Scott Moore: Welcome to the "Building Faith and Family" podcast with Steve Demme.  I'm your host, Scott Moore. Thanks for joining us today. 

Scott: Good morning, Steve. How are you today? 

Steve: I am here, and above ground. 

Scott: Sounds like there is a story behind it. 

Steve: What I mean is that I'm on high ground. Last night, we experienced a flash  flood in Pennsylvania. My third son, Joseph’s house was flooded. 

Scott: Oh, no. 

Steve: I don't know how bad the damage is going to be, but we had to wait till it  subsided a bit. Then we went over in my wife's pickup truck and rescued the  granddaughters, I'm waiting today for a report to see what's going to happen. All that stuff that you read about in the papers is one thing, but then when it comes  straight to your own home, it's different. 

Steve: For two hours, we were praying nonstop because their basement was totally  flooded. It was starting to come up into the first floor. The basement houses the  power box is. All I could think of was flashes of electricity. You know what I mean. Steve: How are you, in light of that? 

Scott: Fine. My life is very uneventful by comparison. Everybody's OK? Steve: The granddaughters are upstairs making breakfast while I am downstairs  recording the podcast, and then I'll be back up and be grandpa the rest of the day. Scott: God bless you all. I'm praying for you. 

Steve: Amen. It's nice to be on high ground, not above ground. That's nice, too. Steve: We're going to continue our series on attributes of God. We did God is holy  with His “Aseity” and His completeness in Himself last week. Today, a subject that is  hard to consider as Americans, God is king. 

We don't live in a monarchy, and it's different. We think we have ambassadors, and we  have rights, and appeals, and lawyers. If you live in a true monarchy where there's a  king and there's a queen, what they say is the final rule of law, that is different. We're going to pray in a minute, but I'm going to read a verse from John 3:3 in the  amplified version which helps us to see it a little differently. 

"I assure you, most solemnly, I tell you, then unless a person is born again, i.e., anew  or from above, he cannot ever see, i.e., know, be acquainted with, and experience the  kingdom of God." 

We are not going to understand, we're not going to be acquainted with, we're not  going to be able to experience or understand this concept of a kingdom until we first  ask God to birth us from, of from above afresh this morning. 

Father, in Jesus' name, we draw near to you, and thank you that you have birthed us  from above. Thank you that we have been born anew. Thank you that you have done a  work in our hearts that has not only transformed us from the inside out, but has  transformed our ability to understand spiritual truths, to understand you and your  kingdom. 

I pray that you'll give us new eyes to see this morning. Help us to walk away with  some new insights into this subject that we've heard much about, but we want to hear  about it afresh today from Your Spirit. In Jesus' name, amen. 

Scott: Amen. 

Steve: I mentioned to you right when we were getting on the air, the word melek in  the Old Testament is used over 2,500 times. It's common in the New Testament as  well where the word king and kingdom appear thousands of times. I picked a few  passages and a few words to represent them, and we'll trust God to quicken them as  we read them. 

Melek, that's Hebrew. You might see the connection between melekai, which is tied in  a little bit, but melek is the word for 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? Jehovah, strong and mighty. Jehovah, mighty  in battle. Lift up your heads, O gates, and lift them up, O ancient doors, that the King  

of glory may come in. Who is this King of glory? Jehovah of hosts, He is the King of  glory." 

That psalm is wonderful. I ran across two psalms that have a lot about the king. One  is Psalm 24 and the other is Psalm 47, which I'll read later. Another verse from Isaiah.  "Jehovah is our judge. Jehovah is our lawgiver. Jehovah is our king. He will save us." You want to take one verse that captures a whole pile of truth in the big scheme of  things. Jehovah is our judge, He's our lawgiver, He's our king, and He will save us.  Isaiah 43:15, "I am Jehovah your holy one, the creator of Israel, your king." Jeremiah 10:10. "Jehovah is the true God. He is the living God and the everlasting  king."  

The thing about kings is they don't have to go through an election process. They  don't have to be confirmed. They just are, and God is the king. 

We could keep reading scriptures and let them soak into our system, and there's  another word which is Elyon, and means most high God. It is used 50 times. "Jehovah  Most High is terrible. He is a great king over all the Earth." 

God is the Most High, and He's a Great King. Psalm 47:2. Interesting that Melchizedek  is described in Genesis 14. "Melchizedek, king of Salem," his name means king of  righteousness. See the melch, melek. Zedek or tzedeq is righteousness. Melek is king.  Melchizedek himself means king of righteousness. 

It says, "Melchizedek, king of Salem, brought forth bread and wine, and he was priest  of God Most High. Then He blessed him and said, 'Blessed be Abraham of God most  high, possessor of heaven and Earth, and blessed be God Most High, Who has  delivered your enemies into your hand.'" 

Powerful. Three more verses. Psalm 91:1. "He who dwells in the shelter of the most  high will abide in the shadow of the almighty." Daniel 5:21. Daniel is a man who  serves next to the most powerful ruler in his world, and here's what he declared. "The Most High God rules in the kingdom of men and sets over it whomsoever He  will." Nebuchadnezzar had trouble with that concept. God had to teach him. He ate  grass until he got it correct in his mind, and he came to himself. 

You might say he was born again because he understood for the first time, "Hey. I  thought I was the big cheese, but there is a Most High God Who rules in the kingdom  of men, and He sets over it whomsoever He will." 

I do a lot of praying. I put signs in my yard before elections. I write letters to my  officials in government. I'm an advocate for people that I think should be ruling, and  yet underneath all of that, I have this deep conviction that it's God Who rules in the  kingdom of men. 

Even though He sets over at people that I wouldn't vote for, He's accomplishing His  purpose. He's on His throne, and He's not dissuaded. He doesn't have a plan B. It's all  plan G, plan God. 

Another expression, gadol, which is only used a handful of times. Gadol means great,  and when you put gadol melek, you have the Great King. Psalm 48:2 says, "Beautiful  in elevation, the joy of the whole Earth is Mount Zion in the far North, the city of the  Great King." 

Psalm 95:3, "Jehovah is a Great God and a Great King above all gods." Malachi 1:14. I  don't know about you, but when I read some of these verses, I think, "Oh, that's a  little..." I shouldn't say cheeky, but it's better for somebody else to praise you. Here, God clears the air. Because He's God and because He's absolutely true, perfect,  and accurate, He can say this. I could never say this. "'I am a Great King,' says Jehovah  of heaven's armies. 'And My name is feared among the nations.'" He is a Great King.  He is the Head of all of heaven's armies. 

He's a Great God. He's a Great King. He's the most high God, and He rules. He rules  alone, and He reigns supreme. Since He is the king, those that follow Him are a part  of His dominion or His domain. 

When I hear the word kingdom in English, I think of king's domain, king's dominion.  It's where He reigns, where He is sovereign. The Hebrew word is malkuth, from which  you got the malk, the king, and then kuth, kingdom. 

Psalm 103:19. "Jehovah has established His throne in the heavens, and His kingdom  rules over all." Period. Psalm 45:6. "Your kingdom, o God, is forever and ever. A  scepter of uprightness is the scepter of your kingdom." 

There's between 2,500 and 3,000 verses that I could have chosen. Those are the ones  that I picked, and I hope that they've given us some good sense of the word. Now, we're going to move to the New Testament where king in Greek, is basileus. I'll  start us off with a sweet one, if I can put it that way, and then we'll get to some  mighty declarations. 

In John 12:13, we have the entrance of Jesus to Jerusalem. The people took branches  of palm trees and went out to meet Him, crying out, "Hosanna. Blessed is He Who  comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel." 

In John's gospel, when Nicodemus was talking to Jesus Jesus told him, "You need to  be born again. You need to be born from above." Nicodemus was trying to process  that, like a very good scholar, and he says, "How do I enter into my mother's womb?"  The point was you have to become like a child to get it. 

At Palm Sunday, which we call it, this triumphal entry, it was the children that got it. It  was the people that had childlike faith who said, "Blessed is He Who comes in the  name of the Lord, even the King of Israel." The scholar said, "Hey. You're using  language reserved for the Messiah, for the king of kings." 

They almost should have looked at him and said, "Duh. This is Who He is." They got it.  Unless we have that childlike attitude, unless we're born from above, we're not going  to get it, either. When we get it, we've got it. 

Revelation 19:16, "On His robe and on His thigh, He has a name written, King of  kings, Lord of lords." It's amazing. Usually, I don't think of Jesus with words on his  garments like T‑shirts or whatever, but there it is on His robe and on His thigh. It's  written for the whole world to see. King of kings, Lord of lords. 

1 Timothy 6:14-16. This is probably my favorite New Testament verse about the king.  "Our Lord Jesus Christ, He Who is the blessed and only potentate, the King of kings  and Lord of lords Who alone has immortality, Who dwells in unapproachable light.” (1  Timothy 6: 14-16. 

"Those that follow Him, those who are part of His domain, those who are seeking first  His kingdom," which he tells us in Matthew 6:33, "that's us." Basilea is kingdom. "The  kingdom of this world has become the kingdom of our lord and of His Christ, and He  shall reign forever and ever." Revelation 11:5. 

Doesn't look like that right now. Doesn't look like He's the king of kings and Lord of  lords. We have an opportunity now to tell people about His kingdom. We have an  opportunity to choose to follow Jesus. 

There's going to be a day, there won't be any choosing because the king will take  over. When He takes over, He's going to take over. Colossians 1:13, "He has delivered  us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved  son." Amen. 

When we know Jesus, when we have grasped the fact that he is not only holy and  complete in and of himself, he has also humbled himself and become a lamb to take  away our sins. He has also become the priest who offers the lamb to take away our  sins. 

He is ultimately the king, the king, king of kings, and we are happy to be His subjects  and watch him rule on this Earth unopposed forever and ever. Amen. Alright, Scott.  You've had 20 minutes now to marshal your thoughts. Give us some gems. Scott: You got the verse that I was thinking of, which was the. 

Revelation 19:16. That's the big one. The king of kings and Lord of lords. Man, that's  powerful. It's the final exclamation point on all of it. If you thought there was anybody  else that was going to reign, no. Just forget. 

Scott: The other thought I had was stuff that's not necessarily from the Bible, but  when kings throughout history have used the royal we as if they're speaking for  themselves and God, like, "We declare." 

In America, again, we don't get that sense of what a real king is like because we can  yell at our leaders. We can call them names and stuff. When you have the king, that  doesn't work. Yet Jesus is merciful and allows us, at least for the time, to rant at Him  on occasion. He's so good. He's the one good king. 

Steve: He is. It is amazing. One of the concepts that's been very real to me as I've  continued to meditate on God's attributes, and I think it was when I was reading  about Jesus, Who offered himself as the perfect sacrifice. 

I've continued to chew on that word “perfect” because He was the perfect sacrifice.  Nobody else could have done what he did. He was perfect. He lived perfectly. He  offered himself perfectly. He took our sins completely to the uttermost. He was the perfect sacrifice, and He was also or He is also the perfect king. He's got  the right balance of authority and gentleness, of mercy, and of judgment. His throne,  it talks about, is based on faithfulness, and loving kindness, and mercy. He's the  perfect king, absolutely perfect. 

Some might say, "Well, Napoleon was a great this," and, "This guy was a good this."  You put them all together, and you have this amalgamation of what we think is a  good king. Jesus was the perfect king. He is the perfect king, and that's it. I also say, I think we ought to pray and say thank you. 

Steve: Thank you, God, the Father, God, the Son, God, the Spirit. You're all in this  together wonderfully. You are the ruler. You are God. You are the king, and you are a  perfect king. You do everything perfectly. 

We are happy to be your subjects. We are happy to bow before you today. We're happy  to not only bow, but to lift up our hands and say thank you for being our king. Thank  you for redeeming us. Thank you for delivering us, as it says, from the domain of  darkness. 

Thank you for transferring us to the kingdom of your beloved son. We love being in  your kingdom. Even though we're in this already not yet stage where we still have our  world, the flesh, and the devil to battle with, and we're part of our culture and all the  rest. Ultimately, though, you are our perfect king, and we are happy to be your  subjects. 

We're on your team and happy to be so, and we worship you in Jesus' name. Now, we  are continuing to pray though that this whole world, that you will be king of kings and  Lord of lords of every knee because it does say in scripture, your word, that every  knee is going to bow. Every tongue is going to confess and say, "Yes, he is king." I pray that you will put it in all of our hearts to lift up our hands and say, "Blessed is  he who comes in the name of the Lord," because until that day, you said you wouldn't  return. I'm saying it now, and I want to be a first fruits. I want to be a harbinger. I want to be on that cutting edge of all those that someday are going to lift up their  heads and say, "Oh, he is the king, and we worship him, and we welcome him, and we  want you to come back to this Earth." In Jesus' name. Amen. 

Scott: Amen. That's our show for this week, folks. Thanks for joining us for the  Building Faith and Family podcast with Steve Demme. If you have a question for the  show, email steve@spdemme@Gmail.com. Thanks for joining us. Have a great week.