God IS King

Psalm 24:7–10 

Lift up your heads, O gates! And be lifted up, O ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in. Who is this King of glory? The LORD, strong and mighty, the LORD, mighty in battle!

What do you know about kingship? As Americans, we know relatively little about kingship. We play “king of the hill” or try to become “king” in foursquare, but that only brings the connotation of strength and winning. We know that our country was start as a rebellion against the king of England, who was a tyrant and taxed us without representation. But that was over 200 years ago.

We don’t really understand kingship, other than some romanticized version of the European kings in recent history and stories. When the Bible talks about kings, it is referring to the Ancient Near Eastern (ANE) understanding of kings. 

The ANE king was the ultimate rule in their realm where the people and the land belong to the king. It was expected that the oldest son of the king would become the next king. They were to defend their kingdom and were leaders of the army. 

They also set the religious tone for the kingdom. In the ANE the king would select a god or gods for the kingdom to worship. The ANE king would be the mediator and representative of that god to the people. In some ANE cultures, the king was considered divine, such as Pharaoh in Egypt. ANE kings that were depicted in carvings or reliefs, were shown as larger than every other person in the picture, this was to demonstrate his divinity. 

An ANE king would rule over a city-state, a country, or even an empire. When the kings would go out to battle, it was considered a battle between the gods of those cities/empires. This is why Goliath called out to the Israelites and blasphemed God, he was saying that the god of the Philistines was greater than the God of the Israelites. He obviously learned his lesson.

ANE people thought gods had regions and you could travel to another land to get away from a god. This is why Jonah hopped on that boat, he thought he could get away from the local realm of YHWH. He learned his lesson, that YHWH is King of the Universe.

ANE kings ruled with fear and power. If you offended an ANE king, he could have you killed on a whim. Consider the story of Esther and how she feared for her life to go before the king without being invited. ANE kings had complete ownership and commanded authority that often times corrupted their understanding of themselves and others. 

With these thoughts swirling, consider what the ANE people would have thought about when they heard that God is King, the King of kings.

Read Psalm 99.

What might an ANE person think about after reading this?

God is described as King, one to be feared, that is consistent with an ANE understanding. “The King in his might loves…” destroying other cities? Taking many wives? Expanding his empire? Punishing the criminals? None of those.

Rather, the King in his might loves justice. He uses his power in purity for the good of his people. The way he wields his power doesn’t bring his people to cower before him but they sing his praises. 

He is also described as a forgiving king, which again sets him apart from the cruel ANE kings. In Psalm 99 we encounter a description of God as King who is worthy of worship. Who is to be feared, revered, respected, and loved because he is just, merciful, and forgiving. 

When we think of the God of the Bible, we need to remember that He is our King. Like the ANE kings, God’s decrees are ultimate, and we belong to Him. Unlike the ANE kings, God is full of mercy, compassion, and good. He wants us to come to Him and find our refuge and help (Ps 47:2; Ps 9:9-10; Prov 18:10).

God is good, kind, merciful, compassionate, and forgiving. He demonstrated how much love He has for His creation by sending his only Son to die for us (Rom 5:8). ANE kingship is passed from father to son. God was willing to put his heir on the cross for our behalf. Jesus bore our sins on the cross and conquered death in the resurrection. He invites us to follow Him by trusting in Him. Those who trust Christ are adopted into the family of God and joint heirs with Jesus. That’s huge…something to be explored at another time. 

Jesus is the King of kings and Lord of lords. He is our King, and we are His people. We need to remember that he uses his might for our good and He executes justice. He is a King worthy of our worship.