When I was coming around in my faith i “discovered” Christ in the prophetic–and very Catholic–references of the Old Testament. An EWTN show on salvation history (Our Father’s Plan) with Jeff Cavins and Dr. Scott Hahn confirmed a lot of these things for me and shed much light on the Scriptures. One of these “discoveries” was the kingship of Christ:
The Israelite people wanted a king even though the Lord God said that He was their king (1 Samuel 8). Still, God in his great love permitted an earthly one to rule over them. The nation of Israel becomes a kingdom. Later when this king (Saul) is unfaithful, God raises up the shepherd David, a man after his own heart, to be king. God promised David that his house would be a dynasty lasting forever. King David was a great ruler but he did have faults as did most of his heirs. After the Babylonian exile, the royal line becomes totally obscure, something of little consequence in the eyes of the world. But God is faithful and he always keeps his promises.
Nearly 1,000 years after David was born… the Angel Gabriel appears to a young virgin who is a descendant of David betrothed to a man of the house of David. The messenger angel announces to her that she is to conceive and bear a son:
He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give him the throne of David his father, and he will rule over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.
-Lk. 1
God, in Jesus, assumes the line of David by being born into it! He who has no beginning establishes the kingdom that has no end. King David’s greater son—is God the Son come in the flesh. Fully divine and at the same time fully human, Jesus Christ is the King of kings and Lord 0f lords:
Thus says the Lord GOD:
I myself will look after and tend my sheep.-Ez. 34
Christ the King was robed with blood, crowned with thorns and enthroned upon the cross at Calvary where he victoriously smashed sin, death and satan! At the right hand of the Father He sits… and He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead. The gates of hell will not prevail against his kingdom—and those who belong to it, provided that they are faithful in serving their Divine King. The Catholic Church is the kingdom (all Christians who are baptized are members of it, albeit imperfectly)… Jesus is the King… the Pope is his representative on earth, the Prime Minister.
Towards the end of the month of November the Church celebrates her founder: the Feast of Christ the King was this past Sunday.