Is Jesus a chief or a Chiefs fan?
This one was fun to research. I am sure 49er fans are not smiling at the question, but I thought it was a fun question to ask.
I have been around church and the Word of God my entire life and to me it seems that one of the least used names associated with Jesus is chief. My great grandmother was half Muscogee Creek Nation, which makes me 1/32, so I am not stranger to the term chief. One of my best friends in school, was a full-blooded Cherokee that we called chief. His father was on the Cherokee tribal council. Dee Ketchum played at Kansas University was both Chief of the Delaware Tribe and former head coach at Oklahoma Wesleyan University. Dee was a good friend of mine. Coming from Oklahoma, if we were going to refer to Jesus as chief anywhere, it would have been here.
By definition, a chief is a leader or ruler of a people. As an adjective a chief describes someone who is the most eminent; most distinguished; having most influence; commanding most respect; taking the lead; most valuable; most important; and a person of the highest authority. If that doesn’t describe Jesus then not sure what does!
So, I ask the question again, “Does the Bible refer to Jesus as a chief?” Let’s start with the King James. The word chief is a commonly referred to as it is found 328 times in the KJV. From what I found, the term chief seems most often connected to those who opposed Jesus, the chief priest. Paul even goes as far as calling himself the chief sinner in the following verse.
1 Timothy 1:15 This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief.
The two verses that I did find in the KJV and NKJV that referred specifically to Jesus as chief in adjective form are found in:
1 Peter 5:4. “And when the chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away.”
Ephesians 2:19-22 uses an entire paragraph to describe Jesus as the chief Cornerstone. 19 Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, 20 having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief Cornerstone, 21 in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, 22 in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.
I will make two more quick analogies. One, the Word of God refers to the Kingdom of God, so chiefs, prime ministers, presidents don’t quite fit God’s Kingdom. Also, the word chief is most associated with chief priest in the NT and the writers saw Jesus as the opposite as the chief priest who were hypocrites and legalistic. They probably wanted to not paint the redeemer with the adjective since He came as a servant. So it likely has zero to do with the Kansas City Chiefs in regards to the word chief.
Let’s switch gears and talk about the Kansas City Chiefs and their Superbowl victory. Is Jesus a Kansas City Chiefs fan? Was there divine intervention? If you follow SLC, then you know I love numbers. It is probably the coach in me. Anyone can look back in hindsight and see how God orchestrated things in their lives. Anyone can ignore those fingerprints and call them coincidence. Human nature has always been to use your mind to explain something out of the ordinary and one of my pet peeves are people who refuse to believe in miracles. The Bible says it clear, all things are possible through Jesus. Each of us are miracles!
I live by a no coincidence principle. God knew His plans for each of us before we were formed in our mother’s womb, so why would we doubt His hand is not in everything. With that said, I am going to throw out some fun numbers to consider. Let’s start with my favorite number 3. Jeremiah 33:3 “Call to Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know.”
The Chiefs Super Bowl win is 33 days into the year. 333 days to go because It’s leap year. I am sure, or am I, that some of these numbers are a stretch in hope that God was involved. It was the Chiefs first Super Bowl in 50 years. For the Chief’s fans it was a year of Jubilee, which is the number 50.
Could there have been divine intervention or some kind of favor from above? CEO/OWNER Clark Hunt boldly shares his faith in Christ and glorifies God for the team’s favor. The Chiefs are the only NFL organization that provides an opportunity to worship prior to their home games on Sunday, since many fans can’t make it to church that morning. Hunt says, “My identity is my faith in Jesus Christ.”
Many Chief’s players spoke to faith, believing and gratefulness following the game. Some have tremendous redemption stories and seemed so thankful for God’s favor and grace. No person is without sin, much less a team, but we are called to die daily to that sin and do all we can to bring God glory and make our Savior Jesus Christ famous. I salute the KC Chiefs for doing just that.
Let’s take an even closer look at the numbers surrounding the Super Bowl. The win occurred on a palindrome day of 0202/2020, which hasn’t happened for 909 years. On 02/02/2020, on coach Reid’s 222nd career win the Chiefs won the Superbowl. Some see 2 Chronicles 20:20 as a verse for the year 2020. “believe his prophets, and you will succeed.”
I am sure many of you saw a prophetic word many people shared on social media connected to Bob Jones, who passed away in 2014. It mentioned when the Chiefs win the Super Bowl, you will know that revival is about to come. Bob Jones passed on Valentine’s Day in 2014. He was buried on 2/22.
Jones actually predicted that the Houston Oilers would be moved to Tennessee and that their stadium would be so full of youth that many would have to stay outside, which did take place at a Billy Graham event.
Bob Jones also prophesied that the Kansas City Royals would win the World Series in 1985. Check out this link for pretty interesting details.
I am with Paul when it comes to careful evaluation of spiritual phenomena: “Do not put out the Spirit’s fire; do not treat prophecies with contempt. Test everything. Hold on to the good” (1 Thessalonians 5:19–21).
I don’t know if Bob Jones prophecy was legit or not. I sure hope so. We should all hope and pray that a Revival Harvest of souls is coming soon!