Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit · Sermon No. 3555
“He was girded about the chest with a golden band.” Revelation 1:13
[The original title of this sermon was WITH GOLDEN GIRDLE GIRT.]
BE assured, my Brothers and Sisters, the more real Jesus Christ is to us, the more power there will be in our religion. Those men whose religion lies in believing certain doctrines and contending for certain modes of expression, may be strong enough in bigotry, but they often fail entirely in developing the spirit of true Christianity. There may be minds so constituted that they can live under the power of an idea and they might possibly be able to die for it. But these, I think, must be comparatively few. To draw out enthusiasm among men, there must generally be a man as leader and commander in whom the people can implicitly trust, to whom they will voluntarily tender obedience. Individual men have worked wonders. The thoughts which they incarnated may have been, in themselves, strong, yet their strength was never so forcible as when the men who represented those thoughts were present to give them currency. Then the blood of the many was stirred and every man’s heart beat high. The presence of Oliver Cromwell in a regiment was equal to any ten thousand men. He had only to appear and all his soldiers felt so sure of victory, they would dash upon the cavaliers as some mighty tornado, driving them like chaff before the wind! The presence of Napoleon at any moment in a battle was almost always sufficient to turn the scale. Let but “the little corporal” appear and wave his sword, and men seemed to lose all sense of their own personal danger and rushed into the very mouth of death to gain the victory! In those old days of the Huguenots when they were warring for their liberties, what shouts there were, what beating of hearts, what a glamour of trumpets, what exultation, when Henry of Navarre came riding down the ranks! Then each man felt he had a giant’s arm and, as he rode to battle, struck home for God and for the truth as he gave out his watchword, “Remember St. Bartholomew!”
Now the force of the religion of Jesus, under God the Holy Spirit, it seems to me, is never fully brought out except when our faith greets the Lord Jesus Christ as a Person and holds to Him as a personal Leader and Commander, loving Him and devoting ourselves to Him as an ever-living, ever-gracious Friend. It is not by believing a set of ideas and trying to be enthusiastic over them, that our courage rises or our prowess succeeds. Rather let us feel His Presence, though we cannot see His face, and remembering that there is such an One as Jesus of Nazareth, who became a Baby in Bethlehem for us—who lived, and toiled, and suffered for us—then laid bare His chest to the spear and gave up His life for us. We grow strong when we thus think of Him as our Savior, when His thorn-crowned head rises before our mind’s eye, when we look into that face so marred with shame, and pain, and cruelty, till we are compelled to cry out, “Oh, my Savior, I love You, and for the love I bear Your name would gladly learn what I can do to honor You, and I will do it! Point out to me how much of my substance I should place upon Your altar, and I will be glad to place it there! Put me into the place of suffering, if necessary, and I will account it a place of honor, for if You are there, I can look into Your dear face and think that I am suffering for You—fire shall be then like a bed of roses to me—and death, itself, seem far sweeter than life!”
We need to have more open testimony concerning the Person of our Lord Jesus Christ! I am persuaded of that and we have need, private Christians, to live more in fellowship with Him, the Son of God, the Man, Christ Jesus, who has redeemed us from wrath, and through whose life we live! To Him now—to Him exclusively let all your thoughts be turned. Oh, that you may discern the Image which stood on that Lord’s Day clearly before the view of John, the eyes of your understanding being opened, and your whole soul being attentive to the Revelation! It is but one part of John’s description of our Lord Jesus Christ in Heaven to which I propose to direct your attention. “He was girded about the chest with a golden band.” What did this golden band signify? And what are the golden lessons to be gathered from it? I. THE GOLDEN BAND.
What did it mean? It was designed, first, to set forth our Lord’s exceelence in all His offices. He is a Prophet. The Prophets of old were often girded about with leather bands, but our Savior wears a golden band, for He, above all other Prophets, is vested with authority! What He declares and testifies is true. Yes, it is the pure Truth of God, unalloyed with tradition or superstition. He makes no mistakes. There is no treachery to taint His teaching. Sitting at His feet, you may accept every word He utters as Infallible. You need not raise a question about it. The band of golden truth is round about Him. He is also a Priest. The high priest of old wore a band of many colors for glory and for beauty. Our Lord Jesus Christ wears a band superior to this. It is of the pure gold, for among the priests He has no peer. Of all the sons of Aaron, none could vie with Him. They must first offer a sacrifice for their own sins. They needed to wash their feet in the laver, and to be touched with the cleansing blood. But Jesus Christ is without spot, or blemish, or any such thing—