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CHRIST CROWNED BY THE FATHER AND BY THE SAINTS

My thought is, beloved friends, to show that the Lord takes pleasure in having a place in the affections of His people. He has a place in the affections of the Father: He also desires a place in the affections of His people. He would dwell in the hearts of His people, and it is with that in view I have read these two scriptures.

What I desire to point out is that the Lord is crowned by His mother. You may say He is crowned by God the Father, which is true, but I think it is a most interesting thought that He is also crowned by His mother. The daughters of Zion were invited to “behold king Solomon with the crown wherewith his mother crowned him in the day of his espousals, and in the day of the gladness of his heart”. Song of Songs 3:11.

Now I hope the Lord will enable me to make clear to you what is really in that verse and I hope also that He will enable me to make application of it to ourselves. What I would say is this: the Lord is not satisfied alone with being crowned by God. Now you will understand I am not in any wise detracting from the act of God in crowning Him. You may depend upon it that the affections of the Father were brought into activity in the act of crowning His beloved Son. I think it was an auspicious day in heaven when the Lord Jesus Christ went up into it as man and was crowned. The Holy Ghost bears testimony to it on earth “God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified both Lord and Christ”. Acts 2: 36. The Lord went “far above all heavens”. Ephesians 4: 10. Why? That He might fill all things. You may ask me how He fills all things? I think as He ascended upwards that every single intelligence ^[p. 20] on the way up caught a glimpse of Him. A Man went up and they saw Him, and I think every single intelligence thereupon was filled. The idea of being filled with Christ I think means that the mind and heart are taken up with Him. I think all in heaven was to be filled; hence He passed into the place beyond all; and every intelligence and sphere were filled with the Lord Jesus Christ as He went up. But He went to the highest point, to the Father; and what was filled there? The Father’s heart; and the Father crowned Him with glory and honour. “God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ”. Acts 2: 26.

But the Lord would fill all here below. He had not really filled anything when He left. He did not leave anything filled as far as I can judge. He did indeed take such as Mary of Bethany and Mary Magdalene, and others, and fill them in a sense, but I think the intention of God is that Christ is to fill all things from the highest point. He went beyond all heavens to fill all things, and I think that when the Holy Ghost came here, the one hundred and twenty believers in Jerusalem were filled. What were they filled with? They were not filled with the glories of the empire: they were not filled with the Jewish system that surrounded them. They had been, I have no doubt. The disciples were poor men, but the fact of a man being poor does not mean that he is not worldly. Far from it. He may be just as worldly as a rich man. The disciples were mostly all poor, but I have not the least doubt in my mind that they were all filled with the world prior to the Lord Jesus Christ taking them up. One of them had been filled with seven demons, which was worse. They were all filled with something — with the empire, Judaism, or something else, but when the Lord Jesus Christ went to the right hand of God, and the Holy Ghost came down to earth, what then? The ^[p. 21] one hundred and twenty were filled with Christ; I do not believe there was a particle of room in their hearts for anything of the world. There was no place in the hearts of those people for anything that the world had to offer, for their hearts were filled with Christ.

Now I think that was God’s design, and, so far as I can see, that is His present design as to us also. You may rely upon it He intends to fill your heart and mind. You have both a mind and a heart, and the Lord is capable of filling both, and He intends to fill both. I fear that with the majority of Christians it is not as it was with the one hundred and twenty in Acts 2. I know that in the hearts and minds of most believers the world has a very great place, but the thought of the Lord is to dislodge it, and that by entering in Himself. In the age to come there will not be anything but Christ in heaven and upon earth — I mean, morally; He fills all things. They will not be half filled, but filled full.

But I want to come to the thought of being crowned by His mother. I think that when His mother crowns Him she will get all the benefit of His power. I want to make that clear, and I want to make application of it to ourselves. Israel is His mother. The figure is used more than once in Scripture. The Lord Jesus Christ came through Israel after the flesh, but at the present time she is not deriving any benefit from Him. She is not getting any benefit from her Son. Why? Because she has not crowned Him. She had the opportunity, but did not embrace it. He did indeed receive a crown from man, but not a crown of affection: affection would not plait a crown of thorns: that was a crown of hatred, a crown of mockery, He was presented to Israel as King, but the leaders said, “We have no king but Caesar”. John 19: 15. The sequel proved what Caesar would do for them.

^[p. 22] We may see in the history of David an illustration of what I have been saying. He was anointed king by Jehovah for a considerable period of time before Israel got any direct benefit from him. Was it because David did not have any ability to help Israel? No. David had all the ability that God gave him, but the children of Israel got no real help from him until they accorded him the place God had given him. The anointing of David was a private affair. Samuel was afraid to go to Bethlehem. If Samuel had attempted to go with a train of attendants, in a public way, on his mission he would have been arrested by Saul; so he went to the house of Jesse in a private way and anointed the king. The anointing by God involved power to help the people, but it did not place David in the position to help them. As yet Saul had the position, and David remains in seclusion. He went off to take care of his father’s sheep again after being anointed, and subsequently played for the acting king to keep the evil spirit away from him. He was not engaged with the deliverance of Israel. It was a poor occupation for the anointed king of Jehovah to be keeping guard of the false king. That was not an occupation proper for the anointed of Jehovah. But Israel had not anointed him. David, after he was anointed by God, had to wait many a long day before his people anointed him. You may say David lost. No. Israel lost. David gained, but Israel met with terrible defeat on the mountains of Gilboa. Had David been there it would not have been a defeat. You never heard of a defeat of David. They would not have been defeated on the mountains of Gilboa had his people accorded him the place that God had given him, but they did not, and they were the losers. It applies to the present moment. Israel did not give the Lord Jesus Christ the place accorded Him by the Father. Who were the losers? Look at the Israelites today. Where ^[p. 23] are they? Scattered to the four winds of heaven, and they are a by-word everywhere. Is Christ losing? The Lord Jesus Christ has a blessed occupation: He is not indeed engaged in protecting the false king from evil spirits; that is not the occupation of Christ now. He has Rebecca, His bride, and He is occupied with her.

But I dwell on the point that Israel is the loser in not accepting the anointed One. The Lord Jesus Christ is the Anointed of Jehovah by the Holy Ghost. The Lord was not only anointed: there was in His works a public demonstration of the power of the kingdom. He went about doing good, and His works were the divine credentials that He was the King; but — notwithstanding this, His people rejected him: they would not give Him a crown. And what was the result? They are suffering the consequences of their folly. They would choose a king, and the king they chose destroyed their city and led them captive. They have been led captive into all nations. God says, as it were, Let Me choose a king for you, but they declared that God’s King was not their choice. They assumed to know better than God: they rejected God’s choice. But they will own their folly, and return to sound judgment: they will own Him as King, saying, “Hosanna to the son of David: Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord”. Matthew 21: 9. This will involve severe chastisements on the part of God. Isaiah 3 speaks of it: Israel will be stripped of those upon whom she leaned “The mighty man, and the man of war, the judge, and the prophet, and the prudent, and the ancient, the captain of fifty, and the honourable man, and the counsellor, and the cunning artificer, and the eloquent orator”. Isaiah 3: 2,3. Thus she “being desolate shall sit upon the ground”. Isaiah 3: 26. Desolate and shelterless, she will gladly accept Christ: “Seven women shall take hold of one man”, Isaiah 4: 1 and I have no doubt that Christ will ^[p. 24] be the Man. When Israel is bereft by the judgment of God of all those to whom she looked for protection and support I think she will be glad of a king and accept Jehovah’s choice; and after all Jehovah’s choice was the best: God did not at all withdraw His choice. He says, “I have set my king upon my holy hill of Zion”. Psalm 2: 6. God has reserved His King: He will not give up: He will wait, however, until Israel returns to good sense, when she will accord the crown to the Lord Jesus. Then you get the wonderful passage, “Go forth, O ye daughters of Zion and behold king Solomon” Song of Songs 3: 11 — not king David, but king Solomon, the Prince of Peace. Behold Him in what way? Crowned at the right hand of God? No. Crowned by the affections of His people. That is a different thought entirely. It is a most wonderful sight to see the Lord Jesus Christ accorded the place of King by the affections of His people! That is what the daughters of Zion are called upon to see. It will be a wonderful moment for Christ, and for Israel, when it takes place. They awake to recognise that there is beauty and glory in the Lord. They no longer say, “When we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him”. Isaiah 53: 2. He is now all to them: He is the One to be crowned by his mother in the day of His espousals.

I have been speaking of what resulted to Israel for her folly in not according the crown to Christ: I want now to say a word as to the consequences of her act of crowning Him. When the Lord Jesus Christ is crowned by His mother He will do all possible for her. There is nothing He will not do for her; nothing that she requires, and I think she will require a great deal. Israel will require to be washed. The Lord will wash her. She will require to be delivered from her enemies. The Lord will deliver her from them. He will do anything for His mother when she crowns Him. His mother will now have ^[p. 25] a friend: the Lord will do anything for the happiness and welfare of Israel. She will be set up in glory. He will find her shelterless and in filth and desolation, and He will take her up and fit her to be His earthly bride: He will clothe her in fine linen, as we learn from Psalm 45: “The king’s daughter is all glorious within; her clothing is of wrought gold. She shall be brought unto the king in raiment of needlework”. Psalm 45: 13,14. She shall be in every way suitable to the King, and He will put a crown upon her, and Jerusalem will be the queen in gold of Ophir. All this will be consequent really upon the Lord being accorded His rightful place by the nation of Israel.

I was speaking about David in obscurity; about his occupation. It was no occupation at all for the anointed of Jehovah, but he kills the giant, and that is his first great public act. You may say that that gave him a place for the moment: it did, but he had many a long year to wait before he got the place again: he did get it however. We are told in the book of Chronicles that after the death of Saul and the death of his son, all Israel (not only Judah, but all Israel) came to Hebron. Why did they come to Hebron? They came to Hebron to put the crown on David. Now I want you to note what followed. He went at once to Jebus, which is Jerusalem, and dislodged the enemies of Israel. What next? He brings the ark to Zion and establishes it there. What then? The house was built by Solomon, his son. All this, and much more, was consequent upon the anointing of David by the twelve tribes of Israel.

The passage in Matthew 21 indicates what the people will do in the future. It is really a picture of what will take place literally in the future by the whole nation of Israel. Here, however, it was only a testimony, ordained on the part of God to be rendered to Christ directly He entered His capital. He is accorded by the multitude the place that God had ^[p. 26] given Him. He is the Son of David: “Hosanna in the highest” Matthew 21:9. That was an appropriate reception for the King. If Israel had accorded it to Him really from their hearts, what would He not have done for them? He would have destroyed the Roman yoke of power and delivered them. He came in testimony to them, but, alas; they neither knew nor valued Him, but there He was, and if it had been possible for them to accord Him the place God had given Him He would have broken the power of Rome and effected their speedy deliverance; but they did not give Him that place.

See what kind of man He was: “meek, and sitting upon an ass, and a colt the foal of an ass”. “Behold thy King cometh unto thee”. Matthew 21: 5. What kind of king? Not like the kings, beloved friends, that we are acquainted with in history, but a meek man: that is the man to whom the crown belongs. The meek “shall inherit the earth”. Matthew 5: 5. The Lord Jesus Christ is the very expression, the embodiment, of meekness and a meek man is the man to rule. I want a meek man to rule me. Thank God, that Man is in the place of rule. You may depend upon it if you have a meek ruler you have a happy time of it! He says, “Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart; and ye shall find rest unto your souls” Matthew 11:29. The Israelites might have taken His yoke upon them. Would it have been a Roman yoke? No, it would have been an easy yoke. “My yoke is easy, and my burden is light”. Matthew 11: 30. He would have placed no heavy burden upon them: His burden is light.

Now I have only a word to add in a practical way, in order that you and I might not be satisfied merely with what God has made the Lord. We must do what God has done if we want to get the benefit of Christ. That is the best way I know of putting it. We must crown Him, and accord to the Lord the ^[p. 27] place that God has accorded Him. As soon as you do it the Lord will do anything for you — anything your soul requires. It is a wonderful sight to see a Christian who in his affections has accorded the Lord the place that God has given Him. You may ask me to explain. Well, as soon as you crown the lord you have no right to direct your own path. The idea of a king in Scripture is that he is absolute. A limited monarchy is not known in Scripture; a constitutional government is foreign to Scripture; republicanism is obnoxious to God. We have to do with it. I am not speaking against the government at all, but the idea of a republic is obnoxious to God. God’s idea is an absolute monarchy, absolute, and nothing else. And it is the best if you have the right man. Put the meek and lowly Man in the place of absolute authority, with all divine power at His disposal, and you will be well off. It is a great thing to know the Man. I can understand how a man is installed in office to rule, but it is a great thing to know your man before you put him there. I see that the glad tidings in the beginning of Acts involved that the One who had been installed on high had been well known down here; a Man who never did anybody any harm, never destroyed life, never took away a man’s goods; a meek Man, who knew how to love and do good. I say it was good tidings that that Man was made both Lord and Christ. I say then, beloved friends, if you have a Man like that in the place of authority it is your wisdom to acknowledge it. And what does it involve? It involves the complete abandonment of your own will: it is lawlessness to choose your own course after acknowledging Christ as Lord: but then it involves absolute good for you, and nothing else. The Lord Jesus Christ is an absolute Monarch, but He is a Man who can do nothing but good, hence as soon as you crown Him you may look for this and nothing else.

^[p. 28] Take Saul of Tarsus: the meek Man was on the throne and He sent him tribulations, and these served to keep the apostle, and help him on the road. That blessed One knew well what would help Paul, and He will do the same for you and me, but, beloved friends, we must crown Him. Saul said, “Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?” Acts 22: 10. He crowned Him at once, and all the way through in the history of Paul you find nothing but good. He says, “The Lord stood with me” 2 Timothy 4: 17.

I am not a bit discouraged by the state of things. That is not saying much; it is not saying anything at all for me, but it is saying something for Christ. Paul said, “The Lord shall deliver me from every evil work”. 2 Timothy 4: 18. Why? He crowned Him, as I said before. The Lord intends that His interests should be ours, and if you give Him His place you may depend there is nothing to fear in this connection The church originally crowned Him: the one hundred and twenty acknowledged the Lord and gave Him His place. See how He took care of the church. Saul of Tarsus was persecuting it, and what did the Lord do with him? He broke him down. Saul was persecuting the church, and the Lord was defending it: He was the great defender of the church. He loved the church, and the church loved Him, and crowned Him, so to speak, and He used all His power for its protection. He did, and He will do it now. What can any power do against the saints? There is nothing to fear. Recognise the Lord, and that means that you disallow yourself. Your will must go, and mine: the Lord must have His way.

I feel that I cannot go much further — the thought is clear and simple. I should like to invite each one, as the daughters of Zion were invited, to behold this sight — Christ crowned by the saints. It is a blessed sight. I should like to go up to heaven and see Him ^[p. 29] there, crowned by the Father, but I should like to see Him crowned by His people down here. There is an absolute monarchy in America actually, in spite of the republicanism that prevails, and you may rely upon it that God will not have anything else. There is very little recognition at all of the Lord Jesus Christ, but God has brought into this country an absolute monarchy, and it is going to stay. Now I am not detracting from the government of this country: I recognise it as here of God, but the Lord Jesus Christ has set up His kingdom here and that involves an absolute monarchy, and absolute good for its subjects. “Confess with thy mouth Jesus as Lord”, Romans 10: 9. You may say, That is to the unbeliever. It is to all who need salvation; and there are very few who do not, so far as I can judge. The fact is we all need it while down here. Confession means that you acknowledge the Lord, and give Him the place that God has given Him. If you do that you shall be saved: you shall have all the power of Christ behind you, and there is nothing to fear. May the Lord help us. He desires a place in the affections of His people down here.

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