Christ Is King
Jesus does not simply join our side. He calls us to surrender our loyalties and recognize His sovereign rule.
In Joshua 5, Joshua meets the commander of the Lord’s army and asks a question that comes naturally to all of us: “Are you for us or for our enemies?” The answer cuts through every human instinct: “Neither.”
God is not available to be enlisted.
That truth feels especially relevant today. Even a sacred confession like “Christ is King” can be drawn into political battles and distorted beyond recognition. As recent reporting and analysis in NY Times have noted, a phrase rooted in worship has increasingly been used in political rhetoric—sometimes even in ways that carry hostility or exclusion rather than humility and faith.
This is not new. When Jesus Christ walked the earth, people expected Him to take sides—to become a political Messiah, to align with national hopes, to defeat their enemies. Even at the cross, that expectation lingered. But Jesus refused.
He did not come to validate one side of a human conflict. He came to establish a kingdom of a completely different order. A kingdom not built on power, but on surrender. Not on domination, but on sacrificial love.
Today, the same temptation remains. On one side, Christ is invoked in the defense of the poor, the marginalized, and the oppressed. On another, He is invoked in the defense of moral order, law, and truth. Each may reflect aspects of His heart. But neither can contain Him.
Christ cannot be co-opted.
To say “Christ is King” is not to claim Him for our side. It is to surrender ourselves to His rule. That means bending the knee—not only in belief, but in allegiance. It means allowing His authority to confront our politics, not reinforce them. It means loving those we disagree with, not defeating them.
Joshua fell face down before the commander of the Lord’s army. That is the only proper response.
So the question is not: “Is Christ on our side?”
The question is: Are we willing to lay down our sides to be on His?