The Benevolent Monarch — E.A. Johnston

The Benevolent Monarch and His Benevolent Rule

There is an old fable about an English monarch who ruled his village in kindness and in benevolence. He was especially helpful and sympathetic to the poor serfs in his kingdom. Every Friday at noonday the monarch would appear at the town square and distribute loaves of free bread to the villagers.

On a typical Friday it was not uncommon for the monarch to hand out eight hundred loaves of bread to the hungry. The only thing this benevolent monarch required from his subjects was absolute allegiance to him.

The villagers lived in peace for many years under the reign of the benevolent monarch. But then one day an outsider settled into the village with fantastic tales of another kingdom he'd been in. He said the ruler of this other northern kingdom was a happy monarch who was so generous to his subjects that none of them had to farm or work in a feudal system.

Food was plentiful and supplies were courted in each week to keep the subjects fat and happy. This stranger said that his ruler made a feast each Saturday night and provided roast lamb and the finest wine free to all who came.

He said the only reason he left that village was because a foreign entity overpowered the kingdom and slew his ruler along with his household and burned the village down, and he was the only one who escaped with his life.

Well, the people listened each day to this man tell about the happy monarch who made no one labor and who fed his subjects feasts of roast lamb and the finest wine. And they soon became dissatisfied with their benevolent monarch who merely handed out free loaves of bread but made all work hard in the village.

Rebellion Against the Rejected Monarch

It wasn't long that treason was in the air around the town square. When the next Friday came and the benevolent monarch appeared at noon with his carts of free loaves, the people muttered and complained about such an insult to them to deny them the finer delicacies of roast lamb and fine wine.

Soon an angry mob rose up in rebellion to the benevolent monarch, and they took him by force and tied his hands and led him outside the city gates, where they hung him on a tree for being such a despicable ruler.

The outsider grinned with delight as he watched the townspeople hang the rejected monarch on a tree. As soon as the benevolent monarch died, the skies turned black with storm clouds and a fierce wind cut through the town, making the townspeople flee in fear.

The Outsider's False Promise and Destruction

Over the next several months, many of the villagers died from a strange poisoning in their stew, and no one could determine the source of the poison. The outsider declared himself the new ruler as he revealed he was the only one to have the antidote to the poison, and he would administer this antidote for free to all the villagers if they would bow and call him king.

All of the people bowed their knee and swallowed the antidote, and within twelve hours they all had died. The outsider hurried between the corpses that lined the streets and picked their pockets as he robbed each one and plundered their huts.

He then set fire to the village, and as he rode out of town he laughed a crazy laugh as he looked behind him to see the black plumes of smoke rise and billow over the town that once was content under the reign of the benevolent monarch.

The Devil as a Devouring Adversary

In 1 Peter we read, Be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour. Listen to me, dear friend. Jesus Christ stepped out of heaven to come down here so we can go up there.

Christ's Substitutionary Death and Resurrection

He offered himself on an ignoble cross to suffer and die as a substitute for sin. He was buried in another man's tomb, and on the third day he rose again from the dead and he appeared to his disciples.

He then ascended back into the very heaven he came out of, where he now sits at the right hand of the Father. He sits on that heavenly throne as a living Lord with all authority in his hands. The same Jesus said, Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

Take my yoke upon you and learn of me. Jesus invites poor sinners to come to him and believe on him. Jesus said, I am the bread of life. He that cometh to me shall never hunger, and he that believeth on me shall never thirst.

Repentance, Faith, and Full Allegiance to Christ

Let me ask you, friend, are you hungry for God? Are you weary of your sins? Are you thirsty for Christ? Then come to him in repentance, confessing you are a sinner, and believe on him and own him as your Savior and Lord.

The Lord Jesus Christ is a benevolent monarch whose demand is full allegiance to him from all followers of his.