A Vision of the King.
Project Gutenberg EPUB edition
Gaebelein, Arno Clemens
And in the Twenty-fourth Psalm we have prophetically that triumphant shout, which will be heard when the King comes back to enter His City, Jerusalem, again.
“Lift up your heads, ye gates
And be ye lifted up, ye everlasting doors;
And the King of Glory shall come in.
Who is this King of Glory?
Jehovah strong and mighty,
Jehovah mighty in battle.”
The Forty-fifth Psalm is a song of the Beloved, touching the King. He is described as coming in His Majesty and Splendor, how He deals with His enemies and that He will be surrounded by His own redeemed ones.
The Glory and dominion of His Kingdom He will receive is described in the Seventy-second Psalm. “He shall have dominion from sea to sea, and from the river unto the ends of the earth.” And other Psalms enlarge upon these glorious visions, which will all be true when the King comes. Then Jerusalem will be a praise in the earth. “Also I will make Him, my Firstborn, higher than the kings of the earth” (Ps. lxxxix:27).
And how rich are the prophets in telling us of the Glory of the King and the glories of His kingdom. “Behold a King shall rule in righteousness, and princes shall rule in judgment” (Isaiah xxxii:1). “Thine eyes shall see the King in His beauty; they shall behold the land that is afar off” (Isaiah xxxiii:17). “A King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth” (Jerem. xxiii:5). “And there was given Him dominion and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations and languages, should serve Him; His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and His Kingdom, that which shall not be destroyed” (Dan. vii:14). “The King of Israel, the Lord, is in the midst of thee (the earthly Jerusalem); thou shalt not see evil any more” (Zeph. iii:15). “And the Lord shall be King over all the earth” (Zech. xiv:6).
These and many, many more utterances of God’s blessed prophets give us a vision of the King, of the Glory of Him, who was crowned with a crown of thorns, the thorns of man’s curse, and over whose cross it was written, “Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.”
And the New Testament fully brings out the same Glory of Him as King. He is “King of Peace” (Heb. vii:2); “King of saints” (Rev. xv:3); “The Lord of lords and King of kings” (Rev. xvii:14).
At last the unfulfilled message of Gabriel will be gloriously fulfilled. “The Lord God shall give unto Him the Throne of His father David; and He shall reign over the house of Jacob forever; and of His kingdom there shall be no end” (Luke i:32).
But nowhere is He called “King of the church,” nor are we authorized as believers to address Him “Our King.” He will be King, but then He will not be our King, but we shall be Kings with Him. He is not King of the church, but the Head of the Body, the church; Head and Body together, Christ and His church, will rule and reign over the earth. Glory to His Name! In loving tenderness He looks upon us, who possess His life, He is not ashamed to call us “brethren,” for He is Man, the second Man, and He beholds in us those, who will ere long share His Kingly Glory, His Kingly rule.
Oh, Beloved readers! does it not warm our hearts! Does it not make us feel like falling down on our faces and confess to Him our indifference and our nothingness, and humble ourselves in the dust. How little, oh how little we enter into all this. The Lord help us to have through His Word and in the power of His Spirit a greater vision of the King and our blessed, eternal lot with Him.
They crown Him King on high;
Shall we not crown Him here,
The blessed Christ of Calvary,
To ransomed sinners dear?
They worship Him above,
Shall we not worship too,
The Son of God, the Lord of love,
To whom all praise is due?
Up there they see His Face,
The Lamb who once was slain,
And in a new song praise His Grace;
Shall we not join the strain?
Yonder His servants still
Serve as their Lord commands;
Oh may we also do His will
With loving hearts and hands.—M. F.