The Kingly office of Christ is one of the Threefold Offices, or special relations, in which Christ stands to his people, viz. those of a prophet, priest, and king.[2]
In the Gospel of Luke, the angel Gabriel proclaims, "Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name him Jesus. He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High,* and the Lord God will give him the throne of David his father, and he will rule over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.”[3] In the Book of Revelation it is declared that the Lamb is "King of kings, and Lord of lords."[3]
Christ is King and sovereign Head over his Church and over all things to his Church (Ephesians 1:22; 4:15; Colossians 1:18; 2:19). His rule extends to every creature, for " all authority is committed into his hands, both in heaven and on earth".[2] Its establishment among men is progressive, but it is destined at last to fill the whole earth.[2] This royalty differs from that which essentially belongs to him as God the Son, for it is given to him by God the Father as the reward of his obedience and sufferings (Philippians 2:6–11), and has as its especial object the upbuilding and the glory of his redeemed Church.
Christ's mediatorial kingdom may be regarded as comprehending,
Christ sustained and exercised the function of mediatorial King as well as of Prophet and Priest, from the time of the fall of man, when he entered on his mediatorial work; yet it may be said that he was publicly and formally enthroned when he ascended up on high and sat down at the Father's right hand (Psalms 2:6; Jeremiah 23:5; Isaiah 9:6), after his work of humiliation and suffering on earth was "finished" and until his Second Coming.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Easton, Matthew George (1897). Easton's Bible Dictionary (New and revised ed.). T. Nelson and Sons. ((cite encyclopedia))
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