JESUS IS LORD
Long before Jesus walked the streets of Roman-ruled Judea, Jews held a sentiment
grounded in the Old Testament that the kingdoms of the world, especially the Roman Empire,
were on a collision course with the kingdom of God. Generations of Jews waited patiently for
God to act—to dethrone Caesar and crown the Messiah. Some Jews were not so patient. They
saw themselves as God’s agents of change who were supposed to bring in the kingdom of God
by force. These rebellions against Rome always failed.
In the minds of many Romans, Jesus and his followers were instigating just another
Jewish rebellion. The trial and execution of Jesus proved once again that Caesar was Lord.
Ironically, Jewish leaders agreed with the Romans. “We have no king but Caesar,” they said
(John 19:15).
During his earthly ministry, Jesus was aware of his calling to defeat the Satan-backed
Roman Empire. For example, Jesus encountered a group of demons who called themselves
“Legion”—a class of Roman soldiers who kept provinces like Judea in submission to Rome.
This legion, however, was a collection of demons who kept Judea in submission to Satan. Jesus
cast the legionary demons into a herd of unclean, detestable-to-the-Jews pigs which drowned in
the sea. God was announcing that Jesus is Lord, not Caesar and Rome—the symbol of satanic
oppression.
After Jesus ascended to heaven, early Christians lived under the rule of the Roman
Empire. But these Christians, like the apostle Paul, regarded Jesus’ resurrection as a coronation:
“If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him
from the dead, you will be saved” (Romans 10:9). Jesus’ resurrection was a historical event that
showed that Jesus is Lord. The statement “Jesus is Lord” was a confession that only Christians
truly adhered to: “No one can say Jesus is Lord except in the Holy Spirit” (1 Corinthians 12:3).
In communities where people declared that Caesar was Lord, the Christian confession that Jesus
is Lord stood as a stern rebuttal to how most people understood their loyalties. After Julius
Caesar was declared to be deified, inscriptions on Roman coins read that Caesar was the divine
son. Later, coins read that Caesar was Lord. Such coinage was prevalent for nearly 400 years of
Roman rule. The Christian confession “Jesus is Lord” ran counter to the assumptions of most
people whose loyalties were always written down somewhere on the money in their wallets.
“Jesus is Lord” was a powerful, brief synopsis of everything that Christians believed about
Jesus—namely that Jesus, the risen Savior of the world, was rightful Lord of all. Christians
carried the confession in their hearts, not in their wallets.
Every society both before the Romans and after them has declared someone to be lord.
For many Chinese people it was Chairman Mao. Countless other societies have had countless
other lords. Therefore, the Christian confession “Jesus is Lord” is timeless. On the one hand,
“Jesus is Lord” can challenge powerful nations. On the other hand, “Jesus is Lord” can
challenge a co-worker to reconsider his loyalties—to stop trusting in money, secularism, sex, or
any other sin that has claimed his allegiance. “Jesus is Lord” is the initial challenge to every
person who serves someone or something other than Jesus. Ironically, the confession is also the
hopeful outcome of everyone who has trusted in Jesus for the forgiveness of his or her sins.