THE KING AND THE KINGDOM
THE KING AND THE KINGDOM
Psalm 45: I; 2 Samuel 23: 1 - 4; Daniel 4: 24 - 26; Romans 5: 1 - 18
Tonight I should like to speak of Christ in relation to the kingdom, believing that Romans 5 stands for the kingdom. So, beloved friends, I feel free to touch on the two passages in the Old Testament because the first one indicates what the king is like, what kind of person the king is, and the second indicates what the kingdom is for. And then in Romans 5 we get the kingdom enlarged in its reference to christians.
Now, beloved friends, I think I have indicated what I should like to dwell upon by the Lord’s help and one feels that one always carries the sympathies of God’s people in speaking directly of Christ. David does speak of Christ. You will all remember that the passage begins “Now these be the last words of David”. David was a wonderful speaker, a wonderful singer. He was said to be the sweet psalmist of Israel. He had wonderful things to say in his psalms; wonderful things to say about Christ. Psalm 45 in an especial way indicates the substance of the Psalms in that respect; he gives an account of what is going on in his heart and of what he said concerning the king, and what he said was in perfect accord with what he thought. His thoughts and his words had Christ as their theme. He said “My heart is welling forth with a good matter”. It was spontaneous, his heart welled forth with a good matter and his affections were stirred as he was led to see Christ, which he did; for all the men of faith saw Christ. David saw Christ and in occupation with Him he said, “My heart is welling forth with a good matter ... my tongue is the pen of a ready writer”. His tongue was in perfect keeping with his heart and his heart was full of Christ, and his heart welled forth with a good matter. It is not always with us that our hearts well forth with a good matter, for out of the heart of man everything proceeds which is [p. 8] corrupt and bad. A new source had entered into his heart and welled forth with a good matter and what he spoke about was the King. He says, “I speak of the things which I have made touching the king”. Now that to my mind sets before us what you get from David, he was the sweet psalmist of Israel, he spoke of Christ, and he goes on to say, “My tongue is the pen of a ready writer”. He then goes on to expatiate on the beauties of the King. That was what David was engaged with; therefore, when you come to his last words you may depend upon it that they are not in any way inferior to the words that marked him in his lifetime. As the psalmist he was engaged with Christ and he is going to speak his closing words, and what were they about? About the King. I take it that David was perfectly qualified to give an account of the King and it appears to me that christians should become acquainted with the King. David gives us an account of the King and he goes on to tell us what the King should be, not only from his own experiences, but from what Jehovah had told him. He says, “The Spirit of the Lord spake by me, and his word was in my tongue. The God of Israel said, the Rock of Israel spake to me”. What did He say? “He that ruleth over men must be just, ruling in the fear of God. And he shall be as the light of the morning, when the sun riseth, even a morning without clouds”. Now you get not only David’s personal estimate but God’s conception of the King. He says, He must be just and must rule in the fear of God. I do not dwell on it — my thought is simply to seek to indicate to you what the King is. I wish to engage you with Christ viewed as the King. The Lord is just and is the very embodiment of justice. He rules in God’s fear and His rule is marked by infinite justice. I only bring that forward so as to encourage you to consider Christ as viewed as the King. You can come to Christ with the utmost confidence that He answers in every respect to God’s King. David did not answer as he did not rule always in justice. There were very many discrepancies in his rule but there are no shortcomings with Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ answers perfectly to God’s requirements [p. 9] in every respect: He rules in the fear of God, and He is a morning without clouds. One experience which a great many pass through and which is conducive to spiritual health and prosperity is indicated by the horror of great darkness which fell upon Abraham. I know that there are very many of God’s people in that state, in a state of darkness and bondage. What is Christ? A morning without clouds. David says, “He shall be as the light of the morning, when the sun riseth, even a morning without clouds”. It is very wonderful when your soul is in a state of darkness to have Christ arise upon you, as the light of the morning, even a morning without clouds. That is what He is. I only touch on that so as to encourage your hearts to exercise faith in that Person. He dispels the darkness directly you place implicit confidence in Him. He is as a morning without clouds: the mists and fogs disappear.
I know what I am saying: there are many souls filled with doubts and the result of doubt is discouragement, but in the presence of Christ all that disappears. Faith brings you into the presence of Christ and the clouds disappear and the experience of your soul is as one arising in the early morning when the sky is without a cloud. The more clearly you see Christ the more every doubt and fear disappears. It is a wonderful thing to be in a state of soul as a morning without clouds. That is what Christ is in resurrection. That is God’s conception of a king and that is what Christ is. The Lord Jesus Christ is a king according to God’s own heart; there is not a shade of divergence between God’s thought of a king and Christ. Has your soul ever entered into the presence of Christ in that light, Christ in resurrection? Having referred to the end of Romans 4 I feel free to touch on this, “Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification”. He was raised on our behalf, He was raised for our justification, but chapter 6 shows another side of the resurrection; He was raised by the glory of the Father — He was raised because the Father’s affection was set upon Him. His Father’s delight was in Him; He was raised by the glory of the Father. That is another view entirely; but the end of [p. 10] chapter 4 shows Christ raised on our behalf. He is raised for your clearance. God has so considered our consciences that He has raised Christ for us. He was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification; but when you come to chapter 6, He is not raised for our justification; He is raised by the glory of the Father. The Father’s pleasure was in that Man, and that Man went into death, and the Father must have Him out of death. The Father’s pleasure is in Christ, and if Christ goes into death the Father must have Him out of death. Directly Christ is raised you get the thought of the King. I do not say for a moment that resurrection in itself takes us to heaven. Christ Himself was forty days on the earth before He went to heaven. He was as much risen from the dead during the forty days of His sojourn here as He is now in heaven. Resurrection set Him in a position in which He could go back to heaven at any moment as having accomplished the counsels of God. As risen, Christ goes into heaven with every qualification of King; every qualification necessary to be the King was witnessed in the person of Christ and then He goes to heaven.
In Jacob’s last words to his twelve sons in Genesis 49 he gives an account of the twelve tribes. He said, “Gather yourselves together, that I may tell you that which shall befall you in the last days”, and thus to one tribe after another he has something to say; and when he comes to Naphtali he says, “Naphtali is a hind let loose: he giveth goodly words”. The animals in creation afford to God a mode of expression, and the hind undoubtedly is used to indicate to us the resurrection of Christ. The hind is let loose, she bounds, she is an active animal, and would suggest Christ as risen from the dead. It is a wonderful thing to get in your soul a conception of Christ as a hind let loose, let free. He went down into the domain of death but He came up out of it in all the glory and strength of His own Person, He burst the bands; as a hind let loose He came forth. It says, “He giveth goodly words”. Did you ever sit and listen to the goodly words of Christ risen? Christ risen is the Speaker. He bounds from the grave, He [p. 11] comes up as a hind let loose, He can go anywhere in His own domain, He can go to the very highest point. In one of the gospels it says He “was taken up into heaven”, Mark 16: 19; in Luke 24: 51, it says He was carried up into heaven, and in John 20: 17, He says, “I ascend”. Christ is as a hind let loose and He goes to the highest point in heaven. He is installed as King there and He sends the Holy Spirit who appeared here as cloven tongues as of fire, and who sat upon each of those assembled at Pentecost — what for? He is going to give goodly words. The Lord Jesus Christ is going to speak to man and so He gives goodly words. The gospel may be taken as the goodly words of Christ. I think the gospel is what Christ has spoken and there are no such words in all man’s eloquence. There are no compositions equal to the gospel. I need not remind you that there were many great works of literary men and speakers, but what could be compared with the goodly words of Christ? I take the gospel to be the goodly words of Christ. Are they not goodly? Are the terms of the gospel not goodly? How they meet man! You remember how the Lord Jesus Christ spake when He was baptized and was anointed by the Spirit — it says they marvelled at the words of grace which proceeded from His lips. His words were goodly. He was announcing the glad tidings. God had anointed Him to preach the gospel. Now He has gone up to heaven and the Spirit comes and He speaks, not now personally but nevertheless He speaks and His words are goodly. The apostles were His mouthpieces in the Acts and as long as His Spirit continues on earth we have a continuance of Christ speaking.
I read the passage in the book of Daniel because it indicates to us what the kingdom is. David tells us about the King and Daniel gives us an idea of the object of the kingdom. It is given in a few words. Nebuchadnezzar was the ideal king; according to the image he was the head of gold. Now, he was exalted, he was self-occupied. In the next chapter after Daniel’s wonderful interpretation of the king’s vision, Nebuchadnezzar makes an image of gold, which was undoubtedly suggested by the vision; he made [p. 12] an image of gold and called upon everybody to worship it. The image typified his own personal greatness. God says, you have to discover that the Most High ruleth in the kingdom of men. You may say, Nebuchadnezzar deserved that lesson, but do we not all deserve that? We all have not an empire like Nebuchadnezzar but if we had we should be just like Nebuchadnezzar, you may depend upon that. Your empire may not extend beyond your own body but that is ruled by you and you take pride in it, naturally the greater the empire is in extent, the more the pride; but the pride that is in an individual in regard to his own body is the same as is seen in the emperor; so each has to discover that the Most High rules. Have you discovered that? You may ask me who the Most High is? It is not difficult to answer. If you go to the Epistle to the Ephesians you can see it is Christ. Evidently the Most High is a Person who is the highest, and He has gone far above all heavens. There is no one higher than Christ, He is really the Most High. Every individual has to recognize that He rules. Nebuchadnezzar had to come to it and you have to come to it. If you do not come to it now while He has blessing for you, you will come to it later when it will be judgment; for God has decreed “that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow ... and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord”, Philippians 2: 10 - 11. Nebuchadnezzar had to learn through bitter experience. He was driven from men, and had to eat grass like the beasts of the field that he might know that the Most High rules. It was well for Nebuchadnezzar. I do not believe there was ever a king outside of Israel that God took such an interest in as He did in Nebuchadnezzar. This man, Nebuchadnezzar, was of great interest to Jehovah. It is a wonderful thing if God undertakes to discipline you. In the presence of God we are just beasts; so it is well when God puts His hand on us and the result is we learn that the Most High rules. Christ is the Most High and He rules. God has given Him that place, He has given Him the highest place and every knee is going to bow to Him. Nebuchadnezzar was driven from men for seven years, he “did eat grass as oxen, and his [p. 13] body was wet with the dew of heaven, till his hairs were grown like eagles’ feathers, and his nails like birds’ claws” — a terrible experience to go through. His reason left him, but God’s hand was with him and there was hope for him. I speak in that way to encourage you. If God’s hand is there, there is hope for you, but you must come to the point of surrender to Christ. There is no blessing for man until he surrenders to Christ. And Daniel says, “Thy kingdom shall be sure unto thee, after that thou shalt have known that the heavens do rule”. So will yours. He gives you His own kingdom, and God’s kingdom is very much greater than your kingdom, and He purposes to give us the kingdom in all His infinite goodness, but you will never experience that until you bow to Christ; not until then will God ever give you a footing in His kingdom, there can be no tolerance of your will in God’s kingdom.
“And whereas they commanded to leave the stump of the tree roots; thy kingdom shall be sure unto thee, after that thou shalt have known that the heavens do rule”. The stump remains, that was a great mercy. I wish to call your attention to this because I believe that the state of many persons who are regarded as believers is due to the fact that there is no surrender to Christ. He says, “Thy kingdom shall be sure unto thee”, but where? You know we often hear that the sheep of Christ never perish, but there is no present blessing if there is the retention of our own wills. “Thy kingdom shall be sure unto thee, after that thou shalt have known that the heavens do rule”. It is after you discover that the heavens rule that your kingdom is made sure to you. You have not anything while your own will rules. While you retain your own will you have no guarantee of anything, but directly you surrender to Christ, directly He is known as King, you have the guarantee — He says, ‘Your kingdom is made sure’. Is your kingdom made sure? Not if your own will is retained. You may wonder why I am dwelling on this; I know that there is no guarantee for present blessing and enjoyment while you pursue your own way. Nebuchadnezzar lost his kingdom and all his enjoyment for seven years. Many a man has shone amongst God’s people until he began to tolerate his own will and he had to be driven out from among them. You have to learn that Christ rules. “After that thou shalt have known that the heavens do rule”. God will not have any other kind of rule. The king that rules in heaven is described by David. God has a just ruler, a ruler as a morning without clouds, and He is not going to tolerate any other.
It says in verse 36, “At the same time my reason returned unto me; and for the glory of my kingdom, mine honour and brightness returned unto me”. Is that not an apt description of the believer who surrenders to Christ? His reason returned, his brightness returned. I have seen christians, who had gone on well and positively, allow their own wills and then it did not look as though they had any reason. A man who has been controlled by Christ who turns and follows his own will has lost his reason, but in returning and surrendering to Christ he says, “My reason returned unto me; and for the glory of my kingdom, mine honour and brightness returned unto me”. It seems to me that there is very great encouragement in this remarkable case of God’s discipline and the whole point was that Nebuchadnezzar had to discover that the Most High rules, and that is Christ. Christ rules in heaven and God will not therefore tolerate any other.
Daniel shows us that man’s will has to be broken, and that the heavens rule. Romans 5 enlarges on this, and we see the positive side of the kingdom, that is, that everything that God has got now for us, for believers, is administered through Christ. I think that each one can readily take in that the King is not only to subdue but He is an administrator, not only a suppressor of evil but an administrator of good. You take Joseph as an example, he was practically in the place of the king and he administered good. He had all the wealth of the world at his disposal; all the corn of the land was under the hand of Joseph and it was all administered by him; so you have in Joseph another picture of the King. He is truly for the suppression of evil and for the subordination of one’s will, but he is the great administrator.
[p. 15] Saul of Tarsus was met by the Lord on the way to Damascus and struck down. He had to learn what Nebuchadnezzar learned, that Christ was ruling. Saul bowed his knee and said, “Lord”, recognizing the lordship of Christ; but the Lord did not leave him there. He had a servant in Damascus, Ananias, who was under his direct control; He sent Ananias to Saul and he ministered to him. Now that is what Christ does for us, everything God has for us comes to us through Christ. He may use vessels on earth but it is all by Christ. He administers blessing when you submit to Him, so the apostle says, “Being justified by faith, we have peace with God” — but by whom? “Through our Lord Jesus Christ”, and the end of the chapter shows we have life. He says, “Even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord”, so that Christ is not only an absolute ruler to break your will but He administers all the blessing of God to us, He has all the corn of Egypt at His disposal and you will never want. I am sure there are believers here in this room who can testify to it — since we have bowed the knee to Christ we have found that He has a bountiful hand. The Lord Jesus Christ administers to the needs of our souls in a bountiful way. He meets us in every possible exigency of our path.
It says, “So might grace reign ... unto eternal life”.
It is given to us through Christ, not exactly in Christ in this chapter but through Christ — it is a question of administration — it comes to us through Christ, so we may readily and absolutely submit to Christ. It is wisdom.
“Wisdom is justified of her children”. They speak of wisdom and recognize the authority of Christ and in result wisdom is proved because Christ does care for us and we shall never want. Can you not testify to it that you have never wanted? David said he had not seen the seed of the righteous begging bread. He had not seen it, I certainly have not seen it. I take the seed of the righteous to be those who are related to Christ, they never have to beg. You will never have to beg if you are related to Christ. The believer does not have to beg. The Lord Jesus Christ has in His [p. 16] hand all the wealth of God and if you have to beg it shows that you are no relation of Christ. We are children of Abraham the righteous, and we do not have to beg. Many christians are in poverty but it is because they do not know what is in Christ.
May God bless these few words in regard to Christ.