THE GREAT KING
THE GREAT KING
Matthew 4:1-25; Matthew 5:33-35; Revelation 5:6-10
I have in mind, dear brethren, to speak a little of the Lord as set forth in Matthew 5, as “the great King.” The Lord says of Jerusalem, that it is “the city of the great King,” and I believe that it will be of value to us to see more clearly the majesty of Christ. The apostle Peter says “we were eye-witnesses of his majesty.” While of course, the privilege of the apostles was peculiar, the Spirit of God would help us in some way on that line, so that we may have an inward consciousness by the Holy Spirit of the majesty of our Lord.
In this democratic day, we have little idea of kingship according to God. The real glory and majesty of a king has largely disappeared from men’s minds, and while we can thank God for a monarchy, we realize how the true glory of the position has largely disappeared: it has become a formal thing shorn of much of its dignity and majesty. Kingship is of God: God Himself is King; as the apostle says “Now unto the King eternal... the only wise God,” 1 Timothy 1: 17, and the prophet Jeremiah speaks of God as “King of eternity,” Jeremiah 10: 10, in contrast to kings of time. God is also spoken of as “King of heaven,” Daniel 4: 37;
heaven being His throne, and earth being His footstool. God has displayed in the Person of Christ in manhood, His own thoughts of kingship, and the Lord Himself is the great King. One desires that what Isaiah speaks of might be true of us, “thine eyes shall see the King in his beauty,” Isaiah 33: 17.
God is working at the present time in view of a coming day, when those that are Christ’s shall be made “unto our God kings and priests, and they shall reign over the earth,” Revelation 5: 10. We are to be made kings, it is a process with us — not so with the blessed Lord, He was born King; every kingly feature was inherent in Him; nothing I need hardly say had to be made for all the features of a king were there. It is only a matter of time and all will be displayed, He will be heralded publicly as King of kings. But with us it is peculiarly the work of Christ to make us kings. The Lord uses His power and wisdom to make us kings. He said to Peter, “Follow me and I will make you fishers of men.” He has power to make His people what He would have them to be. He will make us kings as well as priests, and if we are to be made kings, we must know something of what is true of a king.
I will just refer briefly to Matthew 4, as presenting to us some of the kingly features of Christ. In the temptations we see kingly character in evidence in the Lord Jesus.
In Ecclesiastes we read “Where the word of king is, there is power.” Think of the answer of that word, as the Lord said, “Get thee hence, Satan,” Matthew 4: 10, so that we read, “Then the devil leaveth him.” Who before had ever been equal to that? This is the first feature of the King in Matthew, the Great King — nothing could force the Lord back. We read that the lion is the strongest among beasts, and “turneth not away for any,” Proverbs 30: 30: how this feature was seen in the Lord. He entered upon the path of the will of God, and nothing could ever induce the Lord to turn back. As tempted of the devil what power was shown in our Lord Jesus: we have very little conception of the power of the devil. It says “the devil,” a title which represents him in all his awful character; “the devil” speaks of what is dreadful; but it was in this character that the Lord met him. Although He has to meet such a being He is not diverted. He does not turn back, He is prepared to meet everything in the path.
The next test is hunger. What a power this is! What have men not done because of hunger — what restraints have been broken down — what evil has been perpetrated through hunger. In the book of Proverbs, Agur is recorded to have said, “Give me neither poverty nor riches,” and as to poverty he says “lest I be poor and steal and outrage the name of my God,” Proverbs 30: 9. It breaks down restraint — moral restraint. It says of the Lord here, that “He was afterward an hungered.” But that did not divert Him from God. Even after forty days it did not divert the Lord from the pathway of subjection to God.
Then the devil says “Cast thyself down,” — behind the temptation was the thought of publicity, to let it be seen that He was specially cared for by God. Publicity has marvellous power. We have only to look into our own hearts to see that. How much man will do for a little publicity — a little recognition — it is a marvellous power. Let us look into our own heart and see how the flesh loves it. How often has it turned a Christian aside, diverting him from the path of God’s will. But nothing turned the Lord aside from the path; “the Lion of the tribe of Judah” never turned back! The devil showed the Lord all the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them, seeking to use this as a means of diverting him, saying, “If thou wilt worship me, all shall be thine.” Look over the history of the last few years and see how many the world has diverted. How many have sacrificed righteousness, have sacrificed the path of the will of God for a little glory here: they have not been kingly and have been turned aside. Not so the Lord, nothing can or will deflect Him from the will of God — He is indeed a King. As being in the consciousness of His majesty, we would be strengthened in our souls, so that come what may, be it hunger, publicity, the glory of this world, the devil himself, we shall not turn back, but will be qualified for our place as kings, with Him, who is King of kings.
It says that the Lord went down to Capernaum, and there we have another feature of majesty, there we see other expressions of the glory of the great King. It says “the people that sat in darkness, saw a great light,” a remark suggesting the shining of the sun. The sun is one of the greatest figures of majesty and rule. If you want an idea of majesty, get up early and see the sun rise — that is majesty in so far as it may be seen in the creation. How it brings in order and rule, and warmth and life and blessing — that is truly kingly. And there is no limit to the power of the sun — the sun has an absolute monarchy.
So the Lord went down to Capernaum, and there He shone so that the people who sat in darkness saw a great light. God made all the lights; the greater light to rule the day, the lesser light to rule the night; He made the stars also. Jesus went to Capernaum and shone. He brought to the hearts of men the light of heaven, the control and influence of heaven; He brought it right down into the darkness. It tells us in Matthew 17, that “his face did shine as the sun,” — His blessed face radiated the light of heaven there on the holy mount. How our hearts warm under the influence of Christ, as we come under heavenly influence as He is near.
You say, How did He shine? John says that the “life was the light of men,” John 1: 4. Many of us think words are the light, but the scripture says, the life was the light of men. It is not what we may say, not in speaking, but what we are in life that is the testimony. I sometimes wonder what some of us understand by “the testimony.” Testimony is expressed in the life of the Lord’s people. As we are formed by the light, it becomes life in us, and in the power of what is living, we are able to shine, so that in measure with us — the life is the light. The psalmist could say, “My heart is inditing a good matter: I speak of the things which I have made touching the King.” All around was moral darkness, but in Jesus here “the life was the light of men.” “The people that sat in darkness saw a great light,” the kingly majesty of Christ shone out in Capernaum. It is said in Proverbs 20, “A king that sitteth in the throne of judgment, scattereth away all evil with his eyes.” How true characteristically this was of Christ!
Following this, the Lord meets Peter and Andrew. They were fishing, and He says, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men. And they straightway left their nets and followed him.” Think of it for a moment! Two men fishing, and the Lord says, “Follow me” — and they left everything. It means that the King has spoken. It says, “Where the word of a king is, there is power,” Ecclesiastes 8: 4. They followed the Lord because of the commanding power of His word; when He speaks there is authority. We read that “He taught them as one having authority.” Then He meets James and John and says to them, Follow me — “He called them, and they immediately left the ship and their father, and followed him.” What power must have resided in these words of Christ, to make these four men leave their occupations, and two of them to leave their father as well, and follow the Lord.
I wonder whether we have all heard the same powerful voice calling us to follow the Lord, to leave our occupations, I do not mean literally in this day, for other scriptures make it perfectly clear that we are to work with our hands — but the Lord would so speak to our hearts, that we should no longer be controlled by our occupations. Perhaps we give the fragments of our lives to the Lord, things that would answer to the sacrifices in Malachi, the broken and maimed, but the Lord would so speak to us that He would govern us, and as a result, our occupations would no longer control us, but all would be under the control of the King. Natural relationship is the thing which holds many of God’s people — they are under the domination of the natural. The Lord called James and John to leave their father as well as their nets, to come out from under the domination of their occupation and relationships, and come under the control of Himself as King. It is a feature of kingly power that when the Lord speaks, His word has authority.
Then you come to the fifth chapter: “And when he was set his disciples came unto him.” In this chapter the Lord is virtually sitting upon the throne, and He proceeds to legislate. It is God’s idea of a king, that he should legislate, not that the people should do so. God’s King legislates; He makes the laws of the kingdom, and it is legislation which will abide; which provides, not for mere legal obedience, but obedience from the heart. He looks into the hearts — into the spring of what is done; we have a King who can do that! When the Lord legislates He takes account of the springs within. No mere man ever legislated like that.
In referring to these thoughts as seen in Christ, I want to point out, dear brethren, that these are the features the Lord would form in us, so that we might be qualified to take up kingly rule. The elders in Revelation 4 and 5, have thrones, they have crowns, all speaking of kingly character. In Revelation 19, we read that the Lord has “A name written, King of kings, and Lord of lords.” The Lord Jesus is the King of kings. How readily would the twenty-four elders in Revelation yield that title to the Lord Jesus! If they are raised to a kingly position and glory, sitting upon thrones and crowned, they delight to ascribe all praise to Him who sits upon the throne, saying, “Thou art worthy... and hast made them unto our God kings and priests, and they shall reign over the earth,” Revelation 5: 9, 10. When the elders in Revelation see the “great King” they fall down before Him who sits upon the throne, and cast their crowns before the throne and acknowledge the supremacy of Christ. They have been made kings — they have had the Lord Jesus before their hearts, they have understood His kingly features, and now having been formed after Him, they are made kings, able to sit upon thrones, round about His throne.
Stephen was a king: as we see him go out by way of death, we see a man in kingly character — one who will come out in the coming day as a king. We see him in the character of a lion, nothing will turn him back. His murderers gnashed upon him with their teeth, they rushed upon him and stoned him, but Stephen did not turn back. The Lord would have us to set forth kingly features such as were seen in Himself. Though Stephen might die, he went on to the end. They saw his face; it was something like the face of Jesus, radiating the very light of heaven — “like the face of an angel.” He was radiant in life with the very light of heaven. People saw it expressed, not in words only, but in the very life and being of Stephen; there was the light of God shining in the darkness, and they could not resist the wisdom and power with which he spoke. He spoke like a king, which indeed he was morally.
Paul was another king; he says to the Corinthians, “I would to God ye did reign that we also might reign with you,” 1 Corinthians 4: 8. The apostle recognised that kingly dignity belonged to the saints of God although the time for reigning had not yet come. He looked forward to the reigning time, that he, and all the saints might reign together. Read the second epistle to the Corinthians and see what he had to meet! See what power he had! He could say to Timothy at the end, “I have finished my course, I have kept the faith.” Whatever came out against him he never turned back. He was like a king and like a lion; and, dear brethren, he was an illuminator — think how he shone, “holding forth the word of life.” He expressed in his life the light of heaven, and his word was with power. He said to Timothy, “Thou hast fully known my... manner of life.” How brightly he shone, for instance, in the prison of Philippi.
These are kingly features which the Lord would develop in us by the Spirit. The elders represent this great thought secured in the saints, and one would desire for all, that we should make room for this great work of God, in forming us in view of our place of dignity and rule, as made “to our God kings and priests.” If we keep our eye upon the King, it will deliver us from the lawlessness of the day in which we are. The One we have as King is supreme. “To us there is one Lord,” and may He grant that we may in some spiritual sense, be eye-witnesses of His majesty.