Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit · Sermon No. 717
Delivered on Sunday Morning, October 21, 1866
“Prayer also shall be made for Him continually.” Psalm 72:15.
HAVING on one or two occasions made use of the phrase, “praying for King Jesus,” I have been somewhat surprised to find that it was not understood, and I have been rather astonished at receiving several notes asking for an explanation of what I supposed to be a matter of common knowledge. It seemed to hearers and readers of my sermons as if the phrase must be a mistake, as if it could not really be a correct thing to do—to pray for the Lord Jesus Christ. And yet one moment’s reflection would have shown them that the expression is Scriptural, that you have it here if you have it nowhere else, “prayer also shall be made for Him continually.”
Our Lord is undoubtedly intended, in this passage, for He it is in whom all nations of the earth shall be blessed, and whose name shall continue as long as the sun. It is quite easy to see how we could pray for Christ if He were still on the earth. I suppose that when He was a Child His parents prayed for Him. They needed not to pray some of the prayers which we offer for our offspring, for He was sinless, but I can scarcely imagine that a mother’s love could have been restrained from seeking the richest blessings for her heavenly Child. And when He grew up, and came among men, and His lovely Character began to be known, how could His disciples do otherwise than pray that He might be speeded in His good work?
Can we suppose them to have been loyal to the Master if they did not often join their prayer with His that His kingdom might come? Indeed, what is the prayer which He has taught us, “Our Father which are in Heaven,” but in a certain sense, prayer for Jesus? “Your kingdom come, Your will be done on earth, even as it is in Heaven”—it is Christ’s kingdom, and Christ’s will, as well as the will of the Father, and the kingdom of the Father. That great cry which went up in the streets of Jerusalem when Jesus, in the days of His flesh, rode through them in state was a prayer—“Blessed is He that comes in the name of the Lord.” Did not the multitude thus implore blessing upon the head of Him who came in Jehovah’s name?
His disciples might have done well if they had prayed for Him and with Him in Gethsemane, and it was a part of His griefs to find that they could not watch with Him one hour. It was ordained that He should tread the winepress alone. I think we shall all see that the same spirit which made holy women minister to Him of their substance—which made the daughters of Salem weep for Him as He was led to His Crucifixion—must have prompted all His sincere followers to say Amen to this prayer, “Father, glorify Your Son”—and what was this but praying for Him?
But it will be said, “None of these things apply to Him now.” My Brothers and Sisters, think a little, and you will see that we can still pray for Jesus, and you will remember that in our hymns we often do so! As, for instance, when we sing—
“Let all that dwell above the sky, And air, and earth, and seas, Conspire to lift Your glories high, And speak Your endless praise.”
For albeit that He is, in one sense, exalted to the utmost height of glory and reigns victorious over His enemies, yet, in another sense He is here in the midst of His chosen host striving with principalities and powers. “Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the world,” is the blessed assurance that Jesus is our Captain in the great fight of faith, and is still present in the battlefield.
His great cause is here! His enterprise and business are here below! The work which He undertook to accomplish is not yet accomplished in the person of every one of His elect. His blood has been fully shed and His Atonement has been perfected, but those for whom the Atonement was made are not yet all gathered in. Many sheep He has which are not yet of His fold. We are therefore to pray for Him, that the good work which He has undertaken may be prospered, and that one by one those whom His Father gave Him may be brought to reconciliation and to eternal life.
Brethren, the Lord Jesus Christ describes Himself as being still persecuted and still suffering. He said to Saul, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute Me?” He calls His people Himself! They are His mystical body, and in praying for the Church we pray for Christ! He is the Head of the body, and you cannot pray for the body except you pray for the Head! We must put them all into one prayer. He is still struggling with the hosts of darkness in His Church. He is still striving for the victory over sin in His people, and His people are waiting and longing for His second advent which shall fulfill their brightest hopes.
We must still pray for Him, not personally, but relatively—for His cause, for His kingdom, for His Gospel, for His people, for His blood-bought ones who as yet are in the ruins of the Fall—for His second coming, and glorious reign. In this sense, I take it, the text is meant that “prayer also shall be made for Him continually.” And now, Brothers and Sisters, I want, keeping to the one thought of the text, to show the light which gleams from it.