I can think of nothing that should fill our hearts with
greater confidence, greater comfort, greater consecration to his cause
than this fact. The Lord Jesus Christ, who loved
us and gave himself for us, He whose name is Jesus, Savior,
who came into this world to save his people from their sins. He
is the King of the universe. Oh God, write that on my heart
constantly. Christ is King. Christ is King. everywhere, over everybody, over
everything, all the time. He has his way. He works his
will. He's performing his purpose for
the saving of his people. Jesus Christ is king over all
the earth. That's the message of Acts chapter
2. We live in this day of Pentecostal
charismatic nonsense where everybody is imitating having gifts of
the apostles and imitating pretending to speak in tongues and pretending
to have gifts of miracles. That's not what Acts 2 is about.
Acts 2, Peter tells us by inspiration what took place on the day of
Pentecost was the fulfillment of Joel's prophecy, the outpouring
of God the Holy Spirit by which God in heaven gave testimony
to the fact that his son, the Christ, the Messiah, is exalted
and seated at the right hand of the majesty on high, having
all power over all flesh to give eternal life to all whom the
Father has given him. Christ is King. Christ is King. How Peter must have rejoiced
to declare that God has exalted him to the right hand of majesty
on high on that day. When the Spirit of God was poured
out at Pentecost, this man, Peter, and all those disciples who had
been so saddened by the fact that the Lord Jesus had been
put to death now rejoice that Christ is King. God teach us
that Christ is King, that we may rejoice constantly in Him. That's the message of the New
Testament. It is the message that He who died for our sins,
He who came into this world to save us, sits on the throne of
universal monarchy. And that's the message of our
text this evening in Ephesians chapter 1 verses 20 through 23. Our Redeemer has been exalted
to the throne of everlasting dominion. We need to recognize
this Rejoice in it and proclaim it. If we worship the Son of
God, if we worship the Lord Jesus Christ, we must worship Him as
the King, the sovereign monarch of the universe, bowing to Him,
submitting to Him, trusting Him. He is the King. You can't trust
Him if you don't recognize He's the King. You can't confide in
Him. place all your confidence in
Him, cast all your care upon Him if you doubt that He is the
King. We worship Him, we trust Him
only when we're convinced that He is the King of glory. Let's
begin reading in Ephesians 1 verse 15. The Apostle says, Wherefore
I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus, and
love unto all the saints, Cease not to give thanks for you, making
mention of you in my prayers. And this is what I seek from
God for you, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father
of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation
in the knowledge of him, the eyes of your understanding being
enlightened, that you may know what is the hope of his calling
and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints.
And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us would who
believe according to the working of his mighty power. Now watch
this. Which he wrought in Christ Jesus
when he raised him from the dead and set him at his own right
hand in the heavenly places. Far above all principality and
power and might and dominion. Far above all principality and
power and might and dominion. every name that is named, not
only in this world, but in that which is to come, and hath put
all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over
all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of
him that filleth all in all. You are familiar with Isaiah
chapter 6, Isaiah God's prophet had a prophetic, pre-incarnate
vision of the Lord Jesus Christ, the King. He said, I saw also
the Lord sitting upon His throne, high and lifted up, and His train
filled the temple. I saw Christ, the crucified Redeemer. I saw Him who died in my stead,
sitting upon the throne of glory, high and lifted up, and His train,
His majesty, filled the temple of God. Zechariah told us that
when Christ came, he would enter into his kingdom through humiliation.
That is, he would enter into his kingdom by means of the cross. He would enter into his kingdom
by the door of the cross. Rejoice greatly, O daughter of
Zion. Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem.
Behold, thy king cometh unto thee. He is just and having salvation. lowly and riding upon an ass,
and upon a colt the foal of an ass, he shall speak peace unto
the heathen, and his dominion shall be from sea even to sea,
and from the river even to the ends of the earth." Zacharias'
prophecy was fulfilled on the evening of our Lord's crucifixion. Before our Savior died, He rode
into Jerusalem, entering into His kingdom by door of the cross.
And multitudes cast their cloaks before Him, crying, Hosanna!
Blessed is the King that cometh in the name of the Lord. Peace
in heaven and glory in the highest. I want to talk to you tonight
as best I can about Christ the King. May God the Holy Spirit
speak and be our teacher by his word. Hosanna to the king that
for our guilt was slain. Let every soul its tribute bring
and swell the exalting strain. Hosanna to the king who sitting
high in heaven bid sinners lost and wondering return and be forgiven. Hosanna to the king who ever
lives and reigns that heaven and earth his praises sing in
loud and lofty strains. Often God's saints lose great
blessing because they limit their thoughts about Christ to one
aspect of his life and his work. Some focus their minds on the
Savior's virgin birth at Bethlehem. Others think only of his exemplary
life of mercy and grace, his life of righteousness and obedience.
Many others think only of our Savior's death at Calvary. Now
all of those things, all of those things are vital aspects of gospel
truth. Deny any of them and you deny
the whole gospel. I would not suggest that we minimize
any of those things at all. But we can never speak too much
of our Savior as the King. And I want to remind you that
He, who is our Redeemer, who by His death at Calvary put away
our sins. That work was not the termination
of His history. He rose from the grave, was exalted
to heavenly and eternal glory, seated upon the throne. And this
evening I want us to gaze for a little while the Exalted Christ. In the closing portion of his
prayer in Ephesians 1, the Apostle Paul reminds us that our risen
Redeemer has been given all power, all authority, and all dominion. In these verses, Paul seems to
break out into praise and adoration for Christ the Exalted King.
He who has been given the scepter of universal monarchy as the
God-man, our mediator, as the head of his church, he's gone
within the veil, whither the forerunner is for us entered. Oh, how that fact ought to strengthen
and encourage our faith. In preparing this message, I
was reminded again of an incident that happened early in the ministry
of C.H. Spurgeon. He was greatly blessed
of God from the very beginning of his ministry in London, thousands
coming to hear him. And while they were constructing
the tabernacle, just a few years after he went to London, they
met in the Crystal Palace to accommodate the crowds. And as
he was preaching to thousands, I'm talking, I think it was like
23,000 people he was preaching to, some fool, fire, fire. And in the course of panic and
stampede, many were injured, some were killed, and Spurgeon
was devastated, just devastated. For two weeks, he couldn't bring
himself to preach. He just couldn't bring himself
to preach. And then after those two weeks, as he was seeking
God and seeking a word from God for his own soul and for the
people to whom he preached, came to Philippians chapter 2, we'll
look at it in a few minutes, where the apostle describes the
exaltation of Christ. I wish I could hear that sermon,
I've read it many times. He preached the next Sunday.
The subject was Christ exalted. That fact strengthened his soul. That fact gave him grace and
courage and strength to pursue the work God had committed to
his hands and he stood again to preach the gospel of God's
grace as never before. How this fact ought to strengthen
our faith, how it ought to encourage our hearts, Jesus Christ is King. He is worthy of our fullest trust. fullest trust. Oh, how I want
to trust Him. How I want you to trust Him.
We trust Him so little, so little. How little we trust Him. There's
no doubt about our Savior's dominion over everything. There's no room
for uncertainty. The Lord God values the obedience
and death of Christ above all things. He accepts it for our
perfect redemption. And to prove it, He's exalted
Christ our Redeemer to His own right hand, put in His hands
the reins of the universe to perform all His will. And thereby, He gives Him the
reward of His obedience. God the Father has given the
place of supreme honor in heaven to that very one who bore our
sins in his own body and died on the tree. And this he's done
for us. He's the head over all things
to his church. Children of God, can you get
hold of this? Yonder sets our Redeemer in total
dominion over everything. for us. For us. For us, his people. Everything he does, he does for
us. Everything he accomplishes, he accomplishes for us. Every
foe he tramples beneath his feet, he tramples for us. Every enemy
he raises up and puts down, he raises up and puts down for us. Everything is done for us by
Christ our King. God, the triune Jehovah, raised
him from the dead and exalted him to his own right hand to
be an everlasting king and priest for his church. Now, my subject
is far too big for me to preach and far too big for you to comprehend,
but I hope what I've done will be filled with confidence, joy,
and praise for our great king, the Lord Jesus Christ. We'll
see four things in this passage to which I call your attention.
First, his place, then his preeminence, then his power, then his pleasure. First, in verse 20, the apostle
here is talking about the power of God by which we believe. And
he speaks here of the power which he wrought in Christ when he
raised him from the dead and set him at his own right hand
in heavenly places. This is the place of our Lord
Jesus, our King. He was raised from the dead and
exalted to a kingly throne by the power of God because He had
accomplished our redemption. The throne of our King is the
reward of His humiliation and His death, and this is His place
and ours. Turn to Philippians 2 now, Philippians
chapter 2, a passage I referred to earlier. If there be therefore any consolation
in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the
Spirit, if any bowels and mercies, certainly Paul is saying there
is consolation in Christ. There is comfort in His love.
There is fellowship with His Spirit. There are bowels of mercies
in Him. Now if these things are so, fulfill
ye my joy. that ye be like-minded, having
the same love, being of one accord and of one mind. Let nothing
be done through strife or vain glory, but in lowliness of mind
let each esteem other better than themselves. Look not every
man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others.
That's what Christ did, isn't it? He looked on our needs and
worked and labored and fulfilled our needs. Let this mind be in
you, which was also in Christ Jesus. Now watch it. Who being
in the form of God, who being God, and thought it not robbery
to be equal with God, he didn't consider it a thing that he had
to seek after to be equal with God, because he is God. But made
himself of no reputation, quite literally emptied himself. He
emptied himself and took upon him the form of a servant. He
came here as Jehovah's servant and took on Him the form of one
who is a servant, and was made in the likeness of men. The Word
was made flesh and dwelt among us. And being found in fashion
as a man, He humbled Himself still, and became obedient unto
death, even the death of the cross. Now watch this. Wherefore,
because of His voluntary humiliation, dying in our room instead upon
the cursed tree, reason, God also hath highly exalted him,
and given him a name which is above every name, that at the
name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and
things in earth, and things under the earth, and every tongue should
confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the
Father." Now that passage of Scripture tells us several things. Jesus Christ is himself God,
equal with God. Christ our God humbled himself
and became a man, though a man, a real man. He's yet God over
all, blessed forever, but he became a man. As the God-man,
our mediator, our Lord Jesus suffered and died in obedience
to his Father's will. And as the reward of his suffering,
reward of His obedience unto death, God the Father raised
Him from the dead, and set Him at His own right hand upon the
throne of everlasting dominion, exalted to heaven's lofty throne,
and there He sits reigning forever. If we would be exalted to heaven
with Him, we must be humbled upon the earth bowing to Him,
and soon everything Everything, every creature, every name in
heaven, in earth, and in hell is going to bow at his feet and
confess that he is king. He is Lord and it's right for
him to be king, right for him to be Lord. The Lord Jesus is
described as sitting as king in heaven. Paul's expression
set him at his own right hand. must not be forced into a literal
interpretation. He's giving us a metaphor, a
picture. The scriptures plainly show us
that Christ is not actually and permanently seated physically
upon a physical throne. In Acts 7, we read of the Son
of God, the Son of Man standing on the right hand of God. He
is described in Revelation 2 as that one who walketh in the midst
of the seven candlesticks. In the midst of the elders, he
stood as a lamb. Jesus Christ the King, this one
who is seated in the serenity of absolute sovereignty. We can't
even imagine that, can we? Seated in the serenity of absolute
dominion. I mean by that yonder he sits
undisturbed by anything. Undisturbed by anything because
everything is performed in obedience to his sovereign will. This one who's seated in the
serenity of absolute sovereignty stands with excitement to receive
sinners coming to him. Come to Christ and he stands
to embrace you. He stands to intercede for his
elect. He stands beside Joshua as Satan
accuses him. He stands to receive his dying
saints as he did Stephen when he was stoned to death. And we
see him in Revelation 10 with one foot on the earth and one
on the sea standing with the book of God in his hand to fulfill
all God's purpose. when the Scriptures speak of
Christ sitting in heaven. We must understand it then as
a figure of speech. What's the figure of? What does
it imply? At least these four things. Christ
being seated in heaven indicates that he is resting from his finished
work. He has entered into his rest.
when he had by himself purged our sins, he sat down on the
right hand of the majesty on high. There he sets his work
of redemption completed, his work of righteousness completed. He who had perfected forever
them that are sanctified by the sacrifice of himself sat down
on the right hand of God. Second, it implies to us that
Christ has begun a new work altogether. He has ended the work of expiation
for sin. He's finished the work of atonement. He's finished the work of reconciliation. He's finished the work of righteousness. But he's begun the administration
of his kingdom as the king of grace and the king of glory.
Turn, if you will, to John 17. Lindsay has been for the past
year us from John chapter 17. Look at what he says here, John
17, in his high priestly prayer our Savior speaks. These words spake Jesus, and
lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hour is
come. Glorify thy Son, that thy Son
also may glorify thee, as thou hast given him power over all
flesh. eternal life to as many as thou
hast given him." Years ago Brother Darwin Pruitt walked back in
the office one night before he went down to Taylor to pastor
down there and he had been reading this second verse and before
anybody else came in he said, he said, I want to ask you something
and he quoted John 17 too. He said, does that word power
mean might or authority? I said, yes that is what it means.
Might authority. This power, this might, this
dominion, this authority has been given to Christ as the God-man,
our mediator, because he earned it. It was his from everlasting. He was born King of the Jews
because he's God, but it was given to him as the reward of
his obedience. The Father said to him in covenant
mercy, ask of me and I'll give you the heathen for your inheritance.
And now the Son says, Thou hast given Him power over all flesh,
that He should give eternal life to as many as Thou hast given
Him. And this is life eternal, that they might know Thee the
only true God and Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent. I have glorified
Thee on the earth. I have finished the work which
Thou gavest Me to do. Now watch verse 5, And now, O
Father, Glorify thou me with thine own self, with the glory
which I had with thee before the world was. So that he's asking
the Father to give him publicly, to give him in a demonstratively
public way this power that was put in his hands as the God-man,
our mediator, the Lamb's slave and accepted before the world
began. God put all things in the hands
of his Son. And he now says, give me father,
in a public way, that power which you gave me as the Christ of
God before the world was. And the Lord God on his ascension
publicly gave him this power and demonstrated it by the outpouring
of his spirit in Acts chapter 2. Third, Christ being seated
in heaven indicates the supreme honor and dignity that's placed
upon him. Revelation chapter 5, And hear
the song of the Lamb, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book,
and open the seals thereof. For thou wast slain, and hast
redeemed us to God by thy blood, out of every kindred, and tongue,
and people, and nation. And hast made us kings and priests
unto God, and we shall reign on the earth. Worthy is the Lamb
that was slain. And fourth, Christ being seated
in heaven indicates a state of everlasting continuance. Seated
never to be dethroned. Seated never to be overthrown. Seated never to be disturbed.
His humiliation was temporary as he walked on this earth in
humble flesh. His exaltation and dominion is
eternal. There was given to him, Daniel
said, dominion and glory and the kingdom that all people,
nations and languages should serve him. All people, nations
and languages serve him and his kingdom. Read the 12th chapter
of Revelation. The earth helped the woman. The earth helped the woman. I'm going to say something that
Folks just can't imagine being so and I know it is so. Whatever
Mr. Obama does in the White House
and whatever the Senate and the Congress and the legislatures
and the insane Supreme Court justices and Mr. Putin in Moscow and the folks
in North Korea and in China, whatever is done by men on the
earth only helps. God's church, His kingdom. Only helps Christ our Savior. Satan in hell roars to destroy,
but he only assists the king in doing good to his kingdom.
He can do nothing but good for the kingdom of God because Christ
is king. His dominion is an everlasting
dominion. which shall not pass away, and
his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed. The Lord Jesus
is seated at the right hand of God. Again, this is to be understood
figuratively. God doesn't have a body. He doesn't
have a right hand or a left hand. God's Spirit. So when He uses
terms of a body to describe Himself, He does so in a figurative sense.
The right hand of the majesty on high is the place of blessedness. The right hand is the place of
highest honor. The right hand is the place of
power. Our Lord Jesus said in Matthew
26, some of you folks sitting right here, you will not taste
death until you see the Son of Man sitting on the right hand
of power. Sitting on the right hand of
power. Let me draw just a few practical conclusions from this
verse. We who believe were raised with Christ. When we trust Him,
we enter into His rest. That means we're out of the reach
of all our enemies. We're the children of God's right
hand, seated with our Savior. right hand of the majesty on
high. I don't mean Bobby we're going
to be, I mean we are. We're one with Him. When He entered
glory, we enter with Him. When He took His seat, we took
our seat. When He took possession of glory,
we took possession of glory. We shall enter into that glory,
but it's already ours. All right, look at verse 21.
Here we see the preeminence of our King. far above all principality
and power and might and dominion. Now, I've read lots of commentators
and comments by men about principality and power and might and dominion
and they have all kinds of explanations. And I don't have a clue what
he's talking about. I don't have a clue what's represented by
principalities and powers except this. And this I know is what
he's saying. He who is exalted on high, seated
at the right hand of majesty on high, is far above every power
and every influence and every dignity and every name that is
named in heaven and in earth. Thou hast magnified thy word
above all thy name. Psalm 138 too. Christ, the Word
of God, the incarnate God, is seated in heaven, far above all
principality and power and might and dominion and every name that
is named, not only in this world, not only for time, but also in
that which is to come for all eternity. Remember, God the Holy
Ghost is telling us here about the God-man, our Savior. As God,
He already possessed this honor, but as our mediator, The humanity
of Christ. The manhood of Christ. Manhood
itself. Manhood as it was intended to
be when God created man in the garden. Manhood is exalted. He who is God, man in our flesh,
the son of David reigns over all creatures in dignity, glory,
and authority. who sits upon the throne of God
is David's Lord and David's Son. And he is seated upon that which
is described in Scripture as the throne of David, the throne
of the Kingdom of God Himself. This is what the Apostle had
reference to when he said, God was manifest in the flesh, justified
in the spirit, seen of angels. The angels of God, now when Christ
was exalted, for the first time saw, gazed upon, and rejoiced
in the vision of the Godhead in the glorified humanity of
the Son, in whom dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. The angels of God saw him when
he came in our flesh. The angels of God watched him
and ministered to him as he walked through this earth and was tempted
of Satan. The angels of God observed him
as he cried in Gethsemane and came and ministered to him. The
angels of God rolled away the stone from his tomb after he
was risen from the dead. They saw all those things, but
when Christ is ascended on high, when he entered into heaven with
his own blood, having obtained eternal redemption for us, the
angels of God be held in the face of Jesus Christ the glory
of God and that's what we behold in the face of Christ the risen
King all the glory of all the Godhead in the person of the
God man Christ our Redeemer and that's the message we proclaim
to all the world this exalted Christ he is our high priest
he's our Melchizedek he has neither father nor mother He's the king
of righteousness and the king of priests. He is a priest upon
a throne. He rules as a king and intercedes
as a priest. He intercedes for us on the merit
of his accomplished work, intercedes for us as the children of God,
intercedes for us as the objects of God's love who rightly deserve
the bounty of God's goodness through the merits of our Savior
the King and he intercedes as a king seated on his throne as
the king who issues an order but he speaks as an advocate
as a king who rules to accomplish but pleads as a priest he's the
king upon his throne so that everything he seeks he has for
he's the king who is our priest, our advocate on high. Christ,
our king, is a universal monarch. King over angels, king over devils,
king with authority in the earth, king over the world to come.
King in heaven, king in hell, king everywhere. Before this
king, every knee shall bow. The head that once was crowned
with thorns is crowned with glory now. A royal diadem adorns the
mighty victor's brow. The brightest place that heaven
affords is thine, is thine by right, thou King of kings and
Lord of lords and heaven's eternal light. There, like a man, the
Savior sits. The God, how bright he shines
and scatters infinite delight on all the happy minds. Again,
let's draw some practical encouraging inferences from verse 21. Is
Christ a King and we are one with Him? Then we are kings. We are kings. Burroughs read
it out here in Revelation 19. Brother Larry read it back in
the office in Revelation 20. How can it be said that we reign
with Christ on the earth? Revelation 20, speaking of that
thousand-year reign, is not talking about something prophetic. Rex,
we are now in the kingdom of God. Christ is now seated on
the throne of David. We now live in that blessed gospel
millennium described in Revelation 20. We're made to be kings and
priests under God. How do we reign on this earth? We take the gospel, and assail
the very gates of hell. And the gates of hell fall in
front of us. The gates of hell fall in front
of us. The gates of hell shall not prevail
against my church, our Savior said. We preach the gospel with
this confidence. The gates of hell cannot stand
before us. God will save His elect. We reign
with Christ. this sense that Satan, the enemy
of our souls, has no power over us. We reign with Christ in this
sense that Babylon and the beast and the false prophet have no
power to deceive God's elect. We reign as kings on the earth
in this sense. Even the lust of our flesh no
longer have dominion over us, making us servants to sin, but
rather we are the servants of God and servants of righteousness.
Is Christ a priest? Then we, being one with Him,
are priest with Him and priest in Him. Priest. Priest. There sits Merle Hart
in his priestly garments, fine linen, clean and white. in his
priestly garments. Do you know where priests live?
Priests live in the holy place. Do you know where priests do
all their business? They do all their business in
the holy place. Do you know where priests serve?
Priests serve only in the holy place. Priests have direct access
to God. That's what we are in Christ
the Lord. We live in Him and with Him. We're seated with Him in heavenly
places by the power and grace of our God. With such a King
as Christ is, the kingdom is surely safe. Has God given Him
preeminence? Then children of God, let us
give preeminence to our King. Give preeminence to Him. So many
ways, this is the thought that flashes through my mind. We cannot give him greater preeminence
than by trusting him. Trusting him. I've had David
and his family on my mind, as you have these past couple of
weeks. Brother Bob Duff, Mary Lou. And if I could, if I could, I
would take away Every care and concern you have for your health
and from you for your husband's health if I could I would I would But I don't love you like he
does I'm not as good as he is. I don't
care like he cares You see these things don't come to pass so
that our king can just sort of govern them. Oh no, he brings
them to pass for our good, only for our good. Let us then give
him the preeminence God's given him, trusting him, bowing to
him, honoring him. Third, look at verse 22. here's the power of our King,
and hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be
head over all things to the church. Our great God has exalted Christ
to such dignity and dominion that everything is under his
power, and everything as brought in subjection under his feet.
All creatures are under his rule. He's Lord of all, Lord over all,
both the dead and the living. He rules in providence so that
history is shaped by the hand of our King. Never had any interest in history
until after God saved me. And I had a tough history professor. Man, he was tough. My first work
in college, I started in summer school, and most of the classes
were senior classes. And I thought I was prepared.
Buddy, I wasn't prepared. The summer school was the toughest
year I had in college, and it only lasted 12 weeks. It was
the toughest year I had. I had a tough professor. And
he knew history. But I couldn't get interested
until I heard him say something one day. That's it. He said,
history is his story. History is his story. Read history and you read the
story of our king's rule. No matter where you read the
history, no matter what aspect you're talking about, He shapes
history. He governs the lives of all creatures. Christ Jesus, our King, rules,
I repeat, everything for the benefit of His church. He's been
given absolute, universal rule so that He might give eternal
life to God's elect. It's by the power of Christ,
the King, that we, his church, are sent into the world with
the Great Commission. He begins like this, All power
is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore. Go
therefore. All power is mine because Christ
rules his church is safe. No weapon formed against her
shall prosper. No weapon formed against you,
my brother, shall prosper. A dog shall not bark against
you. A dog shall not bark against
you. Our king orders the affairs of heaven, earth, and hell for
us. There is a mystical union between
Christ and his church. He's our head. Because he's the head, he receives
honor. Because he's the head, he's the
governor. Because he's the head, he's the
guide. Let us follow him, worship him,
and obey him. Here's the fourth thing. Look
at verse 23. Here God the Holy Ghost describes the pleasure
of our king. Though Christ is universal king, his pleasure
is in his people. The church, which is his body,
fullness of Him that filleth all in all. With His body, one
with Him, one with Him. His body, perfect with Him. His fullness, His completion,
His completion. He who is the Redeemer must have
His redeemed. He who is the shepherd must have
his sheep. He who is the head must have
every member of his body. He's the head of the body of
the church, who's the beginning, the firstborn from the dead,
that in all things he might have the preeminence. For it pleased
the Father that in him should all fullness dwell. For in him
dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and ye are
complete in him. who's the head of all principality
and power, so that he who possesses all fullness causes all who are
his to possess all fullness, all the fullness of redemption
and pardon, of grace and righteousness, of sanctification, of glory,
of heaven, of eternity, all the fullness of God. All the fullness of God shall
be heaped upon us, his elect, who are the fullness of his body. Hail to the prince of life and
peace, who holds the keys of death and hell. The spacious
world unseen are his, and sovereign power becomes him well. In shame and torment, once he
died, But now he lives forevermore. Bow down, ye saints, around his
seat, and all the angel bands adore. So live forever, glorious
Lord, to crush thy foes and guard thy friends, while all thy chosen
tribes rejoice that thy dominion never ends. Worthy thy hands
to hold the keys, guided by wisdom and by love, worthy to rule o'er
mortal life, o'er worlds below, and worlds above, forever reign
victorious King, wide through the earth thy name be known,
and call my longing soul to sing sublimer anthems round thy throne. Now to the King, immortal, invisible,
the only wise God be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.