fear His justice because Christ satisfied it. And we can rest in His love because it's an everlasting love. Unlike earthly rulers who often seek their own power, Christ rules in righteousness and mercy. Righteousness and peace have met together where? In His person, in His death. In fact, that's why Christ said in John chapter 10, if you go back in John 10 and look at who is this people for whom he came into this world, and he's the prince of kings of this earth, and we read it there in Revelation 1, 6, that he has made unto himself a kingdom of priests. Well, he did it by laying down his life as the good shepherd. Here in John chapter 10 and verse 11, he says, I am the good shepherd. When you study through the scriptures, you'll see three descriptions of Christ as a shepherd, the good shepherd, the great shepherd, and the chief shepherd, but he is that to his own. If he weren't sovereign over all, the earth, then he couldn't be sovereign even in salvation. There would be an area and element then that would say, well, if he's not sovereign overall, then he's not sovereign over some and thereby his will not be accomplished. No, he's sovereign overall that he might be to his people, this good shepherd that gives his life for his sheep. That's how he rules with love and justice. We've never read of any other example among rulers in this world where you could say these two attributes have met together, love and justice. Most rulers of the world, if not all, love themselves. They love the power, they love the glory. And as we're seeing because of fallen flesh, when it comes to justice, there isn't any. It's tainted and it's full of corruption, but not with Christ. So he has dominion over his people. There's that specific people for whom he came into this world and he gave his life in order to have victory over their sin and over death. So Christ is not just the Prince of Kings in a general sense. but he's the conqueror. He went forth to conquer and what? Conquered both sin and death. Aren't those the greatest enemies that we could ever face? And his resurrection from the dead, as we saw there, he's the first begotten from among the dead in Revelation 1.5. It proves that's why he was raised from the grave to prove that he had not only power over the grave, but over sin. The sin of his people could not keep him in the grave. That's a wonderful thing to think about. He lay in that grave for three days and three nights as a proof that he had died, but our sin could not keep him there because that sin had already been put away on the cross. And therefore he rose from the grave. Why did he raise? Not to raise, not to reign someday, but to reign now. This was the testimony of the apostles when they preached there on the day of Pentecost and Christ poured out his spirit. Look in Acts chapter two with me briefly. What was the whole purpose for the pouring out of the tongues on that day? languages is what that word tongues means. Well it was to show as Peter preached that that same Jesus that they had taken and crucified, God had raised him up wherewith we are all witnesses. See men and brethren verse 29 of Acts 2, let me freely speak unto you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried and his sepulcher is with us unto this day. Therefore being a prophet and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that of the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh, he would raise up Christ to sit on his throne." There's some people that argue today that Christ has never sat on David's throne yet and so he has to come back and sit on some physical throne in Jerusalem. haven't read the scriptures, keep reading. When it says that he would raise up Christ to sit on his throne, you notice there's a semicolon there. He seen this before spake of the resurrection of Christ. When did Christ rise up to sit on David's throne? When he rose from the grave. There's not any more prophecy yet to be fulfilled somehow where he has to come back and there's a parenthesis and now he's got to sit down on some physical throne over in Jerusalem. No, that's all done away. And that his soul was not left in hell. That's the word Hades or the place of the dead. That's where he was for those three days and three nights proclaiming victory to those that waited for him all the way back to Adam. Abraham, Job, all of these would have seen him come to them still in the grave awaiting but that his flesh did not see corruption. Where was the body? The whole time his soul was in Hades down in the place of the dead. Well his body lay in a grave but you normally take a body for three days, it's going to stink. The women thought that they needed to come with different spices to try to preserve the body. Even in that they were ignorant, but when they showed up the first day of the week, Christ had already risen. He didn't need those things to preserve that body. It was God that preserved it. This Jesus, it says, have God raised up where we all are witnesses. Therefore being by the right hand of God, exalted, having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, He has shed forth this which ye now see and hear." The reason why they spoke in languages was effectively for this very reason we're studying, that Christ was the King over all of His people which were people that had been chosen out by God the Father from every tribe, nation, and tongue. So they heard the glories of Christ being preached by these Galileans in their own language. And it was for their sake that these languages are given, but also, as it says here, to show that God had exalted them to his right hand. It says, David is not ascended into heavens, but he saith himself, the Lord said unto my Lord, sit thou on my right hand until I make thy foes thy footstool. Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly God hath made that same Jesus whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ. So this is what it means for him to be Prince, not only over the Kings of the earth, but having the dominion over his people. And he ever lives to reign even now. We're not waiting for him to come back and reign. He reigns now. He ever lives to intercede on behalf of each one for whom he paid the debt, such as his power and authority. In the end, he's gonna call every one of his own to himself, and then also as king of the earth, of over all the earth, or the prince of the kings of the earth, he's gonna judge the nations, and those that are not his will be eternally separated from him. He'll separate out the sheep from the goats, And he'll separate out the wheat from the tares. And we can be confident that if we're his, we will be with him forever. What a glorious King he is.