King of Kings And Lord of Lords

The leaves are falling, the season is changing, and soon bright colors will give way to gray, white, and long winter nights. Without fail, the end of fall ushers in one of my favorite times of year, the "Most Wonderful Time of the Year". Two months from today, I will wake up to one of my favorite days, Christmas morning. It's a day of joy for me, rejoicing over the birth of the Savior and spending time celebrating with my family and friends. My heart feels joyful just thinking about it. 

​Every Christmas, I see advertisements for a performance of Hadel's Messiah, an oratorio that has been performed for the past three hundred years. When I was in choir in high school, a tradition was to complete our holiday concert with the "Hallelujah Chorus" from Messiah. I'm sure many of you have heard this song before...

Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
For the Lord God Omnipotent reigneth.
Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
For the Lord God omnipotent reigneth.
Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah!

The kingdom of this world
Is become the kingdom of our Lord,
And of His Christ, and of His Christ;
And He shall reign for ever and ever,
For ever and ever, forever and ever,

King of kings, and Lord of lords,
King of kings, and Lord of lords,
And Lord of lords,
And He shall reign,
And He shall reign forever and ever,
King of kings, forever and ever,
And Lord of lords,
Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
​
And He shall reign forever and ever,
King of kings! and Lord of lords! 
And He shall reign forever and ever,
King of kings! and Lord of lords!
Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah!

I say this song with my choir four years in a row, and I still still the "hallelujah" parts when I want to flex my soprano range. But it wasn't until Jesus called me to follow Him that I understood the implications of this song. It wasn't until this morning while praying through what to write for today's post that I realized how much this song fits into the focus on this series. 

The "Hallelujah Chorus" is a celebration of God's kingship over this world. It's a declaration that He is indeed the King of kings and Lord of lords and that He shall reign forever. He is preeminent and above all, and that is worthy of celebrating and praising Him. 

I love celebrating the birth of our Savior at Christmastime, but Jesus isn't just the Savior of the world, he's also Lord and King. At Christmas, we shouldn't just celebrate the fact that the Savior was born but that our King was born as flesh incarnate as well. As I'm more mindful of Jesus being the King of my life, songs like the "Hallelujah Chorus" remind me of the truth of God's Kingship and His kingdom. 

​​This post is part of a 31 day series called Seeking the Kingdom.
​You can view the rest of the posts from the series here.