Forever King

"And He will reign over the house of Jacob forever,

and of His kingdom there will be no end."

Luke 1:33

Israel had not had a Jewish king in six centuries. They were ruled by a Roman governor, an Edomite king, and a politically appointed priesthood, and though they had many liberties in their Jewish state, they were still a people oppressed. They longed for freedom. They longed for a kingdom on earth. They longed for Messiah.

And now in an obscure northern village, Nazareth in Galilee, a young girl was given the announcement that she would give birth to the long awaited Prince of Judah, the Son of David, and the King of Israel. He would be great, called the Son of the Most High God, heir to the throne of David, and His Name would mean Salvation to His people. The kingly line of Judah had almost been exterminated, its kings imprisoned or killed. The prophets had proclaimed the barrenness over certain lineages, but collateral lines of descent had survived. Mary was a descendant of David's house; her betrothed was a legal heir to David's throne. What must it mean that her child would be the culmination of a promise made 1000 years before to David, of prophecies made over Israel 1500 years earlier, of a blessing spoken over Judah almost 2000 years in the past?

And this time, there would be no end to His kingdom or His reign!

His kingdom on earth has not yet come, even now 2000 years after his birth, but it is being built within the hearts and lives of those who believe in Him for salvation. Jesus would inform His detractors that the Kingdom of God had come in Him, and He would instruct His followers that His Kingdom was within them. He would tell Pilate that His Kingdom was not a temporary earthly kingdom, but a heavenly kingdom over which neither the governor nor the emperor had any authority. Today, we still look forward to "Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven." Perhaps one day soon...

But on that wintry day in Nazareth, with the appearance of an angel and the moving of the Holy Ghost, the Kingdom of God was conceived on earth in the womb of a righteous Jewish virgin, and from that day until forever, it would be a Kingdom without end. No coup, no court, no invasion, no election would ever overthrow the reign of the Christ...for this reign would first be in the hearts of men, and then over their world.