January 6, 2019
The Doctrine of Christian Royalty
(a series based on the teachings of R.B. Thieme, Jr.)
The Royalty of Jesus Christ
Royal means kingly, pertaining to a crown. It’s used to describe a king as the sovereign ruler of people.
It also means the regal quality or nature of a king. The Bible not only recognizes the legitimacy of various concepts and categories of royalty, but favors it. Jesus Christ possesses three categories of royalty: 1) By virtue of His eternal and infinite being as God, He wears the royalty of His deity. 2) The royalty of His true humanity, by virtue of the virgin birth, incarnation and first coming as a Son of David. 3) The royalty of His Hypostatic Union, by virtue of His strategic victory over Satan, becoming King of kings and Lord of lords.
The Divine Royalty of Christ, the Royalty of Deity
Christ’s divine royalty is based on the fact that He is eternal and infinite God, possessing all the attributes of divine essence. This is Christ’s eternal and infinite relationship with the Godhead. Jesus Christ is eternal God. He has all the attributes of God the Father and God the Holy Spirit. He is coequal and coeternal with them. As the manifest person of the Trinity, Christ wears the crown of divine royalty. (John 1:18, 6:46)The title for His divine royalty is Son of God. This royalty has no beginning and no end. (I Timothy 6:13-16; 1 John 4:12)
The Jewish Royalty of Christ, the Royalty of His Humanity
The royal title of Christ’s humanity is Son of Man. His Jewish royal title is Son of David. The virgin birth introduces the humanity of Christ to the world. At the point of His virgin birth, Jesus Christ became Jewish royalty as a direct descendant of King David in the tribe of Judah, the family of Jesse. Mary was a descendant from David’s son Nathan. Joseph was descendant from David’s son Solomon, Joseph being Jesus’ legal but not real father. Mary’s line from Nathan is recorded in Luke 3:31; Joseph’s line comes down from Solomon through Jeconiah (who is also called Coniah) and Jehoiachin in II Kings 24; Jeremiah 52:31 and is recorded in Matthew 1:11. As Jewish royalty, Jesus Christ fulfilled the Davidic Covenant. He will reign forever as the Son of David. God’s promise of the Davidic Covenant is found in Psalm 89:33-37; II Chronicles 21:7 and Acts 13:22b-23.
The Hypostatic Union Royalty of Jesus Christ
Hypostatic union royalty is based upon His strategic victory during the first Advent, when He defeated Satan during His thirty-three years of executing the prototype spiritual life for the Church Age. By living in the prototype Divine Dynasphere, Jesus was qualified by His impeccability to go to the Cross and be judged for our sins. That judgment was the beginning of the strategic victory. It was followed by His resurrection, ascension and session at the right hand of the Father. The Cross was the greatest battlefield in history! This royalty makes Jesus Christ the ruler of elect angels and believers. (Colossians 2:14 Hebrews 2:14)The Hypostatic Union royalty was given to Christ as a verbal commission according to Psalm 110:1, “The Lord [God the Father] says to my Lord [Jesus Christ]: “Sit down at My right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.” Jesus Christ is a king-priest. The royal high priesthood of Jesus Christ is confirmed in Hebrews 5:5-6; 6:19-20; 7:15-28.
The Titles of Christ’s Royalty
The divine title of royalty is “Son of God” (or Jehovah Elohim in the Old Testament) (Romans 1:4) The Jewish title of royalty is “Son of David.” (Romans 1:3) Jesus Christ has the royal title “Son of Man” because He made the decision in eternity past as part of the divine decrees to come to the earth and provide eternal salvation for the entire human race. The Hypostatic Union royalty title is “King of kings, Lord of Lords; the Bright Morning Star.” “King of kings” gives Christ precedence over human rulers; “Lord of lords” gives Christ precedence over angelic rulers. (Revelation 17:14; 19:16; 22:17)
The Royal Families of Jesus Christ
Divine royalty includes God the Father and God the Holy Spirit. Jesus Christ always had this family in His divine royalty and always will. Jewish royalty is the dynasty of David, which includes all His ancestors from David and Bathsheba down to his legal father Joseph and His real mother Mary. Also included are His stepbrothers: James, Joseph Jr., Simon, and Judas or Jude and His stepsisters: at least two, being also royal descendants. (Matthew 13:55,56)
Hypostatic union royalty is the Royal Family of God, every Church Age believer. After His ascension and session, there was no royal family for His third royalty. So the Age of Israel was brought to a halt, and the Church Age was inserted, which is the dispensation for the calling out of the Royal Family of God. The Church Age is the mystery age, its doctrines being previously unknown. Technical phrases are used to describe the royal family: body of Christ, Church, bride of Christ, baptism of the Holy Spirit, sanctification, and beloved brethren.
The Royalty of Christ Applied to His Name
This is found in three Greek words, KURIOS IESOUS CHRISTOS, meaning Lord Jesus Christ. “Lord” refers to His divine royalty. “Jesus” means Savior, emphasizing the strategic victory of the Cross, resurrection, ascension and session. (Hebrews 1) “Christ” means anointed or commissioned one, emphasizing His Jewish royalty. Its Hebrew equivalent is Messiah and refers to His Jewish royalty.
The Royalty of Jesus Christ at the Second Coming
Each part of Christ’s royalty performs a specific function at the Second Coming. The divine royalty of Christ changes creation for the Millennium, judges ecumenical religion and removes it, destroys the armies of the world, removes all unbelievers with the baptism of fire, and establishes perfect environment for the Millennium. In His divine royalty, Jesus Christ controls history. Therefore, Jesus Christ judges the world both on the battlefields of Armageddon and in the baptism of fire to surviving unbelievers. Jesus Christ also establishes the Millennium and its 1000 years of perfect environment as the last dispensation of history, a parallel to the first dispensation of perfection. The Jewish royalty regathers Israel, terminates the fifth cycle of discipline, establishes Israel as the last client nation to God in history, fulfills the unconditional covenants to Israel, and causes Israel to become a great source of blessing during the Millennium. Hypostatic Union royalty makes Christ the strategic victor of the Angelic Conflict and He replaces Satan as the ruler of the world, imprisons Satan for one thousand years, removes
The Hidden Royal Title of Christ
This royal title is mentioned in Revelation 19:12, “And His eyes [were] a flame of fire, and on His head [are] many diadems; and He has a royal title which has been written which no one understood except Himself.” The title has been revealed to the Church, but was unknown up until the Church Age and it is still a prophetic title. Matthew 11:27 is the key to interpreting this verse, “All things have been handed over to Me by My Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father; nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son determines to reveal Himself.”
The Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, has the right of determination to reveal Himself. The Son has made the decision to reveal Himself in the Word of God. The Son has revealed Himself to His royal family, all Church Age believers, in the next verse and gives us the name of this title. Revelation 19:13, “He is clothed with a military robe splattered with blood, and His royal title is designated The Word of God.” The unknown royal title has been written in the Word of God for every Church Age believer as Royal Family of God to see and understand for himself. However, it should be remembered that even the revelation of Bible doctrine is not known to us as it is known to Jesus Christ. Nevertheless, we can understand this unknown title through the study of the divine essence of Jesus Christ. Our understanding of the unknown title of royalty includes not only the knowledge of the divine attributes of Jesus Christ as God, but the human attributes of Jesus Christ in Hypostatic Union. This unknown title is not hidden, but deliberately revealed in Scripture.
The Word of God or “Logos” is the royal title of eternity past in the divine decrees, which is based on four decisions Jesus Christ made. This is the title of the decisions our Lord made in eternity past to become our Savior. Jesus Christ made the decision in eternity past to provide unlimited atonement by becoming the only efficacious sacrifice in human history, the basis for our salvation. Jesus Christ made the decision to propitiate God the Father through His perfect sacrifice of Himself being judged for our sins. As a result of going to the Cross and being judged for the sins of the world, God the Father is satisfied with the salvation work of Christ on the Cross—propitiation.
Jesus Christ made the decision to reconcile mankind to God through faith alone in Himself. As a result of His work on the Cross, mankind can be reconciled to God. Jesus Christ made the decision to become the mediator between God and man, and therefore, equal with both parties—God and man. Jesus Christ made the decision to become true humanity, to become our Mediator. Every person is born spiritually dead in the slave market of sin. Jesus Christ made the decision to redeem mankind from the slave market of sin. The result of the Cross is that redemption, but it is potential only based on a person’s acceptance by faith in Jesus Christ as Savior. I Corinthians 1:18, “For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.”
The Royalty of Jesus Christ as Our High Priest
Jesus Christ was born a royal priest in the pattern of Melchizedek, who was a king-priest. Christ is a royal priest, since He is in the royal line of David. (Psalm 110:4) This priesthood began with His sacrifice for sin when Christ offered Himself as a sacrifice for sin as our Royal High Priest. (Hebrews 9:26-27, 10:10, 14) Christ now makes intersession for the believer as our Royal High Priest. (Hebrews 7:25) Christ as our High Priest is our advocate.
Satan makes accusation against believers. He sees or has demons observing your failures. So why should we judge each other when Satan goes straight to God with our sins? (Job 1:6-11; Zechariah 3:1-2; Revelation 12:9-10) Whenever Satan accuses us, Christ is our defense attorney. The basis of Christ’s defense is the fact that all our personal sins were imputed to Him and judged on the Cross. (I Peter 2:24; II Corinthians 5:21; I John 2:2)
God the Father, Who imputed our sins to Christ and judged them, will not judge them again. Our sins were already judged once. (Romans 6:10)However, once the case has been thrown out of court, the sin becomes a royal family matter, in which God the Father disciplines us for the sin unless we have pleaded our case, using Rebound. We plead our case the same way as Christ does for us; we simply name, admit or acknowledge the sin to God, citing Christ’s work on our behalf, which cleanses us from all unrighteousness and restores our fellowship with God and the filling of the Holy Spirit.