Christ the Universal Sovereign.
I. The title of the text testifies to Christ's permanent kingly qualities. The true king is not merely the man who reigns, but whose qualities mark him out for dominion. He is, as the title itself indicates, the best regulator, or, as we say in our Saxon speech, the man who can,the capable man, the man who can command, not merely because he can command the brute force which compels the weak to submit, but the wise and good qualities which make it a privilege to obey him, and who shows men what is fitting and best for them to do. Christ is the world's ideal King, the object of all its longings, whether they have been related in story or uttered in song. Its fabulous heroes or the true kings whom it has honoured most, almost deifying some of them, because of the good which they have conferred on their people, whether or not they existed as they are seen through the haze with which distance and romance have surrounded them these men, so far as they were good, are but darkened and shadowy types of the all-perfect one. He combines in Himself all that was kingly in them, while He is exempt from all the imperfections by which their kingly character was marred.
II. Then, again, the passage asserts His control over the mightiest and most exalted of men, for although His dominion is not so extensive as it is destined to become, and the title He bears has not as yet attained to its fullest significance, it is, nevertheless, true that even now He exercises control over the kings of the earth. Whether or not they recognise His authority, they are still under His dominion.
III. This title foretells His universal dominion, and in so doing it does but chime with other Scriptures, which, however much they differ as to the means by which such a desirable consummation is to be accomplished, are one in the belief that the same Lord who governs in nature and in providence is yet to extend His dominion and be the acknowledged King over all the earth.
W. Landels, Penny Pulpit,New Series, No. 313.
References: Revelation 20:1-3. Homilist,3rd series, vol. vi., p. 162.Revelation 20:4-6. Spurgeon, Sermons,vol. vii., No. 391.Revelation 20:11; Revelation 20:12. Homiletic Magazine,vol. xiii., p. 70.