Now to the King…
Every day, I receive a “daily verse” on my phone from an app called “DailyBible”. I love it – it is is like a sweet message from God as soon as I awake. This morning, my heart about jumped out of my chest because the verse was so powerful! Take a look at 1 Timothy 1:17, “Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.”
I have seen this verse before and LOVE the Travis Cottrell song that has come from it, “To the King”. As soon as I read it this morning, God just urged me to write about it tonight. What was going on in Paul’s life that prompted such a magnificent piece of praise? I thought I might have to dig for hours to get down to the “theological” meaning of it, but I really didn’t. All I had to do is read the verse in context and I totally got it!
Paul had been in ministry a good thirty years at this point. He had been through beatings and persecutions and you might think he was ready to retire. But not so – the intensity of his love for Christ made him count all the suffering as “joy”. In 1 Timothy chapter 1, we see the typical pattern of one of Paul’s epistles. He starts off with a pre-script that includes an identification of who he is and who the recipient is. He moves on into some words of caution for Timothy concerning people teaching strange doctrines. As the letter progresses, he talks about how the law is not for the righteous, but rather for those who are in sin – he even lists a whole bunch of specific sins that are contrary to “sound teaching” (v. 10).
I think it is this very list of sins that brought out the praise to God in such a powerful way in verse 17. Paul reminds Timothy that he himself had formerly been a blasphemer, a persecutor, and a violent aggressor – but yet was shown mercy and abundant grace! Paul even identified himself as foremost (or chief) of all sinners in verse 15. Paul just could not go on any longer without inserting a little praise session to God!
Here is what is different about Paul’s response as he remembered his own sin and what we sometimes do. Many times when we remember our failures, we just let it get us down in the pit of despair. We can’t believe that we did this or that – even though we KNOW Christ’s blood covers it. Paul went the other way. He still remembered it, but he just praised El Olam – the Eternal God – for the grace that covered that sin!
Paul’s heartfelt response led him to choose to recount the attributes of God instead of dwelling on his past. What an awesome way to reprove the Accuser (Satan) when he comes against you with your past! Can you feel his emotions swelling as he lets these words fly from his lips and onto the parchment?
- Now to the King eternal – this is El Olam – King of the Ages! Don’t ever forget we are serving a great King whose Name will be great among the nations! (Malachi 1:11)
- Immortal – God is the only being that is completely incorruptible – death cannot touch Him!
- Invisible – Paul tells us later in 1 Timothy 6:16 that God “… alone possesses immortality and dwells in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see.”
- The ONLY God – Paul is reminded that even though the culture was saturated with idols, he was to serve Yahweh alone.
- To Him be honor and glory forever – AMEN
