KING of GLORY Illustrated Study Guide

P eople of all ages love imaginary tales of romance and rescue, stories with happy endings. People tell such tales because the one true God has built into the human heart a yearning to be delivered from evil and to live happily ever after. But the story of the King of glory is no imaginary tale. A make-believe story is not written by forty prophets over fifteen centuries, but God’s book is. Fiction is not confirmed by hundreds of prophecies and archaeological discoveries, but God’s story is. A make-believe superhero is not the dividing point of history, but Jesus is. Fantasy cannot remove our sin and shame, bring us to God, and give us a new heart filled with His love, joy, and peace, but Jesus can. By fulfilling the Scriptures of the prophets, Jesus the Messiah has made it possible for Adam’s descendants to live forever with their Creator-King. But not all will live in His kingdom. Just as God made His one rule clear to Adam about living in the earthly garden, so God has made His one rule clear to Adam’s descendants about living in the heavenly city: Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life (Revelation 21:27). The Lamb’s book of life is the heavenly registry with the name of every person who, since the time of Adam, has trusted God’s way of salvation. The King of glory will not force you or your family to believe in Him and what He has done to rescue you from Satan, sin, death, and hell. There will be no unwilling subjects in His kingdom. But because the King does not want anyone to perish, He closes His book with an invitation, a warning, and a promise: “Whoever is thirsty, let him come; and whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life. I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: If anyone adds anything to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book…. He who testifies to these things says, ‘Yes, I am coming soon.’” “Amen! Come, Lord Jesus!” (Revelation 22:17-20). T he M essage in the S tory • 1 H appily E ver A fter ? A fter Adam sinned, what did he say to God when God came into the garden calling out to him? Adam shamefully answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid” (Genesis 3:10). But now, how do some of Adam’s descendants react to the Lord’s promise to come to earth for them? They joyfully answer, “Amen! Come, Lord Jesus!” (Revelation 22:20). What brought about such transformation? Why are some people no longer afraid to stand before the Judge of the earth? Why are they so excited about seeing the King face to face? It is because they believe His story and message. The prophet Isaiah wrote, Who has believed our message? … All of us, like sheep, have strayed away. We have left God’s paths to follow our own. Yet the LORD laid on him the sins of us all (Isaiah 53:1,6 NLT). Isaiah summed up the King’s story and message in three statements: 1. We have a problem. “We have left God’s paths to follow our own.” 2. God has the solution. “The LORD laid on [His Son] the sins of us all.” 3. We have a choice. “Who has believed our message?” Do you believe the King? We accept man’s testimony, but God’s testimony is greater because it is the testimony of God, which he has given about his Son. … Anyone who does not believe God has made him out to be a liar, because he has not believed the testimony God has given about his Son. And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life. I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life (1 John 5:9-13). Yes, you can know . The King does not keep you guessing. Have you turned your back on man’s religion and believed God’s testimony? If so, then you will spend eternity with the King… happily ever after. 160 161