[Christ] through the Spirit of holiness was appointed the Son of God in power by his resurrection from the dead: Jesus Christ our Lord. (Rom. 1:4)
Expanded Passage: Romans 1:3-4
Living as royalty is completely foreign to most of us. We do not grow up with the heavy weight of expectations about what we must do or be when we grow up. If we follow in our parents’ footsteps, most of us do so freely. When I look at how the children of King Charles of England have grown up, including the intense scrutiny and demands on their lives, I am somewhat relieved to be a nobody.
Jesus had a destiny on earth, although almost no one knew it. He was the heir apparent to his Father’s throne. He was always the Son of God, but he became “the Son of God in power” after he rose from the dead. It was an appointment he had from all eternity past, and he assumed the throne after his resurrection from the dead. It was then most meaningfully that God made him Lord and Messiah, for it was then that he sat at God’s right hand (Acts 2:36). The “Spirit of holiness,” the Holy Spirit, made it happen (Rom. 1:4).
You may have sung the gospel song about this central moment in all history without fully realizing it: “He is Lord. He is Lord. He is risen from the dead, and he is Lord.” Is Jesus truly the king of your life today? If so, he must be Lord of all.
Make Jesus your Lord not just in theory but in truth.
Ken Schenck is provost with Campus EDU. He previously served as vice president for Houghton College (NY) and dean of Wesley Seminary at Indiana Wesleyan University.
© 2024 Wesleyan Publishing House. Reprinted from Light from the Word. Used by permission. Scriptures taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®.
