One of the truths that I need to constantly remind myself of time and time again is that Jesus sits on His throne and He rules over the nations…..He, and only He, reigns.

This image of Christ on His throne is one that goes throughout the Scripture, it is an image that is referred to often. This position stands to show us who we should worship.

The LORD is in his holy temple; the LORD is on his heavenly throne. He observes everyone on earth; his eyes examine them. Psalm 11:4

Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all that is in them, saying:“To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be praise and honor and glory and power,
for ever and ever!” Revelation 11:13

It should be simple right? He reigns, we worship. What is so difficult about that? It turns out there is a lot that is difficult about that. Because there is another person who subconsciously vies for that throne most days.

ME

And I guess you too.

Logically we know that is ridiculous. Logically we know we are not the centre of the universe. Logically we know that this is impossible. But yet everyday I have to fight the urge and desire within me to place myself on that throne and take Jesus off it. Some days I win and some days I don’t.

Truthfully this is a tricky dynamic to get fully right in my human mind. On one hand I am aware that I am not to exalt myself, I know that I shouldn’t be placing myself on any throne. I wasn’t built for that, my heart couldn’t handle it even if I could get there. Jesus makes it clear that it’s a bad idea.

For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted. Matthew 23:12

Humbled by Him, or simply humbled? Either way it’s not a good idea. But He says something else in there that ‘feels’ a little contradictory. He says that when we truly see ourselves as God sees us, which is what humility is, then we will be exalted. This is talked about later in the Bible by Paul when talking about what the saving life of Christ opens up to us.

And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, Ephesians 2:6

So which is it? Should we be humbled or exalted?

When I first heard about God growing up I thought He was an angry God who wanted to keep us in our place. He created us, we had failed Him, so we were punished and kept low to make up for all the bad stuff we had done. Any Christian I did know held themselves that way. They knew that they were broken, and so they worked hard to serve God.

As I’ve grown up I see that the theological understanding of their position when it come to God was wrong, even though how they served was beautiful. God doesn’t hate us, He loves us. He doesn’t want pain for us, but rescue. He doesn’t want us to scrape in the dirt, He wants to raise us in His glory.

However, instead of this truth resulting in a humble loved filled response from us, too often it results in us getting too big for our boots and we begin to exalt ourselves and place ourselves on His throne rather than standing before it.

We need to bring the tension of these positions together.

We need to hold the understanding of the latter position and the posture of the former. We must understand that He are loved and that Christ seeks to celebrate and love us. But our response to that is serving, surrendering , and devoting our life to Him. He exalts, we don’t. Our job is to worship Him. Our worship of Him keeps Him on the throne and us off it.