March 27—Crown Him with Many Crowns

Crown him with many crowns,

The Lamb upon his throne.

Hark! how the heavenly anthem drowns

All music but its own.

Awake, my soul, and sing

Of him who died for thee,

And hail him as thy matchless king

Through all eternity. (“Crown Him with Many Crowns” by Matthew Bridges)

When Jesus returned to Capernaum, a Roman officer came and pleaded with him, “Lord, my young servant lies in bed, paralyzed and in terrible pain.” Jesus said, “I will come and heal him.” But the officer said, “Lord, I am not worthy to have you come into my home. Just say the word from where you are, and my servant will be healed. I know this because I am under the authority of my superior officers, and I have authority over my soldiers. I only need to say, ‘Go,’ and they go, or ‘Come,’ and they come. And if I say to my slaves, ‘Do this,’ they do it.” (Matthew 8:5–9 NLT)

The centurion officer who came to Jesus understood something that many in Israel at the time did not: the power and authority that Jesus held over disease and illness was not bound by proximity. He might have even suspected that Jesus’s authority went beyond the power to heal the sick, but it’s unlikely he knew just how much authority Jesus actually held. Shortly after this interaction with the Roman officer, a paralyzed man is brought to Jesus, who tells the man his sins are forgiven and then heals him of the paralysis to prove His authority to forgive sins. Yet even this is not the end to Jesus’s authority. After His resurrection, Jesus commands His disciples to go to all nations to make and baptize disciples, a command that flows directly out Jesus’s authority over all heaven and earth.

There is no one and no thing in all of creation – no power, principality, or ruler in the history of the world – who holds more authority than Christ our King, and He wields it with a righteous right hand and justice flowing from His mouth. Read Revelation 19:11–16, then read it again, more slowly. Meditate on this image of the rider on the white horse, the one whose head bears many crowns. In your meditations, allow the Holy Spirit to give you a greater understanding of Jesus’s authority over all heaven and earth so that you might worship Him more fully.

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