The Pastor's Pen

Beloved, is Christ a King? “Yes,” you say. Over what is He a King? He is King over His Church, which is His Kingdom. How does He govern, or rule in this Kingdom? Hear the wisdom of the past:

Westminster Larger Catechism, question 45: How doth Christ execute the office of a king? A. Christ executeth the office of a king, in calling out of the world a people to himself, and giving them officers, laws, and censures, by which he visibly governs them; in bestowing saving grace upon his elect, rewarding their p 195 obedience, and correcting them for their sins, preserving and supporting them under all their temptations and sufferings, restraining and overcoming all their enemies, and powerfully ordering, all things for his own glory, and their good; and also in taking vengeance on the rest, who know not God, and obey not the gospel.

Westminster Assembly, The Westminster Confession of Faith: Edinburgh Edition (Philadelphia: William S. Young, 1851), 194–195.

This is a great summary. The writer in Hebrews 3 calls Christ the “Son over His own house,” One greater than Moses, a servant in the house of Christ. Would we expect the Son over the house to have a greater or lesser care than the servant in the house? The question is not hard to answer–the Son over the house has a much greater care than the servant in the house, certainly. What kind of care did Moses execute as that servant-in-the-house? Well, it was up to him to receive, organize, and institute the Tabernacle, its Worship, its Priesthood, its Religious days, and other observances. Truly, that was a particular and exacting kind of ordering, and Moses was “faithful in all the house as a servant.” A question then to ponder is that when Christ comes to earth as God-Incarnate, and re-organizes the administration of His house for the New Testament, and its world-wide expansion in this present age, what kind of oversight and administration ought we to expect? Should it exhibit less care than that of the servant? Should the Son over the house leave the administration of it to the occupants of the house? Is that a proper way to speak of Christ, or a proper way to think of Him; as a disinterested proprietor?

I think not. Instead, we ought to think of Christ as greatly interested in His house, that it is “ordered in all things, and sure.” (2 Samuel 23.5) Rather than thinking of Christ as a disinterested proprietor, leaving the ordering of His house, its Doctrine, Worship, Government, Order, Policy, Operations, Ministry, etc. to the whim, caprice, or preferences of the occupants of it, we ought to be gathering all the information we can from His written Word, the only rule of faith and obedience, to see how Christ has commanded that His house be ordered, and then submitting to His authority as Son over the house. It is in His ordering that we can expect success in the mission to “Disciple all Nations” (Matthew 28.18-20).