2447AFC112224 – Chi Rho ← 😊 PODCAST LINK
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Daniel 7:14 c –
His dominion is an everlasting dominion
that shall not pass away,
and his kingship is one
that shall never be destroyed.
Psalm 93:1 a -2 – 1 The Lord is king, he is robed in majesty;
2 your throne is established from of old;
you are from everlasting.
Revelation 1:4b-5a – (GNT)[1] 4 Grace and peace be yours from God, who is, who was, and who is to come, and from the seven spirits in front of his throne, 5 and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the first to be raised from death and who is also the ruler of the kings of the world.
John 18:36d-37 – [Jesus answered] But as it is, my kingdom is not from here.” 37 Pilate asked him, “So you are a king?” Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. For this I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice.”
Aloha pumehana, a me ke akua ho’omaika‘i ‘oe, ʻŌmea! Warmest Aloha, and may God bless you, Belovéd! I don’t know how we got to this point in time so quickly! Maybe that old adage about a roll of toilet paper has something to do with it? “Life is like a roll of toilet paper, the closer you get to the end, the faster it goes!” Here in Kapahi, it still feels like summer. / That should make us feel like time is passing slower – I guess – but I think the bottom line is, whether it’s T.P. or the weather, it’s still just being OLD that makes the difference. As you can see in the photo here, it is early afternoon on Tuesday. Wednesday is the day I usually start writing my post, but we have obligations for tomorrow, so I need to start early. I probably won’t be able to finish this until late Thursday afternoon. That’s a hard thing for Crucita, because I’m basically absent while working on these. She’s been so generous with her stewardship of our time together. That’s one of the solid benefits of a Christ-centered marriage – there’s time for Jesus when we both give up our time together as time for him. He’s that important here. Why? Well, he is THE King! We live our lives around what he has laid out for us in his commands – his Word.
Nowadays, the concept of kingship is pretty much “out of fashion.” Insults are made about people who have an authoritarian personality – “What? Does s/he think we’ll submit to a monarchy here?” or “This is nothing more than oligarchs taking over everything!” or “It’s just another example of white male privilege lording it over all the rest of us.” Ahhhh, Belovéd, this all got started back in 1 Samuel, Chapters 8-12. The People went to Samuel, who was their leader at the time, and said to him “You are old and your sons do not follow in your ways; appoint for us, then, a king to govern us, like other nations.” (See 1 Samuel 8:5) Samuel was displeased with that request, but he went to God with their petition. God told him, “Do what they ask, but first warn them what a king can demand of them.” He foretold the demands of loyalty, service in the king’s armies, tillers of the king’s lands and reapers of the king’s grain, his orchards, his vineyards, and all of the products produced from the king’s lands. He told Samuel, “They are rejecting me as their king. They are not rejecting you, Samuel. They are rejecting me, turning away from my protection.”
In verses 8-9 of 1 Samuel 8 he says, “8 Just as they have done to me, from the day I brought them up out of Egypt to this day, forsaking me and serving other gods, so also they are doing to you. 9 Now then, listen to their voice; only — you shall solemnly warn them, and show them the ways of the king who shall reign over them.” The result was a long, make that very long, succession of kings who,for the most part, led God’s People astray. There were a few bright spots, but – thanks to their insistence on having a human king rather than God as their King – they suffered for hundreds of years on war, conquest, bondage, slaughter, and sorrow. We might wonder, “How could anyone make such a dumb choice – much less to it over and over and expect to be Great? That’s insanity!” Yes. That is true. Doing the same thing over and over is insanity, and none of us would ever do that. 😉
Except all of us do it. Believers in our King of kings, who is the Christ of God, (↔ Music Link), the One and Only Begotten Son, the Anointed, perhaps refuse less often to choose mute and motionless idols, or idols of flesh and blood beamed toward us using 100% recycled electrons (which God himself made to be used for our benefit), BUT we still turn our allegiance away from God’s Throne of Primacy in All Things, and substitute homemade junk as our king, as our life’s primary focus, so that we can be like others who have consistently turned away from God and all his Good Gifts because they prefer their ever-growing pile of junk. And they hoard it as their junk!! “Share with those losers? No way! Let them get off their duffs and get their own junk!” How very, very sad. Kids nowadays can’t relate to being taught, expected, and encouraged to share.
Those of us “of a certain age” might recall back in the 50’s we had the original Three Musketeers Candy Bar from Mars Bars. Do you remember why it had that name? I do. The candy was designed to easily break into three separate parts so we could share with others. Take a look: That commercial (← Check it out!) that told us of “The biggest Nickel’s-Worth of Chocolate-Covered Candy in America!” Some of may have read the popular book The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas. Did you know there actually were real Musketeers, and they were the elite fighting forces for the King Louis XIII of France? They served the king in time of war and in times of peace. It was – and always has been – the duty of kings to lead the soldiers of their nations to war whether in defense against an enemy or in an assault against another invading kingdom. As God declared to Samuel when Israel wanted a king so they could be like other earthly nations, kings make war or preserve the peace, and in doing so, citizens of the kingdom are called upon to serve the king at his command.
That’s how it is supposed to work with God. Today’s approach to that kind of authority is “I’m the leader. I’ll decide what it was.” (↔ Video Link!) In fact, we don’t even want to be the leaders. We turn over our authority to computers, artificial intelligence search engines, automated attendants answering the phone. We don’t want people in authority over us and we apparently don’t want to take authority over anyone – our spouses, our children (and their children), our work, our choices at the fast-food places. But, oh, brother! If someone or something doesn’t fulfill our needs immediately and as we declare them, the air around us turns bluish and legs are talked off of chairs. “How DARE you! How dare you!” The anthem I most lament is “My body, my choice.” I concur. Just make your choice sooner, before the moment of conception. “It’s my constitutional right.” No. It never was in the Constitution of the United States and – God willing – never will be. My anthem proclaims, “Protect the innocent who are killed to preserve your obligation to choose wisely.” Many will find offense at that, even about including it in this – an essay about the Word of God – but there’s a reason for speaking out.
WE don’t make the rules, WE don’t decide the law, and WE cannot rain down Divine Retribution for human-written laws. There is a broader, more primal, more relevant, and more important Law – the Law of God, the moral laws which he proclaimed for our benefit so that we might know what is right and good. Have any of us carefully read the first chapter of the Letter to the Romans? Please spend some time this week or next (today would be great!) to read Romans 1:18-32 and you will see that not much has changed in the past 2,000 – Two-Thousand – years! At least it most certainly has not improved. There’s no excuse for that today as there was no excuse for it in The Apostle Paul’s time: 18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and wickedness of those who by their wickedness suppress the truth. 19 For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them.
All of us have an innate sense of right and wrong, good and evil. Most of us occasionally ignore that innermost voice of reason (called common sense), but some of us despise that knowledge and flaunt our violation of the simple fact that we do not have the authority to contravene the Laws of Heaven or the Order of the universe (note: small ‘u’ in universe). The reason is really simple: We already have a King – God, our Father in Heaven. The King’s responsibility is to protect his people, to lead them in war against their enemies, to promulgate and administer just laws, and to ensure domestic tranquility in the power of his own decency and honor. Not enough people are paying attention to that, much less submitting to it. as Elyon El told Samuel, “They are rejecting me as their king.”
There are far too many people who reject God as King of their lives. There are millions upon millions of earthlings who worship gods who are not El Shaddai-Olam, the Almighty-Everliving God, the One and Only Elyon El – Most High God – and millions and millions more who worship no other gods than their bodies and their senses. This vast crowd of dissensionists angrily oppose everything that mentions, points to, resembles, or even sounds like a reference to God as a King, to Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe. We are told repeatedly with vile language and vituperous curses that we are the ones who are wrong, we are the ones who are living contrary to the Truth because there is no truth other than their own. Odd, that, because there is no other Truth than HIS OWN!
His dominion is an everlasting dominion
that shall not pass away,
and his kingship is one
that shall never be destroyed.
The Lord is King, he is robed in majesty;
His throne is established from of old;
He is from everlasting.
Grace and peace be yours from God, who is, who was, and who is to come, and from the seven spirits [2] in front of his throne, and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the first to be raised from death and who is also the ruler of the kings of the world.
my kingdom is not from here.” 37 Pilate asked him, “So you are a king?” Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. For this I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice.” Ipso facto, those who do not listen do not belong to the Truth and therefore, do not belong to the King, do not deserve his protection and leadership, and do not defend his Kingdom. Nonetheless he does protect them, bless them, care for, and love them. “God makes his rain to fall on the just and the unjust.” That is how the KING makes his presence and his will known – by blessing everyone to the point that they might see his Mercy and then repent and believe the Gospel.
Do you know what the Key Verse icon for today is? It is called a Chi-Rho for the letter Chi (X) and Rho (P) which are the first letters in Greek of the word “Christos.” At the crux of the letters there is the Α alpha and Ω omega, indicating Christ is King from Age to Age ≡ FOREVER.
ΙΗΣΟΥΣ ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ NIKA
JESUS CHRIST CONQUERS!
How about IHS?
IHS for “In Hoc Signos (vinces)” – By This Sign (you shall conquer) or IES< the first three letters of IESVS (iesus = Jesus) in Latin. All of these are symbols that declare and confess that “Jesus Christ is Lord, the King of kings, and the Lord of lords. ” The Chi-Rho symbol at the top includes Χ and Ρ the first to letters of ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ – CHRISTOS – Christ meaning God’s Anointed One. The is ha-Meshiach, the Messiah, the Anointed King of Israel, and the Resurrected King of the Universe (capital ‘U’ this time) for Ever and Ever. Let’s put that Chi-Rho symbol on our hearts and wear the IHS emblem on our shoulder to signify that we are the Children, the sons and daughters of the Kingdom, the brothers and sisters of the Lord, the Christ of God. The King of All Creation.
Praise and thanks, Glory, Laud and Honor be to God be to God, (↔ Music Link) whose Kingdom is not of, or in, this world, and Peace to you, his loyal and humble Servants.
Whatever, whenever, wherever, whoever, however, if ever, forever —
at your service, Belovéd!
Please pray with us here at Share-a-Prayer.
Unless otherwise indicated, all scripture passages are from the New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (NRSVCE) New Revised Standard Version Bible: Catholic Edition, copyright © 1989, 1993 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Biblical languages inserts from Bible Hub (Bible Hub: Search, Read, Study the Bible in Many Languages) Visit at http://biblehub.com
Aloha Friday Messages by Charles O. Todd, III is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License
[1] Passages marked (GNT): Good News Translation (GNT) are from the Good News Translation® (Today’s English Version, Second Edition)© 1992 American Bible Society. All rights reserved. For more information about GNT, visit www.bibles.com and www.gnt.bible.
[2] Isaiah 11:2–3, A description of the gifts and actions of the Holy Spirit: wisdom, understanding, counsel, might, knowledge, godliness, and the fear of God. These are the Old Testament references for the Gifts of the Holy Spirit in 1 Corinthians 12
