What It Will Look Like When Jesus is King

Before you start todays devotional, ask the Lord to use it to grow you up in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

One of Jesus’ most repeated sermons, captured in part in Matthew 5—7, is called “The Sermon on the Mount.” This sermon includes great truth for us today. That said, people have polar opinions about how to apply it.

Some favor the Sermon on the Mount as the most important part of Scripture. They call it the “mini-gospel.” (Trouble is, nothing is said about Jesus’ death and resurrection here, the core message of the Good News.) Others want nothing to do with it. They rule out the Lord’s Prayer and the beatitudes saying, “It’s not for us today.”

However, as we’ll see in these three chapters, some things are for us, even when they were not said to us. What we learn from the Sermon on the Mount is that we simply can’t live up to it. We don’t have the power to follow Jesus’ high moral, ethical standards.

So what did Jesus intend when He shared His mind and heart with the disciples, well within earshot of the crowds? Did He set us up for failure? No, even when the Sermon on the Mount reveals how far we come up short, it sets before us a high goal.

What would this world look like if Jesus ran it now, the way He will in the future during the Millennium? Matthew’s whole Gospel talks about a day when Jesus will reign as King. Now He explains the manifesto of the King, the platform of the Prince of Peace. These principles lay down the laws of the Kingdom, when Jesus Christ will be here in person to enforce every word. These are the laws by which Jesus will rule.

These principles are great for the Christian to learn and study today, realizing we can’t do them in our own strength—we have to go to the Holy Spirit for the power. Only He can produce these “blessed” characteristics in the heart of a yielded Christian. To force the Sermon on the Mount on someone who doesn’t have the power to do them is both futile and frustrating. It’s also deceptive—giving people religious jargon keeps them from Christ when in reality the Sermon on the Mount ought to bring us closer to Him.

Matthew 5 opens with the Beatitudes. Nine times Jesus says, “Blessed are the . . .”, each describing a character attribute that He alone can bring to our lives. When Jesus reigns as King someday, these will describe the people who reign with Him. Only in God’s timing do these things become true in our lives.

Of course, we can do nothing in our own strength. We need help; we need a Savior. We also need mercy, and we get it when we come to Jesus Christ. This Sermon on the Mount drives us to the Cross of Christ to cry out to Him.

Do you already know Him? Are you already crying out to Him for help? Then get this Good News out to others. That’s how we can express love for others and for God today. “You need Jesus”—get this message to people, because it’s the only one that will save them and bring them to heaven.

1. If Jesus wasn’t setting up His kingdom on earth when He was here, what was the point of teaching people the laws of a future kingdom?

2. When do you find it hard to rely on the Holy Spirit for the power to follow the commands of Christ?

3. We should always think about obedience in action, but how does it change your thinking to realize that God is focused, not just on what we do, but on who we are?

Additional Resources

Listen to Dr. J. Vernon McGee’s complete teachings on Mathew 5:1-5 and Matthew 5:5-48.