Let’s listen for a moment to the names of some the Lords who have been well known in the world of blockbuster movies over the last few decades. We’ll see if we can also show you some pictures at the same time.

• the Dark Lord Vader
• the Dark Lord Voldemort
• the Dark Lord Sauron
• the Dark Lord Morgoth

Do you think it’s an accident that our modern culture seems to associate the word “Lord” with something that’s dark? Or is that habit of mind in itself a work of the true Dark Lord, the one that Screwtape referred to as “Our Father Below”?

We are Americans. We don’t like lords and we don’t want a king.

We don’t trust authority. We are our own Lords. We are our own Kings. Our only authority is ourselves.

I think the reason why the devil has trained us to get our backs up whenever we hear the word “Lord” is so we will have an instinctive revulsion to the words “the Lord Jesus Christ.”

Jesus the servant? We love him

Jesus the savior? We’ll absolutely take him.

Jesus the sacrifice? Well that’s kind of weird, but we’ll live with it.

But Jesus the Sovereign? The Lord? The king? We absolutely can’t live with that.

The problem is, the Jesus who is sovereign Lord and king is the only Jesus who actually exists. He’s the Jesus of the Bible, he’s the Jesus of history. and he’s the Jesus who’s coming back to bring history to its end. Which is exactly what we’re talking about today.

This will be the fourth Lord’s Day that we have spent looking at a key passage in Paul’s first letter to the Thessalonian church. The end of chapter 4 and the beginning of chapter 5 together comprise one of the most important places in the whole Bible describing the second coming of Christ.

There are two core questions we ought to keep on our minds as we read 1 Thessalonians 4:15-5:2.

1. who is coming? (the Lord)
2. day of the what? (the Lord)

1 Thessalonians 4:15-5:2

4  ¹⁵ For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. ¹⁶ For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. ¹⁷ Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord .¹⁸ Therefore encourage one another with these words.

5 ¹ Now concerning the times and the seasons, brothers, you have no need to have anything written to you. ² For you yourselves are fully aware that the day of the Lord will come… 

• 5 key truths about Jesus’ identity as the coming king and lord of the world, whose kingdom is present and growing right now

the first key truth about Jesus’ identity as the coming king and lord of the world, whose kingdom is present and growing right now

Jesus was prophesied and recognized as king and lord

When Jesus was born, he was immediately hailed as the newborn king and the heir of all the prophecies of the messianic King to come. Angels identified him as the king. Matthew begins his gospel with a long list of names proving that Jesus was born king of the Jews, and then tells the blood-curdling story of how King Herod reacted to the news of the birth of a new baby king with unthinkably murderous violence. The gospel of Luke begins with several beloved stories of faithful Jews recognizing the baby Jesus as the king: Mary and Joseph, Elizabeth and Zachariah, and Simeon, and Anna. They were waiting for the coming of the Messiah because they were steeped in centuries of Hebrew poems and prophecies foretelling the coming of that great king.

Do you remember that classic passage we sing and shout every Christmas?

Isaiah 9:6-7  For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given;
and the government shall be upon his shoulder,
and his name shall be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Of the increase of his government and of peace
there will be no end,
on the throne of David and over his kingdom,
to establish it and to uphold it
with justice and with righteousness
from this time forth and forevermore.
The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.

Did you hear that? Seven hundred years before Jesus was born, the prophet announced that the authority and the peace of the Messiah and his Kingdom would continue to grow, expand, increase from the time it begins until, well, forever. The Kingdom of Jesus Christ began when king Jesus arrived in Bethlehem on that oh so holy night, It was won when he purchased it with his own blood on the cross. It became visible and unmistakable when he rose in glory three days later. It was inaugurated for all heaven and earth when he ascended to heaven to be enthroned at the Father’s right hand 40 days after that. And it will keep growing until the End of all things. And it’s guaranteed by the passion of the God of Armies.

That is only one of many prophecies and poems in the Old Testament predicting the reign of the Messiah king. The second Psalm is one of the most famous of the messianic psalms. It was alluded to over a dozen times by the Hebrew prophets.

Psalm 2 ¹ Why do the nations rage
and the peoples plot in vain?
² The kings of the earth set themselves,
and the rulers take counsel together,
against the Lord and against his Anointed, saying,
³ “Let us burst their bonds apart
and cast away their cords from us.”

⁴ He who sits in the heavens laughs;
the Lord holds them in derision.
⁵ Then he will speak to them in his wrath,
and terrify them in his fury, saying,
⁶ “As for me, I have set my King
on Zion, my holy hill.”

⁷ I will tell of the decree:
The Lord said to me, “You are my Son;
today I have begotten you.
⁸ Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage,
and the ends of the earth your possession.”

That Psalm, too, was referenced repeatedly by the authors of the New Testament—who always recognized that Jesus is the one the psalm is about. Maybe the most well-known instance is in Acts 4. There, Peter and other leaders of the earliest church pray to God in the face of fierce persecution. They quote this Psalm in the middle of their prayer. Their prayer identifies the pagans plotting against the Lord as the Roman authorities and the Jewish nobles and priests who plotted together against the Lord Jesus Christ—Herod and Pilate and Caiaphas and the rest. The earliest Christians all thought these messianic passages in the Old Testament were about Jesus because Jesus was the Messiah. They are. He is.

It’s not just those two. The Old Testament is full of promises that one day a king would come to save God’s people from our enemies and our sins, and then rule over us as our king and Lord. We call these messianic psalms and prophecies. We still recognize that they’re all about Jesus.

Jesus was prophesied and recognized as king and lord.

the second key truth about Jesus’ identity as the coming king and lord of the world, whose kingdom is present and growing right now

Jesus presented himself as king and Lord

Granted: there’s a question that comes up immediately for many people who pay attention to the way Jesus did present himself in the gospels. People wonder why Jesus doesn’t just come right out and announce that he is the king of the Jews and the Son of God. The answer is that his Father had not yet authorized him to make the announcement. Instead, Jesus routinely instructed his disciples and even the people he healed not to tell anyone who he really was. He didn’t want to touch off a public disturbance or even an insurrection. He wanted to keep his true identity quiet so that he could be free the set up his own crucifixion so he could save us all from our sins. Bible scholars refer to this as “the Messianic secret.”

Jesus didn’t boldly proclaim himself to be king and Lord, but he hinted at it clearly and repeatedly for those who knew how to hear what he was saying. When he did finally announce it, he announced it at the highest crisis moment of his life, before the faces of the most powerful audience who ever heard him speak. I’ll show you what I mean.

But let’s think about some of those hints that Jesus gave.

I’ve pointed out repeatedly that Jesus favorite way of identifying himself was as the Son of man. And I’ve told you over and over that that was a claim to be the Messiah. Only the Bible scholars would have recognized it that way, but it was definitely a messianic declaration. We’ll say more about that in a moment.

The common people gladly and often acclaimed Jesus as “the Son of David.” Centuries earlier, David had been the prototypical anointed king of Israel, beginning with his anointing at the hands of the prophet Samuel. Every king of the Davidic dynasty who ruled from Jerusalem, from Solomon to Zedekiah, was anointed with oil, as David had been. Every generation expected that the descendant of David anointed in their generation would be the promised Anointed One. But none of them ever was. After Zedekiah, there was no son of David anointed to reign over Judah. Yet the line of David persisted, from father to son, across the generations, until, in the fullness of time, a baby boy was born to a girl named Mary, who was herself a descendant of David, and her husband Joseph, who was also a descendant of David. That’s why those genealogies are present at the start of the books of Luke and Matthew—to state for the record that Jesus really was born as the son of David. Yet when the people called Jesus the son of David they meant so much more than just that he was a descendant of the royal line. They meant that he was the true heir to the throne of David, and the true hope of the people of Israel.

Jesus never rejected that title or corrected those people. He accepted their acclamation and responded to their cries because he knew that he was the Son of David, the Messiah, the King promised long before.

Jesus also was clear in identifying himself as Lord and messianic King to his disciples. When Peter cried out, “you are the Christ, the Son of the living God, Jesus accepted that identification and said that it came from God himself. On the night before his crucifixion, just before he washed the disciples’ feet, the Lord said to them,

John 13:13 You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am. In this setting as in many others, Jesus uses the words “I am” to communicate to those who were paying attention that he is in fact God in human flesh.

This was at the end of his earthly ministry and life. This was the time for declaring himself. At the triumphal entry, that first Palm Sunday, he accepted the praises of the people and the acclamation of the children. He was clearly portraying himself as the messianic king fulfilling the prophecies by entering Jerusalem on the back of a donkey. It was time for the messianic secret to be made clear.

Christians often call that last week Holy Week, the week when Jesus began to openly identify himself as king of the Jews and Lord of the nations.

Remember, Jesus’ favorite way of referring to himself was as the “Son of man.” The average guy in the street would probably think that that was just an expression of Jesus’ humility, a claim to be just another human being. But as I’ve pointed out, those familiar with Hebrew prophecy, especially the book of Daniel, would have known better. Watch this:

Matthew 26 ⁵⁷ Then those who had seized Jesus led him to Caiaphas the high priest, where the scribes and the elders had gathered. •   •   •   ⁶³ ,,, And the high priest said to him, “I adjure you by the living God, tell us if you are the Christ, the Son of God.” ⁶⁴ Jesus said to him, “You have said so. But I tell you, from now on you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power and coming on the clouds of heaven.” ⁶⁵ Then the high priest tore his robes and said, “He has uttered blasphemy. What further witnesses do we need? You have now heard his blasphemy. ⁶⁶ What is your judgment?” They answered, “He deserves death.”

Why did Caiaphas tear his clothes apart in grief and outrage? Why did the rest of the Council agree that Jesus deserved death? Because he claimed to be the Son of Man who was coming with the clouds of heaven to the throne of God, and promised that they all would see the proof. They didn’t know that he was talking about his own ascension from the Mount of Olives forty-three days in the future from when he was speaking, and the destruction of Jerusalem and its Temple by the Romans at the end of that generation, forty years in the future. But they did know that he was claiming to be the Messiah, the son of David and the son of God. And that was enough. He had to die.

You see, Jesus presented himself as king and Lord.

the third key truth about Jesus’ identity as the coming king and lord of the world, whose kingdom is present and growing right now

Jesus was preached and received as king and lord

We need to understand that the Thessalonians had been taught from the beginning that Jesus had come, not just as their Savior, but also the King of the Jews and the Lord of the nations. They knew that he had begun that reign at the moment of his Ascension and that he would one day return personally and physically to consummate that Kingdom. Let’s recall how the story began for the Thessalonians.

Acts 17 ¹ … [Paul and Silas] … came to Thessalonica, where there was a synagogue of the Jews. ² And Paul went in, as was his custom, and on three Sabbath days he reasoned with them from the Scriptures, ³ explaining and proving that it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead, and saying, “This Jesus, whom I proclaim to you, is the Christ.” Notice that in his talks in the synagogue Paul called Jesus the Christ. That was a very carefully chosen title. The Christ was the Greek term for the Messiah, which was the Hebrew word for the anointed king who was to take the throne of David and rule the nations with a rod of iron. All right, back to the story… Acts 17 ⁴ And some of them were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, as did a great many of the devout Greeks and not a few of the leading women. ⁵ But the Jews were jealous, and taking some wicked men of the rabble, they formed a mob, set the city in an uproar, and attacked the house of Jason, seeking to bring [Paul and Silas] out to the crowd. ⁶ And when they could not find them, they dragged Jason and some of the brothers before the city authorities, shouting, “These men who have turned the world upside down have come here also, ⁷ and Jason has received them, and they are all acting against the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king, Jesus.” ⁸ And the people and the city authorities were disturbed when they heard these things. 

Paul and the Thessalonians clearly believed and preached and suffered for the truth that Christ is king. The same language is clearly used in today’s passage. Listen again:

4  ¹⁵ For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. ¹⁶ For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. ¹⁷ Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord .¹⁸ Therefore encourage one another with these words.

5 ¹ Now concerning the times and the seasons, brothers, you have no need to have anything written to you. ² For you yourselves are fully aware that the day of the Lord will come… 

Before the Christians ever used the word parousia (“coming” or “presence”) to refer to the return of the Lord Jesus Christ, it was the common term to describe the visit of a king or prince to a city or location. As we’ve noted before, the word “meet” in verse 17 renders a specific Greek word that was often used to describe a welcoming party sent to greet a visiting dignitary as he approached a city, welcome him officially, and escort him into the city with honor and pomp. Paul is deliberately using the language of royalty to remind the Thessalonian Christians that the Savior who was coming back to them was likewise their returning Lord and King.

Fundamentally, the day of the Lord is the day of the King. When you received Jesus as savior you also received him as Lord and king. If you’re a Christian, the only question now is whether you’re obedient to your king.

the fourth key truth about Jesus’ identity as the coming king and lord of the world, whose kingdom is present and growing right now

Jesus was predicted to reign as king and lord

This was the point of the Ascension From the Mount of Olives 40 days after his resurrection. I have told you that Jesus’ ascension was the fulfillment of the vision in Daniel 7 of the coming of the Son of man with clouds up to the throne of God to receive an everlasting Kingdom. Yet the writers of the New Testament also connected that event with

Psalm 110:1

 The Lord says to my Lord:
“Sit at my right hand,
until I make your enemies your footstool.”

Psalm 110:1 is quoted or referenced 25 times or more in the New Testament. It is directly quoted in:

• Matthew 22:44
• 8Mark 12:36
• Luke 20:42-43
• Acts 2:34-35
• Hebrews 1:13 and
• Hebrews 10:13

Beyond the direct quotations, New Testament writers repeatedly allude to:

• Christ seated at God’s right hand
• Christ’s present reign over his enemies
• Christ’s priesthood “after the order of Melchizedek” (Psalm 110:4)

These themes appear throughout Acts, Romans, 1 Corinthians, Ephesians, Colossians, Hebrews, 1 Peter, and Revelation

The world around us sees Jesus only as the gentle servant. I’m glad they see him. I’m glad they see him as gentle, tender, patient, kind, and loving because he is all those things. I’m glad they see him at all!

On the other hand, people begin to squirm when we start saying that Jesus Christ is king. He is Lord. He is master. He is commander. He tells us who he is and who we are. He tells us what to believe and what to do.

He has the right to tell us these things because he is King and Lord. He has the right to tell us to get up and work when we’d rather lie around and play video games. He has the right to tell us who to hang out with. He has the right to tell us who to sleep with. He has the right to tell us how to live and why to live. When we start to preach Jesus that way, the worldlings call it “Christian nationalism” or “theocracy” or “religious tyranny.” But that Jesus is the only Jesus the Bible knows anything about. And he is the only Jesus who really exists.

I’m telling you, Jesus was predicted to reign as king and lord.

the fifth key truth about Jesus’ identity as the coming king and lord of the world, whose kingdom is present and growing right now

Jesus was and is projected to return as king and lord

The one chapter in the New Testament that is supremely identified as the resurrection chapter is 1 Corinthians 15. There were some there at Corinth who were teaching that there was no such thing as resurrection from the dead. Paul was writing to correct them and settle the unsettled minds of the Corinthian believers.

²⁰ But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. 

Again we see Paul using sleep as a euphemism for death. Here he is saying that the literal, physical resurrection of Jesus Christ is the beginning and the down payment of the great resurrection that the Jews were expecting to come at the end of time. Paul goes on:

²¹ For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. 

Who are these two men? Paul will answer:

²² For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. ²³ But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ. 

Did you hear that? There is an order to the resurrection. Christ, being the firstfruits and the firstborn from the dead, died and rose again at his first coming. When he comes again, the rest of the resurrection will happen. When Paul wrote this to the Corinthians, he told them the same thing that he had taught in his earlier letter to the Thessalonians, the one we’re studying. The Lord Jesus Christ was going to come again to raise the dead and judge his enemies and save his people fully and finally and forever. Watch how Paul describes that here:

²⁴ Then comes the end, when [Christ] delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power. 

When will the Son turn the Kingdom back over to the Father? After he has destroyed every rule and every authority and power—all the same baddies Paul was talking about in Ephesians 6 and elsewhere. But then watch the next thing Paul says:

²⁵ For [Christ] must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. 

Did you hear that? Jesus Christ was already reigning when Paul wrote the Corinthians so long ago. All authority in heaven and on earth had been given to him. It was based on that authority that he sent his followers to disciple the nations and teach them to obey everything that he commands. It was because of that power that the Evil One was cast down and the churches were authorized to cast his minions out by the power of the Holy Spirit. After Jesus rose from the grave and ascended to his throne, his followers, full of his Holy Spirit, began tearing down strongholds and taking every thought captive for obedience to Christ. He has been ruling and reigning and his realm has been expanding for 2000 years. And yet not everything has been fully subjected to him. Listen:

²⁶ The last enemy to be destroyed is death. 

During World War II there were towns and villages that celebrated the victory long before every enemy soldier had laid down his weapon. The decisive battle had already been won. The war’s outcome was certain. Yet scattered pockets of resistance remained for a quite some time.

That is something like the age we live in right now. At the Cross and the empty tomb, King Jesus won the decisive victory. Satan was defeated. Sin was condemned. Death received its death sentence. Yet pockets of resistance still remain throughout the world and even within our own hearts. The King’s victory is not in doubt. We are simply living between D-Day and V-Day, between the decisive triumph and the final public celebration of that triumph when the King returns.

Back to 1 Corinthians 15:

²⁷ For “God has put all things in subjection under [Christ’s] feet.” But when it says, “all things are put in subjection,” it is plain that he is excepted who put all things in subjection under him. 

OK that was a little much. Sometimes literal translations like the ESV can be really hard to follow as they try to convey the Greek meaning word by word. Let me give you the Dundalk Blue Collar version: “When I say everything has been put under Jesus’ feet, I mean everything and everyone except the One who is putting everything under Jesus’ feet. Obviously, the Father himself is not included.” I’m really not sure why Paul felt like he had to make that clarification, but there it is. Everything in the universe has been put under the authority of Jesus Christ except the Father himself, And although everything has been put under his feet positionally, it has not yet been fully subdued and destroyed. He is subduing everything right now, through his servants, both the ones in heaven and those of us still on earth. Things will go on gradually being subjected under his authority until he comes himself to put an end to all of it. And then what will happen?

²⁸ When all things are subjected to him, then the Son himself will also be subjected to him who put all things in subjection under him, that God may be all in all.

At the end of it all, God the Father is still supreme. Although his Son and his Spirit are co-equal and co-eternal with him as to the one undivided divine essence, the Father is, after all, the Father.

Fundamentally, the day of the Lord’s Second Coming is the day of the return of the King. It’s the day when the Kingdom reaches its completion. The Kingdom came when the king came 2000 years ago. It has been growing ever since and will continue growing until he comes the second time.

FIVE key truths about Jesus’ identity as the coming king and lord of the world, whose kingdom is present and growing right now

1. Jesus was prophesied and recognized as King and Lord
2. Jesus presented himself as King and Lord
3. Jesus was preached and received as King and Lord
4. Jesus was predicted to reign as King and Lord
5. Jesus was and is projected to return as King and Lord

The question that matters for you and for me is just, are we obeying our King?

The question that matters for our family and our friends and our neighbors and our coworkers is just, are they obeying their King?

The question that matters for Dundalk end Baltimore and Maryland and the United States of America and our entire world is just, are we obeying our King?

what God wants them to do

1. Submit to King Jesus
2. Serve King Jesus, and
3. Share King Jesus, until we
4. See King Jesus

• share? how? 3 circles Ppt

Eternal Father, in this very moment, we turn again from our sin and ourselves to you and your glory,

Trusting only in your Son’s sacrifice for our sins to make us right with you.

We want to shelter ourselves in the shadow of his cross,

Bathe ourselves in the blood that he shed there for us,

Rest ourselves on his redemption

Robe ourselves in his righteousness,

Renew ourselves in his resurrection,

Lose ourselves in his Lordship,

And find ourselves in his friendship.

We want him to become for us, for today and forever, wisdom from God, and righteousness, and holiness, and salvation.

For he is the One who suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to you, our Father.