A King Worth Following

Kings have power. ALL of their power is derived from the sum of the strength of those who choose to follow them. And the motives of those who choose to follow their orders can be multi-faceted, interlaced, or layered. A perusal of history will demonstrate that the vast majority of those motives are grown from the soil of self-preservation, or at the least, self-enrichment (i.e. "I'd better follow the orders of Pol Pot, or I will end up disappeared or headless").

Down through the ages, the power of kings has been EXPRESSED in the product of "things" they have been able to acquire - Gold, Castles, Territory, Art, Livestock. You name it. But, Things. And, to varying degrees, the men who have chosen to follow them, have shared in the material benefits of those acquisitions.

But no matter whether the men who followed did so primarily out of fear, or out of shared ideals (perhaps the most powerful, and deadly, combination), WE, then, measure the power of those kings by the Product of Things acquired.

You might say "well, no, we measure some kings by their acquisition of non-material things such as Peace, Safety, Literacy, or Health." But show me Safety without a massive wall. Or literacy without an extensive and expensive library tucked safely behind that wall.

Acquiring those Things often required deaths. Many of them. Thus even when we say we measure a king's power by his "Accomplishments" (Good or Evil), we find we are still relegated to measuring his acquisition of material objects. The relative Power is necessarily expressed in his acquisition of things.

Do you think Hitler set out a plan for himself thinking "ok, I want to become the most evil ruler anyone has ever seen"? Of course not. Or that Pol Pot just up and decided "I think I would like to have 20 million people killed today"? Not the way it went.

They set out, in their own minds, to express themselves, and their ideals, as Good. Providers of what their people "really" needed. They have all been Doloris Umbridges, however. Nurse Ratcheds. "There is none good. No not one." And the expression of their self-aggrandized Goodness can only be realized through the summed power of those who chose to follow them.

And that power is expressed via the only mechanism available to them - acquiring things. By whatever means necessary. From Other people.

Now just imagine for a moment, a king who had Actual power. The kind which does not require the sum of power of other men. A king so skilled at fighting that he did not need an army behind him. So deft with a sword that he could wipe out an entire battalion of an enemy on his own.

Yes, it is an archetype. But wrap your brain around it for a minute. THAT much Actual power. Now, IF you were that person, the acquisition of things would very quickly become utterly mundane. Meaningless. Let it sink in.

Perhaps other kings would still be interested in it. But not YOU. Monuments to your accomplishments, walls, libraries, armies, buildings and castles with your name on them. What would be the point? It all would be child's play if you had that sort of actual power.

You might one day come across a man who had been marked for death by another king. A man who was marked for death specifically because of his feeble attempt at saving just one of his people from the abuse of a merciless follower of that other king. A people who had been enslaved by this other king for generations. A man overcome with sadness at the suffering of those people, and at his own inability to stop it.

You might choose to demonstrate to him just a little of your Actual power. You might remind the man of the stories his ancestors had told about you. Their experiences with you. That you were, in fact, Good. In the most basic sense of it. That you weren't a young, upstart king, either. You were old. Ancient, to be exact. But not feeble or in decline just because you weren't in the spotlight. So that he could have some level of Trust that your intentions were in the best interest of him and the people he loved.

Now, IF you had that kind of power, of course you "could" just stroll right into that other king's territory and take him down yourself. Acquire his kingdom by force, and Free those people. Let them build a statue in your honor. Sure, you could. But doing so, again, would be mere child's play for you.

Power that absolute cannot be fully expressed except in the restraint OF it.

And IF you wanted to use this as an opportunity to demonstrate this reality, you "might" choose to make a proposition to this man, estranged from his people, hiding out from the sentence of death placed on him by this other king. Not just any king, mind you. The most powerful king on the Earth at the time, according to how most people measured power.

And your proposition might go like this: "I want you to go back to that king, unarmed, alone, walk right into his palace, and tell him that I said he needs to let your people go free."

This man might think you are crazy. Unless, of course, he is convinced in his heart and mind that not only are you Powerful beyond that of any other king, but Good. Truly Good.

And that man's response may be more than a bit tepid. I mean, you ARE proposing that he stroll right into the face of certain death, unarmed, already fully aware from experience that he is woefully incapable of accomplishing the task on his own. He certainly knows the laughter that will echo through the Pharaoh's palace as he makes this insane demand. He HAS to envision the Pharaoh replying along the lines of "so, old friend, you walk back in here after all these years, knowing your offense against me, and expect to make ME do something?? You and what army?!"

He knows that there will be no army behind him. It is a proposition akin to asking this man to step out of the quasi-safety of a boat in the middle of the sea and walk on the life-sucking water during a raging storm. It defies normal logic.

This proposition is no simple sales job. It requires an acquisition of something immaterial. A heart and mind. Convinced of your Goodness AND Power to enact it. SO convinced of it that he is willing to risk losing his life in order to follow you.

He might want to drop your name as a means of ensuring his safety when he confronts the Pharaoh. A reasonable thing to expect. I mean, he IS going "sans army", and if this Pharaoh knew who you were, maybe he would be somewhat intimidated, and less likely to kill him.

But in the same way that absolute power can only be expressed in the restraint of it, names cannot fully express it either. So you might choose to tell the man "just tell him 'I Am who I Am' sent you."

Now THIS is removing the breastplate and helmet from this man. You are essentially telling him that he needs to trust that you are so powerful that you don't even Need a real name. Or that naming you is beyond the confines of guttural noises, letters and word associations. But you have to, because the Pharaoh wouldn't recognize it anyway. He doesn't know you. Much less care who you are. He believes that he is the most powerful man on earth. He is utterly convinced of it. And he has all of the acquisitions to prove it, and the armies to back it up.

Your proposition is weighty, to put it mildly. There is nothing in it for this man to gain exclusively for himself of a material nature. Only for other people. And there is everything for him to lose.

But perhaps you wish to demonstrate a level of power, and virtue, beyond that of any other king. Perhaps you could demonstrate your ownership of the very land the Pharaoh stands upon, and the very materials comprising his kingdom by wrecking it all with things other than swords and arrows. With things completely overlooked by kings consumed with buildings and armies. Things like insects and frogs. Things that a powerful king would never give thought to other than to squash them under foot.

Perhaps you could demonstrate just how MUCH power you restrain on a regular basis. Perhaps you could demonstrate to this man, and his people, that terrifyingly absolute power is a reality.

But GOOD men express it in the restraint thereof. And in putting it to use by opposing the inappropriate use of it by evil men.

Matthew 16:24–25 (NKJV):
Then Jesus said to His disciples,
“If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it."

There IS one singular realm which has remained exclusively outside the grasp of any and all kings, leaders and rulers of history: the realm of the hearts and minds of men. Men bent upon preserving and enriching their own lives. And there has only been one king to build his kingdom in this realm. It is a kingdom like no other. Built by a King like no other.

Matthew 16:15–20 (NKJV):

He said to them,
"But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter answered and said,
"You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
Jesus answered and said to him,
"Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”

Then He commanded His disciples that they should tell no one that He was Jesus the Christ.