Two words. That’s what jumps from the page of my bible this morning. Not the first time I’ve encountered these two words as I’ve been reading in Matthew, but it’s the first time they’re used this way. In the genealogy, I encountered the king David (Mt. 1:6). And then there was the one who sought to destroy the Child, Herod the king (Mt. 2:3). Not to be confused with that other Herod, the king who was sorry for the foolish oath that caused John the Baptizer his head (Mt. 14:9). And then there was fictitious royalty, the king of the parable in Matthew 22. But reading in Matthew 25 this morning, it’s the first time I encounter the King!

“When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne. . . . Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.'”

(Matthew 25:31, 34 ESV)

The King . . . Chew on that.

Jesus. The Nazarene. The Christ. The Good Shepherd. The Lamb of God. Isaiah’s suffering Servant. Daniel’s Son of Man. At His first coming, emptied of divine majesty, found in human form, “obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross” (Php. 2:6-8). But when He comes in His glory . . . He will sit on His glorious throne . . . the King.

Behold the King! Our King! King Jesus!

Therefore God has highly exalted Him and bestowed on Him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

(Philippians 2:9-11 ESV)

The King is Lord! The King is coming!

And it is the King who, by His Spirit, says anew to me this day, “Come to Me . . . and I will give you rest. . . . Take My yoke upon you . . . for I am gentle and lowly in heart. . . . Find rest for your souls” (Mt. 11:28-30). Rest found because I abide in the King and He in me (Jn. 15:4).

And it is the King that I worship afresh this day. Feebly, imperfectly, too often half-heartedly. Yet desirously.

And it is the King that I expectantly wait for this day. Even so, Lord Jesus, come!

What undeserved grace to know the King.

To God be the glory.