One major thing about a king is that they fight in wars. Whether they like it or not, they have a kingdom to defend, or they have lands to conquer.
Some of the best kings have made massive empires by winning wars.
An interesting point is that, at the time of Jesus, one of the greatest empires, the Roman Empire, was at its peak. Look at the size of their kingdom!
The bad news was that Israel itself was part of this large kingdom.
But the good news is that, finally, Israel’s promised king had been born.
Finally, now, he was going to restore Israel
and change the world.
Finally, Jesus comes onto the scene. A crazy guy called John lets everyone know about him.
But notice the way he explains what this king will be like.
Many people, like John, were expecting this big buff king of Israel to come and kick the Romans out of power. He will have a big sword, and a big army, and take down this enemy.
Many people saw the Messiah to be like this.
But what happens? Finally, the king of kings comes onto the scene. John the Baptist sees him and gets excited. But then Jesus asked to get baptised by John! What!
Why would Jesus need to be baptised?
Because he is getting ready for war.
War with who? Who are you fighting Jesus?
Immediately Jesus goes out into the wilderness for 40 days.
What is going on? What have we learnt about this king?
This Jesus is an Upside Down King.
Does he fight battles?
Yes.
But he fights in an upside down way.
See, he has come to give liberation to all people. But the problem was that the Jews at that time weren’t thinking big enough.
Sure, the Roman Empire was big and in control. But are they really pulling the strings?
Who really is the enemy? Who is it that Jesus really needs to fight?
How does Jesus fight?
He fights upside down.
So, who is he going to fight?
The one in the upside down world….
The Devil.
He has come for him. He has come to take down his empire. He is known as the God of this World for a reason.
So Jesus, first step, is to face his true enemy, the Devil, and show him who is the tough one.
But wait! How is Jesus going to fight the Devil?
He will fight him in an upside fighting way….the Bible.
