Christ Is King, Indeed

Some of you might have woken up on Sunday as confused as I was to find that #ChristIsKing was trending near the top of X — but not for the obvious reasons we might assume. After all, the date on the calendar was Palm Sunday and Christians around the world were gathering for worship on the Lord’s Day and anticipating the celebration of Easter next week. What could be more appropriate than the declaration that Christ is above all earthly powers, ruling and reigning, seated at the right hand of the throne of the Father, and that Christians are rightly proclaiming the Gospel of His resurrection until He returns?

Unbeknownst to me, some very bad actors have more recently used the phrase “Christ is King” as an antisemitic statement against Jews, specifically, while others have used it to be an extremist propagation of their own political white nationalism. Who am I talking about? You will understand part of this controversy if you’ve been following Candace Owens’ ouster at Daily Wire and her ongoing feud with Daily Wire co-founder Ben Shapiro. Whether or not Candace is promoting, “Christ is King” as a pejorative, I cannot say and will let her speak for herself. It is clear, however, that figures like Nick Fuentes are using “Christ is King” as an anti-Jewish statement with absolutely no interest in the rule and reign of Christ, Christian doctrine, or longstanding theological beliefs (as explained in the post below).

Some are now saying that the phrase “Christ is King” is more divisive and antisemitic than ever, and that because Fuentes and company are using it, there is a dialectic ploy at work to move Christians into supporting the Left’s reflexive countermove against cultural Marxism. They are arguing that “Christ the King” should not be used right now. To put it in other words, because “Christ is King” is now a slogan and representation for a reverse Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement and a deceptive operation to get Christians on board further with destroying America, Christians should abandon the use of the phrase. This is what at least some are arguing.

So, should Christians stop using the phrase “Christ is King”? If not, how should they respond?

“Christ is King” and “Jesus is Lord” have always been statements that affirm the Supremacy of Christ. This is a central truth in the Christian faith that cannot be abandoned or forfeited. Even now, as there are both deceptive players and unsuspecting cons who are abusing and misusing the phrase “Christ is King,” I do not believe that this is in any jeopardy of being hijacked any time soon. Christians are charged to “earnestly contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints” (Jude 3). That earnest and sincere motive is needed now more than ever, even when foul play is afoot.

In today’s clown world, many hijacked terms and subtle phrases have been utilized as tools to perpetuate evil. Even biblical symbols, like the rainbow, are being used now as the banner and symbol to promote the LGBT’s Pride movement. This strategy has been so effective that the rainbow is scarcely viewed as a biblical symbol anymore. It is now synonymous with the alphabet mafia’s sexual revolution. Even as the rainbow flag waved over the White House lawn last June, no one believed Ken Ham was hosting an Ark exhibition at the invitation of Joe and Jill Biden. That’s because the rainbow has been hijacked.

But even as God’s bow has been successfully misused and abused — at least in the contemporary — to perpetuate the lies of the sexual revolution, that symbol in its current misuse is not indefinite. Even as the rainbow has been misrepresented for the last few decades, that still is a finite amount of time when accounting for the last six thousand years and the next ten thousand. We will get the rainbow back because permanent things always win and it belongs to Christ in the first place.

I do not think for a second that the phrase “Christ is King” is in any jeopardy of being the next rainbow flag, not now and not ever. There are over 1 billion people around the world who claim the name of the triune God, and while we will have worthwhile debates among Catholics and Protestants over the way of salvation, we all agree that Christ is King and Jesus is Lord — not simply a cultural aphorism, but a Christian truth claim for all time.

This dialectic deception is very hard to pull off when you have a billion normies using a term correctly.

Jesus Christ has conquered sin and death. He has overcome the grave, and He has overcome the world. He is risen, and He is coming again. He is right now ruling in heaven and will one day return to rule and reign on this earth when every single enemy has been finally subdued. And yes, “at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow, in heaven and on the earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Philippians 2:10-11). This includes true believers, fraudsters who misrepresented His name, and the unbelievers who refuse to surrender to His Lordship.

While there are deceivers today who are using the name of Christ for their own gain or con, let’s not confuse ourselves; it is always appropriate to call Christ, Lord. From a Philippian jail, Paul wrote these words:

“Some indeed preach Christ from envy and rivalry, but others from good will. The latter do it out of love, knowing that I am put here for the defense of the Gospel. The former proclaim Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely but thinking to afflict me in my imprisonment. What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed, and in that I rejoice.”

–Philippians 1:15-18

If this was true in Paul’s time, at a moment in history when far fewer people had heard the preaching of the Gospel and the name of Jesus Christ, how much more true is it today? Yes, the nations will rage against God. Yes, the schemers will scheme. But, “be not deceived, God is not mocked” (Galatians 6:7). More people today have heard the name of Christ exalted for the right reasons and still reject Him than those who are abusing the name of Christ for their own gain. “Christ is King” is not an antisemitic statement, but we shouldn’t be confused that it will be offensive to anyone who rejects Christ — no matter who they are.

Christ is King because He is Risen! There is no salvation outside of faith in Jesus Christ. This week, as Christians gather together to commemorate Good Friday and Resurrection Sunday, we can hope in Christ for salvation. We who claim the name of Christ can also say with confidence that He is “King of Kings and Lord of Lords” (Revelation 17:14; 19:16).

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