Christ The Future World King, continued

Here, then, we learn that the city of Jerusalem has an important place in the purpose of God. It is destined to be the seat of that divine government which is to bless the world in the future age. It will, in fact, be the capital of the coming universal kingdom, constituting the centre of power, of law, of enlightenment, for the gladsome nations who will repair thither for instruction in that glorious age; for it is written:

"And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob, and He will teach us of His ways, and we will walk in His paths, for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem" (Isa. 2v 3).

This goingup of nations will be periodical, as we learn from Zech. 14v 16:

"And it shall come to pass that every one that is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall even go up from year to year to worship the King, the Lord of Hosts, and to keep the feast of tabernacles."

If any nation become refractory, and refuse to pay this annual homage to the king of all the earth, they will be summarily dealt with. No need for armies and lazy process of military subjugation; a word from the King will stay the supplies of heaven, and compel submission. It is written:

"And it shall be that whoso shall not come up of all the families of the earth unto Jerusalem, to worship the King, the Lord of Hosts, even upon them shall be no rain" (verse 17).

Now the Lord Jesus was aware of this glorious destiny in store for the city of Jerusalem, and well knew the intimate relationship he should sustain to it when the time should come when his countrymen would say to him, "Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord;" and, with this in his mind, he could say with an appropriateness which can only be appreciated by those who understand the purposes of God "Swear not by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the Great King." She is the city of the Great King, though now but a despised ruin; and those who laugh at the promises of her future glory, are guilty of a heinous crime against God, for which they may be called upon to answer. The Great King would not allow His friends to swear by her name; much less will he forbear the jibe of the scornful. He cometh to His city anon to rule the world in righteousness, and woe to the despiser; but blessed are all they who are looking for redemption in Jerusalem (Luke 2v 38). To them the words of the prophet are addressed:

"Rejoice ye with Jerusalem, and be glad with her, all ye that love her: rejoice for joy with her, all ye that mourn for her: that ye may suck, and be satisfied with the breasts of her consolations: that ye may milk out and be delighted with the abundance of her glory" (Isa. 116v 10, 11).

Thus we are enabled to extract from the words of Christ in his "sermon on the mount", evidence of a powerful kind of the reality of his kingship in relation to the earth. Nathanael, the "Israelite indeed, in whom there was no guile," adds to that evidence in the recognition of Christ to which he gave utterance on meeting him: "Rabbi, thou art the Son of God; thou art the King of Israel" (John 6v 15). That the conviction expressed in these words was generally impressed on the minds of the people by the teaching of Christ, is evident from the fact that "they wanted to take him by force, to make him a king" (John 6v 15). Their language, on the occasion of his triumphant entry into Jerusalem, is evidence to the same point:

"Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord! Blessed be the kingdom of our Father David that cometh in the name of the Lord" (Mark 11v 10).

Christ gave them reason for that conviction in the parable of the vineyard, contained in Luke 20., beginning at the 9th verse. The vineyard, says Jesus, was planted by a certain nobleman, and let out to husbandmen, and at the time of the fruit, the nobleman sent his servants to the husbandmen to get of the fruits of the vineyard: but they maltreated and killed them one after another (verses 13). "Then said the Lord of the vineyard, what shall I do? I will send my beloved son: it may be that they will reverence him when they see him; but when the husbandmen saw him, they reasoned among themselves, saying; This is THE HEIR; come, let us kill him, that the inheritance may be ours. So they cast him out of the vineyard, and killed him". This parable related to the nation of Israel, and the rulers thereof. This is evident from the 19th verse, and also from a statement in Isaiah 5v 7: "The vineyard of the Lord of Hosts is the House of Israel."

This being so, let us note the tendency of its teaching. In the rejected servants we recognise the prophets who shared the fate indicated in the words of Christ: "O Jerusalem, which killest the prophets, and stonest them that are sent unto thee." The "Son" was the Lord Jesus Christ, as is evident from the words of Paul in Heb. 1v 2, which might be almost accepted as a commentary upon the parable under consideration: "God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by His Son."

If Christ, then, be the "son" of the parable, of necessity he is also the "heir". Of what? This is the important point, Answer: of the inheritance held by the husbandmen, for said they, "This is the heir come, let us kill him, that the inheritance may be ours." Now, if that inheritance be the land and nation of the Jews, of which the Pharisees were the rulers or "husbandmen," and Christ be the heir of these things, there is no escape from the conclusion sought to be established throughout this lecture. He is the rightful claimant to David's throne. "He came unto HIS OWN, and his own received him not" (John 1v 11). Why did they not receive him? What motive prompted the chief priests and rulers to destroy Jesus? It was not merely their hatred of righteousness. If Christ had simply been a teacher of religion, according to modern notions, doubtless they would have been among his admirers, but then he was "THE HEIR." He was the divinely sent of God to occupy David's throne, and put down all opposing authority and power, and his assertion of this character brought him into instant collision with them, because they had the inheritance in their possession. Therefore, said they, in their insensate short-sighted jealousy - "Come, let us kill him, that the inheritance may be ours."

So they plotted his destruction, and succeeded in their nefarious plans. They brought him before Pilate, who finding no fault in him, was willing to release him (Luke 23v 13-16). This inflamed their animosity, and developed the true nature of its origin. They cried out saying - "If thou let this man go, thou art not Caesar's friend: whosoever maketh himself A KING speaketh against Caesar" (John 19v 12). This had the desired effect: Pilate gave judgment; and Christ was crucified, and according to the Roman custom, the nature of the charge against him was specified in writing over the cross: "Jesus of Nazareth THE KING OF THE JEWS" (John 19v 19).

Here again the kingship of Christ came out in circumstantial prominence. He was crucified because he "made himself a king" (Matt. 17v 11). This is the declaration of the superscription. That superscription was not sufficiently definite for the chief priests. We read: (John 19v 20, 21), "This title then read many of the Jews.....Then said the chief priests of the Jews to Pilate, write not, The King of the Jews, but that HE SAID, I am King of the Jews." Here is an important testimony from the chief priests as to Christ's own assertion of his royalty. In fact the closing scenes of our Lord's life on earth, altogether constitute the most decisive proof that prospective Jewish royalty was the essential feature of his character as the Messiah, - a feature which is entirely omitted in popular preaching. The teaching of the Apostles after our Lord's ascension was the same on this important point. We read that the Jews of Thessalonica accused them to the rulers of the city after this fashion:

"These that have turned the world upside down, are come hither also whom Jason hath received; and these all do contrary to the decrees Of Caesar, saying THAT THERE IS ANOTHER KING, ONE JESUS" (Acts 17v 6, 7).

Paul made the same proclamation to the Athenians, in his address on Mars Hill, recorded in Acts 17v 30, 31:

"And the time of this ignorance God winked at, but now commandeth all men everywhere to repent, because He hath appointed a day in which He will judge (which, in its political application, means rule) the world in righteouness BY THAT MAN WHOM HE HATH ORDAINED; whereof He hath given assurance to all men in that He hath raised him from the dead."

In fact, the great burden of the New Testament teaching concerning Jesus is, that he is "the Christ," that is, the Anointed One foretold by the prophets as the future king of the world. If you deny to him this kingship, you deny that he is the Christ - for the anointing refers, not only to his character as "the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world," but to his future development as God's vice regent on earth. His "Christing" is prospective, culminating in "the glory that shall be revealed," which shall "cover the earth as the waters cover the sea." Whosoever, therefore, is ignorant of this, and denies the future manifested Christship of Jesus, cannot Scripturally or acceptably confess that he is the Christ, inasmuch as that confession is empty sound when it does not import the things signified.

That Christ is the future king of the world is one of the most gladsome truths of revelation. What hope else is there for this sin afflicted world? It has groaned under ages of misrule. The riches of the earth are hoarded away in the halls of a surfeited few, and the great mass of humanity are left to welter out a degraded existence of poverty, ignorance, and misery. God's goodness has been fraudulently squandered. The provision, sufficient for competence to all who breathe this mundane atmosphere, has been rapaciously plundered by the unprincipled and the strong, and stored away in accursed garners from famishing millions. This is as true in the present latterday civilization as it was in the ruthless days of yore; only the system - venerable by its antiquity - is more respectable, has the protection of the law, and is recognised as the indispensable institution of a wellgoverned country.

And among the people themselves, what barrenness and hideousness we behold! How intellectually empty! How morally destitute! How ignoble and selfish! How small and grovelling! Some say the world is getting better. It is a mistake. Intellectual acuteness is on the increase; but real character is dwarfing with the increase of years. Mankind is deteriorating with the spread of civilization. Flimsiness and frivolity are the order of the day. Thoroughgoing good sense and earnestness of moral purpose are confined to a despised minority. The word of God is of light esteem, and faith hath almost vanished from the earth.

Where shall we find comfort for the future? The world is incurable by human agency. Its only hope lies in the truth expressed in the title of this lecture. A great Deliverer is waiting the appointed time of blessing; Christ at God's right hand is the future king of the world; he who endured the shame of a malefactor's cross is coming to wear the honor of a universal crown; and though dark be the clouds that usher in his august advent, and fierce the convulsions that will attend the earth's deliverance, great will be the glory of the day he will bring, and everlasting the repose that will settle on the everlasting hills.