THE KING
[p. 23] THE KING
I have been seeking to show on a previous occasion how all the forces of evil were banded together against God when He intervened on earth in the Person of Christ; how all the forces of evil were banded against God and against Christ, and how God answered that by setting His King upon His holy hill of Zion. That was God’s answer to man’s hostility. And then I tried to show that what follows upon this is the preaching, that the Preacher is King, that it is necessary to have one supreme power in order that the preaching should become universal. So Solomon, who is the typical preacher of the Old Testament, says of himself that he “was king ... in Jerusalem”. In spite of all the antagonism of the world, God has set His King upon His holy hill of Zion; and instead of meting out judgment to His enemies He preaches to them. The King, instead of executing wrath, becomes a Preacher. God has made this same Jesus, whom the world cast out and crucified, both Lord and Christ, having all power in heaven and on earth; and instead of wielding that power against His enemies He preaches to them. When the apostles were sent out they were enjoined to preach the gospel to all people, beginning at Jerusalem with His own enemies. Solomon tells us that “I, the Preacher, was king ... in Jerusalem”; it is not that the king was preacher but that the preacher was king. I want to emphasise that, that the Lord Jesus Christ, instead of wielding the sword of authority for the execution of wrath, became a preacher instead, and He is preaching to you tonight. By His kingly power He holds in check the forces of evil in order that He might have an opportunity to speak to men. Now that is the present dispensation,
[p. 24] that is the gospel day. The Preacher is King, and hence He has universal right to speak to men.
I wish to proceed a little further on that line to show you something of what is involved in the preaching. I shall perhaps be a little detailed in what I say, but I want to convey to you if I can what obtains in heaven. It is really what is announced in the glad tidings. If I could convey to you the wonderful place that man has in heaven in the Person of Christ, you would understand the gospel. This is what I had before me in the passages I have read. You will remember the heavenly multitude were praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good pleasure in men”. That is, they were engaged with Man upon earth. The wonderful thing to be announced was that God had come into manhood in the Person of the Son. The incarnation did not take place in heaven but on earth. That glorious Person had passed through myriads of angels. He descended to Bethlehem and He became Man there, identifying Himself with perhaps one of the poorest and most despised families in Israel; and He was laid in a manger-there was no room for Him in the inn. Such was the reception accorded this heavenly Visitor by humanity. There was no room for Him in the inn. It mattered little to the angelic host whether He was born in a mansion, a castle, or a manger; the fact that they were engaged with was this, that there was “good pleasure in men”. Hence their delight. They saw in that Babe the guarantee for a race of men on earth that should be to God’s good pleasure. That was the situation in the second chapter of Luke.
In chapter 19 we have another company celebrating the praises of Christ. A great deal had intervened since chapter 2. He was no longer a Babe, He had grown into Manhood, doing good, anointed by the Spirit. If there was one thing that marked the Lord,
[p. 25] it was activity; He went about doing good. I cannot begin to dwell in detail on the activities of the Lord Jesus; the apostle Peter puts it in small compass when he tells us that He “went through all quarters doing good, ... because God was with him”. So in chapter 19 there was this company at mount Olivet, and we are told that “all the multitude of the disciples began, rejoicing, to praise God with a loud voice for all the works of power which they had seen”. The angels did not celebrate any great works; they perceived in that Babe a guarantee for the maintenance of the divine glory. “Glory to God in the highest”. The angels saw all that in the Babe. The multitude of the disciples in chapter 19 were engaged with His mighty works. It seems to me as if God had arranged this testimony divinely; it seems as if this multitude of disciples were constrained to praise. It does not at all appear that it was pre-arranged by them. On the surface it is clear that it was God that brought it to pass as a testimony to the mighty works of Christ; but these works were rejected, the mighty Worker Himself was rejected-indeed men attributed the works of the Lord Jesus to Beelzebub, a terrible testimony to the state of man upon earth.
The multitude of the disciples, whether intelligently or otherwise, cried with a loud voice, “Blessed the King that comes in the name of the Lord: peace in heaven”. The effort at the present time is to bring peace on earth, and I need not tell you that I am not in that. The great ones of the earth are in it, those who possess means are in it, there is a drawing together of the governments of the world to bring to pass universal peace. A grand project that, but it is not God’s project; it is God’s project to begin from the top. The Lord came into the world, “the Prince of Peace”, and He preached peace, but they rejected Him; and now He has gone to heaven and the earth is left in a state of turmoil, in a state of moral chaos,
[p. 26] and yet men today are aiming at universal peace. It is a supreme delusion. Peace has to come from heaven now; the opportunity for peace on earth has passed; it can never originate on earth since the Prince of Peace has been rejected. I want to explain that if I can, but first of all I want to make it clear that since His mighty works have been refused, peace as having its origin on earth is an impossibility. The Prince of Peace is gone up to heaven. Luke shows us in chapter 2 that the mind of God was peace on earth and he shows us in chapter 19 that it has been abandoned and substituted by peace in heaven; and then he shows us at the end that the Lord Jesus is carried up into heaven. He is carried up. If you are going to visit a person, you take a train to his town and a carriage to his house-you are doing all that. No doubt he will receive you kindly, but if he has a great interest in you he will send a carriage for you. That testifies to you that the person wishes to have you visit him, and that he is anxious to make you welcome. That is Luke’s side of the gospel. In John we are told that he “ascended” up into heaven, and in Mark that he “was taken up”; but in Luke he is “carried up”, as much as to say that when earth refused Him heaven delighted in Him.
I want to go through the cloud, as it were, to show you what went on up there. We are entitled to look through the cloud. You remember in the first chapter of the Acts we are told that a cloud received Him. There were souls that were gazing after Him into heaven; they appreciated Christ, and Luke tells us that they were gazing up after Christ into heaven. A cloud is a symbol of distance, for it was that which overshadowed the tabernacle of old. We are told that “a cloud received him out of their sight”, but I want to show you that you can look through the cloud. “We see not yet all things subjected to him, but we see Jesus”, Hebrews 2: 8, g. Stephen says, “I behold [p. 27] the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing at the right hand of God”. When the Lord entered, heaven was in a receptive mood, there never had been such a day in heaven as that day! Paul says that He ascended far above all heavens, that He might fill all things. What I want to convey is that having passed through a cloud He receives gifts. You may say, That One who received the gifts was God! But what the Spirit says was that He received the gifts as Man; that it was not simply as a divine Person, but He received the gifts as Man. The Man is in heaven, and He has received gifts for men. In Psalm 8 it says, “What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him?”. The Lord has a wonderful place as Man in heaven, all the gifts of heaven are given to that Man and He receives them as Man for man. Now that is what I understand by the gift of the Spirit. The Lord received it as Man and because He was Man; it is as if no other order of being should receive it, and He received it, not for angels but for man. What I want to ask at this point is, Are you interested in this? He has received wonderful things in heaven and He has the gifts for man. The Lord, in spite of your rebellion, has a gift for you. He has received gifts for the rebellious also, that the Lord God might dwell among them. Would you not like to be a dwelling place for the Lord God, that He might dwell there?
Now peace has been established in heaven, and He receives gifts from God there and He distributes them on earth so that there might be a dwelling place on earth for God. God will never dwell except in a desired abode. He speaks of Himself as having a desire. What would God desire? Certainly God would not dwell in one in rebellion; it is impossible that God should dwell in us whilst we are in rebellion. It is evident that our wills have to be broken, and hence Christ is announced as Lord so that there might [p. 28] be submission to Christ. Is there? I believe that the most difficult thing for a soul is to submit. Even after the light of God has dawned upon us, the will is the last thing to surrender. Directly the light came into the soul of Saul of Tarsus the Lord spoke to him and said, “Saul, Saul”: and what did Saul say? “Lord”. His will was broken. That man was brought low; he says, “What shall I do, Lord?”. The Lord had received a gift for Saul, He had received the gift of the Spirit; He intended that in Saul there should be a dwelling place for God and hence Saul is broken down.
Is there one here tonight who has not submitted to Christ? Remember, it is not bowing your head, that is not the kind of submission. He looks for submission in your heart and soul, bowing to the Lord from the heart. When one is broken down and submits to Christ, God delights in that man. He desires to have you now. He says, “Here will I dwell, for I have desired it”. He has a gift for you. The question is, Will you have what Christ has to offer? He has received gifts for the rebellious. It is evident that God will not dwell with you unless He has pleasure in you; He must delight in you before He will enter in to dwell with you, and is it not wonderful that God should have delight in such as we? How is it possible? It is through the death of Christ that He delights in us, and the next thing is that He says, “Here will I dwell, for I have desired it”. Now are you content without God dwelling in you? It is one thing to have your sins forgiven, and to have hope of heaven, but it is a wonderful thing that God delights in us and still more wonderful that He dwells there.