Lamb and King

Jesus as the Lamb reigns supreme over the Kings of the Earth, and he is shepherding the nations to the city of New Jerusalem. Jesus is the “Ruler of the Kings of the Earth” in the Prologue of Revelation. This declaration is made in the present tense. His sovereignty is based on his Death and Resurrection. He does not rule by hereditary right, economic or military might, but because of his redeeming death. The slain “Lamb” is the one who sits as King on the Davidic Throne. His authority extends even over “Death and Hades.”

Jesus Christ is identified in the Book of Revelation as the “Lamb” who was slain more often than any other designation. It is the “Lamb” who redeems men from every nation. He is the “Ruler of the Kings of the Earth” and the “King of Kings.” He defeats the “Dragon” and his allies and “shepherds the nations” to the Holy City. He is still the “Lamb” in New Jerusalem, and its light and temple.

[Photo by Hetty Stellingwerf on Unsplash]

Despite appearances and the efforts of the “Dragon” and his vassals, the “Beast,” the “False Prophet,” and “Babylon,” the “Lamb” is triumphing over all his enemies. He will fully populate the city of New Jerusalem with men and women redeemed from the Earth by the time the city “descends to the Earth”– (Revelation 5:9-10, 7:9-17, 21:2, 21:22-27).

The “Kings of the Earth” are allied with the “Beast” at times and do the bidding of the “Dragon.” Nevertheless, the “Lamb” uses their plots to achieve his redemptive purposes. This is what it means to reign over the “Kings of the Earth” and the nations.

Even Christ’s enemies could not move against him without his consent. His authority was and remains absolute. By the end of Revelation, the same group of “kings” was found in the Holy City of New Jerusalem giving honor to the “Lamb” - (Revelation 1:4-6).

He is the “Faithful Witness” and the “Firstborn of the Dead.” The former refers to his Death, and the latter to his Resurrection. All three labels - “Faithful Witness,” “Firstborn of the Dead,” and “Ruler of the Kings of the Earth,” are from the Eighty-Ninth Psalm:

• (Psalm 89:27, 37) - “I also will make him my first-born, higher than the kings of the earth… His seed shall endure forever, and his throne as the sun before me. It shall be established forever as the moon and as a faithful witness in heaven.”

His “faithful testimony” was given in his self-sacrificial death; therefore, the God of Israel made him the “Firstborn” and the “Highest of the Kings of the Earth.” His authority extends far beyond the territory of Palestine or the walls of old Jerusalem. In the Hebrew text, the Psalm uses the noun ‘elyôn for “higher.” It is used comparatively, denoting the sense of “supreme, lofty, highest.”

However, Revelation combines this passage with words from the Second Psalm, and the verbal link for doing so is the clause, “Kings of the Earth.” In the Psalm, the “kings” conspire against God’s Anointed King, but their plot backfires since He gave the “nations” to the Son for “his inheritance” and the “ends of the Earth” for his “possession.” Therefore, Jesus now “rules over them with his iron scepter” - (Psalm 2:1-11).

Rather than use the Greek comparative adjective for “highest” in Revelation, the text calls him the ‘archôn’ or “Ruler” over the "Kings of the Earth." The term does not mean “king,” though kings do “rule,” but he holds a far higher rank than any king, dictator, prime minister, congressman, member of Parliament, or president.

RULER AND SHEPHERD

The Greek noun ‘archôn’ often denotes someone who is a “prince,” “chief magistrate,” or supreme sovereign, which is the sense in the passage. The intent is not to contradict the Book’s later declaration that Jesus is the “King of Kings,” but to highlight just how much higher he is than any of the political rulers of Earth.

The extent of his sovereignty is stressed in the first vision. Jesus describes himself as the “Living One who was dead and lives forever.” He holds the “Keys of Death and Hades.” Not even the realm of the dead is beyond his reach.

His reign extends over his mortal enemies. For example, Satan was bound from “deceiving the nations” and could not do so until he was “released from the Abyss.” The “Beast from the Sea” could not wage “war” against the saints until authorized to do so (“It was given to him to make war against the saints” – Revelation 13:7-10).

Christ’s present reign does not immediately negate the hostility of the “Kings of the Earth.” For example, when the “Sixth Bowl of Wrath” was emptied, the “Kings of the East” were gathered for the final battle against the “Lamb” on the “Great Day of God Almighty” - (Revelation 16:12-16. 17:10-18, 19:19-21).

The Second Psalm is alluded to in three more passages where the original Hebrew term for “rule” is replaced by the Greek verb for “shepherd.” Thus, the Messianic “Son” was destined to “shepherd the nations.”

This is demonstrated in the vision of the “Innumerable Multitude” when John saw the “Lamb shepherding” the men redeemed from every nation to the “living waters” in New Jerusalem. In the vision of the “Rider on the White Horse,” that royal figure used his “iron scepter” to “shepherd the nations,” not to pound them to dust – (Revelation 2:27, 7:17, 12:5, 19:15).

The change from the image of the conqueror to the benevolent ruler who “shepherds” his flock is unexpected and paradoxical. It requires us to “think outside the box” of our church traditions, long-held interpretations, and political ideologies. Jesus may still wield an “iron scepter” and a “great sword,” but he uses them to guide the nations and the “Kings of the Earth” to something other than everlasting destruction.

The idea of a more positive fate for his political opponents was hinted at centuries earlier in the Second Psalm. After warning of dire consequences if the “Kings of the Earth” persisted in their rebellion, the Psalmist exhorted them to fear Yahweh and “kiss His son, lest he be angry, and you perish in the way” – (Psalm 2:9-11).

The image of the sacrificial “Lamb” who “shepherds the nations” begins to explain how the “nations” and the “Kings of the Earth” find themselves in the Holy City of New Jerusalem. What kind of shepherd would Jesus be if he only “shepherded” men and women to their doom? What sort of twisted king destroys his very own subjects and feeds them to the Wolf?

In the Holy City, the “nations walk amidst its light, the kings of the earth bring their glory into it.” The “Tree of Life” that “heals the nations” and removes the “curse” of Adam’s sin blooms in the center of the city.

Thus, Jesus Christ, the Supreme Ruler of nations and kings, the “King of kings,” will lead many rulers and men from “every tribe, and tongue, and people, and nation” to life and salvation in the “Holy City, New Jerusalem.” The Book of Revelation ends on a grand note of victory. The “Lamb” will reign victoriously and walk with his saints in New Jerusalem forever, but the “Dragon” and his servants will “perish in the way.”

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SEE ALSO:

• Christ Crucified - (The power of God is revealed in the proclamation of a Messiah who was crucified by the world on the Roman Cross)

• Did Jesus Triump? - (Did Jesus triumph and begin his messianic reign following his Death and Resurrection, or is he still waiting for some future event?)

• The Unwelcome Savior - (Unrecognized as the Savior of the World and the Messiah of Israel, Jesus was rejected by all but the unlikeliest of men)