OF CROWNS AND KINGS, & NOBLE THINGS

Few symbols represent royalty so well as a crown. They seem to have an uncanny power to bedazzle and impress. Maybe that is one of the reasons our Sovereign King, the Lord God Almighty, promises his loyal subjects a crown of their own.

• “Blessed is a man who perseveres under trial; for once he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life, which the Lord has promised to those who love Him” (James 1:12).
• “And when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory” (1Pe 5:4).
• “Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life? (Rev 2:10).

The promise seems quite clear, crowns await the faithful.

A favorite of mine is Isaiah 62:3: “You will also be a crown of beauty in the hand of the LORD, And a royal diadem in the hand of your God.” The Geneva Bible commentary on this verse reads, “He will value you as dear and precious as a king does his crown.”

The signs of nobility, of noble living, are found throughout the Scripture like ornaments of golden thread. Sadly, our modern culture has lost some of its savor for the symbols of sovereignty, but you are able to recapture it!

“I am coming quickly; hold fast what you have, in order that no one take your crown” (Rev 3:11).

This passage from the Book of the Revelation, with Christ’s message to the church in Sardis, clearly indicates that their crown is a foregone conclusion — if they hold fast to their faith.

Here’s a noble plan: live your life today as if you already wear your crown. Not as one who lords power over others in some arrogant, condescending way, but as a noble woman or man who bears the crown of life, the crown of glory, the crown of beauty, and the crown of righteousness. Live today as a princess or prince of the Most High God, representing His Throne and His Will here on earth. It can change your perspective on how you view yourself and others.

“There is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day; and not only to me, but also to all who have loved His appearing” (2Ti 4:8).


"A noble man devises noble plans; and by noble plans he stands."
— Isaiah 32:8

YOUR ROYAL LINEAGE

“When you deny that personal lineage, you abdicate your royal standing in God’s community to one of poverty and peasantry. Like Isaac’s son Esau, you surrender your holy birthright for a bowl of stew when you have been promised a King’s banquet!” – Noble Plans, p. 11

In the story of Esau and Jacob, I often think that Jacob gets the short end of the stick. Our theological heritage has painted this son of Isaac into the usurper’s corner. Yes, Jacob means “supplanter,” but maybe, just maybe that was by design as a matter of who Jacob was not what Jacob did. God designed Jacob to supplant for His perfect purposes, to supplant the wicked and unrighteous.

It is often overlooked, but in Genesis 25:27, the text says, “Jacob was a perfect man . . .” Some of your translations may call him a “peaceful” or “plain” man, but the Hebrew is quite clear: “perfect, undefiled, upright,” or “wholesome.” It’s my belief that some translators could not harmonize their perception of Jacob as a smarmy usurper with someone “perfect,” so they compromised on “peaceful.”

But to the matter at hand.

It is an often-told story: Esau comes home hungry—some translations say “famished,”—and he flippantly trades his birthright as Isaac’s firstborn for a bowl of “that red stuff there” (Genesis 25:30). In a heartbeat, with no seeming regard for consequences, this father of the Edomites has not been supplanted; Esau surrenders his royal standing as technically, the Prince of the Holy Land.

Esau is not alone.

How often do we abdicate our royal standing to pursue earthly pleasures? How often do we chase after being right over being righteous? How often do we, like Esau, surrender our royal station for some of that “stuff” – whatever that “stuff” may be?

Lords and Ladies, you have been invited to eat at the king’s table. Yours is a position of high favor. A crown awaits you. Why settle for poverty and peasantry when you are of royal lineage?

“And hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen” (Revelation 1:6).

“A noble man devises noble plans and by noble plans he stands”