King’s and Queen’s Seats: Way of Gentiles

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(Delivered in Lusaka, Zambia, in Sept, 2012)

Mat 6:19-34 Do not lay up treasures on earth for yourselves, where moth and rust corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal.  But lay up treasures in Heaven for yourselves, where neither moth nor rust corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal.  For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.  The light of the body is the eye. Therefore if your eye is sound, your whole body shall be full of light.  But if your eye is evil, your whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness!  (There is a difference between having “an evil eye” and having “the evil eye”:  Having an ‘evil/bad eye’ עין רעה is to have a stingy, greedy, self-centered attitude, blind to the needs of those around you; Having ‘the evil eye’ עין הרע is a superstition that a person can cast a spell through an envious gaze.  Having “a good eye” is to look out for the needs of others and being generous in giving to the poor.)

No one can serve two masters. For either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will hold to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon. Therefore I say to you, Do not be anxious for your life, what you shall eat, or what you shall drink; nor for your body, what you shall put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?  Behold the birds of the air; for they sow not, nor do they reap, nor gather into barns. Yet your heavenly Father feeds them; are you not much better than they are?  Which of you by being anxious can add one cubit to his stature?  And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow. They do not toil, nor do they spin, but I say to you that even Solomon in his glory was not arrayed like one of these.  Therefore if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much rather clothe you, little-faiths?  Therefore do not be anxious, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, With what shall we be clothed?  For the Gentiles seek after all these things.  For your heavenly Father knows that you have need of all these things.  But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added to you.   Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow; for tomorrow shall be anxious for its own things. Sufficient to the day is the evil of it.

Lk 22:24-32   And there was also a dispute among them as to which of them seems to be greater.  And He said to them, The kings of the nations exercise lordship over them. And they who exercise authority on them are called benefactors. But you shall not be so: but the greater among you, let him be as the lesser, and he who governs, as one who serves.  For which is the greater; he who reclines, or he who serves?  Is it not he who reclines?  But I am among you as He who serves.  You are those who have continued with Me in My trials.  And I appoint a kingdom to you, as My Father has appointed to Me,  that you may eat and drink at My table in My kingdom, and sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.  And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan has desired you, that he may sift you as wheat.  But I have prayed for you, that your faith fail not. And when you are converted, strengthen your brothers.

Jn 21:15-19   Then when they broke fast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me more than these?  He said to Him, Yes, Lord, You know that I love You.  He said to him, Feed My lambs.  He said to him the second time, Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me?  He said to Him, Yes, Lord, You know that I love You.  He said to him, Feed My sheep.  He said to him the third time, Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me?  Peter was grieved because He said to him a third time, Do you love Me?  And he said to Him, Lord, You know all things; You know that I love You.  Jesus said to him, Feed My sheep.  Truly, truly, I say to you, When you were young, you girded yourself and walked where you wished.  But when you grow old, you shall stretch forth your hands and another shall gird you and carry you where  you do not wish.  He spoke this signifying by what death he should glorify God.  And when He had spoken this, He said to him, Follow Me.

Ps 82   A Psalm of Asaph. God stands in the congregation of the mighty; in the midst of the gods He judges. How long will you judge unjustly and lift up the faces of the wicked?  Selah.  Defend the poor and fatherless; do justice to the afflicted and needy. Deliver the poor and needy; save them out of the hand of the wicked.  They neither know nor will understand; they walk on in darkness; all the foundations of the earth are shaken.  I have said, You are gods; and all of you sons of the Most High.  But you shall die like men, and fall like one of the princes. Arise, O God, judge the earth; for You shall inherit in all nations.

Who is Jesus?
–the Messiah:  anointed King, Prophet, High Priest
–King of the Jews/Israel at His birth and His death, and when He comes again to judge and rule
the Prophet like unto Moses, but greater
–our great High Priest who gave Himself a sacrifice, and now is seated at the right hand of  God, interceding for us
–the High Priest in Israel dressed simply before God, gloriously when serving the people
–Yeshua/Jesus was clothed in majesty with God, but simply when He came to serve  among us       (Jn 13:1-17)

Whose Temple was the one in Jerusalem?
Jn 2:20   Herod’s?
Mt 21:12-13   And Jesus went into the temple of God and cast out all those who sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the money-changers, and the seats of those who sold doves.  And He said to them, It is written, “My house shall be called the house of prayer”; but you have made it a den of thieves. (2Pt 2:1-3 the prosperity ‘gospel’)

What is a “King’s and Queen’s seat/throne”?
–In Hebrew the word for both is kis-seh כסא .
–A throne is the seat of state of a potentate or dignitary, especially the seat occupied by a sovereign on state occasions; or the seat occupied by a pope or bishop on ceremonial occasions.  ‘Throne’ in an abstract sense can also refer to the monarchy or the Crown itself, e.g., the Great White Throne
–In ancient Greek, a ‘thronos’ was a specific but ordinary type of chair with a footstool, a high status object but not necessarily with any connotations of power, e.g., the chair and footstool in Parliament House.       –Jesus sits on the Throne at the right hand of Power, and the Earth is His footstool.  (Big feet for us to sit at!) Mt 5:34-35
–The word ‘throne’ in English translations of the Bible describes Pharaoh as sitting on a throne, but mostly the term refers to the throne of the Kingdom of Israel, often described as the Throne of David, or of Solomon.  The king of Persia sat on a throne in the Scroll of Esther.

The God of Israel is frequently described as sitting on a throne in the Psalms, in Isaiah 6, and in Is 66. YHVH says of Himself that “The heavens are My Throne, and the Earth is My footstool.”
–In the New Testament, the angel Gabriel also refers to this Throne. Luke 1:32-33.
–Jesus promised His Apostles that they would sit upon twelve thrones. Mt 19:28
–John writes what he was given to see:  “And I saw a great white throne, and Him that sat on it, from whose face the Earth and the Heavens fled away.” Rev 20:11
–Bishops of the Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Anglican, and other churches where episcopal offices exist, have been formally seated on a throne, called a cathedra (Gr. seat).  The seat or throne symbolizes the bishop’s authority to teach the faith and to govern his flock.

We who teach and lead the flock have a calling, a gifting, an appointment from God, the Lord, the Holy Spirit, the congregation.

Jesus had no place to lay His head: no home of His own

What did Jesus come to do?:  to serve, not to be served

Pastors are under-shepherds; Jesus is the Good and Chief Shepherd: we are under His authority

Thrones are for kings and gods, not for servants of the God Most High, Judge of all, who have been taught by the Apostle Peter and the Holy Spirit to lead by example. 1Pt 5:1-4

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