Once lifted as a hymn of surrender, the phrase now often echoes in public as a rallying cry, raising questions about how its meaning is being carried.
Three words, ancient and unshakable: “Christ is King.” Christians have whispered them in prayer, sung them in worship, and leaned on them in times of joy and sorrow. The New Testament declares, “At the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth” (Philippians 2:10). To confess His kingship is to rest in a Kingdom not built by human hands but secured through a cross and an empty tomb.
What once was whispered in surrender now risks being heard as a claim of dominance.
Yet in the swirl of today’s culture, those same words often take on a different sound. Spray-painted on city walls, printed across T-shirts, hashtagged into the noise of social media, “Christ is King” is sometimes wielded like a slogan rather than prayed as a confession. What once was whispered in surrender now risks being heard as a claim of dominance.
The witness of Scripture points to another kind of King. Jesus enters Jerusalem not on a warhorse but on a donkey, fulfilling the words of the prophet: “Behold, your king is coming to you, humble and mounted on a donkey” (Zechariah 9:9; Matthew 21:5). His crown was not of gold but of thorns (John 19:2). His throne was not polished marble but a rough-hewn cross (John 19:19). His reign is marked not by armies or slogans but by sacrifice and mercy. “My kingdom is not of this world,” He told Pilate, “if it were, my servants would fight” (John 18:36).
This is why the phrase unsettles even those who believe it most deeply. To say “Christ is King” is not to boast in power but to bend the knee. It is not a chant for cultural triumph but a confession of dependence. “For the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45). The danger comes when the phrase is stripped of this posture of humility and carried instead as a banner of exclusion or pride.
Still, the words remain unchanging. They are a promise and a hope: “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever” (Revelation 11:15). Properly spoken, they remind Christians that their allegiance is not to passing empires or fragile movements, but to a King who reigns with justice and mercy. The challenge is whether the world will hear these words as a hymn of grace or a slogan of power—and whether the church itself will remember the difference.