Chapter Five

KINGDOMCONCEPT-2 
UNDERSTANDING THE KINGDOM
CONCEPT OF LORD 

One of the most common words used in Scripture is theword lord. This word does not exist in democracies,socialist societies, or republics, except in the word land-lord, in reference to one who owns land. Landlord is the only com-mon remnant of kingdoms in modern governments and Westernsocieties. Yet this concept of lordis one of the fundamental princi-ples of a kingdom. 

Every kingdom must have a king, but it is also true that everyking is automatically a “lord.” It is this quality of lordship that distin-guishes a king from a president, a prime minister, a mayor, and agovernor. As a matter of fact, a king’s lordship makes him differentfrom any other kind of human leader. 

Lordship makes a king unique.In the last chapter we talked about a king’s sovereignty—how aking is free from external control and he can do whatever he pleas-es with accountability to no one except himself. A king’s sovereign-ty is absolute. He is neither voted into nor voted out of power;sovereignty is his by right of birth. The same is true of a king’s lord-ship. All kings are automatically lords So what’s the difference between a king and a lord? Lordship isonly one aspect of a king’s overall identity and status, but it is one ofthe most important ones. 

One way to put it is to say that kingrelatesto dominion, while lordrelates to domain. The word dominionrefersto a king’s authority—his power; the word domainrefers to the ter-ritory, the property, the geographical area over which his authorityextends. A king exercises authority (dominion) over a specific geo-graphical area (domain) and within that area his authority isabsolute.Without a domain there is no king. A king is a king only so far ashe has something to rule over. What good does it do to have author-ity if you have nowhere to exercise it? In that case, you really don’thave authority. The most you have is potentialauthority. 

Until youhave a physical domain over which to rule, your so-called “authori-ty” is little more than theory.If the word lordrelates to a king’s domain, then the lordship of aking is tied up in his territory. To put it another way, if kingship hasto do with authority, then lordship has to do with ownership. Let meexplain. If a king must have a domain in order to be a king, then alltrue kings must have and ownterritory. This is what we call thekingdom lordship principle. You cannot be a king unless you ownproperty. It is not the same simply to exercise rule and authorityover a geographical region. 

Presidents do that. Prime ministers dothat. Governors do that. But presidents, prime ministers, and gover-nors do not ownthe territory over which they rule, and therein liesthe difference. Kings personally own the physical domain overwhich they reign, and that is what makes them not only kings butalso lords. So king and property go together. And the word lorddefines the king’s identity as “owner” of his domain.As lord, a king literally and legally owns everything in hisdomain: the forests and the meadows, the mountains and the val-leys, the rivers and the streams, the crops and the livestock, eventhe people and the houses they live in. Everything in a king’sdomain belongs to him. 

Because of this, a king has absolute and unquestionable control over his domain. This goes back to aking’s sovereign authority. A king is sovereign by right of birth,but he is also sovereign by right of ownership.The fact of a king’s sole ownership of his domain carries a cou-ple of significant implications that are easily lost by people who havegrown up in a democracy. First, and rather obvious, is that if the kingowns everything, then no one in the kingdom owns anything. In atrue kingdom, there is no such thing as private property ownership.Kingdom citizens are stewards, not owners. 

They may occupy theland; farm it; mine its minerals, ores, and precious gems; build hous-es and places of business on it; and carry on all the other normalactivities of human communities; but they do all of these only by theking’s permission and good pleasure. Ultimately, everything belongsto him.Second, if the king owns everything, he can give anything to any-one at any time according to his own sovereign choice. In a democ-racy, if the prime minister or the president gives you property as apersonal favor, it is called corruption. 

But if a king gives you proper-ty, it is called royal favor. And no one can question it or protest itbecause as owner, it is his prerogative to do as he pleases. Not onlydoes a king possess the authority to distribute his property anytime,anywhere, to anyone, as much as he wishes, but he also can switchhis property from one person to another. He can take somethingfrom one person and give it to you, or he can take something fromyou and give it to somebody else.

Because a king’s dominion is so closely tied to territory, hiswealth is measured by the size and richness of his domain. That iswhy kings always want to expand their kingdom; they seek toincrease their wealth. Think about the British, French, and Spanishkingdoms of the last several hundred years. The kings of thoserealms dispatched ships and established colonies all over the world.Why? Because they wanted to enlarge the borders and fill the coffersof their kingdoms. The larger and richer their domain, the greatertheir reputation and glory. 

KING AND LORD

Although I have been speaking about lordship from the contextof earthly kingdoms, everything I have said so far applies with evengreater validity to the Kingdom of Heaven and its King. We havealready seen that God is the King of heaven and earth by divine rightof creation; He is King of all because He created all. And becauseevery king is automatically a lord, the King of all is also the Lord ofall; He owns everything because He made everything.The Bible, the constitution of the Kingdom of Heaven, plainlyidentifies God as King and Lord of all. One of the most commonHebrew words used to refer to God in the Old Testament is adonai,which literally means proprietor or owner. 

It is usually translated“lord.” The personal name for God, Yahweh, although difficult totranslate with complete accuracy, carries the same idea of master,owner, or lord.This biblical picture of God as Lord is further enhanced by thefact that in most Bible versions, the personal name Yahweh, wherev-er it occurs, is replaced with the word “Lord.” This is in keeping withan ancient Jewish tradition where devout Jews so respected andhonored God’s name that they would not even speak it or read italoud to ensure that they did not inadvertently violate the ThirdCommandment by misusing His name. Instead, they substituted theword adonai, or “Lord.”So over and over the truth is hammered home: God is theLord...God is the Lord...God is the Lord. 

This truth is reiteratedeven in the most basic confession of faith for a Jew, recited everymorning: Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Lovethe Lord your God with all your heart and with all yoursoul and with all your strength (Deuteronomy 6:4-5). So in this way the Jews were reminded every day that their Godwas Owner of all. This included Heaven and earth. An ancientHebrew poet expressed it this way:May you be blessed by the Lord, the Maker of heavenand earth. 

The highest heavens belong to the Lord, butthe earth He has givento man (Psalm 115:15-16, empha-sis added).As Maker and Owner of heaven and earth, God could give anyportion of it to anyone He chose. And He chose to give the earth toman, not for man to be owner but ruler/manager, or steward. Hereare some additional references verifying God’s rights to Lordshipover the property of earth:The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it, the world,and all who live in it; for He founded it upon the seas andestablished it upon the waters (Psalm 24:1-2).

For God is the King of all the earth; sing to Him a psalmof praise. God reigns over the nations; God is seated onHis holy throne. The nobles of the nations assemble as thepeople of the God of Abraham, for the kings of the earthbelong to God; He is greatly exalted (Psalm 47:7-9).And the Egyptians will know that I am the Lord when Istretch out My hand against Egypt and bring the Israelitesout of it (Exodus 7:5).O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is Your name in all theearth! (Psalm 8:1a).

I said to the Lord, “You are my Lord; apart from You Ihave no good thing (Psalm 16:2). The poor will eat and be satisfied; they who seek the Lordwill praise Him—may your hearts live forever! All theends of the earth will remember and turn to the Lord, andall the families of the nations will bow down before Him,for dominion belongs to the Lord and He rules over thenations (Psalm 22:26-28).The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not be in want (Psalm23:1).Lift up your heads, O you gates; be lifted up, you ancientdoors, that the King of glory may come in. Who is thisKing of glory? 

The Lord strong and mighty, the Lordmighty in battle. Lift up your heads, O you gates; lift themup, you ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in.Who is He, this King of glory? The Lord Almighty—He isthe King of glory(Psalm 24:7-10).“The silver is Mine and the gold is Mine,” declares theLord Almighty (Haggai 2:8).In the same way as the Old Testament reveals God as King andLord and Owner of all, the New Testament reveals Jesus Christ asLord and Owner of all. 

First of all, as we have already seen, Jesus came announcing the arrival and re establishment of the Kingdom of heaven on earth, something only the King Himself could do.And because a king is automatically a lord, this means that Jesus isLord also.In addition, the most common Greek word for “lord,” kurios, isapplied to Jesus repeatedly in the New Testament. Kuriossignifieshaving power. It also means one who possesses ultimate authority;master. Everything the Old Testament says about God as Lord, theNew Testament says about Jesus. The Lordship of Jesus is also by creative rights and was a naturalresult of His role in the creation of all things both seen and unseen.

In essence, we do not “make” Jesus Lord; He is Lord by creativeright, whether we acknowledge Him or not. In His preexistencebefore He came to earth, Jesus was identified as “the Word.” It wasin this dimension that He was the source of creation. Let us read therecord of His creative activity that gives Him Lordship rights:In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth(Genesis 1:1).And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light(Genesis 1:3).In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was withGod, and the Word was God. He was with God in thebeginning. Through Him all things were made; withoutHim nothing was made that has been made (John 1:1-3).The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us.

We have seen His glory, the glory of the One and Only,who came from the Father, full of grace and truth (John1:14).But in these last days He has spoken to us by His Son,whom He appointed heir of all things, and through whomHe made the universe. The Son is the radiance of God’sglory and the exact representation of His being, sustain-ing all things by His powerful word (Hebrews 1:2-3a).Here is ample evidence that Jesus as the eternal Word wasresponsible for the creation of the universe and for sustaining it. One familiar story about Jesus drives this point home. 

Only a week before His death, Jesus was preparing to enter Jerusalem, butHe intended to do it in a very specific way.As they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphageand Bethany at the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two of Hisdisciples, saying to them, “Go to the village ahead of you,and just as you enter it, you will find a colt tied there,which no one has ever ridden. Untie it and bring it here.If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you doing this?’ tell him,‘The Lord needs it and will send it back here shortly.’”They went and found a colt outside in the street, tied at adoorway. As they untied it, some people standing thereasked, “What are you doing, untying that colt?” Theyanswered as Jesus had told them to, and the people letthem go (Mark 11:1-6).In this story, Jesus acted in His authority as Lord. 

There is noindication that He had prearranged this with the owner of the coltor that He asked anyone’s permission. As Lord of all, He owned thecolt anyway. Jesus just told His disciples, “Bring me the colt.” Whenchallenged, all the disciples had to say was, “The Lord needs it.” Thatwas all it took; the owners released the colt.In those days, animals such as that colt were valuable commodi-ties as beasts of burden and as transportation. 

They were like a caris to us today. So untying that colt was no small matter. The modernday equivalent would be as if Jesus had said, “Go down to the corner,where you will find a brand-new silver Mercedes sport coupe. Thekeys are already in it. Bring it here to me.” In the end, one word fromthe Owner of the colt was all that was necessary. The manager/stew-ard of the colt let it go.

Another New Testament passage also presents Jesus clearly asLord of all. It is found in a letter written by Paul, the Kingdom of Heaven’s ambassador to the Gentiles, to Kingdom citizens in the cityof Philippi:Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:who, being in very nature God, did not consider equalitywith God something to be grasped, but made Himselfnothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being madein human likeness. 

And being found in appearance as aman, He humbled Himself and became obedient todeath—even death on a cross! Therefore God exalted Himto the highest place and gave Him the name that is aboveevery name, that at the name of Jesus every knee shouldbow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, andevery tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to theglory of God the Father (Philippians 2:5-11).Jesus Christ is King and Lord of all. 

LIVING UNDER A LORD 

It is the lordship aspect of a kingdom that makes living in a king-dom better than a republic or any other form of national administra-tion or rulership. Lordship in a kingdom protects the citizenshipfrom competition with their fellow citizens for national resources. It destroys such elements as jealousy, fear, deceit, and hoarding. In a true kingdom, the lord owns all resources and distributes the sameas he determines. 

Whenever he gives resources to a citizen, it isnever for ownership but for stewardship. Submission to a king aslord positions the citizen to receive from the king. From a kingdom standpoint, then, the most important confes-sion any of us could ever make is to declare, “Jesus Christ is Lord.”Ambassador Paul stated this explicitly in his letter to the believers inRome when he wrote If you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believein your heart that God raised Him from the dead, youwill be saved (Romans 10:9).By “saved,” Paul means redeemed, bought back, salvaged,restored from the estrangement of our rebellion against God the King into a right relationship with Him. 

The key affirmation in that process is our acknowledgment that Jesus is Lord of everything,including our lives and our destiny.But if we say, “Jesus is Lord,” what does that mean in practicalterms? What does it mean to live under a “lord”? The only experi-ence most westerners have with a lord of any kind is with a landlord.If you now live or have ever lived in rental property, you know thatthe landlord is the landowner (or the landowner’s direct representa-tive who exercises the landowner’s authority, which amounts to the same thing), the person you pay rent to and to whom you are accountable for the way you treat his property. Why? Because youdo not own the property; the landlord does.Dealing with a land lord provides a small taste of what it wouldbe like to live all of your life under a lord. 

If you say, “Jesus is Lord,”you are acknowledging His authority over you as well as your responsibility to obey Him. There is no such thing as lordship with-out obedience. If He is Lord, you cannot say, “Lord...but,” or“Lord...except,” or “Lord...wait.” If He is Lord, the only thing you cansay is, “Lord...yes.”Jesus Himself reiterated this truth throughout His public ministry:If anyone would come after Me, he must deny himself andtake up his cross daily and follow Me (Luke 9:23b).

Anyone who loves his father or mother more than Me isnot worthy of Me; anyone who loves his son or daughtermore than Me is not worthy of Me; and anyone who does not take his cross and follow Me is not worthy of Me(Matthew 10:37-38).Another disciple said to him, “Lord, first let me go andbury my father.” But Jesus told him, “Follow Me, and letthe dead bury their own dead” (Matthew 8:21-22).If Jesus is Lord, He must receive first priority in your life. He isabove every other love and every other loyalty. He is above everygoal, dream, and ambition. 

You cannot be a disciple and say, “Lord,firstlet me...” He must be first...in everything. Otherwise, He is nottruly Lord of your life, regardless of what you say. Jesus said:Why do you call me, “Lord, Lord,” and do not do what Isay? (Luke 6:46).You cannot call Him Lord and then start making excuses for notobeying Him. You can’t claim that He owns you and then go aheadand do whatever you please. In the Kingdom of Heaven there is nosuch thing as a “weekend citizen.” You do not follow Him one timeand not another depending on your preference. 

If Jesus is Lord, youcannot live for Him on Sunday and for yourself the rest of the week.Jesus is either Lord ofall, or He is not Lord atall. The Lordship ofChrist is a 24/7 proposition. There is no other schedule.Living under a Lord also means giving up all concepts of person-al ownership. This does not mean you have to sell your house or sellyour car or give away all your personal possessions. It does meanlearning not to take a proprietary view toward these things. 

TheKing of Heaven is a righteous and benevolent Lord who graciously allows us to use and fully appropriate His riches and resources andall good things. That is one of our rights as Kingdom citizens. Wecan enjoy all of these things without measure as long as we remem-ber who owns them. The moment we begin to think that they belongto us, however, we set ourselves up for trouble. If we think owner-ship is ours, we make ourselves a lord. This takes us out of alignment with the will and character of the King because in His Kingdomthere can be only one Lord.

What happens when we think of ourselves as owners? In ourdog-eat-dog culture it means we feel we have to fight for what weget, hoard what we have, and guard it anxiously from fear that some-one will take it away. And our neighbors do the same thing. We livein fear of economic downturns, inflation, downsizing, and neverhaving enough. This is not Kingdom thinking!In the Kingdom of Heaven, there is no economic crisis and there are no shortages. 

With a King who owns everything, how couldthere be? When we relinquish our sense of ownership and acknowl-edge God as the Owner and ourselves as stewards, it relieves us ofthe pressure of having to worry about how we are going to make itbecause we are now depending on Him for our welfare. And He is abenevolent and generous Lord of infinite resources.Relinquishing ownership then also puts us into the position offull access to those resources. As we learn to give and receive andtransfer at His will, He shares with us freely and abundantly. But ahoarding sense of personal ownership that shouts, “Mine!” cuts usoff from those same resources. 

Which position would youratherbe in?Letting go of personal ownership also nourishes and releases agenerous spirit within us. If we are only stewards and not owners,we can give freely as the Lord has given freely to us, knowing thatHe, who has no limitations, can replace what we give to others. Hisreputation as King and Lord rides on how well He cares for His cit-izens and He will give special care to those citizens who reflect Hischaracter by giving as He gives.As a matter of fact, the best time to give is when things are tightpersonally because that is when you acknowledge that He owns evenwhat you don’t have. The greatest sign that you truly believe thatJesus is Lord is by how much you are willing to get rid of. You havelearned how to live under a Lord when you can give freely without hesitation, regret, or fear and say to the Lord of all with a joyful andwilling spirit, “It’s all Yours! It’s all Yours!” 

SEVEN POINTS IN SUMMARY 

In summary, here are seven fundamental principles of lordship. 

1//. A king personally owns everything in his domain. Thereis no private ownership in a kingdom. Everythingbelongs to the king. 

2//. Use of anything in a kingdom is a privilege. If the kingowns everything, then anything in that kingdom that weuse is not by right but by a privilege granted by the king. 

3//. A king can give or distribute anything to anyone in hiskingdom. Why? Because he owns it. He can shift thingsaround any way he pleases. This is why we need to holdonto “our” possessions lightly. They really are not ours.Sometimes the King will test us by telling us to give upsomething He has given us. Our response—obedience ordisobedience—will reveal whether or not we reallybelieve He is Lord. If we obey, we show that we believeHe owns everything and that He not only can replacewhat we give but even multiply it. 

4//. Submission to a king’s lordship means that we have noright to ourselves. That is why the greatest confession wecan ever make is the confession, “Jesus Christ is Lord.”The moment we say those words, we are acknowledgingthat we have no more right to our own life; it nowbelongs to Christ. We have put ourselves willingly underHis control and direction and are at His beck and call. Hecan help Himself to our lives anytime He wants. 5//. Obedience is acknowledgement of lordship. When weobey the King, we are simply saying to Him, “You areLord and my life is Yours. Your wish is my command.” 

6//. Thanksgiving is an acknowledgement of the King’sLordship. Daily thankfulness for food, water, clothing,shelter, and other daily needs reveals that we believe thatthe King owns all and is the source of all we have. 

7//. The word “Lord” can never be used with the word “but.”Those two words are impossible together. We cannot say,“I love You, Lord, but...” or else He is not Lord. We can-not claim Him as Lord and then make excuses for notobeying Him. The only appropriate word to go with“Lord” is “Yes!” Either He is Lord ofall, or He is not Lord at all.

PRINCIPLES 

1. All kings are automatically lords. 

2. Kingship has to do with authority; lordship has to dowith ownership. 

3. All true kings must have and own territory. 

4. As lord, a king literally and legally owns everything in hisdomain. 

5. If the king owns everything, then no one in the kingdomowns anything.

6. If the king owns everything, he can give anything to any-one at any time according to his own sovereign choice. 

7. A king’s wealth is measured by the size and richness ofhis domain. 

8. God, the King of Heaven, is King and Lord of all. 

9. Jesus Christ is King and Lord of all. 

10. The most important confession any of us could evermake is 

to declare, “Jesus Christ is Lord.” 

11. There is no such thing as lordship without obedience. 

12. If Jesus is Lord, He must receive first priority in your life. 

13. Jesus is either Lord ofall, or He is not Lord atall. 

14. Living under a Lord also means giving up all concepts 

ofpersonal ownership. 

15. In the Kingdom of Heaven, there is no economic crisisand 

there are no shortages. 

16. Relinquishing ownership puts us into the position 

of fullaccess to all of Heaven’s resources. 

17. Letting go of personal ownership also nourishes andreleases 

a generous spirit within us.