September 9

Behold, a king shall reign in righteousness. - Isaiah 32:1.

THE Saviour is revealed in the Scriptures under various characters, and as sustaining various offices and relations. He is revealed under the character of a Shepherd; and happy is the man who can say, “The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want.” He is revealed as a Prophet, who leads us into all truth. He is revealed as a High-Priest, who puts away sin by the sacrifice of himself, and ever lives to make intercession for us. He is revealed as the King of Zion, who makes his people willing in the day of his power; he did not refuse the title of king even when Pilate pressed him, and said, “Art thou a king, then?” He said, “Thou sayest that I am a king: for this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth.”

This regal view of the Saviour is the least agreeable to many. Some will talk of him as the Prophet of his people, and as their High-Priest; but, while professing to glory in his cross, they dislike his sceptre; and all unrenewed men upon earth unite to say, if not with their lips, yet with their lives, “We will not have this man to reign over us.” Yet, as a king, he derives a glory from every other character, and he gives a glory to every other character as a king. And the Scriptures, in prospect of his reign, calls upon the universe to exult in it. “The Lord reigneth; let the earth rejoice, let the multitudes of isles be glad.” Let us glance at four things with regard to his regal character.

The first regards his personal attractions. “He is fairer than the children of men; grace is poured into his lips.” Oh, how great is his beauty! Every image must be fetched from the lovely creation of God to do him some justice. Oh to see “the king in his beauty,” as Isaiah says. Those who have had one spiritual glimpse of him would forsake the whole world to gaze upon him, and have said, “Whom have I in heaven but thee? and there is none upon earth I desires beside thee.”

He is “higher than the kings of the earth;” he is “King of kings, and Lord of lords;” “Of him the whole family in heaven and earth is named.” He is the Lord both of the dead and of the living. “On his head,” said John, “were many crowns.” Yes, “principalities and powers are made subject unto him, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but in that which is to come.”

The third regards the blessedness of his subjects, all of whom may exclaim, “The lines have fallen unto us in pleasant places; yea, we have a goodly heritage.” “Let the children of Zion be joyful in their King.” Who are safe compared with those “who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation”? Who are free like those who are brought into the “glorious liberty of the sons of God”? Who are rich like those who “possess all things and can boast of the unsearchable riches of Christ”? Blessed are such a people; yea, blessed are the people whose God is the Lord.

The fourth regards his duration. However loved or necessary any other king may be, he is mortal. But “He lives, and blessed be our Rook, and let the God of our salvation be exalted;” he “lives forever and ever, amen; and hath the keys of hell and death.” And the life of this King is the life of every one of his subjects too. “Because I live, ye shall live also.” Therefore Job, though he had been so stricken, and though he was such a sufferer, though he felt that the grave was ready for him, said, “I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth; and though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God, whom I shall see for myself, and not another.” He lives,-yes, he lives to preserve his people, to provide for them, to guide them, to make them more than conquerors over all their enemies.

It was said to Darius by the courtiers who were round his throne, “O king, live forever!” We see. this among the Easterns in their adulation; when they address a man whose term of life is not more than threescore and ten years, and who may not live only half his days, we often find them crying out, “May the king live millions of years!” But here Christians may indulge the wish and be assured of the accomplishment; here every Christian may look at this King, and say,-

“Millions of years my wandering eyes

Shall o’er thy beauties rove;

And endless ages I’ll adore

The wonders of thy love.”

“For he shall live, his name shall endure forever; his name shall be continued as long as the sun, and men shall be blessed in him; all nations shall call him blessed, and blessed be his glorious name forever and ever; and let the whole earth be filled with his glory! Amen, and Amen.”