Imagine there was a political leader in our day that had no skeletons in their closet. A person that was willing to live honestly at all costs. A person that no wrongdoing or bad behavior could be said about him. Now suppose that this person not only would be willing to live honestly, without lying or cheating on any level; but was also willing to get involved in the political arena. And not only is this person willing to stand up for what is just and true but they start calling out those who were not living honestly. That this person began to expose the deep corruption that was in the political system. That this person made known to the public the back room deals and exposed the money that was being exchanged under the table. What do you think would happen to a man like that? Well, you could use some expression like, “they would crucify him”: and that, my friend, is exactly what they did. This man was Jesus. He challenged the political and religious leaders of His day and exposed their hypocrisy. But the thing that they missed; even the people that were close to Him was that Jesus was not about gaining political power to right the wrongs of government or the religious institutions. He came to change the heart of people. To reconcile them back to God their Creator.
At first the people loved Him and followed Him on facebook and twitter (only kidding, but you get the point) and gobbled up every word He said. But soon the Cancel culture of the political and religious leaders started to slander His reputation. They said all sorts of lies about Him and told stories about Him that were not true. But sadly, many of the people started to listen to these leaders. After all, these leaders were familiar to them and they were in positions of power over them. The people were used to listening to these political and religious leaders and so the people started to distrust Jesus and then they were not able to hear what Jesus was actually saying. Everything began to be twisted and slanted. The existing ruling class of Elites at that time would even take Jesus’ own words out of context to defame Jesus’ character. We all know the tide of popular opinion turned against Jesus and when pressed at the very end before Pontius Pilate Jesus held His ground and would not get moved off track from the purpose God sent Him to accomplish. You can really get a good grasp on this by Jesus’ response to Pilate when Pilate was asking if Jesus was a King (a political leader); Jesus responds, “my kingdom is not of this world, if my kingdom were of this world my servants would fight”. Jesus did not lose sight of the mission God sent Him to accomplish. None of this made any sense to Jesus’ followers at the time and it certainly did not make any sense to the Elite ruling class at all. But God’s ways are not our ways and His thoughts are far, far, far above our thoughts (Isaiah 55:8-9). But it was only in hindsight after God raised Jesus from the dead bodily, that the disciples of Jesus understood that God had another plan and that there was more going on here that just the present corrupt political and religious establishments. There was a kingdom that was being set up that was eternal, a kingdom of God Himself, being set up not in the earthly institutions of this world, but a kingdom of the heart. Where God would reign in each and every believer’s heart and thru them God would bring His everlasting Kingdom into this world. The worlds political systems and governments will all come to nothing in the end. But God’s kingdom will never dissolve. An everlasting Kingdom where Christ shall rule and reign for all eternity.
Jesus will return again to this world and it will not be like the first appearing He made in Bethlehem. His first appearing was to bring reconciliation between God and man and to become the Peace offering for the sins of Humanity. When Jesus returns the second time He will be coming as the Judge, the King of all kings and Lord of all lords. With an Iron Rod of righteousness to rule over the nations and to bring justice to all peoples. For now, we are still under the time of reconciliation, we are still under the time of Mercy. Where God is entreating you to repent (turn from your sins, Acts 17:30) and enter into a right relationship with God thru the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross as the payment for your sins. If you are not ready when Jesus returns, or you die before hand than you will meet Him as your Judge – and that will not go well for you. Or you can receive Jesus now as your Savior from your sins and the rightful ruler over your life now. Bow before God now and receive the gift of eternal life thru His Son Jesus or bow later and be rejected because you first rejected God’s Peace offering at the cross of Christ. This will go down one of two ways for you. You will either bow the knee to Jesus now and let Him pay the penalty of your sins (which He already did at the cross- but you must receive Him). Or you will pay the penalty of your sins in an eternity separated from the God you rejected while here on Earth. That choice, my friend, God has left up to you.
Revelation 3:20 New Living Translation (NLT) Jesus says- 20 “Look! I stand at the door and knock. If you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in, and we will share a meal together as friends.