by Rev. M. MacSween
There is a sense in which it might be said that God set a crown upon the head of man. At man’s creation God gave him an exalted position. He gave him dominion over the beasts of the field, fowls of the air and fish of the sea. But very specially God created man in his own image, holy, a rational being capable of enjoying the fellowship of his Creator and delighting in it, and in that sense we read that God crowned man with glory and honour (Ps. 8:5). This crown, however, did not rest long upon the head of man for through sin it fell from his head. Man as a sinner has come into a low and lost state. Man as a sinner may now take up the confession of the prophet! “The crown is fallen from our head: woe unto us, that we have sinned” (Lam. 5:16).
But can that crown of holiness be restored to man? Oh, yes, but only through grace. In Isaiah 62:3 we read of Zion — that is, the Church of Christ, or the Lord’s people — “Thou shalt be a crown of glory in the hand of the Lord and a royal diadem in the hand of thy God.” Again, the honour of the Church of Christ is otherwise expressed in the Word of God thus: “They shall be as the stones of a crown, lifted up as an ensign upon His land” (Zech. 9:16). The Lord’s people, however humble their social position, are so exalted that they are the crown-jewels of the King of heaven.
But what was needed in order that guilty, unholy and unworthy sinners should be so exalted? Oh, it was necessary that God’s eternal Son, who was the brightness of the Father’s glory and the express image of His Person, should humble Himself! It was of this king, the Gospel Solomon, the Lord Jesus Christ, that it was said: “Go forth, O ye daughters of Zion, and behold king Solomon, etc.”
Solomon was a striking type of Christ.
(a) He was so in his name, Solomon, which is taken from a Hebrew word meaning ‘peace’. Thus he prefigures Him who is pre-eminently the Prince of Peace (Is. 9:6).
(b) He was a type of Christ in his wisdom, wealth and glory. The text speaks of a king. Now in the Gospel Solomon we have a king who possesses a kingdom and reigns over loyal subjects. It is to Him that the words of Ps. 72 must be applied in the highest sense —
“His large and great dominion shall
From sea to sea extend.”
The text speaks of a coronation. In it we have One who is not only a king but a crowned king.
Let us briefly consider: 1 The coronation of Jesus Christ; 2 The exhortation given — “Go forth, O ye daughters of Zion and behold king Solomon . . .”
1 The coronation of Jesus Christ.
In the Book of Revelation it is said that on His head are many crowns, that is, He has many marks of honour.
(a) The Eternal Father glorified Him in calling Him to be an High Priest, for “Christ glorified not Himself to be made an High Priest” (Heb. 5:5).
(b) The Father glorifies Him in answer to that wonderful intercessory prayer, “Father, glorify Thy Son.” The Father did so by sustaining Him in His work.
(c) The Father glorified His Son in raising Him from the dead, and then in exalting Him a Prince and a Saviour, and in committing all power in heaven and on earth into His hand. Oh, what a glorious crown that was! But none of these is the special crown here referred to, for it is, “the crown wherewith his mother crowned Him!” Who is His mother? There is a sense in which we may regard the human race as His mother. And what was the crown which this mother placed on His head? It was a crown of thorns! The soldiers did that literally, and it is virtually a crown of thorns — a crown of dishonour — that the ungodly still seek to place on His head by their sins and rejection of Him. Oh, my friend, every time you reject the offer of the Gospel you seek to place this crown of dishonour upon His head.
But Jesus owns another mother beside her that crowned Him with thorns. Yet she is not another, but that same mother ransomed and renewed, for all who yield themselves to Him for salvation He acknowledges as His “brother, and sister, and mother”.
And what is the crown which that mother, that is, every converted soul, places on the head of the Redeemer? Is it not the crown of their indebtedness to Him? The soul that accepts Him as its own personal Saviour places the crown of its own salvation on the head of this glorious One.
And when does this coronation take place? It is in the day of the King’s espousals, when the quickened and renewed sinner accepts the Saviour as He is feely offered in the Gospel, and yields himself to Him, soul and body.
2 The exhortation. “Go forth, etc.”
Only a comparatively limited number of a monarch’s subjects receives an invitation to witness his coronation, but in this case everyone who hears the Gospel is invited, yea, commanded, for it is a royal command, to behold king Immanuel, and to take part in His spiritual coronation. If you do not place the crown of your own salvation upon His head, you place instead the crown of rejection and that shall be accounted your greatest sin one day. Oh, if only you saw your own need and His glory you could not reject! Is there anyone saying, “That is what I need — to have my eyes enlightened”? Oh, then, seek that the Lord who can open the blind eyes, would apply the unction that is from the Holy One, and if that is imparted, I do not hesitate to say that you cannot refrain from yielding to Him as your king and accepting Him as your Saviour. Amen.