Kingdom 101: The Image of a King
Then the Pharisees went and plotted how they might entangle Him in His talk. And they sent to Him their disciples with the Herodians, saying, “Teacher, we know that You are true, and teach the way of God in truth; nor do You care about anyone, for You do not regard the person of men. Tell us, therefore, what do You think? Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?”
But Jesus perceived their wickedness, and said, “Why do you test Me, you hypocrites? Show Me the tax money.” So they brought Him a denarius. And He said to them, “Whose image and inscription is this?” They said to Him, “Caesar’s.”
And He said to them, “Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” When they had heard these words, they marveled, and left Him and went their way. Remember, King Jesus was always focusing on His purpose. He always had the correct response. Caesar issued coins stamped with his image and inscription. The people understood that whatever bore Caesar's image belonged to Caesar and he had every right to claim it. The ambassador Paul wrote this warning to the Kingdom citizens at Corinth.
Flee sexual immorality. Every sin that a man does is outside the body, but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s. Likewise, they could understand that whatever bore the Lord God's image and stamp of ownership (the Holy Spirit) belonged to the Lord God and was His for the claiming. We are bought with a valuable price. So, when we come to King Jesus and give Him our lives, the first thing that He does is change our name (and that is between Him and you).
As children of the Lord God, we are joined together with Christ. But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. The Lord God's Constitution states that as Believers of the Lord Jesus the Christ (Hebrew name "Yahushua") we are citizens of heaven. For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body, according to the working by which He is able even to subdue all things to Himself. That remains true no matter where we are or where we may go. We don't have to be in heaven to be citizens there. Right now we reside on planet earth, but are citizens and ambassadors of the heavenly Kingdom, which is our true home.
I suppose the question is, How can this be? Remember what the King told Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews:
Jesus answered, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ 8 The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.”
Nicodemus answered and said to Him, “How can these things be?”
Jesus answered and said to him, “Are you the teacher of Israel, and do not know these things? Most assuredly, I say to you, We speak what We know and testify what We have seen, and you do not receive Our witness. If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things? No one has ascended to heaven but He who came down from heaven, that is, the Son of Man who is in heaven. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.
Matthew 22:15-22 I Corinthians 6:18-20 John 1:12-13 Philippians 3:20-21 John 3:5-17
~~W.R. Luchie
But Jesus perceived their wickedness, and said, “Why do you test Me, you hypocrites? Show Me the tax money.” So they brought Him a denarius. And He said to them, “Whose image and inscription is this?” They said to Him, “Caesar’s.”
And He said to them, “Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” When they had heard these words, they marveled, and left Him and went their way. Remember, King Jesus was always focusing on His purpose. He always had the correct response. Caesar issued coins stamped with his image and inscription. The people understood that whatever bore Caesar's image belonged to Caesar and he had every right to claim it. The ambassador Paul wrote this warning to the Kingdom citizens at Corinth.
Flee sexual immorality. Every sin that a man does is outside the body, but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s. Likewise, they could understand that whatever bore the Lord God's image and stamp of ownership (the Holy Spirit) belonged to the Lord God and was His for the claiming. We are bought with a valuable price. So, when we come to King Jesus and give Him our lives, the first thing that He does is change our name (and that is between Him and you).
As children of the Lord God, we are joined together with Christ. But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. The Lord God's Constitution states that as Believers of the Lord Jesus the Christ (Hebrew name "Yahushua") we are citizens of heaven. For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body, according to the working by which He is able even to subdue all things to Himself. That remains true no matter where we are or where we may go. We don't have to be in heaven to be citizens there. Right now we reside on planet earth, but are citizens and ambassadors of the heavenly Kingdom, which is our true home.
I suppose the question is, How can this be? Remember what the King told Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews:
Jesus answered, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ 8 The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.”
Nicodemus answered and said to Him, “How can these things be?”
Jesus answered and said to him, “Are you the teacher of Israel, and do not know these things? Most assuredly, I say to you, We speak what We know and testify what We have seen, and you do not receive Our witness. If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things? No one has ascended to heaven but He who came down from heaven, that is, the Son of Man who is in heaven. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.
Matthew 22:15-22 I Corinthians 6:18-20 John 1:12-13 Philippians 3:20-21 John 3:5-17
~~W.R. Luchie
