The wicked emperor, Andronikos, thought he could manipulate a human prophecy in order to save his kingdom. If only he understood which blood saves!
The month of May is a time when some Christians remember the city of Constantinople. The month begins with a celebration of the birthday of the “Queen of Cities.” The month ends with a solemn remembrance of the fall of the city on May 29. In the centuries leading up to her collapse, the Byzantine Empire became obsessed with three prophecies. The first promised salvation through the blood of a human prince. The second promised salvation through the will of a human king. The third promised salvation through a husband’s will to marry the right woman.
This three part series, entitled “Inheritors of God’s Kingdom,” points to salvation in Christ, not men, proclaimed in John 1:12-13, “To those who believe in his name, he gave the right to become children of God. They were born, not of blood, or of the desire of the flesh, or of a husband’s will, but born of God.”
Every prophecy apart from Christ is fulfilled by catastrophe. 1183 years after the birth of Christ, a man named Andronikos once ignored that truth. And because he looked to prophecies apart from Christ, catastrophe eventually found him, his family, and his dynasty.
Andronikos was a member of one of the most powerful families in the world. His cousin, Manuel I, was the emperor of the eastern Roman Empire of Byzantium. He sat on the throne in Constantinople. He oversaw the eastern Christian church. He commanded great armies. But Manuel had just died.
The ambitious Andronikos seized the opportunity. He marched on the city of Constantinople and took power. The people loved him. He was tall, dark, and handsome. He had spent his years living like a hero by escaping dungeons and fighting foes. Now it was finally his turn to take the throne and rule Christendom.
Andronikos may have looked magnificent, but his reign was covered in blood. To legitimize his claim to the throne he killed Manuel’s 13 year old son. Then Andronikos turned against the rich families of the city. Executions became daily spectacles.
But what kept Andronikos up at night more than the bloodshed, what he obsessed over more than anything else was a prophecy. Long before Andronikos had taken the throne, a Byzantine prophecy had declared that his family line would follow the pattern of the letters of the Greek word for blood: AIMA. And in fact, against all odds, the prophecy had come true. The first emperor of the dynasty, who reigned years earlier, was Alexios = A. His son, John (spelled Ioannes in Greek), had reigned next = I. After John came Manuel = M.
Now sitting the throne was Andronikos = A, the final letter of the AIMA prophecy. But who should come next? In Andronikos’ mind, if he chose the wrong prophetic son to inherit the throne the empire would collapse. The Christians of Constantinople worried also. What if the wrong son was chosen to rule? What if the prophecy wasn’t fulfilled?
In the end, Andronikos chose his youngest son to succeed him. It wasn’t because he was the most qualified to rule. It wasn’t even because his older brothers had died. Andronikos picked his youngest son simply because his name, Alexios, started with the letter A. Andronikos wanted to restart the AIMA prophecy in order to keep his family in power. But this was a mistake.
Andronikos’ son, Alexios wasn’t a capable ruler. The dynasty soon came crashing down.
You may have noticed that the prophecy Andronikos and the people of Constantinople stressed over is not one found in the Bible. No prophecy of Scripture declares that the letters of the Greek word for blood should dictate who leads Christendom. What Andronikos realized too late was that every prophecy apart from Christ is fulfilled by catastrophe.
John 1:12-13 warns against trusting in human saviors: “To those who believe in his name, he gave the right to become children of God. They were born, not of blood, or of the desire of the flesh, or of a husband's will, but born of God.”
What Andronikos realized too late was that every prophecy apart from Christ is fulfilled by catastrophe.
Andronikos thought his empire could literally be born of blood. He thought he could save his people by fixating on the human leader who came next. The people put their trust in princes rather than their King of kings, Jesus, and it eventually cost them the empire.
We may not have prophecies that dictate our family dynamics. But deep down, we all sinfully chase after the glory that Andronikos sought. We are willing to use whatever human wisdom and strength we have to attain it. But chasing that type of earthly glory and peace carries a special name; it is called the theology of glory, and it is exactly the opposite of how God has called us to live.
The devil loves to hold this theology of glory before our eyes. He tries hard to make us think that because our family has been a fixture at church for generations we hold a key to heaven. He wants us to believe we can be born into heaven simply because of who we are related to. We start to think that because we are related to a pastor or a church leader or someone famous then we must be extra blessed by God. Pretty soon we start to glory in human blood. Family connections turn into earthly prestige.
But the truth of the matter is that no earthly blood connections can save us. Andronikos found that out the hard way. He thought he could manipulate his salvation by fulfilling a human prophecy about family blood ties. Sometimes we glory in our family connections, too. We think we can achieve God’s love because of our connections. But try as we may, we can’t save ourselves. Not even by blood.
Your salvation, however, did come through blood. It just couldn’t have been your own. In fact, this salvation by blood was prophesied. But the prophecy of a Savior from sin did not arrive through human opinions or vague superstition. It came directly from God. Already in the days of Moses, God said to his people, “The life of the flesh is in the blood, and I myself have given it to you to make atonement for your lives upon the altar” (Lev. 17:11). Then, just in case the people missed the meaning, God stated it again, “It is the blood that makes atonement by means of the life.”
Throughout the Old Testament, God’s people brought countless animals to the altar. Blood was spilled. Those sacrifices did not look glorious; they looked gruesome. And they all pointed ahead to the Lamb of God who came to sacrifice himself once for all. Like all of those Old Testament sacrifices, nothing about Jesus’ suffering on the cross looked glorious. The punishment that God the Father should have poured out on us was poured out on his only Son, Jesus. He shed his blood for you. And that holy, precious blood made atonement for you upon the altar of the cross.
The blood in your veins isn’t what saves you. It is the blood of Jesus that cleansed you.
In Ephesians 1:7, the Apostle Paul connects Jesus’ sacrifice to you: “In him we also have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins.” You stand forgiven. You didn’t need to be physically born into this forgiveness. The blood in your veins isn’t what saves you. It is the blood of Jesus that cleansed you. Jesus gave his life to bring you into his kingdom, and this is the kingdom of glory you will inherit in heaven, all because of Jesus’ cross.
Every prophecy apart from Christ is fulfilled by catastrophe. The wicked emperor, Andronikos, thought he could manipulate a human prophecy in order to save his kingdom. If only he understood which blood saves! It isn’t the AIMA acronym of the throne of Constantinople. It is our Father in heaven who has brought us into his family and “the blood of Jesus Christ, his Son, cleanses us from all sin” (1 John 1:7).
You are born of God and you are an inheritor of his kingdom through Christ’s blood.
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