Preached at Strathy, 16th August, 1873.
“And the Holy One of Israel is our King.”—PSALM lxxxix. 18.
HERE we read one of the numerous confessions of the Church concerning her God, and as in every one of such confessions there is a declaration of some of the relations which He sustains towards her, so here likewise we have one or two of these declared.
He is said to be “the Holy One of Israel.” His holiness may be known from the manner in which it is described in His Word. He is of purer eyes than to behold sin, which statement we have elsewhere in these terms: “Do not commit that abominable thing which I hate.” Holiness is that property in God by which He is necessitated to abominate and hate sin. There are some objects which, when presented, give rise to that feeling that is characterised as abominating. If putrid food were laid before a man of a tender stomach, this feeling would at once arise and render it impossible for him to partake of it. Hatred is combined with this feeling to teach us how the Supreme One regards sin. The sinner hates the good man, and would have him cut off. God, who is love, hates not as man hates. He hates sin, but has no pleasure in the death of him who dies. In the sinner there is malevolence, but of this God is altogether free. He is angry at the sinner, but His anger is holy and pure. There is no unrighteousness with Him in being angry; no malevolence when He punishes sin, when He casts out the sinner from His presence and renders unto him according to his doings. He is unchangeably holy—eternally and gloriously holy.
He is “the Holy One of Israel”—of His redeemed people, to whom He says, “Be ye holy, for I am holy.” “Without holiness, none,” no, not one, of Israel, whom He loves with an everlasting love, whom He has redeemed with His blood, whom He freely pardons and brings into His family, and to none of whom His promise shall be broken—without holiness none of them shall see the Lord. But He not only assures them of the necessity of being holy, and exhorts them to be holy, but He has purposed to make them so, and Christ, whose petitions or intercessions for them are always heard, prays for their sanctification, and the Holy Spirit is given them, and He dwells in them and works mightily for accomplishing this change.
The Holy One is their “King.” The human race has, from an early stage of its history, been divided into different tribes and nations, who found it necessary to appoint a ruler over them, to administer the laws of the community. He was called the chief, or their king, which title God in His Word, assumes to Himself, in order to teach men, naturally ignorant, some important truths concerning Himself.
In considering this topic we may confine our observations to the person of the Son, on whose shoulders is the government, and who is called King of kings and Lord of lords. He is the eternal Son, the Father’s equal, and all power in heaven and on earth is given Him. To Him belongs the exercise of all power. He is, as King, a lawgiver, one jot or tittle of whose laws shall not fall to the ground. To Him all judgment is given. All responsible beings are, therefore, to be judged and rewarded according to their doings by Him alone.
He is in a peculiar manner the King of Israel, or of the redeemed—of the saved. He is called the King of Righteousness, by which we are to understand that He is not only righteous in Himself and in His government, but that He is their righteousness: “the end of the law for righteousness”—“the Sun of righteousness.” “In the Lord Jehovah have I righteousness and strength.” In this relation He is King, and as a king is, or should be, rich, generous, and royally liberal, so is He as their righteousness. Angels and all holy creatures have no righteousness but what they need for themselves, and therefore cannot give to another. The wise virgins said to the foolish, “Not so, lest there be not enough for us and you; but go ye rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves.” He brought in an everlasting righteousness, not for Himself, but for others who had none, who were poor and naked and miserable. There was a people given to the Son to reign over them, and when given they were in the condition just mentioned—poor, naked, and miserable, and while in this state, He could have no honour and glory in connection with them. An earthly king can have no glory from poor and miserable subjects living in poverty, rags, and deep wretchedness, and still less if they continue in this state, and if he makes no effort and adopts no means to raise them up and make them prosperous and happy. Earthly kings have in all ages many subjects of this sort, and it is to be feared that they are little concerned about them. This is not, however, the case with Christ as King of Israel. All His people shall be righteous, for His infinite righteousness is sufficient to cover them all. The King’s daughter is clothed in garments wrought in gold, and shall be brought to the King in raiment of needlework. And hereby we may see His riches in being able to clothe them in this manner. All the riches of the world could not have bought the garment and robes in which Christ’s people are clothed before God, however poor they may be in the eyes of those who are rich among men. In thus clothing them He acts as a King who is holy and pure, for He takes off their filthy garments and washes them with the washing of regeneration, and the renewing of the Holy Ghost, and commands, with royal bountifulness, kindness, and dignity, to put on them this robe of needlework. It is a royal garment, to be worn by none but one who is a willing subject. All His people are made willing in a day of power, and therefore are clothed so that they are made perfect in Him; and when inspected, so to speak, by the pure eye of God, in this garment, He sees no spot, He sees no iniquity, in Jacob, nor perverseness in Israel. He is well pleased for His righteousness’ sake.
He is King of peace. There is by nature a breach of the peace between God and man, and no creature can make it up. He has made peace, and made it like a King. He is our peace, and as it is in Him it passeth all knowledge. It is like a rich storehouse that can never be emptied; and so this royal treasure can never be emptied. He bestows it also like a King. “My peace I give you; not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled; ye believe in God, believe also in me.” Hear how He gives peace, and this peace He will not break. “I will not suffer the covenant of my peace to be broken.” “I will keep him in perfect peace.” The riches of this peace are known in part by those whose consciences have been awakened to a sense of sin and of God’s anger against sin, and who, on believing, can say, “We have peace with God through the Lord Jesus Christ.” It is experienced too in after life, but especially in the fact that is written—”Behold and see that the latter end of the righteous is peace”—peace in departing to meet with their God, to judge them. Simeon understood that one seeing the salvation of God could depart in peace. The Psalmist clearly saw the same thing when he sang, “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me.” And at the great day of judgment, when the wicked shall cry unto the mountains, “Fall on us,” they shall lift up their heads with joy, because the day of their salvation is near.
There shall be peace during His reign. His gospel is the gospel of peace, wherein peace is declared and the effect of which is to produce peace—to make His people lovers and doers of peace. “Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called the children of God.”
He is again called the King of Glory. His own personal and immanent glory is that of the Son of God—”the brightness of the Father’s glory and the express image of his person.” But who can search and find out this glory, for it is infinite, eternal, and unchangeable? He dwells in glory, and this makes His dwelling place glorious; this constitutes heaven. Wherever He makes Himself known and satisfies with His likeness, there is heaven. He bestows glory on His people. When He shines into any heart, by nature dark, and reveals Himself there, there He begins to bestow glory on them; and as this light is increased, the more glory He bestows, for they are “changed from glory to glory as by the Spirit of the Lord.” “The glory thou hast given me, I have given them.” This is a most marvellous saying. He has received it from the Father inasmuch as He was appointed by the Father as Mediator, as Prophet, Priest, and King, to glorify the Father. He was glorified by being thus put in a position where He had to shew forth His infinite and varied riches of grace, power, love, pity, truth, justice, and holiness in redeeming, saving, teaching, training, comforting, and sanctifying His own people. When they see this glory so as to change them from darkness to light, they are, as already said, made to share it, and this participation of it shall be complete when He will bring them where He is, that they may see it, not darkly as in a glass, but with undimmed eyes, as He sits on His throne, around which is a rainbow in colour like an emerald; not to become as if dead by its eternal weight; not to be terrified and overwhelmed; oh, no; but to be filled with joy unspeakable and full of glory. Here He bestows like a King of Glory, bestows richly and upbraids not, but rejoices in all His works, rejoices that they are washed in His blood, that they are delivered from all their iniquities, that they are holy, filled with peace, and with love; their cup overflowing at the table in His Father’s house, and their hearts full of gratitude that will never cease to flow forth in songs of praise to God. “To him that loved us and gave himself for us.” Thus they shall see His glory in all His works in which He rejoices. What was dark in this world is becoming clearer and clearer. What puzzled and perplexed them shall be seen in such light as will effectually remove all difficulties, and all risings of heart, and all murmurings of spirit. There will be none there saying, like Jacob, “All things are against me;” none like Heman mourning all day long; none saying, “Why hast thou cast us off?” “O how long wilt thou hide thyself?” or, “O that I knew where to find him!” none saying, “I pine with thy blow,” or, “Take thy stroke from me;” none asking, “Why does the wicked prosper, and the righteous are afflicted?” All shall with one mouth proclaim in the gates of Zion above, “He hath done all things well. Well, when He redeemed us and when He saved us from death; well, when He afflicted and chastened us and put us in the furnace; well, when he pruned us and plucked away darling idols, and when He made us feel to be in a dry barren wilderness. The Lord has done great things for me; blessed and holy is His name.”
Ah! yes, this shall be the language of those who are now for the most part complaining of their poverty and cannot believe that He hath done great things for them. They feel themselves so ignorant, so graceless, so poor and miserable that they fear there is not the least likelihood of His showing any mercy to them.
Is He your king then? Have you made choice of Him? Have you kissed the Son? Trust in Him; commit yourself to Him. Make known all your wants, all your requests; come near, and touch His sceptre. Hear Him say, “What is thy request and prayer and it will be given?” He has gone to receive a Kingdom; He has received it and is coming again and now making a willing people. What message do you send after Him? All must be sending some message or other. Whether then dost thou say, “Come, Lord Jesus, take Thy great power with Thee and reign in my heart, reign in Thy house, in Thy kingdom”; or do you send this daring, rebellious, and blasphemous message after Him, “We will not have this man to reign over us, ‘Not this man, but Barabas;’ we shall have no king but Cæsar, the world, the devil, and the flesh. These we obey and follow, but will not obey Thee.” Consider, poor sinners, what must be the end of this. Hear it from His own lips. “Bring hither mine enemies who would not that I should reign over them, and slay them before me. Bind them hand and foot.”