You, heir apparent
One evening you are sitting at home when a visitor comes to your door. This fine-looking fellow glances you over and says, “Did you realize you are next in line to the throne?”
“Excuse me?”
“You are the rightful heir to the throne of Great Britain.”
That’s what happened for the Hastings family just a few years ago. Today, Simon Hastings is a middle-aged son of a forklift driver who should be on the throne of England. This comes from research presented by Tony Robinson who shows how a royal scandal some 600 years ago put an illegitimate king on the throne.
Richard III was away at war when his wife conceived their firstborn son, who became King Edward IV. His brother was the legitimate heir to the throne of England and should have worn the crown instead of his unqualified half-brother. Had it not been for this royal cover up, history would tell a different story including who would have been reigning monarch during the coming-of-age for the American colonies. Had it not been for the snobbery and high-handedness of King George III, America might still be a servant of the royal crown.
You are royalty
Christianity was supposed to be a force to inform people of their righteousness in Christ. Instead, it has become the most articulate movement to inform people of their depravity. Ask any Christian about it and they will be the first to give you clarity on what it means to be a sinner and fallen from grace. Jesus did not come to tell you how disqualified you are but to show you how qualified you can be.
When you died with Christ in baptism into His royal name and were filled with His royal Spirit, you became a child of the king (Romans 6:3-5; 8:14-17). Yes, you used to be disqualified from any dignity and hope like any common tramp (Ephesians 2:1-4). But one day, the King of the Universe got rid of your old family line. The DNA of Adam and his doomed lineage got washed away in the waters of baptism. You became Christened with a royal name and given the heart of true nobility (if you obeyed the command to be water baptized in Jesus’ Name and to be filled with His Spirit as scripture commands; see Eph. 2:4-5; Acts 2:38).
Now, He has “raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus” (Eph. 2:6). You are born (again) to reign. You are heir apparent to the throne of God. Why would you go through life being beat down and living like the underdog? Jesus said “All authority in heaven and in earth is mine.” And He has called you alongside Himself. All the royal authority is yours. No demon can rule in your life, you can command demons, disease, doubt, and discouragement. You are no longer a victim; you wear the crown given you by the King of Kings.
It is time for God’s people to reign
What used to be on the throne of your life? Sin. It used to tell you what kind of person you were. Sin used to decide what you were going to do every day. It spent your money, filled your thoughts, and ate up your free time. Now, you are not a slave to sin which used to reign over you.
“Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts” (Rom. 6:12).
You have to change your thinking. Jesus is knocked on your door and invites you to the throne (Revelation 3:20-21). Will you see yourself as royalty? Or will you be like the son who came home and could only see himself like a slave? His dad let him know he was still the heir apparent in his household (Luke 15:11-32). Do you realize who you are? Do you realize you have believed a lie about your ancestry? You are not the child of exiles and expatriates. You are child of the King. You are heir apparent. He wants you on His throne.
Live like royalty and get rid of your pauper thinking. Ask of Him, knowing it is His good pleasure to give you the kingdom. If one man’s sin could reign over humanity for these thousands of years, how much more those of us “which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.” (Rom. 5:17). You can reign in life more than sin reigned in death!
That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord. (Romans 5:21)
You are no longer the slave of sin. You cannot live in the gutter any longer because you have been escorted to the palace. Sin does not have control of your life. You can now rule over sin and keep it from usurping your body. Thank God for causing us to triumph, for making us joint-heirs to the throne in Jesus Christ. Do you doubt this? Let His Spirit fill you (Acts 2:1-4) and read Romans or Ephesians and see all the treasures that are yours.
The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together. (Rom. 8:16-17)