Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit · Sermon No. 752
Delivered on Lord’s-day Morning, MAY 26, 1867, by, the Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington.
“Your eyes shall see the King in His beauty: they shall behold the land that is very far off.”- Isaiah 33:17.
WHEN the Assyrians had invaded Judea with an immense army and were about to attack Jerusalem, Rabshakeh was sent with a railing message to the king and his people. When Hezekiah heard of the blasphemies of the proud Assyrian, he tore his clothes, put on sackcloth and went into the house of the Lord and sent the elders of the priests, covered with sackcloth, to consult with Isaiah the Prophet. The people of Jerusalem, therefore, had seen their king in most mournful array, wearing the garments of sorrow and the weeds of mourning. They were, however, cheered by the promise that there should be so complete a defeat of Sennacherib that the king should again adorn himself with the robes of state and appear with a smiling countenance in all the beauty ofjoy.
Moreover, through the invasion of Sennacherib, the people had not been able to travel. They had been cooped up within the walls of Jerusalem like prisoners. No journeys had been made, either in the direction of Dan or Beersheba. Even the nearest villages could not be reached—but the promise is given that so completely should the country be rid of the enemy that wayfarers should be able to see the whole of their territory—even that part of the land which was very far off. It would be safe for them to make long voyages—they would no longer be afraid of the oppressor, but should find the highways, which once lay waste, to be again open and safe for traffic.
In these days of Gospel Truth, dear Friends, we see in this text a meaning far surpassing that which gladdened the citizens of Zion. We have a nobler King than Hezekiah! He is the King of kings and Lord of lords! We have seen our well-beloved Monarch, in the days of His flesh, humiliated and sorely vexed, for He was “despised and rejected of men, a Man of Sorrows, and acquainted with grief.” He whose brightness is as the morning wore the sackcloth of sorrow as His daily dress. Shame was His mantle, and reproach was His vesture. None was more afflicted and sorrowful than He. Yet now, inasmuch as He has triumphed over all the powers of darkness upon the bloody tree, our faith beholds our King in His beauty, returning with dyed garments from Edom, robed in the splendor of victory!
No longer does He wear the purple robe of mockery, but He is clothed with a garment down to the feet, and gird about the paps with a golden girdle. We, also, His joyful subjects who were once shut up and could not come forth, are now possessed of boundless Gospel liberty. Now that we see Jesus crowned with glory and honor, we freely possess to its utmost bounds the Covenant blessings which He has given to us. We rejoice that if the land of happiness should sometimes seem very far off, it is nevertheless our own and we shall stand in our lot in the end of the days. The Savior highly exalted—and ourselves at a happy liberty—these are two rich themes for thought! May God the Holy Spirit grant that we may find wines on the lees well refined stored in the text.
I. Proceeding, without further preface, to the text itself, we remark that WE HAIL THE LORD JESUS CHRIST AS OUR KING. We—I must not speak for you all—I wish I could, but there are some here, at any rate, who have bowed the knee to that great Son of David who is the Son of God. There are some here who delight to feel that Jesus is their heart’s Lord, the unrivalled Master of their affections. I speak of such—we hail Immanuel as King!
His right to royalty lies first in His exalted Nature as the Son of God. Who should be king but Jehovah? And, inasmuch as Jesus Christ is very God of very God, let Him reign! Let His kingdom come! Let Him in all things have the preeminence. Bow down, you creatures of His hand, and do Him homage for the Lord is King forever and ever! Hallelujah! Let His opposers tremble at the unchangeable decree, for the Son of God must reign till He has put all enemies under His feet! It is not to be endured that God should not be King in His own world! Neither will it forever be allowed that God, in the earth which He has fashioned, should be forgotten or blasphemed.
He who is God over all, blessed forever, shall yet be worshipped by every knee, and every tongue shall confess that He is Lord! Jesus has a right to reign because He is the Creator. “Without Him was not anything made that was made.” Shall not the Potter exercise lordship over His own clay? If the Son of God has made and formed us, shall He not command us? Who are the potsherds that shall set themselves in array against Him? Surely He shall break them as with a rod of iron and dash them into shivers!
Besides this, the Lord Jesus is the Preserver of all men, for by Him all things consist. It is by virtue of His intercession that the barren trees are not cut down. By the force of His tender love sinners are spared upon the earth. Should He not reign? If the breath of our nostrils is in His keeping and we are, ourselves, the sheep of His pasture, should we not cheerfully yield to His generous rule? Besides this, and over and above the natural rights of Christ to reign, He governs by virtue of His Headship of the mediatorial kingdom. He is not merely King because He is God, but He is King in His complex Nature as God and Man.