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What does it mean when the Apostle Paul says that Jesus Christ is “the head over all things to the church” (Eph. 1:22)? No Christian questions whether Christ is King over the church. But is more meant by Paul than that simple proposition? Joseph Buck Stratton answers in a sermon preached on December 27, 1857 entitled “The Kingship of Christ” (A Pastor’s Valedictory: A Selection of Early Sermons (1899), pp. 20-21).
But the Scriptures teach much more than that Christ reigns in his church. He reigns also for the church. He is King in regard to whatsoever concerns the church. He commands and controls whatsoever can affect the church. Thus he is said to be "head over all things to the church." The world, out of which the church is gathered, and in which it exists, is not independent of his dominion, and is under his regimen, for the sake of the church. It does not tolerate the church, but it is tolerated on account of the church. It was made for Christ's kingdom; it is preserved in order to the completion of his kingdom; and when it is needed no more for his kingdom's sake, it will exist no more. And while it stands, it has no power in an atom of it to move against his consent, or his bidding, and is working together in all its parts for the accomplishment of his mediatorial purposes, and for good to them that love God and are the called according to his purpose. Hence his promise in regard to the church "the gates of hell shall not prevail against it."
And so he is king in regard to whatsoever is connected with the mission end of the church; "I am with you always," he said to his apostles when he gave them the charge to go and make disciples of all nations; and this word, "I am with you always," dwelling as it does as an ever living promise in the bosom of the church, is a security that his kingship is ever co-operating with the church. He is reigning over the world and in the world, for the furtherance of the work of the church. Just as he is said to have been in the church of old "in the wilderness," and just as he opened the sea, and made the rock gush with water, and the heavens rain down manna, and the walls of hostile cities fall to the ground, and the hearts of brave armies quail before the terror of his presence; for their deliverance and their triumph, so still, he is in the midst of the Sacramental host of his elect. And though their wanderings may seem long, and their victory and their inheritance seem to tarry strangely in their coming, yet, as surely as Israel reached the promised land, Christ, the King, in the greatness of his strength will travel with his church, till he and she together shall cross the last entrenchment of the enemy, and trample the ruins of the last stronghold of Satan beneath their feet. Such then, is his kingdom, the church; and the world so far as it is regarded as the scene and the subject of the church's operation.
This doctrine of the mediatorial kingship of Christ over all things for the good of his church, as taught by Paul and expounded upon here by Stratton, is a great comfort to believers in the midst of a hostile world. Christ has been appointed king for purposes that not only give glory to God but will do his people good not only by ruling and defending us, but also, in the words of the Westminster Shorter Catechism, “restraining and conquering all his and our enemies” (Q/A 26). “All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth” (Matt. 28:18), he says. In his mediatorial office of King, the scope of his dominion is universal, and thus, he reigns over all and the victory over all belongs to him - praise to our King!
