God has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves.  We now live under the reign of this dearly loved Son as our only king.  He is not a remote king in a distant royal palace.  God exalted him to the highest place giving him the name above every name. Nevertheless, he draws near to be the king among us.  

Our king wants to meet us and we want to meet him.  This meeting happens as we fix our attention on Jesus, our king, in the Spirit.  Encountering the reality of our king, we know that we are deeply loved and that his love is unstoppable. Hearing how Jesus relentlessly loves us compels us to respond to him as the one who loves us.

Jesus comes among us and speaks to us so we know how to express allegiance to him as our king.  However, he not only comes among us to speak to us.  He also comes within us by the Spirit enabling us to do what he says.  The Spirit is the personal presence of Jesus in the individual and community. The Spirit gives life, makes known the love of our king, and makes possible obedience to him.  By the Spirit, we can now say together that it is no longer we who live, but it is our messianic king who lives in us. And the life we now live in the flesh we live by the faithfulness  of the Son of God, who loved us and gave himself for us.