The Real King

By David A. Sargent

    Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex, was visiting school children earlier this week at a Primary School in Acton in London. As he approached Emmanuel Osei, a four-year-old student, Emmanuel asked the Prince, “When is Prince Harry coming?”
    “But I’m Prince Harry,” the prince replied.
    “When is the real Prince Harry coming?” the boy said back.
    “I’m the real Harry. I’ve just had my hair cut for the occasion,” Harry reportedly said in response.
    Eventually, Emmanuel was convinced that Harry was indeed the prince.
    Why didn’t he recognize Prince Harry immediately? Apparently he didn’t look the part.
    “They think a prince should have a crown,” Diane Redmond, a learning mentor at the school, told People magazine.
    The Prince himself has been on record as saying, “Every time I get to meet kids and they have been told a real-life prince is coming, [there is] disappointment on their faces when they see me without a crown or a cape.” *
    Most did not recognize the real King of kings either. A prophet predicted His rejection by men. Around 700 years before the King came to this earth, Isaiah prophesied, “For He grew up before Him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground; He had no form or majesty that we should look at Him, and no beauty that we should desire Him. He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces He was despised, and we esteemed Him not” (Isaiah 53:2-3 ESV). Isaiah uses the past tense (called prophetic perfect tense) to describe the situation because it was so certain to happen. And that is exactly what happened (see John 1:10-11).
    Why did most reject Him? Jesus did not look the part. He looked like an ordinary man. His reign was not the kind that they expected. In fact, Isaiah described Him as “a Suffering Servant.”
    But this Man who didn’t look like a king would accomplish what no one else could. Jesus, the King of kings, gave Himself for us so that we can have the forgiveness of our sins and receive the gift of eternal life.  Observe Isaiah’s prophecy:

“Surely He has borne our griefs
and carried our sorrows;
yet we esteemed Him stricken,
smitten by God, and afflicted.
But He was pierced for our transgressions;
He was crushed for our iniquities;
upon Him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with His wounds we are healed."
-- Isaiah 53:4-5

Isaiah’s prophecy was fulfilled when Jesus died on the cross for our sins. By His “wounds” we can be “healed.”
    God will save and give eternal life to those who place their faith and trust in Jesus (Acts 16:30-31), turn from their sins in repentance (Acts 17:30-31), confess Him before men (Romans 10:9-10), and are baptized (immersed) into Christ for the forgiveness of sins (Acts 2:38). He will continue to cleanse from sin those who continue to submit to His reign by walking in the light of His Word (1 John 1:7-9).
    He looked like an ordinary man. But this Man was God in the flesh. Jesus was and is the real King of kings.
    Won’t YOU submit to His reign so that you can be saved and live with Him forever?

- David A. Sargent, minister for the Church of Christ at Creekwood in Mobile, Alabama, is also the editor of an electronic devotional entitled "Living Water." To learn more about this excellent resource contact David via their website: http://www.creekwoodcc.org

* Information gleaned from “Prince Harry reportedly asked by boy, 4, when the ‘real Prince Harry’ would arrive” by Madeline Farber, Fox News, published 3/21/19, www.foxnews.com.